National 5-Crew Dragon Boat Challenge 2011

It was early in this Sunday morning, where my father is going to compete in the competition finals with his team mates, uncles that were each of age at least 50 and above, like my father is. He took me along to take a look, for unknown to me, some of his members have in fact joined in the competition under 6 names!!

It was at the Jurong Lake right next to the West Entrance of the Chinese Garden, of which I have not visited since my primary school days, might have been close to 10 years now, and I'm no longer sure exactly when. However, the location of the tentage is not that close, just much closer to the Jurong Park AND the great Adventure Park!! Ahh, the view from the high ropes wasn't much, but I still enjoy the winds under the raging sun, which gave me the sunburns on my arm. The competition was on it's last legs and the high notes, for it is the best teams that have stayed on, so it is only right that each event is as vigorous as the last!!

However, while waiting for the events that really matters, I went to explore Jurong Park, and climbed around the Adventure Park. There was not much to do, and I got back to see how the competition is going while grabbing some snacks and drinks before leaving again. There was this event, where the uncles were commenting that all the teams competing were their own people!! No wonder not much people were left on shore, as all the 20 crews were out in the waters!! It all ended rather well, as out of the 6 categories, we won 3 of them, and almost won a fourth, and took 3 shiny, golden Champion trophies back to the community club!! Well, to be taken to the community club anyway, but for now, they are proudly displayed right at Home!!!

Life's short, paddle hard!! All thanks to the crews that my father was a part of all these years, we have got quite a collection of cups and medals at Home, and it is the fabulous teamwork that made it so!! Never underestimate the power of teamwork, for they might bring wonders and make miracles where one person alone can never achieve!!

SGH Museum

I have never known that there would be a museum in the SGH, for I have never been there before, if not for the unfortunate fact that my mother was injured and need an X-Ray to be done. The museum encompass of artifacts from the past, where people donated them to contribute to the museum in hope that the works of the past great doctors and nurses, as well as how the ways of the doctors improved through the ages till now. I was surprised that the world's first successful operation for conjoined twins was done right here, in our heartland!! The twins were Ganga and Jamuna Shreshta, who had conjoined heads, with their brains interlocking each other's as shown in a plastic model made, by NYP!!

There was a video about their operation, and how they spend 7 months under the care of all the leading experts and caring nurses of SGH. Old saws and supports, as well as equipments were displayed, with the respective time lines that they were in use. Up on the second level, there was an old dentist chair, a portable vacuum for use in operations, AND a really cool 3D video that explains about the Da Vinci, an electronic surgical machine that helps surgeons with the skills, to make an accurate cut or sew wherever they are required. It was quite an experience and a pity that no pictures could be taken of the contents of the SGH museum.

15 September

This is one of the greatest and most meaningful day for me, and not just me alone too!! This wondrous, magical day that I hope could last longer, that is so special! I hope there is more to come though, for as good or as bad as things are, they all have to come to an end for the next happy thing to come along, for this is the way of life. Hope that this number means something to all of you out there too!!

Hougang Lantern Parade!! Mid-Autumn Festival!

On the 10th of September, we were told to come down and join in for this year's Mid-Autumn Festival organised by the Worker's Party for the area of Hougang. It happened to be that my cousin's boyfriend is part of this team, a part of the Worker's Party, and got each of us a ticket to join in the fun!! The location happened to be at the basketball court right underneath the void deck where my Grandma lives- an arm's length away, within walking distance. The weather isn't all that great that night, and so we were going to cycle there. My brother did not have a bike and so, my father had to give him a ride, and what a ride it was!! He got my father panting after some distance, for he stands at 69 kg, 2 kg heavier than my father, and a whooping 9 kg heavier than me!!

My brother simply adores eating, for that is his hobby!! Therefore it stands to reason that it does not take much to get him to how much he weighs now, and placed my super fit, athletic father is such a condition, panting away and even more so as the road went slopping uphill. I offered to switch with my brother, as I have a bike of my own and probably would not trouble my father as much with the 9 kg difference between my brother. This turns out to be true, for as soon as I switched places with my brother, my father never did pant as much as he did before, and the speed he was cycling at could almost match a car, for 10 seconds!!

Needless to say, we got there in no time, but could not avoid getting caught in the faint drizzle that was still going on at the same time. The drizzle did little to dampen our spirits as it has actually been years since we actually celebrated any festivals at all, and it would have gone on if not for my cousin's warm invitation. Over there, after we showed our tickets, we were warmly welcomed to join in for the celebration and got a goody bag each, with some biscuits and of course, a lantern and some candles, for without this two essential items, how can you actually celebrate a Mid-Autumn Festival?

Everyone got a different design for their lantern, although the designs were repeated in varying amounts as far as I can see. I got a lantern with the Ultraman design!! My brothers envied my luck, for they got one with a Chang-E design and the other, a Hamtaro design. My Grandma was there too, along with my uncle and my little cousin, Jovan!! He was elated to see us, for he does not have any siblings to accompany him, and being the closest in age to him, we were his companions to play with!!

There was a lot of activities on stage, primary school kids and elderly dancing, and entertainment from the hosts, the Deng Mi that is a must at every Mid-Autumn Festival, and finally, there will be a lucky draw as well!! Firstly, we all lighted up our lanterns, and then it's time to follow the crowd!! The MP of Hougang, with the garlands still hung around his neck even though the elections were over, lead everyone personally, for a round around the park, a line of lanterns snaking in the dark as part of the celebrations! After we finished walking, the host called for young kids to get up the stage for some fun activity, where the victor will be getting a specially made Pink Panther balloon!! The kids were all hyped up for it, and so, the challenge is to follow the host's actions that coordinated with the Pink Panther tune. Each round is harder than the last, so as to eliminate the number of children until the final victor is unveiled.

Meanwhile, we were busy playing with the extra candles, and the other kids were busying making a fire out of their combined lanterns, until someone went to pour water over the fire they were building up next to the parallel bars. When the activity ended, and the victor got her Pink Panther balloon, it was then that the lucky draw started! All the people surged forward to listen to the numbers that got picked, in hope of winning the television, or maybe the Dr. Dre earpiece, and to my uncle's surprise, he got a portable DVD player!! My cousin was jumping up and down with excitement, feeling very happy for his father, running around to tell all our relatives that was gathered there for the celebration. The celebration ended with songs that relates to the festival, and it is enjoyable indeed.

My niece, Claire's Second Ever Birthday!

It was a cause for celebration, My little niece, Claire, who has just turned 2 this year!! When I first met her last year, she was extremely shy. My whole family went to take a look at her, as a welcome to the world for her, but however, she was shy then, that anyone unfamiliar would cause her to cry by going near her. Now? She does not do that too often anymore, this difference of one year made her braver, just hiding her face is enough, no tears!!

We ride our bicycle there, to find that my cousin's house is bustling with activities!! A lot of our relatives were there already, because we actually were quite late. There was a buffet laid out just outside their house, along the corridor that was shared by their neighbors, and the food was delicious!! There was so much variety of food there, and unfortunately, I did not write this blog at that time and now, ended up not being able to recount much up here. Sorry!!

My brothers and I attacked the food first, for the cycling have made us ravenous for food, and how could we resist the mouth-watering spread right in front of us? I remembered going for Round 3- there was so much food!! Meanwhile, my cousin owns a great collection of movies!! Over there, while enjoying the food, there was Thor, The Chronicles of Narnia- Prince Caspian, and one other movie that i could not remember too. It was a great day anyway, for my cousin-in-law's family were there too!! It would appear that my little niece had a cousin from that side of the family, a boy that is five days older, I think, than my niece. They always get to celebrate their birthdays together, albeit that the boy will have to wait.

After making sure that everyone had their fill, my cousin brought out the beautiful Strawberry Shortcake!! Yes!! Finally the time comes!! As my niece is still too small, my cousin had to cut the cake for her. Flashes everywhere, as all of us, her relatives, wanted a snapshot before the cake is divided and shared out. The little guy was carried next to my niece, and his mother prompted him to do something, this action, which he still would not know the meaning yet, which for some reason everybody finds it interesting to watch. It was.. a small peck on my niece's cheek, but yea, since she is still 2, she does not care about this and just kept staring at the beautiful cake. It was a great day though, my cousins and I caught up, enjoyed the celebration, and gawked at my brothers as they gobbled up the entire packet of huge chocolate globules in mere seconds. This was not new to me- I quite have to grab my share of food each day before it's all finished up but my cousins have not quite witness this everyday miracle of watching food being finished so fast right in front of their eyes.

This is pretty much a cool day, and I await for the next celebration coming up, whatever it can be!! Cheers!!

Knowledge

Knowledge.

Sometimes called a gift, and sometimes a curse. To be filled with knowledge is something necessary for us all in order to claim our place at the top of the food chain, even though our physical structure tends to be more flimsy than we like. Yet, to be filled with knowledge to know what will come is a curse as well, although it can help us to foresee the dangers that lies ahead, to know what to do and what not to do when the signs of warning appears. Why is it a curse? Well, some people seem to know that their time in this realm have come to an end- that it is now the time to continue their journey in the next even though the next realm is a complete mystery to them.

Those people might call this foresight a curse, for you know now that you will have to pass on, and nothing could be done to prevent it, and if the case was like what happened in Final Destination 3 (used as an example because it was shown on television not too long ago), well you are darn right to be terrified, as your death might not come as peaceful as you wish it be. In Final Destination 3, each of the death came in the form of a myriad of horrible ways to be snuffed out, and what is worst is that you know that it is going to end that way, regardless of any intervene by anyone. All that they could pray for is to go peacefully, best way is in the sleep, peacefully, calmly. Yet, it does not go that way. Now these are just the worst of the worst cases that predictions or foresight can get you find, most which does not occur on a basis anyway.

 Now, how does knowledge come to be associated with all the foresight and prediction stuffs? Well, with enough knowledge, you can probably pick up the necessary clues to narrow down the list of endless possibilities to just a few that are most likely to come true, but those that does not even understands how the world of possibility works will probably think of you as a psychic or a magician. Yes, things can easily turn out in a way that you would have least expected, since everything have a chance to be passed, just that the likelihood is very low, for this is the way of the world, anything that seems impossible might just become possible as soon as the words leave your mouth. Knowledge will be a curse if you are proven right often, and for the worst case scenarios that you have probably predicted because the worst cases or some of the worst cases have the most likelihood to occur, and you can almost do nothing about it, effectively becoming as helpless as a baby and yet having the hideous knowledge that the bad case is coming to pass. Despite all that have been said about knowledge being a curse, knowledge is something we simply cannot live without, and there  is really no exception in this case for don’t animals have to pass on the knowledge of what to eat and what not to eat to their young? Is there no need to teach of the treacherous dangers that lies in every part of the habitat they live in? Even beings that lies far beneath the top of the food chain finds the need to have knowledge, then being the ones that stands on the very top, isn’t it even more of a necessity for us to have knowledge, and even more so?

We, having the most knowledge as compared to the fellow Earthlings that shares this very planet with us, bear the brunt of the curse of knowledge. However, there is a few that thinks beyond what most people will do, and that is to decide on the action to take, now that they know there is just absolutely no way to prevent what that is coming to pass. Ah!! There!! That’s it!! This is the key to why humans have been at the top of the food chain for centuries, and getting better and better at staying at the very top!! You see, as with Newton’s Third Law, with every action comes an equal and opposite reaction. For being able to have enough knowledge to take the correct action after any unstoppable event had come to pass, or to even take preventive measures that last as long as the measures are taken, there comes the price- the price of knowing what will be coming up, be it preventable or unpreventable, and this is the brunt of the curse of knowledge.

Why am I suddenly talking about this matter? Actually, these questions and answers have been dwelling within the depths of my mind for months now, just that I have yet to find the words to put it all in, until now!! Not boasting or anything, but with what pitiful knowledge I have compared to those great thinkers that contributed to the Human Race in immaculate amounts, I do have enough knowledge to clearly feel the might of the brunt of knowledge, and have suffered from it. How? You might ask. How did I came to feel the brunt of knowledge when one such as young as I, who barely have seen the best and worst of Life to be speaking anything much about it?? Do not worry, for your question will soon have its answer if you would just be patient. Ever experience a time when you wish that someone can have the solution to your problems? Well, I most definitely have, and that was when it got me thinking about this. For all the problems that I can no longer recall, that I wish so very much for a magic cure, a saint-like person to hold the solutions to my problems, at the very same time my cursed mind whispered those questions to me, it whispered the answers and solutions that I so very much desired for another person to tell me.

 Why is that a problem? Well, as you know, I AM HUMAN, ya, so naturally I have the need to be comforted and helped as well, even though I know, in my heart, what that must be done. I MIGHT be the source of courage, the pillar of support for some people, and regardless whether this is true or not, I do have the need too, to have someone to be my source of courage, my pillar of support!! I want to just stop thinking about the solutions that I can most likely find by myself, and just hear them come out from the mouth of another. I will want people to comfort me, to let me rely on and to show me the way around the barriers, the problems. To not be able to do that, well I feel the weight of this curse on my shoulders as well, for it does not takes a Gordon Knot to let one such as I to be whacked in the face with the brunt of knowledge. Knowledge is indispensable and vital to us all, but at the times that we feel like casting off this terrible weight, the people to help us forget about the weight of knowledge is vital as well. Through this, I hope more people can realize that the ones that seems so strong and so well guarded against any problems at all also needs to be cared for as well, and not to be abandoned!! This is really a stone off my back, to be able to get it all off my chest like, finally!! So I end my post here now, and hope that it is intriguing and of help to all of you out there!!

Networking competition stuffs...

From the 5^th to the 9^th of September, I was in school for the entire week. Why? Well, I was actually selected by my lecturer Dr. Chia for this selection training for a certain networking competition that goes on in a national and international level, if one ever did well!! Over here, I’m about to share some of my experiences that I have gained over the course of this one week. Are you ready? Here I go!!

Early in the morning, I reached school rather early as I did not want to be late or lost again, like the very first time I came to school, when I still did not know my way around. Although the situation is different now, the location that I had to report to was not a place I have been to before and so, I came early to explore! The school was strangely busting with activity when it was supposed to be semester holidays at this period. Students in group of four were dotted all around the fountain between South Canteen and Koufu restaurant, holding up a piece of paper filled with words. My guess was that there is some sort of talking competition going on as I can clearly hear the students memorizing off the sheet of paper. However, the time does not allow me to dally any longer and up I went, time for this networking thingy to get started!!

The location where I was to be, along with the other 19 candidates that comes mainly from ECC and MIT, for the next four days, was Room 34 of Block S level 5! It was a computer lab, with some flat screens computer but old processers. It was then in here, that for the first time ever, I was exposed to terms that I never have heard of before, like fibre, copper, splicing, termination, cleaving.. at loads more, but this should be enough of an example, is it not?

For the first half of the day, we will usually start with fibre, or more commonly known as the optical fibre!! In case you do not know, it is the great, great technology that will allow us to receive at least 360 bits of information at light speeds!! Why is it so? Well, optical fibre is actually an a glass rod that is ultra-thin, 9 micrometers in diameter, enclosed by a cladding, primary rubber casing, Kevlar then finally, a secondary rubber casing. Being a glass rod, it has a circular cross-sectional area, thus the 360 degrees angles are there for each small beam of light carrying information. Do you think it that it is fragile? Well, NO!! Kevlar is used as an enclosing material here!! And what exactly is Kevlar, well, it is JUST a material for making bulletproof suits that rebounds any small, deadly flying projectiles that are unfortunately targeted at you, thus saving your very life, nothing much!! And in this case, nope!! The fragile little glass rod is no target from the owner of deadly little projectiles, but instead a victim of breaking, as a result of being bend!! Kevlar deflects not projectiles in this case, but in fact becomes a shock absorber from the forces exerted on the tiny glass rod!!

What do we do exactly? Well, one of the first things to be learned was to splice the wires. Splicing the wires means to cut away all the layers to expose the glass rod. It may sound easy, but well, it is not the case for some other people that will tell you that it is no easy feat separating the coverings with the fragile glass rod without breaking the glass rod first. This feat, well it does not take a miracle to get it right the first time round, nor a lot of skill to get it right after some time, and so, we were all itching for the next step within an hour. Reluctant at first, the lecturer-in-charge finally relented and we started practicing inserting the glass fibre into the connecter. Why? Well, each connecter costs a shocking $5!! If by any chance the glass rod snaps inside the connecter, well nothing much can get the tiny glass rod out again, and a $5 connecter is wasted just like that!!

Following this, we learned to clean the glass rod with alcohol first, and then spreading a chemical on its surface. Why? Well, another type of chemical will be injected into the connecter with a needle and a syringe, and when both chemicals meet, magically within 10 seconds they will become strong glue that hardens almost instantaneously and combines both fibre and connecter to each other forever, for nothing can separate them in whole ever again… These 10 seconds is all we have to safely and successfully insert the glass fibre into the connecter, regardless of the tough texture within the connecter, and boy did we train hard!! The cleaving came next, as we have to cleave, meaning to sort of saw away the extra portions of optical fibre that is surely sticking out for good measure so that we will be able to polish the surface of the end of the optical fibre to the clarity we want, measured in terms of “DB” which I am, up till now, not too sure about what the units are.

Polish, there are two types of polishing methods. Dry polish and wet polish, where in wet polish, alcohol is placed on the polish paper to act as a lubricant that also removes away the fine bits of glass that are being worn off by the polishing. As a matter of fact, dry polish is in fact more effective and easy as you just have hold up the polish paper and move the optical fibre in a “8” shape, as there are scientific proving behind this particular action that says the results will be very satisfying. We have to use three types of polish paper, each surface finer than the last, and are differentiated by the colors blue, green and finally white. After the polishing is done, we just have to use alcohol to wipe away any fine glass bits from the end and, we are almost done!!

Oh!! And I actually missed out one important part!! We have to put in some rubber thingy called ‘boat’ into the length of the fibre before gluing on the connector, for this action is needed if we are to complete the final part!! First, the boat will be attached to the other end of the connector, and using the boat, the connector will be pushed into a connector head which allows you to connect the fibre to a sort of magnifying glass to check for any fractures of the glass. What you will see from an excellent result is a grey circle and a white ‘full moon’ at the center, for we dubbed a fracture ‘crescent moon’ and obviously a failed fibre ‘eclipse’. After this check, we will connect the fibre up to a machine that would tell us the “DB” of the fibre, results less than one being the goal we hoped for! Throughout the first four days, my new friend Justin actually managed to get a perfect zero!! He was so elated that he jumped non-stop as if he struck lottery!! And well, all this fibre stuffs are done for all the first half of the days we were there, and now, let us proceed to what the second half of the day is for!!

The second half of the day is let by two male lecturers, and here, we learnt about ‘copper’. We were to splice 24 copper wires in the actual competition and for practice in the first day, we tried 6. Within the copper wires, there lies 9 smaller copper wires, each differentiated by the colors of the wires. We have to untangle the wires and match them to a different type of connector head that shows two different color codes- we have to arrange the smaller wires according to the color code. Well, after some tries, it was not all that hard, just that we have to firstly arrange the cables neatly and fit them into a frame for the connectors. It takes some muscles for this job as the wires have to be in a tangled state to imitate the conditions of the wires in the actual competition itself. Over here, there was not much to be done, just that you have to be quick and be able to arrange things neatly.

For about the next four days, we were already training for speed as the skills were easy enough to pick up, just that the amount of cables we were to train with rose to a vexing amount. 12 cables!! Even though the actual competition requires the termination to be done at both ends with 24 cables, 12 cables at one end is 108 wires to put through connector heads!! By the end of each day, my shoulders were aching from having to bend them for about 2 hours continuously without the time spared for stretching.

Overall, it was a good experience for me as I have learnt something in the five days. The final day was where we use a tall rack to line up the cables and when we were tested for the quality of our work as well as our speed. I really hope to get in though, but the results will only be out on the holidays of my next semester so it would be a long, long wait for me… That’s it folks!! This should already be quite some things to take in, isn’t it?

Praying for the Seventh Month of the Lunar Calendar!!

Sorry guys and gals, for it has been a long time ever since I last updated my blog. For the past few weeks I have been dealing with the last of my exams for last semester, and when it finally ended, I was told by my mum to go for dragon-boating with my father yet again!! Well, each time I did that, there seems to always be a change to the plans!! And as expected, there was!!

It was the Seventh Month of the Lunar Calendar, the period whereby spirits from the depths of Hell of the Chinese religion are released for a month to our earthly realms to enjoy the offerings and to slack off awhile from the time in Hell. This day however, is the 15^th day of the Seventh Month, and as a dragon-boater, one must dedicate the spirits some offerings in order to safely traverse the waters.

On the morning itself, I did not suspect a thing, for I was not really paying much attention to such things when all these rituals and such was always handled by my parents. All I know was that together with both my brothers, we are supposed to be going for a run and some exercises first. When all things needed had been prepared, my dad’s friend came to pick us up in his lorry. And then, off we go!!

The open-back lorry was always an interesting ride for me, as you will get to see many different things all around you and feel the winds rushing through your hair!! Travelling down the road, to my surprise and confusion, we stopped under some void deck where a white van was waiting. My dad got down and headed straight to take some items from the back of the white van. Apparently, it was another of my dad’s friend that had been preparing the offerings to be taken to the sports club later for the ritual!!

Mouth- watering smell of food, fruits, especially durians wafted through the air around us, and instantly both my brothers were gathered around the van. Woah!! The delicious smell got to my brothers and mobilized them into action within seconds!! We were then told to transfer the items inside the van into the back of the lorry as the rest of the offerings are still to be collected. Heave!! Ho!! Heave!! Ho!! There!! And the items were quickly transferred over to the lorry and we headed out for the sports club with no time wasted. Looking at my brothers, I instantly knew that they can hardly wait for the ritual to end as they were all salivating for a taste of the food already!!

When we finally reached the sports club, the items were moved to the foldable tables that I have been helping to set up after I got off the lorry. And so, with no time wasted, we were off for running, passing across Saint Arthur’s Bridge and other exercises while waiting for my dad to get here for the ritual. It seemed quite long before I finally spotted the white van- my stomach had been protesting ever since I went for a run, and the remaining items were swiftly readied for the ritual. Finally!!

After offering some incense paper and joss sticks, coupled with a few minutes of prayers, THE RITUAL IS OVER!! HERE IT COMES, THE FOOD!!! Everyone swarmed around to get the good pieces fried chicken and since then, it was non-stop eating time!! Well, that was nothing much actually, just that it was just another ‘screwed-up’ Saturday again, as once more, I have avoided dragon-boating by a turn of event. The food was really nice though, and we got to bring home some portions of the food too!! Yum!!