EOY!! Hurray??

This blog seems to be becoming a monthly blog. Better than nothing....



Been reading The God Delusion. Not going to comment much on the content. Read it yourself to find out.

The Greatest Show on Earth awaits.



Going through a somewhat depressing phase. It's becoming consistent. Is it because I have got too much time on my hands?

Got a new Salomon jacket. Was glad that I was not fatter. It was the last second piece and there were no other sizes available! It was a nice fit.

Spent Christmas Eve at Kallang Leisure Park. Dinner, movie then ice-skating with Bear, SMY Yurong Jr, Keet, Zhihao, San², Jeff, Teresa and Charles!! Went to that same Japanese restaurant. Once again, we got cake!! SMY was in the same attire!! Watched Sherlock Holmes after dinner. If you ignored what you read in books, it would have been a better movie. Won't spoil it for people who would be reading this. Ice-skating!!! Went back ice-skating exactly one year after my 1st attempt. Not too bad a feeling. Going to learn how to blade so my next attempt would be a better experience. Oh yes!! No abrasion this year!! Supper was at a dim-sum shop at Geylang.

Spent Christmas at Wilson's. Had tonnes of food!!! Ok, not really tonnes but it was food galore. Pizzas, turkey, pork knuckle, ham, cakes! Gluttony!! It was Teresa's birthday and since she was not around, we got a stand-in for her birthday celebration!!

Going back to work on Monday.


With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.- Steven Weinberg

Updates

It is now the month of November. I have survived 19 weeks of work.

This blog has been neglected. Sorry blog!!

1. Been playing tchoukball for as long as I have worked.
2. Completed my NCAP 1 course last night. Awaiting results in six weeks time. Imagine having a jittery pre-christmas. NCAP 2 anyone?
3. Signed up for CPR+AED course. Byebye $$. I hope I never have to put to use what I am about to learn.
4. Been neglecting playboating. Must plan time on weekdays during the school holidays to play. Otherwise I will be disintegrated rather then rusty.
5. Currently watching documentaries off YouTube
6. Been on a shopping spree on Amazon.com recently.


Reflection
It is in my opinion that opportunities are bountiful. It is the realisation of one that is hard to come by. In many ways, we have been given second chances to right our wrongs, to improve our shortcomings. Yet, there seems to be something stopping people from doing so. Perhaps it takes a sharp eye to see one. There are, also, a group of people who chose not to take that chance despite it being offered to them on a silver platter. People who fear the consequences and yet repeatedly commit the same mistake. Question, why?


You must learn from the mistakes of others. You can't possibly live long enough to make them all yourself- Sam Levenson (1911-1980)

Obama's Back-to-school Speech

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary ____________________________________________________________________

For Immediate Release September 8, 2009
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT IN A NATIONAL ADDRESS TO AMERICA'S SCHOOLCHILDREN
Wakefield High SchoolArlington, Virginia
12:06 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. All right, everybody go ahead and have a seat. How is everybody doing today? (Applause.) How about Tim Spicer? (Applause.) I am here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And we've got students tuning in from all across America, from kindergarten through 12th grade. And I am just so glad that all could join us today. And I want to thank Wakefield for being such an outstanding host. Give yourselves a big round of applause. (Applause.)

I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it's your first day in a new school, so it's understandable if you're a little nervous. I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now -- (applause) -- with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade you're in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer and you could've stayed in bed just a little bit longer this morning.

I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived overseas. I lived in Indonesia for a few years. And my mother, she didn't have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school, but she thought it was important for me to keep up with an American education. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday. But because she had to go to work, the only time she could do it was at 4:30 in the morning.

Now, as you might imagine, I wasn't too happy about getting up that early. And a lot of times, I'd fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever I'd complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and she'd say, "This is no picnic for me either, buster." (Laughter.)
So I know that some of you are still adjusting to being back at school. But I'm here today because I have something important to discuss with you. I'm here because I want to talk with you about your education and what's expected of all of you in this new school year.

Now, I've given a lot of speeches about education. And I've talked about responsibility a lot.

I've talked about teachers' responsibility for inspiring students and pushing you to learn.

I've talked about your parents' responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and you get your homework done, and don't spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with the Xbox.

I've talked a lot about your government's responsibility for setting high standards, and supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren't working, where students aren't getting the opportunities that they deserve.

But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, the best schools in the world -- and none of it will make a difference, none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities, unless you show up to those schools, unless you pay attention to those teachers, unless you listen to your parents and grandparents and other adults and put in the hard work it takes to succeed. That's what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education.

I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself. Every single one of you has something that you're good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That's the opportunity an education can provide.

Maybe you could be a great writer -- maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper -- but you might not know it until you write that English paper -- that English class paper that's assigned to you. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor -- maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or the new medicine or vaccine -- but you might not know it until you do your project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a senator or a Supreme Court justice -- but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.

And no matter what you want to do with your life, I guarantee that you'll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You're going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You cannot drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You've got to train for it and work for it and learn for it.

And this isn't just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. The future of America depends on you. What you're learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future.

You'll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You'll need the insights and critical-thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You'll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy.

We need every single one of you to develop your talents and your skills and your intellect so you can help us old folks solve our most difficult problems. If you don't do that -- if you quit on school -- you're not just quitting on yourself, you're quitting on your country.
Now, I know it's not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork.

I get it. I know what it's like. My father left my family when I was two years old, and I was raised by a single mom who had to work and who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn't always able to give us the things that other kids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There were times when I was lonely and I felt like I didn't fit in.

So I wasn't always as focused as I should have been on school, and I did some things I'm not proud of, and I got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse.

But I was -- I was lucky. I got a lot of second chances, and I had the opportunity to go to college and law school and follow my dreams. My wife, our First Lady Michelle Obama, she has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didn't have a lot of money. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country.

Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don't have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job and there's not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don't feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren't right.

But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life -- what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you've got going on at home -- none of that is an excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude in school. That's no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. There is no excuse for not trying.

Where you are right now doesn't have to determine where you'll end up. No one's written your destiny for you, because here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future.

That's what young people like you are doing every day, all across America.

Young people like Jazmin Perez, from Roma, Texas. Jazmin didn't speak English when she first started school. Neither of her parents had gone to college. But she worked hard, earned good grades, and got a scholarship to Brown University -- is now in graduate school, studying public health, on her way to becoming Dr. Jazmin Perez.

I'm thinking about Andoni Schultz, from Los Altos, California, who's fought brain cancer since he was three. He's had to endure all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of which affected his memory, so it took him much longer -- hundreds of extra hours -- to do his schoolwork. But he never fell behind. He's headed to college this fall.

And then there's Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods in the city, she managed to get a job at a local health care center, start a program to keep young people out of gangs, and she's on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college.

And Jazmin, Andoni, and Shantell aren't any different from any of you. They face challenges in their lives just like you do. In some cases they've got it a lot worse off than many of you. But they refused to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their lives, for their education, and set goals for themselves. And I expect all of you to do the same.

That's why today I'm calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education -- and do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending some time each day reading a book. Maybe you'll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you'll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like I do, that all young people deserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe you'll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn. And along those lines, by the way, I hope all of you are washing your hands a lot, and that you stay home from school when you don't feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter.

But whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it.
I know that sometimes you get that sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work -- that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star. Chances are you're not going to be any of those things.

The truth is, being successful is hard. You won't love every subject that you study. You won't click with every teacher that you have. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right at this minute. And you won't necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.

That's okay. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who've had the most failures. J.K. Rowling's -- who wrote Harry Potter -- her first Harry Potter book was rejected 12 times before it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team. He lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, "I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that's why I succeed."

These people succeeded because they understood that you can't let your failures define you -- you have to let your failures teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently the next time. So if you get into trouble, that doesn't mean you're a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to act right. If you get a bad grade, that doesn't mean you're stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying.

No one's born being good at all things. You become good at things through hard work. You're not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don't hit every note the first time you sing a song. You've got to practice. The same principle applies to your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right. You might have to read something a few times before you understand it. You definitely have to do a few drafts of a paper before it's good enough to hand in.

Don't be afraid to ask questions. Don't be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn't a sign of weakness, it's a sign of strength because it shows you have the courage to admit when you don't know something, and that then allows you to learn something new. So find an adult that you trust -- a parent, a grandparent or teacher, a coach or a counselor -- and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals.

And even when you're struggling, even when you're discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you, don't ever give up on yourself, because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.

The story of America isn't about people who quit when things got tough. It's about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best.

It's the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and they founded this nation. Young people. Students who sat where you sit 75 years ago who overcame a Depression and won a world war; who fought for civil rights and put a man on the moon. Students who sat where you sit 20 years ago who founded Google and Twitter and Facebook and changed the way we communicate with each other.

So today, I want to ask all of you, what's your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a President who comes here in 20 or 50 or 100 years say about what all of you did for this country?

Now, your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I'm working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books and the equipment and the computers you need to learn. But you've got to do your part, too. So I expect all of you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don't let us down. Don't let your family down or your country down. Most of all, don't let yourself down. Make us all proud.
Thank you very much, everybody. God bless you. God bless America. Thank you. (Applause.)

END 12:22 P.M. EDT

Apologies

Apologies for not updating this blog.

Been busy with work.

An update on my life.

• I'm now working at a school as an AED. So good so far. Sometimes testing but it will only serve to make me a better person.
• Picked up tchoukball. Having much fun. Meeting new people as well. As boring as the verbal description might sound, it is much more exciting.
• Went for tchoukball 'C' License course. Passed.
• Haven't run for a while.
• Had diarrhea.
• Celebrated my first Teachers' Day in the capacity of a teaching staff
• Lost a buff

Reflections

Would you stop an addiction or attempt to quit an addiction after you knew there were legal and health implications for continuing? Is it worth continuing for the instant gratifications or for the long term benefits? How then can a person convince another to stop? When does good will become an obsession? Does it help when one measures the benefits and cost?

The greatest challenge to any thinker is stating the problem in a way that will allow a solution. - Bertrand Russell, British author, mathematician, & philosopher (1872 - 1970)

I don't want lead an Army Life!!!!

Went to watch Own Time Own Target on Saturday. It was crude, it was funny. So reflective of my NS days plus a bit more vulgarities and sadist mind games.

Fast forward to Sunday
Developed a sore throat and runny nose. Had wanted to go playboating but decided to practise some social responsibility and stayed home.

Monday blues
My sore throat and runny nose stuck with me. Had no choice but to make a beeline for the polyclinic. 2 days MC. It's better than 7 days. Missing school already. It's either I love school or I love work. Which one?

Tuesday??
Huh?? Medication....DrowzzZzzy.....zZZz


"It is possible to fail in many ways...while to succeed is possible only in one way."- Aristotle

Singer or basketball player?

Heard this between two boys on the bus today

Boy01: Michael Jackson died today?
Boy02: He did?
Boy01: Ya
Boy02: What happened?
Boy01: Heart failure
Boy02: oh....Who's Michael Jackson? The basketball player?
Boy01: Michael Jackson is a singer. Not a basketball player.
Boy02: Really? I'm really sure he's a basketball player.


I'm pretty sure if Michael Jackson heard it he would rise up from the dead and beat them black and white

Keep On With The Force Don't Stop. Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough - Michael Jackson.

Reflections

Another overdue post. Take it with a sack of salt.

Been doing a bit of reading lately. Some reflections on an idea.


Thinking About Thinking
Is a student able to attain understanding thru self-regulation? My thoughts? Maybe. Self-regulation is very much dependable on the motivation of the student. Here is what I gathered from my reading.

1. Relevance. Motivation can come from many areas and forms. I believe everyone is motivated. The difference is the source of their motivation. The more relevant the topic to their ideas, the stronger the driving force. e.g. A student places more importance on an activity and neglects another. Boredom, believe or not, is a form of motivation.



2. Self-efficacy. Different from self esteem, it is the self confidence in the ability to carry out a task. When a student has high self-efficacy, he/she is more motivated to carry out a task. Low self-efficacy results in non-coping strategies or low quality work.These students usually have very little faith in their abilities and would have thought they would fail in a task even before attempting it. Too much self-efficacy or over-efficacy can also result in mediocre or low quality work. Students' over-efficacy can hinder learning. For example, a student might be so confident in his/her abilities they avoid asking questions or enquire about something they are unfamiliar with.



3. Attribution. A student's attribution to success or failure determine their views on matters. Students who attribute their success or failures to uncontrollable factors have an external locus of control. They are referred to as internalists. Internal or uncontrollable factors include luck, stupidity, ability. Students attribute to controllable factors have an internal locus of control. This group is referred as the externalists. External or controllable factors include effort, strategy. Internalists tend to give up after failure as their view their failure as something which is out of their control. Externalists view failure as a learning and makes adjustment to strategies or increase effort to achieve their expectations.



4. The Teacher. In the regular classroom, teachers often regulate the pace of learning. In an attempt to cover the syllabus, teachers often give out worksheets after worksheets(remember borrdom?). Besides teaching content and understanding, it is also important to promote interest in learning in students.

In a time as such, when information is easily available, it is no longer enough to teach from a book; learning can and should be done thru any appropriate medium. Which brings me to another question- Are these resources readily available? How exactly should we filter the useful tools from the inappropriate ones. That will be answered when I have time for my research. To all who are moulding our young minds, look for that teachable moment and exploit it. Who knows you might just lay the foundation for the next Edison or Einstein.

To repeat what others have said, requires education; to challenge it, requires brains. -Mary Pettibone Poole

An overdue post here.

Another milestone in my job.


Finally completed the course at NIE.


Wish I had better times at NIE but I wouldn't trade anything for the one I had. The ups and downs which made my experience unique. The lifeless weekends and the dark hours at the library. Cannot believe I actually spent more time in school than at home.

TGIF!! Not because it's Friday but because the course is Finished!!
Then again, there's still practicum.......

BBQ in a few hours time. A little paiseh I had to miss SIE for this. Will make up the guilt with a run.

Waiting to head back to school to face reality. Wondering if NIE showed us the roses or the thorns. Got a few ideas in mind but wating to see if it can be adapted for the school. As usual, some food for thought. The grass is always greener on the other side. There is more manure there. Life's a bed of roses. It really is thorny and pain in the butt.


You don't need fancy highbrow traditions or money to really learn. You just need people with the desire to better themselves.-Adam Cooper and Bill Collage

Dusk till dawn

Did my first marathon last weekend
Mentally and physically torturing

Mental note to self- you can try running, you can try walking but don't die trying

I think the marathon has probably fried my brain cause the moment I crossed the finish line, I told myself I must do it again next year.

A quick one on the run
Jogged for 12km
Walked and jogged for another 6
Then was walking all the way

Still I'm proud of my accomplishment

This year I did it within 9 hours
Next year, target 7 hours

Sundown 2010, if there is one, I'll tackle you.

The test of courage comes when we are in the minority. The test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority. - Ralph W. Sockman

Let Loose

Sorry people!! Haven't been updating the blog for a while.
Really occupied with assignments.

No datelines for this week.
Can you imagine 8 weeks of thinking about assignments?
Hope this short respite helps

It's a little bad but it's really fun to see two women with a common enemy bitching around.
At times it just seem so hilarious.
It was however a real situation they encounter so not really nice laugh.
Still, in my opinion, it was really funny.

A little sharing about a segment I watch on CNA Primetime morning
Choose your words wisely. Your brain will think about what you say
e.g. "Don't think about the penguin in pink top with polka dots"
You will realise you will think about it even though the statement is telling you not to.
Instead tell yourself you want to accomplish a task but make sure it is realistic
e.g. "I want to be happy today!!", "I want to finish this task in three hours!!"
For more info on what I shared, you may search for Neuro-linguistic programming or NLP

A quick update on what I done during my absence.
1. Finished reading "God is Not Great".
2. Missing Twista.
3. Wants a Jackson.

Question to self
Buy Salomon shoe or Columbia pants?


"Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is the probable reason why so few engage in it." - Henry Ford

Wednesday.....

Slept real late tast night. Can't believe I only survived on three hours of sleep. Had a presentation today. Third presentation in six weeks. Feeling the effects of the course.



Reflections
Could I have done better?
Could it have been handle better?
Did I give my best?
Was I the encourager?



Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

ill

Jingdan is sick.......again.....
Is it the air conditioning?
Or is the bug stamping its authority over me?

I miss playboating
So jealous of BS now..... Rwwr !!!!
he got his loop !!!

Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence. ~Abigail Adams

Reading

God is not Great is so far so good


we no longer have any need of a god to explain what is no longer mysterious- Christopher Hitchens

Presentation !!!

Yay !!! Milestone !!

Post no. 10 !!!



Never thought I'll even have the heart to go up to this point.



Anyway. Had a presentation yesterday. Didn't go as smooth as I wanted to be but at least it went better than I thought. Saw a recording of my presentation. There certainly is a lot of room for improvement. Thank goodness it was only a prelude of what was to come. otherwise I would have been very disappointed with what I saw.

Learnt a new trick today. Hope to master the it soon.

leave a light on

Woohoo !! Reality !!!

1st test is over !! time to concentrate on my assignment !!

Rwwr !!!!

After 2 weeks, here's my top ten list of possible reality shows

1)Survivor Ed Psych II: Outwit. Outlast. Out of My Mind
2)The Amazing Race: Boon Lay Interchange
3)Extreme Makeover: From bed to house door
4)Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader: Are you Brain Dead edition
5)Singapore Idol: LT Rasa Sayang
6)Project Runway: the Runaway edition
7)Dancing With Stars: The ones you see when you knock your head
8)Education's Next Top Model: Teaching Model
9)Don't Forget the Lyrics: to Bloom's
10)WWE Tough Enough: to handle a test ?

In my life, I love you more

A quick round up

Been a while since my last post

missed twista !!!

School was better than expected but the rate of my assignment was not.
Ed. Psych I ended quite well. Now doing ed. Psych II.
Thanks to the great people around, I would say I'm coping better than I thought I would be.

Think I might be too obssessed with kayaking. Just can't stop relating my lessons to kayaking. Is it because I am too anxious to grow as an instructor ? Or am I just a like a frog in the well and need to get more exposure to more activities

Anyway got a test coming up on Friday. Can't wait for it to be over.

Haven't trained for Sun Down !!! Rwwr !!! Now more destined to crawl past the finish line than to walk through.

My Olympus LCD cracked. Now I got no camera to take pictures with. Waiting to repair and get a Canon D10 so I have 2 cameras. Saving for my Jackson as well.

Back deck roll !! I will get you ....eventually.
Cartwheel !! I will get you........ eventually
Loop !! I will get you .......eventually

Missing whitewater....

conscious unconscious competence

Hole in my soul

bought a new laptop today

Educaional psychology is my "best friend"

Sun, No surf, Beach and lecture.....

Saturday

Had a trainers' gathering on saturday at Changi. The food was OK but the highlight for me was definitely the coaching clinic. It felt like a gathering of heroes young and old. Was supposed to last only 45 minutes but it stretched out to 2 hours. Time passes real fast when you are enjoying yourelf and having fun. Stayed over at the club. Been a while since we had so many people staying over after an activity. 2 more days to commencing my course at NIE

Sunday

Had a short session on the Twista on Sunday morning. Tried to do a cartwheel but failed. Looks like I'll need to revisit some of my foundations. Bow stall getting rusty as well. Consolation ? My back deck roll, or rather my half back deck roll, is coming along well. Hope I can do a full back deck roll soon and eventually a dry roll. 1 more day to starting commencing my course at NIE.


Monday

Commenced my course at NIE. Received my timetable. Be studying from 0900-1600 everyday. Had a full day of psychology lecture today. Finding it hard to process. Spending 4 years in the wilderness called society has most certainly degraded my brain. Or at least the part that I use to use so much for mugging when I was still studying. The doctor for the module today is an interesting and engaging woman. I certainly feel she is definitely plying her skills. Engaging and interacting so very often with the people in the lecture hall, though deviating from the subject sometimes. Well, at least she is walking the walk.


Who really needs to buy ?

*Yawnzzz*

Getting around

Went to "recce" NIE today. Saw the Wind God on the way. Took one and a half hour to get to NIE from home. Sian..... On the bright side, I managed to go relieve my bladder, go get a MacDonald's breakfast and stare at the bus directory for five minutes in that time. Anyway, had breakfast with GXD (round 2) at Can 2. "Can't wait" to go study. Went to Harris to get my monthly dose of Maxim US. Amazing how they wrapped the magazine. By the time I removed all the scotch tape on the wrapper, I had a bulk of tape the size of a tennis ball. The sticker on the magazine clearly states not suitable for the young. Are they afraid that our youths today are so sex starved that they will rip through the plastic wrappers the moment they take it off the shelf ?

The higher you climb, the harder the fall. But the trip down will be longer and exhilarating.

Something Good

Happy ! Cleared my L2 today. Thought it might be a failure. Turns out the reviews was not bad. There were a few glitches though. Like resting right beside Fairy Beacon. Rwww !! What a miscalculation. Was glad I had my lesson plan. Otherwise I would be lost today. L2 assessment down. Left with First Aid to go.

I'm now a slave

A Preview of Things to Come

Met up with the principal of HIHS for a "chat". Though it is not set in stone yet, it is very likely that I will be assigned as an AED for D&T, as well as take charge of scouts. Hmm.... Another full circle perhaps ? Will find out more after I complete my training at NIE. Apparently I'm the only AED who did not start on 9th.

Last day of my L2 assessment tomorrow. Hope things go as planned. Still concerned about my theory being smooth. Does that mean my practical CMI ? At least there was a plan. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

If I can see into the future and I make the changes in the present, wouldn't my future change again ?

Jingdan's Kai Shan Wen Zhang aka Opening Post

A warm welcome to Jingdan's Blog

Been wanting to start a blog for years but only got to it today

Anyway to kick it off

Met a boy today during a course. Was getting him to carry out a drill and he failed on the 1st attempt. He gave up immediately even after much coaxing. Here's the irony. He was encouraging and cheering on his friends who had tried and failed before him. This set me wondering whether is he one of many or one in many. Clear example of a NATO, No Action Talk Only ? Or did I fail to bring out the best in him ?