Week 11: Empathy, Photo Of The Week

In this week's class, we talked about Empathy. Mr Ezzam asked all of us to gather around and sit on the floor to let us all connect and share our stories. I find it really sweet that Mr Ezzam also sat down with us together and share his own stories too. Last lesson for our creative thinking class and I really appreciate everyone sitting down, sharing all of our stories and feeling the same way about all our stories.

What is Empathy? Empathy is feeling for someone, knowing and feeling what a certain person is going through. Empathy and sympathy are two completely different kind of word and action. Empathy is seeing with the eyes of another, listening with the ears of another and feeling with the heart of another.

Empathy and Sympathy are two different things, you experience the feeling of another when feeling empathy while sympathy, you only understand the suffering of another. While empathy is emotion, sympathy is recognition.  Empathy is the core of the human feelings and everyone needs to use it more instead of sympathy. It also makes the receiving end of the person feels good because they know that you know what they're going through. They feel more loved and cared for.


Here are some of the questions asked in the class:
What is love?
When was the last time you feel loved?
Is love a need or a want?
How often do you say the work "love" to your loved ones?
What is your biggest worry?
What can change your mood throughout the day?

This week's class was my favourite classes out of all the creative thinking classes, not because it is the last lesson but because we all sat down together and shared our own stories and about how we feel about certain things. Sharing our own stories is good because we can get to know who have been through the same thing as us and feel the empathy with each other. The class definitely bonded even more thanks to Mr Ezzam.

After hearing some of the stories that my classmates have shared, I put myself in their shoes and feel what they're feeling. Everyone has their own problems, insecurities and moments. And sharing it with one another will make you feel much better. I actually have never ever shared any of my personal stories to friends but I share them with my best friends and my loved ones only. But today's lesson just made me feel very comfortable and wanting to share my own problems with the class. It is really heartwarming that everybody shared at least one story and it felt like all of us got much closer after sharing it.

Photo Of The Week

Went to punggol waterway to cruise with my best friends on Tuesday and I really had a lot of fun, it's been a long time since I've had fun/good times. I'm so happy that I am finally almost done with this foundation programme because it's been stressing me out a lot, and I really needed that day to relieve all my stress. It was definitely an enjoyable day where I get to exercise, sweat and be productive too. We also went to my current fav cafe, Whisk and Paddle to eat. Good food after a cruise/workout session is a MUST! I also got to see the sunset which was beautiful but I didn't get to take a picture(which sucks) because I was too exhausted to pick up my phone and snap a picture. But it's good that I didn't use my phone all the way, all of us put our phones away and just enjoyed the moments and our "catch up session" a.k.a gossiping session!

To Mr Ezzam:
Just wanna put a little thank you note here. I really want to thank you for being such a great lecturer and for making me feel comfortable in your class by making us share our thoughts and stories. Thank you for sharing your stories too, it definitely made me learn a lot more.

Week 10: Force Connection, Shark Tank, Photo Of The Week

Force Connection

Force Connection is combining two or more unrelated things to create a product that has different functions. It can also be described as cross fertilization or multi-functionality.

Shark Tank

This week's task was to find an episode of a interesting product and talk more about it and the force connection behind the product. I find this episode really interesting because I've always been very interested in surfing and this is a workout exercise for it.

Surfset Fitness is a company owned by entrepreneur Mike Hartwick, who is a former professional hockey player who spent his off season time surfing at the California coast. He teamed up with fitness and nutrition expert, Sarah Hartwick. RipSurferX is a surfboard piece of exercise equipment that gives users all the conditioning benefits of surfing without the need for an ocean. It is the world's first total-body surf trainer and it costs $550usd. If you don't want to purchase the RipSurferX, there's also fitness classes which you can attend and there is actually a Surfset Fitness here in Singapore too!

Mike Hartwick and Sarah Hartwick entered the Shark Tank seeking $150k for a 10% share of Surfset Business. All sharks were interested in their business and all of them made their offer. Mark Cuban offered $300k for 33% and Daymond also made an offer of $150k for 25% plus an unlimited manufacturing deal for the RipSurferX Boards. Mark Cuban sealed the deal as he dropped his stake to 30% to Sarah's request. 

The force connection behind this product is a surfing board and a good workout. We all know that surfing is hard and by combining the two factors together, it'll be a kickass surfing workout. Not only it is the first in the world, it is also interesting and unique. I will definitely want to try out the classes one day! Surfset Fitness's business went over the top as they went on a 24 city nationwide tour to introduce the RipSurferx to fitness enthusiast everywhere. They also partnered with other big companies.
Individual Exercise

Photo Of The Week

Found all these old school snacks at scape and it made me feel like a little girl again. :') I remember during my primary school days, after school, I'll always run to the mama shop and buy all the snacks with all the money that I have left with. Me and my friends will just sit somewhere and enjoy all the snacks. It's kind of hard to find snacks/candy like these nowadays because it needs to be sold at a very cheap price, but honestly, I wouldn't mind paying more for it. Thinking about the mama shop makes me sad too. I wonder if the mama shop near my primary school is still open or not...

Week 9: Peer Evaluation

Praising & Criticising

This week's class, Mr Ezzam asked us to praise, criticise and rate our classmate's blogs. When we first started out with praising one of our classmate, it felt really good. But after that, we had to criticise and suggest whose blog is the worst... It didn't feel good at all because personally, I think everyone's blog is different, unique and good in their own way. Having the power to grade somebody is kinda scary... I feel that it's a very huge responsibility too. In life, we'll definitely get criticised, it's just how we choose to handle or accept it so that we can improve. Being too harsh when giving a criticism is not good too, we must make sure not to cross the line so that we won't hurt people's feeling. Once in awhile, getting criticism is good. It'll help you get stronger and learn from your own mistakes. I think this peer evaluation helped us a lot on where we should improve on so that we can all polish up our blogs.

Comments and Reviews

Every one of us had to judge our classmate's blog and list down 3 good and bad things about it. And we needed to evaluate group 3: Athilah, Xuan Qin and Edward. For the best out of the 3 of them, we chose Athilah because her blog has more of the content and is more detailed. And for the worst, it is Edward because most of his posts are not posted up yet and his photo of the week are all taken from the internet, we all agreed that we don't think that it is allowed as everyone in the class took our own pictures and posted it.
___________________________________________________________

Athilah
http://athilah-va1v-ct24.blogspot.sg/

Good:

- Detailed

- Very nice photos taken for "Photo Of The Week"

- Cute background for her blog

Bad:

- Pictures are abit small, maybe put it to large size

- Lack of a few posts

Rate: 7/10
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Xuan Qin
http://fengxuanqin-va1v-ct10.blogspot.sg/

Good:
- Her photos are nice
- I like her blog's background
- Very neat and detailed

Bad:
- Fonts are kinda hard to read because it is bold
- Lack of a few posts
- Some of the words on her blog is in chinese

Rate: 6.5/10
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Edward
http://edward-va1v-ct3.blogspot.sg/

Good:
- His posts are different from the others, more unique
- The design of his blog is nice
- Interesting way of explaining his pictures

Bad:
- He took his picture of the week from online
- Lack of quite a lot of posts
- Grammar can be improved

Rate: 6/10
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Photo Of The Week

I'm so grateful to be able to look at this view every single day when I'm leaving the house. I can even see the fireworks whenever there's some special occasion/event! Most of the time when I feel stressed out while doing my work, I'll always take a break, stare out of my window and take a deep breath. School have been so hectic with the amount of work I have to do... :( Okay anyway, there is perks of staying at such high floor, like the view and it is very windy but I'm always worried that "What if there's an earthquake?", "How will I be able to run down the never ending flight of stairs?". I shouldn't overthink too much because Singapore is such a safe country.

Week 7: Analogical Thinking | Week 8: Tutorial Week

Analogical Thinking

School is really stressing me out?! But... This week's lesson is about Analogical Thinking. It is what we do when we use information from one domain (a source) to help solve a problem in another domain (a target). There are 3 types of "Analogical Thinking":

1) Similes: Uses "likeness" to establish a connection.
Example: Excited like a dancing llama.

2) Metaphors: Metaphors and Similes are both ways to compare things. We use metaphors and similes every day, but it can be hard to differentiate them.
Example: "Her attitude towards me was like an ice cold queen."

3) Analogies: Analogy is comparable to metaphor and similes in how it shows two different things are similar, but it is much more complex.

There are 4 types of Analogy:
- Personal Analogy: Yourself as an object.
- Direct Analogy: Compares object's properties to properties of other object.
- Symbolic Analogy: Compare it to an abstract principle.
- Fantasy Analogy: Frees your imagination from the boundaries of the normal world.

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1. Shinkansen Bullet Train

It is inspired by a kingfisher bird. One of the engineers saw how a kingfisher bird diving down through the air and going into the water, creating very little or no splash at all. The front part of the bullet train is inspired by it's beak.

2. The Cloud by Richard Clarkson

This is inspired by the clouds, thunder and lightning. It is a interactive lamp and a speaker to mimic thundercloud in appearance. It can be motion triggered (lightning and thunder).

3. Tidal Power System

This tidal power system is inspired by swimming fish. It mimics the uniform swimming patterns of fish like tuna, mackerel and sharks. 

4. Log Bowls

This log bowls is inspired by the trees and is used as a bowl or a cup.

Spirals and Nature

Reflections of Myself

Battle Royale Movie Review

I watch gory shows like The Walking Dead so it wasn't as gore as I expected it to be. This movie is pretty similar to The Hunger Games but Battle Royale's plot is better though. Pretty sure that their class wasn't chosen by random selection but Mr Kitano just wanted revenge on their class. If I was in the movie, I definitely won't be able to win but I'd rather survive till I kill a few people first. After going through that thrilling and crazy 3 days, I won't be able to recover from the trauma that I've experienced. It was really sweet that one of the new comer(he won the previous battle royale) was willing to help and not kill because the other two only had a pot lid and binoculars. I think this movie taught me that life is a game, so don't trust anyone, not even the ones who you think that are friendly. I laughed at the last scene when their teacher died.

So now... Let's talk about who I'll kill! I'll probably be girl who will still have time to do her make up and look fabulous when killing everybody. Obviously I will be allies with everybody and go against the people who's asking us to kill each other but here's the list to kill in order:

1. Galen - I'll try to be allies with him first and when he least expects it, BAM, I'll kill him.
2. Fann - She may look harmless but I think she will go crazy and start killing everyone.
3. Sabrina - She's tall so there is good and bad in that.
4. Sheila - I'll be allies with her till the end but if I survive and have no choice, sorry Sheila, I'll have to kill you!
5. Angie - She is the friendliest so I'll be allies with her first then kill her.

Groups:
1. Bonie, Lynn, Emily, Xuanqin, Kelly, Yan Yan, Elvira
Elvira will be the one who poison the food trying to get revenge and all of them end up not trusting one another.

2. Terry, ben and darren
They will probably be the guys who has all the gadgets trying to hack into the system and escaping but ends up dead by bombing themselves up.

5. Cheryl and Delia

Tries to make peace with everyone but end up dead.

Photo Of The Week
Week 7

Yay my boyfriend finally pop loh! We've been together for 5 years and being a girlfriend to a full time NS man, I thought it was gonna be hard at first but actually, it's not as bad as what other people said. Him being in NS makes me appreciate things more, even being on the phone with him for just 5 minutes, that is time well spent. It's funny how people always say that the guys in NS who have girlfriends will "kena potong jalan". I'm so proud of him and can't wait for him to ORD already.

Tutorial Week

Went to Tanjong Pagar Railway Station for the first time for a event that I was invited too, Thaifantastic. Before I stepped into the place, I already know that it was gonna be super crowded so I was mentally prepared. I enjoyed myself even though I was sweating like mad. I have always pass by Tanjong Pagar Railway Station but never had the chance to go in since it it not officially opened to the public. The food at the event was super good. I really appreciate places like this in Singapore, it just makes Singapore feel more like home with all these old buildings/architectures. I will definitely go to more of the future events over here.