Best Plan Forward?

Have you woken up on one of those days to realise that you have many plans? Do you still have an entire list of ‘I plan tos’?

1. I plan to…
2. I plan to…
3. I plan to…
4. I plan to…
5. I plan to…
6. I plan to…
7. I plan to…
8. I plan to…
9. I plan to…

Well, I don’t think many of us are given the opportunity to relive our life given at each lifetime. First, we don’t have nine lives ‘like a cat’. Most of us won’t have second chances as life will slip by just like that, and the fortunate ones may have life-changing moments (usually a really bad, perhaps near-death or down-in-the-pits experience) to realise how precious each second, each minute is – to be fully immersed in our own potential and self-resurrect…

It is strange how when I finally quit obsessing over a perfect plan, that I actually really started progressing and moving. It’s like having a swim calendar; you can plan and schedule in all your swims, the stroke, the duration, but as long as you don’t get your butt into the pool, all the planning in the word ain’t gonna help!

I think the best and worst thing that happened to civil society is that we have learned to plan, too much – we plan so much, so much so for one thing that all the energy used on planning could have been directed at the real thing – the action, the practice, the doing of it all. We all can be in the best country, best school, have the best teacher, have the best system and best plan… but the moment we forget to translate the act into action, there you have it a PERFECT plan for planning and a PERFECTLY BEAUTIFUL sure-fail plan. It’s a though we plan so perfectly that we give ourselves a redeeming reason if things fail – I planned, I did this, I did that… it just did’t work. I think the plans are a facade for “I better plan well so that IF I FAIL, nobody can say anything”. It’s like a insurance coverage, except it doesn’t give you a payout, it only assures a tripartite protection for the ego, esteem and judgement from harsh criticism and potential self-badgering.

How stupid have I been to be reminded by the simplicity of the law of attraction, the law of the outliers, and the law of the Universe, all after a few short laps in the pool after a hectic week. I had difficulty completing 5 laps when it used to be a breeze for 20 coupled with lifesaving timing. I took for granted, I could do it, I know how to do it, I can do it. And I have forgotten everything needs practice! Life, business, relationships, all of them is like swimming; every pull counts, every flutter kick counts, every hip flex counts, it’s conditioning, it’s getting to know everything about your body – your buoyancy, dominant hand, your dominant feet, your comfortable pull…

It’s not an easy ‘habit’ to kick since we are all programmed to plan. How many of us are really programmed to act on our plans and practise – practise real hard with simple actions. I’m afraid, we all teach our children to plan so much because of our own insecurity that they miss out on the more important thing in success – the persistence in repeated “boring” practice. We are think we are greater than the simple actions. But it’s the simple action(s) that hone greatness, don’ you think?

 

I. Title. Label.

Who are you?

The simplest answer anyone can get from that question is a name – John, Wendy, William, Sarah etc. I heard a funny one before though, she said she’s a penguin picker upper. Yes, a penguin picker upper, who works in the South Pole and as penguins often slip and fall and land on their backs and not able to get back up, she does exactly what she has to do… pick up the penguins and set them going again. (Of course she was kidding!)

And that leads us to the more complicated answers to that question. Like, I’m in medical field, I’m in education, I deal with legal matters, I’m in the financial industry.

And another layer, I’m a neurosurgeon, I’m a physics teacher, I’m a criminal lawyer, I’m a private banker, I’m my country’s first Olympics gold medalist.

And another layer, I did my PhD in Brown, I got my MBA in UPenn, I got my DBA in UoL.

And another, I’ve lived 5 years in NY, 3 years in London, my parents were from mainland China and I will be spending the next few years in Australia.

And another (religion, faith), and another (political leanings), and another (the CEO of ABC is a close friend)… and then, you realize that “Who are you?” became “What are you?”

Now go back, peel off the layers, and really think – Who are you? Stripped of titles and labels. I asked myself that recently, as in the process of becoming what I am today, have I lost my true identity? Or found it? Do I have an identity? Can one have an identity crisis without an identity? Can I have multiple identities?

A mother to my children, a daughter to my parents, a wife to my husband, a good citizen to my community and society, a friend to my friends. Who am I matters, to who matters to me and, when no one’s watching. 

And then perhaps, a penguin picker upper is not so outrageous after all. 🙂

 

 

 

On parents and comparisons

I was just talking to some young people about the ills of comparing children.

My mother was one such parent who compared me, because of the lack of siblings, to my ex-neighbour.  “Ex” because she has gotten married and moved away.  Also, “ex” because I have moved away.  Because we lived in the same block and both families just moved into the block, our parents happened to get to know one another and realised both their daughters go to the same school.  Hence, this girl got to get a ride along with me every morning, courtesy of my father.

Unfortunately, my mother was relentless in her comparison.  First, it was comparison of our figures – one was fatter than the other.  Next, it was comparison of results – one did better than the other (ever so slightly).  Then, even after graduation and man years after, comparison of marriage as a sign of progress and then children as a further sign of progress.  The result was expected – I avoided this girl in school and all other occasions.  This was so many years ago but even now, our lives never really converged only because I intended it to be so.  I avoided the comparison.

Parents’ comparisons are truly damaging.  We all know this and yet, this seems the most common way parents “encourage” even when it is the basest method.  When I think about it, this ex-neighbour of mine is an okay person.  Nothing wrong with her really but that she was the object of my comparison.  I would rather that my mother admonished me for the act itself, such as not studying as hard as I should, or eating more than I should, rather than making a comparison between two very different individuals.

And yes, when I was relating this to some young people, I could see that they could relate to this, comparisons between siblings, cousins or any other persons worth comparing to.  My advice to parents is that if one were to compare, one has to be very sure of the benchmarks.  Going to the same school or even being in the same class aren’t good benchmarks.  Two children are just that – two.  They are not one.  No two persons are exactly the same – even twins have different fingerprints.  So, it really is very difficult to find good benchmarks.

If you aim to be a good parent, do not compare.

What do we really know?

Many moons ago, when most people travelled by foot, and it would mostly be flat land and straight edges, we thought that the earth was flat. And that if we kept walking, and walking, and walking, we would walk to the edge of the earth, and, well, fall off…

Now, with technology, we know that the earth is round, and that all the other planets are round, and that the planets revolve around the sun. And that’s the information we have for now; how we operate, then revolves around this information: look at our travelling habits and behaviours.

Technology provides a platform for the increase of information, and therefore the assumption of gaining knowledge, that then drives our behaviour. This works similarly to how we do business.

Many moons ago, we would go out and hunt for food, and gather our resources. If there was something that someone else had, that we needed/wanted, we would either kill them to get it (survival mode), or trade them with something that they wanted (barter trading), or simply, they would give it to us, as they may have plenty (giving without asking for anything in return). Somehow along the way, an “ethical code” was set up, so that killing lessened. Barter trading increased (the concept of creating a win-win situation surfaced), and the nature of gifting also seemed to have lessened (“if I can get something in return from the other person, that I needed/wanted, why should I give?”). With this assumption and/or perceived truth of what win-win looks like, it drove the behaviour of how many people do business now – that I need to gain something in return, when I give something away. And we started looking at what we can gain, out of the giving, before we started giving…

And “we make decisions based on what we think we know.” – Simon Sinek

Somehow, along the way, as we “improve” in technology, as we “improve” in our knowledge  and skills, we forget to use our heart: to feel, to learn, to love. We think that whoever does business, is out to fleece us, to gain the upper hand, to earn big bucks. They forget to use their heart to feel, to learn more about the businesses, and to see beyond the front, but start looking at the intent of the business.

And vice versa, those who are the ones who start a business – they have the “what” and “how” of starting and maintaining a business, but they may not have the “why” to drive the business in the direction, in which appeals to them. And that’s when the information and knowledge conveyed, gets misconstrued.

Take for example: why do tuition teachers teach tuition? Are they really out to educate the child, or doing it just for the sake of earning the money? No denying that they are great in achieving the results that the parents hope that their child will achieve, but through the approach that they use to teach the child, you will be able to know and understand, and feel, if the person has the heart to teach in the first place. And even then, the tuition teacher may have the heart more for the subject that they teach, then actually have the heart of teaching the child, and support the child in their learning. Which would you choose?

Take another example: insurance agents – some of them are really out to earn your money, and you can sense that when they are super nice to you prior to signing up, and after the administrative procedures are done, they totally, and absolutely disappear from your life. Even in a time of crisis, they are also nowhere to be found and/or consulted. On the flip side, I have friends who are super dedicated in ensuring that their clients gain the most out of the service.

These insurance agent friends changed my perspective of what insurance is, and what they do. Because it starts from the heart. Do they earn any lesser? No. In fact, they may earn more than the insurance agents who are out to just earn the money. And even if they don’t earn as much, they will have a more loyal following of clients.

Very few businesses are able to communicate the “why”, and I am proud that I have been and still am with companies and businesses in which the “why” is strong!

So, what’s my point in this article?

My point is: do not judge based on what we think we know. Go and find out, gain more knowledge, look for information from more perspectives, even if it may seem to be the flipped side that we believe in, give it a chance and listen. It’s like how our kids will tell us: “Mom, Dad, I don’t like Math and/or Mother Tongue.” Are we going to tell them,

a. “it’s ok, don’t like then don’t do lor.”

or are we going to tell them,

b. “hey, give it a shot! Give it a try. Go and take a look, or go for trial lessons. Maybe you didn’t like how that teacher taught you the lesson, but this other teacher may be able to support you in your learning better?”

If we are egging our children on to gain a greater perspective, then so should we as parents, as adults (just in case you are single :P)

I am sharing this in light of the recent Olympics win by Joseph Schooling, where there are many people who just ride on the bandwagon, particularly businesses, to have the glory rub off on them – what is their intent? And on the other side, there are those who nitpick on his nationality. Through these feedback and comments, it reflects on how shallow our nation can be.

I am sharing this in light of the feedback and comments made on Quah Zheng Wen.

I am sharing this in light of the recent survey of the preference of what race our President should be.

I am sharing this in light of the upcoming US presidential elections.

I am sharing this because, it seems to me (and I acknowledge that my perspective may be skewed, based on the limited knowledge that I may have), with the increase in accessibility to technology and information and knowledge, the less wisdom we have, the more myopic we become, and we make our decisions based on false knowledge known as assumptions. And the best part to this is, that our online behaviour tells it all too, what our perceived truths are.

We’d rather spend our time and energy in a virtual world, such as FaceBook and Pokémon Go and Instagram, rather than to put in effort to go out and meet people, have conversations and learn, what the different races and religions in our country stand for. Some would choose to be keyboard warriors, and type comments and nasty messages, rather than be brave enough, and centred enough to go out there and share your thoughts and opinions with others face-to-face.

I am glad that our team is well-travelled, and only commit ourselves to this blog posts for once a week, so that we can spend the rest of the time, increasing what we know, through the challenging of our assumptions and our perceived truths. I appreciate the team for challenging each other respectfully, meaningfully and purposefully, such that we may grow, not only as writers, but as parents, as individuals, serving the community at large.

 

Mummy, I can’t…

Conversation between mother and daughter

Daughter: Mummy, I can’t…
Mother: Try again sweetie…
Daughter: It’s soooo difficult…
Mother: I know it’s not easy, but shall we try again?

Daughter looked down at the toy in her hand, put on her usual frown when she’s focusing, and with a little pout, put her hands to use, her little brain thinking which method she hasn’t tried and moments later, with a little help, she fixed it.
With that, came that triumphant smile and a cheerful “yay, mummy i did it!! I did it!!
Mother: “Well done darling!”

As both went to bed that night with a smile on their respective faces, one of them knows that the other is on her way to keep trying.
Tomorrow, she will tell her “Impossible is nothing”.

****************************************************************
Daughter: Mummy, I can’t…
Mother: Please try again sweetie..
Daughter: I’ve tried everything, this thing is stupid.
Mother: This is not a living thing.. It can’t be stupid or clever dear..
Daughter: I need more tools. I need to google the methods. I need the short cuts. I need …
Mother: You have everything you need darling, I’m pretty sure the designer did not create this with the mindset of letting people take short cuts.
Daughter: Then I guess I’m the one who’s stupid.
Mother: Oh baby, it’s not time to give up yet. You may just be a step from the solution, and it’s always darkest before dawn.
Daughter: How do you know mum?
Mother: Trust me my love, I know exactly how you feel. I’ve been through moments you’re going through right now. And look where we are now? You are one of the best things that happened to us, and that’s because we didn’t give up when it got tough.
Daughter: and if I choose to give up now?
Mother: Then you could be missing something that can potentially be life shaping… Is that what you want?
Daughter: No…
Mother: Well then, you have lesser to lose if you keep trying.
As both went to bed that night, next to her is the new found strength and determination, channeled from the tight hug and the knowledge that one of them is here because the other did not give up.

********************************************************************
Daughter: Mom, I cant…

Mother: Chin up my dear 🙂

Daughter: Mom, how do you keep such a positive outlook of life, in spite of all that you’ve gone through?

Mother: Because I am always grateful of what I have and I do not dwell on what I do not have. It’s very easy for a person to be negative, that’s copping out. And we are not a family of “coppers”. We lead our lives with the right values, and when you do, you have no time or space for negativity. We count our blessings, we listen to our lessons.

Daughter: Why are there so many sad and negative people around?

Mother: We all choose our own paths. It’s never easy and when people do not deal well with initial failures, they internalise it and lose their sight on the big picture. It’s easy to give up, harder to try again. Be helpful or helpless, take your pick.

There are always two sides to a coin. Here’s a little story.
A mother has two daughters. One daughter sells umbrellas and another sells land tours. When it’s sunny, she feels sad for the daughter who sells umbrellas. When it rains, she is sad for the daughter who sells land tours. She’s never happy.

Another mother with two daughters in the same trades as the first mother. When it’s sunny, she feels happy for the daughter who sells land tours and when it rains, she feels happy for the daughter who sells umbrellas. She’s always happy. 🙂
It’s a matter of perspectives my love.
And the sun always rises and sets, whether or not you like it, whether you are happy or sad.

Daughter: How do we help them?

Mother: They have to see and acknowledge their situation and how they can make the best of it. Fail fast and forward, get up and move on. Borrowing from Jungle Book – for the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack.
Be the wolf.
The future is not for people who think out of the box, it’s for those who don’t need a box to think out from.

As both went to bed that night, the moon is shining bright and both smiled knowingly as that, in itself, is a reflection of the sun.

 

Hungry Pokemon Ghosts

I’ve been wanting to say something about it now.  So much has happened and so much as been said about Pokemon Go, but I still want to say my peace.

Never have I been so amazed to see adults so dazed.  Get people off their seats, take a walk and move around a little.  Who are we kidding?  Did the creators of the application really think people are working their heart rates to at least the fat burning zone and then the aerobic zone and finally hitting the anaerobic zone?  What I see are groups of people, sometimes scattered, sometimes huddled together and staring into their mobile phone screens like they have not seen their devices before.  What is scarier is they walk at a zombie pace, slowly in a daze, not knowing where they are, who is around them and where they are heading.  Heads bowed, sometimes still, sometimes swaying this way or that, or sometimes suddenly looking up and turning 90 degrees before walking uncertainly in the new direction, never mind other pedestrians, cyclists or road users.  The whole being is consumed in another world and yet the physical being belongs to this world.  It speaks of a soul-lessness, the lost, those searching but never finding.  Ghouls, we can them, living in husks of bodies.  Over time, do the know who they are?

And so it is, almost every night, when I walk the dog and try to do other more soulful things people from my world normally do, I meet with such creatures, swaying uncertainly and yet threateningly because of the zombie-like gait.  When there is even more of them, I find myself like a survivor in The Walking Dead.  The moving senseless, for they do not sense, also tells me that the Gates of Hell has indeed opened and that the Seventh Month Hungry Ghosts’ Festival is well on its way.  These ghosts seek, hungry for Pokemon offerings at temples they call gyms.  At a time like this, with the air full of Chinese joss paper burning in the air, incense sticks and red candles burning ominously by grass patches, these hungry Pokemon ghosts revel in their slow zombie way when the Gates of Hell are opened.

And yet, there are other kinds of zombies, those that rush and dash around, same as those who do not consider themselves of this world.  These are the more violet kinds of zombies who hurl themselves at traffic and picking fights with our worldly humans and the two worlds clash.  Perhaps WW3 would look something like this.  These seem to be the stuff zombie movie-makers find their inspiration, crafting their plots of annihilation.

And as the Hungry Pokemon Ghosts go around in their world, I see those whose souls may never return.  With every hunt, the hunt consumes them, much like Jack in Lord of the Flies, where rescue is never of any importance.  Rescue is what they need; new life needs to be breathed into them; perhaps then they will control the compass and not the compass them.

Good luck, Hungry Pokemon Ghosts.

What if…?

When I grow up, I want to be a teacher.

Why?

Because, I can teach people.

What would you like to teach them?

Stuff?

What kind of stuff?

English, Math, Science…

*Pause. Silence.*

Anything else?

How to be a good person?

Why would you want to teach people to be good?

I don’t know… *sheepish. Awkward silence.*

Ok… Hope you achieve your dream. Study hard, and be a lecturer lah, or become school principal one day! They earn more than a teacher.

~~~~~~~~~~

When I grow up, I want to be a policeman.

Why?

Because, I want to catch all the bad people.

But it will be dangerous too…

It’s ok, I want to keep other people safe.

Mmmmm… Work hard lah, be an officer, so don’t need to run around, so dangerous, chase all the bad people. You will have many people under you, help you chase the bad people, and you can catch more bad people.

~~~~~~~~~~

When I grow up, I want to be a clown.

Why?

Because it is fun! And clowns are funny!

Don’t be silly! Clowns are not serious, cannot earn money being a clown. Why don’t you choose to be something else? Like a doctor, or a pilot? Doctors need to be funny too, to help their patients feel better. Pilots can also have fun, flying the plane and cracking jokes for their passengers. And they earn better or more.

~~~~~~~~~~

When I grow up, I want to earn a lot of money!

Why?

So that I can bring mummy and daddy on holidays and let them be happy! So that I can buy all the things that I want!

So what do you think you need to do to earn a lot of money?

Be a banker, work in a bank where all the money is.

~~~~~~~~~~

When I grow up, I want to be a farmer.

Why?

Because then I can live on a farm, and have many animals to play with.

But we are in Singapore, not enough land to farm. And farmers are poor. They don’t earn much. Be an architect lah, or property agent.

~~~~~~~~~~

What if, as parents and/or adults, what we wish for, is the child’s happiness?

What if, we assume that everyone who first comes to us, comes with good intentions, and not out to take advantage of us? What if we get cheated in the process? What if we learnt a valuable lesson about THAT person, and it need not have to be a reflection of anyone else?

What if we can make the world a better place, with the little things that we do?

What if…? A crucial question to ask ourselves, and possibly those amongst us, to create a paradigm shift.

And the persons who start asking these crucial questions need to be heard, and not put down. Because these are the ones, who will create and extraordinary world!

What if you can be that person, to shift the paradigm, towards positive change? What if you are the next Steve Jobs, the next Mother Theresa, the next Lee Kuan Yew, the next Barack Obama, the next Hillary Clinton, the next Richard Branson, the next Elim Chew?

What if, your child can be that? What if, you allow your child, to “what if”? To dream, to explore, to become. What if you are that person, who creates that space, for others around you, to dream, to explore, to become? What if, you are that dreamer, that explorer, that becomer? Oh, my darling, what if you fly?

Blind to Blind Spot

Weekends have not been the same over the last two weeks. Two Saturdays ago, Pokemon Go was launched in this sunny island state. Then, last Saturday, Joseph Schooling won the first Olympics Gold for Singapore. The entire country cheered and celebrated. So did we, UCC writers. Because in some way or other, we find something that links us with Joseph Schooling, either as education-ers, writers, or as parents. Everyone wrote something about it and I particularly like one of our articles –  The Day Pokémons Got Schooled & Singaporeans Flocked to the Pools.

In the midst of all these, it appears that dreams, aspirations and the sleeping giants within were awakened. It has now become possible to dream of the impossible. I may be a cynic, but it was quite clear that when Joseph Schooling got into semi-finals and even when he beat Phelps in the semi-finals, Singaporeans were still hanging on the perception that a Gold medal was a silent whisper or a wishful wish. His first coach somewhat alluded that if he got a Bronze, that would have been a big achievement. Most didn’t have the faith to think a Gold medal was possible and were (are) happy to settle with any medal. Imagine if Joseph had held on to the same belief. Thank goodness he’s proven to be an extraordinary Singaporean, not the average Jo(e).

Joseph Schooling was in everyone’s blind spot, and had always been, until last Saturday. Two local magazines (shall not name them but the initials are MH and SC) have made very bad judgment calls with regards to the coverage (or lack of) for Schooling. The apology and the reasons given (for not running the well-thought and researched story) simply highlighted that they should remove the ’s (apostrophe s) from their names. These brands clearly don’t belong, neither to Men nor Singapore.

How can you blame a nation of sleepers or sleepwalkers when the media does not make it a point to assess their blind spots from time to time? Schooling did not appear suddenly, neither did he get a Singapore passport recently. He’s been around for 21 years. He decided to leave home at 14 to train for his personal goal and for his country. And he had to break rules and norms to do that. Not everyone’s happy with that. Then again, not everyone’s willing to train the way he did. And anyone can imagine the potential backlash had he not won any medal.

Rules and norms are not everything that govern the universe, neither is Pokemon-Go. Sometimes, you have to break the rules for your goal and dreams. Like Schooling. And sometimes, you have to follow the rules and strict discipline, like Andrew Lock. I’ve had the privilege of meeting Mr Andrew Lock in person a few months ago and learned a thing or two about persistence and patience as well as focus . It’s really about your goal and what is required to get there.

So here we are, inspired by what Joseph Schooling has achieved and Schooling senior hopes that he will inspire the youths in Singapore to go for their dreams. But firstly, parents of Singapore’s youths have to wake up from their shallow dreams. Many have not checked their blind spots for a long time to see what’s in store all these while but have instead buried their fighting spirit and settled for average. Parents who lament that “oh but his parents can afford to spend a million bucks to send him to the US to train” should give themselves two tight slaps. Then my question is how is it that we, as parents, have never thought it possible that we can have the same financial means? How is it that we think that our 9-5 job and monthly pay justifies “depriving” (for lack of a better word) our kids of a chance to explore his or her potential? How is it that we allow mediocrity to be our average? and even as we raise our averages, we decide it should have an upper limit? And then we dismiss the situation as having kids who are not inspired or motivated to be an inspiration? Parents, how many of us really make it our way of life to inspire our children to be greater than they think they can be?

I watched an interesting Ted Talk recently The Happiness Advantage -Linking Positive Brains to Performance and it’s about how statisticians and economists like to fit data to the average and work from there. We’ve become one of those average data points and if we’re an outlier, we’d either be ignored, put in the blind spot, or guided to “revert to mean”. Time to change the lens from which everyone sees (or not sees) perhaps?

We brought our little one to the pool on Sunday morning, and I begged my husband to show us how to do the butterfly strokes. I’ve always had to beg and cajole the strokes out of him, and this time I wouldn’t take no. As an aside, I find it really sexy when he does it (ssshhhh….). He used to be a competitive swimmer, but like many others, never brought it to another level, partly due to self limiting beliefs. So on Sunday, our little one saw him performing the butterfly strokes for the very first time. And it opened her eyes to something new and perhaps she’d be inspired to learn or at least know of its existence. I know I am. 🙂

Euphoria doesn’t last, but goals and awakened dreams should. I just wonder, how long will the adults and parents in Singapore stay awake and start checking their blind spots? Last Saturday, Joseph Schooling won the first Olympics Gold for Singapore. The entire country cheered and celebrated. Let’s hope they are no longer in their pyjamas.

The Day Pokémons Got Schooled & Singaporeans Flocked to the Pools

I love how the 100m Bonboleta Men poked-balled the non-sentient beings out of both the physical and cyber worlds, putting them back in school. It was reality versus augmented reality and the score was a ‘satu-kosong’ (1-0) – the Pokemon Go wave suddenly receded after Joseph Schooling’s splashing victory! Magikarp’s gone with the real flipping (flip turn at 23.64s) and splashing by Joseph Schooling. Not only was that refreshing (after being “pokefied” left, right and centre), but heartwarming to see many united with:

1. Pre-Victory Boooos at some media’s seemingly shoddy, uncaring, critical and insensitive reporting that incurred the wrath of many – families and friends of the athletes and other supporters (people with sports psyc background are prolly those who were seething with anger with by some disappointing journalistic coverage). And I particularly like Mothership.sg’s take. I think there were at some junctures I could visualise some supporters wanting to pinianta the daylight of out the ‘sports’ writers judging from their intense and angry reactions. Read #8.                           
2. Remembering the unsung heroes even before the win – Colin and May Schooling, his family, coaches, friends etc. Remember, it takes a village to raise a child, a family and network of individuals who are willing to pool in whatever resources, time, energy, effort and belief that money cannot buy. Those media that decided to sideline pre-victorious athletes, their family and their efforts just because you don’t see it (too blind, too ignorant, too uninformed) or you decided to use “weekend swim at the beach” comment for whatever reasons, shame on you! Read #1 and #8.

   

   Source: The Straits Times Facebook

3. National Day Part 2 with the reds and whites dancing everywhere, you can literally see people red-white popping in all directions.. Oh wait, we forgot the INTENSE SILENCE that 5.39 million people on the red dot took a huge breath of air (and forgot to exhale), till towards Joseph’s 99m mark, and then suddenly, everyone exhaled with “YES! YAY! SWEE! STEADY!” with live FB feeds and the jubilation… 

   Source: ST PHOTOS: CHEW SENG KIM, LIM YAOHUI

4. Uncoordinated synchronised FB/IG/Tweets shares, likes, re-posts that had cyber hi-fives flying across continents and in cyber space. It was like a huge national-wide online conference dial-in, erhmm actually get-togethers as well.

   

   Source: Facebook Lee Hsien Loong

5. Speculation at the Pools for the weekend’s 4-D with number sets and permutations that even the novice lottery punter would be able to derive at. Let’s see: 1208 (date), 5114 (triple silver-tie timing), 1004 (100m with 4 winners), 0104 (champion – 01, lane four – 04), 2364 (flip turn timing) and of course, the Golden Ticket number, 5029 timing from our Golden Boy’s win. By the way, I don’t buy 4-D, just guessing. =P

   

     Source: Today Online 

   

   Source: Ho Ching Facebook

6. SCHOOL holiday wish bubble only to be burst by MOE’s poetic ‘press release’. Can you hear the “Oh, man, why got school still?” from students, parents (myself included), teachers (c’mon, admit it). Also, came a flood of interesting Schooling-related creative pieces, ‘macham‘ poetry slam heh.

   

   Source: MOE Facebook

   

   Source: Gwee Li Sui Facebook

   

   Source: Hubert Yohannan Facebook

   

   Source: The Straits Times Facebook

   

   Source: SGAG

7. Attention to other more balanced and well-written pieces like one of my favourites by The Guardian‘s piece by Andy Bull, other than those that flooded mainstream media. Read point #1 and #8.

   

   Source: The Guardian

8. Call for gracious and quality reporting when supporters rallied to remind media to be mindful. So, “Forgive and Forget”… Men’s Health for the initial commentary and the courage to step up and apologise?

   

   Source: Men’s Health Facebook

   

   Source: Men’s Health Facebook

9. Reminder to all of us about discipline, focus and priority matter when we pursue our goals with this excerpt from The New Paper‘s ‘Joseph Schooling, The Road to Gold’, ‘He said then: “I’m sacrificing my childhood – my time with friends, but I want to look back after I’ve reached my goal and be able to say that I made it.”

   

   Source: The New Paper

    

10. A stoic rendition of ‘Majulah Singapura’ that made many of us tear – no need to “Sedia!” from parade commander. Hey, we are allowed to get “emo” on this record-breaking day, right? Plus the fact that he’s part our Chay Kway Teow (extra black) culture. But too bad, ladies. He’s taken.

    

    Source: Screenshot from Toggle TV

    

    Source: Screenshot from Toggle TV

Source: Tanderson Tand Tand

The Laws of Life – According to the Sushi on a Conveyor Belt

1. Always look forward – then you will know what you are getting next! Only look back, if you want to draw from a previous experience to springboard forwards!

2. Be patient – what you are looking for, may be just around the corner.

3. Be quick, to grab the opportunity – because when you miss it, you may have to wait again, perhaps for a really long time. Or, you may miss out on it totally.

4. Unless you take the rice… Oops, I mean, your life… into your own hands, you will not be able to create what you desire the most.

5. Take just enough for the moment – too much may cause indigestion.

6. Find a balance – between the heavy and the light.

7. When you see the same dishes/things coming towards you, over and over again, send out a request, so that the Universe hears you. If you don’t place an order for what you want, you will continue to get what you don’t want.

8. It may not be served on a silver platter, but salmon sashimi will still be salmon sashimi – nice and yummy! So learn to manage our expectations. If expectations are otherwise, please refer to point 7.

9. Leave when you are done, with a smile on your face and a happy belly – two of the basic necessities in life.