Driving on the right side of the road

Driving in a different country, on a different side of the road, can do wonders to how you treat driving. Now, I don't even remember which is the correct side to get into a car... What used to be effortless (walk to car, get in, start engine) now becomes a positive mental exercise to walk to the correct side to get into the driver's seat.

Learning languages

How does one pick up a new language?

Attending a class is one way.

But that teaches you the basics. After that, it is still a lot of hard work in practising. Without practice, you cannot pick up a new skill, and language is a skill.

So how to practise?

Read it. Write it. Get a book in the language you are trying to learn and read it. Children's books are good because they are short and easy and finishing one gives you a sense of achievement and motivates you to finish another book. Write your diary in the new language, it forces you to review the grammar rules you have learnt in class, and makes you flip through that dictionary that you bought.

Listen to it. Watch a movie in the new language. Better still if it is a DVD, watch it once without the subtitles to see how much you understand. Then watch it again with the subtitles to see if you have gotten it correct. Watch it again without the subtitles to see if you understand more of what they are actually saying. Watch the same thing 3 times. Now, a full-length movie may be too long... so sitcoms work too!

Speak it. This is more difficult... you will need someone to help you, a fellow classmate works just fine. Otherwise, use the new language whenever an occasion presents itself.

Remember, the more you practise, the better you get.

Move as a team

Why do we succeed when we move as a team and fail when we don't?

I was thinking about this when I thought about how an army unit moves in its final charge. The final charge is a dangerous event, since it exposes the whole unit to enemy fire. Yet it is effective. When the order to charge is given, people leave cover and move as a whole front towards the enemy. The enemy now has a choice. Try and shoot one of them (and thus expose himself to being shot by many when he tries to take that shot) or stay low and stay under cover. By presenting many targets to the enemy, he ends up not being able to take that shot. If the order to charge is given and yet only a few heed that order, the enemy is free to shoot these few, knowing that he will only be shot at by a few as he takes his shots.

So when you move as a team, you can overcome great odds. When you try to succeed as individuals, you expose yourself to greater danger.

哭沙 by 黄莺莺

哭沙

你是我最苦涩的等待
让我欢喜又害怕未来
你最爱说你是一颗尘埃
偶而会恶作剧的飘进我眼里
宁愿我哭泣不让我爱你
你就真的像尘埃消失在风里
你是我最痛苦的决择
为何你从不放弃飘泊
海对你是那么难分难舍
你总是带回满口袋的砂给我
难得来看我却又离开我
让那手中泻落的砂像泪水流
风吹来的砂落在悲伤的眼里
谁都看出我在等你
风吹来的砂堆集在心里
是谁也擦不去的痕迹
风吹来的砂穿过所有的记忆
谁都知道我在想你
风吹来的砂冥冥在哭泣
难道早就预言了分离
你是我最痛苦的决择
为何你从不放弃飘泊
海对你是那么难分难舍
你总是带回满口袋的砂给我
难得来看我却又离开我
让那手中泻落的砂像泪水流
风吹来的砂落在悲伤的眼里
谁都看出我在等你
风吹来的砂堆集在心里
是谁也擦不去的痕迹
风吹来的砂穿过所有的记忆
谁都知道我在想你
风吹来的砂冥冥在哭泣
难道早就预言了分离
风吹来的砂冥冥在哭泣
难道早就预言了分离

An old song that I really like... never knew that I would have so much to do with the feelings in the lyrics back then. Maybe we are all influenced in small ways by the little things in life.

Leadership through the ages

将者，智信仁勇严。
A general (a leader of men) should have knowledge, integrity, compassion, courage and discipline.

I am always amazed by this simple phrase by Sun-tzu. It was written more than 2000 years ago, yet it continues to be applicable today. In a simple phrase, it encapsulates what a leader should be, the qualities that allows a person to assume a leadership position and effectively lead people. Five words that survived the test of time, that spans cultures and continues to ring true even in this modern age so different from the circumstances when it was written.

A leader needs to know his stuff. Else he cannot lead his charges. How to lead, when he doesn't know what to do? He needs integrity, to keep to his word, so that people know that he means what he says. He is thus sincere yet strict. He must have compassion, for it is people he is leading and not machines. He needs to be able to feel what they feel so that his people feels understood. He must be courageous, else no one will follow him into danger. He must be willing to stand up for what is correct, and not take the short cut to avoid trouble. He must hold himself to high standards in order to inspire others to those same standards, and to do so he needs to have discipline.

A leader leads by the example he sets, and it is not in doing the things that he tells others to do, but in the things that he himself does.

All in the genes

Research has shown that infidelity is hereditary. That must be the best excuse for playing the field. If I cheat on my partner, it is not because I want to cheat, but because it is hardwired into me from the genes passed down from my father, my grandfather and those before him.

In a way, it sounds correct... after all, men who can afford several partners (in the past) must be capable providers, and thus it makes sense to pass those genes down to future generations. But in the present time and age, with lawsuits and alimony, it only makes sense to stick to one partner. Having more than one partner gets you into trouble with lawsuits and ends up incurring huge costs (lawyers, alimony) and if evolution has any sense, it will be better to pass on the genes of those who stick to one.

Exercise RIMPAC 2010

Exercise RIMPAC 2010 is currently taking place in the waters of Hawaii. It is the world's largest maritime exercise, taking place once every two years.

And Singapore is represented in the exercise as well!

Official RIMPAC page
Singapore's RIMPAC page
RIMPAC 2010 Facebook page
RIMPAC 2010 Flickr album

What a shot!

What a shot! RSS SUPREME fired off an Aster missile during Ex RIMPAC 2010. History in the making! Making Singapore proud!

Many choices

Yet another post on choice.

When you have more choices, the harder is it to choose. Choice can seem so good but, sometimes it can be so evil, forcing you to choose from options all valuable. Yet you can only choose one and forgo the rest. How do we go about choosing in such a situation? What should we forgo? How to make the choice? Decision-making then becomes a pain, since the criteria for deciding must now be decided upon first even before the final decision is made.

Choice forces us to think, to re-examine what we value, to rank/prioritise what we value, since now, we can't have them all. Choice is a mean of self-understanding. Every time we make a choice, we understand that much more about ourselves.

Along the path of self-discovery, what must we forgo?

Thanks and looking forward to more

Thanks for 6 years and looking forward to more years ahead!

The gift of choice

I think the greatest gift a parent can give to a child is the gift of choice. To allow the child to choose what he or she wants. For example, by providing an environment in which the child can pick up a variety of skills, so that in the future, he can choose a profession to enter, rather than being limited in his career choices because of the lack of his abilities. Like exposing him to various circles of people, so that he can choose the people he wants to hang out with.

The power to choose is great. It is what free will is all about. And with great power comes great responsibility. A parent must thus also impart this sense of responsibility in the child when giving him the gift of choice. Otherwise, it is just irresponsible parenting.

Guam 2010

Ever been to Guam? I was there for a few days.

Take a look at the streets here... full of expensive boutiques.

June is not the busy period since it is outside summer vacation... but still, there were many tourists around, most of them from Japan and Korea.

An overview of Tumon Bay, one of the popular tourist beaches at Guam.

Look at the nice sand at Tumon Beach!

And here's the late afternoon sun, hanging over the Pacific Ocean as it slowly sinks down to the horizon.

Homesick... Not!

Have you ever been away from home for long? Do you feel homesick?

I wonder why people feel homesick. It is usually something quite foreign to me. Maybe because I am used to being away from home. And having a wife who can take care of herself and the family helps. I know things back home are in good hands and thus I am not worried. It frees me to go and focus on the job at hand, and to enjoy whatever little free time is left (after all that work).

Yes, of course I miss the family and friends, but I have also accepted the fact that I am away from home, and rather than dwell in misery, I choose to enjoy life instead, to live to the fullest. Dwell not in what you have lost, but bask in the enjoyment of what you can achieve. After all, the separation is but temporary, and absence does make the heart grow fonder.

More sunrise sunset

Rising sun over the Pacific Ocean... really like the Japanese ensign.

Sun setting over Akashi Bridge in the Japanese Inland Sea.

Sun setting over Selat Makassar.

Life at MOCS

Here's a glimpse of life at MOCS, where I was about 7 to 8 years ago.

Pictures of my bed. It is kept in this condition every day. 7 days a week, for about 16 to 18 hours a day (the time in which I am not sleeping on it...)

That's life at MOCS. Discipline, attention to details, being neat and tidy at all times.