AGM Friday

For AGM this year, I will be presenting the directions and goals of the 3rd management committee.

One of which would be supplying all sub committees with their very own Vanguard class Soviet Submarine!

And all ADMers will receive a zebra on a dirt bike.

=D

Just kidding.

I was just sorting through the dead-boring slides I came up with in the middle of the witching hours this morning, adding strange little oddities to them… See if anyone notices during my presentation… Like a weird chihuahua gnawing on the end of my sentence. Sing Ying offered to help me with the slides later tonight, despite her insane timetable and work schedule. Must try to finish as much as humanly possible before she comes over, so there’s not much left to slog over and we can both have an early night.

AGM… First time I’ll be speaking during AGM, even though I’ve been in the committee for 3 years now. This year alot of new things will be introduced, like crash courses, weekly film screenings, monthly live music, monthly wall painting, etc… And a whole bunch of huge events, talks, joint events, joint projects…

I don’t know if anyone would be interested in hearing our plans for the next year. Though I’m more enthused about this year’s turnout considering all the buzz surrounding the elections. This year we have 3 nominated positions, instead of just 1 like we had last year. The welfare officer, the publicity officer and the special projects officer. We need passionate and driven people to take up the jobs… It’s no basket of apples really, being in the committee. But it’s really something that’s difficult to quantify in any language. It’s something you learn along the way.

Ah well… My organizer is filling up, my sketchbook is fast running low on pages to scribble on, the plans are being set, agreements being drawn up… Feels like a good year… will be a good year…

you there, the one hiding behind the purple pajamas

Finally got to have that good long meeting with Boo to understand what our current situation is in ADM, NTU and the Student Union. I wouldn’t want to retrace routes we’ve already been down, or barge down paths to dead ends. One week into the job and I’m beginning to realize why you need to be crazy to take up this position.

Good thing I’m as sane as a bag of pink potatoes then. =D

Anyone who’s been in the committee will know it’s a thankless job. We listen, we understand, we come to a solution. But the bottom line comes when some just don’t see what they have, but choose to focus on what they feel is inadequate. I say, let them say what they want! Let them fabricate what stories they have! Bringing us from nowhere to where we are now is no easy task at all, and I am damn proud to be an ADMer who saw ADM grow into what it is today.

The 3rd management committee has great plans for ADM in the next year. As did the 1st management committee. And the 2nd management committee. The goal has never changed. To make the lives of ADMers that much more bearable. And we’ve achieved that goal. I can step down as hon gen, knowing we have done everything in our power (and sometimes beyond our limitations) to better the lives of ADMers. And step up as president, knowing I have immensely large shoes to fill.

It’s nights like these that really get you thinking.

When it’s all over, the curtains drawn, the last note sung and the fat lady already gone home, will people know what we have done? Will anyone notice how we’ve changed their lives? Does it really matter?

I have so many things to think about I don’t know where to even begin penning them down on paper. I don’t even think I have nearly enough pencil lead to last the expanse of considerations I need to take note of. I can’t sleep before 3am every night with the insane number of thoughts murmuring in my mind. And I wake up every morning at 9, scrambling for a pen and paper to write down something that just occurred to me. I’m exploding with a frightening number of pimples, and assaulted with a sudden epidemic of hair loss. All this and we’re not even past AGM yet. Wait till September rolls around. That will be insanity in a bucket of molasses for you.

In the midst of all this madness, it’s a big comfort to know you’re always there to turn to. A huge comfort. More Brobdingnagian than you can possibly imagine the outer limits of absurdity to be. After all the pointless squabbles, the misunderstandings, the trust lost, trust regained, malicious rumors that sprung up from nowhere, the hushed mutterings of the callow in that dingy corner, 6 bowls of soup at dinner, the rain, the sun, the sweat, the tears, the endless nights we fretted together over what couches to buy, the downright psychotic mileage we clocked running from place to place meeting this person, talking to that person, buying these, sourcing for those.

After all that, you’re my best friend in ADM too.

I’m honored you can trust me with something so close to your heart. I won’t let you down.

Promise.

heylookatthatgiraffelet’sgoslideonit’sneck!

Sorry about the title. Glanced over at my roomie’s table and locked gazes with that little wooden giraffe she has there. She keeps telling me giraffes are good for sliding down their necks. Lol…

There’s way too much info swilling around my brain these days. I’ll need to talk to our vice president some time soon to let him know exactly what is bugging me and some solutions we can offer. Then I need to talk to our Hon Gen Sec to ask her opinion as well. The more brains the merrier after all isn’t it?

I have an entire list of people I need to talk to and things I need to think about… I need a notebook… garh… And a file… And an organizer… And I need to stop grabbing random sheets of paper that look remotely clean to scribble any ideas that pop up.

Jain’s lesson on the business of game creation last night left me scrambling for more ideas. What makes us different? What do they want and what do we want? How can we arrive at a win-win situation? Undersell and over-deliver.  Think accountability. Think co-development of an idea. Think marketing. With all the ground work moving beyond NTU that the 3rd management plans to be doing, I think it’s time to look for a legal adviser as well to look through any agreements we might come up with, an idea that occurred to me during the 1st management as well, but there really wasn’t a need for one at the time.

I need to think… When is a good time for the interviews? What kind of person is the right one for the job? What factors should we consider when mulling over the candidates? How do we publicize the interviews? We should do it by today, but I need to confirm a good time, and the 6th is rather dicey for me. But I’m certain the rest of the committee can handle it. But I’d much rather be there as well. This is a big thing for the committee after all.

Mooncake festival. We’re going to have to take it on again this year. How do I delegate work? I’ve broken it down into the basic components already. The committee had some really fun ideas last we met. But we need a bunch of meetings to bring this together. When can I schedule another meeting? I need to talk to Sing Ying…

AGM? What do I say? I need to present the 3rd management and the ideas we have. What are they interested in reading about? How do I organize my convoluted thoughts in rows of black and white when it’s a riot of multicolored-rainbows in my mind? I need to take a group photo of us.

I need to set aside time to do the slides. Probably now before class and later at night.

I still have 1436242 things to think about in the mean time.

Garh…

My brothers are back but I hardly have the time to meet up with them. And my car is in the shop again so I can’t drive out to meet Xuany to play arcade like we always do when he comes back… =( I’m sorry! This weekend okay?

Long day tomorrow in class. Long day on Friday in council meeting. I need to talk to Jun Hao before deciding on talking to the computer engineering president. How can this benefit them? How can we sculpt this to be a win-win situation as well?

I have this niggling feeling at the back of my mind that all my blog posts for a while will all be like this. I just need somewhere to toss my thoughts out on the table, take a good look at them, then arrange them nicely in the bucket of sloosh.

突然想爱你

突然想爱你
在这昏暗的夜里
看著你专注的背影
触动了我的心
突然想爱你
在这拥挤的人群里
哼著你心爱的歌曲
吞没你占领我的心

爱到极度疯狂
爱到心都溃乏
爱到让空气中有你没你都不一样
爱到极度疯枉
爱到(你)无法想像
爱到像狂风吹落的风筝
失去了方向

几乎忘了怎么去呼吸
在每次与你擦肩的瞬息
如今是你让我想起
那停摊已久停摆已久的心灵

爱到极度疯狂
爱到心都溃乏
爱到让空气中有你没你都不一样
爱到极度疯枉
爱到(你)无法想像
爱到像狂风吹落的风筝
失去了方向

Haix. I give up. You win.

Just a few more days…

It feels odd sending out a message to call for the last ever 2nd management comm meeting. It seems like not too long ago when we were all sitting in the crit room introducing ourselves to one another… And not much longer before that I was standing in front of the entire ADM (all 100 of us) at our first ever elections (or second, anyway. Complicated stuff.)

The past two years have been full of so many ups and downs that I haven’t had the time to sit down, catch my breath and reflect. And before I can get the chance to again, the 3rd management comm will commence, bringing with it yet another year saturated with hectic scampering of varying degrees of panic.

I’ve made many friends over the past couple of years. And seen the real, unabridged, not-too-nice side of some. Sure, if I had the option to go back in time, I would try not to fray those threads of friendships. But my stand would remain the same. Integrity and honor is key. As long as my conscience is clear, I can hold my head high and continue walking. We learn, we get up, we grow stronger.

Frustration is like a giant parasitic strangler plant on the banyan tree of energy. It drains the living force out of you, all the while making you look like a standing bowl of noodles. We must release all that frustration to the wind with 3 easy steps.

Fetch a bunch of rambutans.

Find a scuba diver

Then make both rambutan and scuba diver watch as you clop around in Klompens.

Easy isn’t it?  I thought so too. Now all that is done, we can look to working professionally. After all, the aim is the same.

Alright enough. The more I write, the less I make sense. Must plan. Plan, plan, plan.

ADM’s 3rd management Committee

The results are out! Thank you ADM!!!! Now the real work begins. The next year promises to be nothing less than amazing and mind-bogglingly exhausting, but with the line up for the 3rd management committee, I’m confident we can pull it off. =)

ADM’s 3rd management committee comprises of:

Vice President – Jun Hao
Honorary General Secretary – Sing Ying
Financial Controller – Shao Ning
Business Manager – Rachel
Union Representative – Elena

Simply can’t wait to start work with them and check out what all these new minds can bring to ADM! I’ve drawn up a timeline of what we might want to work towards from August 2007 to August 2008. But it really depends on what suggestions the committee might have and working with their input.

I was all prepared for the notorious overnight, 11 hour student council meeting scheduled for this evening but it was rescheduled for next week (making me a tad jittery cause it’s cutting pretty close to our ADM AGM happening only 2.5 hours before). But it was great to take the 30 minutes we had to wait to get to know the other acad club presidents. After all, to make alot of my plans succeed, I foresee plenty of cooperations in the future.

During the AGM we’ll be announcing the nominations for the major heads for each year as well as the foundation group heads. We’ll probably have little slips of paper handed out for people to write down their nominations and drop them into the respective major boxes and foundation boxes. Then look through them over the weekend to elect the new student representatives. The communication system will do wonders for the workings of this school. I can feel it in all my roots and IKs.

Speaking of Maya, the models that Melanie gives during class doesn’t seem to open on my Maya.. =\ I need to do the next assignment in school… Sigh… WHEN?!?!?! Probably tomorrow night I’ll stay in school to do work… Garh…

And this is an awesome animation. I love the character designs, the rendering, the timing and all the eye-popping follow through. =D  Great animation.

Ah well… Our first meeting will be on Monday… Shall remember to take a group picture… =) Plenty to tell them. I’m even resorting to printing powerpoint handouts…

Argh… alot to plan… The past few nights and every free minute has been spent planning, scheduling, planning again, all the while tying up things on the 2nd management’s side.

Okay. Enough banter. Time to work again.

Of Rallies, Elections and other such mindblowingly inane stuff

I officially haven’t slept well in 3 weeks now.

I’m past the stage of increased glucose breakdown and now just have a really tired body to match my over-excited mind. The past couple of days have been the election rallies and it’s great to see that more people turned up this year.

Thinking about future plans for adm is really draining. But it’s good that things are worked out now, so when the 3rd management comm begins work proper (whoever gets elected into the committee anyway) they have some worked out ideas ready for use should they choose to execute them.

I’ve learned a whole lot about myself and other people through the course of this year’s elections. Politics was never a game I wanted to play. And I’m very relieved that even though Danny decided not to run, he still shared with me his opinions and plans for the committee. Some of which are very viable such as the setting up of the system for student initiatives. My direction was very much fixed on the bigger picture and bringing ADM beyond NTU.

Tomorrow will be the elections. And ADM will decide who they think can bring them further.

Tomorrow is also Siew Lian Yiyi’s birthday. So I’ll be rushing home in the evening. Maybe I’ll giver her a walk cycle for her birthday. Or a bouncing ball.

Been trying to teach myself Game Maker scripting this afternoon… It feels alot like when I was struggling to learn html or max scripting. Garh… Programming…

Forensic science was really interesting today. We had a guest speaker who was an actual forensic pathologist. He was very interesting really, though he kept cracking jokes about the people whose pictures he was showing us. And the images were so gory and in such multitude that I fell asleep after 1 hour and 15 minutes of bloody messes.

I had some chocolate muffin today. =D

Does anyone know how to program websites? I’m looking for someone who is pretty nifty at it to program something rather challenging and possibly hair-loss-inducing. Any takers?

Several Days later…

It’s been a good few days since my last post and I’ve found my attention 100% absorbed by elections, another 80% to the stepping down video, and 50% on my school work. I feel like I’ve grown several more brains to try to accommodate everything that’s going on at once. It’s 1230pm now and I just got up. It’s the first time in 2 weeks I’m sleeping for more than 4 hours.

The past week seemed like a strange blur the more I try to look back at it. The planning, the thinking, the breaking down of goals, vision and events into 3 simple time dimensions for execution. Working out the kinks and replanning until I have a solid plan for ADM. No one can say what is the perfect next step for us, but still being in our infancy, what we need are plans that work. Not plans that just sound fantastic. Well, that’s my take on it anyway.

My first posters are up (and I’m currently printing more to plaster in S3.1). Spent a horrid amount of time trying to cut out the little men on the posters. But, if anything I hope it gets people down to the rally to hear what I have to say before making their decision. I may not be the most well-known persona in ADM, but I sincerely hope the voters’ choices are based on our plans. Not for any other reason.

Still preparing a volley of things before the weekend is up. For one, my rally speech, a set of rebuttals, and a clear and concise plan of everything I planned to happen to handover, in the event I don’t get elected. After all, we’re all here for ADM.

Ah well… Management committee, it’s a thankless job. I’ve known that since my first year in it. No one needs to know what we’ve done for them. As long as they have the benefits. Some say I’m idealistic. But I suppose it’s always taken a bit of idealism to set great things in motion.

Plan of Action

With elections just around the corner (if you take the weekend as some form of obtuse angle in the time space continuum) I’ve been focusing my energies and spare time formulating a detailed plan for the 3rd Management Committee. Whether I’m elected or not, there has to be some form of plan. I’m not exactly sure who else is running for the position of president, but even if ADM votes someone else into the seat, I’ll present my ideas to the new president and hope he/she will listen.

Firstly, I have a very simple vision. Visibility. All my long, mid and short term plans are geared towards the visibility of ADM students not only within NTU, but also in Singapore, and maybe even beyond our dirty shores. I can’t share too much here, but I would be a hell lot more detailed during the rally.

Welfare is also something that is resting heavy on my mind. I’m collecting the views and opinions of ADMers and fitting all this into my short and mid term goals.

The election form has a simple but immense question at the end of it.

Why?

Continuity. Initiative. And that bold step forward.

Leaders need not be loud, out-spoken, extrovert. There are more essential qualities than having a large diaphragm and loud voice that make a leader.

Well, now it’s all up to ADM. My plans drawn up, guns at the ready, future 20-20. May the best candidate win.