About Me

About me
I come from a humble family where my parents were not so well educated. But they did something right, they made it a point to stick together in good times and bad. They brought men into this world. I am the third of the three. The first is a teacher and married with 3 daughters. The second, a soldier in the Navy.

Growing up
I was a mischievous one at school, and as described my father, a little tyrant at home. Before an incident where I ingested a bottle of pesticide, I used to eat everything and anything. After that incident, I became quite a picky eater. Having spoken Chinese at home most of the time, I was part of a special group that the teacher spent more time in teaching the English language. In studies, I did adequately well without too much hard work. I loved eating and still do. That got me overweight at young age and I stayed that way until I entered my polytechnic days where I joined the Rover Sea Scout Crew and started exercising regularly. During the three years there I also had opportunities to organize events and took in the role of an instructor, imparting scouting skills to my juniors. My friends and I still return to guide the youngsters occasionally.

National Service
It was quite an experience for me. I was privileged enough to be drafted to be trained as an elite soldier, a commando and thus the online moniker kormmandos which I spelled with my surname. The 2 and a half years taught me a lot about the professionalism, about giving my best, about team work, about taking calculated risks, about giving 100% and then some.

It also taught me how amazing the human spirit can be and how resilient the human body can be. I also learned about courage and mastery over fear.

Another unique experience I gained in National Service was the opportunity to fly. I was a pilot trainee but was axed after 6 sorties.

Work Experience
Working life proved to be a new challenge and my first year out was a quite a rough and tumble journey. Jobs were scarce in 2004 and I managed to find a job as a part-time IT Trainer teaching school students Lego Robotics and specialized softwares like Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Flash, Premiere and Chinese IME. The highlight was my leading of 4 teams into the National Junior Robotics Competition.

At the same time, I was pursuing my part-time studies at Informatics. Occasionally, I took on freelance jobs to design web sites as well.

Then came a breakthrough in my career. I joined The Esplanade Co Ltd as a Web Administrator. Besides what the job title implies, I got opportunities in areas of project management and online marketing.

Being a service-oriented company, I also learned about providing good customer service, be it to internal clients which are my colleagues or external parties. I am proud to say that I have transformed from a hot-headed individual to a even-tempered team player with the patient guidance from my superiors.

With the proper job and higher income, I bought my first DSLR three months into the job and turned an interest into a passion. I also started blogging on a more regular basis, usually writing about happenings in my environment. The company also noticed my flair in photography and regularly asked that I help to take pictures for company events and press conferences. The photography and blogging combination also resulted in my sharing on the Internet. The next thing I knew, I had posted an pictures of a performance for netizens to view with the intention of creating more awareness and improving ticket sales. Unfortunately, it was also a potential case of copyright infringement. I was ordered to remove the pictures along with pictures taken for the company. Subsequently, I was also dismissed.

I have since learnt from this valuable and painful lesson and wish to move on and assist a new organization who may see value in my experiences as well as my mistakes.

Looking back, I also realized my strengths and weaknesses. I learn fast and adapt well to new technologies, my ability to multi-task and my devoted to work. At the same time, I still get a little agitated by interruptions as it breaks my momentum at work. This I have come to realize, actually stems from my devotion to work and I actively work to eliminate it.