Cheapo MTV

I aint't got no videography skills...

I ain't got no music editing skills...

But I've got my ixus and my... whistling skills...

(Paihia, New Zealand North Island)

Learn to Teach... Teach to Learn

From this...



To this...



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I've never been an instruction manual or 'follow-step-by-step' kind of learner.

Give me a guitar, or a camera, and I'll fiddle and play around with them and I've always been able to (with these two passions at least) get the hang of them and very intuitively learn how to use them well...

I never had any music theory background when I first learnt how to play the guitar when I was 17... everything fell into place very naturally and being a very aural person, I just knew how to do it... be it chords, tempo, expression, reading notes... somehow I'm just able to do it...

My early exposure to photography was with my late uncle... he'd do the setting of the aperture and shutter speed for me... and I just do the composing and framing and fire away... I just knew how to frame a nice looking photo when I look through the viewfinder... It's when I finally was able to afford my own photography gears that I really took this passion to a higher level... But I'm still not a technically masterful kind of photographer... As with playing the guitar, when I look through the viewfinder, I just know what will turn out nice... Very intuitive...

It's only on occassions where I'm stuck with some chords, some phrasing of notes, some Photoshop processing techniques etc, that I'd go back to some instruction manuals, listen to guitar recordings over and over, search the internet for information and generally read up to clear the bottle-neck that I'm faced with... Then I'll be back fiddling my way around...

That's the carefree and semi-unstructured manner in which I pursue my two greatest passions... I somehow know that I'm doing what many instruction books out there are already prescribing... I somehow know how to...

It's hard to explain... it's somewhere within... intuitive... gut feel... having some sense of what sounds good, what sounds right, how a piece of music needs to be played and expressed, how a photo should look like...

Even though many people around me sees me as a logical person, when it comes to guitars and photography, my senses take the lead...

I prefer it this way... music and photography are ways of expressions... I just can't imagine some guide-books telling me how I should express myself... It's not longer art of expression... I've heard technically perfect pieces of classical guitar music... I've seen technically perfect photos... But these do not very often reach deep into my heart...

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But I've come to a stage in my life where I now need to share and teach others how I operate...

And that's challenging...

Because I do things from my heart...

Because I don't usually think through the exact steps and procedures that I play a piece of music or take a photo...

I now have to articulate and make explicit, steps which I take intuitively...

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In my pursuit of Teaching, I'm continually Learning... I'm Learning how to Teach...

I now have to articulate and make explicit, steps which I take intuitively when I Teach and interact with the young Padawans...

Ironically, just as I do not refer to guide-books at the onset as I feel they are hindering my efforts straight from my heart, I can't help but feel that if the heart is not at the right place, no amount of guidebooks will help one become a good guitar player or great photographer...

Maybe they're better off keeping collections of guitars for keepsake or pursue the latest and most advanced camera equipment money can buy...

Land of the Samurai... Here I Come...

I'll be on my flight to Osaka in 2.5 hours time...

Apart from having planned my route to Kyoto after reaching Kansai Int'l Airport tomorrow morning, I've no idea where my itinerary will bring me to for the next 5 days...

But that's the way I prefer... getting lost in a country where the language is so quite alien... simply perfect...

Campfire's Burning

Tis' the base of our "The Return of the NPCC Flying Fireball"...

The first time I saw a flying fireball lighting up a campfire in Simpleville was the first year I joined the NPCC as teacher-officer... It was still the old Simpleville building... A few resourceful and creative ex-cadets taking the lead to tie up the guide-wire... That was 6 years ago...

This method of lighting up a campfire was never attempted again since we started shifting into the new building... no suitable location was found... or so we thought...

This could be the last year in which I'm running the NPCC Annual Camp... My CIs were gungho and resourceful enough... All I needed to do was to give them the necessary encouragement and guidelines to work within... And the seed was sown...

We just tried out the guideline for the fireball... Worked smoothly... Tomorrow night's campfire will be something very special...

I've always enjoyed working with these young people... I was told that there'll be close to 50 ex-cadets returning for the annual camp's campfire... This is something that I'm very proud of... The connection with their alma mater... Just like the kind of connections that I feel for my own alma maters and Hall 4...

It's inexplicable and hard to put a finger on, how this feeling is... Tomorrow's campfire gathering for these ex-cadets is a home-coming and gathering to a place where they once grew and mature and learnt useful lifeskills... A safe santuary for them, after leaving the school, out to the more hectic world...

I can tell it means a lot to them... Exactly like how I feel everytime I return to Hall 4... Many of them continue to return to school to help set up the campfire, cos' they too, want to keep the NPCC tradition burning... I always feel very proud when I see how much they've grown and becoming more sensible... Many of them have become very fine youths... They are all excellent role-models for all my current cadets...

The nicest thing about it all is that I'm stil able to connect with the very first batch of graduates (graduated some 8 years ago)from Simpleville... I've not taught some of them before... But thanks to the very fine introduction and first connection that a very respected predecessor of mine made for me, I've been very priviledged to work with all these fine youths over the past 6 years...

Like I said, this could be the last year I'll run the annual camp as I need to take on other responsibilities... It's now time to pass on the same connection to my new colleagues... Really hope that they'll continue to involve and invite our fine youths back to Simpleville to spread their passion and commitment...

This'll be something that I'll miss... seeing young people grow, and most importantly, that they didn't forget the place that groomed and moulded them into the youths of today...