Bad driver

I am a bad driver.

Bad in how I don't really care about the comfort of my passengers. I guess that is because I am too used to driving myself around, instead of having passengers. So I usually brake too hard, accelerate too quickly, turn too sharply.

But at least I am safe. And alert (most of the time...)

Neighbourhood in the news, again!

The neighbourhood is in the news again! The last time it was in the news too, and so full of heritage. This time, I learnt more about the long history that this particular road (Upper Serangoon Road) has. Good to know that they are going to do something to preserve the long heritage here. The old Simon Road market is gone (replaced by a condominium) but I hope the corner coffee shop (in the photo above) survives!

师兄 Senior...

They call me 师兄 (senior) not because I am older. Not because I have been practising for more years.

No, they call me 师兄 because they acknowledge the effort that I put into my practice.

I may be younger, I may have started learning from my teacher later, but because of the effort I put in regularly attending the practice sessions, and the number of sessions I attend each week, they call me 师兄...

I humbly acknowledge that title, and I continue to put in effort to live up to that name.

The Book of Life (2014 film)

The Book of Life...

Have the courage to be yourself. And write your own life story.

Our biggest fear is when we fear being ourselves. For it is something that we cannot run away from.

Simple lessons from an animated film made for children.

Oh, and today is the Day of the Dead.

Why train?

Someone asked me during pushing hands class how often do I practise taiji. I told him I usually practise about four times in a week. He asked me why I train so often.

I train because I want to be good at something.

There is no shortcut. There is no quick way to success, no magic formula to being good at something. All it takes is a lot of hard work, a lot of practice, a lot of training.

The more you train, the better you get.

Whether it is taiji, calligraphy, language, or my core profession, I need to train hard in order to get better.

And I want to be good at these things that I do. That is why I train.

I want to be good at these things to reassure myself of my self-worth. There are many things that I am not good at, I just hope I can be good at a few things.

That is why I train.

Lots of practice

After more than 150 pieces of practice, I think this should be the one.

I hope.

Don't copy...

Don't try to copy the master...

Back to practice...

Singapore F1 weekend

It's the Singapore F1 weekend, the race just ended, and the haze is back.

Lewis Hamilton came in top for this year's race. Leading the race right from the start.

PSI went above 100 into the unhealthy range... there is a burning smell in the air.

Preparing for the exhibition

After a whole week of practice.

After writing around a hundred pieces.

 

Hopefully this is good enough for the coming exhibition.

Getting the hang of it

After a week of practice, writing 53 pieces, I am getting the hang of it.

I started out with this, before the week of practice.

But it wasn't good enough.

So I practised and practised and practised.

And I finally arrived at this.

I am finally getting there!

Lucy (film)

I watched this film, "Lucy", the other day. It is a science fiction movie, a big monotonous since the heroine more or less became invincible a third into the movie. And then it is just a whole series of powers that she has.

Still, the way the heroine was transformed into superhuman reminded me of the Bene Gesserit and their spice agony. The scene of the heroine touching fingers with primitive man (woman) is trying to recreate the scene from "The Creation of Adam". And in the end, when humans use up to 100% of their brain capacity, they become gods. Man and God are the same.

Okay, getting into theology and philosophy...

Just watch the movie for the fun of it. Don't think too much. Good way to spend one and a half hours if you have nothing better to do.

Calligraphy is an expensive hobby

Practice...

And more practice...

Calligraphy is an expensive and time-consuming hobby. All that time spent writing on paper (which cost money!) that will only be thrown away because they don't make the mark. More money (paper) down the drain...

Practice practice practice

That was what I was told. That I needed more practice before I can even create a piece suitable for display at an exhibition.

And so, I am back to practice.

Paper is not cheap. Calligraphy is an expensive pastime.

My smiley B*)

Back in the BBS days, when I was on Lothlorien BBS, I used to use this for my smiley.

B*)

Back then, I wore glasses. It was in the days of offline mail readers, like BlueWave. Fixed width characters, 80 characters per line, 25 lines per page. ASCII text, ANSI art. Those were the days.

Metamorphosis

The door is closed, the windows shut, the blinds drawn down.

Outside, the sun is out, children are playing, flowers are blooming. Colours aplenty, a rainbow in the sky. A world awaits.

Inside, shades of gray.

Outside, the children's laughter, mothers chatting, birds singing, the roar of car engines. A world awake with life.

Inside, still silence.

In this dark room I now await, slowly changing, slowly waiting, for the day when I can step out again and partake in this wonderful world.

Until then, shades of gray, still silence. A long wait.

声声入耳，事事关心

风声雨声读书声声声入耳
家事国事天下事事事关心

Something that I came up with about 20 years ago.

Inkling - Being limited

Just as giving something shape limits it, our thoughts may well be limited right from the start. For our thoughts are formed in languages and words that we understand. Yet these very words, these languages, become the boundaries that we cannot transcend. Because we cannot think of something that cannot be described by the languages we speak, the words that we know.

Language, then, is the enabler for thought creation. Thoughts can be formed when there is a language to describe it. And when there is no word for that thought? Create that word to describe it, and the thought is created. The word, and the creation that is described by the word, are one and the same.

Something to ponder on. Something I am pondering on, even though I have a headache the whole day.

The tap is dry

The tap is dry.
Why?
Fire,
About to die.

When there is no up, no down, when life is a boring single tone, there is nothing to write about. When one simply exists because one exists, when existence is meaning itself, there is nothing to write about.

Small steps

We are taking small steps towards change.

For better or worse, no one will know, but we will find out. But I guess it will always be a mixture, some things will get better, some will get worse. That's life, you can't have your cake and eat it.

Small steps towards big changes.

吾意已决

吾意已决。

If something is causing so much unhappiness, over such a long period, it is time to move on. Stress may be self-induced, but sometimes, the best way to get rid of stress is to remove the source if you cannot manage how you feel about the source.

Time to try a different path. It may not be a better path, but you never know unless you try,

Asus G550J

The other day, I saw an advertisement for a new Asus laptop, with Nvidia GTX graphics processor. It was tempting but I told myself I got a laptop about a year ago. Yes, I got the Lenovo Y500 a year ago. But a few weeks ago, the display starting showing signs of problem... There would be specks of static and sometimes the entire screen would have a gray tint to it.

Then, a few days ago, after a reboot following Windows update, the Y500 booted up into a black screen. And when I tried to install a new version of Linux Mint to try and recover the Y500, I overwrote the entire disk... losing my data. And still, the laptop won't boot. I guess it was the Y500's way of telling me to fall to my temptation and get that new laptop.

And so now, I am with a new Asus G550J, with i7 processor, 8Gb RAM, Nvidia GTX850M (4Gb video RAM) and almost S$2000 poorer. And that is not even counting what I have to pay to get my data recovered...

Still, it feels good to have a new laptop. ;)

Note: The Asus G550J has a gigabit Ethernet port, but it seems that the Windows driver, when set to auto-negotiate, will only use 100 Mbps. The way to solve this is to go to Device Manager, locate the device Realtek PCIe Gbe Family Controller, then under the Advanced tab, look for the property Speed & Duplex. Change its value to 1.0 Gbps Full Duplex. This will allow it to use its full speed.

Moth season

It is the moth season.

This was found on my fern the other day.

 And this was found at the lift lobby.

Moths are usually dull, but these two moths are slightly different from the dull brown stuff that we usually see.

Star Wars Day

May the 4th be with you.

Happy Star Wars Day!

LEGO The Council of Elrond

Besides all the LEGO Star Wars stuff, we have started to venture into LEGO Lord of the Ring as well. Here is set 79006 The Council of Elrond, depicting the scene in which representatives from all over Middle Earth sat around to discuss what to do with the One Ring. Of course, in the LEGO set, there are only 3 chairs, and it comes with 4 minifigs (Elrond, Arwen, Gimli and Frodo).

It is a simple set to put together, and there is a flat portion where you can place a minifig, and toss him into the air by pushing a piece at the side. Not a bad deal for the setting and 4 minifigs.

Star Wars LEGO collection

Spaceships and minifigs from LEGO Star Wars collection, plus some spaceships made from LEGO blocks using my son's own imagination.

We have an ever growing population of minifigs...

LEGO minifigs

LEGO minifigs, old and new. From back when I was a kid, and those that I got for my kid.

Sustaining an artefact

Sometimes, I really wonder if it is really worth it to spend so much resources on something, and to keep pouring more resources in over time.

Maybe it all started out with a great idea. But a great idea to solve one issue may not mean it is the magic pill that will solve all problems. Yet we have a tendency to want to justify our own great ideas. We talk about how great it is, how it can solve more problems if given enough resources.

So that great idea grows in size.

And we keep feeding it, it keeps growing. It may not be the best tool to solve certain issues, but we pour in more resources so that it could. And then it becomes too big for us to do away with. So we have to justify its continued existence by pouring in more resources.

All those resources poured in means something less for the others, and presents an opportunity cost. Yet we continue to do it, because to do otherwise would be to admit that our great idea was not that great in the first place.

It made me think about lies. Yes, it started with a small, harmless lie. Then we have to put in another lie so that others don't see through our original lie. And over time, in order not to be seen through, we continue to build on the lie, until eventually, the lie is so big, we can't come clean without tremendous effort and possibly disastrous effect. Instead, we continue to feed it, hoping that we can sustain it.

Sometimes, it may be better to face ourselves and live with the consequences, to be ready to admit that we are not that great in the first place.

Lego Star Wars starfighters

We recently added 3 more starfighters to the growing star fleet of Lego Star Wars sets.

The A-Wing starfighter (set 75003) comes with 3 minifigures and is probably the easiest to build of the three, without moving parts. A very simple design, and a compact starfighter that kids will love.

The Jedi interceptor (set 75038) comes with 2 minifigures (Anakin Skywalker and R2-D2 in a darker shade of blue), and spring-loaded parts to fire bolts of laser. These can shoot for quite a distance, actually. It has a spot for R2-D2 to fully sit itself.

The V-Wing starfighter (set 75039) comes with 2 minifigures too (pilot and droid), although the droid can't sit fully in the starfighter; only the droid's head. Similar to the Jedi interceptor, it has spring-loaded parts to fire laser bolts. The wings rotate to flight mode, or for landing.

Thanks for the memories!

Thanks for the memories! I will miss everyone!

Two tours onboard spanning a total of four years.

And now, time for me to walk a different path.

Celebrating Holi

It's the festival of Holi, something that I won't forget after my first experience with it.

Go out there and share in the fun of throwing colours at each other!

LEGO Star Wars TIE Fighter set

After all the fun with the X-Wing starfighter, we finally got the LEGO Star Wars TIE Fighter (set 9492), which is the "sister" set. Although the two sets cost the same, the TIE Fighter has less pieces, and is actually easier to build. My son was able to build the set all by himself, unlike when he was building the X-Wing. All in all, it took slightly more than an hour to put together this set.

Besides the pilot, this set comes with an Imperial officer (the gray guy), a Death Star trooper, and R5-J5 (the black droid). Now we are all set to play out the epic battle between X-Wing and TIE Fighter.

Before we got the set, we made a small one out of LEGO blocks too. I guess it is time to retire this little guy and recycle his parts for something else.

Frozen (film)

I finally caught the show "Frozen" today at the theatre. I think today is the last day it is showing on the big screen in Singapore. And I am glad I did.

"Frozen" is a very good show on sisters and their relationship with each other. The sisterly rivalry, the sister fun that is shared, the sisterly love. Elder sister watching out for younger sister, younger sister getting over her head on things like love.

There is also the part about being free to be oneself. About being alone so that one can be oneself. About how a person can run away from others, but cannot run away from herself. And it takes courage to let it go, to be oneself and not care about what others may say.

The movie also deviates a bit away from classic fairy tales. We don't have princes coming to save the day and rescue the princess here. And the Ice Queen (Elsa) in this case is not the villain. Instead, she has a gift that she was told to keep secret, to keep hidden.

The movie also brings back the tradition of musicals within the animated film, like "The Lion King", "Beauty and the Beast" and "Pocahontas". Using songs as part of the story, such as "Do You Want to Build a Snowman", "For the First Time in Forever" and "Let It Go" adds an emotionally powerful perspective to the story.

Now I can't wait to get my hands on the DVD... :)

"Let It Go" (English version)
"ありのままで" (Japanese version of "Let It Go", my favourite rendition of the song)

Let It Go (Japanese version)

Let It Go (Japanese version)
performed by Matsu Takako (松たか子)

降り始めた雪は 足跡消して
真っ白な世界に一人の私
風が心にささやくの
このままじゃだめなんだと

戸惑い傷つき
誰にも打ち明けずに
悩んでたそれももう
やめよう

ありのままの 姿見せるのよ
ありのままの 自分になるの
何も恐くない
風よ吹け
少しも寒くないわ

悩んでたことが嘘みたいね
だってもう自由よ
何でも出来る

どこまでやれるか
自分を試したいの
そうよ変わるのよ 私

ありのままで 空へ風に乗って
ありのままで 飛び出してみるよ
二度と涙は 流さないわ

冷たく大地を包み込み
高く舞い上がる思い出描いて
花咲く氷の結晶のように
輝いていたい
もう決めたの

これでいいの
自分を好きになって
これでいいの
自分を信じて

光浴びながら
歩き出そう
少しも寒くないわ

Let It Go (English version)

Let It Go
performed by Idina Menzel

The snow glows white on the mountain tonight,
not a footprint to be seen.
A kingdom of isolation and it looks like I'm the queen.
The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside.
Couldn't keep it in, Heaven knows I tried.
Don't let them in, don't let them see.
Be the good girl you always have to be.
Conceal, don't feel, don't let them know.
Well, now they know!

Let it go, let it go!
Can't hold it back any more.
Let it go, let it go!
Turn away and slam the door.
I don't care what they're going to say.
Let the storm rage on.
The cold never bothered me anyway.

It's funny how some distance,
makes everything seem small.
And the fears that once controlled me, can't get to me at all
It's time to see what I can do,
to test the limits and break through.
No right, no wrong, no rules for me.
I'm free!

Let it go, let it go.
I am one with the wind and sky.
Let it go, let it go.
You'll never see me cry.
Here I'll stand, and here I'll stay.
Let the storm rage on.

My power flurries through the air into the ground.
My soul is spiraling in frozen fractals all around
And one thought crystallizes like an icy blast
I'm never going back; the past is in the past!

Let it go, let it go.
And I'll rise like the break of dawn.
Let it go, let it go
That perfect girl is gone
Here I stand, in the light of day.

Let the storm rage on!
The cold never bothered me anyway...

LEGO troop transport

A LEGO creation by my son. When I asked him what it is, he said it is the one that Yoda rode. I think he meant this:

This is actually a Low Altitude Assault Transport, used to transport troops.

LEGO has this as the Republic Gunship, set 75021.

LEGO Star Wars X-Wing Starfighter set

We got the LEGO Star Wars X-Wing Starfighter (set 9493) recently. It was a bit too difficult for my son, but with a little help from me (mostly to hint if he put the pieces in the wrong places), we managed to put together this great LEGO model of the X-Wing starfighter in about 2 hours.

He loves playing with it, especially with the wings snapping into attack position by turning a knob at the rear. And the set comes with a lightsaber for Luke Skywalker (depicted as a pilot), and his favourite R2-D2. In this set, R2-D2 has to sit sideways; he solves this by turning R2-D2's head sideways so that R2-D2 continues to look ahead when sitting behind the canopy.

Only problem is that this set comes with only the front landing gear. There are no main landing gears; something which I will probably make good by fixing a few pieces of LEGO blocks near the engines.

All in, this is a great set, easy enough to put together in a short time, simple yet effective way to open and close the wings, and 2 pilots (one of them is Luke Skywalker) and 2 droids (one of them is R2-D2).

10 years

10 years. How time flies! Thank you for standing by me all these years, especially when things were not going as expected. And thank you for bringing Ren and the joy he brings, and for bringing him up to become such a fine kid.

Looking forward to many more 10 years.

Stuck in front of a desk

Haha, it is official. I hate being stuck in front of a desk, staring at a computer screen. Unless it is playing games, of course.

Being given a desk job is torture. 8 hours a day, within 4 walls, looking at the computer. That's not what I want. I really prefer being with people, interacting with them, talking to them. Not all the time, just to brainstorm ideas, talk through solutions. Eventually, things still needs to be put into documents, to be documented down by typing at the computer. But it is very different because there is that people-to-people interaction.

Let's see how it all works out.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!

Today also happens to be the 15th day of the first lunar month, traditionally the "Valentine's Day" of the Chinese. So it is a double Valentine's Day, something that happens every once in a while.

Probably see a lot more weddings today...

Broke upgrade to Linux Mint 16... sigh...

Okay, my bad, I tried to upgrade my system from Linux Mint 15 to 16 using apt, and I think I broke the installation quite badly.

Have been trying to fix it for quite some time now. Still doesn't work.

Anyway, what I did:
Replace the repositories to point to Linux Mint 16 instead.
apt-get update
apt-get distro-upgrade

I don't remember much after that. The system couldn't boot properly, first giving problems with X. Tried to fix that, thinking it could be problem with Nvidia drivers... and now, it just shows a black screen on boot up.

Guess I may have to reinstall the whole things from scratch... ouch.

The LEGO Movie

Just caught this movie the other day. The LEGO Movie. Being a LEGO fan, with my son also very into LEGO recently, it was something that we both wanted to watch. Go catch the movie, you won't be disappointed, especially if you are a LEGO fan.

The minifigures move like minifigures, with arms and leg moving only along one axis. You will recognise some items from the various LEGO series. Even the LEGO Star Wars series had a short bit in the film, with the Millenium Falcon turning up with Han Solo, Chewbacca, C3PO and Lando.

Most importantly, my son was taught that he doesn't need to buy every LEGO set there is. He can use the parts that he has to build things that he wants, without having to follow the instructions each time. Well, not that he does, anyway. Just look at his Imperial shuttle. And he even has a TIE fighter and X-Wing now (okay, these were built with quite some help from me).

But while you can use LEGO parts to build your own stuff, minifigures are harder to "configure" on your own... and thus the recent craze is to get minifigures...

LEGO Imperial shuttle

My son showed this to me the other day. I asked him what it was, and he told me it was the spaceship that Darth Vader has in Star Wars.

I think he was referring to this, the Imperial shuttle that he saw at Legoland California.

Kids can be so creative.

A different path

Today, I officially ended a journey that started in 2005, and tomorrow, I will be embarking on another journey, a different path. No fanfare, just a simple thank you to the people who have been with me.

I will miss the life at sea. The sunrises and sunsets, the beautiful night sky full of stars. The rough seas, the sea breeze.

Most of all, I will miss working with the people.

Welcoming the year of the Horse

The year of the Horse is here again! Wishing everyone a good year ahead. May fortune smile on you, and success come your way!

According to the fortune teller, this is not going to be a lucky year for me. So for myself, I just hope that I will be able to live peacefully through the days, and get by the year without ups and downs.

Anyway, did the usual walk around the floral centre nearby. This year, things are a lot quieter. The crowd was less, the atmosphere not as lively. It has been like this since they converted half of the floral centre into an open air car park, leaving half the shops in place. I wonder how long things can last... it is a bit sad, since Chinese New Year's Eve brings back a lot of memories about how I used to help out at the shop. Selling plants, helping out with the last-minute deliveries. I miss riding at the back of a lorry in the middle of the night as we did our delivery rounds. Time really flies by.

Giving up hope

I have stopped trying to ask for what I want. I have stopped trying to make my point about that post being my dream.

I have stopped trying to make her understand how I feel. I have stopped arguing.

In both instances, is it because I have learnt to accept the fact? Or have I given up hope?

When will someone reach out a hand and catch me from falling further and further into myself? From wasting away emotionally.

A cry for help. No one hears. Or pretends not to.

Surrounded by people, yet so alone.

Pine cone in the snow

Pine cone in the snow. That's how I feel.

Alone in the cold.
Fallen from up high.
Awaiting someone to pick up me.
Only to be fed into the fire.

Taking command responsibility

I have written about command responsibility before.

Today is when I take command responsibility for something that happened.

Winter vacation 2013: Japan

We usually spend New Year Day in Japan, with my in-laws. 2014 is no exception. So after our trip to the USA, we went back to Japan for the new year.

We welcomed the new year with the usual Japanese tradition of osechi. This was followed by a trip down to the nearby shrine, where we prayed for health and good luck.

We also made a trip to Kawasaki Taishi, to pray for health and good luck in the year ahead. Plus enjoy the nice food you can find being sold at the food stalls.

It was a short, quiet break for us, before we returned to the hectic lifestyle awaiting us in Singapore. It was time spent with family, chatting over dinner, over beer, over wine. Watching variety shows on TV. Reading books on my Kindle. Just taking things slowly.

Winter vacation 2013: USA trip

For the winter break in 2013, we flew over to the USA, visiting Legoland California (which we missed in 2010), spending Christmas with friends and touring Virginia City.

It was too short a trip.

1220 miles travelled on this Nissan Pathfinder, which we rented when we got to Los Angeles. Actual distance travelled was longer since my friend drove us around on Day 6.

Day 1: Arrived at Los Angeles. Drove down to Carlsbad, where we stayed overnight.

Day 2: Legoland California!

Day 3: Spent more than 12 hours on the road getting from Carlsbad to Sacramento on the I-5. All because of the truck traffic going through Tejon Pass. We started in the morning from Carlsbad, but by the time we made it through Tejon Pass, it was in the late afternoon. We ended up driving the rest of the way up to Sacramento mostly at night.

Day 4: Christmas Eve. A quick trip to the mall, before hitting the road, going east on the US Route 50 to get to our friends' place.

Day 5: Christmas with friends.

Day 6: Touring Virginia City, passing through Carson City, Reno and Lake Tahoe along the way there.

Day 7: Down the US Route 395, spending almost 8 hours on the road before we reached Los Angeles. Dropped by my cousin's place to say hi before spending the night at a hotel near the airport.

Day 8: Good bye USA!

Here's one of the lakes that we passed by while driving on the US Route 395. Think it is Mono Lake.

It won't be an over exaggeration to say that this is a Lego trip... we visited Legoland, we bought Lego at Legoland, we bought Lego at Sacramento, my cousin gave the kid Lego too! And he even had a Lego Christmas present waiting for him back home...

 

Winter vacation 2013: Virginia City

As part of our visit, our friends brought up around the neighbourhood, in the American sense. It was a day tour that took up up to Carson City, into Virginia City, where the main tour was, and then passing through Reno before we headed back home.

 

Virginia City sprang up as part of the gold rush of the 19th century. This is the wild west. There's even a museum, The Way It Was Museum, that depicted how life was like back in the days of the gold rush.

The Bucket of Blood Saloon is a famous landmark in the town.

And there's the famous Suicide Table.

 And this desk here was supposedly Mark Twain's desk.

Along the way, we passed by vast stretches of land, and even caught a glimpse of wild horses.

On the way back from Reno, we passed by Lake Tahoe. It's the largest alpine lake in North America, and has many ski resorts. Our stay was too short to go skiing, but that's didn't stop us from getting a few nice pictures of the lake.