2 1/2 days to 2008: reviews and resolutions.

that's right... time to say bye to 2007.

was 2007 any better than 2006? indeed, it was. new faces, new friendships - the usual.

frankly i don't really remember much about things past, as i wrote in one of my previous blog entries. in all, it was a smooth-sailing year, with a fair share of challenges and rewards.

let's put aside the challenges and rewards from school. there were, but not important to me.

the most important thing is i've learnt to adopt an even more liberal outlook on life and gaining the ability to 'let go' many things that i may have held on to in the past. i'm definitely more relaxed (or slack, if you like) and more optimistic than usual. it's not that i'm never relaxed or optimistic... just more.

a critical event of 2007 was my professional attachment. well, it was done in partial fulfillment of my degree (hence academic) but it did not feel that much of a "school" except for the writing of the PA report. most importantly, it set a direction as to where i wanted to go.

i'm definitely staying in marketing, as opposed to wanting to go banks (as some of my friends knew).

another event was rather unexpected. in the first place, i didn't have any intention of joining this competition at all. i did hear some of friends interested in joining - perhaps even "persuaded" to join - but that's about it. as it was with many emails that were sent to my account, i conveniently deleted it.

but i was chatting online with my friend one night when she asked me to join the competition. i'm very surprised - not by her asking me, but the fact that she wanted to join. it somehow changed my perception (no offense) to a more positive one.

well, i'm lucky i did. thanks to this invite, we bagged 2nd runner up in the finals. the prize money and hamper were insignificant, but the experience was the main takeaway. it further strengthened my desire to stay in marketing. specifically, consumer / market research.

something to boost my resume.

as some of you already know, i give part-time tuition. the money's good, time is flexible, and i get to interact with the younger generation. i learn things from them i never could have learnt from my friends, and they provided some insights into things that i would never think of. one of the most memorable was this:

i was explaining a maths question to my student, and he asked me:

"that's how you would do, because you knew how to do it (i.e. had the experience). have you tried looking at it from my perspective?"

the question was asked in chinese, but for the sake of blogging i translated it. the translated version is also more complete.

yes, that's right - "from my perspective." how many times have we looked at things from our perspective, but not from others'? even though it's only a maths question, the issue is: the kid has no experience with such questions. how do we use the very basic principles to deal with the problem? how can we "stand in other people's shoes?" these are questions easy to ask, but not as easy to answer!!

sometimes, we do not need to think too much, as it would only complicate matters. what is most important is grasping the key idea to things, and delimiting the scope of your thought.

i mean, if i were to ask "why" to everything you said, it would never end. probably it will, if you decide to stomp off.

it's just like using wikipedia. on an article there are so many links. so i might start off with something like cars, and eventually move on to something not-so-linked, such as outer space. is it really required to think so much?

no, as i've learnt.

anyway, just some resolutions for 2008:

1) keep up being less "nua" (it works)
2) be more empathetic
3) be more fit

just some that i can think off-hand. well, happy new year!