Progress with Aquarium No 4

Okay, I got excited today and went ahead with getting some more stuff for Aquarium 4. Changed my mind about the swamp idea. Perhaps that will be Aquarium 5.. next project. Okay, so today I bought black aquarium substrate to add the the whole "sleek" effect.

At breakfast today, I walked across the street to a chinese wholesale mart and found a bunch of "orange" coloured PVC aquarium plant decor. They were cheap and perfect! (RM1.60) per set. I bought 5.

The little stones I had from before. I had use them from in the garden. I just picked out the "whitest" ones.

It took me a while to rearrange the 3 pieces of bog wood before I could place the rest of the decor. The plants were easy. My only issue with them was that because they were factory made, they came in all the same height. I might have to do some DIY and cut and glue some of those.

The stones were afterthoughts as I realised something was missing. The white against the black was absolutely beautiful and "zen" like. They added little highlights to the substrate landscaping. You almost feel like wanting to walk around them.

I'm keeping silver dollar and barbs in this tank so I don't think they will be moving the ornaments around much.

Anyway, let's recap how much I spent on this tank:

1. Pump - RM20
2. Bogwood 3 pieces - RM18
3. Black Substrate (RM3 x 5pkts) - RM15
4. The plastic aqua plants - RM8
5. The stones - free

GRAND TOTAL - RM61

That's a bloody fine deal, to beautify and enhance a room, if you ask me! The trickling water sounds, coupled with the slow playful movement of the fishes are very calming.

Jusco Bukit Tinggi - Impressive

The Jusco chain of stores under the AEON group seems to be doing well lately. The latest series of independant retail hypermalls has seen a very modern treatment and contemporary styling.

The latest, the Jusco Hypermall in Bukit Tinggi, Klang (not to be mistaken with the Bukit Tinggi in Pahang) is a very impressive mall. One which matches the likes of 1 Utama when it first open its doors in 1995 (which was and still is run by Jusco).

I'm a frequent shopper at Jusco Metro Prima (near where I stay) which is quite impressive for an independant suburb mall. And I had visited Jusco Taman Equine in Seri Kembangan (near the National Stadium). The latter had a very Australian mall "feel" to the place with just 2 floors but lots of ground area).

The Bukit Tinggi Jusco is quite another conception altogether. 4 floors of shopping space with each floor stretching a 10 min walk from one end to another (if you are walking casually non-stop). It's modern and clean (of course it's new) but I think it'll be this way for a long time considering the great standards which Jusco stands by.

Malls like Jusco are great places to shop because you are promised the same experience you have come to know and trust whichever Jusco you end up in. The only difference is the total shopping environment and a good way to escape familiar faces ;-)

PS: I am by no way associated with Jusco... and these are my honest opinions based on my personal experience. ;-)

Another Aquarium to my Collection

Okay, those of you who know me well, know that I am obsessed and passionate about my fishes and their habitat... my collection of aquariums.

Well, today I just added another one to my collection of 3. That makes it 4 now. Wait, before you start to say "that's all?" Just remember I started to take care and consideration into my aquarium only about 2 months ago. Tank No 1 actually had came with us from our apartment and moved with us. That was after a period of 2 years, without any fishes. (I had 2 tanks with Flower Horn and 1 large Balinese bowl filled with Japanese Carp at the time, which I had to release due to us moving to our apartment at the time).

Well, now that we are in a bigger place, I am starting it again. Despite what some of you may think, it's not as hard to keep fishes. Here are a list of fishes I am keeping:

1. Aquarium No 1 - Goldfish, Carassius auratus (the shortailed version) - my friendliest bunch of fishes yet, I guess maybe it's because they moved with us from our apartment and they've known us for about a year and half now
2. Aquarium No 2 - Parrot fish - still scared of us. Runs and hide everytime I come near. Must tell Celeste NOT to knock on the tank! But, I've given up on landscaping the tank as these little smartass fishes wants to do it their way ALL the time!!! *sigh* (err.. edit: Did I just type "runs and hide"?... *tsk* *tsk*)
   
3. Aquarium No 3 (11 litre tank) - Neon & Emperor Tetras with a couple of Golden Dwarf suckers - my pride as it's the first tank that I really took care in decorating.
   
4. Aquarium No 4 (30 litre tank) - Silver Dollars - Tank is currently undergoing new tank treatment

I love small fishes and I'd hate to have to take care of large fishes as they are too much hassle. Well, my prime consideration is actually the aquarium itself rather than the type of fishes I keep inside.

Right now, I am concentrating on tank No 3 and 4 cause they're in my room. Well, I am quite done with Tank No 3. Maybe just some slight adjustments here and there. This tank was meant to be small and decorative with all 4 sides uncovered for a see-through effect as it sits on my home office table. The concept is a Miniature Chinese Garden. And it's looking a bit like that now.

I'm going with a different style for tank No 4. It's going to be more like a Miniature Swamp. Right now, the pictures you see is of me conditioning the new tank and the bog wood. But, eventually I am going to reduce the water by half, add more bog wood, plant some moss on the wood and cascade the water from the top likea little waterfall. I'd transfer my silver dollars and perhaps add a couple of Gouramis for the tropical effect, but not too many, max 6 fishes.

Okay, that's all I got to report for now... I'll post some pics of Tank No 1 and No 2 soon...

If you're a fish or aquarium fan, let me know yeah!!!

AQUARIUM NO 3


AQUARIUM NO 4

Unsightly Christmas Decor at MidValley

This year for some funny reason or another, perhaps for the lack of any reason whatsoever, Mid Valley has come up with the ugliest Christmas decor. Standing in front of the horrendous display, I felt like I was standing in the midst of Sungai Penchala's unkept land surrounded by trees, weeds, dry twigs and several other different types of undescribable plants that would normally have been categorised as binable undergrowth.

Anyways, to make matters worse, there were feable attempts to add some decency in signifying the Christmas season... several "icicles" hanging from the mobile display of "butterflies" that didn't belong there in the first place!!! Oh, and the best of it all, golden poinsettas growing between weeded islands dotted the place...

*sigh*

Trying to create a new idea perhaps? I can understand that, but what I can't understand is how any concept of Christmas and the festive New Year was thrown out the window to be replaced by this miserable display.

Well, sorry for being overly critical. Mid Valley has done wonderful jobs for their festive decors before, but it's just unfortunate that this year, being on the hunt for all sorts of Christmas display, I had to be presented with this.

Oh well, I didn't bother to shoot Celeste's picture in front of the display.

Christmas Prezzies...

Oooh.... this year's Christmas celebration was quite nice really! Though it didn't not happen quite as I had been expecting it to, like a big blast of celebration. It came and went stretched across a period of 2 weeks. Yeah, it was kind of like, getting my present from Winnie early and then getting other prezzies towards Christmas and not just on Christmas day itself.

Well, the quantity or quality of presents may seem like too little or too much for some of you, but honestly, I couldn't care less cause it's always the thought that counts. So save your, "Wow-you-are-so-lucky" and "Huh?-That's-all-ah?" statements for yourselves... It's just a great cheerful Christmas for me.

Winnie bought me my first presents. Two sets of High Society compilation. One was the Shanghai Jazz compilation and the other was Shanghai Diva 2. Oh my, was I in musical heaven or what!... ;-) I longed for these two since I had the encounter with the albums in Kenneth, my MD's car. I knew I had to have them. These HDCD (High Definition CDs) featured classics from the grand periods of Shanghai's night scenes. The sounds were impeccable.

The CDs costed RM89 per piece and came with individual satin fabric pouches. That's quite luxurious. Well, I've sinced had them dubbed onto copies to listen in the car (I fear anything that could happen to them ;-) )

Mpph... perhaps these would be the start of my classic Jazz collections... next in line, Arielle Dombasle and Frank Sinatra muahaha......

Well, Winnie, (did I say I really love her?!) did not end it there and went out to get me a bottle of men's fragrance... the Mont Blanc Starwalker. I love my colognes but I'm hopeless at finding the ones I really like, somehow Winnie just knows what would tickle my fancy... ;-)

My next prezzie came FREE and just in time to join me for Christmas, just 3 days before Christmas. It was my Canon Selphy photo printer! The prize which I won for the best Architecture photo competition on PhotoMalaysia. Read it here. Thanks to PhotoMalaysia members, admin and Stephen who helped with the prizes, I can now print our Christmas pictures instantly!

Okay, so we had our office "Secret Santa" Gift Exchange thingy... and my dear old friend & colleague Mat had my name... and he got me a nice wallet. It came in a nice little wooden box too! And may I point out something else it had... 16 card slots!!! and that's just the top insert slots...

How would I ever have so much cards to fill in those slots, is beyond my imagination. And even if I do, think about how much the back of my pants would be extending from my bottom should I try and squeeze that little "packet" of card holder in! Hehehe.... But, seriously, I liked the gift...

Then these was my brother, who was extremely thoughful this year, and came by bearing gifts. He made me rekindle one of my first love... reading! And he remembered one of my favourite author, Jeffrey Archer. It was the latest, first edition, hardcover of Jeffrey's A Prison Diary - From Hell to Heaven. I truly was excited to begin reading it... mmpph... which I would be doing right after this blog entry...

By the way, I didn't know that Jeffrey was held in a prison? Wow, for perjury some more... and having been a minister in the British government, that's rather unimaginable... mppph... But if it leads to a great story and best seller (of what this latest novel was based on), then it must have been worth it!

And finally, a present which I got myself... an Apple Ipod! I've always wanted one of these. Not that it's crucial to my survival, but it just feels good in my hand! Okay, okay, why you may ask did I get the 5th Generation Ipod rather than the latest or event the Ipod Touch... Well, honestly, I hadn't even considered to get this in the first place. But, then when I found out we had several units from our KLIA shopping Gadget Fair, and getting the Ipod at cost price proved too good to be true. I've since filled it up with music and videos and there's still more room to go in it's 30GB...

Well, this was the most number of presents I've ever gotten for Christmas. Well, may I say again, that this year's Christmas for us (and me especially) was extra special not because of the gifts but for the fact that everything just clicked together this year and many good things happened.

We really did feel Blessed! :-)

(Okay, it's gonna be another long blog entry if I started talking about Winnie and Celeste's gifts... ;-)...)

Xiaxue and Steven Lim : The Dream Date

Okay, I probably have been behind the times, but for those of you who have not seen this video (posted a year ago), you're WORSE! Hehehe...

Anyway, have you ever thought what your dream date may be like? Or perhaps you have had yours. Here's a wonderful moment of a dream date between my two favourite online celebrity...



More like a dream date FOR US lah!!! Muahaha... (If my chair had been lower to the ground, I'd be ROFL)

Nuff Nang Ads

Okay, this is a date log of when I officially added the Nuff Nag ads on my blog. Who knows when I will get 'Nuff' traffic or earn 'Nuff' money for placing it here. But, if anyone's ever interested, it started right from this moment! :-)

My Little Piece of Speech Heaven

Well, despite the fact that I "have" been blogging for 2 years, it never really caught on for me. (Just like cigarettes, no matter how many time I tried)

Mmpphh... drawing inspiration from the likes of Xiaxue and Steven Lim (one day I hope to be the World's Second Most Handsome Guy), it dawned on me how much fun I could have. Never mind ethics or proper English, this is my own little world!

So, I decide how I want to write it!!!

So, anyone who has a problem with what I have here, speak up but I'd always have the pleasure of the "Delete" button to see your comments go down the digital drain. But, hey I'm sure in this space of free speech, a little insult shouldn't make a dent in that armour which you supposedly should be wearing while browsing around in this jungle!

Anyways, it's a revelation as I finally found my little piece of heaven to vent stuffs... muahahahah!!!

Kenny Talks About : Instilling the Importance of Value in the Young

It was a Public Holiday today, Hari Raya Haji, so I started out the day having a nice breakfast with a friend of mine, Goh Wee Ping (who happens to also be the host of the Deal or No Deal Chinese Game Show on NTV7). We had a nice chat and long conversations about many topics. One of which really stayed in my thoughts for the rest of the day was about instilling the importance of value in our young ones.

So, over some dried Sarawak noodles and laksa, we began talking about his childhood. His father had taught him and his sibling about the value of money since they were very young. At a very young age, they were each given a bank account in which they would be deligently putting their saved allowances. As this money accumulated, the choices was there on how they would use it. As children, they wanted toys, games and stuffs which tickled their fancy, but when it came to asking for those things, their father would tell them:

"I will always give you the things that you need (and sometimes treats), but for the things that you want, you will have to think about how much you have in your savings. The choices of what you want to buy is all up to you."

That made the children think carefully about what they really wanted. He had put the responsibilities on their shoulders to think about what was really important, to spend or not to spend and whether it's worth sacrificing another item.

It cultivated several important things:

• It is important to save
• Think carefully about what you want and what you need (there is a difference)
• Money is not an easy thing to come by
• To depend on yourself

Those would definately be the things I would want my children to learn and grow up to take pride and ownership of. It does give one a whole new perspective of what our parents wanted us to learn, while we were calling them stingy, selfish and being scrooges.

Well, till my next posting, Have a Nice Day! Have a Nice End of the Year too!

Simply Inspiring - Paul Potts

Paul was the winner of "Britain's Got Talents". He beat Connie Talbot (the video before this, but's I'd say they were both equally good.

This was his audition video which gave me goose bumps. Note the scepticism... :-)



This was the video of the finals:

Britain's Little Sweetheart - Connie Talbot

Ooh... this little girl sang so beautifully, she touched my heart. Yup, even grown men will break down with a sniff or two. ;-)



This was her finals...

Widgets Galore

Mpph... I just got to really know about widgets today. It's really interesting as you get to customise what you like all around your own site or blog without having to create the contents from scratch. Slide, Last.FM, DIGG and Sonific are some of the ones I've added recently to my blog here on Blogger.

Have fun... here's how I'm in a Sentimental mood!

Christmas @ 1 Utama

Christmas at 1 Utama is always something we look forward to every year since the opening of the complex. Maybe it's the size of the Oval area which makes every year's display seems big and larger than life. And this year's display was certainly larger than life.

Taking the "tunes" from the little drummer boy, this delightful Christmas display featured a colonial display of brick-walled, spired stage display along with a giant drummer boy, something which 1 Utama has always been famous for, (ie giant mickey house, giant castles... etc) and several other smaller ones on musical keys.

It was quite a sight.

We brought Celeste to have her Christmas photos taken here too!

Christmas @ Sunway Pyramid

We made our first trip to the new Sunway Pyramid last Sunday. I must say it's good to finally see the old-faithful lion grow in size. The additional shopping wing was a refreshing sight. Mpph... somehow all the new wings of the shopping complexes seems brighter and are more generous in space.

The 2 concourse area of the complex are not very big, but good enough for festive setup such as the Christmas showcase they had. A children-sized trainset and several Christmas huts lined the main concourse.

A lot of the shops have yet to be opened but the place does look promising along with the strong retail brands of the old wing still readily available.

Christmas @ The Pavilion

Ah, once again it's the end of the year and Christmas decor are up everywhere in KL. I'm a sucker for the festivities of this season. I guess because it heralds the beginning of a series of holiday periods leading up to Chinese New Year.

Anyway, what makes it interesting is perhaps more of the glitter and glam of each venue trying to outdo each other with their Christmas decor.

The Pavilion this year did up an impressive white spiral centrepiece in its concourse area. White see through fabric presents a coloured lighting glow from the tall structure.

*note: the structure does seem awfully similar to the spiral structure we proposed for the opening of the Gardens @ MidValley... mmmpphh... curious...

The theme of their Christmas Celebration this year is "Celestial Christmas". Interesting... that's heavenly, just like our little Celeste. ;-)

Winning an Online Photo Contest

I've never been one to enter really any sort of competition, really. Lazy perhaps or sometimes I discourage myself even before I do anything about it!

But, this time around I entered my photo of the Brunei Mosque in PhotoMalaysia, my favourite photo forum and lo and behold, a couple of weeks later, I was announced winner by the number of votes from members.

That's pretty cool.

What's even more interesting is the fact that I won a Canon Printer, which was something that I was looking for only about a week ago. Fortunately, I hadn't bought it. Well, it'll be a nice little gift for myself to use this Christmas season.

Happy, happy, happy...... :-D

Judging Showtime with Celebs...

Was asked to be the official judge for the Mandarin Oriental Annual Staff Party. It was interesting because out of a panel of actors and actresses, I was the only non-TV personality... yes little 'ol me. But as I guess 9 years in the events industry does qualify me in some way to judge a performance, something which I am already doing at the office while filtering through suitable entertainment for my client... (yes, no, yes, horrible, dreadful...)

Yes, I was practicing my Simon Cowell impersonation (some weight loss would have been helpful with the looks... *sigh*)

Most importantly, I had the privilage to chat with Dato Aziz Satar, who worked next to P Ramlee in their hey days of local black and white comedy acting. Wonderful conversations... glad I practiced my Bahasa Malaysia.

There was the equally famous Ruminah Sidek... who was charming as ever and had that famous smile all the time... Emelda was a bit reserved but perhaps due to the fact that I was trying to create small talk which only, I myself found interesting! (shame...)

Radhie a regular face on local comedy, was always upbeat... Shahrizan was the Master of Ceremony for the evening...

It was fun... being a celeb and walk the red carpet for a change...

Oh... coincidently, the evening's affair was managed and organised by my wonderful team of event managers... Perfect show? Well, only they (and me, sitting from the judging table... ) know where the little glitches were... too seasoned not to notice! hehehe... (waving finger..)

Kenny Talks About : Making Plans for Your Life

We all go through life in many different ways. We are all just very different people. We each have different aspirations, goals and ways of doing the things we do. But, yet, in my opinion, we would probably be the same in one aspect. That is, each of us, by our own thoughts and motivations decides about how and where we end up.

You may say that there are people who do not have a freedom to decide, but making decisions no matter how small it may be is what makes us human. We each have a conscious mind to think about our actions and even the consequences of each of those.

And we all make plans in our very own way. There will be those that say, they don't make plans, and that they would just go with the flow of life, let things happen as they may be. But, I don't believe that to be true. Honestly, plans does not have a statute of timing or period. It could be as short as making plans to have a meal within the next hour or planning for your retirement in 30 years time. All of us think about a sequence of events that will ultimately lead us to the objectives of the plans.

Am I wasting time....?

Since young, I was taught to think about my actions and how it would help with what I would do in the future. Mom and Dad would say, "Don't spend time doing useless things. Don't waste time doing something you did not plan. Don't waste time with petty tasks... Don't waste time... "

Can anyone honestly say what is useless and what is not? Though we are smart enough to identify with certain things that is either wrong or right, black or white, but there are a lot of things in our lives that would consists of grey areas.

It's subjective and it really depends on what your personal goals are.

Personal goals...

Sounds like a big subject.... or perhaps a popular phrase that is coined in a whole list of cliches by motivators and self-development Gurus. But, you know what? Don't look at it that way. Think of it as part of the task of making personal plans for your life. And never treat it like a tangible thing! Personal goals should be close to your heart and it's about feelings rather than words in your head.

If you treat it as a tangible achievement, you will always be looking for a physical proofs. We are human, and when we don't see these physical proofs, (ie. cars, money, house...) we get demotivated all too easily.

So, if you think about it, it's something that should be of your heart and feeling.

Not too short and not too long...

Make plans... Some of you may sigh. "Oh no, another tedious task to think about what I will do and the hard part is sticking to it... "

Well, don't plan like you are thinking of an invasion. Keep your plans short enough so they will be practical, achiveable and you can see the results in a relatively short period.

On the other end of the spectrum, don't make it too short that you don't have enough time to execute the thoughts or that the end result is not justifiable in the amount of work needed to e put into it.

Perhaps the best length would be 3-years. Decide what you will do within this 3 years and what you hope to achieve at the end of this period (remember, it doesn't have to be tangible).

Here's an example of a young high school graduate's plans in both personal and career development:

Start : 17 years old

3 years - Higher Education (17 yrs old)
3 years - Permanent posts in the hotel line (21 yrs old)
3 years - Escale to managerial role (24 yrs old)
3 years - Career development or post-graduate education (27 yrs old)
3 years - Settle down and get married (30 yrs old)
3 years - Own your own business or become a young director (33 yrs old)

Though is not a hard and steadfast timeline, but it gives one a guide of the different stages in our lives that we should take note of.

Plans can change...

Yes, plans do change. But, if you do not think about it and make plans in the first place, what do you refer to when making this change? Is there even a basis for a change? There simply isn't any direction to follow.

We can't tell the future and how things will change.

Just like a train heading towards its destination... You cannot forsee a truck that is stuck on the track a few miles ahead of the track because its still too far, but no matter what, you still need the train tracks to lead you on. And when you get near enough to that obstruction, you will see it with just enough time to stop the train and work on getting the tracks cleared.

That's just like our lives.

Winnie's Birthday - 8 Nov

Winnie had her birthday a couple of days ago. Coincidently it was a public holiday, Deepavali. So it was a nice little celebration for her. Unfortunately, she was not feeling too well because of a cold, and a slight fever due to bad weather and some germs going around the office.

Nevertheless, I brought her and little Celeste to Zipangu, Shangri-La Hotel for a nice little Japanese lunch, Winnie's favourite dishes. It was a nice a cosy affair. Though we go out a lot to eat but we seldom end up at fancy restaurants by ourselves.

Celeste was up to her playful self.

But, it's times like this where I really feel lucky to have what I have. A loving family, a good home and good career. It's one of the times where you would look back at what you have done so far and evaluate yourself.

Well, the next day, our office colleagues did not forget to celebrate with Winnie. Surprising her with a cake and it was such pleasure to have almost everyone here at the office to surprise her!

Part Time Maid

Finally took on the services of a part-time maid from today. It'll really help with all the back-breaking work of having to clean our two-storey house. Especially when we are both working with nobody else at home.

We had the maid over in our apartment earlier this morning preparing it for a new tenant. (Yes, that's another story for another blog posting). Very good and very diligent.

Having a part-time maid really helps with not having to worry about the welfare and arrangements for a full-time one. Afterall, with just the 3 of us, we don't really create much of a mess... (err... almost never... ;-P)

At least Winnie, got to sit, relax and watch a movie while most of the chores are being done. Call me a male chauvinist but I do chores more related to renovations or tougher, manly stuffs... (I'm beginning to sound like Tim Ellen in "Home Improvement")

Where to have dinner on Saturday evening?

It's Saturday evening and I am here blogging while I wait for my little girl to wake up. I'm still wondering where to bring mommy, little Celeste and myself for a nice little dinner.

A couple of places I am considering are:
1) Chef and Brew on Damansara Heights
2) Ali Yaa, Sri Lankan Restaurant at Jalan Dungun, Damansara
3) Jarrod's and Rawlin's also at Jalan Dungun, Damansara

Thought I'd give them a treat after having been so busy for the last couple of weeks. I think I may even go up to the point of getting into the car before being able to decide on the place.

I'll continue here with what I decide on next and how the food turns out. Hehehe... :-)

Spiral Integrated : Team Building Weekend

Okay, I knew our recent increase in staff numbers and new Spiral team recruits had to eventually lead to this. A team building weekend. I was totally in on the idea of encouraging team spirits and fun among the staff especially the new ones. It was an excellent idea.

So we began about a week prior, by grouping the entire Spiral staff into three teams. As Cheil, Samsung’s brand and communincations partner was part of this team building exercise (we also called it a Getogether) was also involved, the split up as well to join each of our teams.

Next thing we knew, there were homeworks! And there I thought, we’d have a bit of weekend getaway and fun, but no! Admist all of the work that we have in progress at the office, we were set to work on team tasks. Beginning with the cheer… that was certainly a real laugh!

Our team chose Transformon as our name, but no, we were not high on crack or pissed drunk to have come up with that. When it was suggested, we roared in laughter and then knew it had to be. Transformers meet Doraemon!!! Yup, not Pokemon… it would have been too easy! but Doraemon instead. ;-D

After having given in to the fact that we could only hope for success by a resounding roar of laughters, we diligently rehearsed a cheer routine of what could only be known as humiliating and not to be mentioned ever again (after this blog, that is…). Perhaps descriptions of plastic cartoon water tumblers, kiddy fan, cute little bells around our neck and sad-looking-wannabe pom poms would give you a slight visualisation of the embarrassment that ensued…

Anyway, we started to make our way at an un-Godly hour of 6am on a Saturday, after only having a 2 hour sleep having just completed a big event the evening before. Got our way to the A-Famosa Resort in Melaka.

Spirits started high but begin to wane as we saw what our competition had prepared. Intimidating, rough and tough routines. Given a few minutes to rehearse before we had to present the cheer, we stuck our chest out and kept telling ourselves that it was laughter that we were after (and could perhaps only hope for!)

Well, our fears were put aside when we started our routine. It was surreal! My mind blocked out all the viewers and we just went for it. Damn… almost thought nothing could have been more embarrassing. Hehehe…

But, you know what’s the best part, though we didn’t come up tops with the team building exercises, we won ourselves a trophy for the Best Talent! You go figure that… It was a rewarding experience, one that taught each and everyone of use the importance of humility and confidence in what we were doing no matter what it was.

At the end of the day, we were closer friends, better colleagues and we learnt how to have fun together!

Kenny Talks About : Focus

Sometimes I find it hard to concentrate in the office.

There are lots of things to distract the mind. And I don't only mean those outright distractions. Your own mind is a playground for all sorts of thoughts to play around.

I've always find it hard to be totally focused on a certain task or topic as I mentally wander a lot. It's kind of a way I would look for other avenues to keep my mind busy instead of taking a task by its reins and guiding it all the way to completion.

I guess sometimes I blame it on a lack of sleep. Lack of concentration and focus could be due to being mentally tired. So, a little perking up with coffee does help. Lately I seem to require cups of coffee when I need to boost a little mental alertness.

Your mind has a mind of its own.

Does sound a little funny doesn't it? But when you look at your conscious and subconscious mind, you find they regularly comes to conflict when it comes to focus. Consciously you may tell yourself to focus on important tasks, but there is always that little voice, your subconscious telling you how much better it is to do something more entertaining.

I usually find my focus when it comes down to the last leg, or when I'm feeling the crunch time. Burning the midnight oil or hurrying to the finishing line, that's when I feel the rush to get something done. In a way, its good, as you have a clear goal to achieve, but bad in a way that you leave no room for mistakes.

It helps to set an advanced goal.

That means setting a point earlier than the actual time to get a task done and then rewarding yourself for having achieved that. You would actually be able to give yourself the same motivation, push and focus especially if the reward is of a great value and the extra bonus is being able to stay calm from the point of your pre-set dateline to the actual completion period.

Now, I've gotta end it here and get back to what I was doing before.... now what was that again?...

Kenny Talks About : Visualising for a Presentation or Proposal

Do you sometimes wonder how some people can write a proposal so effortlessly that it seems to just stream out of their heads and onto paper?

When you get down to doing it, you get distracted (see my previous note) and the more you try harder mentally to tackle the task, the more your mind fills itself up with gibberish thoughts clouding even basic words from being put onto your writings. Do you realise at that point you may not be using your visualising skill properly and that you are directly thinking about the words and phrases to use rather than the actual concept of what you are trying to present?

It the same to the type of gibberish thoughts that fills your head when you are doing a presentation. In situation like this, once tends to be searching for the right words to say rather than be focused on the concept!

Visualising is a powerful tool.

Our minds see in pictures and it even comprehends words in the form of imageries. It's a clear message that can easily be understood and processed by your brain. We react faster to images rather than to words, simply because our mind has to "translate" those words into pictures first. With this basic understanding, it's easy to see why people who "try too hard" has more difficulty in getting his or her thoughts through in a smooth flow.

When I am in my "zone" (usually that means crunch time or last minute preparation of proposals), I would calmly sit myself down and just use a few moments, to "see" the actuall event or flow of activities in my mind. I will literally do a actual walkthrough of the entire scene from the point of arrival, the people I would see, the main event area, "looking" for each individual event elements as if I was really there.

I complete my visualisation when I can see myself going from the beginning of the mind "walkthrough" all the way to the end (or completion). This is the "solid ground" in which I will use to work on my proposal. As I put the description in writing, my mind repeats the scene and each image is formed into words.

It really helps.

At this point it almost doesn't matter if I get distracted in between, because I have a "pre-recording" of this flow in the form of images, I can always playback and continue my thought process.

It's the same when you walk into a presentation. Some people mumble and rehearse by reading words or a pre-written scripts. I'd say throw that away! Instead, use pictures in your heads to think about the concept and how the event flows... do a mental walkthrough. So, when you do present, you won't seem like memorising word for word but rather understanding what you see and repeating it to your listeners.

Interestingly enough, while writing this note, an entire mind projection of images appeared in my head, a bit like a soap-opera drama... ;-)

Working with Elaine Daly

I had the pleasure of working with Elaine Daly last Friday. She was the Master of Ceremony for our event, the Glenmorangie Launch event. It was very entertaining to work with Elaine as we immediately struck it off with light humour and jokes.

Though the even proper was simple, Elaine conducted a tour of the showcase area with flair and it was easily clear to me how she is where she is. Certainly with her, charm and grace is always in abundance.

I shall be looking forward to many more opportunities to work with her. :-)