It's non-verbal!

I bet they really understand the lecture very well!

~*~*~ Posted by: Cheow May Kei ~*~*~

Cultural Differences

This is what a cultural difference meant by, different culture have different behaviour:

One day a German florist came to a barber for a haircut. After the cut, he paid the Barber and the Barber replied: "I am Sorry, I cannot accept money from you." The florist was happy and left the shop. The next morning when the Barber went to open his shop, he found a Thank you Card and a Dozen roses waiting at his door.

A British Cop came for a haircut and he wanted to pay the Barber and the Barber gave the same reply. The Cop was happy and left the shop. The next morning the Barber received a Thank you Card and a dozen Donuts.

A Thai went for haircut and he wanted to pay the Barber and he gave him the same reply. The Thai was of course very happy and left the shop. The next morning the Barber was surprised to see...

A dozen Thai people waiting for a free haircut!

~*~*~ Posted by: Cheow May Kei ~*~*~

Best Friends

I tought she was my best friend

The best one I've ever had

Instead I found out the truth

And what I learnt was sad.

We still call each other friends

But I feel we're far apart

Tough we see each other every day

I have a broken heart.

She has made new friends

And I have made some, too

We are talking less and less each day

And inside I'm cold and blue

Each and every night I pray

That she will finally see

How much I want our friendship back

And how much she means to me.

It's soo hard to get it back of what you had treasured the most left. Everything isn't meant to be perfect and at times, the truth hurts and the lies are even worse. You have to go on living as what it's going through.

=)Korrisha

"Do you LIKE her"...

It's a strip that how Hobbes keeps questioning Calvin about this girl that he has a crush on. And the more Hobbes digs information aout that girl, the more furious he gets.

=) Korrisha

Men VS Conflict

A great cartoon strip showing how a man try to avoid conflict, which is the opposite of women that always want to deal with the conflict and try to talk about and resolve it.

* http://www.greatdad.com/tertiary/453/3786/daddy-s-home-avoiding-conflict.html

~*~*~ Posted by: Cheow May Kei ~*~*~

Let Me Live...

Let me cut my own hair.
If it looks horrible,
Let me learn not to touch scissors and that hair grows back.

Let me spend my money.
If the shirt’s too little and the store doesn’t give refunds,
Let me learn to save my cash.

Let me flunk my test.
If I fail the class and miss the honor roll list,
Let me learn to study more.

Let me miss the shot.
If my team loses and I’m on the bench,
Let me learn to concentrate on the basket.

Let me go out past curfew.
If I get grounded and miss the big party this weekend,
Let me learn to follow the rules.

But most important, let me live..
If I learn a lesson,
You’ve done your part.

When you tend to age, especially from kids to teen stage, you’ll be curious and wanting to know more of what the outside world is like. Learning and lessons from it is what you ask for. Our biggest prize is not in never failing, but in rising in every time you fall.

=) Korrisha

Perfection

Tiny waists and thinner arms
Is all they want to see
The pressure to be perfect
Is slowly closing in
An utter suffocation
That doesn’t seem to end.
Society is telling
Beautiful is thin
And if I choose to starve
Perfection’s what I win.
Shoving something down my throat
Will get me what I want
Bring me closer to that goal
Of a body I can flaunt
Society is telling
Beauty is a price
Measured in the size of you
In weight and clothing size.

This is how society expects people to be. If you’re not what it is asked for, they’ll never seem to bother you. I wonder why can’t this be changed; as what I’m trying to say is that treat everyone equally. There is only one beauty that I know, which is learning to accept yourself. The beauty that really matters, lies in our heart and our soul. Because when you love what’s inside, you’ll love what’s outside even more.

=)Korrisha

Self-Esteem

Please treat me well; I am as I’m treated

When I am loved, I can love who I am
When I am cared for, I can care for myself
When I am treated as someone, so I may feel I am seen

Speak to me, so I may learn to listen
Expose the world to me, so I may see its beauty
Look into my eyes, so I may feel I am seen

If you’re good to me, I must be a good person

When you smile at me, I can smile inside
When you let me make choices, I know that I can choose
When you give to me, I can give a bit back

Touch me gently, so I may touch others
Rest my unrest, so that I may learn self- control
Soothe me, so I may learn to soothe

Love me, but give me room to love others

When you treat me as successful, I can learn to succeed
When you respect my dreams, I can explore reality
When you allow my mistakes, I can accept what they teach

Teach me diversity of thought, so I may be open-minded
Help me help others, so I may grow to be selfless
Demonstrate your diligence, so I may earn my way in life

Show me how to laugh, so I may laugh with others
Laugh at your shortcomings, so I may accept my own

I am someone and I am loved!
This poem of self-esteem caught my attention and as poems is ambiguous in many ways; this one here could really make a person understand the word self-esteem! It shows the importance that a person needs to boost up the self-esteem.

=) Korrisha

It's Relief

I’m not quite sure when the turning point came. But I know that it came after a fight I had with my mother. It was a typical fight at that point of time. You know how it is, you lie once, and then they all start to pile up. And nothing happens evenly, it’s always all at once. At that point of time I drifted apart from my mother, and my best friends, whom I needed to turn to, were angry with me. That’s where I learned my second lesson, the first is not to lie and the second is never keep your feelings hidden. That’s what my friends did, and when I found out, it was too late. Being a teenager is really hard as I often go through stressful moments.

My house was a battle zone. I’d sleep till I had to go to school and then after school I would lock myself in my room. In between, I’d cry and feel sorry for myself, when I wasn’t fighting with my mom. That day it all changed.

She was screaming at me about how I wasn’t a part of the family anymore- that no one liked being around me because I was always so hostile. I screamed back, as most sixteen year olds would. But my mom doesn’t me ground me or take away the phone, she assigns essays. My assignment was to apologise for my behaviour.

I cried tears of rage in my room, screaming on what I could possibly write. Somehow I started to write. And the apology turned in to an explanation. I poured out every pain and emotion, ones that I had hidden behind my rage, the ones I cried about during the night. I didn’t know how to get back being me, and I hated what I had become. I felt so lost. And, most of all, I felt like everyone that I had depended on me had left me. Feeling of alone conquered me.

I left the letter on my mom’s bed and went to sleep, exhausted form sobbing. The next morning I woke up early enough to go to school by myself as no one was awake yet. I crept into the bathroom and noticed a card with my name written on it in my mother’s handwriting taped to the mirror. She understood that I was lost and scared. And she promised that she would help me. I got into the hot shower, silently sobbing. This time, the tears were of relief, not of despair.

=) Korrisha

Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure

The nature-talent fairies are bringing to the mainland the season of leaves, hibernation, chilly breezes, and pumpkins: autumn. Meanwhile, Tinker Bell and dust-talent fairies like Terence are staying in Pixie Hollow. Tinker Bell is trying to make a "Pixie Express". But it fails just as she is called to meet Queen, Fairy Mary, and The Minister of Autumn.

They show her a magical moonstone and explain to her its powers. Every eight years, there is a blue harvest moon in Pixie Hollow. When the light of this moon passes through the moonstone, it creates blue pixie dust to rejuvenate the pixie dust tree. The Autumn Revelry is the associated event during which the fairies gather to collect the dust.

A new scepter is to be made to raise the moonstone, and Tinker Bell has been recommended. Tink accepts the task, as well as help from Terence. But as the work on the scepter progresses, Tink begins to have trouble with Terence, who is trying too hard to be helpful. An accident occurs, causing the scepter and the stone to break. Tink sets out on in a balloon she's created to find a magic mirror, which, according to legend, granted two of three wishes before becoming lost. Tink intends to use the last wish to repair the moonstone.

Along the way, she meets Blaze, a brave firefly. Tinker Bell finally discovers the mirror, but she accidentally wasted the wish. She is found by Terence, who has been following her after discovering her plans and the fragments of the moonstone in her empty house.

Tink and Terence start back to Pixie Hollow. Along the way, Tink fixes the scepter using a white gem from the top of the mirror, the scepter pieces Terence has wisely brought, and the moonstone pieces, all set at just the right angle. She discovers the magic of friendship, humility (not blaming others for everything) and love. Thanks to inspired teamwork with Terence, she is ready to give the scepter to Queen Clarion.

When she unveils the scepter, the assembled fairies are alarmed to see the fragments of the moonstone. However, the broken moonstone shards create an unexpected benefit – increased surface area through which the rays of the blue moon could pass, which creates the most blue pixie dust ever seen in Pixie Hollow.

Review from this Movie:
This movie reminded me the importance of friendship, as Tinker Bell discovered the magic of friendship, humility and love at the end of the movie. Friends are really important in our life. They are the one that we can share our feelings and emotions with. A true friend will really care about you. Although sometimes there are misunderstandings, but in the end a true friendship will actually overcome the problems that arises. Therefore, we must always appreciate the moment when we are together with our friends. Well, to get rid or minimize misunderstanding, we must always get back into communication. You see, it is just all about communication! One more thing that not to be forgotten, which is I love this movie very much!

~*~*~ Posted by: Cheow May Kei ~*~*~

Danger in Facebook!

Recently, Facebook have become one of the most popular online social networking sites. All people around the world use it to find old friends, keep in contact with friends as well as make new friends. There are actually vast amount of communication take place between people in Facebook. In fact, it is such a good place to help people in building some relationship. However, research claims that Facebook have the ability in ruining your relationships too, especially marriage.

A study found out that 1 of 5 divorces in United States is actually caused by Facebook. What a sad occurrence! Mark Keenan, Managing Director of Divorce-Online said: “I had heard from my staff that there were a lot of people saying they had found out things about their partners on Facebook and I decided to see how prevalent it was. I was really surprised to see 20 per cent of all the petitions containing references to Facebook.” Keenan said after he found 989 instances of the word “Facebook” in 5,000 divorce petitions. "The most common reason seemed to be people having inappropriate sexual chats with people they were not supposed to."

As we can see, the presence of Facebook does influence our life a lot. It can either affect us positively or negatively. However, if we know how to make use it wisely, it will not become a problem to our relationships. From the bottom to the top of the ladder, communication is still the key in a successful relationship.

*http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/6857918/Facebook-fuelling-divorce-research-claims.html

~*~*~ Posted by: Cheow May Kei ~*~*~

The Apples

Years back on one afternoon, I came back home from school with a puzzled look on my face. Mom asked me what’s running on in my mind and I said, “Are all people the same even if their skin colour is different?” She was quiet for a moment and then replied, “I’ll explain, if only you can wait until we make a quick stop at the grocery store. I have something interesting to show you”

At the grocery store, mom told me that we needed to buy apples. We went over to the fruit section where we bought some red apples, green apples and yellow apples. At home, while she was putting all the groceries away, she called me and said “it’s time to answer your question”. She arranged the apples on the table; first a red apple, followed by a green apple and then a yellow apple. Then she looked over at me, ready to answer.

“Korrisha, people are just like apples. They come in all different colours, shapes and sizes. See, some of the apples have been bumped around and are bruised. On the outside, they may not even look as delicious as the others.” As mom was talking, I was examining the each one of it. Then mom took each of the apples and peeled them, placing them back on the table but in a different place. She asked me “Okay, tell me which one is the red apple, the green apple and the yellow apple.” I wasn’t able to figure it out and told her “They all look the same now”.
Mom said “take a bite of each one. See if that helps you figure out which one is which.” I took big bites and I started giving her huge smiles.

Mom was like “people are just like apples! They are all different, but once you take off the outside, they’re pretty much the same on the inside.” I agreed. She continued “just like how everyone has their own personality but are still basically the same.” I totally understood from that point of time what she meant.

Now, when I bite into an apple, it tastes a little sweeter than before. What perfect food for thought.

=) Korrisha

Keeping In Touch

Four years ago my family moved. The day that we left, my best friend and I cried together in my empty bedroom for hours. I was miserable and homesick during the five hour car ride to my new house. Life was unbearable. When we finally arrived at my new house, I ran to the phone to tell my best friend my address and phone number. We talked for a little while, but I had to hang up because the long-distance call was expensive.

On the first day of school, I called her to tell her how it went. Then, during my first term holidays, I sent her a letter and a picture of my new friends and me. Finally, she wrote me a letter. It wasn’t even a letter, just a bunch of pieces of paper saying, “Best Friends Forever”.
When I finally got her e-mail address, I e-mailed her the longest letter I have written. I never received an e-mail back, and by the third e-mail letter with no response, my message grew shorter and shorter. With each passing day, I got angrier and angrier. I never received a reply from her. Mom said that I could always call my other friends, and that I didn’t need to always call her. Give up on my best friend? Give up on the person I had known all my life? The person I had gone from Barbies to nail polish with, and who had been in the same class with me from nine to fourteen? My first answer was automatically, “No way!” But after five more e-mail messages, four phone calls and two more letters, I started to consider what my mom had said. Every night for about a week, I stayed up in bed thinking, Should I give up? Should I keep trying? The way I looked at it, if I’m her best friend, she’d take a minute to push a few buttons on the phone or type a short “hello” on the computer, or scribble a few words on a paper. To me, keeping in touch is part of being a friend and is important. To her, it really didn’t seem to matter.

After two years of disappointment, I finally got a phone call from my best friend. She told me how sorry she was for not writing, and about how busy she had been. It was so unexpected, I forgot about everything that happened and how angry I had been with her. I forgave her. I guess keeping in touch isn’t her style, and it didn’t mean she didn’t care about me.

I came to realise that true friends never really lose their special connection. Even after two years, it felt like we had just talked yesterday. Now she and I wrote regularly, or at least she tries to, and she tries hard.

=) Korrisha

Communication Board

I rent a room which is near HELP. The house got 9 people staying inside. We don't meet each other everyday, so it is a bit hard for us to communicate with each other. For instance, we want to leave a message to another house mate to make sure she off the light or remember to pay the rental but he or she unable to meet the main tenant. At last, we decided to get a board where all of us can leave a message on it. The board is called as " communication board". It is categorized into three part. First, it has duty roster. Second, there is status part to write whether we are at home or outside. Third is the chatting box, it just like the MSN, where we leave our message to each other.

Since we cannot meet and talk to each other face by face, we still can talk via the communication board.

It is an example of non verbal communication :D

Tan Wee Hong

How to deal with Mr./Ms. Loquacious

In regard with my first post, The chatterbox, a person who never take breaks in between spoken words like a machine gun firing.
This post carries a few ways to deal with a talkative friend.

• Go to places where your friend's voice is incompatible with the background and surroundings. Example loud and noisy places

• Politely excuse yourself from the conversation by giving in rational excuses
  

• Divert your friend's attention.

• Honesty the best policy

source

Note* I personally have tried the fourth point in a very comforting and gentle way however it resulted with my friend feeling offended and not much has changed after the confrontation.

By Low Jia Yin

First Impression

You will never get a second chance to make the first impression, that’s why you need to have strong self-presentation skills to get everlasting and good first impression. What is first impression? It is actually the first consideration or judgement from people based on your appearance, body language, mannerisms and many other factors. We cannot deny the fact that first impressions are playing an important role in our life and it can affect us in dealing with relationships too.

How first impressions are actually formed? Well, Professors Elizabeth Phelps and James Uleman of New York University, Assistant Professor James Mitchell of Harvard University, and researchers Daniela Schiller and Jonathan Freeman have conduct a study that uses fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance imaging) to scan the brain of people on the moment where first impressions were formed barely based on simple descriptions and initial evaluation. It is found that there was a significant activity in 2 regions of the brain when the information is encoded to form the first impression.

First Region: Amygdala
It is a small structure in the medial temporal lobe that previously has been associated with emotional learning about inanimate objects as well as social evaluations that based on trust or race group.

Second Region: Posterior Cingulate Cortex (PCC)
It is known to facilitate economic decision-making and assigning subjective value to rewards.

*Source: http://www.enotalone.com/article/19441.html

~*~*~ Posted by: Cheow May Kei ~*~*~

Princess Protection Program

Spend off Saturday night watching a Disney movie, which I was actually forced where my little sister conquered the remote. It was frustrating at first somehow I found myself also into it. The storyline captured my attention.

It’s a story of two girls who are from different living styles, much more like different statuses. I was quite fascinated with the communication that creates huge distinction between the two girls. It’s about a princess who is forced to flee her country and hide out in a rural area. The prim and proper princess then has to pretend to be a normal girl while living with Carter Mason, a tomboy teenager who would rather be doing anything else than living with royalty. Carter works at a local bait shop after school and dreams of going to the school dance with her crush, Donny, the school hunk while the princess was quite fascinated with teenagers working. The princess quickly becomes popular in school due to her lovely personality which Carter must learn to accept; Carter isn’t a bubbly person. The two also form a close bond as Carter helps the princess transform into a normal teenager and the princess shows Carter how to find the princess within herself.

A few observations about the movie:
1. Princess Protection Program has a great message: “Never judge a book by its cover.”
2. Being a princess isn’t just about having a crown and pretty dresses. In fact, princesses are pretty on the inside, too! You don’t need to wear a crown to be a princess. It’s what inside that really counts.

So yea, it’s a wonderful story after all.

=) Korrisha

Intrapersonal Communication

Have you ever been talking to yourself, writing down your thoughts and observations, making gestures while thinking or day-dreaming? I am pretty sure that everyone does it every day. Indeed, it is a form of intrapersonal communication, where you communicate with yourself without involving any other individuals. By going through this, people are able to understand more about themselves, such as what are their desires and needs, as well as their understanding towards the world and reality.

Why is intrapersonal communication essential? This is because intrapersonal communication can be known as one of the most basic element in communication. Before you can communicate and understand the others, you must first communicate with yourself and understand yourself. Just as the quote written by John C.Maxwell, “It is your duty to find yourself.” In most of the time, people will not know your thoughts if you yourself do not even know yours. Therefore, it is important to develop interpersonal communication skills in order to have successful communication with the people around you.

~*~*~* Posted by: Cheow May Kei ~*~*~

The Chatterbox

I'm sure in every circle of our group of friends, despite the age, race and gender of a person. There's bound to be an over-talkative one in any particular clique or group of people.
Growing up as a child, I've had a few encounter with the chatter box.
Well at first, it didn't really get on my nerve or annoyed me as much as I thought it would but as the person keeps talking and talking consistently for a few minutes( normally about their life, problems & etc). That's when it starts getting into my head, span of attention decreasing, feeling of annoyance provoked and losing the patience. However on the contrary my best friend is a chatterbox though many at times it does get a little annoying but I've learn to tolerate it.
One thing I know for sure, tolerance is the main key in a relationship and this world is indeed ironic.

by Low Jia Yin

Humans with Assumptions

People are bred with the habit of assumption. Especially when people tend to assume or perceive out another person’s character by giving a shot of their appearance, based on first impression or secondhand information or even stereotypes; judging a person from the outside and not the inside. I bet only a few keep up with"never judge a book by its cover"while most gets the brain to hit the button of perceiving rightt away!! It’s actually irritating when people perceive about you the absolutely untrue facts. It just burns you out! But on the other part to think about it, you yourself do it*perceiving on others*, it feels pretty good though. After all, you wouldn’t know that particular person. Well, I said it earlier; habits of assumptions,humans are the one!

=) Korrisha