Chapter 47--Year 2008, a year to remember

Although many may regard 2008 as a year to forget due to the collapse of several companies as a result of economic turmoil, I personally regard 2008 as a year fill with small surprises and achievements.
Firstly, This year reunion dinner has got to be one of the better ones in recent years as the elders FINALLY realized that there should be at least some decent ingredients(translate: meat) when one want to have streamboat. I mean come on, none of us in the family are vegetarian so why are we having predominantly vegetables for the past reunion streamboat dinner? Cannot really fathom why they took such a long time to understand this bloody simple point. Hope that they would be able to maintain this practice for all subsequent reunion dinner streamboat( although I hope dearly that they would upgrade to include bbq streamboat such as those found in seoul garden). In addition, managed to offer some volunteering service albeit a small scale one which is for NUS biathlon in February. Manning the water point remind me of NS when I was still a lobo after my BMT. Also FINALLY managed to complete the 1 star canoeing course together with good pal Yong ann whereby we have so many fun and memorable moments at the Kallang river. Learning kayaking has always been one of my “Things to do before I die” list and I am glad that I eventually have the opportunity to realize it in 2008. Really hope to upgrade my kayaking skills in future and I hope that by then I would have more kakis to join me. So sad that so many of my friends are the non-sporting type…Hehe, hope to make more sporting and outdoor friends in future. In May, with the release of year 3 exam results, I finally decided to pursue honours at Biopolis hence beginning a year of hectic research life in lab with many tears and cheers so far and definitely even more to come in 2009. This is also the opportunity for me to experience what research is all about and although so far I cannot really say that I love it, it certainly wasn’t that bad after all either. Hopefully with the last few remaining months left in lab, I will gradually learn to appreciate the beauty of research even more. July was the month whereby I attended my second ICT and this time round with more close army buddies around, it certainly made the whole experience far more enjoyable than the first ICT. In addition, at least this ICT was more action packed compared to the fucking boring first ICT as this ICT at least had outfield and live firing exercise. Still cannot believe that we actually “attack” all the way from area D to area A. No wonder I almost fell asleep during the journey back to camp(and I am supposed to be the driver!) Therefore, cannot understand why some of the guys hate ICT and outfield so much because to me, ICT is one rare occasion whereby we can reunite with our army pals and relish the strong bond formed during our full time national service and outfield is just so much more exciting and interesting compared to staying in bunk and slacking. Guess I am one of the few guys who actually enjoy national service haha… Maybe its because I do not have too many nasty experiences during my active days? Really feel pity for those guys who have to endure hell during their full time national service but then again, I always believe that it is the attitude that one possess and display that contributes eventually to one experience. In August, managed to complete my 3rd Army Half Marathon while the Run for hope(aka Terry fox run) in October was my first attempt at it. Thoroughly enjoy the experience of these mass run and I hope that more friends would be able to join me as well in future(but then again seems quite hard to recruit friends for such events).

With the conclusion of a rather interesting 2008, I certainly hope that year 2009 would have more to offer. Aside from the constant desire to want to obtain good results for my exams(especially when it is supposedly the final semester of my stay in NUS) I certainly hope to learn more life and recreational skills as well. This includes the continual participation of army half marathon which has become almost like a yearly primilage to city hall now and definitely signing up for more mass run(who knows I may finally sign up for the December Singapore marathon in 2009?). In addition, also hopes to learn rock climbing and in line skating if I have the chance to do so. And of course, I hope to upgrade my PC skills as well. Also looking forward to my third ICT next year which will be range(yay! Finally get to shoot again!) as well as participating in more volunteering work if time permits. Last but not least, I certainly hope that I can exercise more(unlikely), eat more healthily( highly unlikely), be a much nicer person( super highly unlikely).

See you guys in 2009!

Regards,
Yongster

Live the life you want. Many more good years ahead!

Chapter 46-- Life transformers

Watching the final episode of the channel 8 variety show “Life transformers” really bring a tear or two to my eyes. The determination and resilience shown by some of the “sufferers” in the show really demonstrated what is meant by extreme perseverance and “never give up” attitude. Even I, who normally prides myself as quite a resilient guy doubt if I could have the strength and determination to survive and carry on in such adverse conditions. Although I pity and sympathize with some of the mentally or physically disabled people in the show, it is really the caretakers of each of these “socially handicapped” families that really touched my heart and had tears welling up in my eyes. Such people displayed such an indomitable spirits that I wonder if there is any obstacles in life that they couldn’t face in their future simply because they have already survived and gone through some of the worst case scenarios that most of us could even have ever imagined. I truly believe that these people will go on become some of the greatest achievers in life. Kids and adolescents who have to look after their chronically ill parents and/or siblings are especially a tremendous source of inspiration to me because an 8 year old kid may have experience some of the things that an 80 years old elderly may never have the chance to go through. The only thing that I feel sad and sorry for these children is that they do not and most properly will not have a complete and beautiful childhood unlike most of us and it is really a shame since we could only have one child hood which is totally irreversible. In fact, one of the 10 year old girl in the programme has never in her short lifetime use any thing that is brand new because her family was so poor(she still has to take care of her sick immobilized mother) that everything that she used are hand- me –down. The precious darling look on her face when the production team and volunteers gave her a brand new set of bedding cover was…simply just indescribable…With Christmas around the corner, it does makes me wonder if we have ever stop and think about the numerous “useless” Christmas gift that we have bought and received to date only to throw some of them away(w/o even opening at times) when there are people out there who may have never received a Christmas gift before? I will be attending a Christmas cum JC councilors gathering in a few weeks time and I have been thinking these few years whether the routine gift exchange is becoming meaningless and obsolete. Because we could not predict who would receive our gift from the random “lucky draw”, most of us usually gotten a safe “general” present like chocolate. However, come to think of it, I bet that that most of us did not even spare some time seriously thinking about what else to buy beside the same old boring chocolate and some useless decorating items and therefore is it still necessary to carry on this traditional routine just for the sake of it? I meant, I rather buy chocolates for the poor kids in the show who would definitely appreciate it tons more than my fellow peers who may simply throw it away upon reaching their homes. Is it what Christmas spirits really advocate? I certainly do not hink so. Nevertheless, I do respect my peers and if they feel that it is appropriate to carry on with this routine, then by all means go ahead…
Anyway, back to the topic, beside the brave and courageous pillars of these families who have demonstrated such selfless acts, the other group of people who deserves credit and applause must be the volunteers who are willing to spend time and efforts cleaning the houses of affected families(mind you, some of the homes are really dirty and pest-infested) and volunteering to tutor some of the kids. It is extremely heart –warming and encouraging to know that by trying to bring benefits to someone else, they themselves have also benefited tremendously from this project as well by learning and realizing how fortunate they actually are(I pity those pathetic souls out there who thought about killing themselves after meeting minor set backs in their lives or frequently complaining about how unfair this world is) and how and why they really should treasure the people and things around them instead of taking them for granted. Although I may have repeated such themes in my previous entries, I feel that only after one have really engaged in such meaningful activities will one really seriously acknowledge such feelings and thoughts. I admire the courage, patient and most importantly of all, the initiatives of these volunteers and these group of people has no doubt always provided an inspiration to me to perform good deeds of kindness. It is a shame to me at the same time also that even though I have always said that I wanted to volunteer, I have never materialize this ambition act due to lack of time bah bah bah. Nonetheless, I will definitely offer my services to people in need during my life time because volunteering is one of the 100 things that I strongly believe that one should do before he or she dies. I have always envy people that extend their kindness overseas to build homes and schools for the less privileged people out there and I definitely wanted to follow in their foot steps at some points of my life because I believe that the experience gained from such humanitarian trips are one of the 100 things that money certainly cannot buy. Perhaps it is also one of the pushing factor for me to want to desire to become a medical doctor in future as it is my dream to one day offer medical services to those who cannot afford it in the less developed countries. To achieve this goal however, I know that I must work hard but if even people who are in even more adverse environment or situation are able to hang on, I do not see why I cannot do so. I may not have the level of determination, perseverance and courage of these people but at least I have the dream, the ambition and the inspiration for my goals…

P/S: I think that this show has an excellent chance of grabbing a star award next year!

Regards,
Yongster

Live the life you want! Still many more good years head...