[([( Let’s count on the projects )])]

Fourth day of vacations. Boredom had finally strike on me, that I'm so bored that I'm now blogging. It's not that I'm bored or anything-I have stuffs planned out. But the time isn't here yet. I'm not going to be a bunny hopping round and round. Ok, just get straight into the point.

It is now study week, or what I call it recess week for the rest of the poor sods. Studying off like no one business. Hogging seats at coffee joints and fast food chains. But now, it's my vacations. Envious? Well, don't be. Because the most strenuous projects with a pack deadline have been dealt with. I swear, our projects are worse off than that of others. Here's why:

For a module, there's just 1 group project at most. But for a particular module, which Three Letter Acronym (TLA) coincides to that of China Communist Party, there is 2 group projects. One of which is about planning and executing a roadshow of a product- Brands Prune Essence, under the Innershine range. For that roadshow, monies had been spending. On popcorns, shirts, freebies, ice, sampling cups and much more. Time spent on creating Facebook page, videos, event page and many more. All in the high hopes of getting a good grade, and did get a good grade. It was kind of a stupid project. Because at the end of the day, the group is graded based on their efforts put into this project. Like who won't put in effort for something so trivia like a roadshow? And the logistic aspect of the roadshow, is well, traumatic. Moving the tables round here and there, from business school to the entrance of the school. Flying kites. Distributing pamphlets and popcorns. Samplings of the yucky essence. All this are essence of success. And the worse bit is? Numerous groups having roadshow the day before my group. With this stiff competition around, you'll think it is much more like a battlefield. Welcome to this realistic world, where I can't wait to see how you die. But before I see how you die, I must pretend to like you. That way, I will enjoy myself more. And think of the irony at the ultimate end. After slogging guts out for like 3 weeks [well, a long period some might say…] there is the award ceremony. This little ceremony might meant to motivate us students but well…what's the point of it when the prizes are 2 box of the innershine prune essence? And to show how kind and sincere they are, it is going to expire after 2 weeks or so. Such kindness. Such fun. Such motivating. We do know for a fact that schools are under-funded, but this takes it all to a totally new level.

Moving on to the next group project…a how to promote a particular not so famous actress to the 15-25 Years Old segment. Well well well…this prove to be difficult. It ain't easy to turn a mountain you know? It is well terrifying, where a group actually charts out how she should go about doing it. From her 20s to 30s to even 50s. it was detailed, like asking her to get hitched to her Caucasian radio dj boyfriend and have bookclubs. I bet they even have plans for her when she dies. But there was no mention of endorsements of refrigerators at all. Don't they expect her to be ever so popular? Than there goes for Rui En turn to shine. Move over, Joanne Peh, it's now Rui En. Again, this is quite a time and effort consuming project, where student created extensive surveys, online polls, focus groups and more surveys. The best part? It consist of 5-10% of the total marks, and the presentation accounts for 15% of the total grades. Kind of discouraging, eh? Ya, add in such fun! Behind it all.

There too is an individual project on creating a visual for a catering company, Purple Sage. Yup, that is however funny projects were. We should not term it as PBLs- Problem based learning projects, but instead, SBSP- scenario based simulation projects. Sound like some swear word. But the F-word beats it all.

Next, there is another module which is like accounting. Just minus cash inflows and outflows, T-accounts and add in some econs, like fixed cost, marginal cost. And we have such fun! Again, this project prove to be mind boggling. Select a scenario, based on the company chosen and make recommendations how to improve sales, based on reading their financial statement. Sounds cool? NOT AT ALL. Presentation wise, the tutor, felt that a vast majority of presenters have a soft voice. A soft voice?!?!?! He's old and must be hard of hearing.

Next, a module which we love best. Entrepreneur module. Just come up with your own business plan, and there you are, a pass for it. It is hard to fail, and easy to pass. And with a rather funny tutor to boot, this ought to quite a fun module compared to others.

Consumer behaviour. Well, it is kind of a fun module. Where you learn all kinds of funny weird-ish thing. But the project about breakfast is all but fun. Again, a SBSP… to ad on, the project specifications is similar to Marketing Research- to provide recommendations on how to improve breakfast bread spread, Naturel in Singapore markets. Too specific, too difficult. And it must be based on a survey given out to 2000 odd people all by ourselves. So if the recommendation is not on par, than the whole project is gone. Kiss goodbye to great grades. But thankfully, get an A for presentation for MR. J

Lastly, a project on constructing a prototype of a laptop bag and a ironing machine. Sounds fun? Yup, it is. And got an A for that too. Such FUN!

 

 

Dinnertime! The Kitchen Musical

What to do during the vacations?

Some of the place they might go? Bugis, Bugis and Bugis. Perhaps some might head to Marina Sq (there is this bowling centre as well as a Pool zone) or Suntec (arcade of course) or otherwise, Vivocity (a nice GV and more arcade).

But, instead of those places, are there anywhere else? Singapore does, surprisingly have some activities to offer.

Science Centre…cross that out. Majority of the students had been to the science centre. It is akin to an annual tribute.

Sentosa. One of Singapore's most famous attractions. So Expensive and Nothing TO See Anyway. Just the beaches, and USS at RWS. And USS tickets are relatively expensive. I did rather pay $60 odd for a musical at the Esplanade, then to ride in some roller-coaster. The only place to attract me to Sentosa is the POPCORNS. Located just next to Hersey's Chocolate. They do have another branch located at CityLink mall, but I assure you, the one at Sentosa is much better. In taste and quality.

Labrador Park. One of the oldest park in Singapore, way before East Cost and Pasir Ris park. One could fish there too, and have a BBQ. It is nice to be just out of East Coast once in a while. A place if one is interested in the war history of Singapore. A great place to take photographs.

Fort Canning Park. What is there to say about this place? A place for history bluffs to, with numerous war relics on exhibit there. Also, a great place to take photographs.

Cathay Cineplex. Cineleisure, located along Orchard. A place to catch movie, play LAN or just chill. Same too, for the one at Cathay (Handy Road). If you are around Cineleisure, be sure to try Gong Cha…touted as one of the best brands of bubble tea. But, their quality is getting from bad to worse, with inconsistent taste at every stall, from City Square to Central to AMK. Unlike KOI, which is very consistent in being so bland. I'm very prejudice when it comes to KOI. All because I tried their coffee base drink 3 years ago. And I assure you, it is not to my likening. Their Macchiato is too sweet for me, and not milky/creamy enough.

Bugis. "there got Bugis Junction and iluma and Bugis Street". It is completely over hyped and just crowded. Bugis Street is very packed with total strangers pushing and shoving you. And it is one of the short cuts, to get from Fortune tower to Bugis Junction. The only thing nice there is there is this stall smacked right in the centre selling Durian Juice. I'm a real sucker for Durians. Bugis Junction. The tenant mix is still the same. Watson. The Little Match Girl. Converse. The Wallet Shop. And your typical jewelry shop. But food wise, there's tons. QQ Rice used to be there. Swensen's, MOS Burger. Catering to all budget. And there's this arcade (Virtual Land) at the basement. There is this escalator (near MOS Burger) heading to the basement, which I always mistook it to be the supermarket. It is the arcade. Did I mention there is this restaurant which serves excellent pasta at Bugis Junction? Iluma, there's nothing to see there. The food there is not exactly fantastic. Tenant mix is also not that fantastic. Filmgrade is the only saving grace, but I did rather head over to Cathay to catch the latest Hollywood flick.

Get interested in the Arts and Culture of Singapore. Museums are offering free admission to all students, so long as you have a student pass issued by any school in the world. ACM, NMS, SAM. Nice place, and one might fall in love with arts and culture. Get some culture, breath art. Live art. Anyway, the Biennale is here. No harm checking it out?

So…is Singapore a sleepy island afterall? Think it is still a yes, since all the places…you and me sure have visited it before. And at least every other day at some places.

Vacations had just arrived

The journey had been a swift one. With the semester ending so fast and everything ended quite unexpectedly. But there were some points to be made. Friends were made, enemies were never made. Those whom you think aren't the best, prove to be the best. But there were some major events and moments throughout. And here it is:

[[[Awesome classmates]]]

Awesome-ness comes at a price. Because being awesome will downplay your bitchness level. Thus, please be less awesome and more bitchy [having that said, there is no class bitch in the class): ]. Everyone seemed to have a story to tell each day. Each and every story. It is like if i compiled it to a book, i reckon it would be on the no. 1 chart under the non-fiction categorically.

Irritating arseholes who proved to be arseholes in a fun way. The one who pronounce conzumer. That few who break into sudden movement and singing. The loner who don't hang out with the class, yet is still quite comical. The one with the hand greetings. Those with their guitars. That individual with a talent in mah-jong. This list goes on and on. But the one with the catch phrase "我更你讲hor" surely deserves full marks.

[[[projects overload]]]

Somehow everyone managed to survive 6 projects. With 2 projects with extremely similar nature, yet cannot be the same. Being sarcastic, add 'such fun!' behind it. And show the V-sign to all the projects and task on hand. Well, that is such fun.

[[[birthdays celebrations]]]

Each and every person birthday is celebrated with at least a cake. Unless it falls during the vacation period, then its too bad. A typical celebration includes, cake, eating at some random place, movie (for some), doing projects and going for a round of drinks. Yup, we play hard, we work hard. The later part is not applicable for certain people.

I think that all it is. Enjoy your vacations while other people are still studying.

Korean grocery store uses clever marketing campaign VIDEO

SHIT...Tmr test and i dun panic at all

whatever.

How a bus ride teaches us consumer behaviour

Let us learn something interesting today. It is known as getting into the minds of the average consumer. Pronounce consumer as ‘conzumer’ and it’s not weird to pronounce tuition as ‘tut-tion’. The actual pronunciation of tuition is the ‘tuition’ in intuition. So pronounce tuition as ‘tu-ieee-tion’. If you’re in my interesting and slightly amusing class, then you will know who pronounce consumer as conzumer and tuition as, well, (in)tuition.

The best way of learning is via application on the everyday life. And just relate it to one today. It might not be very relevant, but it will teach you the concept of consumer behaviour.

Today, on the bus at around noon time, a group of some young working adults, who falls under what in the business world coined as, white collar boarded the bus. They smelled of some cheap cologne. And this guy who seat in front of me opened his mouth and said to his friends, “I think i want to sign up for that Citibank card.’

Upon further conversation among themselves, it drawn upon to the fact that this guy (lets call him John) is wanting to sign up for the credit card because it offers discount on the restaurant he usually dines at. But he seemed undecided, since he was introduced to another card by another fellow colleague (let’s call her Nancy).

Ok, let us just stop here first and analyse this part. Firstly, John is in a friendship group. And Nancy, being part of the group, with her info feed of credit cards, is a source of information to John. Accordingly to Freud theory, John does have a motive- getting a credit card. However, he subconsciously wanted that Citibank card, since it offers discounts on the restaurant he dines at regularly. Upon the introduction of another brand, DBS to him, he seemed to be unable to make up his mind on the card to sign up for. Thus, we could say DBS encroached into his mind. And now, his choice set consist of DBS and Citibank. This triggers his emotions and associations of both brands since he knew both banks quite well. And both offers the discount he wanted.

Thus Nancy in this case is advertising DBS to John. She went deeper into John’s motive. She introduced the DBS iPhone apps which consist of a number of discounts. This allows John to think more indepth, where he could sign up for DBS for more discounts at other restaurant.

Next, Nancy took out her DBS card. And she passed it round to them. A guy, call him Frank looks at the card. Now he goes ‘wow’! out loud. Now, in accordance to motive, the Maslow theory, where the 5 steps progresses systematically.

John had ful-filled his physiological, safety,social needs. Now he needs to ful-fill his esteem needs. Again, what motivates him to sign up DBS card? Because a majority of his friends have it, and now, he wants it too, in order to fit in. Also, it feeds into the goal of his lifestyle.

It might too fall into the need for self-actualisation. Being so, with the card, he would have the admiration of his peers, as well as affiliation and acceptance into the group. This too, would help increase his status among his social circles.

Now, lets think of why John likes to visit the restaurant regularly. Because the food there is nice, with a positive ambience. Now again, relate it to Herzberg’s theory. There are satisfiers to encourage john to go back there again. The nice food and ambience is a type of satisfier. With the absent of dissatisfies, such as poor service, John would not want to not visit the restaurant for a second time. Thus the restaurant in question have done a great job into doing their best in avoiding dissatisfies. By identifying such dissatisfies, they are able to make a difference in motivating their consumers in making a second visit. Thus, making consumer perceives the restaurant to be good and reinforce a positive image in the long term.

Now, back to the credit card case studies.

There are 4 steps in the information processing model.

Exposure. John is being exposed to the various options available, which in this sense is Citibank and DBS. It is a random or deliberate attempt? In making his select choice, he just take notice of those which offers discount at the restaurant. Thus, he is having selective exposure. He could mute himself from other cards which did not offer what he wants, zap through the various cards which offers the discount, but have a high annual fee and zip through the others. Thus, he made a select choice.

Or he could be exposed voluntary to DBS, as his colleague told him of DBS. External stimuli might trigger his intention and attention of the card, to fulfil his other needs.

Thus, he was exposed, have the attention, perceive the benefits and retention of what he wants to know.  

Listening, Feeling and looking...with eyes, nose and ears respectively

Listen by your eyes. Feel using your nose. Look via your ears. Think you get your senses all mixed up? Nope, it’s just the everyday life of a deaf person, a person who had lost their sense of touch and a blind person. 

Sometimes, it is better to be born blind, mute, deaf and be obvious of the world around us. And imagine how this place will look like. Who knows, they might think the grass is blue, the sky is yellow, the sun is triangular and perhaps the bus are floating. 

Blindness of the eyes might be a bad thing. For the pair of eyes entrusted to us since birth is one which are of utmost importance, yet so easily taken granted for. For when we look, we do not listen. We see a car, yet cross the road, till we hear the horn of the car, travelling at lightning speed capable to killing us. How often does we hear and experience the phrase, “What you see is what you get”? imagine you are buying a MP3 player. You see it is good, with no scratches. But it’s without speakers. Whatever is the point of buying a MP3 player where it cannot play music? Thus, sometimes, we need to listen and not just see. Because seeing believes how a donkey look so smart. 

Feel using your nose. Sometimes, being involved in someone’s relationship might not be appropriate. But you might need to do it badly. Because you truly care about your friend, to prevent them from making the wrong judgement into the relationship. And that is known as poking your nose around. Feeling using not your hands, but nose does help. Else how will I know if that piece of bread is spoilt, if based on the feel  of it? It might felt soft and spongy and all, but if it’s bad smelling, I sure won’t eat it.

See, not look. Look, not listen. Listen, not hear. This list can go on and on. But how often is that true? Friends and acquaintances alike had said it is crazy to come up with this, much less to apply this. Looking at a photograph, where your eyes tend to focus at? The surroundings or the object? The blur background, or the person in question? Or just everything, all colours and objects? Listening is the key to everything. By looking at an e-book, you can never understand it. Just like women. Listen to the sorrows and misery, the main gist of everything. But not treat it as mere noises and hear them. That is why we say I hear some noises, and I’m always a listening ear for you.

((( Bitching...is SUCH FUN! )))

The end of everything. The mystical and legendary thing known as projects have all ended, on a rather uneven note. The heavy sighs and tears of relieve, joy, happiness and sadness were all experienced. However, the only thing that will not stop, is no doubt the BITCHING.

Bitching is a type of stress relieve. It helps to build friendship (agreeing to everything bitch A have to say to Bitch B), forge a common ‘enemy’, spread the ugly tales of some innocent people (who don’t deserve this treatment), spread some rumours and politicised something so pure and white. And don’t you love it when someone told me this:


This is not called bitching. Because it does not come from your mouth. If it comes out of your mouth, then it’s considered as bitching.

Please, kill me when I see you the next time. Because you are so complementing me. Bitching is my hobby. It is like smoking. You know it’s bad, but you badly want to do it.

There is no bloody rational bitch in the world. Because a bitch would not allow another to bitch about him/her. So, please stop thinking it’s alright if A bitch about me, since I also bitch quite alot about A to C, where in turn, C bitch about me to A. Yup, bitching is a real vicious cycle. You’ll know others would be bitching about you, but you just can’t help it. It just goes round and round, like the wheels of the bus.

After bitching, comes the time to be critical. Actually basically, the implication of bitching comes about quite funny. Ignore the previous sentence, though it made complete sense. Critical of the person in question whom you are bitching about. You’ll think of him in a different light. You’ll understand how bitch B feels about him, and how irritable that poor innocent guy is. Now, hit back at the guy. And after hitting back to him, bitch about his reaction to another bitch. Fellow bitches, it’s the BITCHYNESS that save our days of boredom.

And woah, i wrote a full essay on BITCHING. Now, bitch about it to your fellow bitches. Ta ta.

School project use!