2 weeks into the new job now. Having worked in the private sector all these while, it’s a steep learning curve for the many protocols that I do not understand have to learn.

I’m not a headstrong person. If you explain the rationale why things are being done this way, I can easily understand and get on with the flow easily. But there are certain things that I have my own stand – some of which I have shared with close friends and they couldn’t understand either. I will give in eventually – that I know for sure. For that is the only way I can get things done. Just trying my luck on how long I can endure with this one protocol.

Nevertheless, it had been a good 2 weeks. Minusing the sleeping early and waking up early – and that’s a 10pm-6am timing, I think I am handling it pretty well so far. Thankfully all tuition classes were on hold these 2 weeks, as the students were having their school exams. I’m sure the 10-6 timing will soon be considered a luxury once classes resume next week.

Somehow I do think (for now at least!) I am born to be an educator. I feel happy when one of the students, from the relief classes I taught at the tuition centre, could recognize me when I popped by this afternoon. I love it when I am around students. I love it more when I was told that their grades actually improved. <3

Which made me drop the decision to stop all tuition. My students gave me strength to carry on. No I’m not kidding, they really do! Especially those who are willing to learn and keep asking questions about topics that they do not understand. I’m glad I made that slight difference to them

This post started off with the intention of updates on work, but I got distracted when I touched on the topic of tuition. Oops..

My new workdesk is an aspiring North Pole. So cold I had to wrap myself up like a ba4-zhang3 (dumpling).

Day 1 at work, the table was in a clean state.At week 2, this is what it became:

Those A3 papers you see, were what I used to block the aircon duct above the desk. And that white divider to block the aircon coming from the duct in the centre of the room.

I have a plan to take a snapshot of the desk weekly, until 30 shots have been taken. And create a mini timelapse video to see how it evolves.. XD

As a general reminder to myself, I can handle the coldness at this aircon setting:

Was testing out the journey to new workplace, and decided to reward myself with a nice McD breakfast at Tampines Central.

In the 1 hour that I was sitting inside McD, I noticed that more than 90% of the patrons cleared their own tray before leaving. How awesome is that?

人间有希望!

It could be the crowd. Should today be a weekend where most patrons are families, I highly doubt I will see the the same thing happening.

Let’s make Singapore a more gracious society, shall we?

Recently, I’ve started to “like” more pages on facebook that talks about random stuff. Some of which are actually quite interesting.

Science of Madness, from its name, talks about anything that is science related. So there was such a post:

A psychologist walked around a room while teaching stress management to an audience. As she raised a glass of water, everyone expected they’d be asked the “half empty or half full” question. Instead, with a smile on her face, she inquired: “How heavy is this glass of water?”

Answers called out ranged from 8 oz. to 20 oz.

She replied, “The absolute weight doesn’t matter. It depends on how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute, it’s not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I’ll have an ache in my arm. If I hold it for a day, my arm will feel numb and paralyzed. In each case, the weight of the glass doesn’t change, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.” She continued, “The stresses and worries in life are like that glass of water. Think about them for a while and nothing happens. Think about them a bit longer and they begin to hurt. And if you think about them all day long, you will feel paralyzed – incapable of doing anything.”

It’s important to remember to let go of your stresses. As early in the evening as you can, put all your burdens down. Don’t carry them through the evening and into the night. Remember to put the glass down!

It serves as a good reminder to many of us.

Quoting work as an example – after a long and shitty day at work, you reach home weary and can’t wait to hit the bed. Wake up the next morning and the cycle repeats. Some might dread going to work – possibly due to stress or whatever not. This kind of “burden” as I name it, is something that we can learn to deal with (the pot calling the kettle black, I know..).

The kind of stress we have – not just at the workplace, it can be a “grouch” that we hold against anything in our daily lives – are sometimes the root causes of our unhappiness. The longer we hold them, the more tired / unhappy we become.

Stress, don’t take it too hard on yourself. Learn to deal with it in a positive manner, it will give you pretty (and sometimes unexpected) results.

Grudges, they come and go. There will be too many of them for you to remember every single one of them. Take them as lessons learnt. The experiences gained will be valuable in your decision making should the same thing happen again.

So the trick is – learn to let go.

As I make slight progress towards my 8 year goal, steps have been made in place. Have shortlisted a few courses to take:

• Masters of Education (Development Psychology)
• Masters of Education (Early Childhood)
• Masters of Arts (Instructional Design & Technology)

When will I be taking them, depends on my availability.. Definitely not this year, with the start of a new job (yes I won’t be an unemployed soon!) and the continuation of the current 4 students’ tuition and the start of Korean classes, I highly doubt I have time for other activities this year.

It had been a good 2 months break, which allowed me to set lifetime goals, making steps to fulfil lifetime dreams, spending more time to understand myself and what I want in life. I’m glad to say I have moved on

Looking forward to the new phase of life next month!

The subject doesn’t mean I am getting married (and no, I am not planning for it to be an April Fool’s joke too!). It’s just that at this current stage in life, I am looking at other plans on what I want to do with what remains of my life.

The good thing about being self-employed, is that I have tons of me-time. For the first time since I started schooling, this must be the longest break I’ve taken. This gave me the time to sit down and ponder what I want to achieve. While I have yet come to a conclusion of what I really want, it seems like my career path has changed tremendously. 6 years in the private sector, I won’t say it’s long – considering there are people who can be in the same job for more than 10 years. 6 years is enough for me to grow up at a horrifying speed.

I saw how cruel work life can be, by the name of politics. People say the way to outwit them is to join them, but I prefer to suffer silently. That’s how and what I am. Never one to step up and protect myself. I know the disadvantage yet I find it hard to do it.

I also saw how slow money earning is as a salaried worker. Which got me thinking – is this what I really want? I now have lots of ideas. Slowly taking one step at a time , I want to make them come to life! It will take a while, but I do think I can succeed. If I push myself further, I’m confident I can!

Who says resolutions can be made only when a new year comes? My new resolution, is not to be the one who has lost confidence in herself. While I try to find back the passion I used to have for blogging and photography, I might discover more of myself!

Yes that is it! I shall remain as positive as I can!

So i’ve made the decision to throw the white letter

Because I’ve got leave days from 2012 which couldn’t be encashed, it was a short notice period of 10 days!

From CNY day 1 till now, it was time well spent. So much so that no words can describe how exactly I am feeling right now.

With sanity back in check, it’s time to work on the next goal.

By chance.. I wanted to spend some time reading up on blog posts of my social media friends.

Unintentionally, I found the root cause for 2012. DEPRESSION. Thanks to Vic’s blogpost.

Was looking through the symptoms of depression and thought why the symptoms all looked so familiar. A year it was with me, not too late to detect it now.

2013 will be good. Yes it will!

Every start of the year since 2010, I’ve been wanting to do a summary of the year post. Busyness took over the thought of it, unfortunately.

I had a post in 2010, summarising the year 2009. Couldn’t remember why it remained as draft. I should just publish the post, for the content reminded me why I loved social media back then, and how much fun I had. It also reminded me why I loved my job.

So I came up with a determination to do a summary for 2012/2011, despite it being mid-February-2013 now. Better late than never!

2009, in summary, was a year I got introduced to social media as a blogger.

2010, in summary, was a year I had LOTS of fun being a blogger.

2011 was a year I learnt how to play politics, simply because I was a victim and I needed to get out of it. Nevertheless, it was also a year I went on my first plane trip (to Korea!) and also my first business trip (which was my first solo plane trip too!). Also the year where I got posted to HK for work for several months. It was a tough 2nd-half year, with a work-project that had a steep learning curve. But I had fun due to the many firsts. First time experiencing winter, first time being away from home for such a long time.. And it’s also when I had to disappear from the blogging scene ‘coz I was far away from homeland..

2012. A year of ups and downs. The overseas posting worn me out. What came in multiples – politics, arrows. What came in negatives – sleep, enjoyment, passion. The year was very tough at work, with the multiples that came and the negatives that I didn’t have. Whatever passion I had was killed this year – passion towards work, passion towards social media, passion towards blogging, passion towards photography. All killed by the word “work”. No I’m not kidding. It was that bad. 2012 was a year I lost my passion for everything. I became a 行尸走肉 (corpse that walked) – everything I did was done by routine, it was done simply because it had to be done. There was no life injected in what was done.

There were a few takeaways for the year though!

• Completed my first Standard Chartered 10km run walk!
• Made so many plane trips that I”m very familiar with airport procedures, both in HKG & SIN
• Got very familiar with 3-char country codes due to the nature of the project
• Despite the many plane trips, the passport remained empty coz I used the express queue for residents (which is something that I missed!)
• Made some good friends in HK!
• Made a virgin trip to Taiwan!

And that pretty much sums up 2012.

Every start of the year since 2010, I’ve been also wanting to do a resolution for the new year post. “Resolutions don’t work for me” won the thought, unfortunately.

This year, however, I decided to set some goals for myself to achieve. Reachable goals.

• Have a more balanced work-life (which I have already achieved by making the first step of throwing the white letter)
• Take TOPIK exam (Korean)
• Take JLPT N4
• Take a good break and let the body recuperate (Planta Facitiis is back to haunt me after so many years)
• Revive some passion for photography & blogging!

Will these goals be reached? We shall see my determination!

The next immediate thing that I need to do.. is to start processing those photos that I have taken over the past years and upload them..