The true test of professionalism

I bring you to my memories on the 25th of July 2015- the very day I control my emotions like a pro.

At 10am that Saturday, I had a meeting with a volunteer mentor. At around 9.30am, my good old buddy KC show us pictures of his family in the US traffic. He used a light-heartedly told us the story of how his mum drive into a one way street and heaved a sign of relief how the police man left them alone.

In my brain: " 'haha' 'one-way street' 'deju vu?'" I immediately linked back to that very memorable day KC drive into a one-way street too. Without much thought, I typed in "like mum like son".

I definitely pressed the wrong button accidentally because my thoughtless comment triggered KC sea of rants. He scolded me for not filtering. Upon his sudden turn in mood, I went to re-read the comment and put myself in his shoes - the post-frustration of obstructing traffic and probably winding up into some sort of trouble. Only then, did I realise I did a very bitchy thing. I never ever thought I would ever be a bitch. Like every time if someone tell me of something I did not do purposely/ is misconstrued as something bad, I'll be okay. The thought of me only thinking of teasing KC in his state of post-predicament... that actually hit the inner depths of my heart. I have just degraded to a mean-girls bitch OTL

Soon after, KC told me to "check yourself out" in my other group chat because I was not being myself. I was being a bitchy self just to assimilate into the group's openly teasing/insulting culture. I had thought that everyone there were okay with insults (i initially felt that was weird). Slowly after, i started to follow their flow of insults and exaggerate them. When KC to reveal to me that my attempted assimilation was actually kicking at people's souls, I felt a wave of sadness. I tried so hard and it turned out having the opposite effect!

Then, the clock was ticking. It was 10am, the meeting time with that new volunteer mentor. Luckily, he told me he would be late. I almost felt like tears were burning in my throat. I was almost breaking down (into my emo mood) and wanted to go into a state of self-reflection. Yet I had to put on a professional face at any moment. I saw more notification of messages from KC. Yet, I left it alone, afraid it would break that fragile mood I was in.

Quickly, tuning on to my favourite nigahiga jokes, I heaved. I can almost feel the gears in my brain switching, pushing down those sense of regret and sadness into a box. Then I created happy thought with my nigahiga video. Fate must really look out for me because minutes after I returned to a decently happy mood, the volunteer mentor arrived.

More good things happy that day. The volunteer mentor turned out to be more awesome than I thought. He not only talked about Enactus stuff but also spend some time to gave me some career advice. After that meeting, I got some time alone in the bus to self-reflect and drain that sadness out of me. Glad I was so professional throughout the meeting and actually was able to push my feelings away. Nice ability unlocked!

Lastly, I had such an awesome and rejuvenating time climbing Bukit Timah Hill with 3/4 case budz. I discussed with them my infatuation with this new "The Art of Speedreading People" book and use my new-found knowledge to explain their behaviour. It also very funny and refreshing to see HC's disgusted look when he deal with cheese like its a piece of booger. Then after that, we welcomed HC to our "can't i love you" harmonising group and taught him the the harmony. We definitely had an awesome time terrorising people with our noobish singing attempts in this singing app.

Peace out,
Jojo

P.S KC is sure scary when he reaches his mildly annoyed mood. I sure don't want to see his flared-up, full on anger! Even now, his "check yourself out" rant gives me the chills.