Sem 3 holidays, part 2
Saturday, June 26, 2010
My project group have been meeting up regularly for the project. The progress that we have been making is pretty immense. I just hope that we haven't gone off-track in the process. If we did, it would be hell when school resumes. It would mean going back to the drawing board, and that won't be fun. At all. Something tells me that we haven't gone off-track though.
I would like to also apologize to KH for not making it for the first yescom meeting. Really sorry about that. I know you hate me for that. Well, the second meeting went pretty smooth, didn't it. hahahaha!
I couldn't resist, but on wednesday, after the meeting, I heard that ETP (Entrepreneurship) club was moving in to the new CCA hub at the new campus. So, I decided to go to the new campus, one day ahead of my official campus tour with my class. After visiting the school on wednesday, I was so hyped up, I couldn't wait to see the school again the next day, when my class was having the official tour of the new campus.
The new ETP hub is gorgeous. Of course, I went around the campus to explore what it had in store for us. The new campus is really nothing short of amazing - it isn't only as good as it looks. I think the roof garden has a fantastic view of the surroundings. The campus is always windy throughout, probably because of the "open concept" the campus has. After seeing the campus on Wednesday, I thought there wouldn't be much to see the next day.
Oh, how wrong I was. When I went there on Thursday, we visited other areas of the campus which I didn't catch the day before. Here I am, thinking that a new campus could only be revealed once.
Some of the places we visited were: the F&B's training kitchens/training kitchens (lol, they have lecture kitchens instead of lecture halls), the Hotel suites for the Hospitality students (which I am totally jealous of because each room has a 40" flat screen TV D:), the Center for Service Innovation (unfortunately abbreviated as CSI), and the Library.
I remember JN mentioning something funny when I told him about the "lecture kitchens":
The hotel suites look exactly like god intended them to be: they look like actual hotel suites. How nice, I bet that helps to facilitate learning alot!
The Center for Service Innovation had idelite (pronounced as I-Delight) rooms galore. idelite rooms are rooms used for service training. They are rooms with a mounted camera (or, in some cases, mounted cameras) which are used to record Role-play scenarios in which students are assessed and tested for their service skills. The original live Role-play is graded, however, I believe the captured footage will be views by a panel of lecturers and then be graded by them, too. In any case, you don't want to make a fool out of yourself on camera. That's how service training in idelite works.
There were 2 types of idelite rooms I saw, neither of which were like the ones at our old campus at Clementi. One room had the ability project, from the back of the screen (using a backscreen projector), a panoramic image, which serves as a background for your role-play scenario. As the image is a projected image, you can choose any image that you'd like to be projected on the back for your scenario, creating a backdrop.
The other idelite room had a portion of the room cordoned off using soundproof glass panels. Inside of these soundproof glass panels, is where the Role-play will take place. People inside will not be able to hear anything outside. People outside can still hear what is going on inside though, as there is an audio feed from inside the room to the outside during recording.
The library, to begin with, has 2 storeys. There is a cafe outside of the library, which is actually a Bubble Tea shop known as Each-A-Cup. The second storey is interesting. It is an area for discussions. If you think that your discussion is going to be a little...loud, then you could book some of the rooms available (I call them loud discussion rooms), so that your loud discussions don't disturb other library users. Also, on the second storey of the library, there are 80 computers for use, at your disposal, complete with printing facilities.
Why did I get my mum to buy me this new laptop again? FML. (well, Clementi's computers were really crap anyway)
Last but not least, we have a full-fledged food court for a canteen. Did I mention that every single location that I mentioned here were all air-conditioned? I think i'm going to have to start bringing my jacket to school.
On Tuesday that same week, I went for my job training. I thought it wouldn't be fun at all (hey, that's the price of getting paid), but it actually was pretty enjoyable. I'll admit: the lesson was dry. Very, very dry. It was long-winded, too. However, the trainer managed to lighten things up by cracking jokes every now and then. The thing is, his jokes were genuinely funny. They were not the lame kind. Sweet.
We were thought on how to serve high-brow customers. How to check in, and how things work behind-the-scenes. How orders are disseminated, which orders you should follow, and navigating around. Basically, the entire SOP (standard operational procedure) was rolled out to us. I'm pretty nervous about serving guests with high expectations of service standards, but I see it as a challenge...
..and i'll take up the challenge!
I would like to also apologize to KH for not making it for the first yescom meeting. Really sorry about that. I know you hate me for that. Well, the second meeting went pretty smooth, didn't it. hahahaha!
I couldn't resist, but on wednesday, after the meeting, I heard that ETP (Entrepreneurship) club was moving in to the new CCA hub at the new campus. So, I decided to go to the new campus, one day ahead of my official campus tour with my class. After visiting the school on wednesday, I was so hyped up, I couldn't wait to see the school again the next day, when my class was having the official tour of the new campus.
The new ETP hub is gorgeous. Of course, I went around the campus to explore what it had in store for us. The new campus is really nothing short of amazing - it isn't only as good as it looks. I think the roof garden has a fantastic view of the surroundings. The campus is always windy throughout, probably because of the "open concept" the campus has. After seeing the campus on Wednesday, I thought there wouldn't be much to see the next day.
Oh, how wrong I was. When I went there on Thursday, we visited other areas of the campus which I didn't catch the day before. Here I am, thinking that a new campus could only be revealed once.
Some of the places we visited were: the F&B's training kitchens/training kitchens (lol, they have lecture kitchens instead of lecture halls), the Hotel suites for the Hospitality students (which I am totally jealous of because each room has a 40" flat screen TV D:), the Center for Service Innovation (unfortunately abbreviated as CSI), and the Library.
I remember JN mentioning something funny when I told him about the "lecture kitchens":
"Wowwtf"
"That's like some cooking show man!" - JN
The hotel suites look exactly like god intended them to be: they look like actual hotel suites. How nice, I bet that helps to facilitate learning alot!
The Center for Service Innovation had idelite (pronounced as I-Delight) rooms galore. idelite rooms are rooms used for service training. They are rooms with a mounted camera (or, in some cases, mounted cameras) which are used to record Role-play scenarios in which students are assessed and tested for their service skills. The original live Role-play is graded, however, I believe the captured footage will be views by a panel of lecturers and then be graded by them, too. In any case, you don't want to make a fool out of yourself on camera. That's how service training in idelite works.
There were 2 types of idelite rooms I saw, neither of which were like the ones at our old campus at Clementi. One room had the ability project, from the back of the screen (using a backscreen projector), a panoramic image, which serves as a background for your role-play scenario. As the image is a projected image, you can choose any image that you'd like to be projected on the back for your scenario, creating a backdrop.
The other idelite room had a portion of the room cordoned off using soundproof glass panels. Inside of these soundproof glass panels, is where the Role-play will take place. People inside will not be able to hear anything outside. People outside can still hear what is going on inside though, as there is an audio feed from inside the room to the outside during recording.
The library, to begin with, has 2 storeys. There is a cafe outside of the library, which is actually a Bubble Tea shop known as Each-A-Cup. The second storey is interesting. It is an area for discussions. If you think that your discussion is going to be a little...loud, then you could book some of the rooms available (I call them loud discussion rooms), so that your loud discussions don't disturb other library users. Also, on the second storey of the library, there are 80 computers for use, at your disposal, complete with printing facilities.
Why did I get my mum to buy me this new laptop again? FML. (well, Clementi's computers were really crap anyway)
Last but not least, we have a full-fledged food court for a canteen. Did I mention that every single location that I mentioned here were all air-conditioned? I think i'm going to have to start bringing my jacket to school.
On Tuesday that same week, I went for my job training. I thought it wouldn't be fun at all (hey, that's the price of getting paid), but it actually was pretty enjoyable. I'll admit: the lesson was dry. Very, very dry. It was long-winded, too. However, the trainer managed to lighten things up by cracking jokes every now and then. The thing is, his jokes were genuinely funny. They were not the lame kind. Sweet.
We were thought on how to serve high-brow customers. How to check in, and how things work behind-the-scenes. How orders are disseminated, which orders you should follow, and navigating around. Basically, the entire SOP (standard operational procedure) was rolled out to us. I'm pretty nervous about serving guests with high expectations of service standards, but I see it as a challenge...
..and i'll take up the challenge!
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Sem 3 holidays, part 1
Monday, June 21, 2010
I'm having my holidays now, halfway through my third semester. In terms of projects and assignments, I think that this is as hectic as it can get. I can't possibly imagine a higher magnitude. Anyway, because it's the holidays now, I think it is good to lay off some of those school-related stuff, and take a high heave of fresh air of all things recreational (anything that floats your boat!).
I heard from Kai Hong that he was going midnight cycling on the 18th June. It was nice of him allow me to tag along, really. I thought I could handle cycling pretty easily, but cycling overnight proved to be a much tougher challenge than I thought. It was quite a lot of fun, and Kai Hong's antics seriously makes you laugh 'till your stomach hurts from the inside. I managed a good 7 hours I think, but my legs started to give way (leg cramps) moving forward. I believed we cycled from East Coast Park to Bedok reservoir and back, covering a total distance of 70km+ on bike. Kai Hong, Aysrad, and Wen Ping's plan was to go the same (extended) route again overnight, but after the first 6 hours, I was blown. My legs were just so numb with cramps.
I think I took a good 2 days to recover. I may not have had the chance to cycle the extended route as planned, but this is far better than my previous attempt as overnight cycling, where I couldn't go on after just 3 hours. It was pretty horrible, and not mentioning embarrassing.
I wanted to sleep at McDonald's while they cycled the extended route overnight and came back for a rest and head back home, but they couldn't bear to see me sleeping alone at McDonald's. We then took a cab back home from there. Guys, I thank you so much. Thanks for everything you have done for me. And i'm really sorry you guys couldn't cycle the extended route for the second time overnight. So so sorry.
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Dead or Alive
Sunday, June 20, 2010
I haven't updated this blog for a while now. I'm not sure about going all-out with updating this blog on a regular basis. I feel that blogging just is not as huge as it used to be - now there's Twitter, a microblogging service. Gone are the lengthy posts with colorful texts surrounded with edited photos slapped together with animated GIFs and topping it all, some annoying background music (which may be a little jarring sometimes).
I used to love blogging. Or at least I think I did. I used to write with so much passion. I just can't do the same now. I think blogging has left a permanent scar in me - and that is because what I have written in the past has hurt people before. When I know that I have hurt people, I feel hurt too. What you do comes right back at you, and you are left all alone to take responsibility for it. That is exactly how I got scarred.
I hope that, whenever possible, I can write straight from what I feel at heart. While doing so, I also hope that I can exercise a little responsibility in my content. The main governing principle behind that is simple: What I feel shouldn't hurt people.
I used to love blogging. Or at least I think I did. I used to write with so much passion. I just can't do the same now. I think blogging has left a permanent scar in me - and that is because what I have written in the past has hurt people before. When I know that I have hurt people, I feel hurt too. What you do comes right back at you, and you are left all alone to take responsibility for it. That is exactly how I got scarred.
I hope that, whenever possible, I can write straight from what I feel at heart. While doing so, I also hope that I can exercise a little responsibility in my content. The main governing principle behind that is simple: What I feel shouldn't hurt people.
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communication is key
Saturday, June 5, 2010
"Everything should be in moderation, should it not?"
I'm having issues understanding myself. Some people say i'm an effective communicator. For some others, they say I have areas to improve - and they go as far as to correct me. My mum is one such person.
I think they're right sometimes. It makes me feel lost more than anything else (despite the help). I appreciate the care, I really do, but I feel contradicted. Perhaps it's all just a subjective matter, but I think that's just the easy explanation out. =/
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