Life is like climbing 80 floors

80 Floors

There were once 2 brothers who lived on the 80th level. On coming home one day, they realized to their dismay that the lifts were not working and that they had to climb the stairs home. After struggling to the 20th level, panting and tired, they decided to abandon their bags and come back for them. They left their bags there and climbed on. When they struggled to the 40th level, the younger brother started to grumble and both of them began to quarrel. They continued to climb the flights of steps, quarreling all the way to the 60th floor. They then realized that they had only 20 levels more to climb and decided to stop quarreling and continue climbing in peace. They silently climbed on and reached their home at long last. Each stood calmly before the door and waited for the other to open the door. And they realized that the key was in their bags which were left on the 20th floor ......

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This story is a reflection on our lives... many of us live for the expectations of our parents, teachers and friends when we were young. We seldom get to do the things that we really like or love. It is under so much pressure and stress that by our early 20s, we get tired and decide to dump this load.... and enjoy life. Being free of the stress and pressure, we work enthusiastically and dream ambitious dreams.

But by the time we reach our 40s, we start to lose our vision and along with that, our dreams and goal in life. We began to feel unsatisfied and start to complain and criticize. We live life in misery as we are never satisfied.

Reaching 60, we realize that we have little time left for complaining and we began to walk the final episode in peace and calmness. We think that there is nothing left that could disappoint us, only to realize that we cannot rest in peace because we have an unfulfilled dream.....a dream we abandoned about 60 plus years ago......

So what is your dream? ......Keep them alive....Follow your dreams so that you will not live with regrets ......and you will have stories to share with your loved ones.

Happy Feet!

A heart-warming short video clip about the young penguin chick who seems to be following his caretaker everywhere he goes as if he is its mom.

I wish to have that cute Happy Feet!

Deaf dog and Deaf Cat

Don't you think they look so cute and innocent while they are sleeping? No matter how loud their owners are calling them, they remain oblivious to the world, just like Sleeping Beauty or Sleeping Prince. I could not help laughing at them as I know that I am also like one of them. :)

They are so irresistibly cute! Have a good laugh!

YAH! 50+ Singapore Community

I brought my parents to Suntec City just now as there was a programme targeted at senior citizens who are 50 years and above. I always wanted them to be more exposed to community so that they can derive greater meaning from their lives and have their greater responsbilities in planning their lives.

Many of my friends often tell me that they do not know what to do with their ageing parents as they have entirely different lifestyles. Sad to know that many old parents, who are left alone at home, are lonely and tend to be depressed easily. I do not want to see my parents like that.

I want them to be positive and also to lead their active and healthy lifestyles. I encourage my mom to take up taichi courses while my dad to take up basic IT programme. However, given my busy schedule, it's hard for me to allocate my time to search for suitable programmes for them.

Finally, good opportunity came my way as I saw the advertisement "YAH!". YAH means Young at Heart and I immediately signed up for my parents. I brought them down to Suntec City just now and they liked some programmes offered there. My parents were considering to sign up for basic IT courses at Bishan soon and it only cost $45 for 3 3-hours lessons. My dad would definitely love to learn how to surf internet so that he can check the stock prices from Internet!

As for my mom, she wanted to write a Chinese blog and shared her thoughts with her readers! I am encouraging her to do that! At least she's coming out of her shell of loneliness to open space of fun and enjoyment!

Then, we walked around and my mom saw the line-dancing demo. She was immensely captivated by it and she asked around how she could sign up for this course. I was very much touched by her gesture that she was taking more responsibility to plan and enjoy her life.

In the past, she would tell me that she did not like that activity that was associated with old people or to mix around with any busybody aunties at the void decks. She often lamented that she was feeling lonely and moody most of the time. Of course, I was deluged with guilt for not spending my time with her and I had to rethink my priority so that I could spend my quality time with her at home. For instance, I asked her to teach me Chinese every once a week so that she could have a sense of fulfilment in contributing to my wellness and learning.

I guess every parent has his/her needs like us. Sometimes, we need to put aside time to help them to plan what they want to do first and eventually, they find something that can give them a great sense of fulfilment.

Perhaps I would definitely understand the loneliness better when I am 60 or 70 years old in future.

Banana George!

Today I'm going to dedicate my time to collect some interesting stories about people who have their great zest for lives! This month, I'd compile as many interesting stories as I can and I hope that this simple short article will continue to bring smile to my readers!

Have you heard of Banana George? A truly legendary 93-year-old won numerous awards and records including his entries in Guiness Book of World Records!

Ever-smiling George who always loves to wear his favourite colour - bright yellow - clothes is often seen at the lake, practising his water skiing prowess! He never fails to amaze me that despite his age, he continues to live his life to the fullest.

Let's go wacky with Banana George this time! Dun let the age stop you. It's just a number as long as you think that you are young at heart!

http://www.bananageorge.com

Finally we are now in Year 2009 - Bullish Year?

It's time for me to start typing away my thoughts/concerns/fears about this year. Amidst merry-making celebration during the last hour at the last day of much-cursed year 2008, there was a mixture of feelings welling up in me. Everyone was anticipating that year 2008 was a year of prosperity and prospect as it carried a number "8". Yes, a big lucky number that everyone has been clamoring over to possess it! 

And even a telephone number with all digits being 8 was sold for USD$270, 723 in Chengdu, China and a man in Hangzhou went to such an extent to sell his license plate "A888888" for RMB 1.12 Million. And of course, the most recent Olympic Summer ceremony, which both made the world fascinated and green with jealousy, began on 8th August 2008 at exact 8 seconds and 8 minutes past 8pm (Beijing time). 

With so much craze over a mere number 8, would it be able to match up to everyone's expectation that Year 2008 would be the "best" in the history amidst the worst economic recession that was sparked off by a CEO of Lehman Brother, scandal of milk, Sichuan earthquake, Madoff scandal and the most recent Bangkok club fire?

A few days ago, I was reading TODAY newspaper and there was an interesting article on "When life gives you lemons". Why do we feel so depressed or upset and fail to remember that there are many reasons for us to be happy?

Teen's dying wish to save 5 lives, axed banking veteran landed himself a teaching job, doing IT for free in India, lowly-educated mechanical designer vowed to work hard despite great adversity...so on.

As I was leafing through every Happiness article, I found myself beaming with smiles and my general mood being lifted! I reflected on myself as I am so fortunate to be thankful for having:

• Supportive Family and Friends
• Wonderful close friends
• Good health
• Stable financial health
• Freedom to enjoy doing my things
• Positive mindset
• Ditto and ditto

It's also a time for me to make a good lemonade since Life gives me lemons! Why complain and lament over its sour taste? Make do with it to make a sweet lemonade and savour every moment of Life!

"Fear's the greatest disability" - Nick Vujicic, Without Limbs

Just now, I attended a seminar by Nick Vujicic who was born without limbs. It was truly inspiring seminar for me as I always wanted to meet him in real person. That chance finally came.

Nick Vujicic was born in Melbourne in 1982, being limbless without arms and with one small foot with two toes protruding from his left thigh.

He shared that his life was filled with hardships, obstacles and tears. According to Australian law, he was not allowed to study at the mainstream school even though he was not mentally handicapped. However, it seemed there was a change of fate that he was allowed to study at the mainstream school where he learnt to write using his two toes of his "foot". Because Nick was perceived as being so different from the normal student, he was often singled out as being bullied by other students and thus, he became depressed by age of eight. Nick started to think of committing suicide to escape all these taunts at school. He even begged God to grow his legs and arms so that he would be a normal person just like everyone. After Nick began his soul searching, he realised that he could help to inspire many people. Eventually, his life picked up and he started to give his talks at his prayer group. Nick went on to set up his first organisation, "Life Without Limbs".

While his life completely turned around for better, Nick gave thousands of motivational speech overseas focusing on the topics that teenagers face. He created his first DVD, 'Life's Greater Purpose' which features a brief documentary of his life. A few photos of his childhood and how he enjoyed playing sports. Nick has a big dream. He wanted to publish his first book "No Arms, No Legs, No Worries!" by end of 2009. His dream is getting bigger and bigger! No way does he allow his handicap from reaching his dream.

While pictures of Nick during childhood beamed across thousands of supporters at Paya Lebar Church (I was not a Christian), two helpers carried Nick onto the long table on the stage, drawing thunderous applause from audience. Some of them wept silently while others cheered for him.

Immediately, a powerful voice pierced throughout the cacophony and finally, the limelight shone on Nick, a mere 1-metre handsome statue without limbs. One would imagine how difficult his life would be and many of us took many things for granted e.g. washing clothes, picking up the telephone, playing sports

Nick pointed to his protusion and described it as a "chicken drumstick", eliciting roaring laughter from audience. LOL!

This man went on to prove many critics wrong that he could swim, he could skate, he could play golf, he could ride horse, he could do many things that no one ever believed. Recently, he went surfing in Hawaii!

Towards the end of the show, Nick shared, "I asked God for arms and legs. I believed that I will have arms and legs when I see God. But I will still trust God if God says NO!" Because of this, Nick can meet 660,000 people worldwide, inspiring and giving them becons of hope.

Finally, I managed to get a chance to hug Nick and told him personally that he was truly my inspiration. I gave him a yellow folder with my short articles about me and my name card.
I am so glad to meet him in person, a truly larger-than-life personality who continues to inspire me in many ways.

You can visit his website at http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org

"The most important thing is to control your own destiny"

Today, I had a lunch meeting with a CEO of Thai Express at Tiong Bahru Plaza. Prior to it, I read about him in the Straits Time as he was nominated as one of the Spirit Entrepreneurs for 2007 batch. While reading that article, the very words that captured my attention were:

"Ivan has a soft spot for disability and elderly."

That was why he wanted to create job opportunities for disabled and mature workers to work at Thai Express.

In short, Thai Express is a chain of restaurants that serve authenatic Thai food and up to now, there are 75 outlets in Singapore, Malaysia, New Zealand, Australia and even in a flung-off country that is Outer Mongolia! I was genuinely impressed to know that Ivan has a great tenacity and determination to push for expansion of Thai Express to many pockets in Asia. Digressing from this topic for a while, I went on backpacking in Outer Mongolia in the middle of winter in 2006.

After reading that article about him, I scoured the internet looking for any useful contacts but in vain. I wrote in online Thai Express feedback form with a brief introduction about myself hoping that someone would help to forward the email to Ivan. The next day, I got an email reply from his secretary. The answer was immediate "YES" and Ivan wanted to meet me and Collin soon.

We arranged to meet up at Tiong Bahru at Thai Express Cafe and he came in a few minutes after I arrived at 12pm sharp. We really had a lively discussion ranging from Amazing Race Asia, careers to entrepreneurship. I found out that his wife was a fervent supporter of our team and I thanked him profusely for that. I believed that Amazing Race Asia really brought many people closer to us at heart! He further added that one of the days, he wanted to bring his wife out for lunch with all of us!

After my discussion with him, my conviction about Ivan certainly solidified that he has a big heart for disabled. He shared with me that he hired a few deaf workers and they were doing well there. Ivan has a strong belief that everyone regardless of any differences be it disability, age or whatever, can make his/her useful contribution to any company.

When he started out doing business at Thai Express in 2002, it wasn't easy for him as he had to do almost everything as being a one-man show. He had not taken any off-days and even now, he still has to work over weekends. The only time he could spare was to spend quality time with his children who are the important source of his inspiration.

Before we parted our way, Ivan said to me that he welcomed any deaf who are keen to work in Thai Express if I knew anyone. (Pls let me know if you are keen).

"Oh, because you had a handicap, you shouldn't do this or that."

Yesterday night I went down to Singapore Management University (city campus) to meet up with a group of young SMU students. Earlier on, they emailed me to ask me to share my thoughts of being a deaf person living in Singapore. They wanted to write a book on deafness so as to raise a better awareness about deafness in Singapore. Of course, I'm very pleased. In fact, there was no other such book that wrote about the deafness.

SMU students spent their significant time to understand the deaf community better during their school period. They learnt basic sign language, and gave useful lessons to some deaf people through an interpreter. After spending a few months mingling with the deaf community, they felt that not many people have their right perception of the deaf community. Worst still, many of them held their wrong perception that deaf would mean that they would not be able to talk or even label them as being "DUMB". Therefore, SMU students wanted to correct the misconception of the deafness through writing in the book.

Prior to meeting them, I felt a strong sense of responsibility for the deaf community as I know that many deaf people are marginalized or stigmatized of being "less-abled" individuals. I also had a fair share of discrimination at my workplace. I had a supervisor who told me right in my face that, "Because you have a HANDICAP, you should't do this or that.". I was simply shocked by it and I knew that this kind of statement definitely reflected my supervisor's lack of maturity, empathy and understanding for different group of people. Surprisingly though, my supervisor even had his/her own handicap which he/she is not even aware of it! A few months later, I shared that incident with my supervisor about this insensitive remark and eventually he/she apologised to me for making this remark. I wasn't sure whether he/she was truly feeling bad about it. Still, I was glad that I brought this issue up to him/her and handled this problem as much diplomatic as possible. 

I decided to put on a brave front to share my past experiences at work place with SMU students. I felt that if no one would ever tell his or her real story about the actual discrimination at workplace, no one would ever know about it. I knew that there are many disabled people who continue to keep silent about their discrimination at workplace, yet they endured it lest they might lose jobs, or even their places at workplace. 

The question is that why do we want to be a nail that sticks out to be eventually hammered in....

"If we didn't die, we would not appreciate life as we do."

I would like to share with my readers about this charismatic adventurer who is a big symbol of adventure, passion and living life to the fullest to me. Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau.

Perhaps those, who were born before 1980s, could probably have some vague recollection of a legendary adventurer, scientist and charismatic man who captained his legendary ship "Calypso" across the world's oceans. Not many people are aware that he was the first man who held the very key to unlock the secrets of unknown world.

"Underwater World".

Captain Jacques made his first French underwater documentary film on Par dix-huit mètres de fond' (= 18 meters deep") in 1943, creating the first invention of underwater camera. Without him, we would not probably marvel at the secret riches of the underwater world through the eyes of documentary films. He believed in his personal motto, "Il faut aller voir” (”We must go and see for ourselves”).

I have quoted a few short paragraphs of his thought-provoking philosophy towards life.

"One of the great lessons that we learned from the Captain’s life is that is doesn’t take advanced educational degrees, wealth, or connections in high places to achieve success. It takes only creativity, desire, and an instinct for innovation. Cousteau evolved from a sickly child into a self-proclaimed misfit, then into a naval officer, later into an inventor and master cinematographer, and finally into the world’s greatest explorer and father of the modern environmental movement. None of it was planned, or handed to him, or laid out in advance. “Sometimes we are lucky enough to know that our lives have been changed,” Cousteau said about his first experience using goggles underwater. He took the seeds of chance and nurtured them into forests of experience, relying only on a visceral drive to create and discover new things.

“I have accepted death not only as inevitable but also as constructive,” Cousteau once said. “If we didn’t die, we would not appreciate life as we do.” We were young when Cousteau uttered those words, and knew nothing of death, but we appreciated life because he appreciated it, and because he showed us how. He was not only captain of the Calypso, he was captain of our imaginations, and clearly one of the great men of the 20th century. Our only question now is, where is the successor to the charming and charismatic man who skippered the dreams of our youth?

It has been said that true happiness lies in the fulfillment of childhood dreams. If there is any truth to that statement, then happiness for many of us means donning a red wooly cap, climbing aboard an affectionately named ship, pointing to the horizon, and announcing to a small group of bold adventurers, “We must go and see for ourselves.”"

It's time for us to be a child with our limitless curiosity and imagination again! Don't you think we should start now?

A Chinese saying goes, "The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. But the second best time is TODAY."

Build Castles In the Air

"If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them."

- Henry David Thoreau -

A little thought about the Law of Attraction

Perhaps you might find it hard to believe that Law of Attractions works everywhere and every time provided you conscientiously practise this simple Law of Attraction.

It's simply just that you need to manage your mind and see things in positive way. Even if anything around you is not getting any better or seems to be worse than before, that's a BIG CHALLENGE for you. It's how you need to create a space between a response and stimulus (propounded by Stephen Covey - 7 Habits of Highly Effective People). By giving yourself sufficient space between stimulus and response, it demands a lot of discipline and foresight to strategize how you need to react to different kind of situations.

In short, if you put your mind and heart in getting what you REALLY want, and you must experience how you have actually received, things that you have in your mind will be magnetized to you. It's absolutely NO QUESTION ABOUT IT!

I have a real experience which you might think it is just a small thing. Believe it or not! It happens to all of us regardless of who you are. It obeys us!

I was taking a driving test last Friday, and I failed my driving test 4 times. I was kinda sick of failing my driving test and had to go for driving revision. It did not come cheap. You needed to shell out at least US$60 for 2-hour lesson and it was not really pleasant to book online, slot this training lesson in your overly packed schedule, drag yourself out of your house to the driving school and get yourself virtually frustrated with yourself for not getting things right.

If I were to turn this around by escaping from these unpleasant things which I have mentioned earlier, I would have to pass it once for all. But the question is that how I want myself to pass my test?

So, I practised just 3 simple rules:
1. Know what you want and ask the universe for it.
2. Feel and behave as if the object of your desire is on its way.
3. Be open to receiving it.

I imagine myself driving in an air-conditioned air and my tester being patient with me. He would say, "Adrian please don't be nervous and stay relaxed." Besides that, I visualized myself driving along the route which was the easiest of all test routes. I was actually experiencing it at that moment, the feel of the steering wheel, the comfort that I was experiencing, the feel of coordinating between clutch, brake and accelerator pedals and everything felt right for me.

And I would write it down in my journal. "I want to pass my driving test on 24/10/2008 at 3pm."

On that very day on my way there, I wasn't nervous about it though occasionally, nervousness crept into me. After doing some warm-up driving lesson, I had to wait for my tester in a waiting room. Finally, a tester named "Ong" came in and I explained to him about my hearing loss. He said, "Don't worry. Just do your best. I want you to do the test route 1." My heart jumped at it as it was the easiest of all test routes! And moreover, it came true as I visualised about it earlier on! Instead of being too ecstatic, I remained calm and throughout the test route, I only made 12 demerit points! I finally passed my test!

Next month, I will receive my much-coveted prize - my driving license!

BINGO! I made it!

Finally I passed my driving test!

I felt so triumphant that I finally passed my driving test. It even coincided with my important goal for this year. Prior to passing my driving test, I wrote my intention to pass my driving test on 24th Oct at 3pm. I visualised myself having a kind tester and easiest test route to secure higher chance of passing my test.

It seems that my visualization exercise worked and I went on smoothly without any major glitches! I felt so great to earn my driving license next month after 4 repeated failures. A saying goes, Failure will make you stronger and tougher!

Now, the next goal is to pass JLPT 2 on 7th Dec!

Good luck to me!

Meeting up my first primary school teacher!

It was like waking up from a deep slumber to realise that 29 years had passed by and so many things have happened within an eye's blink. Many people walked in and out of my lives; some of them left indelible footprints while others had been unfortunately obliterated by the waves of change. 

Yesterday I went to visit my very first primary school teacher who taught me for 4 yrs. She was Sister Maria Riva, hailed from Milan, Italy...Yes, a fashion capital of the world and you might be wondering a simple num who came from the world of glizty fashion. She shared that when she was around 30 years old, she came to Singapore on ship on her missionary. Her first posting here was at my alma mater school, Canossian School for the Hearing Impaired. At that time, there was only 2 special schools and I was enrolled there.

I remembered my very first time when I was there. I immediately cried at the unfamiliarity of the place. No later than I thought, I was engulfed by 2 warm wings of Sr Maria and I immediately felt I was secure and warm. She was there with full of smiles and warmth. Her smile dissipated my fear and insecurity and I was slowly introduced to my new classmates. That is where I started my first education in that school.

Now, she is 76 years old and recently went for hip and knee operations. She was walking well though she seemed to lose weight significantly. She is now helping at St. Jospeh Homes where many old and sick people will be looked after there. 

We asked her whether she is planning to go back to Milan for good. She said that she is happy to stay here and afterall Singapore is her second home. She is now PR and she is contented to be here in Sg. I promised her that I will ask my ex-classmates to visit her soon and I will send her photos. 

She mentioned to me that the very first time she saw me waiting for her, she could not recognise as I changed so much all these years. However, she could recognise my familiar laugh lines.

Before we took photos together, we bidded each other goodbye and I told myself that I must regularly visit her whenever I have time. She is one of the important persons who left her footprints in my life.

My ex-NJC principal

I finally had a chance to meet up with my ex-NJC principal, Mrs Maureen Ng. It has been 10 years since I left NJC and it was like walking down a memory lane which was covered with autumn falling leaves. It was kinda of nostalgic feeling of being back to the salad-day when you felt very green and innocent of the tough reality out there in the real world.

We had a lunch at Bali Thai restaurant at Velocity and we had so much things to share about. It seemed that we were getting closer to each other than before and I began to see her more of a down-to-earth human being with her big heart as compared with my perception of her being a tough-fisted iron lady with her great responsibility to steer NJC to a greater height.

She is now retired and she is actively helping out with her charitable organisation. 

After I finished my O level examination, I always wanted to enter NJC and at that time, my cut-off points from my preliminary examination was slightly above entry cut-off. Nevertheless, I was undaunted by it and my parents accompanied me to see Mrs Maureen Ng who had served as a principal of NJC for 6 years. However, at that time, Mrs Ng was so busy that she had to turn away some of the guests who wished to see her. But we were not deterred by it so we waited for her outside her outside for hours. Eventually, Mrs Ng agreed to let us in her office. During the conversation, she went through my report book and my secondary school ex-principal's testimony carefully. She asked a few questions about my academic results and finally she said that it was quite difficult for me to enter NJC given my preliminary exam cut-off points. Initially, I was disappointed that I might not be admitted into NJC so she finally asked me a last question, "Why do you want to come to my NJC?". I innocently answered her question that when I was small, I often took a bus home, passing by an old NJC building. I often saw NJC students donning their grey uniforms and I immediately liked to be one of them." It seemed that my simple answer won her over and she gave me a toothy smile. 

She said, "Okay, you shall begin your term next week." before she went out of her office with my documents. Initially, I could not understand her but when I turned to look at my parents, they all were already smiling at me and I knew that I would be one of the NJC students ooon. My dream was finally fulfilled.

Then after the release of O level results,  my cut-off points met the NJC entry points and I went to become one of the top A level students with 4 'A's and 2 'S' papers. Without her belief in me and if she were not to give me any chance, I would not be able to lift my head up with pride to show that I am able to produce best results. 

On that very day during the release of A level results, my parents and I were really nervous wreck and I constantly was worried that I could not obtain straight As.  As the clock ticked by, time seemed to be in eternity and I could not stand the feeling of being in suspense. What if I failed my Further Mathematics? What if I failed my GP? If it really happened,  my hope of entering University was dashed. 

As I was walking towards the empty whiteboard which would display the A level results, Mrs Ng came straight out of the office and she gave me a VERY BIG SMILE. She went towards me and immediately hugged me! She said to me ,"Adrian, you have done very well! You scored 4 As and 2 merits for S papers. I'm so proud of you!" My parents were there! Other students looked on. I was somehow in the daze and I did not know what I should do. Should I jump for joy or should I believe her? The Truth took some time to sink in my mind and I started to feel euphoric! I thanked her profusely and I told my parents that I did well. 

Fast forward 10 years and when we were sitting in the Bali Thai restaurant, I recounted that moment, and Mrs Ng told me that the moment the A level results came to her office, she immediately looked for my name and she was extremely happy that I did so well in the examination. That was why she came forward to find me before she gave me a warm hug. 

The lesson from it is that we must always learn to give other people a chance to prove themselves. Even if they did not do well, the invaluable lesson they would learn is to learn to be more magnanimous and caring and from there, they can accomplish much more things later in Life. 

Met up with my ex-schoolmate

I had a lunch with my ex-schoolmate from my secondary school. He is now working as a Head Trainer at Adam Khoo Learning Technology Centre.

It has been ages since I last left my secondary school and lost contact with him. It was kinda an old feeling welled up inside me upon seeing an old friend.

We had a lunch together at Velocity catching up with each other be it our family life, careers, and our aspirations. He also shared about his dream of moving to the States to be among the top speakers in US.

See this inspiring profile of my friend.

Ramesh Muthusamy

Ramesh is a Trainer with the Adam Khoo Learning Technologies Group Pte Ltd, and a Master Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, and is also a Certified Lead Trainer for the "I am Gifted, So are You!" and "Super Kids" workshops.  He is a former National Debater 1997-1998 and among his speaking accomplishments has also won a several speech contests. As a Toastmaster, he has been a club officer twice, serving as the Vice-President Public Relations and Vice President Education and has

taken up challenging roles as the chairperson for various Contests and other Ceremonies.  In 1997, Ramesh won the best speaker trophy in the "Bridging Minds" Brunei-Singapore debates which was televised live to over 5 million households. In 1998, as the Presentation Captain he helped his college lift the prestigious Singapore Press Holdings Geography Challenge Trophy.  In 2000, he became the National "Open" category Champion at the Singapore 21 Speech Contest. He is the current two-time champion of the Toastmasters International, Division S Table Topics (Impromptu Speaking) Contest for 2001 and 2002. In May 2002, he represented one of the Divisions in Singapore at the Toastmasters District 51 International Speech Contest and emerged as the Champion after competing with 12 other contestants from the Pan South East Asian Region.  In August 2002, Ramesh became the first ever Singaporean to compete in the Inter-District Speech Contest in San Antonio, Texas. After battling it out with the best speakers from South Africa, Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, Britain and Ireland he returned home as the second-ranking speaker outside the United States of America.  Ramesh has trained for the following organizations: Officer Cadet School, Great Eastern Life, Changkat Changi Secondary School, Springfield Secondary School, Mayflower Secondary School, The Salvation Army., and many others. Ramesh has also coached many speakers, debaters and performers who strive for speaking excellence. He was the Area S6 Governor helping to organize educational and leadership activities for his area.

Dragon Boat Sava Sprint Sept 2008

Today we had a Dragon boat competition at Bedok Reservoir. We went down at around 8am and our first event started at 10am. We had our brief warm-up before we were assembled into our formation for our first event. For our first event, we did fairly well as we managed to get into semi-final. 

Same thing for other event - mixed team event and we also got into semi-final. 

However, we did not win anything after competing with mighty teams in semi-final competition. Though we did not win anything from the event, the very one thing that we won is the friendship, trust, comradeship and determination not to be defeated are the biggest prizes for all of us.

We are going for the next event in November and we believe that we will make it to the top

 three position in the final!

Calendar

It's interesting to note that in the ancient times, Chinese originally used "seven luminaries" or "七曜" qīyào. Here it follows: All these words mean that:Monday is "Moon day"
Tuesday is "Fire day"
Wednesday is "Water day"
Thursday is "Wood day"
Friday is "Gold/Metal day"
Saturday is "Earth day"
Sunday is "Sun day" indeed.

But only when China started to adopt the names of the Western days of the week, these names were largely disappeared from Chinese lunar calendar. However, these names remained in Japanese and Korean calendars till present day!

http://www.cjvlang.com/Dow/dowchin.html

Learning Korean language 한국어 (韓國語)

Learning how to type in hangul alphabet and learn their pronounciation.

모든 인간(人間)은 태어날 때부터 자유(自由)로우여 그 존엄(尊嚴)과 권리(權利)에 있어
동등(同等)하다. 인간(人間)은 천부적(天賦的) 으로 이성(理性)과 양심(良心)을
부여(賦輿)받았으여 서로형제(兄第)애(愛)의 정신(精神)으로　행동（行動）하여야한다．

Modeun Ingan-eun Tae-eonal ttaebuteo Jayuroumyeo Geu Jon-eomgwa Gwonrie Iss-eo Dongdeunghada. Ingan-eun Cheonbujeog-euro Iseong-gwa Yangsim-eul
Bu-yeobad-ass-eumyeo Seoro Hyungje-ae-ui Jeongsin-euro Haengdongha-yeo-yahanda.

－－－－－－－－－－－－Ｔｒａｎｓｌａｔｅｄ　－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

----------Useful learning resource for Korean learner-----------
How to key in the Korean hangul using keyboard (Gongjin Cheong Romaja)
http://jdm0777.com.ne.kr/boho/romaja.htm

Inspiring Dog Fights to Live Normally

Hi! My name is Faith! I was born on Christmas Eve in the year 2002.

He was born with 3 legs - 2 healthy hind legs and 1 abnormal front leg which need to be amputated. He of course could not walk when he was born. Even his mother did not want him.

His first owner also did not think that he can survive. Therefore, he was thinking of "putting him to sleep". By this time, his present owner Stringfellow met him and wanted to take care of him. She is determined to teach and train this dog to walk by himself. Therefore she named him "Faith".

In the beginning, she put Faith on a surfing board to let him feel the movements. Later she used peanut buuter on a spoon as a lure and reward for him to stand up and jump aro! und. Even the other dog at home also helped to encourage him to walk. Amazingly, only after 6 months, like a miracle, Faith learned to balance on his 2 hind legs and jumped to move forward. After further training in the snow, he now can walk like a human being.

Faith loves to walk around now. No matter where he goes, he just attracts all the people around him. He is now becoming famous on the international scene. He has appeared on various newspapers and TV shows. There is even one book entitled "With a little faith" being published about him. He was even considered to appear in one of Harry Potter movies.

His present owner Jude Stringfellew has given up her teaching post and plans to take him around the world to preach that even without a perfect body, one can have a perfect soul".

In life there are always undesirable things. Perhaps one will feel better if one changes the point of view from another direction.

Life is the continual demonstration of the Strength of Life!

Inspiring Story...

A simple inspiring message for you....

When someone tells you that you can't do something ...

Look around...

Consider all options...

Then GO for it!

Use all the things what you have!

In the end, you will succeed and prove them wrong!

Reconnection....

Don't you think that it is time for us to get reconnected with old friends whom we have not seen for years? It's like rummaging through the dusty suitcase which was stacked away under the bed and it was like rediscovering your forgotten past. Or those people who suffered from concussion, suddenly remembered their pasts stretched from somewhere across their minds' eyes.

When you left your secondary school, do you remember the person who made your day memorable? When you left your junior college, do you remember that person who gave you a chance to try again until you did better than before? I'm sure that there is a some body who played his/her pivotal role in shaping your life or having made a great difference in your life.

I will be meeting my ex-principal from National Junior College, my very first Primary School Italian teacher, my ex-class mate from NUS and my ex-school mate from my secondary school. Gosh, I am getting busier to search for my old friends who have left my footprints in my life.

Indeed, the world might be small but in fact, we could not find anyone everywhere.

I kinda like a simple poem and share it with you:

There are moments in life when you miss someone so much that you just want to pick them from your dreams and hug them for real!

When the door of happiness closes, another opens; but often times we look so long at the closed door that we don't see the one, which has been opened for us.

Don't go for looks; they can deceive. Don't go for wealth; even that fades away. Go for someone who makes you smile, because it takes only a smile to make a dark day seem bright. Find the one that makes your heart smile.

Dream what you want to dream; go where you want to go; be what you want to be, because you have only one life and one chance to do all the things you want to do.

May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human and enough hope to make you happy.

The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way.

The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; you can't go forward in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches.

When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling. Live your life so at the end,you're the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying.

Don't count the years-count the memories...........

Thien Nhan

This little Vietnamese boy was abandoned by his mother and left in a forest, where he was mauled by a wild animal and lost his right leg and his genitals. He underwent more suffering in his young life than most people have in their whole lifetime, but now has been adopted by a caring Vietnamese family and receiving medical treatment.

Here is the official website: http://help-thien-nhan.blogspot.com/

Meeting my Japanese friends

昨日コリン君はシンガポールのハフ・アイアンマンレースを参加しましたから、彼を支えていました。じゃ、コリン君の自転車の輪をさっと破裂（はれつ）しまいました！かわいそうにそのやつはスロープを転げ落ちました。大変いたそうだのに、コリン君はレースを一生懸命終わりました。この事件が、簡単の意味は「最後の最後まで諦める（あきらめる）な！」と習いました！

あとで、僕は日本人の友達にあいました。彼らはハフ・アイアンマンレースも参加しました。上さんには僕日本語で話しました。去年僕は他の日本人聾者に会いました。でも、昨日鳥海さんは参加しませんでした！

Yesterday Collin was taking part in the Half Ironman competition so I went there to support him! Hoever, his bicycle tyre suddenly burst and he tumbled down the slope. As a result, he sustained huge injuries to his right arm. Thanks God! His arm was not seriously fractured otherwise his dream of being in fitness line would be shattered! Anyway even if his wound was so searingly painful, he went on all his way to complete his race. Such a man who won our respect for showing his tenacity and determination despite of his injuries and this simple lesson tells us not to give up trying till the end!

At there, I also met my Japanese friends who were also taking part in the race. I was chatting with one of my friends' wife in Japanese. Last year, I met a Japanese deaf guy who was also taking part in the Ironman but he was not there yesterday.

A little thought on "Changing your Course"

As I count down to the day that I am leaving, the more I feel free and there are many things that I wanted to do. But there is a word of caution that my saving account would not last long and I have to be realisitic.

Nevetheless, I bought a fantastic book "Changing your Life Course". It's a fantastic self-help book that outlines various steps on how you need to plan for your future. It was not like other self-help books which would encourage you to think positively, by giving you plethora of self-lifting words, or encouragement but no real action items have been given.

As I plouged through my new book carefully, it's getting more practical and realistic to D.R.E.A.M that is, Decide, Research, Evaluate, Act and Maintain. I am now at Research section where you need to do some research on how you want to improve your current situation. Many of the self-help books seem to be somewhere at "Decide" section where you must decide on what you want to do with you life but very few books would actually tell you how you shld need to do about it. It's like telling people that they must make the garden beautiful and lavish but they did not tell them how they need to plan to do with the garden. They need to get wheelbarrow, spade, fertilizers, seeds and so on. In order to realise the goal of having beautiful gardens, one needs to identify concrete steps and the most importantly patience to nurture the garden with love and care.

NLP

Yesterday, I went for a 3-hour free seminar conducted at Adam Khoo Learning Technology centre with my colleague. The course trainer was hilarious and he was able to engage audience in his interesting topic about NLP (Neuro Linguisitic Programming). I had read about it before. I think this NLP was developed by Anthony Robbins if I am not wrong. I have read about it and it taught you how to programme your mind positively so that you would be able to work towards goal in mind.



I was interested in finding out more about this NLP and my brother has bought this book titled "Master Your Mind, Design your Destiny" from this course. I asked him whether he found his course useful.

Coincidentally, my brother mentioned about Ramesh and I asked him whether he worked at the Adam Khoo. I told him that he was my school mate from secondary school and we were in the military band for 4 years! What a small world! He went to say that Ramesh has a great sense of humor and able to elicit roaring laughter from the audience.

Learning German from my deaf Singaporean friend!

Had a great chat with my deaf friend who married her German husband. We managed to chat online and she seemed to enjoy her new life in Germany. I certainly wished her very best in her new life in Deutscheland. Along the way, I kept on pestering her to teach me some German words.

Here is what I am learning. There are around 10 German words that I have learnt from her...

[Deu] Wie geht es lhnen?
[Eng] How are you?

[Deu] Gut/Prima
[Eng] Good/Excellent

Travel Article - Homecoming

I wrote the very first travel article to describe how I felt when I made my personal pilgrimage to search for my own root.

As a Chinese saying goes: “No matter how tall the tree is, the leaves will eventually fall back to the root.”

I’ve always been curious about my Hakka heritage and after galloping across the globe in the Amazing Race Asia 2 with my race partner Collin Low and seeing how people in other countries lived, I was compelled to make a trip of my own to the hometown of my forefathers.

The opening of a Hakka museum three months ago in Meizhou — a city that is the unofficial capital of the Hakka in north-eastern Guangdong province — was also a boon for those interested in the culture of this migratory group of people.

Called the “Guest People”, the Hakka originated from the central plains around the Yellow River. Years of strife and upheavals beginning in the Jin Dynasty (265 to 420 AD) caused them to migrate southwards to Guangdong and Fujian provinces. From there, the Hakka spread to other parts of the world in search of a better life.

My return to Meizhou, which my grandfather had left at the age of 13, was via a seven hour coach ride from Hong Kong. It was a comfortable trip on the new expressway that stretched from Shenzhen to Chaozhou. Mountains shrouded in mist flanked the highway. Nestled in the slopes were ancestral graves that added a touch of the surreal to the landscape. According to Hakka belief, it was good fengshui to build a big grave for deceased family members high on the mountain.

Outside the city, the roads were potholed and fringed by fields of rice, corn, bitter gourd and other crops. Two- or three-storey walled houses jutted from the green land. On this, Hakka farmers were bent double tending their crops before the next rainy season threatened to destroy their livelihoods. I met my uncle in Meizhou. The hour long drive to my grandfather’s village of Cheng Shan was an apprehensive one. In the car, I practised my limited Hakka to speak to relatives who shared the same blood as me but whose existence I only knew about from my parents.

Rolling into town, I saw wizened Hakka elders sitting outside the giant double doors of their house, languidly watching the world go by while some shy children dashed behind the pillars, from where they peered at me. I was about to enter the set of a Zhang Yimou movie, or so it seemed. My uncle and his family lived in a three-storey house with a small field of corn outside. (There will be no hike in the price of maize here.) The wooden double door had huge Chinese characters written on top and opened into a courtyard. I immediately bonded with grandaunt, aunt, and cousins. Here was family, people who shared the same genes as me — how could the feeling of kinship not be instant?

My grandfather’s birthplace was a short walk from my uncle’s house. I could visualise how he had walked that path to seek a better life in Singapore. The house was derelict, ferns and weeds abound — yet, I looked at it with wonder and awe.

Every wall of that house bore witness to my grandfather’s domestic life. We climbed the stairs to the very room he used to occupy. Suddenly, I was not just a citizen of a country with a mere 43 years of history. I had a past that stretched back centuries, over vast stretches of land to this place.

I felt a connection to my forefathers, one I’d not have felt were I back in Singapore.

The Hakka museum in Meizhou city provided more insights into Hakka culture and my past. For 25 yuan ($5), visitors can peruse exhibits that include profiles of famous Hakka people such as Dr Sun Yat-Sen, the father of modern China.

There are also miniature models of Hakka dwellings. To ward off bandits and marauders, the Hakka constructed communal homes that act as fortresses. The buildings are about three to four-storeys tall, either round or square, and have windows high on the walls. The structures can accommodate up to 1,000 people.

The architecture of the Hakka forts — or tu lou — is unique. In fact, the tu lous in Fujian province were designated Unesco World Heritage sites on Monday.

In Meizhou, there are classical Hakka-style townhouses, complete with fish ponds, around the Ren Jing Lu Museum, the home of Qing diplomat and poet Huang Zunxian.

Before leaving my hometown, I had a sumptuous meal of home-cooked Hakka food which consisted of yong tau foo — apparently invented because the Hakka didn’t have wheat to make dumpling wrappers — salted baked chicken and Hakka mei cai, or salted preserved vegetables.

The meal was delicious; then again, food made by loving hands usually is.

Life Chapter 1 - Post Planning

After working for many years in govt and private sector, I do not have much tendency to work immediately after I leave this current company. I am toying with a possibility of getting any part-time job to slow down the pace. It's kinda tiring to be in the shinkasen-speed working environment where you have to be at someone's becks and calls or to fight the fires.

Come to think that it certainly helps you to develop character and to learn how to cope with different conflicts at workplace. Not only just at workplace, but also it extends to other realms of life.

Anyway, I have couple of plans to keep myself occupied next month. I am kinda excited about it. There are possible things that I am going to do and I am not going to kill myself to stay 100% committed to these planned items. It is meaningless if I coerce myself to do things for the sake of killing the time or to keep myself sane.

Here is the list of 10 things to do:

1. Training for North Face 100km and Vertical Marathon (3 times a week)


2. Catch up with my old friends and ex-principals


3. Prepare for my JLPT 2 at the end of this year


4. Practise my much-neglected Chinese course (will continue Chinese course in October)


5. Pitch to editor for my travel article


6. Practise my photography skills (I have DSLR and I should make full use of it)


7. Sign up for a few toastmaster courses to learn public speaking and leadership skills. See this website http://www.toastmasters.org.sg/
8. Do some research on Law of Attractions (LOA)
9. Build network with life coaching companies (hopefully to get myself a life mentor!)
10. And of course to send out CV for full-time jobs
    

Practising my Japanese!

最近僕はNHKホームページを読みました。じゃ、日本語が段々上手になりますので、僕はホームページを読みみたいです。あまり難しくないと思います。

ニュースによると、東北と東日本で同日夜遅くにかけて雷を伴う非常に激しい雨が降ると発表しました。



今シンガポールで一日中の雨が降っていってまいました。でも、激しくないので、僕は仕事の後てジョギングしました。少し涼しいですね。

Finally I tendered my letter...

Yesterday I finally tendered my resignation letter and I will serve out my 1 month's notice till the end of Sept.

For the time being, I am also exploring the possibility of any part-time job or even toying the idea of having my very own business!

Last weekend, I went to visit my ex-school principal, Mrs Molly Tan. I had not seen her for years. The very last time, I visited her place was 10 years ago right after I completed my A level. Time flew very fast. It was kinda scary to know that we aged so much all these years. When she asked me how old I was, I told her that I am heading 30 soon and she gave me a wide-eyed expression. In her eyes, I was like a small kid who was innocent and ignorant of the worldly affairs.


After a long conversation with her, I came away being enlightened by her fiercely disciplined and optimistic outlook on Life.

Hanja - Link

I was surfing the net for any interesting korean-english online dictionary. Found a good link for those people who are interested in learning Hanja (the chinese characters that are found in Korean language). Here is a link to learning Hanja .... http://hanja_dic.zonmal.com/, http://www.e-hanja.com/, http://hanja.naver.com/, many more things....

Uniquely Singapore wins Hawaii-Santa Cruz stage world clipper Race

Finally our own Uniquely Singapore Clipper Race has won this Leg 8 and it is gratifying to know that Singaporeans and their mates could band together to ensure the sweet victory over tough competitors and unpredictable weather. I was one of the Uniquely Singapore Clipper Race member sailing on leg 4 from Freo to Qingdao.

It was around Dec 2006 where I flew to Fremantle to continue our journey to Singapore for a brief stopover before we continued to Qingdao.

It was definitely one of the biggest milestones in my life where I forcibly took myself out of the comfort zones to experience one of the world toughest race. On the boat, you would not expect any luxuries that you enjoyed. The only luxury that you could afford was your sleep cos it was extremely exhausting and mind-draining. Every 4 hours, you would either work or sleep and initially, it was quite hard to get used to it. After a while, it got pretty all right for me and occassionally, there were some unplesant incidents that you would definitely encounter on the boat.

On the whole, I would definitely rate this experience as one of the important learning lesson in my life.

Fitness Plan!

I happened to stumbled across one of the blogger's blog and felt that it was quite useful to document the progress of the fitness over the period of time in the blog. Also, it is useful to share one's experience and goals with some people who are interested to know.

Anyway, I took a test at the Cali gym last weeek and I think I needed to shave off unwanted fat. ;p.

On 31st May 2007
Body weight = 62.4kg
Body Fat Mass = 9.9kg
Percent Body Fat = 15.8%
Muscle Mass = 49.2kg

On 27th Feb 2008

Body Weight = 64.7kg ....gain of 2 kg
Body Fat Mass = 12.4kg .... gain of 2 kg :(
Percent Body Fat = 19.1%
Muscle Mass = 49.0kg

Goal for the following month.

Body Weight = 62kg
Body Fat Mass = 10kg

I am back!

I was finally back to Singapore finally last night around midnight! It was simply fantastic in Jkt and Bandung!

On the first day, I had to rush down to the airport with Collin to catch our 7:50pm Jetstar flight to JKT. It was our first time to be there in JKT and we were quite excited about it. We had already arranged a short meeting with our Indonesian fans who were looking forward to meet us in JKT. We communicated through Facebook and we managed to confirm our meeting time and venue.

Along our way to JKT, I teased Collin that our Indonesian fans would probably prepare a few garlands of frangipani and scented flowers. Upon showing his pleasant surprise on his face, he immediately exclaimed, "No laaaah! We're just a small fry, NOT super stars lah" It was quite funny to see him showing his surprised look. We exited quickly to look out for the fans.

Viola, they were there waiting for us. 2 of them donned the black shirts with "Amazing Race Asia" design and other girl with blue shirt. It was definitely a heartwarming moment to see them in an unknown land where we do not have many Indonesian friends. They introduced themselves to us. It was quite a momentary meeting before we were ushered to G's car outside the airport. We struck up a quick conversation on the post-TARA experience and there were a lot of aahs and wows. We left the JKT airport and soon we were caught in the traffic jam. Collin and I wanted to buy 2 birthday cakes for Kinar and M whose birthdays fell close to each other. Kinar's birthday falls on Today while M's birthday fell on yesterday. M originally planned to go to JKT for her personal stuff but upon hearing our plans to visit JKT, M changed her plans to drop by in JKT last Friday. She worked in Semarang which is 2-hrs' flight from JKT. An interesting fact about Semarang is that Semarang is a home to highest number of ethnic Chinese living there. There is a temple being built in its honour to Admiral Zheng He who was claimed that he broke the world record to circumnavigate the world!

M or G joked that we were on their "mercy" and trio of us could have us to themselves since we were caught in the traffic jam. We had nothing to do but we just simply chatted with one another, gossiping anything under the sun!

We were stuck in the traffic jam for almost 2 hours before we all met at Bird Cage cafe which was located somewhere in south JKT and we met Brett and his mother. We were accosted by some Indonesian congratulating us.

We had a great and simple dinner and we took a lot of photos there.

The following day we drove to Bandung with Brett and his mother. Collin and Brett were attending a pilates workshop which was conducted at Firmplate studio at Bandung. Initially, we lost our way until we managed to find our way to a huge mansion! We joked that we were in the Amazing Race Asia again and Brett's mom had to try her best to figure the labrinyth-road to find our ways there. On top of that, almost everywhere, traffic jam was one of something that you will not escape from!

Finally, we arrived at the mansion and there were a lot of hoo-and wow-sounds. It looked like as if we were in the Hanging Babylon where carefully tended garden with rare orchids and exotic plants are grown there. Collin and Brett immediately went downstairs to the basement where Collin's teacher, Alvin were conducting his first lesson on pilates. In the studio, there were around 25 attendees and most of them were ethnic Chinese. We tagged along quietly and we took our place at the back of the studio, watching Alvin giving his lecture on pilates to the attendees.

Half an hour later, Aunty and I decided to leave studio to do some shopping at Bandung. Prior to that, we dropped by at a small restaurant where we had our Padang rice. We made our way to the flower stalls which lined the road. As I loved to read a lot about flowers, I could recite the flower names and shared our knowledge on flowering plants. Aunty wanted to buy water lilies as she has a villa which is nestled in the mountain and her villa is around 2 hours' drive from JKT.

As we were admiring flowers, a guy stopped his car on our right and he ambled towards us with his confident smile. He said, "Are you Adrian from TARA 2 and I was the one who wrote to you that I wanted to meet up with you in Bandung. But I did not receive your reply and I remembered that you mentioned about pilates workshop in Bandung. So, I knew that the pilates workshop would be conducted somewhere nearby so I drove by. But I did not expect to bump into you here." I was simply surprised that it was such a small world and Aunty told him that Collin and Brett were there for their pilates workshop too! I told him that it was located at that house with unit number of 10A and outside that mansion, there was a huge Hand status being erected at the centre of the boulevard. He explained that he had to rush off to pick up his wife and congratulated me.

Then we made our way to factory outlet which was stone's throw. It was bustling with Indonesians who were mostly from JKT. I went in to look for any cheap men clothings and most of them were nice and good quality. I spent around an hour to buy few shirts before joining Aunty. Occassionally, some of customers would come over to congratulate me.

We made our way to the cafe where we had tea and coffee. Aunty wanted to try kopi durian and we found it salivating! An Indonesian family came over to us and introduced themselves to me. They watched the TARA 2 and they were so happy to know that Collin and I won the race. I offered to take pictures with them and Aunty, being so friendly, chatted with them in Bahasa Indonesian. I joked with her that I could hire her to be my PR manager!

We made our way back to that mansion and Collin and Brett had just finished their workshops. I brought them to see the garden and I was stopped by an old Chinese woman who was tending to her garden. She asked us in Bahasa Indonesian which we did not understand. I said, "Jalan jalan" with my hands showing to the beautifully tended garden. Initially, we thought that it was open to the public. She replied, "Ta boleh." and Aunty joined us. True to her smooth talking skill, she managed to persuade her to allow us to see her mansion and garden. Later, to our knowledge, we realised that she was the mother-in-law of the daughter who owned this mansion! We were quite embarassed to know that we appeared to be brazen and bold to ask her to allow us to walk in her garden without asking for proper permission. Old lady allowed us to walk around in her garden.

Around an hour, we left and made our way back to the hotel to meet other forumers. They studied and worked in Bandung. It was interesting to meet them and we had spent around 2 hours to chat with them before we went out for our dinner.

The next day, we woke up and went back to the same mansion. Aunty arranged her appointment with Old lady to visit the flower shops which were located on top of the mountains. Old lady was happy to see us at the gate and we drove up to the mountain top. It was cool there and we could see varieties of flowers there. They bought a lot of flowering plants before we returned to meet Collin and Brett.

We said goodbye to everyone leaving Brett behind in Bandung. He would celebrate his birthday with Kinar in Bandung while Aunty and us made our way back to JKT. We would be meeting our forumers in JKT airport before we caught our flight back home.

We arrived at JKT airport without much glitches and we checked in. G called us that he was rushing down to the airport with other new forumers and we told them that we would want to meet them before we returned home.

Finally, they made it on time which was around 10 minutes before we had to check in. We took photos together and signed the autograph. It was so touching and electrifying moment for all of us and we thanked everyone for their time and effort to come all the ways to JKT airport.

When we arrived in SIN, I received a SMS message asking whether we returned to SIN safely. In other SMS message, he gave his well-heeled advice to use the money wisely.

After these whole experieces, it definitely built the strong rapport between us and the forumers. It was not a matter of the race itself but beyond the race, it was also a lasting experience and memory for ALL. I took a look at the photos of forumers writing that "We LOVE YOU!" and I smiled at it.

http://amazing-race-asia.axn-asia.com/season2/forum/76969/topic/318383/index.html#comments

Thank you!

Jakarta

Tomorow, I will be off to Jakarta for a short holiday. Will be in Bandung over the weekend. It will be a cool respite for me to get away from humid and hot weather in Singapore.

Just now, I went for the World Eiffe Festival 2008 that invites many well-known marketers who shared their ideas of how to market their innovative ideas. Interesting seminars. Tomorrow, I will be attending Day 2 of this festival and the most interesting part of this programme will be a speech given by our Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew. He will share his insights on branding of Singapore and how Singapore needs to attract top talents to work, live and play in Sg!

Brief description about World Effie Festival

Singapore has been selected as the venue for the first-ever inaugural World Effie Festival (WEF), a prestigious event dedicated to effectiveness in the communications, advertising and marketing industries. The festival is linked to the Effie Awards - regarded as the Oscars of the advertising and marketing industries around the world. The festival also marks the debut of the Asia-Pacific Effie Awards, which recognise the most effective campaigns across the regions. The awards will be open to the national winners of the 33 countries (including Singapore) who host their own Effie awards, and also entries from other regional countries which do not yet host national Effies. It will be an annual event held in Singapore. The IAS and Effie Organisation are also in the mid of discussing about moving the presentation of the Global Effie Awards from New York to Singapore, so that it will become a feature of the WEF.

Websitehttp://www.worldeffiefestival.com/

Charity Car Wash at Caltex Petrol Station!

Had so much fun at the Caltex petrol station while we were having a charity car wash. We threw water at each other, making a spectacular scene for motorists, passers-by and contestants. So much fun there and we simply loved it!

http://www.oneshift.com/articles/article.php?artid=248&pageid=1&view=1.

Flopped my JLPT 2!! :(

Yesterday night I received a letter from Japanese Foundation. In my heart, I already knew that I could not pass this JLPT 2 and true to my gut feeling, I FAILED......

So, I posted this hard copy of this result slip on my cupboard and wrote it "失敗だね" and with another word "ダメ！！"　These 2 corresponding words meant "Failed" and "Cannot!". These huge words would serve a constant reminder to study well for the next JLPT 2 at the end of this year. I was thinking of approaching my ex-Jap teacher whether she could give me one-to-one tuition once a week to polish up on my Japanese.

During my sms-conversion in Romanji, we chatted about her job and short-term plan. The good thing is that she intends to stay in Singapore for a long time and it would mean that I would have a chance to practise my Japanese with her while she is working in Sg.

TARA Finale Party

Rovilson sent me an email with the video clip from the Youtube. It was well-shot there at the IndoChine at Clarke Quay. In the video clip, I looked kinda funny when Rov tried to shake my neck, my neck swung naturally as if I was like a toy. Vanessa seconded it and said that the whole scene looked like a cartoon!

Chinese course

Yesterday, I went down to Park Mall to register for the Chinese course that would be scheduled in March. I have already made it as one of my important resolutions for this year to polish up on my Mandarin skills. Yes, I am Chinese Singaporeans and most of the Chinese Singaporeans should be able to converse in Mandarin without much difficulty. However, my unique situation presented a difficulty to me that I did not have any chance to learn Mandarin when I was young. It was compulsory for all 4 main ethnic groups to study their mother tongues. But I was exempted from learning Mandarin as MOE felt that it would be best for the deaf to concentrate on English given the hearing difficulity to differentiate between different tones. In Mandarin, there are 4 different tones and each tone would mean different meanings. 妈吗马骂. For these 4 characters, it sounds like "ma" to me even though you need to pitch your tone correctly.

Anyway, no point feeling that I was deprived of being lesser "Chinese" since I could not speak Chinese well. It is best to start now than never or later. No one knows when I have another opportunity to relearn Chinese again.

I paid $585 to take my beginner level for 2 mths before I move on to the higher level. I think it would probably take me 3 or more years to complete the whole Chinese course. I think it is all worth doing it for my sake of my interest and future. Nowadays, it is increasing important to learn Mandarin as China is visibly getting more affluent and important.

Japanese Language

During the Amazing race in Japan, I grabbed an opportunity to speak Japanese with the Japanese to ask for the directions. I was even caught speaking Japanese to the local people. I was kinda happy that I am able to use my Japanese language to converse with them.

After the race, I have a stronger reason that I should continue to improve my Japanese and my goal of passing JLPT 1 examination remains unchanged. 1 or 2 more months to go before the results of my JLPT 2 examination are out. I am not so confident that I could pass JLPT 2. Nevertheless, I am prepared to retake JLPT 2 and definitely will work harder to pass JLPT 2 this year.

I have a strong vision of myself being able to communicate with the Japanese confidently. I would want to write a book or a journal in Japanese. See this screenshot below.



This author of this blog is Tony Wu, a well-known underwater photographer. I had met him before in the diving exhibition many years ago and he was one who produced award-winning underwater photography book "Silent Symphony". Surprisely, he could speak and write Japanese very well. Sometimes, I would read his blog which was written in Japanese and I could imagine myself if I could update my blog in Japanese occassionally. Given my limited vocabulary and poor foundation in Japanese grammar, I need to go back to polish on my Japanese.

Action Items:

1. Set out the target on revising the Japanese grammar (end of Feb'08)
2. If I could not pass JLPT 2, set a plan to prepare from March to Dec'08 (Mar'08)
3. Revise the kanji and vocabulary words (periodically)
4. To sustain the interest in Japanese, read simple Japanese novels. (to explore different ways or to visit Japanese lib)

Post TARA 2

Finally, the truth about the TARA 2 is out and it has finally sunk in by now...and it was kinda a relief for me since I do not have to hide the results from my friends and relatives anymore. After a long period of silence on the race outcome, I kinda felt that my burden on my shoulders was finally lifted off forever and now I am ready to face the world bravely and with new confidence.

From the end of this race, it certainly left me a mixed feeling ...It was a routine for us to watch this highly-rated programme every Thursday at 9pm. But now, we do not have to watch again and it was quite weird not to look at the clock to see whether the TARA 2 would be shown again.

I cannot reveal anything more about the TARA 2 here, so I shared more on how I lived my life after the TARA 2. Right after the TARA 2, so many well-wishes sms and emails have flooded my phone and mailbox and I could not have possibly replied to everyone of them. It was heart-warming to know that old friends whom you have not heard from them for years suddenly trying to reconnect with me. It is like retrieving the forgotten past out from somewhere.

The following day, we decided to throw a thank-you party. Prior to the release of the result, we strongly emphasized that we wanted to thank our supporters and fans regardless of whether we won the race. Whether we won or not, we still wanted to throw a party to thank our strong supporters and unknown strangers. It was simply fabulous thank-you party with overwhelming attendance and everyone was clamouring over to shake hands with us, congratulating us profusely.

After that, we showed the last episode of TARA 2 to our friends (we also invited contestants as well), it was such a rousing cheer for both of us when they saw us racing from the flag roadblock to the final pitstop. Initially, they were disappointed to know that we were the last one to arrive at the flag roadblock but the luck overturned in favour for us as we could finish the roadblock faster than other teams.

Even now, there are few people who are brave enough coming forth to congratulate us and we hope that we have touched some of their lives with our implicit and simple message that we ought to live our lives to the fullest!

My First Posting

Finally posted one for myself though I have similar one at somewhere else. Never mind about the old blog which may cease to exist.

Next week, the final episode of the TARA 2 will come to the end very soon...and I kinda feel that my life has gone strange..something is missing from my life. And in my mind, I wanted to move on with Life quickly, without giving it much consideration. Just get on with my life quickly, forget about it quickly, and get things done quickly.

I was sharing with my parents that I was a bit tired to keep looking out for the TARA 2 forum, reading all posts. Some are annoying while there are some of them which are very encouraging to both of us. But still, my heart keeps on telling me not to frequent that forum anymore as there are couple of nagging things for me to accomplish after this TARA 2. My involvement in TARA 2 only existed in my memory ...yeap forever cos' no one except the very few select had their chances to be part of this race. But I must say that I have learnt a lot about myself after the race and I can safely say that I am quite SURE of what I want in my Life. Perhaps, my new self-awareness is probably attributed to my involvement in the race. I will share more about it later on cos' my mind does not seem to be organised at this moment. My fingers just typed away while my mind churned out whatever the fleeting thoughts came in. It is good to relax on this sunny Sunday and I just let my fingers typing away at their leisurely pace. No stress here ....

I just received an email from Facebook from one of the teachers in my secondary school. I did not meet her before. I left my school in 1996 while she joined there in 1997. Just one year difference, I missed her. She mentioned that there will be a Speech Day in my school and she wanted to invite me to attend Speech day. She further added that my former principal and Additional Mathematics former teacher might be there. I had not seen them for years since I left my school in 1996. I am now 29 years this year and I was only 16 years since I left my school. 13 years had passed and I could not recount how many things I have done so far within 13 years of life since I left my school.

It is kinda strange in Life sometimes when you have left someone's life and later on, you will find yourself reconnecting with that person again. You can call it a destiny....you are meant to cross that someone's path in 13 years' later. Singapore is so geographically small, and yet, it is so hard to reach someone whom you have not seen for years.

Tomorrow I am invited to share my short speech with Prudential staff at SAFRA and I have not thought of one simple message for the Prudential staff. I hope to deliver a good one to the Prudential staff.