Heart Space #47: Emo Me & Him

Every time that I am away, I can get quite emotional, and like my friend Francis said, this job is not good for me as I am too emotional. Don't get me wrong, as I do not break down and cry. I feel it's a good thing to be emotional; I loved my wife more, my kid needless to say... I love her to bits. I have learned to appreciate the things in life back home a little tad better too. It is who I am, and if you cannot be yourself, who else can you be?

As days draw closer to my return date, there is still no news about the offer. I have to make a call, and I do not know how the coin would land. Kenneth told me, in a totally different context that God had it all planned out. He is where he is now, not because he planned it, but it unfolded for him. I guess you can read it that way, but the thing is, I felt I have planned it. Years ago, I wanted to do IT, so I got into a polytechnic that does IT course. Then I went to Australia, as planned because I know I will not be able to get into local university.. (bleah) but also it is a shorter path and I can gain some exposure living overseas. It turned out better than expected, as I met my wife... (ok, this probably planned by greater power). When I came back, I followed a friend and joined the IT consulting company. I stayed there till I decided to call it quit. That's when my major milestones were planned out. I took a 6 months break, (or as long as it would take) to find a job that I want, which is Project Manager role. Local SI came along, and offered me exactly what I was looking for. I spent 4 great years in the company , learning things that I was never exposed to. When it's time to relook at what was lacking in my resume, it was the exposure that an overseas job can provide, POP came this current job.

Now, I am at a lost, no further plans as I didn't plan to stay so short. Maybe it's time that in His hand that I should trust...I so need a sign and I need it fast.

Heart Space #46: Decisions and Decisions.

These few days required me to make decisions with regards to the balancing of my work and personal life. The outcomes of any decision will not only affect me, but my family as well. Here are the choices:
1. Continue, and proceed to Bahamas with my family
The upside of this is that the family will be together, yet can earn the bonuses that are due in April. The downside of it, however, is that should my wife be pregnant, arrangement has to be made for her to come back Singapore first, maybe even without me; for the project is 9 months and I do not wish her to give birth in Bahamas. How about the gyane support down in Bahamas, and also the amount of Faith stuff that we have to bring.... to last 9 months... amazing.

2. Move on to a new job
Upside, is I will get to stay in Singapore more regularly, and hopefully get an huge increment in the process.
The downside, is that there is absolutely no news after the interview despite having an excellent interview according to the interviewer. I hope news come soon, as I would want to give ample notice to IDAi should I decide not to go to Bahamas.

3. Join NCS back
Upside is that it's definitely local based job, which means I will be Singapore all the time. Did I mentioned an alright increment? That would give me no worries about the family and the pregnancy should it happen.
Downside of it, is that I will be going back to project delivery and also to an ex-company. How many of us did that? I am not sure.

Decisions decisions... so far, it's 2, then 1, then 3... For some reasons, didn't feel very compel to take option 3 even though it seems as best... Who knows, I might just do that

Heart Space #45: Costa Rica

I touched down here late last night about 940pm local time. Had the longest leg that Singapore Airlines (SIA) has to offer. Luckily the plane is the newer model and has better entertainment system than the Frankfurt New York leg. Despite that, I didn't manage to catch a lot of rest.

When I reached, I was told that I do not have my room settled yet, and I have to bunk in either in the living room or the colleague's twin room. This idea sucked big time of course, but there's seem to be no other choice but to wait it out. Hopefully they will get it fixed by end tomorrow.

Managed to get onto the internet, and found out from my wife that Faith was still looking for me. We all thought she would have been informed, guess kids do not register things that well in memory. She didn't believe my wife when she told her that I have already gone overseas to work. She went to look for me all over the house, only to be convinced when she could not find me. My wife told me that she was also at her listless self, despite having the new toys... I guess my wife could not be the playmate that I was with her. Just before I left, as usual, I will give her the pat talk, ensuring that she understands that her daddy has to go away. She told me the usual that she didn't want me to go overseas and work, and want to follow or ask me to stay in Singapore with her. I told her that this trip would be the last (knowing if only everything goes as planned). Told her that there will not be an extended trip anymore, and I would stay in Singapore with her. She nodded and ask me why must there still be a last trip? I am dumb folded..which I later answered that I have already promised to go, so I must make this trip regardless. She nodded as if she understood.

I showered and tried to sleep, with my earphones on. It was not as cold as I have expected it, and it was a bit on the stuffy side, as the room mate did not want to on the air conditioning. I believed I slept at about 330am.. However, at about 430 or 5am, the sun is already pretty high up, but what irritated me to most is the clinking and clanking of the plates just below the hotel room. We stayed very near the kitchen and the morning breakfast area. It was really really bad. Looks like I have to use the earphones every night and day in the house.

I already having very dark eye circles, must be the effect of the long haul flights and the sleepless nights. The start of a very long 28 days, and hold so much promise..... of a new dawn.

Heart Space #44: Faith schooling experience.

It was so nice being around to send Faith to school. Thank God that I did not miss this important milestone of her life.

The first day for her at Brighton Montessori down at Fort Road was uneventful. We dressed her up in her cute red/yellow pinafore uniform and send her to school. Faith was all so hyped up about going to school. When we reached the school, the principal came out to welcome us and ushered us to the room where teacher Bernie was waiting. When teacher Bernie opened to door to greet us, there was a classroom full of other kids playing and as if welcoming Faith. Faith waved goodbye to us under the instruction from Bernie, and walked in with her. We quickly left the place as the lesser we loiter around the area, the better for her.

Wife cried in the car, maybe in disbelief that our little has grown up, and gone to school. It is probably the first time that Faith is left totally alone with strangers. I think the 20 minute orientation did help a little. Earlier in the week, we brought Faith to be introduced to the school, talked to the teachers and let Faith play around in the room. At the end of the day, when we went to pick her up, the principal came to talk to us. She told us that she did not cry at all and participated in all the activities. She then showed us the photos that she took, and indeed, she looked happy. When the class is finally over, Faith came out happy and seemed to have truly enjoy the class. We thought there will be no more crying and Faith was exceptionally brave.

Day 2 came, and I was back at work. So got a call from the wife saying that Faith would rather go shopping than go to school. After more coaxing and shoving (hee), Faith went into the class crying. When the class finished at the end of the day, the teacher told my wife that after the initial separation, with milk and nap, Faith became alright, read no more crying. We are relived that she didn't cry the whole day.

Day 3 was less uneventful, maybe because she was in her PE attire. :) But according to grandma, she did say that she didn't want to go to school once she sees her porridge being served. She knew that the routine is that after the porridge, she would have to go to school.

Day 4 was the day that grandma has to tell her that "maybe there's a party at the school...." No crying though. :)

Day 5 (today), I told her to be brave again, as part of my daily pat talk. I told her that I will bring her to a playground to play with balls. My bad.. now she says she would play the balls first, then go to school. :( Anyway, managed to convince her that the shops are closed (which she insisted already open at 8am).

Let's see from now on... Can sense the importance of me being around her, as she looks towards me for approval and sense of support. Even in the nightly milk/bed session, she would hold my arm as if her bolster and want me to pat her sleep and sleep beside her. Although her 'reception' of mandarin is still very bad (she kicked mummy when she reads mandarin books to her), she promised that she will listen to the reading from now on.

We shall see...

Heart Space #43: For the Loves of my life.

A man who traveled across many seas and nations
to chase his dreamed-up aspirations;
many worshiped him for his courage and his stone cold heart
to be able to leave behind his loved ones and be months apart.

It is a pain that he relives everyday
and to endure it, is the only way.
Little do they know,
that it is an impossible life
if without a loving and capable wife
and a pretty cheeky little girl at home.

Heart Space #42: Twenty Thousand Miles

It is really becoming a reality. My wife and Faith is really going to fly nearly 20000 air miles to be with me for 10 days. After the sunny (I hope) 10 days in Bahamas, we are going to head out to the Big Apple for more crazy shopping and sight seeing. I am so sure that Faith and my wife will enjoy the big apple like I did. :)

It's the second (I stand corrected) time the wife is tagging along for my work, but this time it will be with my 2.7 year old daughter!. How time flies. I remembered when I tagged along to her work in Wellington, New Zealand. Although it was with a lot of fanfare before I was even allowed to go, I believe we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. It was the fond memories of driving around the entire south island, getting caught for speeding (my bad); nearly running out of gas, and how we switch off everything to conserve gas... ;left my shoes on top of the car after our picnic overlooking the lake at Queenstown. It was the 1 road trip that we have, that it was truly free and easy. We never book all the hotels in advance; She had only planned the major attractions to see, anything else was secondary. :) It was really our happy times. So many sweet memories, and it does not feel like yesterday. We have aged, or should I say, we had come a long way. We have a family now that we can call our own, and it's one that I am so very proud of. Faith is smart, pretty and simply adorable.

In order for me to enjoy the times ahead, I will buck up and finish up the work assignment ahead of time. I shall only allow enough minor work amendments that I can finish up during the days, for my evenings and weekends are packed to the brim. :) There's only 4 days of weekends that they are going to be here, and I am certainly going to make their traveling worth it.

God knows how soon I have to leave them again for work. :(

Heart Space #41: Death by Accident

When a message comes to you like "Have you heard about xxxx?", it never bodes well. This morning, I learn the misfortunate death of my friend, an ex-colleague. He was driving in his car where a tree was uprooted by strong wind and fell straight on top of him. According to the report, he had suffered spinal injuries and died on the spot. I do hope he passed on without feeling it, for it must be really unbearable to wait for rescue or be suffering the excruciating pains before death. There’s no better way to look at it, for his Life was taken away, just like that, in an instance, and not knowing what is it that robbed you and everything that you have.

I remained very troubled the entire day. I was just talking to him over the messenger a couple of days ago and we were having a good laugh about mindless work. Messages on his wall on Facebook have comments about people who spoken or met with him the day before the fatal accident. How devastated the wife must feel; how is she going to explain to the daughter that Daddy is never coming home again. The parents will not understand why such unfortunate occurrence happens to their son. Only questions, no one has the answer.

I do not think I can handle deaths well, although I understand the necessity and cycles of life. How does one know how much time we all have left? Is it the next very minute, hour or tomorrow? Are we living the minutes of lives without any regrets? Are you?

Heart Space #40: 1st Trip back from Trinidad & Tobago.

I am writing this blog on board the 2nd leg flight home from Frankfurt to Singapore, SQ025. Actually it’s the 3rd and final leg, for the first leg was from Port of Spain, Trinidad to New York, JFK. A lot of events have happened and finally led to us taking this unscheduled trip home. In summary, the country that we are serving, is calling for an abrupt election, and considering that my work involves a lot of engagements with the ministries and public, it was deemed inconvenient to continue. The circumstances that we were made to leave soon as possible had left a bitter taste in my mouth.

Notwithstanding that, I wanted to blog about my experience thus far in a new type of job, a new role and in a new country.

I got into this job without knowing what the job exactly is, where I’ll be posted and whether I am even sufficiently trained or experienced to do it. In fact the sentiment of “misfit” is shared amongst many, if not all of my colleagues. I did think, why me then? Was it because I was willing to travel over 9500 miles to do a job that few family men, even lesser women would take? Or was it because my past job experience has some remote relevance to the type of people that they hire? To further add to the mystery, I was assigned to a Reporting Officer (RO) that is so way high up and in a ‘segment’ of the workforce that requires long term posting.
As I got into the job, these thoughts fade quickly into the background. The urge to do a good job, to prove a point took over or it could just me trying simply to make the best out of it. Honestly, I do not have a yardstick on how I am doing or I am doing it right. I believe that I am doing things the right way, and so far, my lead has not said anything in disagreement or shown signs of discontent. With the scope continuing to expand, and lessening of resources and time, I would expect that the following weeks will be up to my neck, and therefore I am trying to pen this out while I can.

On the personal side of things, one could not imagine how much more difficult it actually is to leave your family behind and be separated in a distant land for work. I am not the ‘hero’ that some of my friends make me out to be. Sometimes in life, we are presented with an opportunity and we just have to take it, regardless if it was the best time or not. Would I have done it other way, since I have been in this job 3 months? I really do not know the answer, although there are times that I was dead sure of what the answer would be. Don’t get me wrong, I like the nature of the job, the experience that I get working in developing countries, the sparse travelling I have during my leisure time, but is it worth it? Do these all merit my time away from the people that I love so dearly? Is being there constitute same “value” as trying to provide them adequately? Spare me the lecture about inequitable comparisons, but my point is that is being there all the time and not working hard for the family, is that love? Having said this, I know there are other viable options in providing for the family, (and forgive me for being selfish), I do need to balance the needs of the family with my career aspirations. I am blessed with a wonderful and understanding wife whom without, it would be impossible to pull this off. Nonetheless, I constantly bear the thought, that I will not advance a single step without her blessings, and I made sure she knows it.

It seems that I have already written quite a bit and getting jet lag already up in the skies. It would be about 8 hours more of flight time, and 8 hours more before I can see my babies again. I will enjoy 20 odd days I have in Singapore and at the same time juggling work. Meanwhile, back to my Krisworld entertainment movies…. Oh yea, I just bought something (a first) in the air, and it’s for the mother of my baby, and for the 7th year anniversary of wedding.

Heart Space #39: If the foundation is crooked, how could one expect a straight house?

I have observed a few things in the preschools or enrichment classes I have attended with Faith. Although generally, the parents and kids are well behaved and good mannered, there are some that are simply obnoxious.,

1. Allowing their kids to jump queue to wash up.
- There's this time when a parent simply shove his boy up to the front of the queue, blatantly ignoring the 2 queues that were already formed. Faith wanted to move up front too, the lady behind said "It's okay". I told the lady, that it is not okay, and wanted Faith to queue up. Faith immediately got back to me, and join the queue. I figured, if you do not even teach your kids the basic ethics of life, what is the point of enriching other areas?

2. Playing games and ignoring rules.
- There are ground rules in the class, ie. no phone, no phone conversations. This parent simply go on and on with his phone conversation, while his kids are running amok in the class during a story telling session. When he finally finished his conversation, he turned on his games on the phone and play away.

3. Apologising.
- I mean, your kid has already hit someone's else kids on the head and the kid is obviously in pain. What is the least you can do? He chose to ignore and pretend nothing has happened.

All these points, is about 1 parent.. and I observed these in 1 lesson...

Maybe I am too harsh on myself, or my kids. But I believe that if we do not coach them well, who else will?

Heart Space #38: It has been a while.

Woah, time flies when you least expected it.

- Faith is coming to 2. She can say she's 2 years when you ask how old is she.
- Still wondering if I should organise a party for her
- She has about 12 teeth now, she won't let us put our fingers in. :P
- She knows so many words now...
- Words she knows (Bus, Train, Apple, Banana, Sleep, Milk, Boat, Sit There, Pour Inside, Put there, Don't want this, Want this etc)
- Can really run...

That's about it for now about her. Will post something else later.

Heart Space #37: Faith's Update.

I must say, it must have been ages since I last provided an update about Faith, so here goes.

- Faith finally turns 1.
- Had her own party, it was too messy to manage.
- She has 6 teeth now.
- Finally brought her to the beach.
- Found out that she looks really cute in jeans.
- Even more so in traditional chinese dress
- She knows so many words now. eg. if you say "Ah...", she will say "Pa"
- She points to a picture of a Panda, then hands the book to me. :S
- Words she knows (Pineapple, milk, apple, book, car, panda "pan", ong lai (pineapple), ball, biscuits, sorry, upstairs, downstairs, bus, outside, carry)
- Still cannot walk by herself, nor saying any of the words she knows.
- Of course, she knows who are her parents, her grandparents and Jie jie, babies...etc

I will post the pictures to FB once I have time.. :)

Heart Space #36: Christmas

They say XMAS is the time for giving and be joyful. At this present time, how many of us are doing both, or any one of them for the matter. As I say, XMAS is fictitious.

*disclaimer : This is my personal view, and I know it does not apply to all of us.., but I am pretty sure a lot of us needs to read on and reflect.

First of all, I have read in the news that parents in US are appealing to toy makers not to advertise their toys anymore on media. This is because when their kids see the ads, they would want to buy, and the parents cannot afford them anymore. As parents, I do know how that feels. How you ever look in the eyes of a child who can not have the things they deserve so dearly, the disappointment, the helplessness look hurt the parents more than anything on earth. My wife bought Faith a 3-in-1 toy, that can last Faith till she is 3 years old, for about SGD$160, and I was thinking Faith does not know how lucky she is... and this will be the first lesson I will (try to) teach her this Christmas.

Secondly, what is with the decorations and the music of Christmas? Don't they ever change? It's always the same old carols, and these songs (with all artiste doing covers) are played on high intensity from a week before Christmas. And suddenly on Boxing Day, they are gone, as if Christmas never came. So much work and money went into decorations, gifts and feasting and at the blink of an eye, all the festivity didn't seem to exist. Malls are eager to take down the decorations as quickly as they were put up, to make way for the Lunar Chinese New Year... When is the time for us to soak in the spirit of Christmas? I guess in seasonal countries, one could feel that Christmas spirit a little better.

I have decided not to say anymore lest I sound like the Grinch. To end it all, I believe the giving spirit should not be restricted to just Christmas and should not just be to your family, friends and colleagues. There is a great deal of people far less fortunate than us, and we should all work together to make this world a better place for all to live in.

Blessed be.

Heart Space #35: Life is like a Lopsided GPS

Life is like a lopsided GPS. The world is our map, and we are free to roam wherever we desire. However, in life, the start and end points have been predetermined for us.

For starters, a lot of us used the "Where am I" function to find oneself, whereas there is the other group who do not worry about where they start, but more excited of the journey ahead. Eventually, everyone moves, no one stays where they are. Making that first step without knowing how long the journey or what it brings required some leap of faith, but it was not that difficult.

We set our waypoints, stops and detours. All these merely alter the route and distance to our final destination. Some are happy with the straight and fast highway; whereas some prefer the longer and more scenic route. Whichever way you take, no two routes yield the same result. The bumps you hit, the stops and the tolls you have to pay vary from person to person. With the knowledge that whatever decisions we make, will have an impact on our future path, we learnt to plan ahead. We carefully take up insurance, more calculated risks, safer short cuts and so on, so that we can avoid the pitfalls that other people had failed.

Along the way, regardless of how carefully we plan our route; there are times when we are unexpectedly bumped off the road. Or we complain that the route suggested (by circumstances) is not the one we intended. Little did we know that this new path has its very own sights and experience that life determines we should experience. Do we count our blessing that things have gone this way? Or do we keep harping on the mindset that things would have been better if it has gone the way you intended?

End of the day, how much control do we really have? I believe the only control we have, is how we deal with each bumps, stops and detour along our route, for that is the one thing that makes the journey bearable

Heart Space #34: Bottled Up.

Today, I feel just so saddened. It's one of those days, where something (or a lot of things) bothered you, yet you cannot single out any of these things.

However, I am just wondering sometimes is it better to bottle things up, since saying them out will only make things worse than it already is? A few possible outcomes if my grievances are poured out; 1. things get better for a day or two, 2. have a long debate, 3. More feelings get bottled.

It's not as if I did not say out in a subtle way, in fact, I was pretty outright about it. I simply do not feel loved. It is doubly hard, trying to be joyful/loving on the outside, hoping it be reciprocated and yet at the same time deep inside, the yearning for love is eating you from within. All these are made worse with the sadness and darkness that constantly looms around.

Yes, it worries me somehow. When all you can do (like most people would) is to accept and not talk about it, then just how much can you bury? Are we wired to have the depth of acceptance, or are we simply overly cautious of the repercussions of events should we not hold our mouths shut? I believe that we all have our fair share of hitting our limits; or encountered times when we just could not hold the raging emotions. Did these flares of emotions resolve the conflict, or bring about the change? No... at least to me.

This is not me... and I am unwilling to be depressed for the remaining of my life. Yet, I will find new ways to accept, and be amazed by my new found depth.

Heart Space #33: IPL-ed

If you do a reference back to HeartSpace #33, you should see what this topic is about.

I finally got around doing something to beautify my face. There are spots, scars and simply 'things' I want removed from my otherwise handsome face. :)

Today marked the first step. I saw a consultant, via an appointment booked by a cousin. When I reached medical centre, it was pretty deserted with a handful of service staff. I was asked to fill up a registration form and waited for my turn. The nurse came and ushered my wife and myself into the consultation room. She was trying to make small talk, and asked me what my problem was. I couldn’t get what she was asking, and I replied “There’s no problem.” She must have thought then why the hell I am doing there?

The doctor came, and I explained to her what I roughly want done, and the nurse came back, and gave me a flexible quotation. First time I had the encounter of the shop asking if they can charge me at $x amount.

The sequence of the treatment is as follows;
- Wash face
- Put numbing cream
- Wait 30 minutes (waited for 40)
- Put cooling cream (numbed, and thought it was actually warm gel)
- Gets laser-ed
- Cleaned up
- Do mask
- Put all kinds of sprays and moisturizer
- End of treatment.

In short, I am supposed to wait for my spots to become dark, till black when it’s ripe enough to peel off by itself. Then, my skin will be left with those big ones that IPL could not resuce. I am supposed to return 2 weeks later, and this time, she will bring out the bigger laser…
PS: Did ask about the chickenpox scars and my dark cycles. It would take Skin Roller, xxxxx (can’t remember the name), and 2 units of botox to fix these all. Not forgetting a bulging wallet.

Heart Space #32: Faith's pictures

Yes. You should see a video... but you might have guessed that I have not put it up. Meanwhile, these are recent photos that I simply could not resist putting up first. Enjoy her teeth.. :)

Yep.. damn mosquito bite. :(

Heart Space #31: Short Ramblings II

It has been a month since I blogged... Gosh. Time flies when you least expected it. I wasn't that busy at work, but I guess I was sucked into the routine of my life; Work, Exercise and Faith.

On my own front, there's nothing interesting to blog about, with the exception of a discussion I had with 2 of my bosses. One of them mentioned that he knew a lot of people high up in their industries either in the C level management or MD equivalent. He added he know these people because they were classmates, or close friends of their classmates.

It only hit me half day later, when I reflect that that's how you know your contacts. You need to be amongst the elite, so that even if one day you don't really shine, some... at least 1 or 2 of your elite classmates will be somebody, and you can hitch a ride. Like my boss, who will shine even brighter, or should I say, there are numerous options available for him without even trying.

Here are some of the happenings around the world.

- The financial market is volatile, investors unhappy (I feel some of them are not as innocent as they claimed)
- Our merger still unsettled, although they have acquired enough shares to delist.
- More people doing stupid stuff... apparent in all the internet reports
- More china melamine tainted products... First it was lead paints, now this.
- Electricity tariff going up 21% despite the millions/billions that the electric company earned last year. Source

Faith has grown significantly, even though her weight is not showing it. She is still about 8kg, with 2kg more to go within 2 months. She can do a lot of things now like walking along the side of the crib, clapping, pretending to cry, waving goodbyes and taking off her own shirt. She has 2 teeth growing out of her lower jaws. She sometimes can say adult things like "bye", "papa", "mama", "milk". All these, you would wonder if you have misheard it.
As for outings, she attended Jaeden's birthday party, my BBQ and also had her first shot at "swimming". (2nd by the time of this post)

I will try to complete Faith's next story by this weekend and maybe bring the story to current. :)

Heart Space #30: Short Ramblings

I haven't blogged in a while.

A few quick updates...

1. A hawker asked me what's the trading price for Apple Inc shares currently, when she saw my iPhone. I was embarrassed!

2. Someone made a few comments about me and my fortune. Going to do something about it... so let's see if it's uphill from then onwards.

3. Went to the inaugural F1 night race. Still not amazed by the race, but I love the unpredictability of the race and the roars of the engines.

Heart Space #29: This is My Story #6

Been a while since Daddy got around to doing these. I guess he just busy accompanying me and snapping more photos.

As of today, I can do pretty a lot of stuff.
- Crawl pretty well and fast, might I just add
- Sit for a short while before gravity takes over
- I can call "Pa Pa", "Ta Ta" and some other noises even though my daddy thinks I am calling him; whatever makes him happy.
- Must learn how to call "Ma Ma", because Mummy looks upset.
- I still need some milk in the middle of the night, and that wears daddy out completely.
- I am still about 8-9kg., but my appetite has increased quite a bit. 150ml is the minimum I would take.
- I have eaten cereal, rice, brown rice, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, avocadoes, apple, bananas
- Boy... I still hate fish.

Enjoy the vids from the past.

Heart Space #28: Bintan Team Building.

This is a late post.

We had our first department team building in Bintan on 29th - 30th Aug. We were all looking forward to this, as a holiday, as a break from work, or simply because it could jolly be our last outing.

I wanted to write about the sequence of the activities we did in Bintan but have decided to put the pictures in a slideshow instead.

I wonder how much of the "Team" concepts we retained after all the fun we had. I guess team building exercise is a good platform for the boss to identify who are the natural leaders, who are the ones who makes a lot noise and those who simply can't follow instructions. During the event, my boss kept asking me to lead the team. I figured that I can do 1-2 exercises, but I should let others lead, or given a chance to. I appointed 2 other members to lead, and they did pretty well. Everyone who doesn't want to lead, at least listened to instructions. There was no unsporting-ness and everyone was game enough to try everything. It was surely some "firsts" for a lot of people; first time in Bintan (my 2nd), first paintball (my 2nd too), first time on ATV (yeah, my 1st), first on such team building (my last one was in poly days!).

Thankfully, overall it was a fun trip. The food wasn't that fantastic, the pub was an total mess. The beaches, pools, accommodation and the logistics was seamlessly sweet. I must say, it was an excellent break from work, and we DID get to know each other more.