First Week of January 2024: Short but Hectic

Had a pretty hectic 1st week of January.

Started off with a rather unusual dining etiquette workshop for Queensway Secondary on 2nd Jan, followed by an MBTI workshop for Beatty Secondary 5’s.

Re-designed the whole workshop to give them a more comprehensive and positive outlook on their future careers, as well as a lot of tips on getting a head start in their future work.

The feedback was overwhelmingly positive. The students expressed their appreciation. I hope that they learned something useful that they will remember and can put to use soon.

Following that, 2 days at Anchor Green Primary School, teaching them motivational and study skills. I get the sense that a number of them got something out of it.

Ended the week with the final session for the Student Leaders of Bowen Secondary, who will be facilitating their school’s Secondary 1 level camp.

Can’t be sure that I’ll be there, but I happened to bump into a student that I had taught in a primary school just a couple of months ago. He had graduated and was now in Bowen Secondary. Interesting.

Just came back from Singapore Mineral Fair - the first of 2024, with a bunch of stuff. Probably needn’t have bought so much, but I did. And I’m not displeased about it.

We Hate Pain and Change. But A Baby Step At a Time is Better Than Staying Stagnant.

It doesn't take a crisis for people to change the ways they do things.

Yet, because most people are comfort-seeking and pain-avoiding, we tend to prefer staying where we are.

Unfortunately, that also means that when a crisis does hit, things go south really quickly.

But this isn't a doom and gloom post.

You don't have to change what you do.

You just have to change the way you do it.

And it doesn't have to be a huge change. A little step at a time.

In some ways, the target of this post is me. I'm far from an early adopter, and a frequent friend of analysis paralysis.

Even so, I've slowly and steadily begun my journey into digitilisation and accumulating assets online - for my workshops, thought processing, and outreach efforts.

And look, here's one of them. Thank you for being part of it.

How to Start Your Workshop - Get the Structure Right

Structure isn’t really my strong suit.

But, I’ve found that it is indispensable when it comes to coming up with and executing a workshop.

In this short video, part of my course on ‘Start Teaching Your Workshop Without Worry’, I talk about this and what to focus on.

My Childhood Ambitions Didn't Play Out The Way I Thought

When I was a kid, at different points in time, I wanted to be a Cook (I didn't know the word Chef), a Librarian, and a Scientist (specifically, an Entomologist, one who studies insects).

Perhaps as a way of fulfilling at least one of them, I would stay in the kitchen to watch my mum cook. Though I didn't take notes or ask a lot of questions, I still remember and use a lot of the techniques she used.

Being a Librarian is still somewhat appealing to me, though I can't say I'm going to be great with putting books back on the shelves. I've always been a messy reader, with my books all over the place.

I almost never put them back in my book cabinets (yes, plural) until I'm sure I won't be reading them for a while, or forced to do so. I suspect I'll have trouble maintaining a neat library.

And, although I liked observing insects, especially praying mantises, I didn't want to touch them. I've recently learned that it's because I've always had sensory issues.

So, a career of studying something I cannot touch is a bit... Difficult.

Oh, the picture attached is of one individual of a couple of colonies of mantises I found in East Coast Park, where I go on Photo Hunts. I go back and check on them about once a week or so. This one is about 2 months old.

Today, I'm an Educator, Consultant, and Workshop Wrangler.

I would never have imagined as a kid that I'd be here. And yet, this has been my work for over 15 years.

Funny, isn't it, where life takes you?