A Padewan asked me this afternoon: "Jedi Knight... why do you Jedi Knights, want to know more about us Padawans?"
It was a question, no Padawans had asked before... Something I took for granted... Something that many other Padawans like her took for granted...
Who are we to know more about another person?
It was a tremendously good question, as far as I'm concerned...
It was a question, whose answers, answered all my other questions, which I'm struggling to find answers to up till that very moment...
I paused for a few short seconds before answering her because I didn't see it coming at all...
But I think it was a very timely question to be asked... For it has reminded me my purpose in being a Jedi Knight...
The best analogy I could think of the explain would be this: "A doctor took the blood pressure of his patient... It was below normal range... If he doesn't know that the patient has an amputated hand behind his back which was bleeding profusely, he'd think that his patient is having a weak heart..."
If not for the fact that I was trying to check if there's anymore students staying around at the back of the school, I wouldn't have seen this lovely sight...
Spotting a rainbow almost always brings out the joy and fascination in me... It's a natural phenomenon that requires the right elements put together in order for it to form... Just prior the this, was a super heavy downpour... Then the sun started to peep out of the thick dark clouds when the rain subsided and the light got defracted by the water droplets in the clouds...
It gave me a feeling of hope all of a sudden... Hope that things which weren't going well or smoothly would somehow work out alright... Such assurance... Such joy...
A timely reminder for me to feel again... a timely reminder for me to stay hopeful again...
Almost didn't make it to shoot the fireworks during last year's fireworks celebration at the Marina Bay...
The show was scheduled to start at 9 pm...
I reached the Marina area well before 8pm... but the roads around the floating platform was so congested with cars and people... Parking around that area were all full...
I decided to drop my mum, sis and bro-in-law off first to enter the viewing gallery, while I tried to find parking...
Nearest available was at Suntec City... I estimated that if I hurry, I could still reach the floating stage gallery within 10 mins... I thought I should have enough time...
But I ended up going round and round inside Suntec City's carpark, finding the elusive parking lot... And when I finally did find a lot, the time had just past 9 pm...
The show was scheduled to start at 9 pm...
I had wanted to just give up and forget about lugging my camera bag and heavy tripod over to the Marina Bay and just meet my mum, sis and bro-in-law just to walk back again to collect my car. I thought I would miss the fireworks completely...
But I still came out of the carpark and when I was out in the open, I realised the show has not started... It was a quarter past 9pm... There seem to be a delay in the fireworks...
I decided to make a dash for it... I ran with my heavy gear... The last time I ran like this was when I took my SOC during my NS... It was tiring... But I just didn't stop...
When I finally reached the Esplanade, just outside the floating gallery, the MC of the fireworks show started counting down... I thought I was beaten to it... I had wanted to just stand at the roadside and watch the fireworks from outside...
But at the end of the counting down, there still was no fireworks... It was some musical prelude before the firing...
Made a final dash into the floating gallery and managed to set up my camera and propped up my tripod... And I made it in time for the fireworks at almost 9.30pm...
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And why dig out something that has happened almost half a year ago now?
Because I realise I needed a reminder that at times when I feel like really giving up... when the chips seem to be down... when all hopes seem to be waning... There might just still be a way out and a good chance of a miracle happening...
Now is the time to dig in really deep within me, and find that resolve to not let up and continue 'running'... I might still have a chance to achieve... I just need to dig in deeper... And it will happen...
On 1 Dec, while waiting for dinner at Loola campsite, just outside our sea dormitory, we spotted a smiley face in the dark sky above...
Everyone got excited at the very rare sighting... How often do we see the crescent accompanied by 2 bight stars, forming the smiley face?
Some of the cadets decided to take pictures of it, but without tripod to handle the long exposure, it's very difficult to capture it...
I told XR that some beautiful moments in life are meant to be enjoyed and savoured and be totally immersed in those moments... Rather than getting ourselves so busy and hectic trying to capture it in a photo in vain... And that moment would be lost without us fully enjoying it, while we are busy tying to get things to work...
It was only later that I found out from a staff of Loola that the two bright stars were actually Venus and Jupiter!!! It's a rare conjuction of the 2 planets and our moon!!!
So I decided to try my luck with my G10 and managed to capture this rare conjuction... Not the best quality shots, but I was able to make do with the settings to get this shot...
The brighter one on the left is Venus, and the other is Jupiter...
Looking back at the 4 days 3 nights in Loola, Bintan, I really feel that heaven was indeed smiling on all of us on this trip...
1) An overseas trip for my NPCC cadets had been long overdue... loads of reasons cropped up last couple of years and we couldn't realise this plan... Even this year, we started with plans to go Thailand... Then the political instability there forced us to reconsider other locations... Our friendly neighbour up north was also out of consideration also due to some uncertain political developments... We had no choice but to consider Batam or Bintan... Never had I considered these two places for an adventure trip... But lo and behold, came Loola... A never heard of location in Bintan... offering an adventure getaway... The preparations for this trip was amidst the most hectic phase of my work in school... Was juggling quite a number of other matters while trying to get this trip going... I almost felt like giving up... But for the cadets who have been really enthusiastic about this, it was well worth the effort...
2) There were a number of moments during this 4D3N camp where my heart was almost in my mouth...
- On the 2nd night, the wind was howling all though the night and there was lightning at somewhere far far out in the open sea... My greatest concern was for the 10 boys who were sleeping in the open sea dorm.... Though sheltered, they would be quite drenched should the sea storm come in the night... Prepared them for the worse and prep them to evacuate in the middle of the night should there really be a need... Thankfully, the storm didn't come...
- On the 3rd day, we went kayaking after our flying-fox... There was a patch of dark clouds further out in the sea, but we pressed on to do some kayaking... the sea was a bit choppier than usual, and two kayaks capsized... The delays from helping these 2 kayaks caused us to be drifted further away from the land and to make matters worse, it started to rain very heavily and we were soon paddling against the current... This was the last thing I had wanted to happen... In fact, this shouldn't even be happening, to get ourselves exposed in the sea, in the heavy rain, against the strong current, and with 6 kayaks and 3 single canoes trying hard to return to land... Thankfully, there was no thunder and lightning, and we all managed to return to mainland after some struggle, safely...
- On the 3rd night, we were all quite excited to spot the smiley face phenomenon in the night sky... And many of the cadets started to crowd themselves on the little bridge connector linking to my sea dorm... And while we were all so engrossed looking up, all of a sudden, we heard a crisp cracking noise... The wooden bridge couldn't take the weight of so many people, and it cracked!!! Thankfully, the bridge didn't collapse or gave way totally... Otherwise my cadets would have fallen down into the muddy seabed below...
- On the very same 3rd night, our debrief session was cut abruptly when the wind started to howl again, and unlike the previous night, lightning began to strike... We decided to take no chances, and we quickly evacuated the boys to the land dormitory... It was a 200 metres walk to the land dorm from our sea dorm... What was freaky was that we were walking in the open with lighting occurring right above our heads... Had to take this risk as the alternative of staying put was far riskier... Thankfully, the thunder and lightning ceased by around 3 am... We didn't have to manage the unimaginable...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ And so, by the end of the very fruitful trip, I really feel that heaven was really smiling on us... And personally, I'm really so glad that this trip happened... The cadets were wonderful... Such a cooperative group of youths... So much fun and laughter we had... So many important lessons we have learnt together... I've lost count on the number of times where I laughed till tears were flowing and my stomach was cramped... It's been a while since I had so much fun organising a camp... And for that, I really have to thank all 13 of cadets, my 2 very capable Cadet Inspectors, and of course my fellow TO, who without her enthusiasm, this trip would not have been possible... And I guess, this trip is our parting gift for her, for this will be her last camp with us before joining her new school...
Managed to complete the New Balance Real Run 2008. This year I feel is a tougher route. 5km of cross-country terrain right at the beginning. I almost gave up after coming out of the trail. Was so tempted to turn together with the 10km runners instead of taking a longer detour for my 15km race.
This race was just as tough as the Army Half-Marathon I'd did in August. Just as tough because I wasn't as well-prepared for this run.
No excuse of course. But I better cover the necessary mileage before any major runs in future. Today, I can feel my body complaining and responding to my lack of preparations already.
Here's some vital statistics from my heart-rate meter: Max heart-rate -> 204 bpm Average heart-rate -> 183 bpm Max speed -> 12.5 km/h Avg speed -> 7.5 km/h Total distance -> 15.9 km (where did the extra distance come frm) Calories burnt -> 1881 kcal Total time -> 2 hr 7 mins
I know I'm pushing my body beyond what it could currently take. I'm basically running at over 90% of my max heart-rate most of the time. And that's a sign that I'm not fit enough.
Furthermore, when I reached the 10km mark, my left knee is trying to tell me it's getting weak already. And that's not a good sign. And by the time I reached 11km, my right knee is also sending the same message. I had to slow down. No point risking my knees cartilage. That would only mean that I can't run anymore in future.
Well this race also completes the races I intended to do for the year. There's still a Standard Chartered Marathon in December. But I don't think I'm ready for that. Not sure if I'm ever going to be ready for a full marathon. I'll need a proper training regime if I'm ever reckless enough to sign up for one.
Had Mr. Newton be living in our exciting era, he would still have discovered gravity... But of course, given the hectic pace of the 21st century, and given that there probably wouldn't been so many apple trees these days for the apples to fall onto his head, he would have discovered gravity the 21st century way...
On today's ST headlines: "Oh, What a Week - Global markets lose US$6 trillion in panic selling, - Governments pump in at least US$6 trillion to little effect."
Newton would also have figured out very easily that whatever that goes up, will come down eventually...
And it was in my studies of A-level physics, too, that there's such a concept called "conservation of energy"... Put simply, there's a finite amount of energy going all around, and energy is just being transferred from one form to another...
And this concept was similarly learnt when I did my Accountancy course in NTU... That was the time of the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997, and it was at that time that I realised the world economy is but a "zero-sum game"... The amount of money is finite... What this means is that when someone is making obscene amount of profits, some losers out there are bleeding in their banks...
For all those who are studying Economics or any financial management courses right now, this is an excellent opportunity to see for yourselves what your books have been trying to tell you... Our financial markets are, in a nutshell, trading on perceived values and perceived networth... What's valuable and worth something today, can be whitewashed overnight... Once the market confidence is lost, values depreciate...
And that's the reason why I didn't believe in such a system, and that's the reason why I had to get out of that kind of system... A system driven by a pure pursuit on the concept of money...
But having said that, I do accept, and admit that I'm quite impressed with this entire concept of economics... A man-made creation, invented out of necessity... A necessity as a result of human-nature... If some alien colonies were to study our human civilisation, I'm sure they'd be impressed how the human-race rise and fall together with their stock markets...
Oh, and btw, Singapore is officially in a technical recession as declared by MTI yesterday... it seems each round of economic crises or recession is taking a shorter turnaround time to repeat itself...
And interestingly, a few other noteworthy pieces of news these last couple of weeks laid the ground for what's probably to come in the near future...
1) Electricity price is going up... amidst prices of oil falling... (Newton would be confused too)
2) AIG executives were spending US$400,000 at a spa resort, amidst the US taxpayers pumping in US$85 billion of rescue package into the company.
3) Starbucks was found to leave their water taps running continuously, as a company policy to prevent bacteria from accumulating in the water pipes, so that coffee-drinkers like you and me would be drinking cleaner coffee... How considerate of them... so now we know who is paying for the millions of dollars worth of water bills each year... (and did someone say something about the zero-sum game?)
4) Lehman Brothers CEO was interrogated after the collapse of the bank and was asked if he felt was fair that top executives in his bank were paid gross amount of bonuses a few days before they filed for bankruptcy... Well, he explained and clarified of course... cos' everything in business is justifiable... his system is in place and his system is working, he claims... But the bank collapsed anyway...
I received a call this morning from an unfamiliar number... It went like this:
Caller: "Hello, is this Mr. ****?"
Me: "Yes, speaking."
Caller: "Hi, I'm calling from XXX company and we're located at Suntec City. Our company is celebrating our 5th anniversary and we'd like to congratulate you as we've chosen you as a lucky customer to receive a FREE FACIAL... You just need to PAY $10.70 for the products that we'll be using during this facial... Would you like to make an appointment to come down?"
Me: "Thank you... I don't think I'm interested in this... Good bye..."
Caller: "Oh... okie thanks."
I hung up phone...
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For a moment, I was really confused... Did I get the free facial part wrong? Or was I informed that I needed to still pay $10.70...
I actually spent a few minutes to analyse what I didn't understand correctly... I thought it was free?
But I guess, they could argue that there's no misrepresentation whatsoever... The act of giving facial could be free... But the products that they'll use, I'll have to pick up the tab... So there's nothing too wrong about that... It's just that I'd expect the entire facial should be in fact free, including the products that they'll use...
Nothing too different from other gimmicks such as:
1) Winning a car in a lucky draw - car is free, but COE not so...
2) Winning free air tickets - but will have to pay for the other tour expenses
3) Free XXX products - but only if you have spent $xxx amount first
And the list goes on and on...
There's no free lunch in this world... And I was momentarily naive enough to expect that I would have a free facial...
Perhaps that the nature of things in life... some form of exploitation of human nature... some form of exploitation of words as well...
Big money can be found usually within crevices between orthodox practices... that's how many people becomes rich anyway... that's ironically also how big banks such as Leh*** Bros got into trouble... and a string of other major financial institutions too... all thanks to sub-prime loans, a marvelous invention of man-kind, which lures banks to lend to people without creditable credit histories... Amazing behaviours, resulting in amazing fall from grace...
As far as I can see it, basically it just can be summed up in one simple 5-letter word...
GREED...
And what was it that I couldn't understand initially?
Saw these phrases on one of those advertisements in the subway stations of Taipei...
Loosely translated, it means:
"When you can't move the mountains, move the roads... When you can't move the roads, move the person... When you can't move the person, move the heart."
Of course, by 'moving the heart', we mean we take a fresh perspective and gather new insights...
Chinese wisdom at its best...
My trip to Tibet some 2 years ago had shown me this wisdom already... that the physical geography of Tibet is so harsh and unforgiving that roads really need to be built meandering around the slopes of mountains... and when roads can't lead one to one's destination, condition the heart to attain Nirvana...
And I must remind myself of this wisdom continually... there are some policies that I can't move... so I relook at strategies and approaches that may overcome the red-tapes... when strategies and approaches are helpless, maybe I just need a reframing of my mindset...
Some things/ people need to move... but they aren't... Some grudges need to be let go of... but they aren't... I can't change the world... I can't change other's priorities... I can't remove other's frustrations completely... but I can definitely choose how my mind is conditioned to perceive...
To my Canon G9... thank you for being with me for the last 4 months... Thank you for recording all the beautiful memories for my trips to Taipei, Gunung Panti, Kukup, and all over Singapore...
You probably is now resting somewhere under the P.Ubin jetty... You might have been washed ashore... It was a split second of clumsiness on my part that let you slipped out of my grip, and into the choppy waters of the Ubin jetty... I tried... but I couldn't bring you back...
LIFE IS NOT ABOUT HOW MANY BREATHS YOUR TAKE... IT'S ABOUT HOW MANY MOMENTS THAT TAKE YOUR BREATHS AWAY...
My cadets asked me on that fateful day if I feel sad about losing my G9... And I told them yes, it's rather disappointing... Disappointing more from the fact that in my 10 years of photography, I've never lost or dropped any of my photography equipment... And to lose it this way, I'm rather disappointed with myself... However, I told them (and myself too), that it's not healthy to attach too much of me emotions onto an object... It has served me well, very well indeed, while it was still with me... And I should be gratified about that...
So... it was a 'smack right in my face' kind of lesson... and I shall and never will ever repeat such silly and clumsy acts ever again...
Well, even when it's not been officially launched here in Singapore, the Apple iPhone has been used by many people here already... by means which I do not wish to dwell upon here on my blog...
But... SingTel has also finally, come to their senses, to work with Apple to bring in another very desirable (to be at least) Apple product into Singapore... And I'm pleased to announce that I've made a reservation for a set with SingTel... Muahahahahah : )
Attended a Suzuki Swift Defensive Driving course two Sundays ago... In a nutshell, I've learnt to be more confident about how my Swift would respond under an emergency situation, and finally learnt how to activate the ABS (anti-lock braking system)... Could save my life...
The Aussie instructor asked all the participants a question which I've quite overlooked...
"What is the most important and critical safety feature in a car?"
Answer... The DRIVER
How many car accidents out there happened as a result of malfunctioned ABS?
How many car accidents out there happened as a result of no air-bag?
How many car accidents out there happened as a result of no Electronic Power Steering?
The "How many" question list goes on...
It's the driver... It's the driver... It's the driver...
And kind of interesting perspective because it's related to my previous post too, about "It's the Photographer"...
Someone posted a comment on one of my galleries in Pbase recently (see above):
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lena Nothing special. You are not real photographer. You are just button pusher. Probably your camera is better and does not fit with you. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wasn't really bothered by this kind soul, but what kept me wondering was what's on the mind of him/her...
Frankly, Lena has uttered a lot of truth... I'm not a REAL photographer, just a button pusher... hahaha, how true... all I did was really push the shutter button to record the shot...
I was quite amused really, that Lena actually even bothered to comment... And I guess there just could be a few possibilities...
a) Lena is a professional and REAL photographer. And if so, this really is an extremely constructive feedback for me to think about :)
b) Lena is not a REAL photographer and merely drops by randomly and happen to hantam my gallery with this comment. And if so, I should just brush this comment aside and move on...
I've seen this quote somewhere which says "a camera helps the photographer record what he sees... But the photographer must first be able to SEE..."
I like this quote a lot because I'm a believer of "a photo is only as beautiful as the photographer can see"... Being a partially geeky guy, I have GAS (gear acquiring syndrome) as well... i.e., I'm fascinated and has a tendency to acquire better and newer gear...
But these quotes as mentioned above have kept me on the ground, and I've lost quite a lot of craving to keep up with the latest and newest camera bodies out there... My current EOS 20D has been my regular workhorse for the past 4 years... 4 years in today's pace of DSLR development translate to at least 3 generations of upgrades and better cameras... But I still can't find a good reason to upgrade simply because I still can get what I want to capture with my 20D...
Anyway, I'm glad this Lena character popped into my gallery this way because it's a timely reminder of what photography means to me, as well as a reminder for me to keep 'seeing' things around me in ways that are special...
As I've done so in my reply on my gallery, thank you once again, Lena, for your (brutal) honesty... hahahah (^o^)
A recent short conversation with a Padawan went something like this: Me - "Hey, I think as long as you take part in this XYZ activity, you'd still qualify to attain the most prestigious and highest attainable PQR Badge..."
Padawan - "I'm not interested in these attainments and badges anymore... I just want to go through and experience as much activities there are, and learn the most out of all of them... Because at the end of our life, everything will end up in dust..."
That reply shook me...
It really did...
Because it reminded me of how I used to look at life too...
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I remembered during the time of my Jedi training, a fellow trainee asked me what do I aspire to become in my work as a Jedi... And I replied that I'm not sure... I couldn't see very far how good or bad a Jedi I could be, but deep down, I knew that the path of the Jedi is what I want to be... And I knew deep down that this is the path that I should and would tread... I don't quite care if I'd just be a basic Jedi, a Jedi's Jedi, a Jedi of all Jedis or THE JEDI... All I wanted to be was to be a Jedi to train and bring up my Padawans well... What's in a name to the Jedi anyway?
I play the guitar... I learnt it almost all by myself... Having been greatly influenced by the Great Mr A... I read up on music theory, I read on up guitar playing techniques, I listened to lots and lots of guitar music, I watched guitar videos... But I just didn't have the FORMAL training to play the gutar... And most naturally, I do not have any FORMAL QUALIFICATIONS nor CERTIFICATIONS to ascertain my ability to play the guitar... But I enjoyed it thoroughly... Learning to play the guitar opened so much possibilities for me... It gave me my much-lacking self-confidence... It gave me my much-lacking sense of achievement... And most importantly, it gave me the exposure to a wide genre of music... So qualifications/certifications or not, I enjoy what I was doing...
I enjoyed and grew the most during my 3 years university education... Those were the days which shaped so much of my world view and perceptions and thinking... And ironically, the education I received most wasn't from the books... In fact, I did not manage to attain a GOOD DEGREE that we so often see being published in the Classified sections... I remember a good friend asked me after we graduated if I have any regrets for not having spent more time in studying to as to attain the GOOD DEGREE... And I replied that I have no regrets at all, because I learnt so much more lifeskills during my 3 years there...
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And now... iWonder... I wonder if I have lost some of that very pure and purposeful pursuit of my passions... I have a very strong conviction, still, that there's a great difference between "Doing things right" and "Doing the right things"... The former, I feel, is almost always easier... The latter demands moral courage...
Or maybe, I'm just being ignorantly naive...
But recently, I came across a very interesting definition of what a "Mind" is... "A mind is just a construct of a great many thoughts"
And thoughts are temporal in nature... a state of mind at any cross section in time is but a fleeting moment in the multitude of criss-crossing thoughts... And it's almost always due to all the thoughts that bring us all up and down in our roller-coaster life... And all these attachments of life, which come in the forms of attainments, achievements, ranking, and qualifications, are just part of the temporal construct of our thoughts...
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And I thank this Padawan for reminding me of this... Reminding me that life is to be lived, rather than just a pursuit of achievements or attainments...
No doubt the world we live in usually and generally do not help remind us to LIVE our lives, but I hope I could gain some assurance that such is also the temporal nature of the world we live in too...
It was once a sacred land... A peaceful and holy land... The rooftop of the world...
Where prayers were sent up to the heavens by the winds... Where the people take refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha... It is a piece of high altitude land which demands the hardiest of people, the most courageous of humans and the deepest of faith, in order to survive and thrive... Where mother nature exposes the inhabitants of this land to extremities, its people has learnt to live in moderation and practice the middle path... Such richness in culture... Such depth in tradition... Tracing back to ancient history... Its people has occupied this high altitude plateau...
But then in the 1950s, a neighbouring land began to LIBERATE this holy land...
As far as I'm concerned, this LIBERATION is such a vulgar and dirty word...
Who on planet earth has the right to LIBERATE another civilization?
I now begin to slowly appreciate how another civilization in the Middle East develop such immense hatred towards the West... and how unfortunate it really is for humanity, for the oppressed civilization to react in such devastating manners... And I'm very afraid that the same would happen to this sacred high land... Their spiritual leader has inadvertently been blamed for starting all the chaos...
But in all honesty and true faith, who really is the trouble-maker here??? How could history be warped just to claim their rights to LIBERATE??? How could the stronger civilization expect the oppressed to keep still and remain oppressed??? Definitely not so considering the manner in which the LIBERATION took place!!!
Tears flowed out of my eyes uncontrollably when I stood in front of a Buddha's statue in a monastery in this holy land... I could not explain that feeling with words comprehensively... But I know it was a feeling that I am being completely accepted and that I have arrived at a place where somehow I belonged...
It could be some kind of a connection with my previous lives or something, because I could not otherwise felt compelled to visit this special land...
And with what's happening to this land right at this very moment, all I feel is exasperation and helplessness... That inexplicable connection that I have for this land saddens me...
I don't know why... I can't explain why...
But I do understand that what I'm experiencing in this lifetime is a culmination of my previous karma...
May the strength and faith of these great people pull them through these nonsensical turn of events... And may the Truth present itself for all the see...
These little fellas were supposedly from Turkey... Or rather, this Fish therapy thingy was supposedly originated from Turkey... Saw this at Kenko @ Singapore Flyer a couple of weeks back and decided to give it a try...
Very tingling, I must say... with probably a hundred of these little fellas nibbling on my legs... They're supposed to help with my blood circulation, clear away dead skin, and smoothen my skin...
Not sure if my legs became smoother as a result (the presence of my leg hair got into my way whenever I tried to feel if my skin was smoother)... But I do know these fellas seemed to savour my legs quite a great deal...
See my colleague's leg on the left? And compare that with mine... And it's not hard to see whose legs had more dead skin...
Once upon a time, a man named Greenfingers, was employed by a nursery owner to look after and help his orchids grow and bloom.
When Greenfingers first reported for work, he realised that the few pots of orchids were not given enough care for the past year or so, and were very much frail and almost drying out. He found out that he had a lot of work to do to re-pot the orchids and give them the right amount of sunlight. But Greenfingers was determined to give his all to ensure that the orchids under his care were well taken care of and he hoped that they would blossom into beautiful flowers.
And so he slogged for a good year... but at the same time, the nursery owner added new species and introduced new technologies with the hope of making the nursery become the most productive and most beautiful nursery in the region...
But with the added demands on the need to care for more species, and to cope with learning the newer ways of growing plants and flowers, all the other helpers employed by the nursery owner found that they had more and more tasks and plots of plants and flowers to tend over.
There's only so much they could do... weeds started to grow at corners over-looked... time were taken away from these helpers in coping with new changes...
By the end of the year, Greenfingers realised that despite his orchids which he had diligently tend over had blossomed nicely and beautifully, he couldn't say the same about all the other plants and flowers in the nursery... One look across the entire nursery, the sight was kind of messy and disorganised...
So Greenfingers began to wonder if he should be happy that his orchids finally managed to grow beautifully, or be disappointed that the nursery as a whole has not been well tended over...
Greenfingers also began to reflect in what other ways he could have helped get the whole nursery back in order again...
Being occupied in the right way, is more important though...
Very eventful, last couple of months...
Learnt a lot about myself... about my health... about my deep-self...
Realised that I've lots to learn... lots to unlearn...
Dizzying, at times...
Ecstatic, at others...
Time flies... is never enough still...
Yet... even as time flies so quickly... quicker than I'd like it to be, I realised I still need to learn more about the virtue of being patient...
Patient with myself...
Patient with others close to me...
Patient with others' words...
Patient with others' actions...
Patient with things I do not see...
Patient with words I do not hear...
Patient with everything that I do not yet understand...
Patient with myself learning ever so slowly to understand...
And the greatest virtue that I also need to acquire, is none other than be thankful to people around me who have been patient with me, while I learn to be patient...
And be hopeful that their patience do not end... Just like I've not given up on learning to be patient...
Just when I though that there's only so much joy I could explore to derive from the kinds of photography that I've been engaging in, in came the world of macro photography...
Only the sharpest of eyes would see the beauty of all things so close, yet so small... Easy to miss... Easy to take for granted...
Although it has taken me oh so long to discover the beauty so near me, I'm so glad that I've done so...
No doubt there's this regret that I should have made this discovery much earlier...
No doubt life often has its very unique and inexplicable way of unveiling itself...
All I know is that I've taken that first step to our lookout-point... "go as far as you can, and you'll always see further from there"... and I do know from deep within that I have found something very special... Something that I'll treasure and sustain for a lifetime...
So glad that I finished the 15km REAL Run yesterday...
And after the race, I can somewhat appreciate why it's called the REAL Run... Runway, road, trail and beach... all the "run-able" tracks were covered in this race...
To be honest, I was quite worried before the run... Since the last 12 km S'pore Bay Run in Aug, I really attempted to condition myself (after numerous reminders by my close friend too) by going for long runs to Bishan Park... I didn't want to end up collapsing from the rigorous heart activity...
But having completed it, there was an immense sense of satisfaction... Running is an 'out of my comfort zone' activity... I've always felt that human beings were not designed to run (otherwise why do we have to design shoes to protect our feet and knees from the impact?)... All along the race, I kept having to push myself and encourage myself not to stop... I could run slowly... I could walk briskly... But giving up was not an option...
And along this race, I also found myself running somewhere at the 2nd third of the entire pack of thousands of runners... There are those who are capable and fit and they are well way in front of me... and there's also those who are way behind me as well, running their own race...
And I come to some kind of realisation that in life, there's always a place for all of us... I need not be the fastest runner all the time... I need not feel bad about not being the better runners out there... I'm already out of my comfort zone, pushing my bodily limits, sun-tanning myself evenly under the morning sun, risking further wear & tear of my leg joints, trying my best to finish a long race... And I want to enjoy it, and affirm myself that I can accomplish something that I've never been good at doing...
I know that I will get there, no matter what... I may not be running at the pace that some may deem acceptable... I may be less fit than those in my age group... But I don't really think I mind that at all...
Having completed 4 long runs this year has allowed me to benchmark myself against the really ardent and serious runners... I know my fitness level will never get me anywhere near them... But the good thing about joining such races is that they gave me good motivations to complete these ridiculous distances which I'd never convince myself of completing all by myself...
And I think this 'benchmarking' that I've learnt from my running can also be applied in my area of work... It's not all about achieving achieving achieving the best the best the best results all the time... It's all about giving giving giving our best our best our best that really matters... We may never be comparable with the absolute best out there... But if we are all willing to step out of our comfort zones and push ourselves, we will achieve something that we may not have believed we ever could...
Yes... for the most part of my under 2 hours run yesterday, my mind was preoccupied with processing such thoughts... Something similar from meditation , I suppose... And also to distract myself from focusing too much on the discomfort...
But of course, the greatest motivation of all that really made the difference in yesterday's race was really the fact that I know deep down in my heart, that there is someone who's waiting for me right at the end, waiting for me to finish my run safely... I also know deep down that there is someone there who wouldn't be judging me on how well or how badly I've done for my race... It was this assurance which gave me the strength and determination to finish this run... This run into the Starry Night...
NPCC CCU Competition 2008
NPCC Cadet Leaders Camp 2008
Singapore Flyer Experience
GROWTH Camp @ Gunung Panti
