Of Supermen (aunties too)

I meet Supermen (aunties too) when I drive out from my carpark, navigate the minor routes that round the market and via the main entrance and finally to the main road.

These people cross the roads with nary a hoot to whether cars are approaching. Some walk with noses in the air daring the drivers. Of course, I dare not bump into them so when I see these Supermen, I politely slow down the car.

Reading the ST yesterday, there was an article of a driver (with an alledged embassy plate) who beat two traffic lights and knocked down 3 people and seriously injuring two of them.

So I am feeling worried for these Supermen. They become used to cars giving way that they lose sensitivity of approaching cars. If they should encounter the hit-and-run driver mentioned in the earlier paragraph, I hope they will be able to realise early to "siam".

Seeking the future - cause and effect

There is gradual increasing interest in futures. Not the stockmarket type. But thinking and analysis about what the future might be, what it might bring, especially negative effects so one can take the necessary actions to prevent or to soften the inevitable impact.

Initially, I was very puzzled and perturbed. How does one think and discuss what has not come, especially for longer term strategic issues?

I thought about this and rationalised my understanding this way. It is like weather forecasting. There is randomness in cloud movements but within the randomness, there is a pattern and it conforms to a cause and effect principle.

An action here and there today will lead to a consequence days later or years later, and some actions or people have more impact than others.

The consequence of climate change we experience today is also no accident. It is the very culmination of all of human kind, from governments to individuals, from years back to the global warming we see today.

So it is possible to spot trends, possibilities and what-ifs because the future is happening right now.

Story of Long Ke-duo

I shared this story from the excellent chinese serial 《雍正皇朝》 with my lunch khakis two days ago. The message of the story is akin to my earlier blog post on Deng Xiaoping.

The protagonist is a soldier called Long Ke-duo who had fought gallantly in battle with Emperor Kangxi who later personally honoured Long Ke-duo with a sword adorned with precious stones and jewels.

However, after the battle, he was not needed anymore nor was he asked to serve in any official post. This left him despondent and poor. At one stage, he had to pawn, albeit reluctantly, the sword from the Emperor.

After many decades, after Kangxi, for the second time, abolished the CrownPrince, Long Ke-duo was appointed the Chief Security Officer for theImperior Palace. At the Emperor's death bed, Long Ke-duo was given an even higher appointment to be in charge of the entire capital's security and also became something like a modern day Cabinet minister.

The Emperor called Long Ke-duo to his side and said that he understoodLong's frustration all these years but it was the emperor himself who obstructed Long's progress as he wanted test and train Long.

I hope my friend got the message.

解铃还需系铃人

华文华语教学最近在报章上谈的热，同事也各自分享自己 '读' ，不, 应该是被 '教' 华文的痛苦经历。

真的，俗话说得好，解铃还需系铃人，当年的政策还得当年的决策者自己推翻，多少曾经心灵受苦受难，今已成年的学者，心里终于好受释放了。

其实，也没有真的错与对，没有当年的试探，没有今天的发现。历史本来就有许多的牺牲者，一个人在哪里生，哪一年生，难免左右着他的命运。

我自己小学和中学的华文老师，我都没话说，因为他们都是很好的老师，我对汉语拼音很好的了解全都因为在小学扎的好基础。

但从高中高级华文我就也有苦水吐了。我爱老师教的红楼梦，现代散文，唐诗宋词。 但一直让我不理解的是为什么我得背人物分析之类的标准答案。 我自己的理解和标准的不合，那便是错！我考得很辛苦。

但是考试已经是很久以前的事了，心也不再痛了。 剩下的，也是最珍贵的，是丰富我炎黄子孙文学的精髓和色彩。

Hiatus

Since coming back from holidays, I have been finding it difficult to find motivation to blog. It may be because of the sheer discontinuation of momentum or due to a dearth of events to contemplate on.

It could be also due to my reading less since I have been spending my evenings re-watching the excellent DVD series 《雍正皇朝》.

Eventful Week

This week, full of events, finally ended. For the first five days, it was liaison officer duties for a ministerial meeting held in Singapore. And yesterday, it was a performance item with some colleagues for our organisation's dinner and dance.

Liaison Officer

The week started off on a somewhat bad note unexpectedly. The delegates lost but recovered a huge sum of cash. I had to spend the rest of the week facilitating between the delegates and the hotel for the investigations whilst performing my liaison officer duties for the minister. Despite this distraction, I enjoyed introducing some of our local attractions to the minister although this came at the expense of shut-eye time. They enjoyed a one-hour plus stop at the Night Safari followed by chicken rice and pork satay at a coffee shop along Syed Alwi Road. I also brought them to try some local hawker fare at Chinatown. The minister quipped that he will be bringing his family along for a visit when his schedule permits.

(A group photo with the minister and delegation before his departure at Terminal 1)

D&D Performance

Our preparation for our performance item was not smooth sailing as well. We abandoned our initial plan involving the use of instruments. Our final item had us singing and dancing to Michael Buble's Sway. We were let down by a poor sound system and not so professional sound engineers. I was particularly dissapointed when my wireless head-mic failed just at the start of our performance. This has taught me a valuable lesson in performance -- never use a head-mic unless it really is meant for singing. And I should have insisted a on sound check before the item.
Still, I enjoyed the week immensely having had the opportunity to make new acquaintances and to work together on a project with a team of young people.

Recce at Hort Park

Recce for LO duties at Hort Park for CGS 2010.

You only have one FIRST TIME

Recently, I had a new big boss and in our weekly meetings with him, a few of us were caught by surprise at his interest in details. Monthly reports that typically will pass without further questions got queried line by line.

At first, the joke was he had too much time. But after a few months studying him, and noticing his quick grasp of our work, I now know that his method was deliberate.

What I learnt from him was that you only have ONE chance for a first time.

When you step into a new job, there is only one FIRST time you see a paticular report or supervise a particular operation. Especially if you are in a relatively senior position, this is the chance for you to ask the fundamental, basic questions without the risk being seen as stupid or incompetent.

So grasp the first time. Go detail. Line by line, word by word, figure by figure to totally understand the concept.

Hari Raya Open House 2009

I was very privileged to have been invited to Dr Yaacob's house for a Hari Raya Open House which I attended with S.

Thinking Through (2)

This is a continuation of Part 1 here.
============================

So you have finished a piece of work and the next step is to seek the approval of your boss. And you can be sure he will be asking you questions about your work. So the next phase of thinking through is to ask the questions he may likely ask and satisfy yourselves you have got all ground covered.

But, do I know what questions will he ask? Try some of these.
Caveat: list below is not exhaustive.

1) Ask the basic/ fundamental questions. Bosses normally will not go into the detail at the outset because he knows he may be confused or led off-track. So he wants to make sure the fundamentals are correct.
- What is the aim/ objective/ purpose? (whilst the meaning of these words are essentially the same, you may find yourself giving different answers)
- What is the driver, ie why are we doing this?
- What is the basis/ argument and is this argument a persuasive one?
- What is the message? [spend a little more time on this]

So assuming your boss is satisfied with the fundamentals, he may now go into the details, ie the SUBSTANCE.

2) Going into the details
- Did you use figures, graphs, charts? If yes, are the figures/ trend accurate and what is the message conveyed?
- If the figures depict performance, are the figures impressive.
- Did you cite an example? If yes, is it an important example and is the example replicable?

3) The Unknowns
- What were your assumptions? It is all right to assume certain things, but you must know what these are and be able to argue why they remain as assumptions.
- Know what you do not know...YET. Cos you better find out before he does!

3 quick steps to better public speaking

1. Exude confidence
- Simply by showing that you are confident, the audience will be more interested in what you have to say because you appear to know what you are doing. When you sense this interest in them, you then in turn become more confident. A virtuous cycle!
(It helps of course if you have prepared a good speech.)

2. Eliminate fillers
- Kill all the 'Ahs', 'Oks', 'Erm', every single one of them. You will sound so much better.
- If you need time to think, just stop. Your pauses makes you seem sincere and serious in your task.

3. Don't read from a prepared script word-for-word
- Unless you are in parliament! but even then......
- Don't regurgitate whatever is on the slide. What's the point then of you presenting?
- Understand the concepts, use key points to remind yourself and elaborate the rest based on your understanding.

And an additional tip

4. Do not attempt to crack a joke unless you are Barack Obama or Jay Leno
- A bad joke or unappreciated joke is almost as bad as a boring speech.
- No toilet jokes, please.

How to say it?

For the first seven years of my work, I spent a great deal of time responding to complaints, both in written and verbal form. I have learnt to write simply but clearly and more importantly in a tone and choice of words that do not further antangonise a customer who is already displeased. I would like to share some of what I learn here in choice of words/ phrases to use. They are equally relevant in normal life.

'Want' and 'Need'
- Everyone has wants, so what's so great about your want. A need is different.
- There is so much difference in tone when you say 'I want you to do this' versus 'I need you to do this'

'Can' and 'May'
- Use 'may' when referring to your actions and use 'can' for others' actions
- E.g. May I use your toilet, 'you can use my toilet' instead of 'You may use my toilet', 'May I invite/request/have your permission'

'Could'
- 'Could' is a more polite form of 'can'
- 'Could I' instead of 'Can I'

'Please'
- Using 'Please' does not necessarily mean you are polite or courteous, e.g. 'Please do it'. Try telling your boss this!
- Say 'Could you please'

'I' and 'We'
- Distinguish clearly who are the subjects and owners of the action. If you are sticking your own neck out, say 'I' instead of 'We' so that you don't implicate others, especially your boss, unnecessarily.
- However, in sharing credit or positive news, always use 'We'.

Pronouns
- And whilst we are at pronouns such as 'We', be clear who the pronouns 'They', 'You', 'He' are referring to by stating their rightful owners right at the beginning.

'Think' and 'Feel'
- There is a distinct difference. If you 'feel' something, then the something must be an emotion, e.g. happy, sad, funny
- If the something is just an issue, then use 'Think'

Asking for something
- Try using 'could you pl let me have the report"

---------------------------------
Caveat: I do not profess to be an English expert. Feel free to let me know your comments so we can all improve.

Thinking Through

I remember many years ago, when I have just started work, one day my director propped over my cubicle wall and asked me, how do you decide what solutions to choose to implement? I then said I would choose the simplest solution to do because of the maxim the simplest is the best.

He half-shook his head and walked off!

Now, many years and moons later, I understand why he did that. The key is that even though the solution finally chosen may be the simplest, what has to take place prior is the now often heard cliche -- Think Through.

But what is thinking through and how do we think through.

My analogy is that thinking through is like drawing a map. Say you have a friend who has never been to Singapore and wish to make his way from the Woodlands Custom to Chinatown by himself but with a benfit of a map and directions.

A no think-thru solution will be hop on a cab and tell the driver to go to Chinatown. A slightly more detailed solution will be to inform where is the taxi-stand, how much are the rates, how long the journey will take, are they sur-charges and on reaching Chinatown, which location to alight, which are the sights to visit and etc.

An even more thought-through solution is to offer besides taxi, the option of taking public transport and that includes options like bus or MRT. So with each option there are the associated details. There is also the option of driving and correspondingly more options.

But you get the drift: the map starts off a blank sheet and the more you think-through, the more populated the map becomes and hence the more choices one can make.

For work, bosses like options because they need to manage risks and consequences and most importantly costs and their trade-offs.

In my next post (or posts), I will attempt to share some insights gleaned from my personal experience.

See who blinks first

I listened to an interesting but rather sad story that depicts how'practical' and overly kiasu people has become.

W was at a wedding dinner and when the soup dish came, the table was surprised that the bottle of chinese vinegar was missing. W said he took the initiative (which was nice of him) to ask the waiter for one. Due to language problems, the waiter did not understand what was needed and when he finally returned with the vinegar, all the bowls of soup had been consumed and all at the table did not have the marginal benefit of a better tasting soup.

I asked W why didn't he just pop over to the next table and 'borrow' a bottle after they are done with it. He replied "Why should I do it when the others could have?"

I call this the 'see who blinks first' syndrome and it extends in my personal observation to 'who drives the car to lunch', 'who initiates payment after meals', 'if the person who pays first doesn't ask me, I am not volunteering to pay my share', etc. It extends into the office as "who replenishes the paper in the common printer', 'don't speak up so I don't get arrowed', etc.

Of course, sometimes the amount is small (especially for drinks) and how much petrol are we talking about for a 10 min trip?

But isn't it better that one is more 'automatic' and is sensitive to reciprocate goodwill so that more of it can grow. Goodwill, like trust, is hard to build but easy to destroy.

Keong's Wedding

Keong took me by surprise one afternoon in August when he called from Geneva to inform that he will be holding his wedding event. After all, I had just been pleasantly surprised in June when he returned for the Water week and promptly asked me to meet his girlfriend. So how did the girlfriend become the wife so quickly.

In his speech, Keong took pains to emphasise that no, his wife is NOT pregnant but spoilt the message by ending with 'Not that I know of!'

In his rather touching speech, in thanking his parents, he described his father as an excellent role model for him and his siblings for his diligence and willingness to take hardship (刻苦耐劳) . He also thanked his mother for her selfless love.

Some photos below of the happy occasion.


Emcee for the event. My close to 15th (I think) experience.

补天计划 - Video (2)

补天计划 - Video (1)

Its my mama.

Penang - Recollections

I recently visited Penang for an eating trip. Some observations:

1) Cleanliness - Penang is generally as clean as Singapore. Walking down the streets of Georgetown, one does not get the impression that bits of litter were randomly dotting and marring the landscape. Either the locals were very civic conscious or like Singapore, they have an army of cleaners.

2) Face Masks - Unlike Singapore, where H1N1 is already full blown and here to stay in the community, it is still nascent in Penang and local media were reporting on the increasing numbers of infected cases and precautions. What was different from Singapore was the willingness of the locals to wear face masks which I observed to be aplenty in the streets of Georgetown or in the airport.

3) Taxis without meters - It is unsurprising that the government have been unable to implement charging by meters in taxis. The taxi drivers are earning much more by charging lump sum. Even the grossly inflated charges are now standardised. The taxi driver will pull out a laminated printout with a table of the standardised charges. Internet websites' advice to travellers to negotiate fares have been made redundant.

Moderating

I had the opportunity to moderate a sort of focus group discussion comprising senior members of my organisation. Although I have had many opportunities to witness different moderators in action over the years, and some very good ones like Prof Tommy and Kishore, it is quite different when one has to personally do it.

As part of my preparation, I pored through many websites googled using the key words 'moderator', 'discussion' etc to tap on the wealth of experienced moderators. With that, I was able to form an impression of how I should exercise this role.

At the beginning of the session, I informed everyone that my role was to keep the discussion going and to make sure that every one has a chance to speak. I also made a mental note not to influence the discussion by way of offering my personal opinion on the issues.

As the websites have forewarned me, I was not surprised that the starting phase was the most difficult and my aim therefore was to simply get through this warm-up phase by arrowing people to speak and not being overly concerned of the relevance they are making. I admitted I was rather lost at this stage as the comments made were rather off the mark and mother-hood. Both the group and this greenhorn moderator had to struggle to get the momentum going. After 20 mins or so, I could sense that the mood was getting better and the conversation was flowing.

To keep the discussion going, I found it useful to string together (1) points of views for background, current actions and actions going forward and (2) segregating people in their functional responsibilities, e.g. technology, operations.

Needless to say, my CPU was overclocking throughout the 90 mins taking down the main points, stringing them together, summarising them and leading the discussion to the next point while staying close to the topic.

To sum up my experience in the role of a moderator, it is to balance and manage the divergence and convergence of ideas. You need divergence to get the breadth but however need to converge the views so that they do not stray too far away from the theme.

I was quite happy when the Big Boss signalled for me to close the session and in his closing remarks say that the discussion was fruitful although initially he did not think the discussion could last the allocated 90 mins.

Water will find its level

This is somewhat related to 'Big Boss Shares' because he mentioned this phrase. I took it to mean that one will end up in a position suited to one's capabilities. I googled this phrase and found this very interesting blog post with the same title.

In his post, the blogger, apparently an officer in the US foreign service, contemplates the concept of promotion in the workplace after he has gone through another appraisal exercise and shares his insights.

Some nuggets of his balanced view and insight:

"...promotions are correlated to actual merit, but certainly not perfectly correlated."

"In my observation, chronic underperformers are those that avoid responsibility and refuse to make consequent decisions... In choosing mediocrity, they cannot be blamed for failure, but they also never have the opportunity to succeed."

"It is not only your right, but your proactive duty to ensure that you can make a contribution commensurate with your capacity."

Big Boss Shares (2) - Mee Pok

Big Boss says he is increasingly asking for no oil in his morning mee pok for a healthier lifestyle. But he says intelligent (himself?) people can often rationalise things to suit one's behavior.

He recalled he wanted to eat yong tau foo at the Ghim Moh hawker centre but the stall was closed. So he rationalised his choices and queued up for char kway teow instead.

He also remembered when he was in his 40s, when he hear the person in front of the queue ask for no oil in his meepok, he would wonder what kind of meepok it is without pork lard and oil!

I feel the same way now too, I still love my pork lard and prawn heads =)

Big Boss shares....

Big boss gave a rare informal sharing in office yesterday. Before the talk, he said that he is sharing as an individual. There were many interesting points I remembered.

The first anecdote he shared was Colin Powell's answer to a 2nd Lieutenant who asked Powell what is the secret to becoming a general. Powell said to work hard and deliver results everyday. The 2LT was excited and said that was all needed to be a general? Powell's reply was that was all you need to be a 1ST Lieutenant and you have to do it over and over again until you become a general.

The 2nd point I remembered he emphasised was the maxim "Do not reject tasks". It has now become a running joke in the office whenever our supervisor assigns us a new job. We look at each other and say "do not reject the task!"

The 3rd point I remembered was the readings he recommended. The 1st was the book "Talent is Overrated" and the 2nd was a HBR article titled "Managing Your Boss".

Met Senyuen today

Today (Thursday) was the day of my weekly run with my colleagues. As I was slowly plodding along the long and lonely road populated with 'atas' bungalows, I noticed a fellow jogger approaching in the opposite direction. I did not pay much attention until he called my name.

Senyuen is my senior in NTUBS and a musical talent. He taught himself music, how to play the piano and later learnt arrangement and producing.

We spent around 2 mins catching up before saying our goodbyes and continuing with our sweaty business.

Strange People

I know that people are different, behave differently, have been brought up differently, that's why we see things differently.

But I still cannot comprehend why some of my colleagues, when I meet them in the office, just refused to have eye contact.

And this evening on my way back home, I met this real strange and inconsiderate guy at the lobby. We were all waiting for the lift, this guy, me and a maid with her charge. The lobby was not big so everyone knows who are the parties that will be taking the lift together.

This guy was nearest to the lift so he entered first. A normal person will press the button for his floor and then press 'OPEN' to wait for the rest right? Not this idiot. He pressed '6' and then the 'CLOSE' button and moved to stand at the back of the lift, when I am just behind him and the maid and the little girl with her waiting to enter the lift.

What an idiot.

UP

WARNING: If you have yet to watch Pixar's animated film "UP". In order not to spoil the anticipation and suspense, you may not want to read this.

Caught the movie yesterday. First time in 3D format. :)

Something which I wanna watch long time. It has got many good reviews. I remember reading somewhere that "...it's almost impossible for Pixar to make a bad film..." I couldn't agree more.

Watching its trailer, the chubby boy and the grumpy old man amused me and I was thinking they made a good pair for some good humour! True enough, they did. BUT what carved a deeper impression in me was the love between Carl and Ellie. Both sought to go on the same adventure. Despite trying their best, they could not get there together... but Carl (the grumpy old man), for the love to his wife, was determined to fulfil her dreams.

Ok, trying not to say too much here, just in case I will spoil the fun. But a few scenes really brought tears to my eyes. Besides the first 15 mins or so, I particularly love the scene with old Carl flipping the same old pages of Ellie's adventure book... until the last few pages showing photos of the 2 of them, leading a loving marriage till their hair turned grey. And the words Ellie puts on the last page, simply "awwwwww..."

Catch it in the theatre! You will love it.

K 歌之 Night - 完结

期盼多日，昨夜终于K 歌一夜，星光灿烂，痛唱尽欢。 ‘迪克。荣’作为首席唱将，学友上身，一夜霸麦，耐力十足，不愧狂野之‘荣’。

我们‘其他歌手’安于作为陪衬，偶尔锦上添花，也已算满足。

良友久久一聚，特显珍贵，期待他日再聚首。

Ten-Thousand Hours

According to the book Outliers, that's how long it takes to practise to be a master, of anything. From music, to programming to sports.

In a study, the star violinists were the ones who practised more than the normal good ones. In football, I recall David Beckham saying he followed the example of Eric Cantona, staying back after the rest have left, to practice his free kicks.

That's why there is a saying the harder you work, the luckier you become, and the more successful you can be.

Talk by Futurist

I listened to a talk by a futurist yesterday.

One of the key takeaways was that recent man-made disasters have all being somewhat predicted/ envisaged. For example, the 9-11 method of ramming a commercial air-plane has been featured in a Tom Clancy novel, Maddof’s Ponzi scheme was whistle-blowed but ignored and of course the ongoing financial crisis where so many hands were involved that it is inconceivable that no one could foresee what was the ultimate consequence.

The trouble however is having a framework/ system to identify such potential occurrences and getting the right people to acknowledge the probable-ness and impact of their happening. Case in point: former FED chief Alan Greenspan dismissing, years ago, the likelihood of another economic crisis because we know the financial system too well for it to fail.

But fail us he and it did.

During the Q&A session, responding to a question on how organizations and specifically top leaders could influence the culture of their organizations to allow for open communication, the futurist said that what was more important was for as many officers as possible to learn new and relevant tools and skills, so they can identify and contribute to minimizing disasters. I agree with another participant with the same question that the answer was not satisfying when the speaker himself acknowledged in the Asian context the culture of deferring to higher authority and not speaking up.

Recollections and Reflections from ICT

Making It Interesting

It was meant to be a peaceful and quiet one week. Unsurprisingly, quite a few disapproving voices could be heard when I informed them one day about a change of program into an inter-platoon competition we were going to have in the afternoon. The competition comprises 3 stations of small arms stripping and assembling, followed by building of a shellscrape (from sandbags), donning of a full set of PRC77 (this relic can be viewed at the Army Museum) and correctly aiming a GPMG mounted on a tripod after running with both appurtenances for a distance of 50m. The key ingredients of competition and group identity transformed sleepy and disinterested men into fleet-footed, aggressive and committed soldiers. It was an immensely enjoyable and satisfying experience for me to have organized the event. It also begs the question,”If men are not engaged, could it be that the system or the structure needs improvement?”

Spotting a Loser

I said to the men (to howls of disapproval),” I thought Platoon 2 will surely come in last.” I meant what I said, although in the end they proved me wrong and deservedly won the competition. I told them about my observations that their platoon was the last to report to the store to draw the spade and sandbags. When the rest of the two platoons had finished filling up and dumping the filled sandbags, Platoon 2 had barely started. With such poor teamwork, is it not a given that such a team is bound to lose?

Reaching NS CEP

With my old friend DW and incumbent CSM completing his 10-year cycle, I was announced as the next CSM. As understudy, I had taken over most of his duties for this and the last ICT, and so I am quite confident of my new role. As an NSmen, that is about as high an appointment a non-commissioned officer could go. I had however never contemplated nor wanted to take on this role when I started my then 13-year ICT cycle in 2002; this was subsequently reduced to 10 years in 2008. In the past 7 years, I had gone through varied appointments starting as section commander, taking over as platoon sergeant when the incumbent went for studies, switching to Company Quartermaster Sergeant after I injured my left knee ACL and the incumbent CQMS deferred. Apparently, I did well enough to be considered as a potential replacement for the post of CSM. Looking back, I must say that the opportunities presented themselves simply because the incumbents had to be somewhere else and a replacement needed to be found.

What I Learnt

Taught me to not accept negative ideas/comments, believe in the motivation and persuasion of men and the potential of a better future with hard work.

Good Time, Not So Good Food

Towards the end of the meal, HS said,"I would rather have paid $10 more to eat better quality food, or we might as well have gone to a hawker centre." I couldn't have agreed more.

I meet this group of NTUBS friends once in a long while, and because of this we normally splurge on a better dinner. The last dinner I had with them was an ala-carte buffet dinner at Suntec's Pearl River Restaurant and I still had good memories of the food.

I arrived early and was seated. Then GM called me and said they are switching the dinner venue to the Congress (I think so) steamboat buffet because MH liked the experience of cooking his own food!

It turned out to be not a clever thing because the quality of the food was poor. The raw seafood, apart from the prawns, were not fresh and had an unpleasant odour. I mostly ate the cooked food and drank my pork bone steamboat stock which was in fact quite good and the only saving grace.

I am defnitely not going back there again, ever.




My pork bone stock with only tang-oh vegetables.
HK had to settle important office matters throughout the dinner. He looked tired.

Adjourning to Mc Cafe for a late night cuppa.

With GM, friends since Sec 1.

K 歌之 Night

同事TW远赴重洋，状元身份衣锦还乡。午餐也多了一份笑声。
近日，谈起和一群好友计划去唱K，细问，方知TW学生时期竟活跃于校园歌唱，TW还自豪地说自己音域广，还曾在 Orchard Rd 献唱，并以歌神张学友的歌最为拿手，令在座的同事都敬佩三分。同事笑他喝了洋水，还没有英文名，便替他取了Dick。我也锦上添花（因该算是画蛇添足多一点），中文翻译为‘迪克。荣’。气派吧！

A Special and Cool Tribute to the King of Pop

I really wish I can do this some time!=)

We Are The World

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9BNoNFKCBI

Of two friends

I have two friends who are very different.

One is extremely inquisitive to a fault and will stop at nothing to satisfy his curiosity, even when the other party is showing his unwillingness to share further, and even if the incremental information he gets is not material in the betterment of his life.

The other one is guarded to a fault, does not offer any information volunteerily especially on his personal life unless asked and pursued.

I also have two other friends who are very different in another manner.

One is extremely generous and will offer to buy drinks or food, or volunteer his services readily.

The other is a silent acceptor of generosity of goodwill (like the example above) but will not offer to offer to buy drinks/ food or offer to foot his share unless requested.

Forget Bottled Water, says Professor Tommy Koh

Prof Tommy gives four reasons why we should not drink bottled water. Read his full article here.

First, you are wasting your money.

Second, tap water in Singapore is safe to drink.

Third, energy is used unnecessarily to produce bottled water.

Fourth, bottled water is bad for the environment.

============
Prof Tommy has provided simple to understand but compelling reasons. But the truth of the matter is Singapore is very far from attaining this preferred state of affairs. Bottled water is still affordable to the masses despite it being many fold more expensive than the humble but equally good tap water. The convenience a bottle of water provides often outweighs other considerations. As for caring for mother earth, while it is a sad and true that most bottles are incinerated and not recycled, environmental sustainability is a thought that most bottled water fans will hardly entertain.

Dumbfounded

My big boss is a very intelligent man. He asks questions that are difficult to answer. I was in such a situation today.

Apart from being a little embarrassed, it is these moments that the greatest learning occurs. The few seconds of silence and the eyes on you seem an eternity. The learning point is driven home and is something I will not be forgetting in a long time.

Tommy Koh's 10 rules

This was a speech Prof Tommy gave to a Freshman Inauguration Ceremony at NUS Law School in Aug 2008. The full text of the speech, which I encourage you to read, can be found here.

His 10 rules are:

1. Learn to work smart
2. Cultivate your thinking skills
3. Learn to write well
4. Learn the skills of presentation, negotiation and advocacy.
5. Develop your emotional intelligence.
6. Develop your cultural intelligence.
7. Develop good values.
8. Form enduring friendships.
9. Be passionate about justice.
10. Have a great time.

I can only lament that no one gave such words of wisdom in my freshman year. We didn't even have an inauguration ceremony!

AYG beach volleyball finals

(Some of my other protocol officers)

My week-long stint at AYG Beach Volleyball has ended with Thailand winning both the Girls and Boys finals; Kazakstan was runner-up in both finals. Apart from receiving and taking care of VIPs, I was made responsible for the national flags during the victory ceremony.

What have I learnt or gained in this week?

First, in organising big events, it is quite impossible to really learn past lessons from similar events simply from paperwork so it is good to include in the team persons with experience.

Second, sufficient effort must be made in 'hygiene' issues to ensure that volunteers have enough to eat, drink and are adequately dressed, e.g. the t-shirt size issue I mentioned in an earlier blog. On the same note, make sure that rehearsals are effective and efficient. Being otherwise will result in a negative perception of the event and may affect the morale of the entire workforce.

Third, I made many new friends. Prof Tommy's way of shaking hands with everyone at first contact helped as the physical contact helped to break the barrier. And always be the first to make contact and I realised that most people are very friendly even their demeanour may not suggest as such.

Me with the beach volleyball Venue Manager (aka Big Boss) Kim Hwee. An extremely friendly, effective and hard working chap.

Met my OC Gary at AYG

Protocol friends

These are my new made friends, all carrying out 'protocol officer' duties. I know the Indian fellow SJ next to me the most, having spent quite some time chatting with him. SJ has a career that most of us dream about. He was a fighter pilot during his national service days and now he is a pilot with our national carrier. I spent many happy minutes grilling him on the details of flying the iconic A4 Skyhawk and now the equally iconic Boeing 747. I learnt a great deal.

For example, the difference in American and European thought is manifested in the air craft they manufacture, i.e. Boeing and Airbus. Airbus is a complete fly-by-wire plane whereas Boeing retains some mechanical flight control features. Therefore a Boeing pilot retains some amount of feedback via the 'joystick'.

I also learnt that as the aircraft accelerates down the runway, once it reaches a certain speed call 'V1' (depending on many factors such as dead weight, payload), aviation rules requires the aircraft to take off, regardless of whatever situations may occur.

New young friend

On my 1st day of duty today, I met a young chap SM who was assigned to the same station as me -- welcoming and arranging shuttle transport for VIPs to the competition venue.

We have (at least) three things in common:

First, our ancestry hails from Hainan Island, China. In fact, our villages may be very near each other's, each around 20-30 mins drive from Wenchang city.

Second, we were both specialists or sergeants in our national service vocations. Being the meat in the sandwich (between the officers and the men), we shared a common resonance in our 'war' stories, from training suffering to ghostly encounters.

Third, he is about to embark on his engineering studies whilst I have completed my engineering studies, so engineering is a common profession for us.

Only XL

I was presented with a scenario of deja-vu at this morning's training session for an upcoming mega event over next week.

The training started well, with an overall briefing and walk-through conducted by the main officer-in-charge. But it went wrong at the outset of the distribution of passes and gear.

'Your names are not in the list? Oh, just write down your particulars after the last row.'

'Sorry, your passes are not with me yet. They are sent here in batches.' (Sorry, but where's the logic?)

'You need a M or S sized shirt? Oh, I only have XL ones!'

I could only observe from a distance and smile wryly. I have been through this before.

During another mega event in 2006, my fellow workers and I were promised early on individually tailored suits and this got everyone substantially excited.

On the day of the fitting (for the suits), it started to go sour.

The vendor asked us to pick up, from a clothes hangar, the off-the-shelf jacket and pants that best suit our build. I can see in the others' eyes the disbelief: Is this considered tailor made?

After one picks out the best fitting but not quite fitting jacket or pants, the vendor will gauge and take down the adjustments that needs to be made, lengthen an inch on the sleeves, reduce an inch on the waist and etc, which I thought was totally nuts. I mean, you take down these number of measurements, you might as well measure our build properly, which isn't much more additional work. By using add-on measurements, it becomes a dynamic process because whatever you plus or minus on one end may affect the other.

True enough, the vendor confused themselves and everybody else. The very week before the event starts, most of us have not received our suits and for those we did, the measurements were wrong and most of these suits were returned to the vendor for alterations, for which they had no time for.

The situation was tense and got so bad that that the big bosses of the event had to appear and apologise to every one. Just to ensure that the event could go on, the instruction became 'you wear your own suit or you make your own alterations to the official ones'.

The show went on quite successfully but the taste in everyone's mouths was sour.

Who now to Heal The World

Michael Jackson was one of the foremost artistes to pay attention to causes of humanity, exemplified by his songs 'We Are the World' and more recently 'Heal The World'.

My own Michael Jackson journey went all the way back to primary school. My elder brother, I think he had to perform for a school function, practised the iconic MJ song 'Beat It' at home all day. Due to the lack of information then, I had no idea how MJ looked like but the chorus of 'Beat it! Beat it!' remained till today. However, I did not get in touch with his songs for many more years (I was a Mandarin song lover and still am)but news of his ever changing appearance and colour was so ubiquitous that it was hard not to notice.

My first MJ album was the equally iconic 'Black or White'. I had bought, using the pay from my temp job at OCBC Securities then, a new AIWA 3-disc changer mini hifi and I thought that only the sounds, songs and arrangement of a top act like MJ would do my hifi justice. The cover design of the album was also unforgettable.

Honestly, I never did like the heavier MJ songs from 'Beat It' to 'Jam'. My loves were his softer and tender ballads and the best of them all has to be 'Heal the World', from the Black or White album.

My thoughts soared with him when he sang about love having a place in all our hearts, that we can turn swords into ploughshares. Though world peace is a much talked about but far away notion, the potential is not unattainable because of the love that do exist but may be forgotten in hearts, and it is this love that will 'make this a better place, for you and for me'.

Importance of summarising

I remember as a student in secondary school, we spent quite a bit of classroom time practising writing summaries. Summaries were also tested in examinations. I could not understand the rationale of summaries then.

I do now, after seeing how Prof Tommy did a magnificent job of summing up two days of high-level discussions. There are three main reasons why summarising is difficult.

First, you have understand the material at hand. Sometimes, the sheer amount of information to digest makes the task seem impossible.

Second, to distill or synthesize the material, i.e. to extract the essence of the discussions.

Third, offer insight which is of value and a perspective that is fresh.

Water Prize for a noble man and photos

In a world obsessed with wealth and personal glory, it is refreshing and inspiring to hear of an inventor who chose not to patent his invention for the benefit of mankind, an invention which accounts for 75% of similar methods used in treating wastewater; some 3000 examples are in use today. I have heard Prof Lettinga from the Netherlands speak over these two days and this personality of his came through, that he is no businessman and not media-savvy, he is interested only in innovation for society and humanity. I salute him and he is a worthy winner of the Prize.


Prof Tommy exchanging ties on the spot with a French delegate.
Taking time to pose in front of the Istana.

With badminton buddy Yap.

The year in 1989

I received this week's Times magazine, a double issue featuring the extraordinary year that 1989 was. Among others, it was the year of:

1. The Fall of the Berlin Wall
2. Russia's Revolution
3. The World Wide Web
4. In Tiananmen Square
5. Mandela meets De Klerk
6. Vietnam Exits Cambodia
7. The Dalai Lama's Nobel
8. The Hillsborough Tragedy
9. The Satanic Verses
10. Gay Marriages

Darn, I was only aware of The Simpsons then!

I was like that too

I had a wise friend GM in my undergraduate days. He is still my friend now and I have known him since Sec 1. But it was during our four years in the same society (i.e. ECA) that we interacted more and were closer. He was well read and could often quote meaningful verses, some of them which I still remember today.

He was the person I first heard the phrase ' 将心比心', 'even our fingers are not of the same length, so do not have overly high expectations of people to treat every one equally', '一个人的快乐，不是因为他拥有得多，而是因为他计较得少' and many more.

As I mentioned in one of my previous post, sometimes it could be many years past before one really understand some things.

Now that I am not so young, when I encounter young people, I am reminded of the same things I once did.

In my weekly badminton group, there is a person who is not very popular because he is simply not a good sport. He wants to win every match and will show his displeasure at his partner for almost every point lost, and he himself is not a terribly good player and almost as liable for the lost points as his partner. In the beginning, I try to avoid partnering him and even to the extent of avoiding playing against him.

But after I ' 将心比心 ', I know that I am also guilty of such unsporting behaviour too. During my JC days, I normally play basketball, but there was an opportunity to play badminton and I was very excited because I used to be from my primary school team and thought I could show off. But I was paired to play with one of my classmates who played very badly. I sulked and finally stomped off from the court. Thankfully, I had another wise friend then, who followed me off the court and sternly rebuked me and ordered me not to display my tantrums and return to the badminton court. I am forever indebted to this friend for teaching me this important lesson of life.

In my work in recent years, I supervise younger or lesser experienced officers and often have to vett their work. Sometimes, I get frustrated that they are not able to meet a certain level of proficiency but then I will remember I was like them too as a young officer. I was fortunate to have good bosses who patiently go through my work and point out where improvements need to be made. Come to think of it, even now with some seniority, I know that my level of work, when viewed by my supervisor is probably not up to his mark as well. haha

Three wishes for Jet Li, my fellow Singaporean

If today's reports in the newspapers are true, Jet Li has become a Singaporean and a proud owner of a Good Class Bungalow. This is a happy piece of news. Although there are critics (there always are people who just cannot see the positive side of anything), my sentiments are that a talent hungry city state like Singapore need world class personalities and the addition of Jet Li will hopefully set off a virtous cycle.

I have three wishes for Jet Li.

First, I wish that he will enjoy Singapore, spend a considerable amount of time exploring our little state and hawker centres and gradually become a real Singaporean, complete with lahs and lors.

Second, I wish that despite his fame he will be left alone in Singapore, free from parapazzi, his privacy respected by the local media, so he can concentrate on his One-Foundation, bringing hope to the needy people of the world.

Third, I wish that with his considerable influence bring the world closer to Singapore, win more friends for Singapore and to spark interest in our island. I mean, Jet Li gave up US citizenship for Singapore, there must be something good right?

Wait nong nong to know

It is not only true that time teaches us to forget, time also validates.

When I started working some 9 years ago, my first boss Mr C who is a very kind person, loves to walk around the office and talk to his staff, especially the younger ones. I enjoy talking and listening to him, but often could not understand some of the more cryptic things he said.

For example, he would say, don't work for the company, work for yourself or just do one thing a year or ask me 'who's your boss'? He would sometimes chastise me for being naive. I remember once when I went to his room trying to stand tall and act confident, he glanced at me and said,"Wah, want to fight ah."

Nine years on, I begin to understand some of the things that he and other more senior people have said then.

So I guess the message is that you have to give people (and possibly yourself) a chance because what may appear to be obvious may turn out not to be. What may appear to be senseless may eventually become valuable.

No more YONEX, welcome LI NING

A sea change has taken place in the world of badminton. The incumbant Yonex, official equipment sponsor of almost all major badminton tournaments is giving way to Chinese Brand Li Ning.

If you have thought that Yonex was expensive, think again. Li Ning is almost twice as expensive. The retail prize of their top of the line racket costs $449! A pair of badminton shorts cost $89!

Li Ning's strategy is obviously not to become the badminton equivalent of Air Asia or Ryanair. It is setting its sights high on the top tier range, where the margins are higher. And it is doing so by sponsoring none other than the Chinese badminton team, the top dogs of the game.

As a consumer, if this forces Yonex to lower its prices, I am all for it. Cos I am sticking to my Yonex Armotec 900-Power!

Bao Chunlai Vs Boonsak Ponsana

Today's mens singles finals has to be one of the best badminton matches I have watched. Perhaps it was because both players have not won much in their careers and therefore gave their best, salvaging every point lunging, leaping, back-paddling and even resorting to diving. In the current 21-point game, there is no time for pretty strokes, every point is rewarded or punished.

Boonsak is clearly showing his age although his overall play and reading of the game has improved since his win in 2007. He is also more agressive and has adopted a more smashing game to suit the times. In contrast, Peter Gade's severe lack of speed and aggression and without a killer stroke cost him dearly and lost to an unknown Anup Sridhar.

I have always admired Bao Chunlai's technical game since I first saw him many years ago at the Singapore Open. However, despite his excellent stroke play, the reason why he has not matched his compatriot Lin Dan's achievement is that he cannot kill the game. Lin Dan can by smashing hard, and pouncing on the weak return to win the point.

The crowd was into the game today, lustily cheering and banging the clappers. But the Singapore kiasu streak showed itself again. When the score reached 19 in Bao's favour, some people can be seen rising and walking away from the stands. When Bao finally won, almost three quarters of the crowd stood up to leave even though there was still a prize presentation. This prompted the emcee to request the audience to stay, but this is Singapore, we must all go early in case our cars get stuck in a jam!

Wisdom from an intern

We have interns in office from time to time. Seeing them, I am reminded of my attachment when I was in Year 3, being bored (sometimes) to death, but being very carefree.

I normally make the effort to talk to them unless they look so unfriendly that it really is difficult to try to do anything. But actually most of them are just shy.

So today I was waiting for the lift to go home and two of the interns were already there. One of them was carrying a fencer's 'sword', possibly going for training later. Being kind of keen in martial arts, I engaged in some small talk with him about how long he has practised and whether he was any good.

Then I asked him," If you were in a fight, would you be able to use your fencing skills, pick up a stick or something and fight?"

Guess what he said?

"I think I will run away!"

Wise indeed =) In fact, I recall Jet Li saying the same thing.

First on the list

Was on the MRT last Saturday travelling with S to visit our favourite prawn noodle stall. On the way back, saw this classmate of mine and I could immediately remember his name, Ang K K, and I called him. He turned, looked at me, recognised me but he said he could not remember my name.

After telling him my name, I told him that the reason why I could remember his name after 12 years (we were in the same 1st year class) was his name was first on the class list and during tutorials when the tutor marked attendance, his name rang out and it stuck in my mind ever since.

Office running group - best turnout so far

Very heartened to have 12 runners (including me) today. We attempted a new route which minimises running along the main road, which during eveing peak hours is quite hazardous to health due to the vehicle fumes.
Waiting for the rest of the runners to arrive before heading for the post-run drink.

Enjoying a well deserved cold isotonic drink.

Wushu Performance

I attended a wushu performance put up by my 'former' school. Though I am no longer taking lessons, I still have a keen interest in wushu. The photo above shows the curtain call with the trainers in white (after their finale taiji performance). The gentleman on stage-left in a black jacket with a bouquet of flowers is Mr Di Guang-Wen, Chief Coach and former all-round wushu champion. He also acted in the series 'The Legend of Bruce Lee' which is showing on Channel 8 now. He plays Bruce Lee's Wing-Chun senior Guo Xin-Li.

Actually, before I stopped lessons, I was to be involved in one of the items for the performance and trained for 3 lessons but had to give it up in the end because the training clashed with my weekly Saturday badminton game.

If I had carried on, I would be clad in the yellow jumpsuit Bruce Lee made famous and my guess is I may not look very flattering in it.

Hey Jude (Beatles in colour)

Beatles: In My Life

First Grade Animal Science

I was channel surfing yesterday and watched a snippet of the variety show "Who is Smarter than a Fifth Grader". The contestant chose the category "First Grade Animal Science" and the resulting question was something like: A doe is a female species of which animal?

Ha! I know the answer from the song from the movie The Sound of Music. Bet you did too. You could probably sing it as well: Doe, a dear, a female dear.

For me, I heard the song when I was in Primary 1 or 2, but not from The Sound of Music. My mum had told me then there was a fantastic movie called The Sound of Music and she herself had only watched it once or twice. Those were the days before VCDs/DVDs were available so the only opportunity to watch such movies was when SBC broadcasted it.

I remember the scene vividly. It was a singing lesson and our teacher offered the opportunity to anyone in the class who would sing. One of my classmates, a girl, I remember her name, Chen Xingping, a Malaysian girl who commuted to Singapore daily to school, sang this song.

I was mesmerised by the song, because of the simplicity, the intuitiveness in teaching the listener about music notes. When I finally saw the movie a few years later, I loved the movie as well and subsequently bought the soundtrack and the VCD (it was still before the DVD era).

Anyway, back to Xingping. I remembered she had a best friend (don't we all have best friends then) called Peiqi whom, in later years, someone mentioned she took part in the Miss Singapore competition. Although a group of us from primary school still keep in touch, we have not been able to contact Xingping or Peiqi, even in this Facebook and Google age.

Mad World

Office Running Group

It is not easy to sustain a chore like running, although it is essentially a good thing to do. Come to think of it, good things like eating healthy etc. is always not easy to start and to continue doing.

So, the turnout for the second run was unsurprisingly not as good as the first. But the important thing was some of us perservered. For me, I enjoyed running with a group because I would never have ran the full 40 mins if I had done it at home. And I could see the benefits of my improved fitness and stamina when I played my weekly badminton. Against more skilful players like Mr O, my only edge over him is my superior fitness.

Keong smsed me the other day. He said he was inspired by our 40min running group that he started running 40 mins daily. Good for him. And he should! haha

Office running group

Colleague and I trying to start a running group in the office. First run today for 40 mins. Not bad, a little tired.

Keong back in Pek Kio

Keong, you trying too hard to push your chin out lah...your jaw line isn't natural.

That plastic bag is a little distracting.

Celebrating the Glorious Career of Seetoh C

It was his day today and he didn't dissappoint. First, he brought business cards for distribution promoting his new career (never mind he is 65 already) as a swimming coach. Second, he had a speech prepared and thanked all his bosses (never mind he is retiring). Lastly, he made everybody do a yam seng for him, well almost. You see, he did all the "Yams" and we all had to do the "Seng"s. See video below.

Well, it was his day and no one can begrudge his moment of attention after more than 40 years in this organisation. As a young engineer almost a decade ago, I had already heard of him and his professionalism and the discipline he demanded from his subordinates.

In his speech, he shared that he held 3 jobs before joining the present organisation. First, as a char siew bao seller at Kampung Telok Blangah who was slapped by a gangster because he dared ask the gangster to pay for two siew mais. He recalled those were the days before independence and shop owners had to pay protection money. This practice stopped in the late 60s.

His second job was a (re)-bar bender. No mechanisation in those days. Your muscles were all that you had.

His third job was as a plumber in a factory and he was the only one in the entire factory!

Despite his advancing age, he enrolled himself to be certified as a NROC swimming coach. The demands are exacting and only a small percentage pass every time. Yet, he made it.

So, to wish him well in his next career, the gift we got for him was a full body suit, with the word "TEACHER" printed in front and the NROC logo on the two sleeves. I think it is a fitting tribute to the man.

Chee Keong back in SIngapore

Meeting up with the man for lunch (he says his dinner slots are all taken up) this Thurs. So busy meh?

Meeting Linda at Queen Victoria Market, Melbourne

What a joy it was to see, walk and explore the Queen Vic Market. Before the trip, I have read up on the market on its official website and heard anecdotal reviews from my friend MK who did his farmer-to-scholar conversion in Melbourne. Now that I have actually shopped there, I think this is what all markets should be like!

I also met up with my 'ex'-colleague Linda who is now staying in Melbourne with her hubby Peiming during the course of his studies. We had an enjoyable gathering over breakfast and she showed us some interesting parts of the market, like the shop where two men pulled and kneaded mounds of sugar into candy.

Like she commented, it truly was good to 'see a familiar face' in a foreign land and to use Mandarin.

Our little island of peace and calm

Thailand is so messy now. Looks like no way out of it except clampdown which is history repeated many times over.

Thailand is at war with Cambodia over Preah Vihear. I've been to that temple. Beautiful place. Maybe that's why they are fighting over it. Hard to see how it will pan out.

Brings me to the Palestine-Israel conflict. Also no way out.

China is prosperous now. But that in itself is a conflict with its identity. How can the Communist Party stay relevant to the times and the needs of its increasingly globalised population and yet not have to give up its label of Communist. Difficult to reconcile.

In Singapore, politics is seldom mentioned. We have our peace and calm. Will this be enough?

Dinner with WY, Kel and their families

WY proposed a dinner gathering for our NS friends. Most could not turn up. We still managed a respectable turnout at NUSS Sentec with WY, Kel, I and our spouses. WY and Kel also brought their pride and joy along -- their first borns.

Kel's wife, YX, with their son Keegan.

Kel with Keegan.

WY and Chloe.

Me and a very distracted Chloe.

Three important considerations

I shared this with my fellow farmer (but now turned scholar) MK last week. Distilled from my year and a half observations of top brains at work, one must consider these three factors when putting up a piece of work, presentation etc.

1) What is the substance?
- could be statistics, principles, logic

2) What is the message?
- what do want the audience to take away.

3) Is it impressive?
- if it is not, be prepared to drop it.

EPS parking good or not?

In the car park below my block of flats, illegal parking has always been a problem, particularly so because the suppliers and customers of the wet market and hawker centre find it more convenient and cost-effective to park at the loading/unloading bay of the market. The problem is compounded because the entrance of the car park is a narrow strip of access road which gets even messier when inconsiderate drivers park along this road.

So, earlier mid last month, when we saw that gantries were being put up for EPS parking, our common conventional wisdom was that the illegal parking scene will simply get worse, because now that these motorists need to pay anyway, they will illegal park and stay put even longer.

EPS started today.

When I came home in the evening, what greeted me was not the usual scene of haphazardly parked vehicles, but unusual empty lots along the loading/unloading bay.

Seems like whoever is doing this is smarter than me! And I am thankful.

Hope this lasts.

Have you heard about Northlight?

Not the northern lights, but a school in Singapore. A very special one at that. The principal joked that she found it amusing when visitors asked what is the entry criteria," er....you fail you PSLE!"

The students are repeat takers of PSLE and are mostly underpriviledged children or misfits in the mainstream school.

I first heard of Northlight just a few days ago at a conference and was very touched about their mission because I can relate a little to how it feels to not 'catch any ball" for academic subjects, especially Mathematics.

I personally failed all my E and A maths from Sec 3 all the way to Sec 4, including the prelims. Owing to a stroke of good karma, I spent the few weeks before the O levels studying the 10-years-series and managed to pass the subjects. So I know how it feels like to have failed everything until the teacher has given up and you have given up.

So the principal and teachers at Northlight have to think of innovative ways, not only to teach Mathematics, but more importantly to create opportunities where these young people can find out what they can be good at and to savour small successes.

I salute them. The teachers for their dedication and the students for giving themselves another chance.

Trivial facts about poo

Yup, poo!

Was watching History Channel a little while ago and they had this amazing program called "All about Dung" or something like that.

It was shared in the program that in early Rome, people were accustomed to communal poo-ing and will share a common stick fixed with a 'sponge' to clean up -- hence the phrase "wrong end of the stick"!

It was also mentioned that King Louis X? (forgot which one) who had a phobia of eating in public but had no qualms doing his business in public while undertaking the important responsibility of conducting his official affairs -- hence the term "sitting on the throne".

There was another valuable nugget of information on the usefulness of poo. In rural India, a teacher came up with an ingenious solution to provide electricity to power lamps for his students. Pack cow dung with table salt in a container. Plonk in a disused battery and connect wires. Power flows! Wonderful.

3rd Dan staff: What I am learning now