darkholme.pseudoplace.com

Thank You, Mrs Lim!

kelvin — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 17:18:45 +0000

I’m sitting at my computer now at 1.11am in the morning, keeping my lovely wife company, as she works on her new business venture. Kick-started this blog post as a tribute to her.

In the past few weeks, work has been getting me extremely busy. Those who know where I work will definitely know what the pace is like!

Anyway, all this while, my wife has been there for me, supporting me in many different ways – she’s been doing majority of the housework, making sure that my shirts and pants for work are ironed, doing the grocery shopping and making fantastic meals just like this one -

In addition to all of that, she’s also been my sounding board for ideas about work (she’s damn intelligent and also has tremendous experience working in my department – which she left to pursue her dreams).

I just wanted to take a moment to thank her for supporting me and I will make time to give back to her in whatever way she needs.

Thank you, Mrs Lim!

(hmm… sure to get tekan by her for calling her that! hee hee).

Friday the 13th (Aug 2010)

kelvin — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 11:29:55 +0000

Yesterday was Friday the 13th. To most pantang* people, it has an association with bad luck (however, I must admit, it’s more of an ang moh* thing).

However, to 43 people (myself included), every Friday the 13th brings back good memories. That’s because Friday the 13th is the day that we decided would be OUR day.

The 43 people I’m writing about are the members of the Victoria Junior College 13th Students’ Council. We were councillors in 1996 and 1997. This year marks 14 years of friendship.

Last year, we tried to organise a larger outing because it was 13 years of 13th Council, but I was too busy with work to make it work. I think many of my fellow councillors are also extremely busy, either with work, or with their new families (lots of children born last year). All in all it was a decent turnout.

(Standing L to R: Me, Victor, Salik, Zhengshao, Dehui, Val Lai, Dino
Seated L to R: Govind, Wei Lee, Lu Ping, Mei Kuen, Tong Teck)

(L to R: Victor, James, Dean, Wei Lee, Salik, Govind, Lu Ping)

Looking back, I’m really glad to have met this group of people. Although we’re all in various parts of the world right now, some with families, some newly married, we will always remember our days as the 13th Students’ Council.

Happy Friday the 13th.

Afternote: Did you know that there will always be at least one Friday the 13th each year? Also, if the first of a month is a Sunday, that means the second Friday will be on the 13th!

*pantang = superstitous
*ang moh = caucasian (literally “red hair”)

Happy National Day, Singapore!

kelvin — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 16:08:28 +0000

Yup, the NDPeeps Mascot (Merlion) isn’t really a cat, but it made me think of LOLcats.

I can has NDP tiketz?

Happy National Day, Singapore!

Navy Open House 2010

kelvin — Tue, 18 May 2010 08:40:34 +0000

Navy Open House 2010

For those who don’t already know, the Navy Open House 2010 will be taking place this Saturday and Sunday 22 and 23 May 2010 at the Changi Naval Base. Visitors will get to see the different vessels including the Victory-class Missile Corvettes, Fearless-class Patrol Vessels, Mine Countermeasure Vessel, Landing Ship Tanks and the mighty Frigates.

Frigate

Missile Corvette

For the ladies, you might be interested in seeing the very muscular and tanned Naval Divers!

To find out more visit http://www.mindef.gov.sg/noh or the Navy Open House Facebook Page http://www.facebook.com/navyopenhouse

I’m going on a special preview this Thursday with DK, Victor, Clauds, Qiquan, Mustakim, Lucian, Hisham, Diana, Eevon, Clara and Feliza, and I’m bringing my Diana F+ camera with Instant Back – will take lots of photos!

Updated 5.10pm

CyberpioneerTV’s going to have a series of videos on the Navy Open House too. Here’s the first one that’s been released:

You’re not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy

kelvin — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 17:57:47 +0000

It’s interesting moving to a different organisation. Things that you have been taking for granted suddenly can’t be taken for granted anymore. Your frame of reference needs adjustment. Your weapons need sharpening or you need to learn a new style of fighting.

That’s why I guess many people dislike change. It’s uncomfortable. It’s bumpy. It’s inconvenient. Why make life harder for myself, if I can just cruise along, doing the thing that I’ve always been doing?

What’s important to recognise in these situations, is that change is the only constant, i.e., change will always happen, whether you like it or not. So don’t bother fighting the change, but learn how to deal with it. Like how some martial arts are all about using your enemy’s force, re-channeling it to defeat your enemy.

Change makes you re-frame and drives the need to re-centre. Those that do well despite constant changes are the strongest of them all. Because they know at first instance, how to move in ways that will derive the most benefit to self in any change situation.

Hence the need to be resilient.

However, understanding this and putting it into practice are two different things. And that’s why there’s a need for change management.

The biggest lesson that I’ve learnt so far, is that things are not going to be plain sailing, but if I can thrive despite of the bumps, I’ll be a stronger person from it. Like they say, whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

To be honest, I’m quite affected by something that happened tonight. I believe that it’s because I took things for granted. I thought the situation was the same as before. But I was wrong. I guess one other thing I’ve learnt is that when you are in a safe environment, shielded by others, you can get weak. Not prepared for the slings and arrows that fly and are not blocked by the shields.

Well, nothing to do now but to pick myself up, learn from the incident, and move on. This incident has taught me in other ways, what I should not be as I progress in my life.

Good night.

Looking Back at 2009

kelvin — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 14:25:51 +0000

This post is a little late, considering that it’s already the 10th 17th 18th day of 2010! It’s also very long… so please bear with me. If you don’t like to read so much, skip to the end.

2009 was a very hectic year for me – so many different things happened! Before I go into my thoughts on the year, let’s just do a recap of what happened.

January 2009

The highlight was of course the Connexion 2009 event – “Connexion 2009: National Engagement – New Media for the New Generation“.

: Exhibition in the Foyer (image courtesy of Connexion.sg)

Held at the Singapore Management University Admin Building, Connexion 2009 was the inaugural networking session organised by my department for National Education practitioners. This event was significant for me, as it was a coming together of my two key work interests – new media and National Education.

February 2009

Immediately after the craziness of Connexion 2009 was the craziness of Total Defence. In 2009, we asked Singaporeans the fundamental question, “What will you defend?“.

For the longest time, the public has had the perception that Total Defence is something the “gahmen” does, or worse, something for MINDEF/SAF and Home Team agencies to handle. In reality, Total Defence is about every Singaporean playing a part in the defence of the country. “What will you defend?” was a small step in changing the mindset of the general public towards Total Defence, trying to share with them that Total Defence is a personal thing.

In February, I did manage to have some semblance of life outside work, and went to the Sentosa Garden Festival with Victor Tan and some other bloggers.

It was also an opportunity to take out my Diana F+ for a test run. This was by far my best shot to date:

March 2009

Attended my first Blogout, organised by The Digital Movement. Guest starring Preetam Rai (I remember that his was a fantastic presentation, about how to pick up Japanese girls.

March was also the period for department workplan.

And on the last day of March, I organised Tweet Tuesday with Claudia. Hmm… should we have another one this year? An annual event??!?? Ha ha.

April 2009

We had the Total Defence Appreciation Function, which marked the end of the high key period for Total Defence. I think the highlight of the function was the after party at Winebar, Zouk! Even my director’s boss joined us for drinks!

I was also privileged to be invited to the Singtel Formula 1 Blogger Event and was given the chance to actually drive the Formula 1 Simulator!

Rounding off the month was Nexus’ 10th Anniversary celebrations. We were given the opportunity to visit the Singapore Flyer and Marina Barrage!

Check out the funky orange umbrellas (that’s our anniversary gift!)

May 2009

Sydney!!! Finally took a break from work to go on a slightly longer holiday. Climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge, revisited my Uni, and met up with some of my crazy and brilliant Uni mates.

May was also probably when the most significant event of 2009 happened. I asked the woman I love to marry me – this was on her birthday.

She said yes

June 2009

A couple of things happened in June, like my cousin’s wedding, and an ad hoc outing to have seafood dinner at Seafood Paradise, Defu Lane, but it was also the month where Ai Lin and I revisited Jurong Bird Park for a fun date. It’s been like ages since we went there. Here’s a photo of us at the world’s tallest man-made waterfall. It’s so tall that I couldn’t capture it in the shot!

July 2009

Played host to my uncle, aunt and cousin, Claire from the UK. This is a shot of them at Wild Rocket, Emily Hill. Fantastic food! Must check it out if you haven’t been there.

It was also around the time for National Day Parade and we had a fantastic launch of the NDP Roadshow, featuring two of my branch’s projects – the My Pledge Short Film Competition and Singapore My Home 2009 Photo Competition. The roadshow was in Toa Payoh HDB Hub.

But it’s not just all work and no play – my department had a cohesion event at my Deputy Director’s place. Mahjong, Ugly Dolls and other board game mania.

August 2009

Met up again with the great bunch of friends I made in Junior College at the annual council gathering.

If you’re familiar with VJC’s architecture, this is near where the link bridge used to be. We’d often hang out on the link bridge, playing carrom, blowing soap bubbles or some other inane activity. Ah… youth!

Not to forget National Day. It was the best show IMHO for the past 5 years.

Immediately after NDP came one of the most challenging periods of 2009, my In-Camp Training. I was deputy head of my branch, but the heads of the branch and another branch had deferred, so I ended up double-hatting both roles. Shitty period, but managed to pull through with the help of my NS buddies. Here are some of them at the Youth Olympic Games Launch.

September 2009

Army Open House. Work, nuff said… although I did manage to go on some of the rides and snap a few photos for the Pioneer Magazine competition. Alas, no luck… didn’t win.

October 2009

My cousin Charles and his girlfriend Jemma stopped by Singapore as part of their round-the-world holiday. I hadn’t seen Charles in over 15 years. It was really great meeting up with him again.

I managed to organise a dinner outing – cousins only! No adults allowed! Ok, we’re all adults now, but you get the point. Charles and Jemma are the ang moh looking ones (just in case you can’t tell).

November 2009

I had the privilege of travelling to Chengdu, China for the World Cyber Games 2009.

You can see here the massive exhibition hall in which the games took place. I think that it’s larger than the Singapore EXPO.

I didn’t really have a great time in Chengdu. I didn’t like the food and the weather was bad. And it’s pretty polluted as well. I think I won’t be going to China for a while.

Back in Singapore, I had the opportunity to bring one of my friends, Janice to the Marina Barrage. She had never been there. Managed to capture this shot, which I’m a bit proud of:

December 2009

Finally! We’re in December. Has it been an ordeal reading so far? Ok, it’s been hard for me blogging about this too!

So my first real blogger event – HPB’s World AIDS Day event.

Also managed to organise the long awaited reunion of the VJC 13th Students’ Council. Although not many turned up, it was good catching up with some of the people whom I hadn’t seen for ages like Mei Kuen and Lu Ping.

24seven’s Hat-py Party on 30 Dec.

And the year ended, with me crossing Malaysian Customs (at the stroke of midnight!) on my trip to Kuala Lumpur with Ai Lin’s family.

Thoughts

I think that for me, 2009 sped by like a non-stop speeding train. I was really amazed in the last few weeks of 2009 to realise that an entire year had gone by already. I met new friends (esp. the 24seven peeps), reunited with old ones (student council, reservist), and really kick-started my photography hobby.

2009 was also a milestone year for me. I turned 30. That’s gotta be significant right? I guess, looking back, although work was really shit at some times, 2009 was overall, a challenge and an enjoyment.

I’m reminded of Steve Job’s famous Stanford University address in 2005 – his three stories – about connecting the dots, love and loss, and death.

Connecting the Dots. Steve said that “you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever.”

Somehow, the events of 2009 seem to hold some sort of common thread – social media and photography – doing the things that I love. Friendships – how a group of 17 year old teens can still stay connected 13 years after they first met, how cousins who haven’t met in 15 years can reconnect so easily, how friends from a different culture can remain in contact, and what the future holds for the friends I just met this year. It’s looking bright.

Love and Loss. Jobs – The “only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”

Reflecting on the past year, I realise that I really enjoy photography and social media and keeping in contact with people. I haven’t found what I want to do for the rest of my life, but I believe that these three things hold something in their combination.

Death. “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.”

Not really sure how this relates to 2009, but I think it holds something for 2010. 2010 promises to be a great year. I’m getting married to the woman I love, and I’m embarking on a next phase in my career. I’m excited about the future. Are you?

The Importance of Knowing Intent

kelvin — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 14:38:55 +0000

Thank God It’s Friday. I’m feeling a bit under the weather tonight, so at home resting after a nice dinner at Dunman Food Centre with Ai Lin.

This week was an interesting one in terms of working life. I had a new colleague join my branch on Monday – fresh grad from NUS. So this week has sort of been partly doing work, partly trying to welcome and mentor my new colleague.

This week was also the week for performance evaluation by the bosses. Still don’t know what the results are, and won’t know for a while, but this and the arrival of a new colleague brought on some deep thoughts about working life.

The more I work, the more I realise how important it is to know your objectives. I first came across this in 2006, when I went for my first reservist, which was a Basic Intelligence Officer Course. That was where I met CPT (now MAJ, I think) Edmund Yap. He is one funny fellow, but what he taught has stayed with me since that course:

“Always start with your intent. What is your intent? What is your objective? Focus on that first”

It seems as if it’s something really straightforward and easy to do, but in reality, it’s really hard to do. Sometimes in life, we catch ourselves doing something and ask ourselves, “why am I doing this?”. Usually, it’s in the case where you think you’re wasting your time doing something rather meaningless. Or in other cases, we spend so much effort trying to deal with exact details of how we’re doing stuff, that we forget the bigger picture.

I’m really guilty of this sometimes. I spend way to much time trying to figure out if a website button should be red or blue, instead of looking at the bigger issues and dealing with them.

Please don’t get me wrong. Details are important – meaning that there’s sometimes a need to pay attention to the details in order to get things right. It’s important then to decide which details are important, and which aren’t so important. I think this ability to discern only comes with experience.

Anyway, the intent and objective of any project is the key. You should always go back to the intent when making a major decision about the details. My ex-boss used to say, “Don’t spend too much time looking at the tree, until you can’t see the forest that it’s part of”.

Come to think of it, this post is actually about two things:

1) Being clear about your objective and always going back to this objective when faced with a decision. Don’t let the details determine what your objective is.

2) Don’t worry about the details unnecessarily if you still can achieve your objective. When you’re spending too much time on a decision on the details, stop and ask yourself, in the bigger scheme, is this important. If it is, how does the larger objective get affected by this detail. If it doesn’t affect the bigger scheme, decide and move on.

So knowing your objective and intent is important. Not just in projecs but in life. So what is/are your objective(s) in life? Bear this in mind and work the details to achieve them.

Ideas on effective environmental scanning in the digital age

kelvin — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 02:05:39 +0000

My colleague, Lishan, sent me this article in April 2009 and I only managed to have a look at it now. It has more relevance now with regard to a specific project that I’m about to embark on in my organisation.

The article covers how environment scanning should go beyond your current field of work and our industry and look towards other global trends. The tail end of the article then talks about how to harness technology to minimise time wastage in collecting information.

I think it’s also good that the article talks about the culture of an organisation, and whether it is ready to accept this new form of environmental scanning.

“Good scanning takes time, so you need to believe in it, and know its value… key benefits … are:

You will get your thinking outside the four walls of your company
You can detect change that will affect you earlier
Technology can help you leverage the value of your time and effort:
- Using information and networking tools
- Looking for short cuts
- Making it an ongoing conversation

–

About Foresight Culture

Foresight Culture is a blog devoted to insights on how organizations can effectively and successfully keep their eyes on the future. Its author, John Mahaffie of Leading Futurists LLC is a futurist who has worked with organizations since the mid-1980s in exploring the future.

I think it’s also good that the article talks about the culture of an organisation, and whether it is ready to accept this new form of environmental scanning.

“Good scanning takes time, so you need to believe in it, and know its value… key benefits … are:

You will get your thinking outside the four walls of your company
You can detect change that will affect you earlier
Technology can help you leverage the value of your time and effort:
- Using information and networking tools
- Looking for short cuts
- Making it an ongoing conversation”

24seven’s Hat-py Party

kelvin — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 14:25:46 +0000

Sorry for the belated post! The new year has been such a busy period for me, went to Kuala Lumpur (more on that in a later post) and got back to work with shitloads to do (basically because I’ve been slacking a bit near the holiday period).

Anyway, I was invited to the Year End Blogger Hat-py Party by the kind, lovely and pretty folks at 24seven (oh, Kris… you can be pretty too right? no prob? ok, handsome lah). The party was held on the second last day of the recently ended decade (30 Dec 2009 for those of you who have problems with dates).

Anyway, I thought it would be a great time to try out my X’mas present from Ai Lin – the Diana F+ Instant Back!! For the unitiated, the Diana F+ is a remake of a dirt-cheap 1960s 120mm (medium format) film camera. It generates soft & dreamy images, super-saturated colors, unpredictable blurring, and random contrast. The Instant Back allows me to use the Fujifilm Instax Minis with my Diana F+ for instant lomo goodness! Drools…

ok, sorry for that random outburst. where was I? Oh yeah, I got to try out my x’mas pressie.

I decided then that it would be fun to test out the Instant Back and shoot people at the party.

If you haven’t realised by now, it’s a Hat-py Party cos the theme was Crazy Hats! And did we see many different different hats that night:

There was the condom (ribbed) and duck hunter…

The Ris Low (leopard preens), rooster and M1 supporter…

The oversized woman with tiny hat and pirate (arrrr!!)…

the horny (literally)…

the multi-purpose 3-in-1 hair/hat/tiara combo…

and others…

and not forgetting the ugly mohawk worn by Ben while standing next to his lovely wife…

oh hang on… Benjamin’s not wearing a hat in that one… oops (hee hee hee – I’m kidding man! I always like your hair, or at least the fact that you can get away with it while still in gahmen).

We were treated to an aural feast of music by the Black Diamond Ninjas and Only After Coffee. To be honest, I wasn’t really listening to the music cos I was too preoccupied playing with my lomo. Sorry guys, but from what I heard at the rehearsal, you sounded pretty good.

The hosts 24seven had a whole line-up of games as well, in conjunction with the Singapore Art Museum (who was venue sponsor). They also had Bingo, of which I won the “whole card” round! woo hoo! Never won bingo in my life. I won a complimentary visit to Sentosa 4D Magix “Pirates” and CineBlast “Desperados”. Must have been the pirate hat I wore.

… but just hope that doesn’t spoil my chances at the TOTO that molemole and I bought that afternoon. Huat Ah!

Anyway, fun was had by all that night and it was great meeting past acquaintances (like brad aka ladyironchef) and new people too like dblchin and gang (sorry forgot your names liao)

Oh and don’t forget the ginormous goody bag which was given to us… check out the loot! It’s like X’mas all over again.

Thanks once again to Eevon , Diana, Claudia and the man.. Kris from 24seven for a great party.

Many thanks to the sponsors as well! Thank you National Heritage Board, Singapore Art Museum, Samsung Mobile, Sentosa, Singtel, The Lens Men, Sentosa 4D Magix, Sentosa CineBlast, MegaZip Adventure Park, Wave House Sentosa!

Did you know that 24seven’s so addicted to parties that they’re throwing one again on 13 Jan 2010? It’s a Potluck BBQ and Games Night. I am excited!!! Wondering if there will be alcohol there… maybe I should bring some.

—-

For more photos from the party, check out the following slideshow of my photos (below) and other photos by 24seven.

I blog because I want to

kelvin — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:28:08 +0000

I blog because I want to.

I blog because I need something to document my life.

My blog is mine.

If you blog too, be in control! Your blog is yours! YOU decide what goes onto it and you have the right to do anything you want (or not want).

I blog at darkholme.pseudoplace.com.

What about you?