Pirates of the Caribbean Negotiation analysis

This is a pretty interesting way of analyzing negotiation tactics and from my favourite movie too!!! Johnny Depp!!!

3:: The mystery gift!!

My third trade of the week wasn't even initiated by myself! When I reached home after having dinner with my friend, my niece saw the little pink toy inside my bag. She came up to me excitedly and asked 'Is this for me?' *innocent look*

'Ermm.. No..'

'But, I like!!'*disappointed*

'You have to ask your mummy first, ok?'

Almost immediately, she dashed out to the living room and dragged my sister to my room.
I explained to my sister that my niece wanted the toy, but I couldn't give it to her since it was part of my assignment. She asked, 'So it seems I have to trade something with you for the toy?'

'Yes!'

'Ok.. How about this? It's a gift from my student for Teachers' Day (my sister works at a childcare centre). I suppose there are chocolates inside, and I don't like to eat chocolates.'

'Wow, mystery gift!!! Ok, thanks for the trade!!'

Now I have one mystery gift and one happy niece! I realised that often, the value of an item is very subjective. What may seem to be valuable to you may not be of the same value in someone else's perspective - One man's trash is another man's treasure! How true~

Never say no to Panda!

Extreme power display!!! Hahaaa~

2:: Trading!!

These trades happened last week, but I haven't had time to update..

I met up with my best friend for dinner at McDonalds and told her about this paperclip trading assignment. So she laughed and asked, 'Let me see if I have anything to trade you for it.. How about this toy from my Happy Meal??'

'It's so cute!! Are you sure??'

'No problem, I don't really need this anyway.'

'Deal! Thanks dear~'

My first trade!!!

I did something special to my paperclip!!

A friend once taught me how to transform a normal paperclip into a heart-shaped one~

Since it's so much cuter now, I decided to make my first trade.

My 4-year-old niece was my first trading target, since she likes cute, pink, heart-shaped things!! (and children don't put a price tag onto everything)

So I said: Do you know that I can perform magic?

Jalyn: Really?

Me: Yup! See, I can turn this paperclip... into a heart-shape.. ta-daaaaah!!

Jalyn: Wow!! Can you make one for me?

Me: Hmmm... But if you take away my paperclip, then I cannot keep my papers properly anymore...

Jalyn: You take mine ok?

Me: Ok! Thank you!

My cute niece and her tiny-clothes-peg-with-a-flower... Although it's not really a paperclip, but it's really cute, and I'm sure I can trade something better for it!! =D

Comics always crack me up

I love reading comics... they always crack me up! Sherman and Megan disagreed over choosing the color of their new sofa... And they got stuck with something they both don't like.. Quite silly, but if I were Megan, I would have 'coerced' Sherman into getting MY favourite color... hahahaaa~

OneRedPaperClip ABC 20/20

1:: The Red Paper Clip

This is the RED paperclip that I'm supposed to be trading for my Psych class... I recalled reading some article about a RED Paper Clip, so I Googled it, and found that some guy actually managed to trade his Paper Clip for a house!!! (I will post the video up) I'm not that ambitious, just hope to trade it for something that I would want to keep... Haha~

1:: STARwars is over

STARwars is over! I finally got my ideal timetable and there is no longer a need to 'camp' at STARS planner anymore...

The initial timetable included a Friday lesson (yucks) and I had already set my eye on another course GV17, which I heard was quite fun.. Resorted to all possible means -posting onto Facebook, forums.

I had been religiously checking the forums for any potential matches, and my efforts finally paid off. I found someone who seemed interested in the course I was currently holding onto, and immediately contacted him. He wasn't very sure that he wanted this course, but I talked him into it; illustrated the benefits of taking Communication Studies as a minor. Eventually, he agreed to swap electives with me!! That's where good negotiation skills come in~ =))