Fearless?

Taurus

(April 20 – May 20)
As a Taurus, they don’t want others to know how their insecurities get the best of them at times. And that’s because they portray themselves as being a confident and fearless individual in life’s most challenging pursuits. But deep down, a Taurus genuinely cares what others think of them. But they absolutely hate to admit it. They are constantly worried if the impression they’ve made is a positive one. And they have a strong desire to be liked by everyone.

Source: Thought Catalog - The Personality Trait You Hide From The Rest Of The World, Based On Your Zodiac Sign

It's quite interesting (for lack of a better word) that sometimes you would encounter certain gems such as this, something that you can relate to. And then you'll read the rest of the article in hope that the Barnum effect does not apply. 

But in this case, I think I have to admit it. I've always tried to preach to others to do "what they like" or "not care what other people think" but I always find myself sliding down the contradictory path. But sometimes I do things just cause. Or is it I have a lower threshold? Can I even include those little incidents as examples? 

And Mr Ankle isn't reaching back to normal capacity. Still missing those runs ):

But picking up some punching. Quite a fun workout! No worries I do not imagine anyone at the punching bag - hope to keep it that way. Can't kick ):

Weight: 56kg
Height: 161cm
BMI: 21.6%
Body Fat: 16.5%

Looks like 55~56kg is now my new normal range. Don't see any "hope" to go back to 53kg with my current life style. And to my concerned friends, I'm not overly concerned. I'm happy with my current weight!

Oh, and it's time to change my blog theme soon. Recently have been in a certain "sondering" mood.

More firsts, and a hydra

More firsts to come, but some are "lesser firsts" since I have experience in such events/activities, but not in the same scale/magnitude:

• Engaging an external agency to plan teambuilding activities for an event: gone are the days where the team personally executes the activities, we pay someone else to do these things for us
• Staying in a local hotel (Sheraton)
• Helped organise a non P&G activity (Human Library Singapore) as a working individual
• Signed up for fitness membership at Fitness First: I never thought I would do this, like I used to have so many fitness options and I rather play sports. But the convenience of the gym, and the relative inaccessibility (it's quite hard to get interested individuals and amenities) to sports as a working individual tipped me to making this first step

There would definitely be more firsts to come. I guess I'm like a level 50 in vanilla World Of Warcraft now, close to lvl 60 to reach end game content. Hmm... when I would reach lvl 60?

Still liking my job, firefighting problem solving everyday. Keeping me on my toes. Issues are like hydras. Chop one off and 3 more sprout in its place. However, this hydra is also slightly more special:

• Leave one on and 3 more would also sprout beside it. 
• Some heads won't bite immediately, but would hide from you and bite you in a few months' time

And it's very easy to get lost into the operational work, as colleagues have warned. And there're so many things to take note of, sometimes all you want to do is just do your job and not care too much.

Oh, and key statistics:

Weight: 56 kg

Height: 161 cm

BMI: 21.6

% Body Fat: 16.2% 

Guess it's real time to hit the gym, or rather to hit the road/pool and run/swim. The fitness trainer (I get 2 free sessions) mentioned that I need more muscle. Definitely~

Many firsts

In a span of 2 weeks, there were many firsts.

• Emceeing to a crowd of 100+
• Choreographing (includes music editing + simple blocking) and teaching a 2 min dance routine to office colleagues 
• Making a speech (as valedictorian)

Grateful is the emotion of the day. With the strong support from my family, friends and everyone else, I could achieve so much today. 

Key learning: grab the opportunity when it's there. If the potential work to be done scares you, think about the regret you'll have if you gave the opportunity up. 

Wasn't easy, spent several late nights and even had to skip my exercises/sports for 1 whole week - which is a relatively rare occurrence for me. 

Now to think about my next steps...

2 weeks into work

So it's 2 weeks since my contribution to the "employed" statistics in the Singapore workforce commenced.

And to mark the occasion, P&G offered to provide a body composition analysis - ok they didn't. There was this machine in my workplace and so I decided to use it. Here are my key statistics:
Weight: 53kg
Height: 160.9cm
BMI: 20.5
% Body Fat: 9%
Shall measure monthly to keep track of my general health. I can already feel some "weakness" creeping into my body after 2 weeks of "office life".

I think entering the workforce off-cycle (because REP is a 4.5 year programme) gave me some rude awakening that there are indeed so many people out there.
Was attending a new hire training and well... the participants primarily consisted of experienced hires - some even nearing 10 years into the workforce!

And then there's this feeling of becoming a minority, especially when you are working in the APAC HQ of an MNC. Everywhere I turn is someone else who you wouldn't speak Singlish with.

And then there's this feeling of having to adult. You've got to start to watch your actions, what you say and what you do even more. People have less time, and less incentive to learn more about you. And in a world where first impressions matter, I've got to cut down on my joking around - at least until some basic fundamentals have been established. 

And then there's this feeling of becoming a student again. It's so exciting to learn new things and try to implement/execute them. But now, your actions have real impact beyond grades. In addition, more importantly, how can I maintain this insatiable want to learn?  

And then there's this feeling of being in your parents' shoes. You get to finally be able to empathize with them. All these while we have been observing them as a student without life's responsibilities (or at least a bulk of it). Now, we are like them.

And then suddenly you realised your life actually just begun. It's like playing World of Warcraft, and your student years were similar to just leveling up to the maximum level (I think it's lvl 120 now). Only when you reach the maximum level, you can access the end-game content; and that's when players usually say that the real game of WoW would have finally started. So likewise, it's like, bam.. life actually begins now. The daily balancing act begins now, between work, personal life and family life. Between your dreams, your friends and the bread/bacon sitting at home.

Well... glhf (good luck have fun) to me, and all of you readers and anyone else starting their work life (:

2 sides to a coin

The typical saying goes: "there are 2 sides to every coin".

After gathering numerous feedback and opinions, I realised that there is no unequivocal "opinion". And this is easily extended into other aspects of life.

How do we determine whether a person is truly selfish, or simply looking out for/taking care of himself?
When do we judge if someone lacks perseverance or do we nod at his understanding of when to give up?
If someone is ignorant, do we blame him for not finding out, or do we assume that he is busy tending to other matters?


And we typically like to "see the situation" before we make our judgement, but how much are we really willing to dig into? And even so, how can we determine the real intention of the person?

End of the day, there is no "right or wrong", nothing beyond science is as black and white as "1 + 1 = 2". It all boils down to your decision. Which perspective to take, where to stand, and how to move on with the decision that has been made.

But there's a caveat, each decision you make affects others as well. Now the decision making has become even harder - or should it? 
What if you were affected by a decision that is not yours?