END OF 3 MONTH INTERNSHIP!

today marked the end of 3 months of shuffling from site to site. worked for a property management company that have a portfolio of properties under them. the upside is that i get to visit buildings with different uses, e.g. industrial, retail, office and experienced the intricacies of managing each type. the downside is that as soon as i get used to journeying to a certain place, i get plucked right out of my comfort zone and have to adjust to travelling to another place all over again. in my final stint, the work site was at pasir panjang. the most important lesson i've taken away from the internship is that travelling to and fro hougang and pasir panjang during the rush hour every day is no joke.

jokes aside, i learned a lot from the mentor whom i was attached to, and also from one of the directors of the company. am grateful for them being ever patient, even though sometimes i may be slightly slow on the uptake. cant blame a jc kid for being too theoretical and law-by-law right.

gained much knowledge regarding the property management aspect of the real estate business. next year, i hope to venture into the finance/valuation side of real estate, and hopefully work for a REIT (real estate investment trust) or a valuation company.

what i've lost in youth i've gained in wisdom?

off to putra for a short getaway. time to get my sexy holiday back.

i have a friend

i made this friend in army when going through the wayang party that is some sergeant course. this friend is the anti-thesis of what an army sergeant is supposed to be.

an army sergeant is supposed to be a lean-mean vulgarities-spewing machine whom the men are scared of. my friend gets bullied by the men.

an army sergeant is supposed to be highly proficient in his equipment-skills. my friend probably knows as much as a private.

even though he is a blur sotong who gets bullied by everyone, he's still my friend. he may suck in playing the army game, but he's a dean's lister in literature - a fact many people arent aware of. i recognize that there are different kinds of intelligence in this world, and the one who's quickest to judge is probably the least intelligent of all. who knows.. maybe he'll win the nobel prize for literature in future or something. he also has this uncanny ability to only do what he likes, and as a result he takes joy in even the simplest of things.

for all those times spent in canteen break, or bantering with each other, or discussing literary nuances, or simply just stoning in the sergeant mess, i thank you! it's been a pleasure to laugh at you.. and laugh with you..

The Question of God

Read the above title by Dr. Armand M. Nicholi, Jr. The author has initially introduced a course on the writings and thoughts of Sigmund Freud (atheist) at Harvard. The classes suffered poor attendances until he introduced CS Lewis (atheist-turned-believer) into the curriculum. He has been teaching for the course for 25 years since. Debates became more lively and in some instances, more heated. Perhaps in teaching solely one view, the teacher is preaching to the choir. Perhaps this is what makes the world interesting – people with diametrically opposed world views participating in the great conversation of mankind. A world with people all singing to the same tune won’t be very interesting, will it?

Read not to contradict, but to weigh and consider

In the book, Nicholi examined human life from the views of Freud and Lewis, one of the unbeliever and the other of the believer. He says that we should look at both views as objectively and dispassionately as possible and let the arguments speak for themselves. However, he acknowledges that no one can remain neutral on such emotionally charged issues. To be told that your world view is predicated on a false premise and that your entire life thus far has been lived in vain? Ouch. He notes that because of the over-arching implications of these views in our lives, we tend to vehemently dismiss or discredit the arguments for the worldview we reject. I especially liked the part where he made a plea for the reader to follow Sir Francis Bacon’s advice to “read not to contradict.. but to weigh and consider.”

After reading their views on the question of whether there is an ultimate creator, of whether there is a universal moral law, and the problem of pain and suffering, among others, I’m must admit I’m ashamed at my own mediocre arguments. Till I learn more, maybe the best course of action is to remain silent. To be fuller in mind and fuller of heart, that is my aspiration for the future.

A wise man told me this..

I think expecting logic and rationality from everyone is impossible. The best that I can think of is to conduct myself with humility and approach everyone with a kind attitude. To learn and unlearn. Sigh. It's tough to be a human.

lost my mojo

sat through 2 full day competitions recently. rockmaster 10 and nyscc 10. both competitions were plagued with delays, which resulted in me spending the entire day at the competition venue. i swear the sitting-down-in-isolation-and-staring-into-space-thing is a form of mental torture. possibly, it tortures me more than others, because i cant stand wasting my time. having forced myself to crawl out of my shell for 5 days a week for a good 9 hours each day.. i'm sure this weary soul deserves some chicken soup for the precious weekend.

philosophy, psychology, anthropology, archaeology, cosmology, financial markets, economics
i think i'm weird. everyone requires personal time.. i seem to require more of it than others. i like to spend time alone immersed in books, to be intellectually stimulated by the great thinkers of generations before ours.. there are so many topics to learn.. so little time.. i remain so woefully ignorant of myriad of subjects out there.

of course i'm not only the socially inept bookworm i make myself out to be. like normal people, i enjoy the simple pleasures of life. outings and sit down dinners with friends, catching up on their lives and watching us all grow up together, and the like. i also enjoy crooning those old chinese love songs in during those lonely drives home. i simply acknowledge the fact that stimulations of the intellectual sort is more satisfying than the physical types.

truth i can know
now i understand why the nus alumni all stop competing when they start work. the wave at the back pushes the wave in the front.. one generation gives way to the next. coming august, i am starting my third academic year, which gives the appearance of me being a young climber, but i've actually been climbing and competing for close to 7 years now. i cant remember the last time i took a break. watching younger climbers with so much more potential than yourself performing at a higher level also kinda saps the morale. having said that, climbing has revealed worlds of truth to me and continues to surprise me each passing day. perhaps another year of competing.. perhaps another year..

come what may
in an earlier post, i mused over the reasons for which i climb. on introspection, i climb for the intensity. in years to come, when my body cannot keep up with that same level of intensity i demand of it, what will become of my aspirations then?

now that everything been said and done - DYNO issue 5

spent the better of the past few sundays camping in the office of ClimbAsia poring over the publication of Dyno Issue 5. the fruit of our labour can be read online here.

a labour of anger?
for this issue, i was pretty much given a free rein to do whatever i wished. having always been fascinated with the emotional bombardment our climbers have to endure during competitions (butterflies in stomach, spectators eyes watching your every movement, etc), i've decided to incorporate such emotions as a central theme for this issue. this explains why you see 3 fierce ladies on the cover. wanted to bring across the message that climbing is not a male-dominated sport, and that our girls are just as driven as the guys. pictures depicting either anger or exasperation for the centrefold sbl article were also chosen.

did my 3 month internship and found it really hard to boulder hard after a long day at work. as a student, i could nap for as long as i wanted before hitting the gym feeling psyched to crush routes. fast forward to life as a working teenager (yes i prefer to refer to myself as a youthful teen). i find myself thoroughly sapped by the demands of work. realising that climbers before me also have had to contend with these problems, i volunteered to do interviews with people whom i consider to be role models. not bad eh, doing an interview on the preface of writing an article but actually doing it for personal gains. muwahaha so cunning. i liked yam's super philosophical reply - when people ask me how i manage, i tell them i don't... hopefully someday i'll be a better teacher, a better parent and a better climber. awww..

loved tim's reflections about routesetting. i wish i can write as eloquently and as imaginatively as him. loved the narrative at the front, especially the metaphor about his ideas drying up and being dictated by another entity (the sun). the whole idea of being dictated where to go or what to do (the shadow) and as a result operating like a clockwork is every creative person's bane.

behind every successful man is a woman
and behind each successful magazine lies a team of editors, writers, graphic designers, layout artist, cartoonist, marketers, etc. there is only so much a writer can do.. perhaps i'll dabble around a little in the other fields. also learned to break out of my 'writing for an academic paper' mould, and make my pieces more readable befitting that of a magazine.

all in all, i had loads of fun doing this issue. hope the learning never ends..

when i get older, i will be stronger

original lyrics of the song. i prefer this more heartfelt version.