Genting Trip - Day 1

I wonder when is my last time since I came Genting. It was a last minute decision for myself to head for this trip. One of my friend was not able to make it to the triip so he had to sell away his place at half price to cut his cost.

I was late the morning, supposing to meet a friend in Tampines at 0430hrs but I only woke up at 5. Lucky I was still able to meet the bus timing at 0630hrs. It took us 6 hours to hit Genting and about 1230hrs, we hit First World Hotel.

Picture of First World Hotel, Day and Night.

There was this sand model of Genting which I found in the lobby of First World Hotel.

There is a huge indoor amusement park with many interesting rides. There is also many interesting figures by the wall. I wish I can show you all but there is just too many. These are just some appetizer.

Look!! Merry-go-round!!

The most obvious thing about Genting is the cloudy atmostphere. The cool breeze was the best part of standing out in the open. I must say it is evening cooler than the air-con. Wonder why they install air-con in the buildings. Wait, I think they don't!!

The most unforgetable memory I had in Genting was the outdoor amusement park. They have roller coaster rides, boat rides and many more. I remembered when I last came, I spent the whole day playing in the amusement park. Hell lot of fun and hell lots of years ago. How nostaligic.

I also caught sight of some performance in one of the stage area in the indoor amusement park. There were some hot dancers doing hiphop dancing for a starter. It was then followed by chinese aerobic dance. I must say these aerobic dancers are really good at it. it was lastly followed by a magic trip. Cliche magic trick but still they are good.

I went clubbing later in the night. I think I should have drank at least 6 or 7 glass of Vodka with sprite. A first for me, so please appauld at least for the effort you kow. I even had problems walking back. Lol.

This are some interesting pictures I took from Day 1 of my Genting Trip.

Saturday Nites Out

I was hanging out since noon at Raffles City where I caught sight of this beautiful fountain. It spurts out water from the top, forming words like "Raffles City". I thought was nice that is why I took out my camera and stood there for about 15 mins for the next "show". However it never appeared. I guess it is just not my day.












While walking from Beach road to Suntec, I caught sight of my favorite building, the Parkview Square at its night view.











Not only my favorite building, I also saw the hot air balloon that I always wanted to hop on to see the horizons way beyond.









When I hit Suntec, I took a stoll around the fountain of wealth. I didn't know that fountain of wealth actually provide word dedication service. There was this group of dragon boaters actually wished a girl in their group happy birthday. I thought the idea was sweet.








There was also a Mitsubishi car fair at the Suntec. Though car wasn't much of my interest as of now, I can't help to take a picture of Mitsubishi's hottest car, Mitsubishi EvoX.









Ending off, my friends and I saw this capsule-looking massage chair. Wonder if it is time capsule. That chair cost about 8k. My goodness people sure can spend for a chair that presses hard on you.

Summary of Coaching Course

I think it is my job hazards that I will work out some sort of format to whatever thing I have.
This is my format and summary of what coaching course has for me.

Coaching Conversation

Firstly you will determine certain things of the meeting.

• Location - Must be conducive to suit the meeting
• Preparation - Information of the coachee must be collected
• Desired Outcome - What you wish to achieve

Then you will prepare for things you will want to ask your coachee in this session of coaching through the GROW model. All these are done through the coachee's mouth, meaning to say you will have to seek the answers in the coachee

Goal

• Set objectives of the session
• "What do you think we can achieve from this session?"
  

Reality

• Getting facts from the coachee
• "How do you think we have fare for the job?"
• It seems like luring coachee to say what is the problem so set up a trap to do so.

Option

• Opening up options for the coachee
• "Given another chance, how would you have done it better?"
• By doing so, it somehow make the coachee committed to what was said.

Wrap up

• To summarize what was being said previous.
• To reconfirmed what is to be done.
  

This is a pictorial summary of the format I am talking about.

Coaching Course

What is the difference between a Coach, Mentor and a Councilor?

Mentor - Someone who has been through the process and is to impart to another person
Coach - Someone who may not been through the process but yet able to correct on the expert. e.g. Tigerwoods' coach.
Councilor - Coaching in a slower and more emotional and advice orientated.

Listening is the key factor to these roles, however the level of listening gets lower as it goes up.

These is what I have learnt today at my coaching course. In line with my centre's vision of us being coaches coaching NSmen, my CO arranged for this course. Definitely beside the definition of each of the roles, I also picked up a important tool of communication.

Guys being guys, we are much more problem-solving orientated. Whenever we hear a problem from a friend, we often give solutions even before listening to the whole story. The usual case is that when someone complains, the person is usually looking for a listening ear. Often enough you will hear words like "I understand how you feel, but....."

My centre actually came to equation of "I understand how you feel" equates to "shut up and listen to me". And the word "but" is the starting word for more harm, as the solution will come after that word.

The useful tool I learnt is called the 3 R's.

Repeat
Repeating keywords of what person said is to show that you are actually paying attention. You send a message of interest to the person and then the person will be more comfortable to tell you more.

Rephrase
This is usually used for longer winded person. By using your own words to summarized what the person had said is also similar to REPEAT. However this sends a message inclusive of confirmation of the information. Even the message is wrong, you will still score some points for telling the person you are putting effort in listening.

Reflect Feelings
This looks easy after being enlighten by the coach, however putting it into practical usage is tough. You just had to put the word of the feeling into your sentence, that is all. E.g. If the person is feeling sad and is complaining to you, you can say things like "I feel your dismay in this exercise".

These are the icebreaker tools of communication with problems as of what I have learnt today. Of course it doesn't just stop here, you will have to carry one with with open ended questions. "Who, What, When, Where, Why and How" are the key to these open ended question.

E.g. "Is your favourite colour red?" There are plenty of colours on earth so when are you going to hit the right colour. "What is your favourite colour?" is the open ended question you can ask to solve all the problem.

Lastly, I like the Coaches' Rule : 80% Listening 20% Talking. Indeed listening is a vital factor to a conversation.

1st Blog with eeePC

Well, if u are seeing this, means my blog managed to get through the first time on my eeePC with wireless SG.

I simply had some diffculties with loading pictures down at the Macdonal's over at Tampines Interchange. At the start I even had issue with connecting to the wireless over here.

Whichever it is, it is worth the time to do up my first blog here. Something worth to note down. Given our Prime Minister's direction, I hope the wireless can really go through in Singapore, making Singapore truely a wireless hub country.

Mummy's Birthday

4th April is my mummy's birthday. I actually intended to take leave for this day, but was stopped as my boss insist that we go for a cadence run organized by the HQ. Too bad, had to do it. In the end, what I did for my mom to is get a cake for her in the night.









The cake I bought.














My mum and I.

IPPT Silver!!!

For my entire army career, this is the first time I have gotten silver! Well, less those training days. Never would I imagine that I could still maintained my running though it is considered poor already.

My results:
Sit Ups 41
Chin Ups 8
Shuttle Run 9.9s
Standing broad jump 234cm
2.4km run 11min 18sec

Looks like I am going to have slightly more money this month!!