Another year again

 

Yet another year, yet another candle.

This year, I got a present.

This is what it says:
黄岳春景千里晖
德义为怀如鹏飞
顺风翱翔天地阔
名扬气勇五车随

Mid Autumn Festival 中秋节

It is the Mid Autumn Festival again, the 15th day of the 8th month in the lunar calendar. A time when the moon is supposedly the fullest. A time of being together with loved ones. And not forgetting, a time to enjoy delicacies like mooncakes...

Wanted to spend today with the kid walking around with a lantern, but work calls... guess I will have to do that another day, when the moon is not as round...

Finding time

We are all busy. And we all have only 24 hours a day. And within that 24 hours, there is so much to accomplish.

We have work to do. We need to eat meals. There are the sanitary needs that takes time too. And everyone needs rest, in fact, quite a lot of it. After all, each of us spends 6 to 8 hours (maybe less, maybe more) sleeping each day. And then you want to spend time with your loved ones, with your friends. Couple that with time for yourself, either pursuing your own hobbies, or just sitting there not thinking of anything, and we see that 24 hours a day seems too little.

But if it is important to you, you need to find time for it. If you believe in doing something, don't leave it hanging, find the time to do it. With only 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, the key is to prioritise. What is important to you? Allocate time for that.

We are sometimes amazed at how a person can do well in his career, have a happy family and yet find time to pursue his hobbies. The answer? These are the things important to him, and thus he makes the effort to find time for them.

So work out your priorities, make the effort to find time, and you will find that 24 hours can be spent in meaningful ways.

Finding excuses

I think it is natural of us to want to avoid admitting to our failures. And that is why it takes courage to admit defeat. People have a tendency to find excuses for themselves when things go wrong and results that they wanted to achieve are not attained. My new boss hates such people, calling them "sea lawyers".

We all need to guard ourselves from falling into this trap. Once you start finding an excuse for yourself, you will continue to find excuses for yourself. If you cannot admit to who you are, how can you move on and learn? How can you improve? Only when you know your own shortcomings will you be able to improve.

A journey of self-discovery

Sometimes, it is good to take a journey on your own, to discover yourself again. After all, when things happen so fast in life, it is easy to get caught up in things, to end up going with the flow and in the process, losing oneself. Who am I? What do I want? What do I like/dislike? What do I value?

I know I like something because I tried it. I know I dislike something because I tried it. I know that sometimes, even when I dislike something, I will still do it because I see the need for it. In the process of doing things on the journey of self-discovery, you learn a lot more about yourself than you would otherwise.

The journey need not be a physical one. It can be just a conscious effort for one to actively ask himself, what is it that I want? What is it that I like/dislike? Even in our everyday life, if we actively ask ourselves these questions in our daily actions, it serves as a journey of self-discovery too.

Strength and weakness

Could our strength actually be a manifestation of our weakness? The stronger we appear to be, the weaker we actually are? That the strength we demonstrate is actually a cover to shield the weakness beneath, to prevent being exposed for who we really are?

Songs close to heart

I remember the time when someone sent me the lyrics to this song. It was endearing and touching at that time, a song with lyrics that could so reflect a person's thoughts. So close to heart.

I remember this song, which I love so much. Who would have guessed back then that the lyrics would again be so reflective of what the future holds?

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!