Today, I found myself.. (Day 151)

Today, I found myself trudging through nostalgic shops of distant childhood whilst looking for balls and missing dearly. 

Entrusting Responsibilities

Look who's here.

Its been a hectic week on the books as the term starts (it actually started last week, but I guess it kicked into a higher gear this week).

Day by day, work is evident in the lives of students and I guess we're by far, no exception as media students. But since its the end of the week, I've decided to do a little update. I apologize for the inactivity in terms of updates and articles due to obvious reasons as such.

For some reason, this week seemed to creep pass noticeably slower as compared to previous weeks, though it may not necessarily be a bad thing. I can confidently say that I've acquired new information and knowledge about the media industry as well as management, throughout the week and in substantial amounts too.

Really awesome stuff, I must say.

Management might come as instinctive to some but in actual fact, there are logical explanations to different levels, roles and methods of management. I shan't drone on about the details about the topic (largely due to the specific but lengthy specifics) but I'm really sure that the knowledge and skills acquired will be useful for a media practitioner.

Life is about improvement and changes. And this is something that I adhere and believe with details that will only make sense to me.

My recent Wednesdays and Thursdays afternoons were spent in the library, partly to pass time (before procceding for my tuition classes) and my casual browsing drew my attention to another book by Paulo Coelho.

Well as I've mentioned in my previous entries, articles with reference and responses, Paulo Coelho was the author behind the magic of the inspirational novel, "The Alchemist". Its a book that I highly suggest and recommend reading.

The new entity that I found was entitled "The Fifth Mountain".

Details are sparse for now (as I've borrowed the book for about 3 days and have not completed it as yet) but "The Fifth Mountain" has relations and links drawn with key concepts mentioned in "The Alchemist", which revolved around the concept of achieving one's personal legend.

So far, it has been a promising read and I'll try to talk about the aspects and my personal insights in entries to come so check back for more detail on that.

I've been also thinking about ways to amplify my teaching and communication methods towards the two students which I'm currently tutoring, in various subjects. Though people would typically subject younger kids to be "easier to teach" I feel the contrary to an extent.

In tutoring children, especially younger ones, I personally feel that communication is vital for comprehension as well as conversation. Talking to the kid may well be more effective then doing boring worksheets on the black and white simply due to the short attention span of such individuals, but again, this is viewed with much subjectivity.

Roughly 4 weeks ago, I decided to test out a technique in hopes of rectifying and improvement of communication between my student and I. And also in doing so, fully maximizing the time spend during class and discussions.

Due to his active persona and mischievous outlook, I made a deal with him; behave well during class as well as doing his homework properly and he'll be rewarded at the end of 3 weeks.

Though control in him was rather excruciating at times (getting him to stop jumping all around the place and such), I managed to induce an improvement in terms of homework submission and in-class behavior.

Thus, giving credit to the statement that "Humans are motivated through rewards".

This week, I rewarded him for his efforts. There weren't any sweet or chocolate wrappers in my bag that day as I lugged my way to my destination. I had bought something so simple yet powerful and was really eager to give it to him.

"What do you think I got for you?"

"I don't know? *inserts random naughty laughter here*"

A ruffle of shopping bags later, a pen lay neatly on the table. I decided to reward him with the powerful gift of responsibility.

Many people are afraid to entrust their children with responsibilities at an early age, and understandably so due to the immaturity of such individuals. But I feel that this should be reconsidered and reaccessed. We shouldn't let the fear elude our purposes.

"By giving you this pen, I want you to use it to do your assignments, neatly."

From a human behavioral perspective, we are weird creatures as we'll always be responsible for things people trust us with. Which was substantiated by my student's handwriting at the end of the lesson; he made it an effort to write neatly with his new "responsibility".

Personally, I was really satisfied by my student's reaction and performance. But more importantly, I would like to hear from you guys, my readers and thus I post this question to all of you;

"Do you think it is appropriate to entrust responsibilities in order for change and improvement to eventuate?"

Really looking forward to all of your responses and comments. I could use a couple of suggestions on handling and teaching young kids too so keep those comments coming.

Be sure to check back for updates and article posts though the frequency may come a wee bit slower; I apologize for that.

Alright but before I go, I'd like to share a song with all of you, my valued readers:

"Dear God- Avenged Sevenfold"

Yea, I don't really do this often but in light of the band, Avenged Sevenfold's local gig here in Singapore, I thought it would be nice to feature this personal favorite of mine. The lyrical content was one of the highlights of the song that really drew me in. (You might have to click on the picture to view it in a higher resolution, I apologize about the size and all)

Alright, I'll end here for, its late and time for a little snooze. Hope you guys enjoyed this little update and till then.

Cya'll later.

----------------
Now playing: Avenged Sevenfold - Dear God
via FoxyTunes

Remember the Time when...

Just a little detour before heading back to work.

I've added a new counter to the site, if you've managed to observe. Its kinda cool actually; it tracks your ip, the type of browser you're using, your OS, where you navigated from, etc. Pretty neat huh?

Oh, but don't worry, your privacy is safe here at metallic-stains.blogspot.com.

Anyway, moving on. I'll update my Bucketlist by this week or the next for its been uncompleted since uh... forever really. I'm open to ideas (though I've already got a few in mind) so yea, feel free to share them and click on the link on the navigation bar to your right to check it out; its rather neat (or weird).

Been feeling rather intensive these few days for a couple of reasons. Mainly due to work but an assortment of others as well.

"We're approaching what they call the Business End of the season."

And thats true apparently. We've been given piles to do, just before the end of the semester. Thats the life of professionals, I guess. Even taking some time off for family and friends might seem like a guilty pleasure.

Aside from that, I've been feeling well... out of sorts of late. I kinda know why but then again, I don't. yea I know, its complicated and rather well, personal. Snap out of it will you?! lol.

Okay fine, maybe I'm starting to feel a little "sentimental" again. I blame the late nights, I blame the oh-so-quiet atmosphere you get when you're awake at 3am in the morning alone and I guess I blame myself. Gah.

Oh well, on to the main idea of the post.

Was in the shower just a couple of minutes ago and I thought of my childhood, which then linked to my busy life now. Such differences.

I wonder how many of you guys have actually stopped and thought about your childhood despite the fact that you're growing up with different commitments and all; its really amusing, in a way.

Remember the time when...

You first wee-ed in your pants (eww.)
You took your first step (Ok I don't)
You drank milk out of a bottle
You thought everything was called by its colour (ie. Orange)
You enjoyed and hated to get out of showers
You didn't like mealtimes
You cried when you first when to school
You got back the results to your first spelling test
To you, the world was a playground
To you, ever single detail was so interesting
You enjoyed your life

Okay, not that I hate my life now, its just that theres something different about life then and life now. Simple pleasures evolve, from finding a "foil" in your weekly trading card game pack to completing an assignment. From being able to have "coco-crunch" for breakfast to being able to have Subway for dinner. You get what I'm going on about yea?

I miss my life back then, but I know I'll miss the life I'm living now, thus I cherish every moment thats ever happened to me, be it good or bad.

Life is fragile, you might be gone like the next moment, I might even die right after I type this post or I might not wake up from my sleep the next morning; who knows?

Thats why we cherish life and put it in such a high regard. Have a life? Live it.

Okay, I see the potential for an article here but I'll leave it at that for now; time to do work.

I don't see myself sleeping tonight, to be honest, though not necessarily a bad thing; Jazz+Late Nights= awesome.

Remember to check back for updates and articles and oh yea, the completion of my bucketlist.

Cya'll later,
I Hope.