This post is way overdue.

I attended Module 2 of the YouthsLead program on the 16-18 July (which is right after the windsurfing camp). The camp was titled Serving with Passion and most of the activities were targeted at understanding "what drives us to volunteer?"

We first started out with a talk on the K&P model of leadership and went through our results based on the surveys we given to our co-workers, managers and direct reports. This is based on the principle of 360 degree feedback to understand our own leadership behaviors from the different perspectives. I will share my results personally if you are interested to know more.

Anyway, the second day of the camp started off with our presentation of the various Cs groups in the PA network, eg. CDC, CCC, CMCC, IAEC etc. We then had a discussion panel with some of the directors of the Youth Division in PA. This was followed by another discussion panel with some of the grassroot leaders and volunteer leaders at night.

Before the day ended, we also had to organise a "Kopitalk" and dialogue session with Dr Maliki bin Osman and other senior directors on our last day. Unfortunately, I decided to take on a personal challenge and took up the role of chief faciliator of the event.

It was quite an interesting experience now that I look back at it. If I didn't take that plunge, I would never have known what it is like to be an emcee of the talk and moderator of the dialogue session. haha

I now offically *heart NACLI =)

The busy week is finally over!

Come to think of it, I can't believe I managed to survive 2 consecutive camps in a week (including a 20% mid term + 20% presentation + 15% essay submission).

Windsurf Camp No. 5 went quite smoothly I think. It's a good feeling to see how much the committee have grown since it first started in Sept last year. I could still vividly remembered the challenge to bond the comm members and guide them with their job scope while trying to pull my cap at the same time.

There are lots of sacrifices made in the end, but the results justified the amount of effort put in. This is the first camp I didn't have to micro-manage. Everyone knew what they had to do, and helped each other out. I particularly have to thank xiaojie for organizing the team well.

It's heartening to see how your own actions can generate the interest to windsurf in others. One year ago, most of the seniors are still in their first year. They were struggling to keep themselves above the board, up-hauling all the time and never really got to surf. I remembered telling them this "Windsurfing is not an easy sport, you have to put in effort and practice to see results. As long as you keep trying, I promise 1 year later you guys will be a better windsurfer."

To see how they have transformed since then was quite emotional for me. I am glad I didn't give up when I was in year 1 as well. Otherwise all this will never have been possible.

As I gear myself to the last year of school life, I find myself saying the same things again to the new batch of freshmen. I am confident that the new generations will be ready in time to come =)

As promised, I decided to take a break and blog about the balloon incident that is so popular in my facebook.

The entire incident happened like this. It was the second day of the Project Excellence Camp, and one of the activity was an "amazing race" inside vivocity. As the facilitator I had to run all around with the entire shopping mall with the kids to complete the different tasks.

Everything ended successfully (Our team came in top!) and we were taking a break at level 1 near the entrance. While we were waiting, some of the kids and I saw this person dressed in all white going into the mall with a big bunch of balloons. It appears that there is a wedding proposal going on and it was meant to be a surprise for the bride-to-be.

A while later, the same guy was carrying this blindfolded lady (which I presume to be the bride) with the balloons. As he approached the entrance, he suddenly passed me the entire bunch of balloons on the way out. I was with the kids then, and in a flash everyone wanted a balloon from me.

The security guard appeared at this time and thought I was giving away the balloons and ask me to do some crowd control. Being the inexperienced balloon-giver, I was shocked then. With a big bunch of kids chasing after the balloons, I had to run out of the mall to give.

And as the kids come to get the balloons, the parents of other kids joined in the fight (members of the public at the mall). Apparently they must have thought there is free balloon to be given out. Fortunately Zhenyou shared some of my burden, otherwise I doubt I could survive that scene.

The parents are super violent, my fingers got stuck to the balloon strings and they still continue to fight over it. Even if the strings are tangled, they just pull and made things worse (with my fingers in it). It was one crazy day to remember.

And my string-burnt hands can testify to it.

I thought it might be a good thing to change my blog layout to something more organised and easier to read.

And terror struck. I forgot to backup the links and the tagboard. Will update again soon when I fix the problem.

I need to ask everyone some questions.

1) How do you tell if a person is rude towards you at work/school?

2) Why do you think people are rude to others at work/school?

3) What do you usually do if people are rude to you at work/school?

4) How do you try to reduce the rude behavior in the other person, or can it be reduced?

Please give me some advice on the following. Otherwise I can never sleep well.

My THESIS PLEDGE

I know this is not an easy path,

I know there are many obstacles ahead,

I know I will experience stress, fustration and disappointment,

I know I might fail somehow,

I know this is one lonely journey to take,

I know it will make or break me,

But I also know CP is one who doesn't give up without a fight.

I don't want to be someone who is afraid to try, and yet regret not trying in the end.

Instead I want to be a survivor...

And I know I will be.

The journey of 12,000 words begins.

**Let this pledge be the constant reminder to stay motivated and focused all the way. Till the date 8th April 2011**