Presentation Outcome

Thank you for all your well wishes from sms, email and the previous article. The presentation went on well. Finally it's over I can let it get behind me now.

Right. Must catch up with some sleep. I only slept for an hour! I drank the wrong stuff before going to bed and it kept me awake the whole night! Being nervous further exacerbated the insomnia.

"Garden of Gethsemane"

I'd be presenting my dissertation in a conference on Tuesday (17th July). Even though I was used to doing presentation for my company previously, having a new topic and going into uncharted territories always give me the jitters.

Presentation in Japan, August 2006

I could still remember August last year in Japan when I did my presentation in Japanese, in front of the public, it was completely scary. I almost died from stage fright! I could still remember we took like 2 weeks to rehearse a presentation of only a few minutes; almost to the point of memorising the script! It did boost our confidence a little but not until we were told that the public was also invited to attend and throw questions at us. It was held in a convention centre, so there's no way we could predict where those questions would come from and what they were. Anyway, heaps of preparation and a modicum of luck, I went through those frightening moments without any hiccups. In fact, all of us attested that we were more confident speaking the language after coming out of the presentation. What else could be scarier?!...(I love challenges actually). So, the Japanese way of doing things has it upside too! Polish to perfection.

This time, it would be something similar. Only thing that I'd be doing it in English, much easier, so there'd be a language advantage there. It would be in the Engineering Department, also open to the public. However, I can't help but notice the stark difference between Japan and here. In Japan, it was "regimented" rehearsals after rehearsals! Perfectionist Japan! Here, there is so much freedom and liberty that everything is on our own. Rehearsals are self-initiated and if we don't give a hood about it, no one will! It's an "I, me and myself" kinda thing. I like it in some way because there's this great sense of responsibility and basically, we take charge of our own destiny! Initiatives to rehearse come from us, no one will need to tell us that.


So, I took the initiative to rehearse my presentation with a few other colleagues who also needed feedback about their performances. I felt it was an extremely inspiring process to make our own initiatives, to realise about complacency, our own shortcomings in the presentation and a will to accept judgement and correct the shortcomings. This process has made me realise that the means to improving ourselves, is not through the multiple rehearsals but a true sense of humility.

Recent happenings no.2

The British Council for the East of England region organised a reception for Chevening scholars at Trinity Hall, one of the 31 colleges in Cambridge. So we didn't have to travel, which was great! Other scholars had to travel all the way from the University of East Anglia and University of Essex.

You probably can't see this properly and sometimes the photos won't enlarge in blogspot when you click on it. There's nothing much I can do. But sometimes it does, so try your luck! In case it doesn't, I am on the left side of the photo; right behind the lady in white headscarf; I hope that helps...

The quartet invited by the British Council to play for the event. I was impressed with the way they played. It's a shame I couldn't sit a chair next to them and immerse in the whole performance. I had to walk around and chat with other scholars too!

Kiki and I chatting with each other most of the time. I had about 7 to 8 chicken drumsticks and a few dozens of mini sausages while we chatted away with other scholars and administrators.

Sir Hilary Synnott from the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, presented a speech.

And not forgetting, it was also Kiki's birthday! Happy Birthday Kiki! We had a small gathering at a kopitiam after the Chevening reception. But this kopitiam was obviously a nice place, if you heard of Caffe' Nero...that's spelt with two Fs. I was just joking, this is no kopitiam, it's quite a large chain here and they serve good coffee!

Kiki, her cake, a happy smile and a year older!!

Recent happenings

It's a hive of activities here. Whenever I am not working on my dissertation, I'd either be doing sports, attending talks, applying for jobs (everywhere), attending functions or entertaining friends. The activities for the past two weeks....

Brian organised a BBQ at his place but it rained. So we had our food cooked at his home instead. One of the things Christine (Brian's wife) prepared was strawberry meringue (it's in season now, yay!) with cream. The photos made the strawberries looked so delicious. It really was!

Attended Effendi's graduation ceremony. I just found out students in Cambridge can attend the function without a ticket as long as they donned a gown. Effendi is Aeni's brother and Aeni's elder sister was formerly from Gamuda, where I worked. What a small world...

And then a punting trip to Grantchester. My 2nd attempt to punting.

Going right into the bushes was a normal occurence for amateurs like me. I've only clocked 0.09 punting-kilometers through my first attempt months ago. This is what happens when an amateur punts....

Others suffer as a result of my incompetence...and when the unexpected happens...The pole got stuck in the middle of the river and we had to turn back to get it! You can see our friend was obviously peeved...

New Toy

Finally, I have gotten myself a new camera- the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ7. This time with a 12X Optical Zoom (it never stops to get any bigger!) and it's 6MP, double the resolution of my old one, but still not the highest available in the market. I guess the market's at 10.1MP but I'm fine with 6. After all, I'd most likely set to 2MP most of the time. Other things about the camera - runs on SD card, Leica lens, image stabiliser, new joystick control and weighs 310g only! More photos soon....