Can We Be Considered Creative?

I have a very good friend of mine, named Niranjana Arullappan. We have a lot in common and we are coursemates too. We love to hang around with each other and whenever we do, there is no limit to the amount of fun that we generate.

There was once we had to do a research and write a report about it. It could be about anything, the topic was open. We are supposed to choose a topic, do research on it, prepare questionnaires and do surveys about the topic, prepare a report and finally make a presentation to the lecturer.

We wanted our work to be perfect and a memorable one to the lecturer. While brainstorming on what we should be doing, we finally got an idea to actually research on the recycling awareness among the students of MMU. We had many plans to make it a perfect research. We first gathered information about recycling and then prepared questionnaires and handed them over to randomly selected students. While analyzing the data, we got to know that the students are aware of recycling but it is just that they do not recycle. The only reason being there is no recycle bin anywhere around the campus.

We then decided to interview the person in charge for landscaping under the Facilities Management Division  (FMD) and prepared sets of questions to be asked to him. After the interview, we actually got to know that they do have the idea to bring in recycle bins to the campus, however they do not have enough funding for it.

We still did not want to give up. We looked for ways to help them and finally came up with an idea to write in to the Majlis Perbandaran Sepang (MPS), requesting for the provision of at least one set of recycle bins to MMU Cyberjaya. With the consent from the FMD personnel, we sent the letter to MPS.

A few days later, they contacted us and asked us to meet them up. Since MPS is situated just behind MMU, we walked there and met them. They finally agreed to provide a set of recycle bin to MMU and introduced the recycle bin provider to us so that we can deal with them straight away after that. We were given an official letter stating that the recycle bins will be provided to MMU due to the request from both of us. However, they also told us that it might take some time for us to get them since there have been high demands for these bins.

During our presentation, we presented all our findings and as a final touch we handed over the letter to our lecturer. She was so impressed by our effort. By right, all those extra works were not compulsory. We could have even ended our research by recommending that MMU needs recycle bins. But we wanted to do something uniqe and we finally made it.

We have incorporated great deal of hard-work and independence in our effort. We also proved that we are indeed daring and dynamic in achieving our goals. Throughout the research, we tried to be as resourceful as possible. Since all these characteristics sum up to one big trait, which is CREATIVITY, can we be considered as creative people then?

Whether or not we are creative, we are definitely the best of friends and we thank god for that.

Near To Death Experience???

She is not my type of girl and I definitely would not want to become close with her. The only reason why I am keeping in touch with her is because she was introduced to me by a very good friend whom I respect a lot.

I find her to be very manipulative and always hiding her real emotions and intentions while putting on a more relaxed mask. There was once when she was sending me messages over the phone, trying to pull words from my mouth regarding an issue which she thought I might have more information than her.

I do not mind telling, but it is just that I do not like people who try to manipulate me. If only she asked it to me straight-forwardly, I would have told her everything that I know. Now that I have found out her intention to manipulate me, it is just not going to work out hereafter.

Anyway, I enjoyed playing the game with her. At one point, she said that she was close to death and had a narrow escape from an accident. I was concerned about what happened and started to inquire about the incident.

Finally, I got to know that she was driving on a rainy night with her mind and concentration being elsewhere. Suddenly, when she wanted to take a turn, her tyres lose control due to the slippery road and eventually bumped slightly into the drainage next to the road. Immediately, she managed to get back on track and nothing much happened.

From the way she said it, I really thought that something terrible had happened. But I did not know that even this incident can be considered as near-to-death experience. I guess she must be very good in using UP-PLAYER PREJUDICIAL LANGUAGE.

You Take My Breath Away...

X is a hopelessly romantic person who uses much of flowering language in his conversation, especially towards girls. Who would not like it anyway? He sweep any girl off her feet within a few minutes of conversation. He is a born sweet-talker, I guess.

There was once when he met a drop-dead gorgeous girl in a prom nite and he really wanted to get her attention. He wanted to make sure that her first impression on him will attract her towards him forever. He made it to seem as if he bumped into her accidentally and started a conversation with her.

He showed her that he admires each and every one of her movement and eventually uttered these words, "When are you going to stop taking my breath away?" It turned out so well that he actually managed to take the girl's breath away by his flowering and poetic language.

Loaded questions are not so bad though. They can even be used to flatter someone.

Hats

All these while I have been thinking that I never wear hat eventhough when I do find hats to be attractive. Only after attending the Critical Thinking class that I got to know that I have been wearking hats, especially of various colours throughout my life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is quite interesting to know that even though my favourite colour is green, I often put on a red hat equally with the green one actually. I give importance to gut feelings and I feel things through intuition most of the time. Also it happens to be so that my intuition never let me down, so I think I better follow it as much as I can.

However, there was once in a discussion where I was asked to put on the yellow hat of optimism. I did not really favour the idea discussed. I should have got a black hat actually; I would have performed better then. I just could not think of the brighter side of the issue no matter what. In the end, after much trial, I do managed to look into the brighter side of the issue and it was only then that I realised that I may as well have been overwhelmed by prejudice over the issue. The yellow hat really made me to notice the possible goodness even in the things that I do not really like.

Thanks to the Six Thinking Hats Concept!

Paper Clips

In last trimester, I had a subject called Managing Innovation And Technology. The lecturer was a friendly, beautiful lady who seems so classy and stylish. Her style of lecturing was interesting as well. At the beginning of the class, she started out by asking the students to introduce themselves and thus moved on to a discussion on what we, the students think is the difference between invention and innovation.

She let us all to give our opinions and answers without really analyzing or making corrections to them. Then, she took out a paper clip from her pencil case and asked us what is its use. As we all know, paper clips are meant to hold two or more papers together. However, she asked us to come up with different creative uses for paper clips.

It took us some time to come up with many uses for that single paper clip but the session really went on interestingly. Some of the answers given were so unique and different, that we have never thought of it before.

When it came to my turn, I could not think of anything much than to actually say that paper clips can be used as earrings and to further enhance its look, we can add on some extra decorations using beads and stones. After a while, I thought back about my idea and actually tried to work it out. Well, it turned out well actually. Thanks to the lecturer, I get to work out my creativity and thus producing a new use for paper clips.

Now that is what we call as doing creative thinking warm-up exercise during a brainstorming session.

Hassles of Break-Ups & Make-Ups

I always hear of this issue among my friends. One day they will be crying so depressedly due to an argument then the following day they will be happily talking with their boy friends over the phone. At first, I was concerned to lend them a listening ear and a shoulder to lean on. As time goes by, I started to adapt to their everyday dramatic soap-opera. I became immune to it where it no longer bothers me in any way.

They are well aware that the difference between the pairs are so vast and with the conflict of interest being present too, it is not going to last long unless they take serious measures to fix it. However, these people are just letting their emotion to rule them and they prefer to go with the flow by breaking up and making up endlessly without really finding for a good solution to their problems.

By right, they should have identified the real problem which has been interfering in their relationships and analyzed it thoroughly so as to find what is causing all those relationship issues between them and their partners. Then, they could have moved forward to the next step which is to identify the possible solutions and finally to decide on the most appropriate one to be used for their problem.

However, they tend to let themselves to be carried away by emotions and end up being indecisive. Perhaps they do not see that problem solving skills can actually save them much energy and time.

Stereotyping

I had a neighbour with a son who always gets himself involved in gang fights. His appearance itself doesn't seems to be pleasing, with his spiked-hair and all those metal accessories which he uses to over-crowd himself. I still can imagine how scarry he looks. I seldom talk to him, nor smile at him whenever I bump into him in the neighbourhood.

I would say that even his style of speech is not good either. He uses many vulgar words and dysphemisms and hurts people terribly. I have even noticed that he does not love animals and abuse them terribly. All these traits of him has made me to hate him with all my heart. Yet, I knew it very well that he was the only person who is not well-behaved in his entire family. The rest of his family members were all polite and loving types of people and I like them for that reason.

In fact, one of their daughter was my classmate while I was in Standard 4. One day, the bad guy was arrested by police for stealing from a supermarket. While I was talking with some of my friends in class, I got to know from them that they have actually boycotted this girl, just because her brother is not a good person.

I did not really understand why they did that, but all that I know was that I pitied that girl a lot since nobody talks to her thereafter. I tried convincing them to get into normal terms with her, however nobody listened to me. The only reason that they gave was that, "He brother is a thief, a bad person, so she will be the same too. Do not befriend her."

That was so unfair. They stereotyped that this girl will be a bad person too just because her brother is one. I wonder when people will stop making SWEEPING GENERALIZATIONS like this...