My car broke down earlier.
The battery went flat and the car wouldn't crank to life. Peacefully and calmly, I called up the servicing agents - they said they'll come within half an hour and they did. A new battery was plonked in and I was on my way.
That's how we should handle all problems in life really - peacefully, calmly: take it on. Help and solutions will turn situations around and you'll be on your way.
Enroute, one faces traffic congestion. One faces careless drivers who have no regard for your safety. There will be green lights, red lights and to make decision making challenging; amber lights. There will be signs telling you what you should do, what you must do. There may be strangers who give you unqualified directions. Roads can be bumpy, roads can be rocky... sometimes traffic can be so smooth you can't believe your luck.
That's pretty much how living is like.
Today I inch another year forward in my journey of life - I'm pretty satisfied with what I'm doing. Of course there are decisions I wish I hadn't made, things I wish I didn't do and people I wish I never met. Nay... but, I cannot eliminate all misfortune in daily living, neither is it in my agenda to do so. I believe in integration and embrace. But on the whole, I'm pretty pleased. And I look forward to more good years ahead, more good years to spend much more good time with all of you, and you :)
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Monday, June 18, 2012
Aggravation, what a motivation!
An interesting thing happened at my Remedial Training earlier. During one of the 400m interval runs, the instructor challenged us: If you can make this round in 1min 40 seconds, we'll end your training early.
I made the 400m round in one minute flat.
Previously, they had similar challenges: be the first 15 to return. I ran in third.
Once upon a time, in Primary 5, my Chinese language teacher said I could never, ever pass my Chinese no matter how hard I tried. I scored Bs. (comparatively, I always flunk badly...in the F regions).
Before I went to London, Edmund said I'd never survive there...and that I'd return in a few weeks. I spent a few years away.
The thrill of beating a challenge and proving someone wrong creates a fine environment for me to be at my most productive. Now, all I need to do is to find out how to re-create this in my everyday work.
I made the 400m round in one minute flat.
Previously, they had similar challenges: be the first 15 to return. I ran in third.
Once upon a time, in Primary 5, my Chinese language teacher said I could never, ever pass my Chinese no matter how hard I tried. I scored Bs. (comparatively, I always flunk badly...in the F regions).
Before I went to London, Edmund said I'd never survive there...and that I'd return in a few weeks. I spent a few years away.
The thrill of beating a challenge and proving someone wrong creates a fine environment for me to be at my most productive. Now, all I need to do is to find out how to re-create this in my everyday work.
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Saturday, June 16, 2012
When I Ruled the World
"Once you were gone, there was never an honest word..."
So halfway through the raspberry, Edmund came by and woosh, we were off to have a drink.
So halfway through this drink, this song played, and I listened.
So halfway through this listening, I felt a little sad, for reasons I can't explain.
And halfway through feeling sad, we went home in preparation for another day.
And life goes on... until it stops, halfway.
"People couldn't believe what I'd become, Revolutionaries wait, For my head on a silver plate, Just a puppet on a lonely string..."
7.30pm: East Coast Park, Starbucks
The writer takes a bite off his raspberry brulee cheesecake... mmmm....
This is how every Saturday evening should be - creamy, savory and with a hint of cheese. I've been looking forward to this quite evening for a long time now. As I sit here in Starbucks, East Coast Park, I thought about my KFC dinner earlier and contrasted it with the Remedial Training I had about an hour before that.
Remedial Training my dear friends, is what we Singaporean men have to go through should we fail our Individual Physical Proficiency Test (or lovingly called "IPPT" for short). Depending on your age, an IPPT test consists of meeting 13 mins in a 2.4 km run, snuffing 40 sit ups in a minute, polishing off 5 pull-ups, sprinting 100m in 9 seconds and clearing a 180cm jump (or thereabouts). Should you fail to achieve this, you receive 20 sessions of Remedial Training (or RT for short). An RT session lasts about an hour and a half, and the festivities almost always include a bout of running and two bouts of static training. You're paid a daily allowance for coming down and, well...it sure beats paying for gym membership.
I'll let you in on a secret: I love to eavesdrop on the little conversations that my fellow soldiers have. Once I heard two chaps who (probably) also are going for Japanese language lessons, I hung around them trying hard not to laugh too hard when they started translating exercise commands into Jap.
But almost always, you're guaranteed that someone will be bitching about RT. "Aiyah, f**ing waste time leh!" would be one of the more gentle remarks you hear. Man, I totally agree. I try to convince myself that I need this exercise, usually that makes me feel better. And all I need to do to convince myself further, is palm my hands around my tummy. Oh yeah, that my friend, is the ultimate motivator.
I'll share with you some dark things from my life: I was an obese kid. Shhh... yes... today, my waistline is about 33 inches. Up until I was 13 years old, my tummy was also that size. I've always kept my size/weight in check up until before I left for London, when I arrived in England, I measured 36 inches and my cheeks look like a hamster who's keeping food in his mouth. However, I was not one to sit around to complain. I chanced upon this magazine insert sponsored by this company called "MaxiMuscle". Boy, that was a life changer (ok, waist changer). I learnt little tricks about how to keep fat intake to less than 15 grams a day, put myself on a 4 times a week exercise regime and went for little jogs even in the deepest of winter. The squirrels living outside my room looked curiously inside as I huffed and puffed and jumped and groaned on my workouts. My housemate in the next room wasn't amused.
In China, I continued my running. Worried that breathing in too much industrial pollution would cause my lungs to evolve, I kept up my regime on the treadmill.
So I ran and I ran...but I still cannot, for f**%s sakes pass my IPPT!During my last test, I failed my 2.4km timing by 30 seconds! As I wobbled my way back to the car, I was so infuriated I could have set a bomb at the test center. My friend, you won't know how sad it feels when you're getting gold standard for every other station only to walk away a failure 30 seconds too late :(
Now, your dearest writer sips his coffee and munches on raspberry brulee cheesecake. The window for my IPPT will open once again, will I pass it? Will I not? We shall see...
This is how every Saturday evening should be - creamy, savory and with a hint of cheese. I've been looking forward to this quite evening for a long time now. As I sit here in Starbucks, East Coast Park, I thought about my KFC dinner earlier and contrasted it with the Remedial Training I had about an hour before that.
Remedial Training my dear friends, is what we Singaporean men have to go through should we fail our Individual Physical Proficiency Test (or lovingly called "IPPT" for short). Depending on your age, an IPPT test consists of meeting 13 mins in a 2.4 km run, snuffing 40 sit ups in a minute, polishing off 5 pull-ups, sprinting 100m in 9 seconds and clearing a 180cm jump (or thereabouts). Should you fail to achieve this, you receive 20 sessions of Remedial Training (or RT for short). An RT session lasts about an hour and a half, and the festivities almost always include a bout of running and two bouts of static training. You're paid a daily allowance for coming down and, well...it sure beats paying for gym membership.
I'll let you in on a secret: I love to eavesdrop on the little conversations that my fellow soldiers have. Once I heard two chaps who (probably) also are going for Japanese language lessons, I hung around them trying hard not to laugh too hard when they started translating exercise commands into Jap.
But almost always, you're guaranteed that someone will be bitching about RT. "Aiyah, f**ing waste time leh!" would be one of the more gentle remarks you hear. Man, I totally agree. I try to convince myself that I need this exercise, usually that makes me feel better. And all I need to do to convince myself further, is palm my hands around my tummy. Oh yeah, that my friend, is the ultimate motivator.
I'll share with you some dark things from my life: I was an obese kid. Shhh... yes... today, my waistline is about 33 inches. Up until I was 13 years old, my tummy was also that size. I've always kept my size/weight in check up until before I left for London, when I arrived in England, I measured 36 inches and my cheeks look like a hamster who's keeping food in his mouth. However, I was not one to sit around to complain. I chanced upon this magazine insert sponsored by this company called "MaxiMuscle". Boy, that was a life changer (ok, waist changer). I learnt little tricks about how to keep fat intake to less than 15 grams a day, put myself on a 4 times a week exercise regime and went for little jogs even in the deepest of winter. The squirrels living outside my room looked curiously inside as I huffed and puffed and jumped and groaned on my workouts. My housemate in the next room wasn't amused.
In China, I continued my running. Worried that breathing in too much industrial pollution would cause my lungs to evolve, I kept up my regime on the treadmill.
So I ran and I ran...but I still cannot, for f**%s sakes pass my IPPT!During my last test, I failed my 2.4km timing by 30 seconds! As I wobbled my way back to the car, I was so infuriated I could have set a bomb at the test center. My friend, you won't know how sad it feels when you're getting gold standard for every other station only to walk away a failure 30 seconds too late :(
Now, your dearest writer sips his coffee and munches on raspberry brulee cheesecake. The window for my IPPT will open once again, will I pass it? Will I not? We shall see...
Sleep Debt
The past few weeks have been excruciatingly intense. Many, many long meetings led to late nights. Which in turn led to lack of sleep. What made it worse was I succumbed to peer pressure and stuck and smoked up a few sticks of ciggies. Not wise. Today, is a Saturday and it was fantastic opportunity to pay back some sleep debt, load up on fiber, go for a long-over due run and catch up with books. Maybe catching up with books at a nice quiet cafe will be good, we'll see how things go.
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Quick thoughts before lunch....
I've spent some time
thinking about whether or not to open up this blog to public again. I
started this when I was 24 - which is a good many years ago from today.
I'm a slightly different person from who I was then, but it wasn't until
I read through the posts that I realized how little of me has
changed. There are core principles and desires that remain latent
throughout our lives and because of our environment and experiences, we
continue to shape into another form.
It was good to read some of my old writings, though some were written in moments of hot anger, some were downright embarrassing and some had all the trademarks of a young, haughty, arrogant and idealistic boy. All this reminded me of who I was, what I wanted and to stay on track with these things.
It was good to read some of my old writings, though some were written in moments of hot anger, some were downright embarrassing and some had all the trademarks of a young, haughty, arrogant and idealistic boy. All this reminded me of who I was, what I wanted and to stay on track with these things.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
thoughts thoughts thoughts.....
you can buy clothes,
but you can't buy style.
you can buy food, art, music,
but you can't buy taste and skill.
you can own the biggest house,
but you need to nurture a home.
you can buy gym equipment,
but you can't buy discipline.
you can buy slimming tea,
but you can't buy self-control.
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