Breakthrough-Modern Dance & IBEX

Congratulations to the Modern Dance for their Breakthrough in SYF 2009. In the other light, I believe All students in all CCAs work hard in their own ways in making their CCAs GREAT. Some students in some CCAs cried/were disappointed when they obtained Silver or lost in tournaments. It is part and parcel of LIFE about winning & losing. Important is that we & the students have put in 100% EFFORT in the process and we enjoy/learn in the process. Chinese sayings go: " There are always higher mountains." to tell us there are always opponents better than us & "When the green mountains are still there, need not worry there are no wood to use." to tell us if we lose this time, as long as we are persistent, willing to continue to work hard & determined, we can compete and may win next time. Never, never, never give up.

Wish to add that a Breakthrough for my sports day house, IBEX, this year too for being the CHAMPION for Sports Day, I think it is the 1st time for IBEX to be champion in Kranji History. Nothing is impossible, right? It is about ATTITUDES & STRATEGIES. It is whether who have BETTER & STRONGER ATTITUDES (attitudes include willpower & other things) & STRATEGIES (strategies include hard work & other things).

More Breakthrough on the way for Kranji, right?

Are we taking things for granted in Singapore?

The following are some abstracts from newspaper (TNP) readers and some reflection posted by someone:

In a letter to The New Paper (TNP), Madam Kam Choo Choo seemed to agree and felt we should count our blessings. Having travelled to 38 countries and 175 cities had helped Madam Kam appreciate the efficiency of the MRT system in Singapore. She liked many things about the MRT, from the cleanliness of the stations to the multi-lingual announcements reminding commuters to be careful and alert. Another TNP reader Dorian Teo, a 17-year-old Singaporean living in Panama, agreed with Madam Kam. He said that having been in "13 countries and 50 cities are enough to make me realise how wonderful this country is". He described the environment there as being very different from Singapore and Singaporeans should "open our eyes to what we have" and take pride in what we have. He further emphasised that, "Here I can be out with my friends at night without being afraid, as I know my country protects me. However, most Singaporeans do not know what they have. We should gain more knowledge of our country and know that we have been given something most people around the world don't have." Do we take things for granted in Singapore? If you have lived or travelled overseas, how have your experiences affected your opinion about life here? Would living or travelling overseas help Singaporeans better appreciate what we have?

Toward Success We Go

During class discussion on the first day of school (2/1/09), for my form class, it was great the class participated in the class activities and the students built on ideas from one another on the class motto/taglines, which finally were constructed as follow:

1) TOWARD SUCCESS WE GO (The Direction)
2) LISTEN MORE + ASK MORE + DO MORE = LEARN MORE (The How to succeed in study)

Today (5/1/09), 3 hardworking girls volunteered themselves and stayed back after school to create the posters of the class motto/taglines. The posters are now displayed in the classroom.

I am really happy that they help and work hard. In life, it is always good to help and work hard. For the short term, it may be troublesome, tedious and 'very inconvenient' (as some like to put it). In the long term, the helpers/hardworking ones will benefit in special way. There is a saying: "Give The World The Best You Have & The Best Will Come Back To You." Wish to see more helpers/hardworking ones in future.

My Beloved Wife and Son - The most dramatic day in 2008

It's the last day of 2008 and I tell myself I better post something. It would be the most dramatic day for my family in 2008. It was the day my wife gave birth to my third child in April and that day's incident is still vivid in my mind.

In the delivery suite, just after 2pm, while I accompanied my wife waiting for labour, my wife suddenly lost consciousness. The nurses called her and there was no response. It was a life-threatening emergency and the emergency was announced through the Public Address System through the speakers to the whole hospital to call for doctors' attendance. A lot of doctors and nurses rushed into our delivery suite. I was asked to wait at the corridor. The gynaecologist had to deliver the baby immediately while my wife was unconscious At the corridor, I saw a nurse shooted out of the delivery suite carrying my baby son and she ran across the corridor to the natal intensive care unit . The baby's heart rate was very low after delivery. A paediatrician from another building across the road ran and rushed into the natal intensive care unit to save his life.

After delivery, blood could not stop and my wife was wheeled into the Intensive Care Unit. In the ICU and then the operating theatre for a major operation to stop massive blood loss, what I could only do is to PRAY. What I am going to say next may be controversial/spiritual to some people and it is up to you to believe (remember: Respect Others' Mental Model of the World). I prayed hard to 'higher spiritual being/form' for her life to be saved and that I would do 2 things: 1)Never eat meat again and to become a vegetarian (life for many lives) and 2)I would donate blood every three months.

On that dramatic afternoon, in the ICU and then the operating theatre, as my wife's blood could not clot and therefore stop, packets of blood transfused to her just flow out from her. A lot of blood (the doctors said 40 packets) has been transfused to my wife. The blood clotted and stopped after three capsules of some form of blood clotting agent is injected into her body. The ICU's cleaner said to me that working so many year, this was the first time she saw a bed soaked with so much blood. I realised the importance of blood donation (and I wish to thank the donors). I also donate blood more regularly, every 3 months, from that day onwards. I used to donate blood during my army days (1989-1991) and only occassionally after that. I donated blood 3 times this year. Till today (31/12/08), in total, according to blood bank's record, I have donated 15 times, since 1989, and I will continue to donate blood.

Both survived and recovered fast in the next few days. I slept at the hospital's visitor lobby the first 4 nights to stay close to my wife and baby. They were discharged after a week stay. During the week, a lot of the doctors and nurses said that it was a miracle that both survived. They said that it was 'fortunate' that it happened during daytime when there were more doctors around in the hospital. It happened during the nurses' change of shift too and there were 2 shifts of nurses there to help out. I could not thank the doctors and nurses more. It was frightening when I occassionally think about it again. I almost lost my wife and baby and my daughters would have lost their mother forever. We tend to take things for granted until crisis happens. I count my blessing and I treasure my wife even more nowaday.

My DVD Player

You may be wondering what the photo above is about. See the VCD near the top right of the photo? What happened was that when my 3 years-old daughter loaded the VCD, it went inside the DVD player and we could not retrieve it. Naturally I did not blame her as she is only 3 and she may not have placed the VCD properly. I took it as a challenge to retrieve the VCD.

It took me an hour to slowly dismantle the player and locate the VCD stuck inside. It was not as simple as I thought. The VCD was in an enclosure that my fingers could not reach. Also, along the way, I had to memorize how I dismantle the parts or else I could not reassemble them. I observed carefully which screws to remove, which ones not to. I was concerned that irrelevant parts would come off and I would not be able to fix them back. It really tested my patience and persistence. After several attempts with help of different screwdrivers, I managed to extract the VCD (Thank goodness).

When I played the VCD and the DVD player still worked fine despite that it had gone through a ‘surgery’, I suddenly felt a strong sense of satisfaction for accomplishing a task. It makes me realize that it is always great to take challenges, face it head on, goes against all odds and completed it. It makes me mentally stronger and knowledgeable.

Knowledgeable in a sense that I now know more about the different components of the player and I am amazed about the sophisticated electronic and mechanical components that have to work together to create the sound and video I as end-user just take for granted. There must be many people that have worked together to see that the design of this player works.

In another perspective, we have to realize that we could not work alone in this world. We need to collaborate and cooperative with one another (teamwork) so that we achieve more which we, as individual, cannot manage.

It's about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward

Something inspiring to share from the movie Rocky Balboa which I find meaningful.

Rocky said to his son:

"Then the time come for you to be your own man and TAKE ON THE WORLD...and you did. But somewhere along the line, you changed. You stop being you. You let people stick a finger in your face and tell you you're no good. And when things got hard, you started looking for something to blame... like a big shadow.

Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place and i don't care how tough you are... it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it... You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life.

But it ain't how hard you hit; IT's ABOUT HOW HARD YOU CAN GET HIT, AND KEEP MOVING FORWARD... HOW MUCH YOU CAN TAKE, AND KEEPING MOVING FORWARD. THAT'S HOW WINNING IS DONE!

Now, if you know what you're worth, then GO OUT AND GET WHAT YOU'RE WORTH! But you gotta be willing to take the hit, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you are because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that and that ain't you! You're better than that!

I'm always gonna love you no matter what. No matter what happens. You're my son and you're my blood. You're the best thing in my life. But until you start BELIEVING IN YOURSELF, you ain't gonna HAVE A LIFE."

Sometimes, it is good that we hear some inspiring speech from someone and remember to face life CONFIDENTLY and take own initiatives to improve by yourself instead of self-pity yourself and blame people or situations for what happen to you.

View the video clip by clicking on the link below and do spend sometime reflect on how you face life:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfXw-E7HUq8&feature=related

Inspirational Quotes

I was attending a workshop at Teachers' Network and saw a series of motivational posters outside the seminar room.

Success: Success is a journey, not a destination.

Challenge: Winners must have two things - definite goals and burning desire to achieve them.

Attitude: What happens to a man is less significant than what happens within him.

Opportunity: The future belongs to those who find opportunity in the beauty of their dreams.

Imagination: A man who has imagination has wings.

Leadership: Until you spread your wings, you'll have no idea how far you can fly.

Endurance: The difference between the possible and the impossible lies in one's determination.

Perseverance: What the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.

Vision: The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible.

It is not enough to have lived. We should be determined to live for something. May I suggest that it be creating joy for others, sharing what we have for the betterment of personkind, bringing hope to the lost and love for the lonely.
- Leo Buscaglia, author & university professor (1924 - 1998)