.:YongKok:.

I miss him

2010-07-16T17:36:00.005+08:00

Haven been posting due to work and internship. Every day, work starts at 830am - 6pm, followed by tuition. Though working hours are long, i enjoyed this period.

2 weeks have passed, I still think of him every day. He is one man whom I respect a lot. For his foresight, knowledge, attitude and interpersonal skills. Stories of heroism and altruism of his shared during the wake showed me the other side of him; days when he was much younger.

His 'down to earth' and 'going down to your level' approach in the army had him forged many lasting friendships among his peers and also admiration from the younger generation of soldiers.

This incident has changed my perspective of life. Some changes that I have noticed during this transition.

I have become more appreciative of people around us.

I have begin to place family before work. Money can be earned but time loss is not.

I have somehow grow to like vegetarian food for they are healthier to both the soul and the body.

I am closer to my mum in law now.

Reaffirming me not to live a life with regrets and making everyday counts.

Though he is no longer around, I am still able to feel his presence and that he is watching over us. I have drawn a new strength from him - never to say fallen. He combated the enemies within him for the past 6 years and he had put up a victorious fight. Now, the battle has been won and it is time for him to retreat back to his abode.

His legacy will live on. You are always in our memories.

Thank you for the good times and entrusting Melissa to me.

For a start

2010-04-27T00:19:00.000+08:00

perhaps for a start, instead of lamenting. I should look forward to every day and make the best out of it.

Life

2010-04-27T00:16:00.000+08:00

Friends graduating and looking for jobs, completed their one phase of life and moving on to the next. Though I am 1 year from graduation, I am feeling lost moving on to the working world. I started to question myself about the meaning of life. What is it exactly? Why are we struggling to survive in this world, in the battle of survival of the fittest. So at the end of the day in our deathbed, what did I achieve. I am reaching the 1/4 of my life and felt that I have achieved nothing. A feeling of emptiness. Looking through facebook and though interaction with some of my colleagues overseas, some of them 'seem' to find their aim in life. So what's mine? Sloughing through tuitions and work assignments to coaching sessions do earn me some cash but am I happy? I doubt so, though I am glad to have mel by my side. I am not feeling purposeful. Looking at my dive master and the photographer in the recent phuket trip, they are pursued their passion and am now doing things that they enjoyed, or at least that is how it seems to me.

I was sharing with mel how one works so hard for a year just for a short 2 weeks (not even 2 for some) of retreat to somewhere. Very much that I will like to pursue my passion for travelling, I am not able to do it due to a magnitude of reasons. But are they excuses for me not to fulfill my calling in life. I want to break free. Many a times, the fear of falling prevents me from achieving that. Why am I saving so hard right now, should I not be enjoying my uni life? ( looking back, I achieved zero sense of achievement in NUS, absolutely. Perhaps results is the only consolation, though that is not my priority anymore) I am always pulled back to the reality and practicality of life. Am I able to break free of that? and in doing that, will I not be fair to mel and my family. I have friends who went to pursue their passion, earning meagre pay. May be able to self sustain but definitely not so in supporting the family in any way.

I am still searching.... for my calling in life. I found it the last time, and I let it go. I want to do greater things. I want to be remembered by people around me. I want to leave a legacy to people that I have impacted. How to? Still searching. Need to spend more time to reflect (which I do not have the luxury of. Then again, it is me who decides to max out my time table).

Gotta hit the books soon. Am penning this down so that I can do some reflections after my exams.

Short trip to Phuket =)

2010-04-04T12:32:00.000+08:00

Decided to blog for a bit before I start on my revision for the upcoming tests. Hope that I can jot this experience in Thailand down on this short post.

Day 1 - Day 5
Working as safety personnel for a corporate event. It was a good experience though working hours are long. Nonetheless, I have great fun working with such a great crew. Most important of all, I was greeted by the comfortable bed every night at Hilton. 2 memorable experiences: The coral island where we did the sea activity day for them was beautiful. And also, we were at the backstage with the performers from the Famous Simon Cabaret. Some of the ah gua are really beautiful! too bad that they were guys before. haiz.

Day 5
End of program. We downgraded ourselves to a perhaps 3 star hotel (Patong Premier Resort) in Patong? It is cheap, only 72 per night and the standard surpassed my expectations. Pretty decent place. Will definitely recommend to anyone going to Patong, Phuket, Thailand. First thing we did, DINNER and MASSAGE! A cannot-be-missed activity in Thailand. We went for clean one can. We did massage for almost every night. It cost 250 - 500 Baht. around 10 - 20SGD. Quite affordable and they offer good and clean service =). Traditional Thai Massage was a little too much for me, went for oil massage. Threshold for pain not that high as compared to Kenneth, who savours the thrill of pain infliction.

Day 6
Went on a kayaking trip (short 40 minutes sessions). James bond Island was first. I do not understand why that place is a tourist attraction. Island hop to Panak Island and Hong Island for a kayaking session. We bargained with the operator to allow us to kayak alone. After seeing our persistence, the friendly thai operators gave in, warning us that we will bear any damages if there is. Argh!!!! When paddling around Panak through a sea cave, our inflatable kayak scraped the bottom. We got worried as the kayak began to flood as we paddled along. Fortunately, the flooding was due to the faulty valve on the kayak, no damage sustained from the abrasion. =)

Day 7
Went diving at Similan Islands. Woah shiok. When was the last time I dived? in 2002!!! Was apprehensive when I first went in. A lot of what-ifs questions. However, they were erased when I was greeted by the alluring sight deep down. And you hear nothing but your exhalation through your regulator. Cannot wait to dive again! After 2 dives, we concluded our day with dinner back in Patong. Poor Kenneth suffered from reverse blocked due to the diving session, with that lasting for a week. We then decided to give the massage session a miss for the night.

Day 8
Went scooter biking around Phuket. We spent 2 hours roaming around Chalong trying to look for the Jim Thompson Outlet. The roads were a sure maze because we did not understand the signages. After getting our gifts from JT, we decided to head up the hill to visit the Big Buddha our Phuket. While riding up the steep (45 degrees) slope, my bike cannot tahan anymore and gave up on me. It scared the shit out of me and ken. Later did we realise that the bike was powerful enough to climb the slope. While riding up, I somehow had the feeling that we were not welcomed by the temple.

Went to Bangla Road that night. For those who knows what it is, that's great! For those who don't, it is a street filled with night club. Went there and felt nostalgic. Went there in 2005 with Ryan and Raymond. Nothing much; had a drink, went for massage and head back to hotel. Most happening bars were having bar top dancing, which did not appeal to us (are we real man?!?!??!).

Day 9
Packed our bags and head to the Premier Outlets. Though the factory outlets carry many brands, the selection seems limited. Got myself a portable BBQ set (scouting instinct) and some apparels for mel and famil(ies). Rushed to the airport after the purchases. In my attempt to lighten the check-in luggage, I transferred all my barangs barangs into my carry in bag. Argh, leatherman went in as well. I was thinking, shit! there goes my leatherman and mel will kill me! Fortunately, the guard was kind enough to allow me to check in the leatherman with my carry on bag. Phew!

All in all, great trip!

Thanks for the experience guys. Namely, Asian Detours - Nicole, Colin and RX (for conducting the ever-so-fun EFR refresher course), Kenneth and Kian Seng - my travelling companions and Mel - for missing me and praying for my return =)

Check out my facebook for my pictures!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=210853&id=577430201

Memories (TSB)

2010-03-16T16:29:00.000+08:00

This photo is one of the numerous that form part of my desktop display. Stared for it for a long time and a strong sense of nostalgia engulfed me. Though I have not seen some of them for the longest time, I believe that each and everyone in the picture has moved on and do well in life, or rather successful in their own rights. This will be impossible without the guidance from the skipper then, John Poon. Though we all had our bad times together, he, without any doubts, guided us and groomed us to survive in the real world. I have been fortunate to be able to work under his helm and I believe my peers and brothers in scouting cannot agree more. I envisaged to be like him when I led the venture scouts few years back, for this is how I was being brought up. Hopefully, some time down the road, some one will turn back and smile at me, offering a simple thank you for all I have done. Just like what John Poon has done back then. JP may not be able to see this but many of my peers have told me, one way or another, that sea scouting has shaped their lives and how they are thankful for the experience. To share some with you:

1) Illyas - back in JC, he went on to become a long distance runner and he is grateful for the tough training he received in scouting to see him through the mental game of long distance running.

2) Thinesh - went on to become a naval officer (commercial) and he surprised us with that.

3) Daren Tan - our Champion of the Project Superstar

And for those in the pictures (Left to right, second row):

1) Mervyn - Pursuing mech engineering in NTU

2) John Poon - Our leader!

3) Myself - Pursing mech engineering in NUS

4) Illyas - lost contact

5) Kenneth - happily married and should be a investment banker I think

6) Zhi Rong - Pilot with Silkair

(Left to right, first row)

1) Yi Peng - Recipent of the Lee Kwan Yew Award

2) Jun Qi - Pursuing civil engineering in NUS

3) Gavin - businessman in Jakarta

4) Jonning - Graduate with a masters in Product design

That's something unique about scouting and it is not something everyone can experience unless they are in it. My time is due and I will definitely look back with pride.

Thank you JP and everyone in TSB for making this journey a life changing one for me.

It pains me

2010-02-25T01:07:00.000+08:00

It pains me when u fret over school and stuff while i remain helpless here in my own busy world. Hoping so much that i can be of some help to you but our hectic time tables are not helping.

Hope that u can tide over and next week will be a better week for you. Miss you my dear.

Persevere and stay positive. I will make time to hold your hand to walk this journey together, as promised.

=)

back to books!

Chinese New Year

2010-02-22T00:06:00.000+08:00

1 week of holidays zoomed past before i have the chance to bat my eyelid. Guess that's life. Time flies when one is enjoying. Sunday was spent visiting and it was great to see my relatives once again. did some catch ups and gambling too.

Monday to friday was spent on hosting mel's relative from Nanjing and also bits of visiting here and there. Interacting with them has made me realised this:

The world is moving at such a fast pace that we have no time to know one another better, especially if that is a stranger. Thus we use generalisation to size people up. That's when ethnocentrism and stereotyping kicks in as we set up our defence against someone whom we do not know. But many a times, we fail to see that each person is unique though they may/ may not fall into the descriptions. Through interaction with them, I can feel the warmth and kinship. They are so different from those tiongs I meet in school, or rather the latter was prejudged and ostracized before having the chance to develop the friendship further.

School starting tomorrow. Another 2 months long of a race before a nice break awaits. Cant wait for my phuket trip few weeks from now. Another good break from school. Will be there for some program. Good time to catch up with friends as well.

Great Weekend

2010-01-25T14:13:00.000+08:00

Woa! Shiok. Went to become Tua Pek Gong at ubin on saturday before heading to mel's place to do some spring cleaning. And it is some not all. =) Cleared a lot of stuff from her room. The hands emptied the room with reluctance. Many of the objects hold a certain amount of sentimental value and i believe that it hurts her to throw some of them away. But as the saying goes: jiu de bu qu, xin de bu lai, we decided to discard some of the 'obsolete' stuff.

Went for a simple breakfast with mel and ke nat hokee (geylang) before heading to the national museum for the exhibit: quest for immortality. I will not be there if not for ken, who is so intrigued by the mummies. Something different for a sunday morning. MAHJONG SESSION after that. haha. IT has become a twice or thrice in a month sort of event for us.

Though the weekend was a simple one, it is the simple ones that i cherish now. Time with mel and close friends is a luxury now, especially when tutorials, tuitions and workshops kick in from this week onwards.

back to books already. =)

10 hours of talk cock session

2010-01-21T03:25:00.000+08:00

Suppose to meet medicdog at 1030 in the morning..... he was late.... somehow our meeting slipped off his mind. Nevertheless, he still rushed back down to KAP, where we are supposed to meet.

Wah liew, instead of covering our agenda, we went into discussing his rover crew cross over. As we discussed, we started to share about each other's crew's culture and history and I realised that we do not have many. Many that is tied in with scouts value and belief system. That's pretty sad.

then went over to his place, with the intention of doing some webcasting while waiting for mel to knock off from school. Ended up talking cock till late before meeting mel at 1030 in the evening. We shared quite a fair bit and glad that I have found my grad trip buddy. BRainstorming of where to go. Switzerland for the pinkies or BSA for their summer program or world jamboree? Looking at a budget of 4-6k for one of these trips. And perhaps this will be one of the last few long holidays we will have before breaking into the workforce. Shall see how it goes. Meanwhile, gotta start to save up man. This will motivate me to work even harder!

Alright man. HEading for slumberland. Just finished 1.5 hours of webcast. Alamak, no fastforward function. Gotta listen at 1.0 time the speed. Defeat the purpose of webcast. Nevertheless, the technology allows me to review on the lecture. Must be grateful for that. And because of that, I may be able to clear my attachments with Nuturecraft!! Then can have another income stream already, a good one! Shall wait for my time table to finalise on friday (Tutorial balloting- cant seems to get the slots i want) then can go ahead to plan the schedule to clear my attachments!

Time to slp. 6 hours of lecture tml. Will be 8 hours from next week onward when tutorial kicks in.

Night my dear.

Aquarium

2010-01-19T01:03:00.000+08:00

Had lunch with Angelfish a week back in school. Began talking about the aquarium. I guess that is the common topic when we meet up. I felt sad about not being able to go back to the aquarium due to time constraint on my side. But then again, what's drawing me back to swim with the rest of the fishes in the aquarium? I am not sure, probably the older folks. And if the older fishes are leaving the aquarium for bluer waters elsewhere, then I will have no reason to swim in those waters again.

Things are not pleasant between me and the hammerhead. That's one of the reasons for me to move on. Since I do not subscribe to your philosophy, I might as well leave the place for one that aligns with mine.

Though I have much to write, I gonna stop here as I see no point to continue as I have said my piece to many and it is time to move on. Stop looking back and move on.

At least, I have made a few real fishy friends from other aquarium and I believe that they will walk along side with me, for we share the same philosophy (though we are from different aquariums, how ironic?)

2010

2010-01-19T00:41:00.000+08:00

It's been a great 2 months of holidays. Holidays, Camps, Chalets and the ROM kept me busy and I have fully utilized every ounce of my energy on the last item on the list. Please read melissa's blog for a full and comprehensive update of the ROM PREPARATION n POST EVENTS. Wei Ching did an awesome job in describing the whole event =P (has to be since we were busy hosting our dear guests ). I shall not blog on that since both of them had already pen down much of the details.

School's looking good. 6 mods this sem = 24 MCs. Result of squeezing all mods into 3.5 day week = 6-9 hours of school on days I have to drag myself to school. Though the MCs look daunting, I think I am going to enjoy this sem. One of the TEs - Aircraft Performance, Stability and Control, is an interesting one. Prof is engaging and CA(1) is interesting - we get to design and fly a paper aeroplane. Better than those MCQs and long project reports. Other 2 TEs are pretty dry, but yongkok will put in consist effort this semester. For I do not want to study over the festive season for my mid terms. Looking forward to Bahasa Indonesia too. Though taxing, I believe that it is going to be an exciting, as said by many who have taken them. It gotta better be interesting since I POUR in all my General Points to that. Left with miserable 56 pts in the pot.....

That's for school. Just finished printing and cutting my flyers seeking employment (see --> tuition) around the vicinity of my hse. Hope that I can get around 4 kids this sem. And hope that the business will kick off man. So much to learn from the rest when comes to that. Another exciting venture. Guess gotta forgo returning back to the aquarium. Refer to the next blog post.

That's the update man. Been lazy to blog.

freaking lazy.

Week of sheer maddess

2009-11-02T20:46:00.002+08:00

1 project report + 3 presentation + tuition +1 test on thurs + Trip down to ICA+ trip down to town to meet the solemniser. Kayaking over the weekend.

Argh.... wondering how many hours of sleep will I get. Only 4 hours of slp ytd due to webcasting and presentation prep.

Project team mates are not actually the accomodating sort. I am fine cos it does not matter to me. But what if they becomes my colleague in the future or for that matter, my boss, how do I handle then?

Stop Procrastinating

2009-11-02T01:50:00.004+08:00

YK. Stop procrastinating. Been very hesitant in doing my tasks recently, especially in the area of school work. Standards seem to be below par. Disappointed. Am I doing anything to change that? Doubt so. Lack of motivation perhaps?

Exams in 3 weeks and holidays in 4! Definitely looking forward to the holidays. Lots of events coming up! Meeting up with gavin n gang, going on a cruise with mel, trip with odac ppl, SI expedition with the kayaking kakis and most important of all, preparation for the big day! But hold on kok, exams first. What's my aim for this sem then? Dunnnnoo. Is it too late to aim for above 4.5 right now? Perhaps not, if I am willing to put in the effort right now. Thus less time on FB, which I already cut down. Less time on reading TemasekReview; averages 45 minutes daily... need to cut down on that, especially. And also, with the the projects reports and presentations and tuitions coming to a close, definitely will have more time to prep for the exams. Gambatte kok!

Back to webcast for 1 hour before hitting the bed.

Can see that my chain of thoughts are rather incoherent. Need to change that man. Affecting my report writing greatly. . . .

Updates again

2009-10-24T22:43:00.006+08:00

Few things that are going through my mind right now and hope to pen it down before i forget.

1) Wedding bands

Got it. So glad that the search was easy and found a pair that we both agreed upon.

2) Krabi kayaking trip

Met some great ppl there. Esp Stephen and Cher Huey and also the wonderful teachers and participants of an international school in singapore. This trip has changed some myopic perspective I have for kayaking. I guess for every trip I have gone for, interactions with different kayakers have shaped my views towards coaching. The program was done in a manner which defies our principles of coaching, at least for few of my friends since we share the same thoughts. But is it wrong for the team to do that? I do not think so. We achieved the objectives and the program was done in a 'safe' manner. At least the teachers felt that it is safe and the program is interesting for the participants.

- error encountered during posting. What can be salvaged is shown above. Shall retype the rest the next time I log in then....

it is getting late; mel, dun peek!

2009-09-15T01:44:00.003+08:00

It is getting late. . . m I am still miles away from the slumberland.

Discipline has been bad. Lagging behind in terms of my studies. Having so many tuitions sessions per week is no joke. However, has gotten used to it; just that I get to see mel lesser and lesser. Sad. . . Hope that you understand.

Wonder how will I fare for this sem? having 3 mods with projects and 3 more 'normal' ones. Being put in a position where I cannot contribute fully to the project group is one sucky feeling. Many a times, I gotta rush due to tuition or work commitments. But that's life i guess, one has only 24 hours a day, no more no less. And thus have to learn to cope with it. Guess been taking it easy for the past 24 years. life's getting tougher, but will it get more fulfilling as I envision it to be? Feel that I am stuck in the rat race and the path down the road will be tough. For those whom I have spoken to, you guys will know. Despite that, I am still willing to walk this path. And that's the reason why these few years will be extremely tough, or at least that is how i see it will be.

Back to the 3 projects, deadlines are coming up soon and I seems to be a passive player in some of the teams. I am afraid to commit or comment too much for I afraid that I cannot deliver. It seems to me that this mindset will offer me only mediocre scores. We will see how it goes.

Enough of the negative thoughts. Kok, gotta cheer up. Allow me to count my blessings:

1) I have a wonderful fiance. =)
2) I have a wonderful mom n dad! Though they are not highly educated nor rich, I am grateful that they brought me into this world.
3) I have 4 wonderful tuition kids. All the best for their Os yeah.
4) I have a kayaking trip coming up in a month's time to krabi! looking forward to that. Another overseas trip ( 1 week away from school again)
5) I have my SEP coming up.
6) Holiday is coming next week! Time to serious catch up and mugging!
7) I am healthy and kicking, though spare tyre appearing.

Yeah. And friends out there, so sorry if i am unable to meet up. Have a goal to meet and hence gotta work doubly hard. Hope to see ya ppl in december when everything is more or less settled with all tuitions out of my time table.

Yong Kok will be strong. Melissa will be strong too. We will see through this together. Fighting!

scholarship's gone

2009-08-27T00:37:00.002+08:00

Haiz, din manage to get the NUS scholarship. Gotta save even harder for SEP already then. =(

Getting busy. Getting engaged. Getting fulfilled. =)

A little late but dear, happy 118 months yeah =)

Pressure building up

2009-08-24T23:10:00.000+08:00

blogger's been cranky. Not able to get the pics up. Perhaps, you may wanna to link to mel's blog to see my PERMED.. hair.

2 tuition kids and 1 more coming next week. 6 mods. 3 projects. And more kayaking sessions. This sem will be nothing short of a tough sem. Last sem was tough. This sem is getting tougher man. Feeling the shagness already since the tutorials have kicked in.

Despite that, I am no less motivated. In fact, the drive has never been so strong. We have a goal and nothing will get in our way in achieving it. Let's work hard together mel. You are right. Things are different after the status change. Things are getting serious and at the same time, exciting. I am all braced up for the fight. Battle on, Mel!

Alternative Media Source

2009-08-19T11:04:00.002+08:00

Been reading channel news asia online for the past 1 year. It is pretty much one sided and articles tends to be pro government. A little bias I feel. To complement my readings, been visiting other alternative sites like Temasek Review, Mr Wang says so and others. It offers me to look at Singapore from another perspective. Rushing for kayaking session in the afternoon. Will blog more when I have the time.

Anyway, I am getting FAT. FAT FAT FAT. Tummy and love handles are coming out, NONO, bulging out. Gotta start running, or rather, have it started 2 days ago. Will I perserve to shed off all these excessive eyesore? LOL. Getting vain yeah.....

New hairdo

2009-08-19T10:24:00.004+08:00

By popular request, here you go:

too bad... cant seems to be able to upload the photo. Nevermind, here's an article from an alternative media source:

PM Lee’s National Day Rally: the key issues which he missed out

From our Correspondent

In his National Day rally, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong issued a rallying call for unity across different races and religions. (read article here)

A large part of his speech in English was devoted to addressing the climate of rising religious fervour.

He said that social cohesion was critical to Singapore’s long-term success, and singled out racial and religious divides as the ‘most visceral and dangerous fault line’, potentially worse than the rich-poor gap or any divide between Singaporeans and foreign residents.

While nobody can deny the fact that racial and social stability is a cornerstone of Singapore’s continued prosperity, the Prime Minister is perhaps overly concerned about it at the expense of more pressing divides afflicting our nation today - namely that between the rich and poor and between citizens and foreigners.

Racial and religious fault lines will always be present in a multi-racial society like Singapore. Though it can be managed to a certain extent by the state, it can never be eradicated completely.

The government’s enlightened policy towards all Singaporeans regardless of race or religion since independence had led to mutual tolerance and respect between Singaporeans. We no longer see ourselves as Chinese from China, Malays from Malaysia or Indians from India but as citizens of Singapore.

Unlike our neighboring countries, all races have equal chances in education, work and to succeed in life as long one is smart, capable and industrious enough.

The communal riots in the 1960s are of the past and while it served as a useful reminder to the importance of racial harmony, it should no longer be evoked as a scare-mongering tactic to frighten or threaten the people.

Singaporeans are pragmatic by nature. Though some may feel strongly about one’s faith, at the end of the day, they will be more concerned with earning enough money to feed themselves and families.

Prime Minister Lee’s example of a conflict between a Chinese and Malay family over the use of a void deck is completely off the tangent. The issue has nothing to do with race and religion at all. In fact, the fault lies with the Town Council which should have informed the Chinese family that the premises has already been booked for a Malay wedding when the application was first made. (read article here)

The Aware saga was used again to illustrate the inherent fault lines in our multi-religious society. On the contrary, the episode shows that Singaporeans are mature enough to deal with such differences in a civil, rational and reasonable manner. The Christian camp who took over Aware was ousted in the EGM. There were no social unrest. Sometimes it’s better to let the problem surface and sorted out rather than to allow it to fester underground.

There will always be extremists and zealots in every religion, be it Buddhism, Christianity, Islam and Hinduism. The government should simply be an overall guardian instead of over-stretching itself to micromanage every isolated incident like the trivial “conflict” over the use of a HDB void deck. Besides, the government has control over almost all the major religious institutions in Singapore through which it can exert its influence.

This perennial obsession with race and religion makes one wonder if it is another smoke-screen to divert attention from the real issues affecting the nation and the follies of the government.

The most important issue on the minds of Singaporeans is how the government’s pro-foreigner policy is going to affect their livelihoods, as reflected in 70% of the questions asked by respondents calling in to 93.8 Live.

There is no doubt that Singaporeans need foreign workers, but the question is, are we getting the real talents or the riff-rafts who end up displacing Singaporeans from their work?

In the past, foreigners working in Singapore can be broadly divided into two categories: the skilled professionals employed in highly specialized industries and the low-skilled blue collar workers taking on jobs that Singaporeans are not keen to take such as construction.

Nowadays, foreigners can be found literally everywhere. The clinic assistant of your nearby family clinic may be a Filipino. The waitress serving you at posh western restaurant in the city is most likely a PRC. Geylang is now a “Little China” with enterprising PRCs opening eateries, shopping marts and of course brothels there. Even the receptionists at POSB and Singpost are foreigners! With the exception of prostitution, which of these jobs can’t be taken up by Singaporeans? (though in recent years, there have been a rise in the number of Singaporean women doing “freelance” work including undergraduates)

To compound matters, these foreigners can easily obtain PRs and citizenships which leads to a relentless rise in the cost of living, including public housing. As they do not have to serve National Service, our local-born Singaporean men are at a disadvantage because they have to be away for up to 28 days a year for reservist training. Are we competing with these new-comers on a fair and equal basis?

The influx of cheap, foreign labor only helps to keep our GDP growth respectable, boost the profits of the major corporates and state-linked company and of course fatten the pockets of our ministers whose a segment of their salaries is pegged to the GDP. However, ordinary Singaporeans are not seeing the real benefit of the economy growth, especially the lower-income group whose pay has stagnated for the last decade.

A company’s ultimate purpose is to generate as much profit as possible. Therefore, it is only reasonable and logical for them to employ foreigners to keep their labor cost down. A government’s role is to take care of the people who voted for them and not economic growth at all cost. What’s the point of having yearly GDP growth exceeding 5% when the people in the street are toiling like a dog day in and out just to feed themselves without having any savings left for their golden years?

The second issue which the Prime Minister completely ignored is the rising prices of HDB flats, contributed partly by the influx of foreigners and the government’s policies.

Public housing should be kept cheap and affordable by the masses and therefore its prices must be strictly controlled by the government instead of leaving it entirely to free market forces.

A HDB flat is a necessity, not a luxury in Singapore. There will always be a demand for HDB flats. When we let in more buyers into the market, than demand is definitely only to increase in the face of a limited supply of flats. It is inevitable that prices will rise.

The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Lim Hwee Hua said that HDB flats remained affordable as not more than 30% of the monthly pay of Singaporeans are used to service the mortage loan. Of course everybody can “afford” a HDB flat because the banks offer loans of up to 80% and one need only put down a payment of a couple of thousands dollars, but has anybody bothered to look at the plight of our citizens 10, 20 and 30 years down the road? Is it healthy for the nation to have more than half its population burdened with housing debts?

Supposed a Singapore worker earning a median pay of $3,400 monthly uses 30% of it to service his housing loan and 20% for his CPF contribution, he will be left with only $1,700. A single person may well survive with this amount of money, but it is barely sufficient to raise a family in this present time and climate where the cost of living has sky-rocketed. Last year, our inflation rate hit a record of 6.7%.

Assuming this faithful Singaporean who trusted the government entirely, slogging hard daily to earn a living and contribute to the economy, will he have any savings left for his own retirement when he grows old? Can he count on his children to support him then? Who is going to foot his hefty medical bills which remain “affordable” as claimed by the government? Singapore has no social safety net. Once your productive life has expired, you are as good as an invalid.

The third issue which the Prime Minister failed to address is the gigantic losses suffered by Temasek and GIC. He should at least offer Singaporeans an apology. Temasek and GIC are not private companies. They are (supposedly) under the charge of the Ministry of Finance which answers to the Prime Minister. There’s no way Mr Lee can escape his responsibility even if he is not directly involved in the investments.

How can a country which lost a few billion dollars of its reserves be so nonchalant about it? This is no small amount of money, enough to send a few countries into bankruptcy. How can our Prime Minister, as well as the other ministers pretend nothing has happened? Who is going to take the rap? Where is the accountability? Is there any transparency left in this government?

It is true that the global economic crisis is something beyond our control. And it is not the intention of the directors at both SWFs to lose money, but how does it explain the fact that some SWFs like the China’s and Timor Leste’s still manage to make a profit and Abu Dhabi making a tidy profit of $2.5 billion pounds from its sale of Barclay shares while we lost $500 million pounds? We put our trust in the government to appoint the most talented and experienced people to manage our reserves. Now that we have incurred such tremendous losses, which can be put to much better use to help the poor and needy in Singapore, surely somebody must take the blame? Or are we responsible for the predicament we are in?

The last, but most important point which the Prime Minister did not mention in his National Day Rally and one which most Singaporeans are not aware of is our obsolete one-party based political system - the greatest mortal danger to our nation, not race or religion.

The government of Singapore is a democracy in name only, but not in practice. It does not even resembles a one-party authoritarian state like China, ruled by consensus amongs various centers of power, each providing a sort of check on each other. What we have today can be best described as a “mandarinate” system like the feudal dynasties of China, ruled by one single authority whose words are edicts to be obeyed by all.

Democracy may not be a perfect system of government, but it is the least of all evils because it allows a free competition of ideas, civic participation and most importantly an institutionalized system of check and balance on the government. There is clear separation of powers between the executive and the legislative. It can be chaotic, inefficient and unproductive at times, but it is the only system which can build a society based on justice and equality.

Under the present incumbent, which controls the police, media and the state bureaucrary, elections are nothing more than an exercise to legitimatize its “mandate” in the eyes of the international community, not that they care much about puny Singapore anyway. No opposition can ever hope to achieve a sizeable presence to deny the ruling party its customary two-third majority under the present system in the next 50 years because the system is designed as such to ensure, promote and perpetuate one-party rule, or a “strong” government according to the Prime Minister himself.

After 44 years of independence, we are still ruled by an octagenarian who can never be wrong. Aren’t we pathetic? Some people in our country are more equal than others. No matter what mistakes they make, they do not have to pay for it and yet still able to command the respect, adoration and admiration of the people. Of course with our media putting even the Soviet Union’s Pravda or China’s Xinhua news agency to shame, even the world’s greatest mass murderer like Mao Zedong can be transformed into a saint.

Singapore’s system of government is poorly equipped for a future fraught with challenges and dangers. A society which does not tolerate alternative and dissenting views is one devoid of ideas, vibrancy and dynamicism. It may be useful to maintain social stability, but it can never inspire its people to take on the world to fulfil our nation’s potential. A people who is apathetic, cowardly and unthinking can only be followers and not leaders. What Singapore need are world-class thinkers, intellectuals and visionaries and unfortunately, they cannot exist in a closed society which does not foster freedom and independence of thought.

More importantly, this system of government makes it easy for incompetent men to masquerade as ”leaders” when they are not to exploit the country for their own selfish gains and we will have no way to remove them through legal means. We are blessed that we have quite a number of decent men and women now in the government, but who can gurantee that we will not let in a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” in the future? There is a Chinese saying: “Human nature is hard to fathom”. All we need is one Yuan Shikai to destroy the entire nation. We cannot afford to take any chances. (Yuan Shikai was a Qing general responsible for bringing an end to the dynasty when he refused orders to fight the republican troops belonging to Sun Yat Sen and forced the young Emperor Puyi to abdicate)

At this crucial juncture in our nation’s history, many questions remained unanswered and problems ignored by the establishment. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. When the government is “strong”, the people will inevitably end up weak, obedient and subservient, like a herd of blind sheep being chased around by the sheep-dog. The bitter truth we must face today is: Singaporeans are not the owners of their land of birth. We are no more than modern-day serfs toiling for the benefit of the aristocracy.

School has started! 2 days ago

2009-08-13T00:24:00.003+08:00

School has started, so do my tuition. Fortunately able to get a tuition kid yeah. Dont mind having more though=). Saving up for big big plans. Will be paying $400 for a leadership workshop which cost $2000 for public man. Thanks James for the offer. The price do come with some obligations as well. Hope that the remunerations after the course will be good. Looking forward to it! 4 Days away from school as well when I attend this. Another 160 plus into NCAP. Haiyo, all coaches under SCF/ SSC will have to complete their NCAP before being recognised. Thus, am 'forced to take this up' if i wannntt to continue coaching. The course is gonna kill me. 2 times a week for 5 weeks with each session lasting 3 hours. ARGH!!!! My nights are burnt!

Got a new hairdo. Many comments from family and MELISSA hor. =)

Love it.

The going is getting tougher..... it is definitely worth the effort

2009-08-07T01:22:00.002+08:00

Though it has always been on our mind, today is the day when everything seems so clear to me. Dar, though the journey for the next couple of years will be tough, I believe that we will tide it through together. Deep down, I have found the reason to marry you. Let's do away with the idea of H** issue. I believe that is secondary for now. I have found the reason and hope that you share the same thoughts as mine. We will be pushing ahead with our plans for it is a commitment that two of us have decided to put our heart and soul to make it happen, though it may come a few years later than what was initially thought of. This has given me a new lease of motivation to work even harder during the next sem and the previous sem is a testament that I can do it, or rather, we can do it together.

I believe that everything will fall in place eventually. Just do what you believe in and let's put behind us what we have discussed before if that bothers you.

I am charged up and getting ready for the next fight. Thanks kenneth too, it was great talking to you just now. At least I know that someone is fighting a similar yet different battle with me. We will both emerge stronger than many others and let this be the light that guides us.

When the going gets tough, the tough gets going. Brace yourself, scout. (surprise that I am still using this term. Go for it, ken, my fellow scout.)

It's been a long long time since i last blogged

2009-08-05T01:17:00.002+08:00

Holidays are coming to an end. Lots of things happened during this 3 months. Always enjoyed my summer holidays working and catching up with friends. Lots to blog too but many a times, i find myself too tired to blog about it. Things that I hope that I can find time to blog about:

1) Melissa - how we manage to spend quality time together so often (great!)

2) Catching up and making time for kayaking kakis

3) The special day with mel (can read from mel's blog)

4) Always wanted to blog about my mom, the selfless one.

5) The future - what has it has in store for me

6) My time in AD

My stint with AD may be coming to an end pretty soon. These 3 months of work allow me to find out more about myself, my capabilities and so much of my weaknesses and ignorance towards the working world. At the same time, could not find the drive to push myself further. Some days are just getting things done for the sake of do that. Not much of the motivation in there. I hate myself for that for I know that this is not YK. Or am I living in my world of self deception. Perhaps this is me and I have to recognise the fact that work may not be what I envisioned it to be initially. No doubt, I have learnt a great deal from colin, nicole and RX. They are very patient with me and I enjoyed the closeness of working together. The flip side of a small company requires everyone to be multi tasked, maybe at the expense of losing focus. Or rather this is how I see it. I am lost while working on some of the assignments and detest that feeling. But what have i done to curb that? perhaps nothing but just mediocre performance. That sux.

That sux but I believe that is part and parcel of learning through experience. As I always preached, the more shit I endure now, the more I reap later. And I stand firm to that mantra.

Scouting has in one way or another prepared me for this. These first 7 months aint the easiest of the months. Weekends were burnt working and weekdays were spent catching up on the work. I am amazed how I actually gone through this sem and gotta myself a few decent grades. For that, I am grateful for the advice, motivation and encouragement showered by the people around me, especially mel, who always believe in me. Through saving, I began to inculcate a habit of asking myself if something is a want or a need. Many a times, impulsive purchases are halted in time before it reach the cashier. Thank god for that.

As always, I am just ranting on and whatever written are just random thoughts from myself. Gotta stop typing now. Going to finish the book tonight: Letters to Sam. Great one!

pondering

2009-06-17T00:44:00.002+08:00

giving myself 10 minutes to blog and will stop at that. not going to edit nor read through what i have written. Just hope to pen down my thoughts so that i can review them at the end of the year. And this is what this blog is all about. Allowing myself to self reflect.

2 persons that struck me hard today - Ken lai and I -min. I am better off being an employee he said. In a way he is right. But I still respect his determination in keeping the business going. He is one of those rover scouts that i respect for doing things that is way out of his comfort zone. Been working for the past 6 weeks and feels that things are not moving. I am merely taking instructions and executing them. This is unlike myself. I am lacking the drive and passion to do move. Every day seems like a repeat of itself. I need to find the purpose for what i am working on right now. I do not want to dread coming july where i may be and probably be a permanent resident of Ubin. Lots of negative thoughts are going through my head right now. I need to maintain positive. I am losing it. I used to derive it from my venture scouts. And now that they are gone, need to find new source of inspiration to keep me going. Lots to do in the office till a point where i feel things are getting off track. Every day is a dynamic day with new assignments flooding in. I love that but i hate the process where every thing piles up and one begin to lose focus. I cannot, no I MUST, learn to multi task. That has been my weakness and perhaps it is one that cause me to drop from my dream. Painful experience it was. Stop being an employee yongkok, take action and make a difference. You need to step outside ur comfort zone right now, and NOW you must.

I-min. Though i may appear to be aloof earlier on, I am pondering hard over what IM had said. What's your dream? are you working hard enough to achieve them? If you have dream, you will get charged up everyday and everyday you are a step closer to it. He is right. What's my dream? To get into SFC. but what have i done to achieve the goal of mine? perhaps nothing right now. I need to start to work on my goal - to get into SFC in 2 years time. I need to brush up on my presentation skills/ language and also multi tasking capability. To many just now, IM may be talking cock. but at least for me, it strike a chord that I have to start to get focus and work on my goal. Enough of scouting talk right now. have to move on my kok. No point dwelling into the past. Things are not changing and you must learn to let go. Look forward so that you can fly high my kok.

10 minutes up. Time to hit the bed. More updates coming up i believe.

busy hectic life

2009-06-16T00:53:00.002+08:00

it's been more than a month since i started typing on blogger once again. Been a busy month working cum enjoying at Asian Detours. The work seems to be endless and everyday, a brand new surprise will pop up. Perhaps that's the working life for you yongkok. Nothing seems constant and I am still not comfortable with that. Though I was roped in as a kayaking specialist, i ended up doing more than that. On one hand I find it rather exciting and I am learning something new everyday; on the other, I cannot seems to focus. New issues are added to the list everyday and frankly, I find it rather tough to juggle everything and make them work at the same time. Nonetheless, I enjoyed myself thoroughly.

few updates for the past month. Results were great, though wasnt happy with some of the modules. Mods that i put in the most effort din turn out too well. But nonetheless, hope that I will get into DL this sem. Chances are slim but it is this hope that keep me going. =)

Stepping down as a VSL from DSGVU. Finally, I can relinquish all the responsibilities. Perhaps not as i cannot find someone to take up the role. but frankly, I cannot care more already. deadline been set and pass and I will have to move on. I cannot continue to dwell into the past, it will just hinder my development and also that of Mel. Did an kayaking expedition with the ventures last weekend. It was an exciting paddling across the sembawang wharves. More importantly, it were the intangibles that struck me the most. The boys that I have groomed over the 2 years have stepped up to take lead. You can see the difference when they first stepped in as ventures 2 yrs ago. It touched my heart when most of them acknowledged my effort in developing them, in one way or another. I hope that they will be successful in their future endeavours.

Chapters night was an awesome one. It is sure tiring to prepare a BBQ feast for 42 people. Argh.... but it was worth the effort. Everyone enjoyed their night. Thanks Junqi, Melissa, my mom and bro for helping out in the preparation for this BBQ. Without them, I will not have the deserving 2 hours of slp over the 2 days of preparation. in short, it was maddness. the itinerary goes like this. 1) mustafa to get the miscellaneous 2) suntec carrefour to get most of the BBQ food like bacon and drinks. 3) back home at 11pm to prepare. 4) 2.15am head down to fishery port with JQ to ge the seafood. 5) rushed back home to bathe before going to airport to fetch mel. 6) back home at 6am to rest. 7) woke up at 9 to head down to NTUC to settle all the last minute purchase and preparation. 8) head down to GESS at 3pm to prepare. argh......... that concluded the BBQ.

Mel. Been spending whatever time I have with her. Love every moment of it. Her sillyness and cuteness often lift my morale whenever i am low. Thanks mel, though i cannot spend that much time with you. That explains why i do not blog often as almost every night is time spent with her and leaving none for me to blog.

Kayaking - aint coaching much recently since i resume this job a month ago. Lots of adminstrative work and preparatory work. Leaving none for training. spending a little more time with kayaking kakis, which is good. Dont really hang out with them often due to scouts. But now, will have a little more time.

Guess that's all i have to blog. Thoughts seem incoherent but I have lots to blog about. really lots that i wanna write but gotta work tomorrow. Thus am going to stop here.

Anyone wants to be my engrish teacher? wanna pick up creative writing/ speechcraft. always feeling fustrated when i cannot express myself freely ya.

Exams over!

2009-05-07T21:14:00.003+08:00

Rejoice! 3 weeks of hard work. Hope that it pays off when i receive my results a month later. Starting work on Sun. Will be working with Detours as a project manager - a SIC project for 3 months. Not going to be easy but i believe the results are going to be sweet. Appreciate that detours actually took pain to design a 3 months project for me. HEnce, grateful to god, if there is, that I got this offer.

Going camping tomorrow with my kayaking kakis at ubin. Actually running a camp for 2 girls + 2 parents with a total of 4 coaches. OMG. 1 : 1 ratio! So fortunate of them. Things that we are going to do are quite interesting, especially when the participants are in their mid teens.

Paintball on Sat! and Kayaking on Sun. Project planning will start next week.

Sexciting Life ahead these 3 months.

Rejoice and hail to the end of exams and resumption of the sexciting adventurous lifestyle!

Found it! Sea scout base 30 km from my school in SA

2009-04-30T13:40:00.000+08:00

http://www.scouting.org.za/capewest/seascouts/

I miss scouting

2009-04-29T23:53:00.004+08:00

Read from Olivie blog that he just completed his squireship and just got invested as a rover scout. I miss scouting, BADLY. The company, the activities, the people and the lessons learnt. I miss doing the activities like pioneering, kayaking, cutter rowing with like minded people. One may say that I frequently do all these activities. However, many a times, I am leading the activities and hence will not enjoy it to the fullest as a team player/ participant. Will see how it goes, looking forward to my raft building around Pulua Ubin after my exams. Sea Scouts Rock! Although we are all from different school, our mindsets are so similar and this raft project will test out how strong the scouting bond is.

came across this website: http://www.kontiki.za.org/index.htm. Sea scout base in SA. Will join them for their activities over there!!! excited man.

Back to books. Good Relief after driven nuts by ME2114. Wah Liew.

brief update.

2009-04-28T00:16:00.002+08:00

Exams coming. Finished 2 papers already. 3 more to go. YAY. Got a job for summer already. Will be rather challenging and hectic. But it will be fun and exciting i believe. Will update about that once the project is finalised and up running.

Missing Mel badly, although i just saw her 2 hours ago.

It can be solved. Yong kok stay cool

2009-04-22T22:41:00.007+08:00

Was damn pissed just now. The books that i ordered from BMC came in 1 month late. Not until i emailed them last week, they would have forgotten about my order with them and happily earned my 400bucks. Now the books came in 4 different parcels (not registered, argh). Everyday, i will receive 1 parcel as the parcels were not able to squeeze into the mail box. Come today is the last parcel. And to my dismay, the last parcel was tampered with and the contents went missing. 2 books costing $120. argh......

Containing my anger and disappointment, will give a call to singpost tomorrow to sort this out with them. Meanwhile, stay cool yong kok.

"Attitudes are nothing more than habit of thought...... and habits can be acquired." Paul J. Meyer

"instead of giving people a piece of your mind, give them a piece of your positive attitude"

Kok, stay cool and solve this with a smile =)

I miss coaching young people.

2009-04-21T22:55:00.002+08:00

In short, I miss scouting. To be able to groom and guide someone in their teens and see how they grow into fine young men/ women. Although i enjoyed coaching paddling, it does not give me that sense of satisfaction/ fulfillment of seeing someone growing under your guidance. Participants just come and go. Yes, it is a different sense of satisfaction coaching them and bringing out the passion for the sports in them. This short tinge of training session with them, however, does not allow me to see through their development. 2-3 days and that's it. Hmmm.... Though i miss scouting, guess wont be back for the time being. Circumstances do not allow me to. Or perhaps there are other reasons that i refuse to come to terms with.

I can only look back and reminisce.

" keep your face in the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow" ~Helen Keller.

Wake up kok! Move on!

stumbled upon a blog post

2009-04-18T16:58:00.003+08:00

Webcast --> playing the chase game of completing the over due lectures. However, the past hour was spent on reading this forum :http://politics.sgforums.com/forums/1390/topics/334164. Do check it out folks. It is amusing how people judge and stereotype the population in general. I do agree that in a society like this, there bound to be different classes (scholars vs farmers) but afterall, we are still humans and as a team, Singaporeans. Can we bring all these fame and ego with us when we are buried 5 feet under decades from now? Can we derive happiness from elitist argument like this? Who stand to lose? I believe both of them? Cos, I dont feel good drafting out those posts, if I am in their shoes.

Just for laugh, another podcast by Mr Brown that sent me laughing my guts out.
http://www.mrbrownshow.com/2009/03/30/the-mrbrown-show-army-fighting-language/

It's mugging time

2009-04-14T09:08:00.002+08:00

Kayaking aside for now. IT's mugging time!!! Projects done; can finally pour my "heart and soul" into mugging, provided that procrastination don't get me. 3.5 weeks of hardcore mugging --> hate it but have to do it since my attendance for school is not fantastic.

It's been a great pleasure working with James; though we have a very different school of thought, we still can work well together. I guess I am willing to give in provided that I respect that person and James is one that I respect for his clarity and precision in delivering his class. I can see that he is passionate in passing on the skills and practices to the younger (hmmm.... more junior ones) and hope that they dun go through the mistakes that we went through.

Great meeting up with the old PC coaches over dinner last sat. A whopping 15 of them actually turned up after so many years and it is awesome to see them once again.

going to school now......... the marathon has started. brace yourself kok.

Back from the Camp

2009-04-04T08:15:00.004+08:00

Shag.... but it was fun. Monfort Boys are truly 'unique'. Dreaded the experience initially but grew to appreciate these boys gradually. You have made me learnt something from this camp. Thank you MFSS and AD and all the coaches/ facilitators!

Ken - You are one truly good o' scout. Thanks for you support for this camp. Without you and the rafting team, my segment may not be possible. Special thanks to the navi group too.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Finally some time with mel. Finally, we drove to Marina Barrage. Somewhere we hope to go once we got hold of the car. Took a 'few' shots. and here you go. edited by dearest mel.

Training Ship Barracuda

2009-04-04T08:01:00.002+08:00

Proud to be part of this unit, for it has churned out many of us.

Was looking through the old photos with Kenneth from Southern waves today while we were in NUS getting this appeal one. When we were scrolling through the photos of sea scouts back in those days, the nostaglic feeling came grabbing me hard on the throat. I am truly grateful to what john, the unit, the seniors and the juniors have done to groom us to who we are today. Was flipping through the photos with ken and realised that we have done reasonably well in our endeavors.

1) John - last i heard i that he has left his high pay job to become his own boss of a swimming school.
2) Chee Wei - N(T) to ITE to Poly to SIM. Even considering pursuing his masters, as said by chee yong. Proud of you my senior.
3) Kenneth - getting busy with marriage.
4) Jonning - completed his masters in milan in design. way to go bro!
5) Jun Qi - my best buddy, you have grown a lot over the years ar. laterally and perhaps not vertically. But definitely EQly. He is a babe/ crowd puller man.
6) Gavin - managing family biz back in indon. Know that it is not a easy feat for him but i believe sea scouting has prepared him well for the job. Tenacity and fortitude to overcome any obstacles. From a mentally weak otopus to a big mentally strong otopus,M.S.O for short.
7) Nigel - Commando Officer and is doing pretty well.
8) Yi Peng - Did superbly well for this academia in NP
9) Daren tan - Mediacorp Artiste
10) Micheal lim - Manager of Innotrek (fa fu le)

and the list goes on. I have faith that scouting has prepared them well in life. Way to go my fellow seaman. Once a scout, always a scout. It need not be in uniform sense but deep in us, we have it in our blood - the mental strength to overcome all odds in life. And this is what matter most! As for myself, not much accomplishment yet but it will come really soon! delayed gratification!

too much kok

2009-03-26T14:36:00.004+08:00

The previous post was intended to include the title only....... ended up in a rampage of mindless ranting...

shag..... + need more time

2009-03-26T14:06:00.003+08:00

Blogging from school. Have Decided to take a 20 minutes breather before i continue the mad rush for projects and deadlines and kayaking/ scout camp planning.

My body seems to be behaving erratically; i gets hungry 2 hours after every meals, even for heavy ones. The craving for food is so hard to suppress. Is it a sign of stress? Need to curb that if not i will end up like Ganesh or Gavin =). Pui Pui.

Not been doing tutorials. Weekend spent on kayaking and weekdays just spent on doing lab reports and minimal of tutorials. This sem being naughty man, do only perhaps 30% of the tutorials. Getting worried for my results, will I buang it or will it turn out fine? As the exam dates drew closer, I am getting more panicky as there is less time for revision. I get many assurance and comments like aiya, you will turn out fine one la; every sem also like that, nv study still can get above CAP4. Wah liew, that does not come easy k. working 2-3 days a week + 1 free tuition a week + minimal of scouting + Melissa + friend whom I have no time with, regretably + school is like a lethal dose of gradual self destruction. Right now still need to churn out report for discussion later and my brain juice is drying up. Cannot seems to concentrate anymore. need a breather, need some time to recuperate but will I have it?

This is not like kok anymore, kok will never give up. But right now, I am feeling burnt out and guess this will be over when I fly over to SA next yr this time. I must perservere.

I promise that I will do my best ........

has courage in all difficulties.

People, pls do not worry about me, just need some space to vent this out. Will be fine after this.

To mel, love ya lots and I will always make time for you, regardless of how shag things are. For the rest, book appointment first ok! =) maybe except gavin since he seldom comes to singapore. ahaha.... hmmm... since I mentioned Gavin names, the following goes into the exclusion list for appointment booking perhaps: Yalos (though will always be late and leave early), JQ, Ryan, JB, AD. hmmmm.... seems that I do not have a lot of friends hor..... fark it man. At least all these people make a difference in my life. ranting off too much already. 'typing' too much kok already. How i wish that the world has one less of me --> peace.

Hmmm...... time to go already. if not no time to finish my report.

Bottomline : need to spend my time more effectively!

Busy 2 weeks ahead.

2009-03-20T22:56:00.004+08:00

Guess won't be blogging again for the next 2 weeks. Busy 2 weeks ahead. Quite afraid that i cannot catch up on my studies man. My Dean List goal how? =)

Kayaking tomorrow for the next two days. Shall end the weekend with a project discussion in school on sunday night (wah Sianz). Monday will be the only free day and gotta rush all the tutorials for the week ( 5 of them) and 1 lab report...

Going for sec 3 camp on Friday, concluding on sat morning. Afternoon need to rush down for the earth hour prep at town area. Guess the event will end around 11pm.

Gotta wake up early the next day to get my ass to Pulau Ubin. Will be there for 5 days conducting a camp. Gonna work with Zhi Rong; it's been a long time...... And the stupid thing is that I need to come out on wed (4th day of camp) to head back to NUS to take an hour test before heading back to Ubin again.

Tiring.... sure it is. But with the goal in mind, I believe that i can persevere through this 2 weeks and many weeks after that (catching up on studies).

That's my busy schedule for the next 2 weeks. Mel, so sorry about that. Guess these 2 weeks you will see less of me. But but but, with TP, things may be different =)

Going back to camp preparation. See ya people.

Oh ya.. managed to spend 2 hours with myself today at Ubin. So happy. How often will i get such opportunity? get paid to spend time with myself.

teamwork = bullshit?

2009-03-18T22:44:00.003+08:00

Disappointed.

Disappointed in the choices people make. Where is the value of a TEAM? it seems that the concept of one for all and all for one is diluting.

This is coming from the place where I grew up and it is the people there who groomed me for who I am today. But today I see the direct opposite; the values it uphold are no longer there anymore. What is TEAMWORK? Guess that's bullshit. If you as an individual of the team screw up, you jolly well face the consequences. The team is not going into that mud pool with you. You are on your own. You screw up, you face the music yourself, I am not going with you.

And that is disappointing.

How about promising oneself that I will do my best? Are we doing that? For I see mediocrity in the way things are ran. If I as the leader do not demand high standards for myself, how can I influence others to do likewise?

I am going into the mode of automatic negativity. Yes I know that but I cannot seems to be able to break out of this. I guess the easy way out is to walk away from it for there are many other more important goals that I have to fulfill.

It is a pity but with the 24 hours I have, I rather spend it on something/ someone that reap more satisfaction and sense of accomplishment.

Kayaking tomorrow

2009-03-14T00:22:00.002+08:00

Getting excited about tomorrow. Looking forward to all my kayaking sessions. Guess it is because of the attitude that i am adopting? dun really see myself working as a coach but developing as a leader. Every session present itself differently and i love the challenges. Kenneth, if you manage to read this, stay cool. You did well last week. I am impressed by the confidence you displayed. Believe that you will develop into one fine coach. Just happened that the condition is not favourable for coaching? And when will the conditions be ideal? it will never will. But at least we learned something from this session and this is what matter most.

Looking forward to work with you for the AD camp coming up!

If anyone is keen to paddle, just gimme a buzz yeah!

Time to check out. Need to plan for tomorrow session.

Mel is so cute!

2009-03-14T00:21:00.000+08:00

Earth Hour

2009-03-06T12:25:00.004+08:00

Join the movement. Even for an hour. If we can preserve Gaia an hour longer, why not?

Life Without Limbs

2009-03-06T12:09:00.005+08:00

Life is never about smooth sailing. Many a times, we find ourselves at the bottom of the pits. But I am glad that during those times, I have my four limbs to crawl me out of my misery and start to scale towards the highest of mountains.

The above reminds me to be grateful for what I have and appreciate the simple beauty of life.

Sometimes, we just need someone to be in the pit lower than us to assure us how fortunate we are. For that, we gain belief that if he can make it, why not me.

But all these(pits) are just perspectives. Images you paint inside your head. I believe that for Nick Vujicic, his life is never more well-lived than this; for he sees positivity in every adversity.

Feeling Loved

2009-03-04T03:05:00.004+08:00

oh ya, this supposed to be the title for the previous post. Arrr...... side tracked.

Just wanna you to know that I cannot live without you Mel. Enjoyed every moment with you, be it silly, naughty, nonsensical or seriously serious. Maybe that is the reason why i seldom blog recently?

=)

Loved by Mel

Many Weeks of updates

2009-03-04T02:43:00.003+08:00

These few weeks have been great, though busy. Will be saving up for big plans and hence you will often hear me saying that i am off for work. I guess this is a good time to go back to coaching, something that I enjoyed and have no time to do so. With the plan in mind, I can coach and earn moola at the same time, so shiok.

Scouting wise, has been taking a back seat and ready to hand over in June. To who? I don't know and no one seems to care. I have done my part and communicate but efforts seem to be futile. Can't be bothered about such petty stuff anymore. Just find it a pity that there is no one next in line to take over the appointment for i believe many are afraid of the commitment and skills incompetency. The latter can be trained if one is willing i believe, it is the former that many have doubts about. That aside, deep down, i do hope that i have made a difference in their lives (those whom i have taken before).

School work, midst of midterms. First paper today was easy peasey. tomorrow paper hmmm.... don't really understand. Despite that, will still strive for the best for this term. It is an important term as it will determine how hard I will have to work for the next few sems. First Class seems so near yet so far and this sem will determine whether it will be within reach yeah.

Kayaking, woa ho ho. been coaching every weekend and every weekend is a new learning experience. Although i may be coaching for many years, i still learn a lot from coaches from various club. Enjoyed that. Find that I would rather teach a 2 star course than a 1 star course for it is more technical. Engineering has also indeed helped me to understand the hydrodynamics and the physics of paddling. Can you imagine me visualising the forces acting on the blade everytime i dip the blade of the paddle into the water. WAH! I am indeed an engineering freak - or applied science as my lecturer has put it during lect today.

Don't know what am i ranting about already. the involuntary movement of my fingers' muscles seems to be working non stop while the brain has stopped functioning few minutes back. Writing rubbish already. Shall halt this before it becomes a post of gibberish. Night everybody.

10 minutes of updates

2009-01-22T09:15:00.002+08:00

it's been a long long time since i last blogged. was busy with volvo ocean race and it is finally over. great deal of fun and frustration. I enjoyed working with the rest of the rovers from other crews, especially so since everyone is so cooperative, although some may beg to differ ya. The greatest take away will be the good o experience working with gan and the rest of the dragon crew. Gan and I - worst working partners used to be, turned out to be one of the best. Moo and prash, great time working with you people and prash, stop slacking! Moo has been a great help to me for this event, thanks cowww. the three girls, Aixia, Alex and Sam --> great working partners too. These samsui women have made the event a success. Without them and the gang - how can the show go on! =) thanks for working hard without complains.

the next take away will be the opportunity to drive around. My driving license has finally get to put into good use. it's been rotting away for the past 2 years.

my 10 minutes is up. Time to hit the books. lagged for 2 weeks already.

post new year post?

2009-01-02T23:44:00.002+08:00

Been really busy recently. Done with Adjam now comes Volvo ocean race - race for the environment. Was glad about the outcome of Adjam; everything turned out fine eventually. Kudos to everyone from NUS ODAC. Guess it gonna be my first and last ODAC Project. I have my reservations. Special thanks to Lyemeng, kenny and sebastian. Thanks for being my loyal team players. Appreciate your selflessness and excellent team play.

Volvo Ocean Race
- another hair puller. 1 more week to event and funds are not in yet. So fustrating. Yet to lose my cool, fortunately. Thanks for the operation team for DSG for being so ready to help and apologies for the clash with the unit event. Esp moo teng for his understanding regarding all the last minute changes.

Results
- out and quite happy about that. Manage to maintain my CAP despite a drop in confidence while taking the exams. First A+ from NUS, unexpected. hehe.

Trebuchet Competition
- oh ya, this is the 3rd project for the holidays. formed a team with my course mates to participate in this NUS annual event. Gotta be interesting I believe.

Passing of my aunt
- she's gone. and there goes the laughter for the family during festive season.
This incident left me to ponder over my relationships with my parents. been taking them for granted. What can i do to make myself a better son?

Christmas and new year celebration with Mel
- I come to appreciate spending all these moments with her. Used to prefer spending such occasions with my friends instead. This year seems different when i spent it exclusively with her.

New year resolution?
1) to be a better son
2) *surprise
3) Handing over of my VSL role. Time to move on.
4) NOC/ EADS scholarship/ SEP.
5) Exercise regularly. Getting unfit. never ever in my life have I been so sickly and unfit.

Guess that is all for now. Need to plan out the above. If not, it will end up being just a wishlist rather than a target.

Apologies

2008-12-13T01:36:00.003+08:00

I am so sorry dear, for not spending enough time with you for the next few weeks due to the hectic project schedule. Very much i will love to spend time with you but things are not going smooth at the moment. Hope that you will understand. Love you always.

Pay it Forward

2008-12-06T19:36:00.003+08:00

What a depressing day it was yesterday. Taking the bus while transcending back to the real world from the slumber land may result in surprises. Surprise came. Dropped my precious wallet on the bus. Depressing. It was a gift from mel and I dropped it on the bus. Together with the depression went our photos too. Depressing. there went all my cards and receipts.

Immediately, I called up BM and hougang interchange to inform them about the missing wallet. I've made umpteen calls to them. The operator must have been irritated. Despite being depressed, there was an angel within me that I will find my wallet pretty soon. I seems to be able to see the wallet coming back to me.
but...
Depression = no mood for anything. Yes i know that Event + Response = Outcome but i cant help feeling disappointed with myself. I know that I should have taken it positively but it feels nothing but miserable. These negative anchors are so hard to remove.

[Mixed thoughts]

Afternoon came. I received a letter from DBS; with 2 debit cards enclosed inside the envelope. I thought to myself - this might be a sign of blessing coming my way. Shit! It was not; It was 2 sample cards asking me to sign up for their program. Feeling cheated, the depressing day went on.

Night came. Maybe I should start to make my way to the police station to lodge a report on the missing wallet. I Procrastinated. Procrastination kills efficiency. This time around was an exception.

'Tok Tok', my heart was pounding as I made my way to the door. I opened and there stood a stranger with my WALLET! ARRRRRRR! This kind soul brought my wallet back to me, to my doorstep. I stood there in shock. All I could only utter was a simple thank you. There was so much that I wanted to do to appreciate that person for bringing the wallet back to me. But I could only say Thank You. She left after handing the wallet to me and asked me to check if anything was missing. I regretted not asking for her name. Excitedly, I called mel to tell her about it. After sharing my joy with her, I decided to look for the lady who returned the wallet to me. I ran down to the market and looking fanatically for her (she stayed 2 blocks away from me). I dunno why i did that and if i see her, I dunno what to say either. But I just want to thank her properly. Sadly, I cant find her.

This incident has reinforced in me the beauty of paying it forward. This lady did her good deed without asking for anything in return. And I cant thank her enough. Thus, I have decided that rather than feeling sad about not thanking her enough, I should pay it forward instead.

Pay it forward

getting unfit?

2008-11-26T00:22:00.002+08:00

This may attract petitions from some, esp the one in indon but I am really getting unfit. Been down a few times due to illnesses and the mechanics within my body do not seems to function as well as before? I doubt it is a sign of aging. This perhaps is attributed to my lack of cardio activities. Although I have had few runs, somehow things just do not feel right inside.

Kok, need to work out more! I need a kaki to exercise together. My running buddy is down due to knee injuries. hmmm..... will see how things go. Going to sleep now. Having a personal time trial tomorrow. Going to sup the garmen $400 next week. Focus on the outcome. Bills at the end of the 2.4k run. And guess what, the IPPT is gonna be done inside a Multistorey carpark at Maju. Read it off some forum just now.

Off Off Off. I miss scouting... with my kakis.

Exams?

2008-11-22T01:57:00.002+08:00

Am I having exams next week? Can't feel the stress nor anxiety. Very much that I dun want my CAP to drop, I am doing nothing to make it better. Perhaps it may be due to projects I am undertaking that causes me to lose focus? Or are the results not important anymore? Looking forward/ not looking forward to the days after the exams. My december is already packed with NUS ODAC adjam programme, Rovers Volvo open race scout day, NUS trebuchet competition and marine life conservation workshop organised by the rovers. Feeling burnt out even before the events have started. Exams to commence in 2 days and I am still worrying about all these issues. Looking at the bright side, hope that this allows me to learn to multi-task? Something that i want to improve on. Staying focus while holding on to different port folio.

up next.

Many thoughts but cant blog them down. Need to practise restrain as there are other readers. Always believe that what I say in this blog may affect some readers and hence cant really express myself too explicitly? Nonetheless, has made the decision. I will have to move on. It is a tough decision especially after spending so many years in it. My well is drying up. Time to refill it. And from the way things go, the water will have to come from else where. Met up with Jaz and Ken just now, things seem bleak else where either. Thus may venture into some other areas to get it filled up. Have to be fair to Mel too. She has been very considerate and understanding all these years. It is not just my well that needs refill, hers too.

Drifting into the slumberland already. Enough said.

Steel wool fire and chemical fire - they works!

2008-11-17T23:36:00.003+08:00

did some research on chemical and electrical fire. Tried them out and the results are fabulous. Chemical fire take some time to ignite and requires a medium to burn on while the steel wool for the electrical fire needs to be loose to allow complete combustion. Great. 2 more methods up my sleeves =).

Next project - to make a fire torch for a campfire - to be lighted up with a switch. not a lighter =)

Thermometer is yelling for help!

2008-11-04T23:56:00.002+08:00

The fever is back again. Just shook it off a month ago. Feeling terrible. Wondering if it is due to the lack of exercise and more of sitting down writing reports? Must pick up some sports after the exams. Feeling very very very very unhealthy. Does it mean that I have to forgo the stand chart? Argh.... HAven been training due to the episode of night chills i had a month ago. Coupled with the fact that my running buddy is down, should I push on?

Yong kok, you gotta get well. burn the pest within. Being down means that I am forgoing whatever projects that I am taking part, which are really exciting! Get Well Get Well. Law of Attraction!

half fried brain results in incoherency in thoughts. Signing off. Back to books and projects.

I miss...

2008-11-02T18:46:00.001+08:00

You.

Pioneering: Venture Flyer

2008-10-30T00:12:00.004+08:00

Click here for the video on the project.

Finally got this video up. Did pioneering with the ventures last sat. Enjoyed the process of learning and sharing with them. First attempt to build the so call venture flyer. Can only accomodate 2 persons at the moment. But no worries, we can only get better with more practice. The next time will carry 4 persons. but for that to happen, we will need stronger and more sturdy staves. Read another book by a local author. No pictures available to embed here.

Only link is available:

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_271812.html. .

the last lecture

2008-10-23T18:25:00.004+08:00

Finished the book and the video yesterday.

Blurb: Easy reading and the book shares with you the life of this professor, who was diagnosed with cancer. At the point of print, he shared with us a little on his battle against the tumors. But more importantly, it is his values and life experiences that are worth reading and viewing. Shall not spoil the book for ya. Read it first before viewing the video, it makes the video more empowering!

Visit: http://www.thelastlecture.com

Enjoy. Sometimes, it is worth taking some time off and read about others stories. That will make us feel how privileged and fortunate we are. From there, it may even inspire you to live a fuller and more fulfilling life. How to do that? Discover!

no title

2008-10-23T16:14:00.002+08:00

After watching this video, I realised how small I am and how unfit I am to be a scout. period.

Back

2008-09-28T01:09:00.002+08:00

1 week of holidays zoomed past just like that. The hour hand just gotta make another 36 revolutions and I will be back in school. Nevermind about that, since we cannot make the hour hand tick to the other direction.

2 incidents happened recently that make me ponder about what am I currently doing with my life? Am I living it to the fullest or am I just allowing the days to pass by without spending every minute of it wisely and fruitfully.

Been ill for the past one month. Started when I ran the half marathon with a serious flu. Nights of fever and chills ensue shortly after. It became a month of regular visits to the doc, blood tests and consumption of paracetamol as though they are a staple. Never in my life have I ever consumed so many tablets of panadols. Goes the panadols and comes the antibiotics to battle against the micro organisms inside my body. Will be seeing the specialist soon to see what's wrong within my body. (Thanks to Colin and Jessica for your professional medical advice. It did help to allay some of my fears.) And that's number one!

The next incident came unexpectedly. One of my relatives was diagnosed with cancer and it is in her final stage. Com'on, she is just 41! But I guess nothing is fair in this life. As the saying goes, We cannot change the direction of the wind but we can adjust our sails. We will just have to face this bravely and positively together. Negativity will just fuel the growth of the cancerous cells.

These two incidents have sent a wake up call to me. Am I living my life as if it is the last? I guess I have not. If Buddha is to take away my life now, I will have much much much much regrets. And thus Yong kok you have to start to live your life as if it is the last few days of your life. I have to be more kind and understanding to people around me, especially those who are close to me. My parents, my brother and Melissa. And also, I will also need to take more control of my life and stop being a phlegmatic. I am losing my confident self and going into a hibernation mode where anything goes. Need to get out of this mode!

Getting sleeply, apologies for ending this post abruptly. But who cares, it is my blog anyway. =P

Downtime

2008-09-21T22:58:00.000+08:00

Been ill for a long time. will blog when health gets better.

Time with yourself

2008-09-08T04:03:00.003+08:00

Finally I get the meaning of it. It took me quite a while right mel. I thought that actively participating in activities, especially those which involve just me and myself are ways to spend time with myself. I was proven wrong today. Today, I've indeed spent time with myself, enjoying the serenity one quiet afternoon can provide. Appreciating simple things around me, things that I have not paid particularly close attention to in my last 23 years. Appreciating the tinkles of the wind chime under the comfort of the sofa. At the same time, easing one's soul by immersing oneself in the river of the soothing music. What a heaven! The two hours I had with myself this afternoon allowed me to find peace within, amidst all the buzz surrounding me 24/7. Ended off the wonderful afternoon by watching the movie - Flags of our Fathers.

Awesome movie i must say, directed by Clint Eastwood and produced by Steven Spielberg. It depicts how the US government used 'war heroes' as propaganda to lift the morale of the Americans, and raise funds for the war efforts. It also shares with us the effect of war on the veterans, and how they have suffered from the painful memories of the war.

Something that struck me hard was the heroes part. Heroes are created to instill faith and hope in people, and many of us will definitely like to be one. However, the overnight fame is like a fab/ novelty, it came and it went, as quickly as it possible could. And how many people will remember you after that? I've always wanted to become someone famous when I am much younger but I rather not be one now. Over the years, I come to understand that no one cares how much you know (or how famous you are) unless you show them how much you care. Forget about being famous, rather be someone that people will remember you for for you have impacted their lives, positively definitely. I will strive to achieve that.

Final Question: Just name 5 names right now. Are they names of famous people are are they names of people who have made a difference in your life? Will you like your name to be in there, in the case of someone elses' list?

Pioneering! found by panda

2008-09-07T00:21:00.003+08:00

Definitely will like to build this one of these days. Any one wants to join me?

My dear friend

2008-09-03T23:50:00.002+08:00

Dear friend G,

I know that you are currently struggling with your life right now. I can only imagine what you are going through right now. I am in no right to air my opinions of what you should do. Filial piety against pursuing your own dreams. It is a tough decision. You have to decide for yourself. All I can say is that no matter what happens, Junqi and I will be there to support you and do approach us if you need any help. We will do our very best to help =).

Start to do something that you enjoy. Start to write a book, something you always wanted to do. by doing so, you may be able to rekindle some of the amber within yourself, which has lost its glow after these few years of mundane work you are involved in.

Let's go on another trip again? =) looking forward meeting you once again.

Nike Human Race

2008-09-01T23:51:00.005+08:00

Back from the Nike Plus Human Run. This blog post is dedicated to my dear. Just wanna apologise for not been a great partner runner. Gave you a lot of undue pressure while running. Perhaps at times I should just treat you like any other normal human being. Always set high standards for you and am not very tolerant when you failed to meet them. You have always been my motivation and that in return raised my expectations of you. You always do well and maybe that's why I expect nothing short of a perfection from you.

Thought a lot during the race. I know that I should be encouraging and motivating but I can't seems to do that. Will have to look into this. Perhaps you need some where/ some one whom you can rely on and seek refuge from the competitive world out there, where you always excel. Will work towards that and will provide you with a safe haven where you can rest and detach yourself from the rat run out there. Love you dear.

The journey. From the start till the end.

Friends I met along the way.

Fellow Dragon Scouts who ran the race with me, together with 11000 others =)

untitled

2008-08-31T00:53:00.003+08:00

I do not know how i should word this. Many thoughts went through my head just now while walking back. It's getting late and I'm feeling tired. Hence not going to organise my thoughts. Am just going to rant on and write off what's on my mind.

Saddened by the things i see. Disappointed at the way things are been handled. How many times have we put ourselves into the shoes of those who are going through the experience? If I am the one wearing that pair of shoes, I definitely detest this experience. I do not believe yelling and shouting can solve issues. I relate yelling and screaming to regimentation. And regimentation is iconic of the military whereby absolute obedience is expected from everyone. Failure to do so may result in a catastrophe of massive casualties in event of operations. Maybe this statement does not hold any truth anymore. Even SAF is embracing the concept of gathering feedback from the grassroots and encouraging more soldiers to speak up( thinking soldiers huh.) Digressing. Back to the point. However, this movement is different from the rest as it believe in using the outdoors and the element of fun to groom young boys into fine men of tomorrow so that they can contribute constructively to the society and ultimately, to lead a happy and fulfilling life. Regimentation is not part of the agenda. Discipline is. And the problem is, many think that these two are synonymous. What is the best way to instill discipline then? To be frank, I don't know the formula. All i know is that there are many plenty of other ways lest regimentation. How many times have we closed the loop after dishing out consequences to the growing boy. What learning value will he take away after that session. Perhaps nothing unless someone rationalise ( closing the loop) it to him as to why he deserve that sort of consequence. Only then will he walk away learning something and convinced that perhaps he have done something wrong. It is the direct breach of the law of buy-in (by John Maxwell).

I aint perfect and I wish not to point fingers at anyone. Just sad at how things have turned out. It does not look fun to me anymore. And, the statement -> because my seniors did this to me that's why I am just carrying on the tradition, is one a follower will make. Start to think like a leader. Question every action you take. Yes, it is tiring, but at least that makes you think and rationalise. Don't take things as they are and accept them just because it is tradition. ( Dont be mistaken, I advocates the importance of traditions. It is only when the traditions begin to lose its significance and rationale then we have to review them.)

Treat everyone with respect. And it will reciprocate. To me, shouting and yelling is not a way to gain respect. Respecting others is. I've learnt it the hard way and I am still learning.

3rd week of school

2008-08-27T00:07:00.002+08:00

Been feeling very sick recently. Ill i mean. Went to see the dentist today because of toothache and realised that it is due to the sinus that i am having. Argh.. Body's immune system is getting weaker. Getting more and more sick. Wondering if it is due to non-compliance to the doctors' advice of finishing the antibiotics.

That leads me to a point. I hate routine and mundane activities. I cannot follow through time tables and schedule that i set for myself. Hate myself for that! Have to cultivate some discipline in keeping to plans and roster. That's why i will never be desk bound. It will bore me to death.

Random thoughts i have there. Aunt came to my house last sunday and we had a 'chat' about buddhism. it is something that i will write in all forms under the column religion but i am not a practitioner of it. Perhaps need to dedicate some time to it in the near future. No time is always an excuse i give to myself. But what essentially is life all about? It is a question we sometimes ask ourselves, especially when the world seems to be against you. You need a faith and I do need one. But am I willing to spend time to seek it? or am i still indulging myself in activities that may not have an outcome. Too much to think about at this point of time. Shall leave the thinking to some other time.

going to sleep soon. Tired from the AHM. Glad that I completed it without stopping. A good indicator for my training so far for the marathon at the end of the year.

School officially starts

2008-08-15T11:00:00.003+08:00

i guess this post is a little late. 4 days late to be exact. I guess the last summer was the best holidays that i ever had. Had many wonderful experience with many people, that definitely includes my dearest Mel. Now let me do a consolidation of what i have done for the last 3-4 months of break.

May
2 TA jobs with AKLTG
2 Live! Ops with AKLTG (OE)
Gurung Arong trek with NUS ODAC and MEL
Kayaking in Thailand with PCI
DSG Group Camp - Ohana!

June
Sports Camp Preparation
Venture Leadership Camp
Yalos Chalet
Venture Chalet
Coach for other Scout group group camp
Kayaking - Junior power with those wonderful P4 kids
Kayaking - Seletar Reservoir with NCC. awesome and conducive venue to conduct courses but too far in.
Washing Kayaks at AsianDetours

July
Sports Camp - get to know many funky personalities
Batam Trip with best buddies - JunQi and Gavin the octopussy part 1
Batam trip pictures part 2
Power Pleasure Craft Driving License course
NUS Race 6 with the Rovers - Wei Yang, Teck Seng and ShiWei. not the best race but we had a fun time together.
Busy with home renovation
Melissa birthday part 1 with the Yalos production
Melissa Birthday part 2 with mom and cousin

August
Kayaking Programme in Tinggi, Malaysia - coaching with like minded people in a not so ideal environment. Enjoyed that! pictures part 1 pictures part 2

May - August
Many much lots of time with melissa, something that i will treasure because it will soon be a scare resource. Gotta miss the times we had together. We will definitely find time for one another. Love ya dear!

I guess that will be all. Wonderful wonderful experience.

Now gotta hit the books again. First week was bad. dont really get the hell what the lecturers want to convey. Begin to cherish year 1 modules - more interesting. But nevertheless, will strive to do my best. Aim: dean's list? provoked by yelian, maybe i should just aim for one?

gotta go. Last lecture for the week and meeting mel time.!

Kill the procrastination fever

2008-08-04T05:30:00.003+08:00

Kept procrastinating to blog. As one's workload piles up, one tends to procrastinate in completing the task even more.Thus, have decided that I shall not blog about what happened for the past 1 month, if not, i will end up procrastinating to blog again. =). Anyway, will be heading up to Malaysia for a kayaking programme in the next hour. Hopefully, this trip will end off my sweet summer holidays.

For those who find the above picture foreign, it is actually is a portrait of the founder of the Scout movement, Lord Baden Powell of Gilwel. Read a book recently and this familiar paragraph seems to hit me hard and makes me question about scouting/ purpose, not in a negative way though. =)

B-P last message to Scouts

Dear Scouts,
If you have ever seen the play Peter Pan you will remember how the pirate chief was always making his dying speech because he was afraid that possibly when the time came for him to die he might not have time to get it off his chest. It is much the same with me, and so, although I am not at this moment dying, I shall be doing so one of these days and I want to send you a parting word of good-bye.
Remember, it is the last you will ever hear from me, so think it over.
I have had a most happy life and I want each one of you to have as happy a life too.
I believe that God put us in this jolly world to be happy and enjoy life. Happiness doesn't come from being rich, nor merely from being successful in your career, nor by self-indulgence. One step towards happiness is to make yourself healthy and strong while you are a boy, so that you can be useful and so can enjoy life when you are a man.
Nature study will show you how full of beautiful and wonderful things God has made the world for you to enjoy. Be contented with what you have got and make the best of it. Look on the bright side of things instead of the gloomy one.
But the real way to get happiness is by giving out happiness to other people. Try and leave this world a little better than you found it and when your turn comes to die, you can die happy in feeling that at any rate you have not wasted your time but have done your best. "Be Prepared" in this way, to live happy and to die happy - stick to your Scout promise always - even after you have ceased to be a boy - and God help you to do it.

Your friend
Baden-Powell of Gilwell

Procrastinated Post

2008-07-16T00:51:00.004+08:00

Came back from batam a week ago. Loads of excitement with my scout buddies. Went with Junqi and met up with Gavin at Batam. Did some shopping, cable skiing, go karting, initial Ding, kungfu panda and the massage session. It was great fun meeting with an old friend once again. However, all good things come to an end and without an end, how will there be a new beginning. Thus my dear friend, please do not be sad. Will meet up with ya again coming October when u fly over.

Took some time off and kept myself away from work and other commitments so that I could have more time for mel and myself. Have a few tasks on hand but keep procrastinating (hence account for the late entry). Wondering if it is due to too much time available? Or just that I am lazy to do so? Been feeling very down lately. too lazy to blog about it anyway. This experience is so traumatic that it seems to leave a scar on me. It is like more than a year ago. Mel, I need help on this.

Initial Ding with best buds

Ha. lets go for the real thing!

Ready. Set. Go!

after race shots

Cable Ski - Cheap cheap in Batam

faint rainbow appearing across the sky

Skied on a wakeboard. We are really talented bro.

Kneeboard king. Tummy cant take the wakeboard.
Aint Indon your home?

Surreal effect.
after a day of skiing

Coming back to batam for more skiing!

Back from sports camp

2008-07-06T07:08:00.003+08:00

Just came back from sports camp. Super shagged, although i did come back home for few hours in during the midst of the camp. Camp was great, people was great, just that the programme can be improved. Will upload the photos soon...

Gotta rush now, getting real late, need to catch a ferry to Batam to meet GAVIn with AlBert. update soon. Thanks to Miq, Ting Shu, Andee, Sherlyn, jia Yi, Tian Long, Hong Yi, Yun Min, Vanessa, Ji Zheng, Ming hui, Steph and Wan Ching for making this camp an enjoyable one for me. Also thanks to the freshie: Nut, Bernadette, Christine, Charlotte, Mengqi, Geraldine, Darren, Jayanta, Glenn, Andrew, Kenneth, Andy, Melvin and Watson for allowing me to enjoy myself thoroughly with Takeshi while you guys go through the sufferring of forfeits. =) Nevertheless, thansk everyone for making the sports camp a success!

Time for myself

2008-06-26T09:50:00.004+08:00

hmmm.... Time for myself. Recently, mel have been preaching to me about spending some time with your inner self. HUH? i have been spending a lot of time with myself, especially on the go while on the bus and walking, i am constantly reflecting. However, today, i manage to set aside some time to do some reflection, alone in the corner of the room. it is only then i realise the importance of spending time with yourself, not doing anything but resting your mind. This allows me to refocus on my goals and reflect upon the past few events. Few things that i reflected upon:

1) i will need to be selective of my clinches now. My scouter always say, "when you were young, it seems like your social circle grows every year, however, when you gets older, your social circle becomes smaller." I began to understand the wisdom in his words. No point been a phantom in the group and hope to drift from groups to groups. Commitment. Without that, you belongs no where although you may seems to be everywhere.

2) Full of programmes = a more fulfilling life? Begin to question this equation. Used to think that i should do as much as i can during this holidays to make it a more fulfilling one. However, I have begun to burn out and start to feel the fatigue as a consequence of jam packing my holidays. need to review my programs for the month of July and August.

On a side note, realised that i actually enjoyed art and craft. Did 3 projects during this holidays.
2 of which are as shown below. Last one to be revealed soon. =)

Samurai: OG Mascot for NUS SPorts Camp

Something for the outgoing ventures.

2008-06-26T09:28:00.002+08:00

Photos for NUS Sports Pre Camp!!

2 books

2008-06-25T20:50:00.004+08:00

Managed to finish 2 books recently: Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom and Pour your heart into it: the starbucks story by Howard Schultz. Both books are inspirational in their own right and I will recommend both of them to you guys. Both books narrate about their journey: his journey during the twilights of his years and his journey to success as an entrepreneur respectively. Will like to write about my reflections on the former.

Tuesdays with Morrie:
Few passages I quoted from the book:

1) Yes, I said, but if ageing were so valuable, why do people always say, “oh, if I were young again.” you never hear people say, “I wish I were sixty- five.”
He smiled, “You know what that reflects? Unsatisfactory lives. Unfulfilled lives. Lives that haven’t found meaning, because if you’ve found meaning in your life, you don’t want to go back.

This is so true. How many of us really live our lives to the fullest. How do we define a satisfactory and fulfilled life? Adding war trophies to the rack? Getting many certificates? Getting a lot of recognition? Can all these goes into the grave with us? Will we be remembered after we have passed on.

2) “The truth is, you don’t get satisfaction from those things. You know what really gives you satisfaction?”
What?
“Offering others what you have to give.”
“You sound like a Boy Scout.”

Beginning to read Rovering to Success by BP too. Coincidentally, they focus on one central theme: Happiness derived from helping others. It is the joy of helping people that will make one’s life complete. So what do I benefit from helping people? What sorts of returns do I get? Sadly, if you are looking for material things, I guess you will not find it here for helping people, voluntarily. For me, the reward is seeing all these young men and women growing up to be useful citizens and living a fulfilled life. And the satisfaction derives from this is what I can bring with me into my grave. The legacy that I created will live on, even if I have passed on.

3) “Why do you think that it’s so important for me to hear other people’s problems? Don’t I have enough pain and suffering of my one?
“Of course I do. But giving to other people is what makes me feel alive. Not my car or my house. Not what I look like in the mirror. When I have my time, when I can make someone smile after they were feeling sad, it’s as close as healthy as I ever feel.

Words of a dying man suffering from ALS. He was losing controls of his body parts and eventually when the lungs stop to function, he will die. But still, Morrie was still helping others with their problems. Why then me, a healthy person, do as much? Look at the following picture. How do you feel after viewing it? What if you are the one to create this image =)

4) “Still,” he said, “there are a few rules I know to be true about love and marriage: if you don’t respect the other person, you’re gonna have a lot of trouble. If you don’t know how to compromise, you’re gonna have a lot trouble. If you can’t talk openly about what goes on between you, you’re gonna have a lot of trouble. And if you don’t have a common set of values in life, you’re gonna have a lot of trouble. Your values must be alike.
“And the biggest one of those is values, Mitch?”
Yes?
“Your belief in the importance of your marriage.”
. . . . .
He ended the subject by quoting the poem be believed in like a prayer.”LOVE EACH OTHER OR PERISH.”

I agree with him absolutely. Below is the person that I will want to marry and care for the rest of my life. Have you found yours yet? Something that I have discovered is LOVE is not the euphoric feeling you have when you feel for someone for the first time. It is the lasting feeling of excitement of seeing each other even after 8 years into the relationship. It is when you help each other to achieve each other’s dreams will then come the LOVE. And this love do not confine to you and your spouse but also to those around you. That includes your families and friends as well.

Just want to end off this reflection of mine: to derive life’s greatest happiness, help others!

Disclaimer: these are my views and if it conflict yours, read it for pleasure sake then =)

Laptop's up

2008-06-22T23:53:00.003+08:00

Finally, my laptop is up. Being away from it for the past three weeks was a terrible experience. Many interesting events to blog about but unable to do so due to technical glitches.

Events for the past 3-4 weeks:

Thai Trip
it was an eye opener trip for me. Get to coach alongside with professionals from around the region. Learnt a lot from them.

Group Camp - OHANA
6 months of hard work finally pays off. Some good and bad comments about the camp. Nevertheless, if we want to attempt to do something different, we will invite those naysayers as we put our heads on the chopping board to digress from the norm. Thus not really bothered by the negative comments. Well done ventures and rovers for making the camp a success.

LIVE! OPS (YISS)
was sick but managed to pull it through. Good partnership with Ain, who happens to be yelian’s friend too!

Pre Sports Camp (NUS)
managed to get out of my comfort zone to mingle with the rest of the people on the second day. it was like a total change in personality between the first and second day. The OGLs are really a fun bunch of people and hope to facilitate with them soon.

DVLC (click here for photos)
it was a great experience. The HCI ventures’ initiative and enthusiasm really amazed me. I believed it inspired the dragon ventures too. It was a truly good learning experience for us.

Community Service at LCSS
Thanks Xue er and Raine for organizing this community service. It was my first time working with kids and they are really a bunch of lovely kids to play with despite the fact that they can drive you nuts at times.

Yalos Chalet
am not very close to the yalo’s crew but this chalet enables me to forge a closer friendship with many of them. Although we know each other since secondary school, this is the first time that I have decided that they will be part of my life for they are part of mel’s. Thus will take effort in developing these friendships.

Venture Chalet
I will hope that the venture unit will resemble that of TSB, where relationships just do not stay within scouting context. Will like to get to know the ventures better and the chalet did just that.

Kayaking Courses (junior Power/ 1 star)
it felt so good to coach with an old friend once again. The kind of mo qi you developed over the years really makes the coaching session an enjoyable and fulfilling one.

that's basically what i did for the past one month. Too much things to write if were to blog everything down. Thus decided to summarise and move on to blog about more recent events.

Updates before heading up to thailand

2008-05-19T01:46:00.004+08:00

getting less and less discipline to blog these days. Been very busy and seems to procrastinate about blogging. As you all have known, my blog entries are usually quite lengthy as i am a rather lor sor person. Thus the limited time available to blog makes me less incline to blog. Nevertheless, will prove to mel that i will keep this blog going, regardless how busy i am =)

Did 2 TA duties and 1 LIVE! OPS camp. Was the APD for the Bedok Town Secondary Life operations life skills camp. Wasn't really please with the outcome for the camp. Did not perform up to my own standards. Far away from it actually; keep fighting the emotions that seems to be so domineering. Nevertheless, did learn a lot from this camp. Looking for to the LIVE OPS 2 weeks from now.

Just came back from Gurung Arong with MEl and NUS ODAC. It was a fun and easy trek, and the view near the submit was awesome, though can never beat that of Mount Kinabalu. Was too tired from the Live Ops camp to socialise with the participants of this trip.

Signing off now. Leaving for thailand tomorrow. Am really excited about this overseas kayaking trip.

Finally...

2008-05-10T20:04:00.002+08:00

Exams finally over.... This seems to be the muggest semester for me ya. Cant believe myself staying to school to mug. Used to be unable to study with friends ard but it seems to have changed. Now i cant seems to be able to concentrate at home, prob due to the numerous distractions like games and msn. Nevertheless, exams are over and not gonna talk about it anymore.

Coming up will be a rather packed month for me. Group Camp, 2 AK camps, 1 kayaking trip and 1 Odac trip with mel.

Group camp : - It will turn out well my fellow committee members. As said before, you people are one of the most diligent and dedicated batch of people I have worked with. Thus your efforts will not be in vain as we make this the best group camp ever!

Kayaking trip : - Thanks JB for giving me the opportunity to participate in this project. Indeed it gotta be an exciting experience as I will be working with a HK company to run a program in thailand.

AK camps : - gotta take up some leadership appointment for the 2 camps. Am rather apprehensive about it as the last camp i did was in January. But i believe it will turn out well, with the competent fellow coaches helping one another to make these camps a life changing experience for the students.

Odac trip : - Sorry mel, din really noe the details for the trip. Will find out and get back to you on this.

Guess that's all. Be back soon.

Setting Goals

2008-04-14T22:35:00.001+08:00

Will like to share these videos with you people; ripped it off YouTube. Was listening to it yesterday and find it rather entertaining and educational. No doubt, the speaker is none other than Zig Ziglar, one of the world most eloquent speakers on leadership. One of my all time favourite authors and this is the first time I am listening and viewing his videos live.

Summary of the videos: It talks about goal setting and why you should stop procrastinating and embark on your dreams – which will only materialize if you make it your goal. Shall not spoil the content for ya.

I am truly captivated by his eloquence and humor!

the fight is on!

2008-04-13T23:48:00.005+08:00

Had venture training yesterday. Mixed reactions about the programme. As expected, we cannot have a programme that will cater to everyone’s needs. Some people are looking for fun and relaxation while the others are looking for serious development. For those looking for serious development, some may be into skilled based training while the others are more for the softer side of scouting and personal development. It has to have a balance of all these elements.

Some pictures of what we did yesterday.

Who says goat cannot climb trees?

Random shot.

Preparing the rope works

The dead 'wo' man crawl

Double Commando Crawl

Low Rope

From now till 2nd May, will be applying full throttle with afterburner on. All efforts will be channeled towards the Final exams and will be off scouting for a while. It is hard to let it go as we are in the midst of planning for this year group camp. But I guess it has to be done for now. Studies come first and I will want the ventures to know that too. For that, will like to thank the group camp committee for they will be working harder while I’m away. They are really a great bunch of people to work with. And through the planning and execution of the camp, I sincerely hope that the ventures will take away some intangible lessons with them and let these experiences be of value to their personal development.

Met up with Shirley, Cliff, Daveson and Natalie together with mel. It felt so great meeting them after so many months. Shirley never fails to motivate and inspire me. She is one of those few whom I really look up to. Her sincerity and cheerfulness always succeed in motivating me to take action. Thank you for guiding me in the last few years. Without the team, I probably will not be who I am today.

Do you people have someone whom you look up to? In what way did he/she earn your respect? And are you going to be one whom others look up to?

Gratitude-Rocks
Uploaded by dynamicmike

The Bucket List

2008-04-08T22:25:00.009+08:00

Went to catch a movie with mel. Din know the title until I googled it. Thought that the title is "the bucket life". OMG. Anyway, wont want to spoil the movie for you people. Go watch it. It is a heartwarming comedy. My heart wept as the movie came to a close. Carter (one of the characters) mentioned something about the beautiful Egyptian myth about death. He said when you die, when you arrive at the gate of the heaven, God will pose you 2 questions.

1) Did you find joy in your life?
2) Did you bring joy to other people?

I will want to make a difference in someone else’s life and that’s why I am here for. I will not want to live this life making lots of money but yet unable to bring happiness to the people around me.

Something that my lecturer shared today too.

A wonderful Message by George Carlin:

The paradox of our time in history is that
we have taller buildings but shorter tempers,
wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints.
We spend more, but have less,
we buy more, but enjoy less.
We have bigger houses and smaller families,
more conveniences, but less time.
We have more degrees but less sense,
more knowledge, but less judgment,
more experts, yet more problems,
more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much,
spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast,
get too angry, stay up too late,
get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.
We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values.
We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.
We've learned how to make a living, but not a life.
We've added years to life not life to years.
We've been all the way to the moon and back,
but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbour.
We conquered outer space but not inner space.
We've done larger things, but not better things.
We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul.
We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice.
We write more, but learn less.
We plan more, but accomplish less.
We've learned to rush, but not to wait.
We build more computers to hold more information,
to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion,
big men and small character,
steep profits and shallow relationships.
These are the days of two incomes but more divorce,
fancier houses, but broken homes.
These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers,
throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies,
and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill.

It is a time when there is much in the showroom window
and nothing in the stockroom.

Remember, spend some time with your loved ones,
because they are not going to be around forever.

Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side. Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent.
Remember, to say, "I love you" to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you. Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again. Give time to love, give time to speak, and give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

HOW TO STAY YOUNG
1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctor worry about them. That is why you pay him/her.
2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.
3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening,
whatever. Never let the brain idle. " An idle mind is the devil's workshop."
And the devil's name is Alzheimer's.
4. Enjoy the simple things.
5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.
6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive.
7. Surround yourself with what you love, whether it's family, pets,
keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.
8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable,
improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.
9. Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, to the next county, to a foreign country, but NOT to where the guilt is.
10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
-George Carlin-

Sacrifices - Are they worth it?

2008-04-07T05:09:00.005+08:00

Sacrifices – many I have made but I am beginning to question myself whether these sacrifices are worth the returns I am getting, not monetary returns though. And when I have committed myself to something, rest assured that I will put in my 101% to it and you will expect nothing but my very best. I will not settle for mediocrity. If I do, I rather that I am not in it. So is the cause worth my 101% and the sacrifices I have made?
The vision is getting hazy and I can’t seem to see the destination clearly now. Before I lose it, I have to re-plot my charts and probably aim somewhere nearer, disembark and move on with my life.

New goals?

Mutual Affirmation

2008-04-01T19:05:00.002+08:00

Was at the canteen just now buying dou hua(soya bean I think). The lady who was queuing just behind me was asking the uncle whether there was any cold soya bean drink left. Sadly, there was none left. Thus the uncle asked if she wants XXX( cannot remember). A question common to all – “is it good”, she asked. Definitely the uncle replied yes it is.

This small incident relates me back to how affirmation from others can reinforce your decisions. The lady, I presumed, wanted the drink. However, the uncertainty of attempting something new (in this case the drink) often makes us hesitate in exploring out of our comfort zones. We often needs someone credible, or someone whom you trust, to reaffirm our decisions. This reminds myself once more as to how our words can influence the people around us. It is just like how Melissa put it – you know what you want, but you just want me to reaffirm your decision. She is really my pillar of support and faith. And I will also like to be a pillar to many other people too. I believe that each and every one of us has the power to impact someone else’s life – be it negatively or positively. The choice is ours to make.

Empowerment!

2008-03-30T09:25:00.005+08:00

It’s a tiring day. For me and perhaps for everyone in the venture unit who stayed in school until 10 in the evening. Did make a lot of progress today when comes to the planning portion for the group camp 2008. However, the meetings seem to be getting longer and longer as we spent more time into the finer points of the planning progress. And this seems to be draining the committee members out. I guess now it will be a compromise between being democratic versus efficiency of the committee. I may have to adopt a more directive role during the meetings to ensure that meeting time will be cut short. But this also means that it may stifle their creativity to a certain extent? Will see how it goes.. putting thoughts into it…

Okay. Did some pioneering yesterday and manage to build the suspension bridge with the ventures. It is the first time that we built such a bridge and I really applauded the ventures for the skills. (definitely better than us when we were 18 =)). I believed that they will outdo and outshine us – something that I personally hope to achieve so that the unit will always be progressing forward.

Some pictures of the pioneering session:

Pegging the pegs - it gets tougher as you go deeper.

adding on the railings for the bridge.

Beautiful work by choon lian and moo teng on the railings too.

End product.

Let's test the strength of the bridge. All up on the bridge! look at how much it has sagged.

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Came across this blog entry from Tricia’s blog – a fellow AK coach.

COACHING!
Tricia Ang
29 Dec 2007

To me, coaching is a very meaningful job. First of all, I like working with kids. Though sometimes I’ll have to work with rebellious, naughty kids, it hasn’t stopped me from having this passion of coaching. It is from these camps and coaches that the kids get to learn things out of their textbooks, step out of their comfort zone and learn to work with one another to achieve their common goals. As a coach, I am learning together with them. The sense of satisfaction seeing them laugh their hearts out during camps, bonding together as a team and making improvements be it as individuals or as a group, is beyond words. its something valuable and irreplaceable.

As a coach, I am constantly growing as a person. I learnt many things from the AK coaching family. Their culture is one of a kind. Although I’ve only been coaching for a few camps, I have grown to be more matured and have started living in this world instead of merely existing. I’ve learnt to take up responsibility, set goals in life and living life to the fullest each day. I see things from different perspectives and learnt to analyze things before making decisions. I do things differently and handle things better than before. I start building up on my confidence level and im now a more optimistic person. Most importantly, i learnt to treasure the people around me more and not take things for granted. As compared to the old me, I am a complete new person I would say.
Past does not equal future.

I just coached a camp recently. I had this real problematic kid. Initially I really wanted to give up. However, something inside me tell me NO! It was just after a few seconds of thoughts going through my mind that I felt totally different. Why see it as a problem? Why not treat it as a challenge and a time for me to stretch out of my comfort zone. At the end of the camp, I received an appreciation note from this camper and it says: thank you for helping to change I will try my best. its all these little things that keep me going.

There are times when the going gets tough in my coaching life. I get rebellious campers, campers that refuse to cooperation and sometimes campers that stir trouble. In the past, I’ll see all these as problems and tend to give up easily. I’ll complain why is it that I am the one that gets all this shit while other coaches get all the angel campers. However, I see things with a different light now. Event (10%) + Response (90%) = Outcome. Focus on the solution and not the problem. Treat these problems as challenges and not obstacles. It all boils down to attitude.

Choices have consequences. Choose your thoughts and you’ll feel differently.
Definitely its also the OE coaching family. thank you for supporting me in times of need, giving me opportunities, helping me to improve and making my coaching journey so enjoyable.

I can relate well with this entry of hers. AK coaching culture has always been encouraging and uplifting that it draws people back to its camps. I believe that the coaches and participants derive some values from it that make them want to go back. Similarly, it also has been my aim to build the unit with the ventures to one that develops people from within in a positive environment. I will always remember this mantra – 2 things in life that will shape your life – the books you read and the people you meet and associate with. We will strive to make the venture unit into one where like-minded people congregates and grow together. The environment should be an encouraging and motivational one too.

I am who I am today because I have 2 persons who always believe that I will be someone great – Melissa and my scouter John Poon. And looking at the ventures – all of them have what it takes to become someone great – and they need affirmations from their peers that they can succeed. Your thoughts shape your life and positive injections from your surroundings( your friends) will reinforce that. Negative injections on the other hand will crumble that. And it doesn't kill one to encourage another, although I agree that it is always easier to discourage and belittle someone. It takes greater strength and courage to do the former. Who do you want to be?

Shifting Gears

2008-03-28T08:17:00.003+08:00

1 more month to Final exams. Shall give my last burst of fire and endure this painful 5 weeks. As most of you should have known by now, the first half of the sem wasn't fantastic and right now I'll have to put in double the effort. Have not been practising what I preached about consistent work and thus minimal effort. Will apply this the next sem so that everything will be paced out evenly. Thus have to JB, prob the manual will have to come in after my exams. No time to look into that right now.

Morphing into a mugger right now. study till rather late every night and starting to feel a bit burned out from the everyday 8am - 11pm mugging hours. I guess this is inevitable if i am going for my scholarship.

Lastly, ANCHOR WORDS, for those people who has trouble keeping themselves focus. Anchor words are words that you specially chose and it trigger off certin set of emotions/ feelings when you say it out. For instance, my anchor word is discipline or 4.5 (CAP). When I say out either of the words, I will feel recharged and find myself with the motivation to carry on. This is especially true for me who gets distracted very easily.

Below is an article on anchors. Read it if you are interested. See ya soon.

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ANCHORING WITH NLP
Adam Eason

TThere was some sunshine this weekend while I was writing this! At least here on the sunny south coast of England there was. I went out walking along the sea front with my partner Sara on Saturday morning and it was wonderful; the feeling of sunshine on my face, the smell of the air, the sites of other people out and about and happy, the local land train was shuttling people and their excited children back and forth from Bournemouth pier to Boscombe Pier and my senses were filled � a major event for human neurophysiology (mine anyway!)

The funny thing is, later on that evening when my friends were joking about my pink coloured forehead, I told them that I was really looking forward to summer and as I spoke, I felt the sun on me, imagined the fun I was going to have on the beach, remembered the smell, the amazing feeling of joy that I get from being there, just by anticipating it all.

A natural phenomenon we can replicate with NLP techniques. NLP stands for neuro-linguistic programming, which is just a methodology for helping make changes. We shorten it to NLP for easy understanding.

Without realising it, the time I had spent on the sea front earlier that day had acted as an anchor for the wonderful experience which immediately followed it. The next time I saw & heard the experience, albeit in my mind, my neurology went "I know what happens now" and started to produce the intense physical responses that it 'knew' were coming next.

In the field of NLP, an anchor is any representation in the human nervous system that triggers any other representation. For instance, the word 'sex' will immediately trigger images, sounds etc associated with that word. The word 'chocolate' will trigger different associations. I am not too sure which of those will create the most intense feelings though! These words are anchors. Anchors do not have to be words, they can be a wide range of things.

With NLP, we identify that anchors can operate in any representational system (ie. sight, sound, feeling, smell, taste.) Let me give you some examples;

Tonal: By that, I mean for example, the special way a certain person has of saying your name, like when a friend or family member says it. My mother shouting my name from the depths of my home when I was a child often signalled the fact that she had discovered something that I had done that meant trouble for me! "Adam!" often made me feel what I was in store for.

Tactile: The effect of a certain type of handshake for example, or the sensation of a reassuring hug compared to a loving cuddle. Rekindles all kinds of wonderful feelings.

Visual: The way people respond to certain items of clothing. I recently had lunch with a group of my friends from the town where I grew up and several of them commented on the jacket I was wearing. Now, whenever they see it, it reminds them of those comments and makes them smile.

Olfactory: Like when you smell a certain kind of food being cooked can suddenly have you remembering a time when you were in the school cafeteria.

Gustatory: The taste of your favourite food or the way certain foods can make you remember how you felt when you had it before. Maybe like when you were given soup and a big helping of love and sympathy when you were young and off school because you were poorly. I know every time I eat Heinz Tomato soup it reminds me of just that.

Once again, in the field of NLP, an anchor is any representation in the human nervous system that triggers any other representation. It is conceptually similar to Pavlovian conditioning (ie. bells and salivating dogs; some of Pavlovs findings feature in the field of NLP.

While the anchor I created for the sea front was unintentional, it is possible for you to use this NLP tecnique to anchor yourself intentionally. Have a go at this and learn this NLP technique for yourself��

Fistly, think of an occasion when you had a highly pleasurable, positive or enjoyable experience. See what you saw then (looking out through your own eyes), hear what you heard and feel what you felt. As you feel the sensations increase in intensity, squeeze the thumb & forefinger of your left hand gently together for a few moments, then release them. Now 'break your state' (Eg. by remembering what you had for lunch yesterday.) Squeeze your thumb & forefinger together again, gently pulsing them. The state will return.

To make the most of anchoring with NLP, it is important to really engage in the experience and make it wonderfully vivid in your mind and to then also put effort into recalling it when you first activate your NLP anchor for a few times. Imagine how powerful this can be when you want to feel wonderful if you are home, feeling gloomy. Instead of reaching for the chocolate, you can start to activate your "feel good" anchor.

Every time you want to get motivated to exercise, just activate your enthusiasm anchor. It is a really simple technique of NLP.

This is a simple but powerful NLP technique that can enable you to have access to the states and resources you want, when you want them. The use of thumb & forefinger is an example of a tactile anchor, but you can use any representation to anchor something for yourself or someone else.

Guidelines for setting anchors with NLP;

In order to get a 'strong' anchor for an experience, it is important to

a) Ensure that you have a powerful example of the experience to work with.

b) Anchor in as many representational systems as possible (visual, auditory, kinaesthetic, etc).

c) Set the anchor just before the experience peaks.

d) When you activate the anchor, do it accurately. Be precise!

e) With tactile (kinaesthetic) anchors, pulsing the anchor can help to maintain the experience

One of the people who came on one of my NLP training courses was particularly taken with the idea of anchoring. Shortly after the NLP training, one morning his wife offered to make him a cup of tea, and as she did so, he gently tapped the side of his cup with his ring. He repeated this the next few times she made him a cup of tea. After a while, all he had to do was tap the side of his cup subtly with his ring & she would spontaneously offer to get him a cup of tea!! Very Naughty use of NLP, Eh?! Just by creating a sensory representation (tapping the cup) that coincided with her making tea, he was soon able to use that representation as a trigger for what he wanted. He did eventually share his NLP anchoring experience with his wife and you can be sure he makes a lot more tea than she does now!

Now I know that by now some of you may be thinking "But isn't that manipulative?!?" One answer is "Yes, so use it for doing good stuff!"
Another answer is "no." It is no more manipulative than making yourself look good and smell nice when you go out. In those situations you are trying to get people to think the best of you and have a good response to you, a response that you are attempting to anchor through your choice of clothing, grooming and smelly perfume.

Here are some of the sorts of things that I go out of my way to use NLP to anchor whenever I see them or experience them:

- Smiles.

- Laughter.

- Excitement

- Confidence

- Good feelings

- Good performance (especially by waiters & waitresses!)

- Anything that looks good, useful or fun; Achievement and success are especially useful for stopping smoking, reducing weight or growing in confidence.

It's happening all the time anyway:

As I said at the beginning, anchoring with NLP is a naturally occurring phenomenon anyway. You are exposed to it all the time in everything you do. Everyone is doing this stuff all the time, often without really knowing it. All I am inviting you to do is to become conscious of the anchors that you and others are setting (maybe using NLP), and to start using them purposefully to get good results, rather than randomly to get whatever you get. Use NLP with mindfulness.

Taking this a step further;

Recently, I was working with a team of related staff members with regards to doing some NLP consulting with them. I asked them how they would know that the two days had been a great success. One of them said it would have a 'feel good factor' and simultaneously made a gesture with both hands towards his tummy. When I repeated the words 'feel good factor' to him, he nodded in confirmation. Later on, I referred to the feel good factor, and simultaneously used his gesture. Instead of a nod of confirmation, I got a full physiological response, including skin colour changes, posture and energy changes�the full works. His words had been a good anchor, but the words plus the gesture were far more complete. When I used both, I got a full response. I continued to use the anchor throughout the consultation. At no time was he aware that I was using NLP & his anchors � he just had the experience of being really well understood.

You can use NLP anchors to capture and re-use positive experiences for yourself & others. Now have a go at doing this NLP exercise too�

1) Think of an occasion when you had a highly pleasurable, positive or enjoyable experience. See what you saw then (looking out through your own eyes), hear what you heard and feel what you felt. As you feel the sensations increase in intensity, squeeze the thumb & forefinger of your left hand gently together for a few moments, then release them. Now 'break your state' (Eg. by remembering what shoe you put on first today.) Squeeze your thumb & forefinger together again, gently pulsing them. The state will return.

2) Identify something that someone you know already does, and create a subtle anchor. Set the anchor while they are doing the activity. Later, fire your NLP anchor and see what happens. If they do the thing you anchored, then it worked!

3) When you (or someone you are with) are experiencing something you want to have more of, anchor it.

As usual, remember that this stuff is powerful so use your NLP skills wisely. As well, allow yourself to start becoming aware of when it is being used on you. Advertisers, politicians and stand-up comedians all know the power of NLP anchors and use them with great cunning (and to great effect.) Awareness with NLP is the key � have fun.

Long weekend

2008-03-24T20:26:00.004+08:00

Last weekend was indeed an enjoyable one. 3 days of paddling, 1 night of scouts camp, 1 night of birthday partying and 1 last night of “dating” with mel. =)

:Scouts:
Am rather sad that one of the new ventures is leaving. But some things can’t be helped. All the best for her future endeavors.

I am also currently coming up with something which the ventures will feel proud of. For those who attended the sec3 camp, you probably had seen the first prototype - a dragon venture scout woggle that is going to be handmade by the individual ventures. Was thinking of making the woggle commercially but guess the price is a bit on the steep side. Have to abandon the idea. However, while I was walking home the other day, an idea struck- how about making it from metal wire. Then begin to search the net for wire sculpture/ wire art. Did not manage to find a lot of information from the web though. Nevertheless, started working on it and came up with 4 designs. Details wise will be released in due time. =P

:Paddling:
Conducted a 1 star course for the year ones of the PJC sprint team on Good Friday. A fun loving group and an easy one to coach. Am amazed by the stringency in the sprinting community. Din know that they are not allowed to consume fast food and heard that another school has egg regime and endless runs every morning to build up their so called muscles and fitness. Scary. I was thinking – is regimentation the only way to develop someone to his/her fullest potential in the shortest time? Ain’t there other ways and means to do it? No room for democracy too?

On the contrary, the 2nd course was a challenge for me. I started to question myself what makes a good coach. Many a times I feel that I can add more value to the course but my emotions tend to get the better of me. If the class does not have the motivation to learn, my motivation to coach drops. But is that the right way to go? Much room for improvement I guess.

:Dating:
Realised that I have not been going out much with Mel besides having dinners together. The dinner at fish and co and the window shopping at PS was a relief from the hectic schedule I have. Really enjoy such times together with Mel. Thank you Mel, Appreciate that =).

Birthday Girl

Her family and mine =)

Guess that’s all. Random and incoherent thoughts I have here. =O

Lecture missed

2008-03-20T08:44:00.001+08:00

OVERSLEPT.

The Scoutmaster

2008-03-17T20:54:00.004+08:00

The Scoutmaster
Edgar R. Guest

There isn't any pay for you, you serve without reward,
The boys who tramp the fields with you but little could afford.
And yet your pay is richer far than those who toil for gold,
For in a dozen different ways your service shall be told.

You'll read it in the faces of a Troop of growing boys,
You'll read it in the pleasure of a dozen manly joys,
And down the distant future you will surely read it then,
Emblazoned thru the service of a band of loyal men.

Five years of willing labor and of brothering a Troop,
Five years of trudging highways, with the Indian cry and whoop,
Five years of campfires burning, not alone for pleasure's sake,
But the future generation which the boys are soon to make.

They have no gold to give you, but when age comes on to you
They'll give you back the splendid things you taught them how to do
They'll give you rich contentment and a thrill of honest pride
And you'll see the nation prosper, and you'll all be satisfied.

Indeed, time invested into scouting will never bring about monetary returns. The journey of scoutmastership is never easy but it is definitely a fulfilling path to trek on. It is the belief that I am able to make a difference in someone else’s life that keep me in the movement.

However, I don’t know how much longer will I be able to contribute to the movement but for the time I am in, you will definitely expect a 101% from me. =)

Yours in Scouting,
Crazy Spinner

focus regained!

2008-03-16T21:40:00.011+08:00

scouting - guiding principles for my life

Focus!

to be fulfilled.

It's been a long time since i last posted. Thanks for all the concerns with regards to my previous post. Focus regained but more effort will definitely has to be put in to pull my grades up again. Rather satisfied with my grades so far for MST. 1 more paper tomorrow and that’s it for MST. For the remainder of the term, focus will be on 3 areas – Melissa( sorry for neglecting you for the past few weeks), venture scouting + group camp preparation and school work. Will be staying in school every day to catch up on recent topics. Anyone who wish to join me can message me =P.

Kudos to ventures for performing exceptionally well for jobweek. Am really proud of them. Their enthusiasm and positivity are commendable. You have proven yourself to the unit and the camaraderie exhibited has touched my heart too.

Guess that’s all. Back to mug. =)

Outdated photo albums coming ahead.

kayaking expedition from Pasir Ris WV to Sembawang end part.

100th month anniversary: to the zoo!!!

Losing Focus... Regaining them

2008-02-18T23:39:00.002+08:00

Had a talk with Melissa just now and realized that I had actually lost my focus for the last 6 weeks. From the previous entries, one will realize how much time is devoted to scouting and perhaps kayaking/AKLTG. This is of course, after some discussion with mel, done at the expense of one thing, my studies. Been lagging behind real bad for my studies. For those friends out there, yongkok will continue to study until he graduate in 3 years so there is no need to ask about why he is leaving school. =). This is another reason for working harder.

Last semester was a pretty smooth semester for me. Consistent effort and coupled with familiar topics covered during lectures during the 13 weeks made the semester a sweet one. Decent grades and thus leads to complacency which I am experiencing right now. This term is a different story all together. Unfamiliar topics with more weekly hours devoted to school curriculum. One thing that stuck to my mind during the conversation with Melissa. What have you studied for the past 6 weeks? Day in and day out is just all about scouting and it is taking a toll even for yourself. Let alone those juniors who may not be as strong as you do. It came to my realization (finally) that they have been entrusted with a lot of responsibilities in the venture unit and some of them are falling out along the way. Will reflect on this and see what can be done to moderate on their hours spent on scouting.

As I will be finishing up my degree, why not make it a good honors? Furthermore, I am funding my own studies. I will be doing injustice to myself for not performing up to par and also not practicing what I preach to the juniors. Painful sacrifices have to be made. And thus for my fellow coaching mates, million apologies as I will have to back out from the trip. I am really looking forward for the trip as I enjoyed training and exploring with you people. Just that my circumstances do not allow me too. Have Enjoy your trip and do send me the pictures!!! Painful it is but I guess it has to be done this way; it is my last chance to fight back for Mid Semester Test.

FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS!

Feb- Another Jam pack month for me

2008-02-07T10:12:00.000+08:00

hmmm.... already decided. Will have to finish up my studies first before pursuing my dream. How i wish i can go over to OBS right now and after the 5 years of contract, I will then fulfil my dream. That will be ideal for me but if anything is to crop up along the way, I will be done for. =)

Wild thoughts they are.

So excited about the end of the month. Will be heading up to Malaysia with fellow kayaking Kakis on a 6 days trip. We are going islands hoping on kayaks, something that I always wanted to do. (Happen that it coincides with my reading week, thus will be spending the next 3 weeks revising and sacrificing many outing with friends. Will have to keep my CAP up since I am going to complete my studies first.) The company of coaches who I will be heading up with is the other reason why I am so excited about. These are the old time coaches and we have been working together for quite some time already. The rapport which we have developed over the years allow us to conduct courses as a team, often without explicitly spelling out what we already want for we already knew what each other wants and expects. This feeling of camaraderie is really beyond words and I firmly believe that OBS will allow me to relive such wonderful experiences, especially in tough time where all of us have to give up our personal comfort for the good of the team.

Last but not least, will like to wish everyone a Happy Chinese Lunar New Year. Maintain the good health so that we can chiong more. Maintain the grades so that we deserve to play harder when the holiday comes.

Some pictures of the pioneering structure we did during the mid of last month.

( although I am not a soccer fan, this video is really cool!)

Réinvente ton jeu
Uploaded by ElectronicArts

Mad Rush... Jam Pack January

2008-02-01T02:34:00.001+08:00

Ahhh...... Finally has the chance to log in and add a new entry to my blog. It has been a real packed month, though fulfilling. The schedule for the past 1 month:

Week 2:
- AKLTG Jump Start Programme for Jurong West Secondary School
- AKLTG Operation Live! Ops for Boon Lay Secondary School

Week 3:
- School Reopens =P
- AKLTG Camp (again..) : Operation Live! Ops for Commonwealth Secondary School/
- Dragon Scouts Venture Initiation.

Week 4:
- Kayaking 4 star up at Ramunia. Organised jointly by Water Venture and OBS

Week 5:
- Rushing through Tutorials and lectures for week 3,4 and 5.

AKLTG Camps

Ran 3 camps for AKLTG Outdoor Education Branch. Jump Start was my very first camp with AKLTG. Went in pretty confident. It then came to my realization that this was a very different experience from what I had before. Although I have been coaching paddling and conducting training sessions for the scouts for many many years, I realized running a life skills camp is a totally different ball game altogether. The pedagogy is totally different. Right here I am dealing with fresh and young sec 1s and it is expected of me to inculcate success principles and life skills to them. Been a technical person, this proves to be challenging for me. Initially, I had trouble motivating the kids and get them to participate 100%. However, I believe that if I can’t then I must.

The next 2 camps proved to be much better than the first. For one it is a thematic camp where we emulate the environment to be like that of the army’s. Been in the SAF for 3 ½ years, playing the theme was chicken feat. I also followed Nicholas’ advice to come in stern and strict during the introduction before gradually warming up to the participants as the camp progresses. This is one important lesson I have learnt and it works. Guess I have always been the soft kind where participants are to be treated like customers. So much for coaching corporate programs. This will be an area that I will have to improve on. That is to be stern and picky when the situation arises. Do not compromise the standards for if done so, it will breed inconsistency. I have the tendency to allow the participants to climb over my head and thus will have to work on this area. It is not my style to be stern, unlike in the past. =)

Used to have bad impression of AKLTG OE coaches. My first interaction with them was at an indoor coach training session. They were a rowdy bunch of unprofessional coaches. However, my perspective of them changed after coaching with them for several times. They are a batch of coaches, although playful, who are dedicated to their work. They strive to give their best to the participants. Their debrief pointers are carefully thought through and they are able to draw relevance and relate it to the participants daily day lives. (AKLTG places a lot of emphasis on debriefs after activities and it can last up till an hour. This is never an easy task and most of the programs I have done tend to do this haphazardly. I realized that this is the most important segment of the entire session as it summarizes and reinforces the learning objectives for each activity. ) Some even stayed up till the wee hours of 3pm to practice their footdrills and discuss with the senior coaches as to what more can be done to mange those problematic kids. Many of them are there to make a difference in someone else’s life. At the end of the each camp, you will see tears rolling down the cheeks of many participants. At least that is the indication for me that we have put in our 110%.

Special thanks to Gopal, Jeff, Jefferson, Nicholas, Sherm, John, Ivan, Diana, Wana, Ridzuan, Tian Jun, Vivian and many other coaches. I appreciate your sharing and have learnt a lot from you people. Also to Franco for roping me into OE. (FYI, the youngest coach here is 17 yrs old and they really impress me with their dedication to the task and maturity in dealing with knotty situations)

Dragon Scouts Venture Initiation

[The journey begins]

[where are we now?]

[Continue journey]

[Navigating through the water?]

[Lost in the jungle?]

[Ferns everywhere, way out?]

[Kevin Lee...]

[Panther Patrol]

[Rain or shine, we will still push on]

[keep your body close to the fence]

[Out of the Jungle]

[Taking a break]

[Ventures running the show]

[Dinner: Campbell, Maggie, Hotdogs, Longgans]

["Campfire"]

[You people are slow.... Waited for half an hour already]

[Night Navigation]

[Reading the map is not easy in pushing up position]

[Finally, the top]

[Prior to Initiation1]

[Prior to Initiation2]

[From Scouture to Venture]

[Now you are part of the DSGVU.. One for all all for one]

It was a 2 day 1 night camp where we initiate the scouts into the venture unit. 3 initiatees attended the camp with around 8 leaders/ ventures running the programme. During the 24 hours, the initiatees had to complete a series of activities before they were awarded the venture flashes. This included the total hiking mileage of 21 kilometers in both urban and closed terrain, “campfire”, 1.5 klicks of solo night walk, solo night and the final push to Bukit Timah Hill. This camp serves to gel the new ventures together and kickstart their journey as a worthy venture of DSG.

4 Star Kayaking Trip up to Ramunia

[Ready for the breaking waves]

[Helmet - essential to keep you sane]

[Prep the boats]

[Checking the lanes, safe to launch?]

[Janice, what ya doin'?]

[Song Sheng, refresher, pretty nice surf huh]

[Zason doing a solo launch]

[The Yellow Team]

[The Yellow Team with coach - Gideon, the pro]

[Coach - Richard, the red team coach]

[Coach - Ai Chin, the dynamic]

[Coach - Daniel, the cool]

[Coach - Jacob, the Jackson]

[right Coach - Meng Teck, the boss]

[My buddy - Ping Chuan, the Commando]

[4 Star participants]
[Back row L-R][Zason, Veit, Yong Kok, Ping Chuan, Qin Sheng]
[Front row L-R][Crystal, Janice, Jeremy]

For more photos, visit:
Lai Mun's Album
and
Chris Consolidation
(courtesy of Chris and Lai Mun)

Check this out too:
Crazy Wave

Kayaking will never be the same again! It is definitely a humbling experience up at Ramunia. One must really respect the nature for if you don’t, you will expect a nasty outcome. Fortunately, the mother nature was kind to us and all of us survived through the course, without injuries and 100% passes. If you think your skills in flat water are good, put it to test at Ramunia. Now I can understand why paddlers like to chase for the waves generated by the bum boats. The surfs were addictive and the thrill is beyond what words can describe. Can’t wait to go for the refresher course this coming year end.

My objectives for the trip were to test out my skills in more challenging waters, learn a bit of kayak surfing and experience the different methods employed by the Level 4 and 5 instructors.

First, paddling in choppy water with wind of considerable speed blowing at you is a totally new experience. The boat tends to weather cock into the wind and this is irritating. Have yet to counter this. Rescues and towing went pretty smoothly. I thought my rolling was good but my port side roll needed more improvement, especially when the waves came crashing on you. I also tend not to get into the setup position for Eskimo roll in imminent capsizes, which were frequent during surfing due to improper techniques. The rest seems alright.

Secondly, the surfing was an adrenaline pumping experience. Improper trimming of the boat caused me to get pinned into the water. If you don’t know what that means, it means that the front part of your boat, which is the bow, gets submerged into the water and the back (AKA stern) gets lifted up. Pinning is not a common event but I got pinned 5-6 times throughout the trip. It was fun, but dangerous if not properly handled. Shiok! My buddy, ping chuan, who is a scout too, was damn good. He managed to surf on the 2nd day. Whereas I was only able to catch it on the 3rd day. Surfing was not as easy as I thought. When I said catch it, I meant that I progressed from the stage of conscious incompetence to conscious (half) competence. It is still not a second nature to me and I have to constantly figure out how I should place the stern rudder, where to edge, how to trim the boat, and look out for where to go. Multi tasking, just like flying, although not as shag. When I first attempted the surfing, everything seemed like a flash. You just performed stern rudder and hoped to surf but ended up capsizing/ pinned. You were so engrossed in getting the edge and stern rudder right that you vision just ended up blank – don’t know where you were heading. Things got better with more practice.

Thirdly, the coaching team was VERY professional. The conduct of the course was pretty well structured and organized with extensive coverage for safety. My opinion for OBS changed after attending this course. (My motivation to fly wavered during these 4 days. Passion for outdoor versus Flying. Tough decision. ) The coaches were so seasoned and well trained that you see no hesitation in the execution of their program. The coaching methods they employed were worth adopting. Firstly, they used video cams to film our progress and daily reviews were done while watching the playbacks. It made us aware of the bad habits that we were not conscious of. They also dug a trench in the beach and piled the sand adjacent to the trench to simulate the swell. They were so resourceful that they made a kayak out of a hard sponge and attached a Barbie doll found along the beach to the “boat”. We learnt through experiential learning during the course of 4 days rather than “I say what you do what” kind of learning process. There were sessions where the participants were to present on certain topics from the handbook. They did timely reviews and feedback throughout the day. Learnt a lot from the coaches, in terms of personal skills as well as coaching methods.

In conclusion, to sum up this lengthy post, January was a fun filled month and much effort will have to pour into my studies now. =)

Autonomy Vs Guided Discovery

2008-01-04T01:55:00.000+08:00

One of the ventures mentioned this during the MSN chat we had the night before. They wanted more independence in running the venture unit, just like their predecessors. This is nothing new to me. It has always been a struggle for me to decide what sort of leadership role I should adopt for the ventures.

Full autonomy may not be possible as they did not have the necessary skills to run it. However, at the same time, scouting is about self discovery, experimentation and learning by doing. How do one define the competency of the ventures? What is benchmark for competency? Any tangible guides for us to monitor? I doubt so. Many a times, we get too impatient and skeptical to get out of the way and let the youth leaders lead (extracted from The scoutmaster’s other handbook by Mark Ray). At times, I tend to fall into this stage. We are always in a dilemma as to when we should start to step in so as to provide avenue for the youth to develop and learn from his/her mistakes.

The concept of guided discovery may not be applicable for the ventures either. They are now at a stage where they will want to explore and experiment more than when they were scouts. If it becomes an adult leader centered kind of leadership, we may stifle their creativity and to some extent, kill their passion.

I guess there is no right and wrong about how one should run the unit. Autonomy should be given, and it will have to come with regular guidance/coaching from the adult leaders. As long as I put in my best in running it, I will leave without regrets when the time comes. Just like my PSA, I have no idea how I should go about doing it. But my vision of getting it eventually led me to achieving it. I guess the same goes for the unit as we already draft up the objectives to be achieved by the end of senior batch’s term of office.

People, please feel free to feedback =)

All the way Melissa 必胜！

2008-01-04T01:47:00.000+08:00

All the best for the selection camp for the next few days. Just wanna let you know that I have all the faith in you that you will clear with flying colours. We've been together for so long and my faith in you is still the same as 9 years ago when I knew you. Do not allow external factors to pull you down. You are a strong girl and I always believe that. Keep the faith and persevere. You will emerge a winner on Sunday. Love you lots!

In the nick of time

2008-01-02T20:02:00.000+08:00

Finally..... Got enrolled into the 4 star kayaking course this month in the nick of time... in fact, am 2 days late for the enrolment. Will like to thank Uncle Liew from OBS for taking his precious time to get me enroll into the course and Jun Bin, my all time mentor and fellow coach, to vouch for me. Finally after 4 years of coaching and paddling, the time has came for me to upgrade myself in terms of personal paddling skills. Although the course burnt a big hole in my pocket (whopping 520 bucks!) and starvation is imminent, I guess the money spent is worth it. Waited for 4 years already. Wondering who will I be going up with….

‘Hello, may I enquiry about the 4 star kayaking course up in Ramunia this month’, I asked the OBS phone operator over at the other side of the phone.

‘Please hold on…. UNCLE LIEW…..!’

- Transferring to Mr Liew’s extension-

‘hello, this is Mr liew, how may I help you?’, a deep and firm voice followed after the melodious pause.

‘Hi Uncle Liew, I am yong kok here. Am enquiring about the 4 star course coming up this month. I know that the deadline is over and wondering if you can slot me into the course…..’

‘hmmm… you called me Uncle Liew, do I know you?’

‘Nope…… the rest is not important anymore’

This incident has made me wonder how important first impression and building rapport really is. Although some may argue that Uncle Liew may be a nice person to begin with and thus help me to get enrolled into the course, I still feel that building rapport with people is important, especially during the first contact. The brief and causal first contact has transformed the enquiry into somewhat like a conversation. It makes me reflect on how I used to think that I am the best and I want the whole world to know that. This, however does not allow me to build rapport with strangers/ acquaintances as I am introducing differences between us. I did not make the conscious effort to relate to the rest, especially those with no prior or minimal experience. It may make me look good on the outside but deep within, I am feeling lost. Fortunately, over the years of reading and mentoring from leaders, I am able to change my perspectives about such insensitivities. I am still learning and hope that one day I will be like John Maxwell =)

Went down to SCF and realized that it was closed for the day. Argh…. It’s 4:30pm and it was not even anywhere near to the closing time. Called up SCF office and Peter came to the line. He explained that April was sick and thus the office was closed for the day. Still feeling frustrated for making a wasted trip. The more I thought of it, the more frustrated I got. Just as my blood was boiling, I did an attitude check and started asking myself why did I feel that way. I began to shift my feelings of frustration to that of gratitude. This feeling of gratitude came from the appreciating the fact that I ‘met’ a kind soul like Uncle Liew earlier in the day. This 180 degree change had uplifted my mood at that point of time and allow me to dump away the frustration. It is amazing how the mind works. How you perceive things and events will affect how you feel and you can programme your mind to feel the way you want it to. In one of the Arbinger Institute literatures, the book titled Leadership and Self-Deception has explained how one perspective can be distorted by the way we perceive things. It talks about how we tend to play down our flaws and inflate others. Profound concepts and I am still trying to grasp it. My life has changed after reading the book and I have became a even more happier person than I used to be.

I guess that’s it for the day. 2 more weeks to school reopens! Mixed feeling..

2 trips during the December Holidays Part 2

2008-01-01T12:17:00.001+08:00

Klang Gate Ridge (27-301207)

Went on a trekking trip with NUS ODAC. Saw a few familiar faces- shawn, bing ying and wei san. Took public transport for most of the trip. Not really convenient but I guess you get what you pay. The Klang Gate Ridge trek was a satisfying one. The view was superb although we went up to about 400m AMSL. Not very high up on altitude but the city view and mountain ranges to our sides were magnificent. We could see Genting from the ridge itself. It was an easy trek. We took about 2 hours up and 1.5 hours down. This includes the numerous rest points and photography sessions along the way. The trek officially concluded around noon time and we headed back to the guesthouse for a quick bath before our R&R around KL.

The third day was spent at Camp5- a rock climbing centre in KL. I was amazed by the premises. Some of us attend the basic wall course to learn the basics of rock climbing. As I did abseiling before, most of the course content was already known to me. I spent some time evaluating and learning the coaching method employed by the rock climbing instructor. I am not saying that I am that good to evaluate but I always make it a point to learn the different coaching methods employed by different coaches from different disciplines. Initially, I was put off by his rigidity in running the course. His Australian ‘’Hi mate’’ monotonous voice had a hypnosis effect. But my professionalism and discipline kept me away from the temptation of drifting into the slumber. After a while, I thought about it, high risk sports may require a more regimental way of coaching as any flaws in the process may lead to a fatality. After the course, learnt a few techniques from Bing Ying and he invited me to join him on his weekly session of rock climbing at SAFRA Yishun. Before attending the course, I thought rock climbing is a boring sport and have the “just climb lo” attitude. Now, the skills and techniques that I have just acquired add in an additional dimension to the sport. I am willing to explore further if time permits me to in the near future.

That concludes the Klang Trip!

2 trips during the December Holidays

2008-01-01T10:48:00.002+08:00

This holidays have been a fulfilling one. Went on 2 trips and the rest of the holidays were spent mostly on scouting, something that i am passionate about. Let's leave the scouting issue to another day. Shall share about the 2 overseas trip that I went.

Mount Kinabalu (05-091207)

It was trip just after my exams. It was really a good transition into the holidays as I was disappointed with my last physics paper. The trip had indeed lifted my spirit; it started off my holidays on a high note. As I was one of the leaders tagging along for the trip, I had the responsibility to take care of the junior scouts. My primary aim for this trip was to foster closer ties with the ventures ( 16-18 yrs old) and I believed that I had achieved that.

Something that left me pondering on how I should manage my expectations for these young people. I used to think that as ventures, they should be as garang as how we used to be when we were ventures. We tend to neglect the fact that they were brought up in a different environment as we were before and thus the way they perceived things are different. Disappointment, the feeling I initially felt, in their performance during the trip. This was due to the fact that not all of them made it up to the summit whereas the rest of the group consists of just scouts, who are younger, made it up. This is because I believe that ventures are the crème of the crop and their performance should exceed those of the scouts. Nevertheless, there was the other side that I am pleased about. They took the extra effort in taking care of the boys and the only female venture who went along motivated the boys during the trek up to the summit. It was commendable as this was her maiden trip with us and mount K is not an easy mountain to conquer. It takes more than strength to motivate the people when you are tired yourself. It takes leadership and a positive attitude to do it.

After the trip, we had supper at the coffee shop opposite my place. We were talking about rovering (scouts between 19-26). It was brought up during the last Scout AGM that we will like to bring back the rover unit back to GESS. During the AGM itself I talked about why rover unit should be set up to ensure the continual survival of dragon scouts and how the rover unit is going to benefit the young adults. Little did I consider the inputs from the young leaders, who are going to be rovers. They then turned to HL about their discontentment on why they should be the ones to start the rover unit and why not the junior batch. From this episode, I derived a few lessons. First, communication is a two way process and we should hear what both sides got to say. Next, according to John Maxwell, in his book - the 21 irrefutable laws of leadership – Law of timing, the right action at the wrong timing will bring about resistance. The AGM may not be a right time to introduce the rover unit as there were insufficient time to discuss the details and allow 2 way communications from both sides. It was just me and IM talking about the rover unit without their inputs as I have said earlier on.

1st post from YONG KOK!!!!

2007-12-27T17:07:00.000+08:00

OMG..... deleted my very 'first' post. Argh.... make it a short one to kickstart this blog.

Thanks Mel for setting up this blog for I have no clue on how to get it set up. =)

Got back my results for my first sem yesterday. Thought that I will buang 2 mods but turn out otherwise. Rather happy with my results for sem 1 considering the effort i had put in.

Will be leaving for Klang in 15 minutes time with NUS ODAC. Will update when I get back.

[Random thoughts]

the first post

2007-12-16T01:03:00.000+08:00

is done by melissa because kok's too lazy to set up his own blog and yet still wants a blog... so here goes...
for kok's thoughts...