Work Hard, Play Harder

There's the East Coast photography trip, Pine Tree Hill jungle trekking trip the weekend after that; and Bangkok and Laos trip next week. In between the trips, there's the normal training that I have to conduct and trainings I have to attend. It feels great when you can work hard and play harder.

One training session that all the trainers in my office has to attend really inspires me and I can see most of us are transforming our training sessions to make it more interesting and easier to learn with technologies from Accelerated Learning, Multiple Intelligence and NLP. It is hard work to prepare all the materials but it is worth it.

I stayed up until 4 a.m. to prepare for a class recently since I don't have much time due to packed schedule. But as a trainer, like a teacher, all we want is for our participants to be able to learn fast and apply what we teach. Accelerated learning is even more important to trainers since we have limited time to teach - 2 to 3 days at most and too many things for the participants to learn and remember for a short time. The techniques can also be useful to me when I learn something new.

Despite the packed schedule, I was able to make time for a lot of play. There's photography and jungle trekking trips and Ben makes last minute plan to Laos via Bangkok. If I didn't go to Laos, I have the option of going to Kenyir and Redang or visit a friend at Kota Bharu. But after much thinking, I can always go to Kenyir, Redang and Kota Bharu at another time. I'm very excited. The ticket's booked and passport ready, I have to exchange some currency and ensure I packed my things compactly since I don't want to carry big bags around.

I managed to renew my passport last Wednesday and the whole process was smooth except for the touts outside the immigration office offering instant passport photo service, photocopy service and the form at RM2. The original price of the form is only RM1 but since I came before the counter opens, I just pay the price and managed to get no. 30 in the queue. I collected my new passport at about 10.50 a.m. and returned to office in the afternoon. A reminder: if you print the form from the internet, make sure you print it on both side of the paper or it won't be accepted and you have to buy the form there.

This weekend I'm not going anywhere. I thought of going to Putrajaya to see the fireworks tonight but felt lazy and decided to relax at home. I need to recharge my batteries anyway :) I have to prepare a checklist of things to do at home and things to bring on my trip. I don't want to be worried about things I forgot to do or not brought along due to poor planning. On that thought, I better get started. Ciao!