Attending Class

I am back to the classroom again, with the ESS course from Kaplan. It’s a two day initiative and enterprise course, at the new building that I have always wanted to visit. On Day One, as I am the only student wearing dress, I need not participate in the tangle-untangle game (with our both hands holding onto each other). I can stand aside and be a helper. The trainer has remembered my name. At first I thought that this challenge is impossible to resolve but it was proven otherwise. Time passed quickly when we are having fun in the classroom, it is soon tea-break and lunchtime.



Our table sits two guys from the Soxal and a girl from Cenosis. We formed a group and stick together during the breaks. As there are a lot of group-work, where we sit together to come up with ideas and compared against the other teams in terms on scores, we all enjoyed the learning. The losing team would have to perform in front of the class and we lost in a segment where our team has to sing the ‘London Bridge’. We learnt that taking initiative is a self-directed effort, which we need to be discipline to follow through the ideas, willing to make the necessary scarifies and has to take into consideration on the thoughts of others and support with research that the change is necessary. It takes a change in our mindset.

Thinking Questions
1. Divide 30 by half. Add 10. What is your answer?
2. Which is heavier, a ton of feathers or a ton of bricks?
3. How many birthdays does an average man have? An average woman?
4. Take two apples from 3 apples, how many do you have?
5. If a red house is red, a white house is white. What is the color of a green house?
6. A man living in Ipoh may not be buried in the North of Johor or the South of Singapore. Why?
7. Some months have 30 days, others 31. How many months have 28 days?

The answers are not as straight forward as we think. None of us scored 100%, but each of us learnt something. There are also several number games and brainstorming games.

One interesting question is to list as many uses as we can for a bra. It is an individual work and we are given 3 minutes to think. It was said that most of the top-scorer are guys but I am crappy enough to come up with the most ideas in this class. My classmates sitting beside me are trying to see how I could generate so many ideas, I am putting myself to a stop, because the more I write, the more bizarre the ideas are. What did I do to get the top prize for the number of uses a bra could have?

1. Support/ wear
2. Photo-shoot
3. Marketing/ Earning money/ Sell
4. Make into pouch (sewing)
5. Carry water
6. As decoration
7. Modeling
8. Design and decorate with laces and details
9. Use as a mask to cover face
10. Use as knee-cap cushion
11. Use to fake as a woman
12. Use to fake as a grown-up
13. Use to put on mannequin
14. Use to draw pictures
15. Use to differentiate colors
16. Use to tie into a long string
17. Use to do patch work
18. Use as a cloth to write information
19. Use to clean table
20. Use as arm rest
22. Use as filter to make tea
23. Use as a pot to put flowers
24. Use to hide money
25. Use to shield bullets (made of metal)

With this, I have got myself a hand-made keychain and the reputation of the one who can come up with the most uses for a bra (-.-‘)



Also to note, we are being asking to come up with a dress using the newspaper and do some marketing on it. I have to parade with our artwork to show the other groups and all teams have to come up with ideas on how to market it, how much to sell and what if this product is a failure or success, what would be out next steps.

Before the lesson ends, we watch a shot video on the story of the Kinky Boots that showed the success of a shoe factory, runs by Charlie Prince. The turnabout and the success of the business are brought by the supportive friends (Lola and a girl in the factory) who believed on the change in mindset. Charlie’s father runs a shoe factory making mens shoes and when his father had passed away; Charlie is left to run the home business. To keep the job for the workers in the Company, he sold his house despite the disapproval of his wife. His effort is not appreciated by the workers as he has taken the new assignment and changes the company direction into making shoes for woman. The older workers see his as inexperience and ignorance and did not respect him. However, there is someone, a good friend, Lola, who finds an opportunity to show one of older worker that he needs to see someone with a change of mindset. Charlie is surprised when he returns one day to find that his workers are all busy making the shoes and putting in the maximum effort. As Charlie one day finds out that his wife has betrayed him, he vents his anger on Lola, who is wearing a dress when he showed up at their appointment. Lola left with disappointment by the harsh words of Charlie. Realizing that Charlie himself is even more cowardice than Lola who did not have the courage to face reality, he took the role of Lola to model their new shoe during the launch. When Charlie disgraces himself and fell to the ground, Lola appears on the stage just in time to catwalk and modeled the new shoe. Friendship patches and the success story follows.