Orangeous Dailies

I was asked by Room 101 organizers to write a conclusion, so here it goes…

There was a lot of negative publicity on Orangeous regarding the campaign. I am aware of this via the humble comment box.

The Good

Unique idea. Two thumbs up for the marketing team who invented this idea!

The Bad

i. I still don’t believe that vulgarities should be used in commercials for an educational institution. True enough, our target audience may be students waiting to enrol. But, there are also other people watching this, and they have the capacity to influence decisions (e.g. parents or older siblings).
ii. Tattoos. Let’s hide em. No offense to those contestants. I have personally interviewed them and they’re really nice and talented individuals. But it’s an educational institution here, so let’s conceal them, just for the filming part. Social stigma is ever-present in Singapore and will remain, unfortunately. Same reason why my eyebrow piercings have to go.
iii. Challenges-wise, they could be more tuned towards NBC’s Apprentice style. It is difficult to relate these challenges to real-world experiences. They may symbolize, but not necessarily be realistic.
iv. No need to outsource. I’ve seen the work of our students and I believe they’re more than capable enough.

No comments allowed this time because this is my personal judgement (go grab a beer and come back later when you’ve cooled down).

Beer and dinner with the boys after exams… as promised!

(From left) Kelvin, Aldo, Alex and Jude.

(From left) Jessie, me, Firdaus and Samuel.

It’s fun to look back at old, outrageous photos of yourself and swear never to do it again.

Pang and I.

Those were the days…

When I thought this was cool.

When I thought having my hair bleached for 8 hours straight was cool.

Oh my… what a mess.

A series of graduation parties, before we 9 to 5.

Beach Cabana 200810

Wen Jie and Sylwyn.

Justin, Meng Chang and I.

Meng Chang, me and Jessie.

Scruffy Murphy’s Irish Pub 200810

(From left) Me, Justin, Wen Jie and Meng Chang.

Meng Chang, Jessie and Sylwyn.

BBQ 030910

Not really a BBQ. It was a potluck session at Changi Rise!

Pictures courtesy of our photographer-by-profession Joel who lit up the pitch dark area with his wireless flash lights. Awesome photos!

(Back row, from left) Wenjie, Sylwyn, Justin, Joel, Mira and Jessie. (Front row, from left) Meng Chang, me and Fauzan.

Meng Chang.

Fauzan, Jessie and Mira.

Playing Taboo!

Photo album: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sukianto/sets/72157624699079663

Our dear classmate Mira turns 22!

Dinner at Ayam Penyet President, followed by coffee at Starbucks.

(Front, from left) Jessie, Sylwyn, Mira, Fauzan. (Back) Me and Wen Jie.

Mira and her birthday cake.

Mira and Fauzan.

Mira and her present.

Photo album: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sukianto/sets/72157624823331668

Michelle’s 21st birthday, held onboard John’s yacht.

Big thanks to Hui Ching for planning such an awesome party and John for lending us his beautiful yacht!

John’s yacht.

John’s yacht.

John’s yacht.

Jessie and I.

(From left) Joycelyn, Hui Ching, Michelle and Jessie.

(Back row) Joycelyn, Chor Kwan, Sabrina and Yeejie. (Front row, from left) Jieping, Yunxin and Michelle.

Michelle jumping in.

(Back row, from left) Me, Michelle, Yeejie, Jieping and Hui Ching. (Seated, from left) Yunxin, Sabrina, Chor Kwan, Jessie and Joycelyn.

The girls on the rubber dinghy heading for shore.

Someone arrived here before us.

Photo album: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sukianto/sets/72157624812753574

Got an Argos A700 Drive Recorder for the car. I believe it is Korean-made.

Argos A700 Drive Recorder.

Pros

1. Cheap, around $150 to $200.
2. I find the G-sensor recording function important. It records a separate 30-second video upon the slightest impact and the sensitivity can be adjusted. Pretty useful if someone hits your car (from the front) when you are away and tries to run off.

Cons

1. The manual is poorly translated.
2. Can’t seem to find the site to download upgrade firmware. Can’t seem to find an online support site.
3. Player software is provided and it is the only way you can adjust unit settings.
4. Time and date setting has to be adjusted every time the SD card is removed from the unit. Otherwise all future recordings will show Year 2000, 1 January. If you do not set the date and time, you will have a lot of difficulty searching for a specific video, as the folders are name according to MM-DD-TIME.
5. Registration plate numbers can’t be seen clearly. Then again, we get what we pay for.

Specifications: http://telexy.en.ec21.com/Mini_Driving_Recorder_Argos_A700–3970548_3970555.html

Final exam paper at Henderson campus.

School is finally over. Not forever, but for a long long time.

(From left) Han Yang, Justin, Wen Jie, Gabriel, William, Zung, Alan, me and Meng Chang.

(From left) Aisha, Clarisse, Jessie, Wen Jie, Swati, Mira and Amelia.

The moment they were assigned to my team, I thought…

Just when we were doing so well… why? Why?!

They were infamous for being difficult to work with. They had strange and different ideas which the majority couldn’t accept. To sum it all up, nobody wanted to work with them. They attended all tutorials and lectures, but failed to deliver, and word was going around that these two individuals were really fucking stupid.

My team was worried, so was I.

I was extremely pissed when a few classmates shook my hand and wished me good luck. I told myself that I was going to prove them all wrong.

We watched them closely and sent out reminders before deadlines were due. The written work they both delivered were sub-standard, I have to admit. We didn’t know what to do with them. Until one day…

Student 1 came up with a brilliant project idea instantaneously, when all of us (without him) took almost 8 hours and failed to come up with anything half as good.

Student 2 designed a 30-minute long presentation within 2 hours. It would have taken us about 10 hours to do so… Moreover, the animations (done using a Mac) were breathtaking. He was a professional photographer, who so happened to be my junior in Victoria School.

That’s it! We realized that they had what we all lacked. While we were focusing so much on productivity, we failed to realize what they had could actually have saved us a lot of time and agony…

Creativity. They dared to think outside the box when it came to problem solving, without any fear of criticism.

We immediately changed our strategy. Those two guys were instantly put in charge of all visual materials. We ended up topping the entire class in those project assignments and proved everybody wrong, but that’s not the point.

The point is…

1. Everybody has their own strengths and weaknesses.

2. Leave them out in areas they are weak in, rather than try to force them to improve, unless it is absolutely critical that they do so.

3. Delegate tasks according to their strengths and… most importantly, encourage them!

To the teams who ostracized them… I hope your jaws dropped when you saw them perform well. All I have to say is… your judgement sucks!

I was desperately looking for a cheap screen protector when I stepped into Challenger @ Tiong Bahru Plaza. Then I happened to spot this screen protector lying next to the cashier and purchased it in less than five minutes.

Samsung Pleomax Screen Protection Film.

It served me well because:

• No adhesive required. Probably utilizing static to keep the film glued to the screen. I ripped it out almost 15 times for fun, and it still stuck on perfectly.
• One of the easiest screen protection films to apply. I don’t know why. Slap, squeegee it, and it’s done.
• Anti-glare, as promised. Took a lot of strain off my eyes.
• Only cost me 20 odd bucks, when others were selling for double the price.

I was so pleased with it that I bought it for Jessie’s laptop as well.

Finally switched to a Mac.

Macbook Pro 13-inch.

Can’t afford a bigger display, but still loving it.

That’s it.

End of student life for me, until approximately 5 years later.

I’m going to start clearing up the backlog of posts.

Funny Facebook account name.

People you may know.

Add as a friend?

Sorry, final exams.

Important. Can’t afford to screw this up.

Will be back next Friday.

Delivered the final presentation today. Submitted the final report last Tuesday.

There are no more assignments prior to graduation, only exams in two weeks.

Yay!