The Last One...

Finally, everything has come to an end...

After working with the other four guys who were originally strangers to me (didn't even know Wei Herr, Kah Wah and Kern Hong well before coming to Singapore :p), I did learn something from each of them. The most important thing is I learnt how to socialize. This is such a great improvement in my life.

I like this group in term of the way we did our project. Yes, there were always conflicts among us, but undeniably, we really put our heart and soul into this project whenever we were given a task.

Of course, there is also something that I do not like about this group. Actually it is just what I mentioned, conflicts. This group had really really a lot of conflicts and quarrels. The conflicts did not occur just because of different in opinions during discussions, but also out of someone's unreasonable behaviour.

The future plan...

Well, since this project is over, it means we won't have the stress and pressure anymore. I am really not willing to lay a finger on this matter again. However, this project really taught me a lot of things. And these things can influence our future. So, if I really have time, I will continue to raise awareness within the community.

Beyond the Finish Line

2^nd September 2009…all is done.

We have completed our RESL projects and no doubt we are happy and relieved after the many months of continuous hard work, pressure and stress. But now it’s time to look forward…

There are bound to be many other projects for us to invest in the future and through this Veggie project, it has made me more ready and confident in myself, my capability and my weaknesses as well, I really learn to communicate with others and work with them to achieve the best results. Even though there might be misunderstandings at times, but we just have to deal with us. We can’t stop this, but we can avoid and prevent it from affecting our team.

As for our future plans…

Now that RESL is over, frankly I do not very much feel like doing more cause that means going into more days of stress and hard work, which I quite hope to stop myself from involving in it right now. But all that our team has promised to finish and have not yet done so, we will finish it in due time. Now that everything is over, I hope to let this project slip into my history book instead of keeping it still in my to-do-list.

But…

There’s always a but. If I have the time and the capability to do so, without eating in into my study time to an over large extent, or without sacrificing too much of my time in other aspects like CCA and socializing, then I will most certainly help out in anything that needs help with.

Many things have come and passed…accomplished…made successful…transformed…we have learn much but there is still much much more to learn.

I am happy that even though I went through a lot of hard times when doing this RESL, but it really really help me in terms of my communication with people, working out solutions in a meaningful way and discipline.

All GOOD (undesireable?) things come to end…

I hereby close this chapter of my life here as I continue on with the on-going chapters and discover new chapters that are yet to reveal itself, and at the same time look back at my previous stories of mine and recall the bitter-sour-sweet-salty-spicy-sticky-milky-smooth-icy-hot moments of my life…

Reflect, Reflect and Reflecwht

Every time when I reflect on the project, my mind will turn blank. I don't really have much to reflect. I can't really find any meaning in the project. I always treat it as an ordinary school work, nothing special. It is going to to end but am I really happy? I spent so much time on the project and in the end I gain nothing out of it. I may think that I have learned something but is it really true? I am better at handling conflict? Obviously not. I learned something about advocacy? Again no. In fact, I never really reach out to the society. I know more about myself? I think I am still the very same person.

Maybe sometimes, I should learn to accommodate to others. Be more positive. There must be failure before we succeed. Without failure, none of the accomplishments is a success. I would not tolerate this to happen anymore. I have experienced enough failures in my life.

Oral presentation. At first, I thought my group was going to be one of the lousiest. However, other groups were even worse than us. :) At least I felt a bit assured. Overall, I think we lack of a good opening and a good posture. Nervousness is the devil. We should also prevent from looking at the slides so often.

Reflection, such an arduous job. Sometimes write out a reflection, but seems to be a fabricated story, at least for me. :)

The Days Before Oral Presentation..

Finally, RE is coming to an end. A week later, after our oral presentation, we will be freed. These few weeks, we were busy preparing our powerpoint slides and script for the oral presentation. We had rehearsed the oral presentation in Mr. Goh’s office and received valuable feedbacks. With these comments, we modified our powerpoint slides to a better one. We also changed our ways of presenting like reading from notes, keep looking at the screen, etc. Besides, we also need to have self-confidence, loud voice projection and smile :) (like this =.=)

This Wednesday, we attended the oral presentation of other groups. We observed that the members of these groups kept reading from the notes and seldom made eye-contact with the judges, which according to Mr. Goh, a low mark is rewarded. Besides, we also found that the powerpoint slides were a bit boring as they were all in text. The best presenter today was a Vietnamese. He smartly put videos into his powerpoint slides and thus make the presentation more interesting. We can come out with a more engaging presentation maybe by creating interaction with the judges or audiences, giving out our lesson plans, asking engaging questions, etc.

At last, after a group discussion, we decided to put in an introductory video (about 25s), video of trial lesson (about 10s), etc. Hopefully our presentation will turn out to be successful.

I feel that our oral presentation will be successful in term of the time and efforts we have put in. This time, our time are well organized as all of us manage to gather for meeting on time and pay full attention to the things that we are doing. I believe that we do create the good powerpoint slides for everyone has pay their utmost effort on it. Now, we are more understanding to each other and I feel that the bondage among us has somehow tightened. This allows things to be carried out more easily and efficiently.

Even though RE will end sooner or later, the journey of learning never ends. In the future, when we step into the world of reality, there are still a lot of similar things to learn. No matter what, we will strive to overcome it, complete it, befriend with it.

The last of the last of the last of the last of the last of the last of the last of the last of the last of the last of the last of the last....

RE RE RE RE RE….coming to an end….

One more week to our oral presentation and the whole project would be finally over…yahoooo!!!

Coming back to the oral presentation, this time we had sufficient time for preparation. Besides we were selected for the second week to present instead of the first.

Thus, we went on to create another power slide for this presentation. We also met up to practice on how to present, taking care of various qualities of a good presentation, such as good posture, loud voice projection, self confidence and last of all, and a smiling expression!

I feel that this time, we would do pretty well as we had more than enough time to get ready for it. Besides, I think that our presentation was great in a sense that it contained interesting and organized slides, besides adding on a few videos and catchy graphics. Moreover, I think that we will finally be given the chance to show our audience and boast about what we have done, how hard we have worked, and what we have to be proud of.

This time’s preparation was a lot more organized in a sense that everyone was more or less dedicated to the whole thing, in terms of coming on time for group meetings and giving in their utmost attention and cooperation in producing the best slides for the presentation. I feel that as a team, we have done well this time round and our bondage between each other has become stronger and firmer regardless of what has happen in the past, where serious conflicts arose and our relationship was threatened and fragile.

Even though with all our tests and busy schedule of CCA, we still manage to invest time in this project, putting high priority in this project.

Lastly, what I want to say is that, this doesn’t end here. It continues on and on, projects in projects out, and I seriously think that it would not be easier but more and more complicate and challenging in the future.

We had gain lots more than losing (sleep) and by doing that our character is strengthen and our personality starts to reveal itself. What is life if we gain but do not lose in the process? NOTHING.

“It’s not whether how hard we work and how tough it is, but it is what we get at the end.”……I’m starting to like this quote….

SO…

What we have gone thru, doesn’t matter, what truly matters is what we have achieve in the process and we have gain or benefitted from it….

Don’t worry if you fall…

You’ll get up…

Stay strong…

Be courageous…

You won’t be disappointed by the end results…..

Reports, Articles and Oral presentations...

It has been the busiest week ever. It has been 3 nights in a row now that I have only retired after 3am. Nevertheless, time has flown as fast as lightning and I can almost see the sweet moment when this project finally comes to an end. It has been a tough journey all the way now and this would probably be the last time I will be blogging on this website.

Now let’s get back to our work…

Two more days and we are to hand in our final report of RE. In this week, much time has been devoted to RE and even the final reported has been edited and vetted thrice just to produce a perfect, flawless report. However, I am glad to say that we are still left with a little touch up before we can proudly announced, “We have done it!!!!!”

Another major event coming up our path would be the oral presentation for the RESL projects. After that we would be as free as a free bird flying freely in the air. We are currently preparing on this and hope that everything will go smoothly and that we would be able to earn high scores in this field.

My overall reflections…..

It has not being just a simple RESL, not just a service to the society, but a life changing experience. I have learned much. The work, the pain, the joy at the end of all this, all add up to an “unpredictable” journey.

I have indeed gained much knowledge on this topic. Even now, when I go to the canteen, I would automatically approach the vegetarian stall and buy food from there. Ask anyone, they would be my witnesses. I am now more conscious, more aware…

This project has also shape my character. The pressure that I faced has helped me become a stronger person, daring to look hard work in the face, building endurance. Besides, I learned how to work with others, to try to cooperate with them. No two minds think alike, therefore I must learn to compromise, be willing to accept others good points and weaknesses, and at the same time learn and gain from it.

CONFLICT also surfaced itself so significantly for the first time in my life. I did not even expect that from me. Never. For the first time, this happen. I have found my weaknesses…being hot tempered. Here I stand (sit) today in the computer lab, on the 13th of August, 8 pm sharp, pleading guilty on behalf of all my misdoings, apologizes to the veggieloverzzz team members.

Anyway, a great lesson, a great experience, a longer journey ahead. Maybe sometimes two things just don’t fit with each other. Like water and fire, totally two ENTIRELY different things. You think that you are right, but I think you are freakin wrong. No matter no matter. One more week one more week… and that will mark the end and put a stop to this...

Our teacher mentor has also pushed us hard in setting a high level of goals and requiring our fullest commitment. We indeed felt the stress at first, but as time goes, I learned how to handle it, and smile, yes SMILE while doing work, cause I know I am going to get out of this thing good big time cosi I kno that I hav da put many the effort into tis thing. It has indeed build me up mentally, but has also drag me down the health slope, cause I have not enough sleep ma….lol…

Last of all, thank you everyone for making this happen and helped out in one way or another. I thank you all sincerely from my heart’s bottom…I mean… bottom of my heart…

Enough said…need to save electricity…save the world…haha…

Reflection...

Finally, all our efforts are finally paid off! After months of brain-storming, proposing, editing, submitting, frustrating and completing, this project will finally be over in 3 weeks time.

However, before everything is over, we still have to complete a lot of work like creating an article and poster. Last week, even until now, we are still struggling with our proposal. The progress is quite slow as the CCTs are around the corner. However, we still find some time amidst the hours of "mugging" to complete our draft proposal as much as possible.

Even though I was away for tournament, I did take over some jobs to do. As they had done the lesson trial when I was away, I do not know more detail about how the lesson was conducted. Therefore, whatever parts that are regarding the lesson were done by others.

Let's strive until the end!!