Personal Blather!

It's UBER late, but I guess I should articulate (or rather, write down) some goals to pursue this year. Tagged by Shimmer.

1) Get straight 'A's. I've never gotten it before in university, and although it seems like an impossible task, I'm aiming high. At least if I miss the sun, i'll still get the moon. >.<

2) Retire from hall activities. Not that I don't want to be involved, but it would be quite sweet to actually ENJOY the things that are happening instead of always being INVOLVED in them.

3) Handball IHG gold. Group effort, but the least I can do is resolve to play like I'm winning it. That's what I'm aiming for.

4) Make more wallpapers. I enjoy the work and although it's not exactly well recognised, I'm satisfied by looking at how people can actually use my work on their own screens. It's a great way to improve photoshop skills too.

5) Find 'her'. This one I'm least focussed on simply because it's the case of "if it comes, it comes"... still, no reason not to put this in... regardless of how 'unlikely' to happen it may seem...

There. My five resolutions this year. I honestly think I'll aim for some other things too, but they might not be of as much interest to most people... Hope you guys have your resolutions too!

It's been awfully long since I last posted. I've been busy with trainings as IHG is coming, but I think I can squeeze out some time to post a little.

Things have been going pretty ok these few weeks. Training is ok, studies aren't too bad, hall life is manageable (although very much lacking lately...), cell has been fun... I don't have all that much to rant about. ^^

In any case, I've recently purchased a new mouse to replace my old one. This one is very cool, being wireless and portable, I can sit on my bed and use it. Really handy to watch movies / anime.

Some of the latest animes I've been chasing include Sokou no Strain, Code Geass, Gantz, Ikkitousen, and History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi. I get about an episode a week at most, so it's not that bad. They're a mixture of exciting, funny, mindless, mecha and thought provoking stories. I'll save my comments till after I finish the series.

I've decided to get the MG Strike Freedom for S$48. Unfortunately, it's not the Full Burst Mode, but I might get it some other time... when the price is more affordable. Getting it directly from Japan seems to really cut the cost, so if there's anyone going to Japan please let me know ASAP. Here's what I want to get and here's what I'm getting. I'd get the Full Burst Mode straight if they were in stock.

In any case, life seems to be droning on. I'm hoping I'll have much more to share. The sermon these past few weeks have been really good, and I'd like to download them if possible. The Cultural Mandate is truly something we all have to try to achieve. Catch the webcast if you want to find out what I'm talking about.

Well, that's it. Hopefully I'll post again soon...

I always thought strength was being able to face challenges. Strength is the capability to overcome where others could not. Is that all it is?

Apparently not. True strength is the ability to pick yourself up over and over again. What this means is that despite your apparent tendency to fail, you still pick yourself up and try again and again regardless of how hopeless it seems. Sometimes, we only agree to 'play' when we can 'win'. We already give up when we think we can't win. The bible tells us to do everything we possibly can, and when we have done just that, to STAND. I'm guessing that God won't always 100% give you success even if you follow every single one of His principles. The fact that there is a 'chance' it might not go the way we want it to, or the way we THINK it should go, is the reason we need FAITH.

In any case, this was the sermon last Sunday. I picked up quite a lot from it, and I truly believe it applies to every area in life: Studies, work, ministry, and yes, even relationship. Go check it out at the CHC website and you'll know what I mean.

On another note, congratulations MOKS for successfully graduating from SOT and winning the award for "Best Minister". I'm not surprised you won and you probably deserve it. God bless you!

So what do you do when you have a few days of nothing to do? I personally don't know. As usual, you always seem to have a lot of things to do before your exams end, but once they do, you find that nothing interests you enough to inspire you to do them. Perhaps it's because we're so tired that we can't seem to find the strength to do it, but honestly, it's probably just a natural thing that happens. I learned fairly early that one ought to list down everything that needs to be done BEFORE the end of the exams, all the things you want to do, the movies you want to catch, the errands you've been putting off, the hobby you decided to stop pursuing... Alas my list is short and I still haven't started on it...

A celebration (post exams in this case) would only truly be a celebration if it was not alone. Let's face it, even though my exams are over, if there's noone to share in my joy, then there's basically no difference is there? It's times like this that you wished you had someone standing by you... alas, I don't seem to have that privilege. Lamentations as usual... but of course, that does not mean I am desperate for one...

Recently, Pastor Phil Pringle's sermon really hit the mark. It seems a lot of us (well, I'll speak for at LEAST myself), have deviated from focusing on Jesus, and not on anything else. It's so easy to say "I'm doing this for You, Lord" or "Lord, I pray for A, B, C, D, E and F. Thanks, Lord. Bye." I was convicted because although I didn't just pray for blessings in my life, I didn't really try to seek Him. I was being selfish in that sense. Sure, I could justify and say I was praying for someone else, for my family, for world peace even, but really, isn't God what it's all about? The one phrase that comes back into my mind at this point:

KEEP the MAIN THING, the MAIN THING!

How very apt indeed. Again we are reminded of Mary and Martha. Noone is saying that serving is bad, or that doing things for God is wrong, but what is the attitude in which we do them? Is it birthed from our worship, or is it birthed from our desire to prove something? Perhaps it might even be to gain acceptence? Pride? God wants us to put our relationship with Him first and foremost, and I think very often we are guilty of failing in this area.

So I repent. I don't wish to continue sidelining Him. I want to put Him FIRST, and have only Him on the throne of my heart. I want to seek Him above all, to spend time with Him, to get closer to Him... It's not easy I know, and wouldn't be surprised if a little down the road, I realise AGAIN that I've maligned Him... BUT, at least for now, I'm going to try to make this right.

Matt 6:33 tells us that if we seek Him first and His righteousness (which means to also constantly want to be more like Him) then everything else will work out. The revelation I got from this verse is simply this: Seeking Him comes first, but seek not just a relationship with Him alone, but also to pursue Christlikeness... to be more and more like Him each day. This is an important criteria if we want to be blessed. Most of the time, we get the first part intuitively, and it has also been drilled into us. Sure, we have to seek Him first, to worship Him, to honour Him, but we must also not forget the second part, which is to also seek after His righteousness. I am grateful for this revelation, because I believe sometimes I focus too much on this area; trying always to be more like Jesus, but not necessarily trying to be close TO Him. They ought to go hand in hand.

Alas, it is late, and I have to wake up early tomorrow. Undoubtedly my tiredness has not gone away since I didn't exactly sleep all that much after my exams. I pray for strength tomorrow to run with more vigour. Signing off...

It's been a long while since I've written. Rest assured it's not that I gave up on blogging, but my exams are here and life is now just a mundane routine of study study eat study study eat study study eat study study sleep rinse and repeat. How's that for an interesting life?

My timetable for those who can help support me:

27/11/06 - 1 PM CS3220 Computer Architecture
30/11/06 - 1 PM CS3230 Design and Analysis of Algorithms
01/12/06 - 230 PM ST2131Probability and Statistics

Now that that's out of the way, let me just say a few things I realised lately. When I do things I don't have the passion for, I lose my vision of it very fast. I shall refrain from going into too much detail.

I shall head back to studying now. Obviously I don't really enjoy it, but thank God He's helping me through. Trying my best...

So what's new? Nothing much really. Exams again, same routine again, stress again, project deadlines again... the usual. Can't really complain all that much, but I'm trying my best to do well...

I'll take this opportunity to share a little about the happenings around. It seems this year has been a very eventful year. I don't know whether it's all good, but things have sort of been this way lately. The semester started with a lot of promise, but the surprising thing was that what we predicted would happen didn't. Everything we though couldn't happen did. Talk about irony.

To the lost, I'm talking about attachments, and no i'm not talking about the work kind. It seems my group of friends have a sudden flood of interesting news... Mostly unexpected. One does wonder why it had to take a full year (some two or more) for it to happen. And you would've thought it would be the fresh blood, but NOOO... guess when it comes right down to it, it seems that honest friendship is what makes it work.

Everyone is busy studying now. Not much time for much else. I'm having mixed feelings about it. I have a presentation next week, but that presentation made me have only 3 finals this semester. I'll have to focus on them though, and hopefully I'll do better this semester.

Alright, this is about as long as a post can get. I'll be signing off now...

My birthday was yesterday, and it wasn't exactly the most eventful one. As usual, having my birthday at this time of year means everyone is having exams soon and don't have time to really celebrate. I'm not a person very big on ceremonies and presents, so I think it's fine. Undoubtedly, last year was a little more eventful, but I'm not complaining... not really...

To summarise my birthday, it was wake up attend church, go for lunch, back for handball, dinner in hall, CCC meeting, short celebration, resume CCC meeting and sleep. I got a lot of greetings throughout and that's good enough for me. To the few who went the extra mile, thank you. Especially to my cell group members who went through a lot of trouble to make a nice card and get me some shirts. I appreciate it a lot.

I don't really see birthdays as a very huge occasion. Essentially, it's just like any other day. To some, it might be an excuse to think it's particularly special, and I guess that's inevitable, since we all seem to think we are special in our own ways. That's no reason to go out of your way to celebrate, particularly if most people don't have the time. I think the best thing anyone can give me for my birthday is to spend time with me (to those who don't know my love language). I guess that's quite impractical though. ^^;

Oh, here's a nice little post you might want to check out. CLICK

Well, short post really. Concert is over but work isn't. Gotta get back to it!

You'd think that after yesterday I'd be free to do some of the things I've been putting off for the past few weeks. It's not exactly wrong, except I have so much backlogged work that I have no choice but to do them now... which leaves little time to do many OTHER things that I'd have liked to.

SWINGERS! was absolutely AMAZING! That's the only way to describe it. I could go on about the sets and how big and impressive they were, or how dazzling the costumes were, or how well the cast performed, but then everyone would think I was biased. However, it is not hipocrisy to say that this year's concert is, to me, one of the best if not THE BEST concert! We stretched ourselves and did a third show, and although there were some doubts initially, it turned out to be the correct thing to do. From the opening night show we were all "bowled over" by the performance and everyone was suitably impressed. The matinee came out great and we finished it in time for our finale. It was truly spectacular, and already I'm beginning to miss concert.

Personally, it has been an amazing experience and I've growned a lot through this journey. I've learned much more than I could ever imagine and I think this is something that I will carry with me always. I'm really blessed to be able to work with such a great team, and I feel really privileged to be given the opportunity to lead them. You guys are truly amazing and my heartfelt gratitude goes out to you. You guys made this possible!

My thanks also goes out to my sister and my parents especially for making the trip down to Singapore just to support me, Pin Tsin and my cell members, Patrick, Sue Ann, Yewei, Paulus, Jamie, Lishi, Yang Qian, Alex, Zhen Ni, Jeffri and Edwin (I hope I didn't miss out anyone). I certainly hope you enjoyed the show.

Lastly, I'd like to thank God for His grace and provision. Thank You for seeing me through this period, for giving me the opportunity and ability to achieve this, and for making this concert one of the most amazing experiences in my life. I could never have done it without You, Lord!

Tags: NUS, Raffles Hall Production, Swingers!, Concert

If you've never wondered what I've been so busy about lately, it's concert. The time of year where everyone gets excited about our hall production is here, and I'm at the middle of it. I've got work to do of course, and this year around, I'm not in cast. I DO miss those days and I sorely want to get them back. My time is over though, so too bad for me.

This year, we're quite ambitious. We'll be having three shows instead of the usual two and we're selling our tickets out fast. One show has already literally sold out. The entire team has put in a lot of effort and I'm really looking forward to a good show. I have high expectations of everyone, not that I want to pressure them, but I really believe they can do it.

So as not to spoil it for others, I'm leaving things at that. Any further information divulged may serve to spoil it for others, so I shall refrain from doing so. Things are picking up for me, I think...

A simple post really. I've been preoccupied with so many things I just can't seem to find the time for much else. Meetings almost daily with a lot of deadlines this coming week is not something that can be taken lightly. I wished I could take a break without having anything hanging over my head and without having SOMETHING to do... Guess it may come only in December. *sigh*

In any case, 4 days into me 'break' and I'm still worked like crazy. I truthfully don't quite get why it's called a 'break'. They should just be honest and call it 'An excuse to give all students a ton of assignments for the fun of it'. I don't particularly mind assignments, but when EVERY lecturer thinks that the 'break' is when NOONE does any studying, and piles us with tons of work, it's not exactly something to look forward to. I could just cry.

Yes, this blog hasn't been getting it's due attention lately, not because I don't want to, but seriously, there's only so much time in a day. If only I could stop time...

On another note, I seem to be having a lot of interest in Linux lately. Don't ask me why, but the concept of not having to work with a Windows machine seems appealing, although I'd say I can't live without the games. The best option then, would be a dual-boot I guess. If you're wondering why I'm considering switching over to Linux, it's largly because I'm seeing a lot of potential and interest in handling a Linux machine, particularly since most servers (I think I'm going to focus on webservers and web-programming) run it. It's also a good thing for future job prospects, at least more than saying "Oh, I only know Windows..." That's like shooting myself in the foot.

Enough! I don't have a lot of time, but suffice to say, I hope to finish this assignment tonight and be free enough to complete the others over the weekend. God help me...

Tags: NUS, mid-term break, Linux, WebProgramming

I admit it, for the past few years, my interest in sports has not exactly been very high. During JC, the occasional basketball was pretty good for me. Add the fact that PE was no playing matter, I guess things weren't all that bad. I went from a fail to silver for my NAPFA and had a record of 10:40 for the 2.4 km run.

That was almost four years ago. Since I stepped into university however, I've never really been very involved with sports. Basketball and soccer sounded good, but far too many people were a lot better than I was. My height didn't make up for my lack of skills. Badminton had a pretty high standard and I was never really into it. Add the fact that in year one, I was quite literally 'banned' from sports activities, I never really blended well with most sports-people.

This year, I somehow got the urge to take a shot at Handball. The training are straineous (based on past experience) and it's a relatively new sport (to most people). The people involved are mostly familiar and I feel comfortable there. So far, I've attended some of their trainings and I think it's beginning to rub on. It's a really physical game, but really fun. It's fast paced and very tiring. I definitely need to work on my stamina.

If you ask me why the sudden interest in handball, I'd credit it to the fact that most of the team are my batchmates (minus some final years). I'm attending training as a year one (fresh after all) and I'm not particularly fit. (Actually, I think my fitness level is really below expectations) I'm a little hesitant as to whether or not to really take up the sport as a hall activity since I'm quite likely to be unable to commit entirely. I will try my best though, so I'm praying for wisdom, strength and the annointing to do it. Also, this sport is one of the 'highlights' with our hall bagging the gold last year. I might not be able to play in the first team this year, but even if I'm put on for a little while, I think it would be something to look forward to. In addition, this sport seems to come 'naturally' to me. I wouldn't know exactly how to describe it, and there are still a lot of things to learn, but I feel that the learning curve is less steep than if I took up say, hockey.

It's sad that this sport isn't receiving as much attention internationally as it should. It's really fun and we all enjoy it. I'm really looking forward to the trainings and the game.

Tags: Handball, Raffles Hall, Sports, Fitness

Just had to share this little clip I saw.

CLICK

It's simply awesome. It's amazing the kind of websites you get with StumbleUpon. Works great with Firefox.

Anyway, in the middle of bazaar and I'm not feeling too well. Caught the flu but recovering so don't worry. Hope everyone else is doing ok too.

Now I have a little time to burn. Concert launch is over and we're in the midst of conducting interviews. So far, things have been fairly good, with most things on schedule and running smoothly. Talent this year is pretty outstanding too, so I'm quite happy about that. This coming week will be hectic though, so I'm praying for positive outcomes.

So far, I've been able to pretty much catch up with my work, so it's not as worrying. I really ened to keep things like that so that I can find time to complete other things. Staying ahead is my motto this semester. I'm really hoping things go well this semester. God willing it will.

I've got bible study in a bit, and I'm looking forward to it. This weekend too is going to be busy, but at least I still have the time to settle a lot of things. This update is thus short and is a summary of what I've experienced so far... Here's to preseverence!

Classes have started and I'm starting to get worried. There's a heavy project module this semester and I'm going to have to work extra hard on a statistics module. I'd have hoped I'd be able to go through this semester pretty ok, but it seems now I need God more than ever. Lord, help me!

Since orientation is over, it's time for concert to go full swing. So far, things have been pretty fine, but there are some things I worry about. Still, it's not as if things are dire, so I wouldn't complain too much. Concert Launch is next week, and we're planning full swing for it. I'm still cracking my head for a good way to film the producers to introduce us. It should be ok by tonight.

I'm going to the bank in a while to get some things done. I'm going to firstly convert my thumbprint based system into a signature system. It saves a lot of trouble. I will also be applying for a debit card; It's free and I'd like to be able to use it online in Singapore Dollars instead of converting Malaysian Ringgit if I use my credit card. I'm also going to settle my iBanking stuff, so I can start using it online. That too should simplify my life.

Inter-Block Games (IBG) have started and it has been quite interesting. Some of the matches have brought out talents which would be good for hall. We have our fair share of injury however, and I hope these people recover fast enough for concert/IHG training. Block 4 has been doing well, winning the finals for soccer (M) and getting into the finals for soccer (F). But don't worry, we're still the greatest!

Things have settled into a kind of slowly getting busy stage. I'm trying to keep ahead as much as possible. Things will go well I think, and I pray God help me do my best this semester.

I've neglected posting since orientation began. It ended just yesterday, so now it's time for me to give a good update.

IMHO, the freshmen this year was a lot better than last year. Just like last year, the freshmen were allocated according to nationality, meaning there was an overwhelming number of Singaporeans and PRCs as compared to other years. The quota for Singaporeans were raised too, probably because they found out that a lot of people staying in halls end up getting attached. It's just SDU at work. A lot of people have yet to move into hall, so there are quite a couple of empty rooms around. Still, freshmen turnout for orientation was much much better. It was shortened too, starting only in the afternoon. The freshmen were less exhausted, so I guess it's a good thing.

The initial part of orientation was standard, with games and other funny events that simply got freshmen to laugh, play and cry together. Block Orientation was strict albeit toned down. I'm not a very big fan of ragging, but to be perfectly honest, there's something about ragging that makes people end up bonding a lot more. All the previous batches, mine included, endured relatively more 'tortuous' block orientations, and turned out more united, fun loving, 'stronger'. Times have changed I gather, most poignantly in attitudes. Freshmen seem to be 'softer', with lower thresholds for anything. They seem to be more rebellious, demanding that everyone give in to their wants. Surprisingly, this applies not only to girls but a lot of guys as well, even those who went through army training. Shouldn't they know by now that things are done a certain way for a reason? I guess most can't see past the bridge of their nose. =/

No, I won't say all of them are like that. No, it's not a complain or a generalisation. It's merely an observed opinion that I have for the past two years. Talking to a number of freshmen, the common response is "They shouldn't have had to do that, or They nothing better to do is it (They referring to seniors) etc..." but they don't realise we went through much worse and still survived. I believe I got the same response from freshmen last year. To be honest, I think it might even have happened to my batch. The key issue is that, whether we like it or not, university students (myself included I believe) are a lot less matured than our fathers when they were our age. I credit that to the comfortable lifestyle we've all had.

Nevertheless, orientation was fun! It was definitely an improvement from last year, and this year, the activities saw a lot more participation. I helped where I could, like in the games, or in float, or for MOAH... It was quite cool! I won't go too much into details because there's just too much to say, but I enjoyed myself, and I hope the freshmen did too.

Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of time to write much. Suffice to say, it seems to be a good start to a new academic year, but classes start tomorrow. Let's hope things work out for the best!

I'm going to try this poem thing again.

Creative Designs

Atrocious, Cried he, as he looked at his screen,
Never before such rubbish have I seen!
Try harder please, for your work is pathetic!
Don't take it personally, I'm not trying to be cryptic.

Enlarge that image, clean it up please,
Such basic rules, you ought to know these,
I think it can work, though lots must be done,
Good luck and hang in there, it can be quite fun!

Now if you are stuck, don't worry, helps on the way,
For Google™'s your friend, just use it they say,
Online tutorials, there are millions out there,
Ripe with design knowledge, for all those who care.

Never be fearful, of playing around,
Unless it's a person, that will cause a few frowns,
To design is quite fun, it's quite addictive too,
So start up Photoshop™, if you want to be cool!

I got this little idea from my friend. Let's see just how well my poetic juices flow...

The Jester

Lay he in bed, trying hard to think,
Of life and of love, though hopeless him being,
Noone could grasp, what he felt deep inside,
Even though he had many, of his friends close beside.

Liven up the mood, his duty and calling,
In spite of his circumstance, he never stop trying,
Noone is perfect, but worked hard he did,
Even though failures, trailed him instead.

Stood he in public, and wooed hearts a-many,
Spreading much laughter, in a life so contrary,
Performed hard he did, to the best of his ability,
Lucky for him, he earned quite a bit of money.

At the end of the day, he gathered his due,
Going back to his home, again feeling blue,
Unseen by all people, his face so forlorn
Expecting and wishing, for joy in the morn.

Ever came to a point where you have a decision to make on what to do, or whether or not you should even be doing anything? There are many times when you know that on hindsight, what you did was wrong, or inappropriate, or done with bad taste, or done at the wrong time... How do you tell? We can follow our hearts sure, but very often, we have to follow our heads too. Isn't it true that there are some things that you know if you DID follow your heart, you'd be in big trouble? And I'm not just talking about those morally wrong or criminally wrong things either. If I'd followed my heart, I might end up pissing a lot of people off because doing solely what's in your heart negates using our heads.

I really think decisions should be based on both your heart and your head. For example, when to tell someone off is very important since if you just do it as and when you like, you may just end up losing a friend, making an enemy and possibly generate a lot of other problems along the way. Your head will tell you that although you WANT to do something now, perhaps there's a BETTER way to handle the situation.

However, using both your head and your heart generates one BIG problem, there are now too many variables that sometimes, you don't know which is the decision you should follow. Too many "but what ifs" pop up and you start thinking about all the possible consequences, weighing what you feel against what you think will happen as a result of that. Life would be much easier if we could follow either or, but doing so causes a person to be either totally self centered or extremely unhappy.

I think I'm personally on the "head" side significantly more. True, there are times when I fail to stop and think things through, but even so, when the opportunity arises, I always spend as much time as I can coming up with the 'right' answer. Most of the time, I give up on what my heart wants, and that may be why I may not exactly be the happiest person around, but I do try. I sometimes wish I could just ignore the consequences of whatever it is I do and just go and do what I want. Fulfilling my personal desire may make me a possibly 'happier' person, but I think I might also end up being extremely self centered and ignorant of others. HOw do you balance up the two? Where do you draw the line?

There are times when I look back and a part of me regrets what I did, or what I didn't do. But there are also times when I'm grateful for the same reasons, because they make me who I am today. I learned patience for example, and it is something which I believe makes me a better person. True, I might have had my desire (whatever it was that I was impatient with) fulfilled and could've enjoyed it. After all, it might have been something I've really wanted all along. But by holding back I learned something else; I built my character and gained experience. Isn't that important too?

Sometimes, my heart gets overwhelmed that I just want to go and do something! It's at this time that my head tells me it may not be the right thing. The warring factions cause me to be unsure of what to think or do. Is it definitely flesh vs spirit? If so, how do you tell? The Bible tells us this:

"Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him…" (Psalm 37:5-7a, NIV).

Now, what if that very thing you have to decide upon is actually what HE is giving you to fulfill this scripture? Would you then withold your hand from taking it? If God gives you the desires of your heart, or rather, WHEN He does, how do you know it's definitely from Him? I was taught that a it takes two to tango, both God and you working hand in hand. He does His part, you have to do yours. I did a little search and found this: CLICK I agree with it all, but I raise the question that when God actually gives you that desire, how do you know it's yours for the taking?

I guess the answer lies in your relationship with Him. I try to spend as much time as I can in His presence, and it's great. I also don't think hearing from God comes just like that. We have to keep trying, doing what we hear even if we do not understand and in that process, open our ears even bigger to hear more. Lord, I trust in You.

I realised a big flaw in my posts, they always seem to be a mixture of a lot of thoughts instead of one single focussed one. I guess it's because I try to unload all that's on my mind everytime I post and I don't exactly have only one thought at a time...

I remember talking to some people about personalities, about temperaments and how different people react differently to a given situation. Many would've heard of the DISC personality test as well as the temperaments test. It helps us to understand a little about others, but it can also lead to a negative outcome. Some have ended up categorising others and this isn't healthy since a person's personality can and will change.

The last time I took the test, I was classified as an S... a VERY HIGH S person. An S person is generally steady, taking things as they come, seldom unfazed and values very much the relationship instead of the task at hand. Now I think this is pretty true, although of late, I'm beginning to think that my D side has risen a little. Either that, or I seem to be forcing myself to be D to the point it's become instinctive, but inside I'm really very S. D and S are polar opposites. A high D person is demanding, task oriented, dominating and basically wants things done his/her way. These are the people who make good leaders because they are very focussed on the task and has a very high drive to succeed. I believe that perhaps although I was originally extremely high S with almost non-existant D, being pushed into positions where responsibility counts for a lot has made my D side rise significantly.

Of course, there are other personalities too, like I and C. I people are influential, charismatic, talk a lot, funny etc. C people are generally quiet but meticulous people who are sticklers for details. I guess if you look at it from a different perspective, a successful team is one where all four personalities are fully maximised, and each person plays their roles well. We need leaders who are demanding, supportive people who keep the team together, highly talkative and charismatic people to portray results and to motivate others, as well as people to work out all the little details that others miss.

I think personalities apply to relationships too, but I guess it can always be worked out anyway. Perhaps it does not come as a surprise since your personality would affect what you're looking for in another person... although I'm not too sure it's the most important thing...

So let this S sign off by saying that in everything you do, do spare a thought for the people involved... you may not like it, but sometimes the decision that hurts u most can be the right decision.

So it's finally over. World Cup 2006 ended with France getting ousted by Italy at the penalty shootouts. It was a very exciting match I must say, and there was enough action to keep you stuck on the edge of your seat throughout. France converted an early penalty to a goal with Zidane putting the ball just under the crossbar, causing the ball to go into the goal and then bouncing out. It was still a goal though, and the referee called it. Italy equalised in the same half, but the rest of the match was goalless. It wasn't without any tries and spectacular saves though.

To be perfectly honest, I didn't really think both teams deserved to be in the finals. Still, luck does play a huge part in football, and it seemed to be on France's side, with a goodly number of close calls where Italy nearly found the back of France's net. In the end however, they proved tenacious enough to hold on through to the end, and finally winning the cup. I never held Italy in very high regard, not because they didn't play good football. They certainly have great talent and I am still amazed by Canavaro's performance. The problem is that they don't actually seem to play all that fair. I mean, if they were as good as they are, why did they have to resort to play acting, diving and in other words, cheating? It's not like they didn't have the capabilities to win. Their performance when they faced Australia really caused me to lose a great amount of respect for such an otherwise fine team. The fact that the Italian Serie A is being plagued by scandals at this moment don't help either. That's not to say I supported France in the finals though. I guess if I did, it was simply because I didn't really want Italy to win.

Anyway, against my deepest resentments, Italy won. The World Cup was hoisted by Canavaro and it's finally at the end. About time too, I think it's time EVERYONE caught up on sleep.

I'm finally back in hall. Nothing much happening just yet, except I'm tired and I think I need sleep. I think I ought to turn in early tonight... Till next time I have a gripe...