The Art of Communication

Just read MK’s blog and I find that I couldnt agree more with what he said. Uni life isnt just about getting good grades, or paving your way in securing a better job in the future. No, its also the place where you mould yourself, whether good or bad, and to finally become the kind of person you in the end turn out to be. Its also the place to acquire important skills, and by this I mean simply – The Art of Communication.

Now from my own perspective, most guys are generally bad at holding a conversation. Picture this: Two guys sitting at a table, looking anywhere else but not at each other, silently eating their meals, and just sort of sit together until one even has the courage to open his mouth….And that to announce his leaving, sometimes even without a word….Ok this can normally happen when two strangers share a table (Taipan is the worst place to have lunch on weekdays)….Couldnt take this of course, so on the one day that someone shared a table with me, I decided to strike up a conversation.

Lame or not, but it might turn out to be a pick-up line if my partner was a girl but there you have it – “Pretty crowded here huh?” And thats it, off to a good headstart where we can keep the conversation going. But that’s not all, stuck during office-hour-lunch-breaks can mean that your companion are mostly middle-aged working adults with families…What can a somewhat young, inexperienced guy like me hope to talk to them about? Once the generalities are over, you can be sure the meal will be a silent one. Luckily enough, where I hesitated on what else can I talk about, he did make an effort to continue the conversation (topic being on exercise).

Laugh all you want, but guys who can approach a girl without breaking a sweat in an effort to start a conversation have guts. If not, why dont you try it. Yes, my next blog would probably be on “Ice-Breakers”. Its not merely the act of coming out with some crummy pick-up line, but on how to keep the conversation going. Believe it, its not as easy as it seems. In this I have plenty of experience.

But what can we do to improve? I believe we should broaden our knowledge first. Think of interesting topics. Read the newspapers. And start going out there and practise. Now you might wonder, why should I? What good will it do? Plenty. For those of you planning to go into the marketing field, this is where you make your bones. Sure, but what about the rest of us? Surely you cant expect to just spend your working life doing….work? If you’re going to climb up the corporate ladder, communication is key. Moreover, it gives a boost of confidence, and who knows, a new friend. Try it! And do share.

Indecent dressing?.. I wonder

I couldn’t agree more with WAO ( Woman’s Aid Organisation ) regarding this issue but I’m not gonna comment much on it, refering to Zac’s post. (Will we get registered?)

But this is what I think, for example, if a woman got raped, scarred both physically and mentally and then finds out that people actually blame her for dressing indecently!! That’s what I would called sex discrimination. Haih..this is really disheartening. Men should be held responsible for committing these crimes instead of blaming the women for ‘arousing’ them with how they dress. What’s wrong with women wearing what they think is comfortable? It’s just not fair especially in this era where we speak of equality between sexes.

It’s just like saying : I cant think of a metaphor for something so ridiculous at the moment.. maybe I can in due time..

What are we looking for? Part II

It seems that this is something most if not all of the undergraduates are thinking bout? Due to my excessive boredom, I’ve decided to write a slightly longer ‘comment’ on the previous post.

So like what the previous post said, I shall explain with more detail. Everyday we wake up with great difficulty (at least, I am like that), hardly excited bout going to class. After class would be the usual mixed rice, there was a time where I couldn’t make myself eat that. Then comes the afternoon nap, evening maybe we’ll exercise or maybe cook dinner now that most of the 2nd yr students moved out from the hostels. After dinner the most logically thing to do would be to study but being rebellious as we are, we opt for dramas instead. Yamcha would be the next thing to do on our daily schedule. Not forgetting the ubiquitous DOTA. So that is roughly how most of the students spend their daily time.

How many actually think about what we want to achieve or hope to achieve at the end of the day? I’ve seen many forget their goals and are really contented with being around friends, girlfriends/boyfriends and also of course games. In my opinion, I think the most important thing is to acquire necessary skills such as interpersonal skills, how to work along with other people, etc and also to gain friends. But I think they have taken this gain friend meaning too seriously or maybe because I’m from KL and thus do not understand the ‘true’ value of friendship. Therefore, I for one don’t really think much of the CGPA but more on the skills we develope in the process. Sometimes it puzzles me to see some of the ‘brightest’ student abandon projects and only focus on studies. That’s stupid if you ask me.

Ill illustrate this with an example. Not long ago, in those career exhibition, I’ve came across this brochure from a famous car company in Msia (don’t wanna mention names here, I’m sure it’s obvious). The minimum requirement for any kind of engineers to join the company is 3.5 and above and yet the product that the company delivers is not so competitive. This is a fine example to show that CGPA is not everything.

Enough about that, at the end of our quest what do we want? I, for one want to improve my lifestyle and hopefully the skills I acquire during my uni life would bring me somewhere. At the end, I would love to be maybe a boss of my own restaurant or something and that I can retire early and go on holidays around the world. I’d love to hear bout what other people comment and what they want in their life. These are afterall, my own opinion only.