A Reflection... #5

It's Wednesday and it's a routine for me to have my Blackforest Cheesecake from Secret Recipe every Wednesday. It's actually a new menu so before this I always have White Chocolate Macadamia... Still, once a while I do order it for take away...

As I'm having another Leadership and Management session today, I went to KOS half an hour before 5. I opened my Facebook while waiting for others to come.

As usual, before having the presentations, Br. Said mentioned few things that needed to be cleared about. Again the Medical Certificate issue. I don't know why MC is a big issue here as it being mentioned again and again. Still, there's nothing I can do about it. Probably it IS a big issue, I guess.

Suddenly, Br. Said poked an interesting question.

"Conventional versus Innovative. Which one would you choose?"

Confidently, of course I would go for Innovative. When he poked that question, pictures and logos like Mahjong paper, PowerPoint, Executive Diary, iCal, snail mails, emails, lectures in classes, video conferences, and lots of other things popped into my head.

Some of my classmates would go for Conventional. Br. Said said basically these people during Eid, they would go for traditional cookies instead the new, colourful, modern cookies.

Well, I wouldn't put it that way if I were him. Still, it's kind of true in a away.

But for me, again I would go for Innovative. Even back in CFSIIUM, where I did my foundation, I typed all my tutorials though all my classmates submitted them in handwritings, PDA-phone became handy compares to a small notebook as I can put most of MS Word notes in it, and since I changed to Mac products, my student life is getting more and more exciting. Some of my friends go for the expensive electronic dictionary while I just downloaded free (or hacked) applications into my iPod. Not to condemn those who's going for Conventional, but I think it's up to you what you are more comfortable with, right?

Lectures in classes versus video conferences?

Well, as for me I'm fine with both. Some people would think lectures in classes offers you more interactions between you and your lecturer but I think, as long you are willing to cope with the video conferences - as it is sometimes not very comfortable looking at video - though it's live, the whole time. As long as there is communication between the lecturer and his students, I can say it's more than enough. Well, you can't blame your lecturer if he is having important seminar overseas with your finals exams are just around the corner and you need to clarify few things with your lecturer before going into the hall, right? If you're saying this isn't true then, I wonder how telecommunications companies like Maxis, Celcom and DiGi are making good business in their products like 3G and Video Message.

Lectures versus presentations by the student.

If you ask me, I would prefer presentations. Because I got to learn more than having mere lectures on certain subjects and topics - like what we're having in Leadership class. But of course, in these sessions the lecturers need to guide us through and point out our mistakes. I wonder how interesting Anatomy class would be if it were to be conducted in this way. Problems rise would probably because of the number of students in our batch. We're over 150! But I still think it can be implemented. Having an advisor assigned to groups of students also will be extremely helpful - especially to student like me who's easily distracted and need to be monitored from superiors like my lecturers in order for me to keep on focus in my studies.

Moved on to the presentations, the first one is from group 6. We're having a forum entitled "Do We Appreciate Our Time?". There were some facts given out and questions from 'audiences' and 'emails' were discussed in the forum. Basically, it was all about how you should manage your time effectively and how the management would effect your life as a whole. Someone who likes to waste his time would probably going to end up being a failure.

In order to have a good result for an example in a project, you need to plan the whole thing and work on the project step by step, phase by phase until you manage to complete it. It's a basic knowledge for you to know but when it comes to life decisions like your future, it is definitely need a serious plan on how you're going to deal with things like your future.

From the very beginning of my adolescence, I planned to go to university. I still remember the big handmade poster of universities' logos on my dorm's locker. In order to get a spot in university, I worked hard in school, involved in many activities to improve my leadership, management, public relation, and lots of other skills as preparations to face the hard and challenging life as a university student. As for now, I lived through the four out of six years - including my foundation days. It wasn't easy, I have to admit. I still got two more years before hitting the harder and more challenging life - working life. Therefore, I need to be stronger, gain knowledge as much as I can and prepare myself well for it.

A good friend of mine, always remind me of this...

"It's 10% luck, 20% skill, 15% concentrated power of will, 5% pleasure, 50% pain so you need 100% to get something that you really want in your life."

I totally agree with that.

In essence, you need to plan on how you want it to be, focus while doing it, put enough effort, give strong commitment, and try your hardest. Not to forget to submit yourself to God especially, pray hard and with His permission, you'll get what you want.

The second presentation was brought by the seventh group. It was a pop quiz competition. Their topic was on meeting. Few things like characteristics and types of meeting, ethics in meeting, were discussed. Br. Said also mentioned about the importance of minutes in meeting and the significant of it in making and implementing important decisions in higher level meetings for an example meetings among the Dean and his deputies deans in our Kulliyyah.

Overall, the presentations by both groups were okay. We all know the buzz was all about already but both group did good jobs in bringing the topics in different way of thinking and angles of perspectives.

Last word, remember who you are, where you from, and when you reached the blue sky, don't forget the green grass on earth... I'm just saying.

That's all. Signing out!