woohoo!!

*click to enlarge if you cannot read*

ok so you're wondering what the heck is that. i joined the commonwealth essay competition early this year. i actually decided to join only at the last minute and came up with the essay in three hours. anyway, each school can only send in 4 entries from each class (i'm in class b - born 1992-1993) and ms leong selected mine, jolene's, esther's and the other girl i dunno who. so then, our essays were sent far far away to um..dunno where la..

the results were supposed to be out in july. but they could at least mention it was end of july? gahh. anyway, i checked on monday. nothing. then this morning when i came to school, first thing i saw was a very happy jolene. she told me that esther went to the website and we won something. jolene and i got commended and esther got highly commended. waa..heheh. but..but..don't ask me what commended is la. i also dunno eh. =D

so i was kinda happy the whole day but then now i checked the website and saw that so many people win also. er kinda burst my happy bubble already la. the certificates are only coming in october for people in the southern hemisphere..but come to think of it, we're at the equator right??...

a little about the competition..
The Commonwealth Essay Competition is an international education project open to all young Commonwealth citizens aged 18 or under. Every year, more than 6,000 essays pour into the London office of the Royal Commonwealth Society in time for the Competition deadline of 1 March. When the essays have been registered, they are distributed to twenty-four examiners for judging and the results are announced in July.
Winning an award or commendation is a considerable achievement and something of which the entrants can be justifiably proud. However, the Competition is about more than winning a prize. As one Canadian teacher has commented:

“We are from a very small community on Vancouver Island. The Competition has shown our students that they can compete in a bigger world, that they can do great things!”

The Competition reaches into people’s hearts and generates a lot of good will, loyalty and enthusiasm. It is a unique and invaluable education project because it brings together young people from all around the world and encourages them to interact on subjects that matter to them. As one participant says:

“I am of Indian origin. Both my parents were born in India and much of my family live in India or Great Britain. I enjoy taking part in the Commonwealth Essay Competition as it has allowed me to learn more about my country and its history.”

In its own quiet way, the Commonwealth Essay Competition may be an agent for local and international social change, as it encourages literacy and reflective thought.

it's here!

yeah it's kinda lame

gahh down with flu.
sobx.

time flies??

it just seems like yesterday i was wearing braces and now it's actually exactly one year ago that i took it out. i remember getting so excited and everything when dr. ang said i would be able to remove my braces in a few months time. but of course, it was all empty promises. i wore braces for almost exactly two years. looking back, i just realised how rarely i smile widely when i wore braces.

one of the very few pictures i could find with me showing off my braces.

on friday it will be exactly a year that i wore retainers. i definitely remember not being able to talk or swallow saliva properly. but actually i think my pronounciation was one of the best *perasan* among those who wore retainers. i could say saxophone!! whee..well i smile wider with retainers but still not really that often.

i can't wait for saturday. i can finally not wear retainers for 24 hours anymore. ok i know i can actually not wear it 24 hours now. but you know..i'm a good girl. i follow instructions =P. i promise to smile more often after i don't have to wear retainers. i will xD.

my weekend

>>saturday<<

baskie's tuition

where's this ancient place?

guess what's this..

>>sunday<<

rachel trying to win bruno's heart

i support my school! bought this from YE sales

all the way from bangkok! thanks hui lynn!

lazy to blog la

so this is what you get =P

hell's bells is...um..eye-opening

but sorta boring..

went to queensbay on sunday for YE sales

no electricity pula

walk with my 'darling' rachel around the entire qb

and at night..at night..

wheee

you wanna know ask me =)

funny signboards =D

the 84-year-old bride

*click the picture to enlarge*

mmc ground breaking!

randomness

ate steamboat

got really bored =)
looks kinda cute..no?
my daddy bought these back for me from vietnam =)
um..it's supposed to be a bracelet..
ha..my sis got this xD

went and watch hancock after dinner..

not bad la..

wanted to watch get smart at first but no suitable time..

sorry for the lame post =)

The tortoise and the hare

Good old lessons in teamwork from an age-old fable

The tortoise and the hare

Once upon a time a tortoise and a hare had an argument about who was faster.



They decided to settle the argument with a race. They agreed on a route and started off the race.



The hare shot ahead and ran briskly for some time. Then seeing that he was far ahead of the tortoise, he thought he'd sit under a tree for some time and relax before continuing the race.



He sat under the tree and soon fell asleep. The tortoise plodding on overtook him and soon finished the race, emerging as the undisputed champ. The hare woke up and realized that he'd lost the race.


The moral of the story is that slow and steady wins the race.
This is the version of the story that we've all grown up with.



The story continues...


The hare was disappointed at losing the race and he did some soul-searching. He realized that he'd lost the race only because he had been overconfident, careless and lax. If he had not taken things for granted, there's no way the tortoise could have beaten him.



So he challenged the tortoise to another race. The tortoise agreed.



This time, the hare went all out and ran without stopping from start to finish. He won by several miles.


The moral of the story?
Fast and consistent will always beat the slow and steady. If you have two people in your organization, one slow, methodical and reliable, and the other fast and still reliable at what he does, the fast and reliable chap will consistently climb the organizational ladder faster than the slow, methodical chap.

It's good to be slow and steady; but it's better to be fast and reliable.



But the story does not end here...


The tortoise did some thinking this time, and realized that there's no way he can beat the hare in a race the way it was currently formatted.


He thought for a while, and then challenged the hare to another race, but on a slightly different route.
The hare agreed.



They started off. In keeping with his self-made commitment to be consistently fast, the hare took off and ran at top speed until he came to a broad river. The finishing line was a couple of kilometers on the other side of the river.


The hare sat there wondering what to do. In the meantime the tortoise trundled along, got into the river, swam to the opposite bank, continued walking and finished the race.


The moral of the story?
First identify your core competency and then change the playing field to suit your core competency.

In an organization, if you are a good speaker, make sure you create opportunities to give presentations that enable the senior management to notice you.

If your strength is analysis, make sure you do some sort of research, make a report and send it upstairs.
Working to your strengths will not only get you noticed, but will also create opportunities for growth and advancement.



The story still hasn't ended...


The hare and the tortoise, by this time, had become pretty good friends and they did some thinking together. Both realized that the last race could have been run much better.


So they decided to do the last race again, but to run as a team this time.


They started off, and this time the hare carried the tortoise till the riverbank.
There, the tortoise took over and swam across with the hare on his back.
On the opposite bank, the hare again carried the tortoise and they reached the finishing line together. They both felt a greater sense of satisfaction than they'd felt earlier.


The moral of the story?
It's good to be individually brilliant and to have strong core competencies; but unless you're able to work in a team and harness each other's core competencies, you'll always perform below par because there will always be situations at which you'll do poorly and someone else does well.

Teamwork is mainly about situational leadership, letting the person with the relevant core competency for a situation take leadership.


There are more lessons to be learnt from this story.

Note that neither the hare nor the tortoise gave up after failures. The hare decided to work harder and put in more effort after his failure. The tortoise changed his strategy because he was already working as hard as he could.
In life, when faced with failure, sometimes it is appropriate to work harder and put in more effort. Sometimes it is appropriate to change strategy and try something different. And sometimes it is appropriate to do both.

The hare and the tortoise also learnt another vital lesson. When we stop competing against a rival and instead start competing against the situation, we perform far better.

To sum up, the story of the hare and tortoise teaches us many things:

• Never give up when faced with failure


• Fast and consistent will always beat slow and steady


• Work to your competencies


• Compete against the situation, not against a rival.


• Pooling resources and working as a team will always beat individual performers

Let’s go and build stronger teams!

And of course, not forgetting...

ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS US

holding the sun =O

ok it took me days to upload all the pics due to Blogger. but at last it's done. i just think the pics are kinda cool so just wanted to show you guys.

btw, i edited the last post already and uploaded the pic of the 'bridge' =)

london bridge is falling down

Today for Science & Maths Society, we had a bridge building competition.

Materials? Recyclable materials
Conditions?
-The tallest member of the group is able to pass under the bridge
-Is able to hold the heaviest weights

Ok, I have to admit, when I first saw the notice board informing us about the meeting and competition, I was like darn, this is gonna be so boring. And today, none of us actually brought any recyclable materials (like they told us to) because none of us actually thought we were going to do anything. Anyway, the group leaders were supposed to find us to tell us what to bring and all but they didn't. So, we couldn't care less.

So, after school, we were dreading the meeting because:
a) Pn. Choo, the society teacher, was probably gonna screw us up for not bringing anything
b) It's 12.30, I'm hungry and I should be heading home now

Anyway, we marked our attendance and got into our groups. My group, consisting of 6 people, had only newspapers and cellophane tape (which was provided, by the way). How the heck are we supposed to build a bridge with newspapers only??? Heheh, so a few of my group members went to 'steal' recyclable items from the recycling bins. Smart? Of course =)

We had 30 minutes to complete our bridge. We spent about 10 minutes staring at the materials with no idea what to do. But in the end, we managed to finish a 'bridge' with no time to spare. I actually drew a picture of it and was going to upload it. But freaking Blogger isn't letting me do that and I'm very frustrated with it now. Oh well, I shall edit it next time if I remember.

*edited* Yay!! Blogger's working again..finally. Ok so this is a diagram of how our bridge looked like. I think my diagram looks better than the actual one..but what the heck =)

Then, time to test our bridge. First of all, our tallest member had to go under it. Luckily, we can crawl under it. At first, when I heard this condition, I was like are they crazy?? How the heck are we gonna build a bridge so tall that the tallest person can walk under it?? But thank God, that what they meant was crawling.

First trial - passed. =) Second test. To place as many weights as possible on our bridge. Amazingly, our 'bridge' managed to hold two large weights (about 2 kg? hmm..) before collapsing. So 'sim thia' when it collapsed. Our hard work gone.

Our bridge was the first to be tested. So after that, we watched other groups' bridges collapse. Phaik Chern's group's bridge managed to withstand 2 large and 1 small weight. Not bad eh? But I'm still proud of my bridge because we managed to finish it last minute.

All in all, I actually had fun. Yeah, it was hot, I was sweating from running to the recycling bins and trying desperately to tape the bridge together. But seriously, it was fun =) Although, there was this one group whom I hope get disqualified. They used wooden chairs and planks to build their bridge! So yeah, wood is recyclable but I really don't think it's fair. Of course it could hold all six weights! It was made of wood!! Argh!

difference between 1990 and 2008

lol?

erhx sorry la..nothing to blog about ma..