Went to Tan Tock Seng Hospital's Traveler's Clinic to get a couple of vaccinations and some altitude sickness pills today... Reached there just past 1 pm, and was told to return at 2 pm as it was lunch time...
So I loitered around and came to the main lobby of the hospital... and I saw this...
In March 2003, the deadly SARS struck the nation, and TTSH became the national centre for SARS treatment... All the medical staff became national heroes and heroines as they gave of themselves selflessly...
And thousands of support and tributes came pouring in and TTSH today, has scanned all the banners, cards, posters, letters etc into two huge posters and are hung up at the main hospital lobby...
And very anxiously, I scanned the huge poster for this:
It was a giant card which my Student Councillors made for TTSH back in 2003... led by enthusiastic and compassionate councillors like Weijun, Chun Jin, and Wu Sheng and gang, they rallied the whole school into writing messages on heart-shaped papers and pasted them all up onto the giant card...
When completed, we had to rent a mini-van to bring send the card to TTSH... I've always wondered since then (yes, it's been 3 years) what TTSH would do with so many of such tributes showered onto them... And I got my answer today!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Back in 2003, when Simpleville hadn't vigorously communicated the idea of being thinking and gracious, such acts of compassion and thoughtfulness for our community were already brewing and very much alive... Looking back, we did these not because we were told to do so, not because that's the direction of Simpleville, and not because it'll make us look good... We have students who had the heart to feel and to show gratitude...
I'm so very proud of Weijun and company... Wherever you guys may be right now, be it JC or poly, I'm sure you'll all still be carrying with you the same heart of compassion and spirit of giving... I believe I've told you all at some point in time during our most memorable days together, that 'the hand that gives, also receives'... This simple message has served me very well... I'm sure it will to you all too...
And here's my tribute to these group of beautiful people:
8th December 2004 City Recital Hall Angel Place, Sydney, Australia "Hi Tommy... would you ever come to Singapore to perform? I'm sure there're lots of your fans over there..."
"Oh Singapore. Yes... I was there a couple of years ago... Hong Kong right?"
23 October 2006 Victoria Theatre, Singapore "It's great to be performing here in hot Singapore..."
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1997 NTU Hall 4 Block 27, Cedric's room "Hey Choco... check out this CD... "Finger-pickers Rule the World" by Chet Atkins and Tommy Emmanuel..."
That was my introduction to Chet Atkins and Tommy Emmanuel... I was playing more classical guitar music and knew more about classical guitar than acoustic...
I first met Cedric in 1990, during a Singapore Classical Guitar Society (SCGS... not the other SCGS we all are so familiar with) camp for JC guitar club members... He was from NJC... was my room-mate then... he's a very talented guitar player already back then... I was only starting out...
Then we went NS, and I met him again in the School of Medical Medicine... He became my buddy in the platoon... He took the lower deck, while I slept above... Well, no more guitar playing in camp then... but NS and combat medic training added to our "something in common" list... no six-string instrument to play with... but we had a ball of a time poking each other's veins for blood infusion practice... yah, sounds a bit gory and sadistic... but who else is there to practice on but each other...
After the course, we were posted to different units... He went to 2 SIR, while I went to 20 SA... incidentally, both units were in Amoy Quee Camp... had another 2 years of contact as both our medical centres often work together to smoke through the army auditors when they come to do stock-taking... But I'm straying off from my story...
Then after NS, we both went to NTU... and we got into the same Hall... though not room-mates, we often come together at night for jamming sessions... well, being poor uni-undergrads, the instrument of choice were our battered classical guitars from our JC guitar club days... and beat our guitars we did... hell of a good time...
And we did that for 3 years in Hall 4...
And he was the one who introduced acoustic guitar music to me... and a few years after graduation, it was Cedric who introduced acoustic guitars to me as well... I was at his house in Bishan after watching a guitar concert... his wife, Dawn, who's my guitar club president back in AJC, played some drums while I played his acoustic guitar... and I was hooked on acoustics...
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Coming back to Tommy Emmanuel... there aren't many of his recordings in the 90s available in Singapore... but he's one of those acoustic guitarists who were influenced by the legendary Chet Atkins, the father of finger-picking... it's a genre which fuses jazz, country, blues, contemporary, and bluegrass all together...
TE's scaling on the fingerboard is ridiculously fast... hearing it on recording is one thing... watching him play it ridiculously fast live is out of this world...
I first saw him perform in a live setting on a DVD I bought online... I was blown away by what he did with his guitar... his Australian-made Maton guitar was so beated that the layer of finishing on the soundboard was already worn off... he played his guitar like the harp, snare drums, bass, electric guitar, piano, percussion... if you think you could only pluck or strum on the strings, he'll take your breath away with the amazing sounds that he could produce from his guitar... and it's just a normal guitar...
I was so inspired by his playing at one stage that I bought my grossly priced Taylor 714 grand auditorium guitar... but there's no way I could play like him...
I bought his CDs online from Amazon as I couldn't find it in the stores here... and it was sheer coincidence that I managed to find out that he was performing in Sydney exactly at the time I was planning to visit Sydney in December 2004...
And oh boy... I was like a little kid all over again... excited and mesmorised were understatements... seeing him playing live is well worth the air ticket to Sydney...
Couldn't pass the chance to get his autograph and speak with him then... and I didn't quite believe that he would consider coming over to S'pore to perform...
But he did last night...
Seeing him live for the 2nd time, the tunes were still familiar, but just like any great artistes, he never plays his tunes the same way every time... and that's the way I like it... breaking free from the form... freedom to improvise... and lots of surprises at every turn of the tune... could be a new synchopation, an additional slippery scale, some enchanting hammer-ons and pulling offs, new harmonics melody etc...
And I feel happy for the younsters in the audience last night... Reminded me of myself when I was still in JC... when my friends and I would catch those visiting guitarists brought in by Mr Alex Abishigenaden (yes, he's HER father)... Mr A, as we would call him, was my guitar club's conductor... he's another inspirational figure who sparked off my passion in guitars... but shall leave that to another entry...
Back to the young audience, I'm happy and excited for them because they finally get to see a master at work on stage... I could hear the audience gasp and cheer in amazement with every trickery and masterful exhibition of how a guitar could be played... And I'm very very sure that many will walk away inspired to play just like him...
I've grown out of such feelings of wanting to play like him... I'll never be anywhere near his standard... but I've grown to enjoy and devour such eloquence and immerse myself completely in such lovely music...
It's always a joy to hear great guitarists play live on stage... I get the same kind of blessed feeling at Tommy Emmanuel, John Williams, Los Angeles Guitar Quartet and Martin Tayler's concerts... All of them are masters of their craft... They are talented... and they enjoy what they are doing...
TE said during the concert that it is very important that the guitarist, the guitar and the heart have to come together as one in order to play it well... He didn't have to fret over performing on stage because he was just being himself...
How true... In everything we do in life, how congruent and consistent it would be, if we could be doing something that is most natural from deep within our souls... And that's where greatness comes from...
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Amidst all the work related stress lately, TE's concert gave me the much needed breather and perspective... for over 2 hours, my mind was released of everything else...
He promised that he'll come again next year... And till then, here's a sample of his greatness... In case you are wondering where's his band, he plays solo...
2) Condemned England Team First lost for Steve McClaren... England's loss to Croatia in the European Cup qualifiers sparked lots of questions... A new 3-5-2 formation was the main culprit... Even the best players get confused by a new formation... Unfamiliar job scope... Unfamiliar terrain... Unfamiliar players playing in unfamiliar postions around each other...
It was a necessary change... or so it was claimed... to break free from old shackles... to break free from old ghosts... to put one's authority over the tactics chosen...
And everybody seems to become an expert or authority to speak of the ills of the new team... everyone seems to have an opinion or two about how things could be better... and the pressure becomes ever so daunting for whoever's in charge...
So unfamiliar... yet so familiar in the way the new teams were formed around me...
3)Freezing Trip Still yet to book my tickets to Chengdu and confirm with the Tibetan tour agent... there's rumours of the Qinghai-Tibet high altitude train stopping it's service from November onwards... keeping my fingers crossed on that...
It'll be winter in Dec... I'm a tropical person... I can't stand cold... I wonder if it's a wise time to visit the rooftop of the world... Somehow, I feel that I need to make this trip... the altitude and temperature is forebidding... isn't it so for any spiritual pilgrimmage? A test of my resolution... A test of my faith... What am I in my previous life? What kind of karma have I accumulated such that I'm living my present life this way?
Prince Sidharta renounced the world and left his palace to find his Nirvana... How many living Buddhas are there in the world today? How many of them actually know that they are living Buddhas? How long did it take for them to realise they are living Buddhas? Will I ever find my own Nirvana? I know what's holding me back actually.... the inability to let go...
4) Constant Nagging My sis and bro-in-law are currently busy with their new flat's renovation... my dad seems to have extended his authority and opinions about what things to fix, buy etc a little too uncomfortable for my sis & bro-in-law...
Quietly, I'm heaving a sigh of relief for not taking the lead just this once over my sis... all these years, being the elder son at home, I get to do everything first... Well, not this time when it comes to marriage... I get to see some of the quirks and nuisance that my well-meaning parents will show during this period when my sis & hubby are preparing their home etc... Not something that I envy, I'm very sure...
And it kind of make it more inconvenient for me to reveal the fact that I'm going on a solo trip again in Dec... shall just delay breaking the news after I firm up everything... the naggings will come... but the trip shall go on... ;)
5) Scalett Johansson There seems to be a flood of work lately by one of my favourite actresses... First noticed her when she was still a little girl in "The Horse Whisperer"... then a few other films made her one of the leading serious actresses... Lost in Translation, Matchpoint and Scoop were a few that I managed to catch... still to come, The Black Dahlia and Prestige... she's hot in Hollywood these days...
There's something about her acting... nothing excessive... something very close... can't really put my finger onto it...
6) Woody Allen Never used to like or notice his works... But I think I'm beginning to see his genius...
Watched his latest work, Scoop... One of his quirky dark humoured jokes was this (something to the effect): "I don't put on weight even after eating so much. It's anxiety. Anxiety is like aerobics. It helps me lose weight."
7) World Trade Center The initial feelings when watching this film was the seeming lack of pace and intensity of the collaspe of the twin towers of the World Trade Center on Sept 11 2001... The focus of the film was just on the 2 lead rescuers...
But there's a good reason for this, I realised... the director wanted to focus the viewers attention, not on the gore, terror, panic and disaster of the collaspe... but rather, he wanted viewers to focus on the people who were right in the thick of the actions...
At the end of the film, the character played by Nicholas Cage said something like this... "It's not about revenge... It's about how great people can be in helping one another..."
And how true... post 9-11 has been numerous calls for war on terrorism and numerous attacks in the Middle East in the quest to destroy the Al Queda... all in the name of peace and justice...
But the irony to me is: I can't differentiate the terrorists and victims after a few years... they all seem the same to me now... Ones' peace is attained at the expense of anothers' agony... What's peace?
8)He'll be Beck? Still on soccer... Someone said Beckham should be re-instated back into the England national squad... of course, there's loads of theories and reason why he should or shouldn't return...
There's an article in today's Sunday Times on players who didn't perform in positions that's not cut out of them... Which brings me to ponder over something that's all so familiar in life around me...
Do we just deploy just because there's no choice? Do we just deploy a midfielder anywhere in midfield just because he's a midfielder? And for that matter, any defender or striker... Well, there are those players who could adapt... but there's many other contributing factors for such deployment to work as well... If players are deployed in areas of their strength, common sense will show that the whole team will perform as well...
But there are managers who work on the basis of convenience... managers who work on the basis of no choice... managers who work on the basis of personal gain...
9) And did I say that I heard this song over cable TV just now? 时间快转 它不停的快转 旋转我跟著旋转 失去方向我没有方向 迷失方向我模糊了焦点 想不通太多道理呀 就选择遗忘
The local tour agencies in Lhasa, Tibet seems to be more efficient that I thought... Replied me within 24 hours!
It's beginning to smell a lot like Tibet in December already...
Day 01-Day 03 09/12-11/12 Arrive in Lhasa Accommodation: Train/Shangbala Palace Hotel or Similar if late booking You are supposed to take the train T22/3 from Chengdu (18:18-18:28, 48hrs10min). Our Tibetan tour guide will meet you at the train station and transfer you to your hotel in Lhasa. Upon arrival, just take rest for high altitude acclimatization.
Day 04 12/12 Sightsee in Lhasa Accommodation: Shangbala Palace Hotel or Similar [B] We will start from the spiritual center of Tibetan Buddhism - Jokhang Temple. Around the temple is the famous bustling Barkhor Street where you can get a close touch with local Tibetans.
In the afternoon, we'll visit the Potala Palace, the symbol of Tibetan people's wisdom and power. Beside numerous art pieces it stores, you can also have a bird-eye view of the whole Lhasa City and the undulating mountain ranges in distance.
Day 05 13/12 Sightsee in Lhasa Accommodation: Shangbala Palace Hotel or Similar [B] Today we will visit the great Gelugpa monastery - Drepung Monastery about 8km west of central Lhasa. It was once the world's largest monastery housing more than 10,000 monks. If we are lucky, we can enter into a dark columned hall quiet easily to see and hear the lilting, booming, chanting of sutras.
In the afternoon, we will visit Sera Monastery, about 5km north of central Lhasa. Here you can see the interesting "Buddhism Scriptures Debating" between Lamas.
And in the evening, pay a visit to a Tibetan family.
Day 06 14/12 Lhasa-Gandan Monastery-Lhasa Accommodation: Shangbala Palace Hotel or Similar [B] In the fresh morning air, we'll drive 70km to Gandan Monastery for its extremely delicate murals and sculptures. On the way, you can enjoy the beautiful countryside view of the high plateau.
Day 07 15/12 Lhasa - Gyantse Accommodation: Gyantse Hotel or Similar [B] Drive about 270km to Gyantse, a famous historic town in Tibet, crossing the Karola Pass (5010m) and the Khambala Pass (4800m) with a beautiful panoramic view of Yamdrok Yumtso Lake on the way. Upon arrival, visit Pelkhor Monastery for its superb Kumbu Stupa, a stunning architectural wonder in Tibet.
Day 08 16/12 Gyantse - Shigatse Accommodation: Shigatse Holy Lake (Shenhu) Hotel or Similar [B] It's about 90km from Gyantse to the second largest city of Tibet - Shigatse. Upon arrival, visit the foremost attraction there - Tashilumpo Monastery and then wander around the old town for its nicely decorated Tibetan houses, interesting market and bazaar...
Day 09 17/12 Shigatse - Lhasa Accommodation: Shangbala Palace Hotel or Similar [B] Get back to Lhasa along the Yarlung Tsangpu River with in about 4hrs.
Day 10 18/12 Leave [B] The guide will transfer you to Gonggar Airport and help you board the plane to Chengdu. Your wonderful trip ends.
Gotta book tickets to fly into and out of Chengdu, China, first... The rest, I'll have to trust that the local agency is trustworthy enough to connect me from Chengdu to Lhasa... Worse come to worse, I'll just stay at Chengdu and see pandas in the zoo...
Btw, I emailed PLong last night asking if he's got any lobang for Tibet... He told me that there's a few deaths on the Qinghai-Tibet high altitude train already... Gosh... I mustn't be another one...
