Another year in CTG camp (New photos uploaded in cloris.multiply.com)

Same as last year, we played, we talked, we yelled and we act in a remote camp site for three days and two nights. There were a great mixed of ethnic Chinese in this camp and we spoke Chinese in different accent as well as dialect: Malaysian Chinese/English, ABC English, ABC mandarin, Hong Kong Cantonese, Mainland Mandarin, Taiwan Mandarin etc. Basically, most of us have to communicate in three different languages. Unlike MUOSS which is dominated by mainly Singaporean and Malaysian, CTG is an epitome of the diversity of Chinese community in the Asia-Pacific region.

Cultural gap was diminished in the camp, although we all spoke differently. I tried to get on well with others, only realized that I had lagged behind my Chinese culture since last year. I misunderstood their slangs and found myself block out during team activities. A lot of things need to be picked up in the production if I want to heavily involve again this year.

I am merely a set/backstage crew this year, and will not be doing any leader position in CTG this year. Unlike most of the others, I know I can not commit myself as much as last year. I am working four nights a week, two days work-placement, probably looking for some other cash-in jobs over the weekend. On top of that, I will need to prepare for PR, check up visa and labour market in Singapore. I want to keep myself busy, but I have to sort out priority before my final semester kicks start next week.

My final twelve-week of study in my life starts from next week. How scary is that! Every time I think about my days after graduation, a mixed feeling burst out in my mind. On one hand I will miss the wonderful uni life I had gone through, on the other hand, I a bit worry about my career path. Some of my friends (local) has already got a job and know what to do next year. For me, I have to take a big break before head down to Singapore next year. I may be jealous of my housemates’ school life, my friends’ decent income; I may worry about slowing down my brain cells because of no mental challenges as those come from school work.

I don’t want to let my brain go dead, which I have already sense a bit of that in the CTG camp. I realise that I have short memory span, which is contrast to what I used to be; I am a bit draw back and do not like to work out a solution for a group task. I know I would be good at being a sectary, but I don’t want to stuck in a junior position and doing things I don’t know for the rest of my life. There are two ways to get out of this unpleasant situation: get into graduate program or continue studying in Post-graduate.

Recently, there was big fight between our advertising manager Ev and the MPSO “boss” Bruce. Then our advertising unit started gossiping about these two top person and the office atmosphere was strained suddenly. In the media field, to get a job done, and get it done well not only needs the primary work is be good, but more importantly is the relationship between the boss and the staff. If the top-down relationship goes into a wrong track, work can be really degraded. The office politics is the first lesson to be learnt as in the communication process.

Last Wednesday was super boring. There was no night out, no date, no shopping, no work. I ended up reading in the Borders bookshop for three hours. Rubbing my sore eyes, I went home and had an early dream.