Difference in Time

wow... it was unexpected that the time passed so fast, and today has come to the end of Apr '10. How time flies. What ever it is, i gonna take this hour to share about the time difference which i encountered recently.

I was making a call to Philippines Agent two days ago for work matters. I called up around 1pm to look for a person. The operator from the receiver side replied that the person was not in yet, as it was still their lunch hour, would be back after 1pm. So, i decided to make the call again after forty five minutes later.

When i saw the time struck at 1.45pm, i made the call again to look for the person. And was replied by saying that "I'm sorry, she was still having her lunch, can you call back later after lunch?" I was feeling quite weird at first place as i thought that the time in Indonesia is same as Malaysia time as the time lined on same Greenwich Mean Time (GMT +8)?

I put down the phone and checked the time online, and only after that i found out not all place in Indonesia are 8 hours ahead of GMT. Some places such as Jakarta and Sumatra are GMT +7, which means that their time are one hour slower than Malaysia.

I realized that it is important for us to understand the difference time zone of different places so that we can adapt to their cultures and living styles, especially if the places linked to our job. I will be more alert to the time zone now to ensure that i call at right time next time. And by the way, the international dial code for Indonesia is +62.

Presenting Speech is like a Roller Coaster

As usual, i will record down what i have learned in my blog as all these are worth while to be remembered. I learned a new technique for public speaking presentation yesterday; i.e. presenting speech is like a roller coaster actually. Have you ever rode on a roller coaster? How does it feel like? Does it come in speedy way in all the way? Or does it have a slower motion or stop at intervals?

To be able enjoy the full excitement, roller coaster will have speedy and slower movement according to where it goes to. At certain time, it may stop and hang up at halfway to increase the excitement.

Similarly, when we do presentation, it is necessary for us to have 'pause' to make the audience think as well as to create suspense to the audience. Let the silence speak. When there is some seconds for audience to think, you actually have let the audience rewind back on your speech and drawing the story line of the speech in their memory. With this, it can help in engaging the audience more to the speech.

Hereby, i would also like to share part of the theory shared by Bryan Tracy "The first party to make a concession is the party who wants to deal the most. You must therefore avoid being the first one to make a concession, even a small concession. Instead, be friendly and interested, but remain SILENT." (taken from http://www.markgarbelotto.com/tag/brian-tracy-quotes/)

Packet Mee

Packet Mee, I'm loving it! Why do people feel happy when taking packet mee? This includes myself too as each time when i am bored or dull, i will feel being lifted up after taking packet mee. So, what is the ingredients done with packet mee that has such an effect? hmm.... i wonder. Ha ha...

The irresistible nice smell coming from the pot while cooking the packet mee increases our appetite. And i've also found out that each time when i am sick or lack of appetite, packet mee is one of the choices of food that i can take to fill my stomach.

And for sure, we can't take this mee too often although the mee is nice to taste, easy to cook, easy to carry, easy to add ingredients, save time....... but one thing, you may not know which i heard from one nutritionist, she said that two packets of maggi mee require a month to be fully cleared out from body. Imagine, the MSG stay in our body for a month..... hmm....

Flowers make my day a great day!

Ah! Beautiful Roses!

The beauty of Roses make my day a great day!

:) 

Busy April

Ah! The Month of April is a busy, busy month for me. I've signed up myself in three courses in this month:
(1) Adult Public Speaking Course (lasted for two months)
(2) Basic Sign Language Class (lasted for three months)
(3) Basic Graphic Animation (lasted for three months) 


Upcoming Activities:
(1) Preparing Club Account Statement (to be submitted end of this month)
(2) Swimming Course (in consideration - month proposed - Jul)
(3) KL Trip (6 - 9 May '10)


What I've learned so far in the course attended above:

Public Speaking Class:
I attend the course at Lighthouse Education together with my little brother, Justin and it's been an enjoyable study during the whole session. So far, i have attended two session and during the last session, we were asked to do an Ice Breaker Speech. Through the Ice Breaker Speech, I found out one greatest secret of my little brother, he actually did very well in his public speaking! Go! Go! Justin!

Sign Language Class:
I attend the course at my church together with my big brother, Ken Yong and some friends. I'm also being with the lesson two times. The tutor, Mr. Victor is a great teacher, he simplifies and teaches us the easy way to memorize and learn the signs. So far, we have learned numbers, letter A - Z, some basic form of communication and some sign language related to family. The purpose of the class is so that one day, we can use the sign language learned to spread gospel.

Figure 1: I Love You in sign language letters

Figure 2: Sign Letter of My Name

Figure 3: I Love You in sign language (one sign to express all)

Graphic Animation Class:
I also attend the course at church. We are taught some of the history of graphics and some of the ways to do basic graphic. For the previous three lesson attended, we are exposed to graphic drawing and how to make a movement to a graphic. Quite an interesting course, hmm.... but i'm quite slow in catching up with this. Guess that i need to spend some time to study more on this when free.

Basically, these are what i'm up to within this month and the following months. Gotta go to have my lunch now! See you in next blog!  =)

The Sandwich Principle

Last week i learned about 'The Sandwich Principle' in public speaking class. This principle is inspired by Mary Kay 's famous quote "Sandwich every bit of criticism between 2 heavy layers of praise". So, what is 'The Sandwich Principle' about?

When we look at the sandwich itself,

The sandwich consists of two layers of bread - top and bottom and in between the bread, there are fillings. Now, let me ask you, what is the most important of the sandwich? Is it the top layer of bread, the bottom layer of bread or the fillings of bread?

Aha! The fillings! We all like to know the fillings of the bread before we purchase, aren't we? The fillings are the main part to determine the overall taste of the sandwich. And without the fillings or rather say that if the sandwich is a 'kosong' sandwich, the sandwich won't be whole, right?

Actually, what I'm trying to link here is in our real life, sometimes, we are required to EVALUATE' or to give some comments to people ideas, proposals or speech presentation. In this, comments should be encouraging and helping people to improve.  The connections of sandwich to comments goes like this:

Top Layer = Positive Acknowledgement
Fillings = Areas for Improvement
Bottom Layer = Positive Acknowledgment

You got the idea now? It is important to start a comment by praising or giving positive acknowledgment so that the person know what are their strengths and to continue motivate them in related task. After that, we go for the areas for improvement and give our best suggestion to the person on how he or she can improve by suggesting constructive ideas.  After giving the suggestions, end by telling the person his/ her greatest strengths and summarize the overall ideas.

For my case, being a Toastmasters, giving evaluation to other members' speech is one of our roles and things learned. I found out that giving evaluation is a useful technique, not only helping others to improve, but also can let us have clearer view on our own strengths/ weakness and improve our speech too.

The Climb

This song is released in March last year, 2009 and sung by Miley Cyrus. I've been listening to this song quite lots of times but have not actually pay attention on the lyrics of the song. Few days ago, i heard another version of this song, which have actually captured my whole mind for the song. The song is just too amazing, meaningful, and catchy to listen. I like the lyrics very much; feel calm and relax when listening to the song. And the song particular reminds me on a friend who is a very optimistic person and encourages me a lot through words. "Keep on moving; keep on Climbing; it's all about the Climb!"

Click for the song "The Climb"

Lyrics:

I can almost see it
That dream I'm dreamin' but
There's a voice inside my head sayin'
You'll never reach it

Every step I'm takin'
Every move I make feels
Lost with no direction
My faith is shakin'

But I
Gotta keep tryin'
Gotta keep my head held high

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose

Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waitin' on the other side
It's the climb

The struggles I'm facin'
The chances I'm takin'
Sometimes might knock me down but
No, I'm not breakin'

And I may not know it
But these are the moments that
I'm gonna remember most, yeah
Just gotta keep goin' and I

I gotta be strong
Just keep pushin' on 'cause

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Sometimes you're gonna have to lose

Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waitin' on the other side
It's the climb
Yeah, yeah

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose

Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waitin' on the other side
It's the climb
Yeah, yeah, yeah

Keep on movin'
Keep climbin'
Keep the faith
Baby, yeah

It's all about
It's all about the climb

Keep the faith
Keep your faith
Woah, woah

(The red-colored words are my favourite part of the whole lyrics.)

For piano lovers who are interested to learn to play this song, please click the link below for the music sheet link:

Taken from www.ahdoe.com on "The Climb" Music Sheet

Friends, there are always ups and downs in our lives. No matter how is it, remember to look upon the bright side of the whole situation. We can always earn new skills and experience from our ups and downs. Never give up on the things you want; keep on moving and we will reach our dreams!