Post 103 Time cost
I casually asked a friend who is a businessman to sum up in a few words how his business was being operated. To my surprise he gave me the answer: business here is a waiting game. I did not press him for clarification but just gave him a smile. His time cost therefore depends on how long he has to wait and how urgent the matter is. For me lining up at shopping malls' pay counters is one of the reasons why I avoid going to those places during sales carnivals.
Attending wedding dinners is another test of patience when the waiting game can be a few hours during prime evening time. In a city like Kuala Lumpur, seasoned dinner guests do not even have to bother to look at the time printed boldly on invitation cards. When it says dinner will be served at 7.30 pm sharp, just add ++ to make it 8.30 pm and you will not be far off tangent. Occasionally when VVIPs who were the guests of honour came late, dinner would become supper being served at 9.30 pm.
There was a Punctuality Campaign organized by a Chinese-based political party in the 1980s suggesting that all wedding dinners should start at 8.00 pm and end at 10.00 pm. The rationale was that attending guests could still have quality time with family members at home after dinner. The proposal turned out to be merely a flash in the pan. Old Habits Die Hard!
The waiting game in life sees all of us as experienced actors and actresses wondering when the game would be over.
26 July 2011
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
A basketball match to remember for life
Post 102 Pandemonium broke out
In the early 1950s I sneaked out and walked about 15 minutes from my house one evening to a school basketball court. The basketball court in the rural area where I was staying was not paved with cement. When players ran around the court, one could see the red dust coming up from the ground. Nevertheless it was a match much awaited for, especially for a little boy of eight years old like me. My childhood friends told me the two teams playing were champions from neighbouring small towns.
Just as the game was about to end, with my favourite team leading by two points, I suddenly heard someone shouting “Red-head soldiers are coming! Red-head soldiers are coming!” followed by a pandemonium at the premises of the basketball court. I was disappointed that the exciting game had to be abandoned and I hurriedly weaved my way out through a panic crowd. When I was about to reach home, I heard my father yelling at me for he had been frantically looking for me. He dragged me to the house and asked me repeatedly whether I knew the great danger I was in.
I learnt in my growing years later that the much feared Red-head soldiers were from the Federal Reserve Unit or better known by the abbreviation as FRU. They were called Red-head soldiers because they wore red helmets. Its main duty is to disperse illegal assembly, riot suppression and to maintain public order.
I wonder who would have won had it not been for the appearance of the Red-head soldiers. I still do not know why they were there. At that particular moment when the game was stopped, I thought the Red-head soldiers were truly the wet blankets!
19 July 2011
In the early 1950s I sneaked out and walked about 15 minutes from my house one evening to a school basketball court. The basketball court in the rural area where I was staying was not paved with cement. When players ran around the court, one could see the red dust coming up from the ground. Nevertheless it was a match much awaited for, especially for a little boy of eight years old like me. My childhood friends told me the two teams playing were champions from neighbouring small towns.
Just as the game was about to end, with my favourite team leading by two points, I suddenly heard someone shouting “Red-head soldiers are coming! Red-head soldiers are coming!” followed by a pandemonium at the premises of the basketball court. I was disappointed that the exciting game had to be abandoned and I hurriedly weaved my way out through a panic crowd. When I was about to reach home, I heard my father yelling at me for he had been frantically looking for me. He dragged me to the house and asked me repeatedly whether I knew the great danger I was in.
I learnt in my growing years later that the much feared Red-head soldiers were from the Federal Reserve Unit or better known by the abbreviation as FRU. They were called Red-head soldiers because they wore red helmets. Its main duty is to disperse illegal assembly, riot suppression and to maintain public order.
I wonder who would have won had it not been for the appearance of the Red-head soldiers. I still do not know why they were there. At that particular moment when the game was stopped, I thought the Red-head soldiers were truly the wet blankets!
19 July 2011
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Why?
Post 101 Why not?
I was asked to say some words of wisdom after giving a talk to a group of thirty graduates. I told them I have some to tell them, if I must.
“Do what you are interested in and good at, and excel in it. When others ask you why, tell them politely why not?”
When we are too concerned about the opinion of others, we lose our designated direction. There is a need for the nurturing of our critical thinking and the ability to make our own decision. All men are born equal but no two persons are alike. Hence it is wise for us to concentrate on only one career in our life and do it well. We know our own strengths, inertia and aptitude. Others do not.
A medical graduate told me in the 1970s that he was not interested to be a doctor. The logical question to be asked was why then did he take up the course? “I did it because my father wanted me to”, he said. He then enrolled for another course in literature. We met up 30 years later and I came to know that he did his medical practice three days a week. He spent more time now travelling with his writing and drawing. He knows what he wants in life.
As a rolling stone gathers no moss, do one great thing which we have a passion for. One is a greenhorn when one is young but becomes an authority in one’s field of study when one is experienced.
I feel good living my own life.
12 July 2011
I was asked to say some words of wisdom after giving a talk to a group of thirty graduates. I told them I have some to tell them, if I must.
“Do what you are interested in and good at, and excel in it. When others ask you why, tell them politely why not?”
When we are too concerned about the opinion of others, we lose our designated direction. There is a need for the nurturing of our critical thinking and the ability to make our own decision. All men are born equal but no two persons are alike. Hence it is wise for us to concentrate on only one career in our life and do it well. We know our own strengths, inertia and aptitude. Others do not.
A medical graduate told me in the 1970s that he was not interested to be a doctor. The logical question to be asked was why then did he take up the course? “I did it because my father wanted me to”, he said. He then enrolled for another course in literature. We met up 30 years later and I came to know that he did his medical practice three days a week. He spent more time now travelling with his writing and drawing. He knows what he wants in life.
As a rolling stone gathers no moss, do one great thing which we have a passion for. One is a greenhorn when one is young but becomes an authority in one’s field of study when one is experienced.
I feel good living my own life.
12 July 2011
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
From a single digit to three digits
Post 100 Follow through on our plan
I attended a motivational course in the 1990s and what caught my attention was the story of ‘eating an elephant’. The facilitator told the class figuratively that it was impossible for anyone to finish eating an elephant within a day. However, it could be done by eating a small portion daily for a year. The moral of the lesson is that when we develop a plan and follow through it with sustained effort, we will succeed ultimately.
When I started writing this blog, I gave myself three years to do so weekly. There are 52 weeks a year and in three years there will be 156 blogs written. It may take two to three months extra to reach the figure due to the vacation taken in between writing. The beginning is always the most difficult. Now that my blog has reached 100, I have left the beginning far behind me.
One of the most common excuses we hear of nowadays is not having enough time. Time is what we make it out to be. When we put our priorities in life in a proper perspective, we can then use our time wisely. One must control the time and not the other way round.
When we have a plan for achieving our target and a deadline for its attainment, we need not lament over the lost opportunity by saying ‘I should have done that!’
5 July 2011
I attended a motivational course in the 1990s and what caught my attention was the story of ‘eating an elephant’. The facilitator told the class figuratively that it was impossible for anyone to finish eating an elephant within a day. However, it could be done by eating a small portion daily for a year. The moral of the lesson is that when we develop a plan and follow through it with sustained effort, we will succeed ultimately.
When I started writing this blog, I gave myself three years to do so weekly. There are 52 weeks a year and in three years there will be 156 blogs written. It may take two to three months extra to reach the figure due to the vacation taken in between writing. The beginning is always the most difficult. Now that my blog has reached 100, I have left the beginning far behind me.
One of the most common excuses we hear of nowadays is not having enough time. Time is what we make it out to be. When we put our priorities in life in a proper perspective, we can then use our time wisely. One must control the time and not the other way round.
When we have a plan for achieving our target and a deadline for its attainment, we need not lament over the lost opportunity by saying ‘I should have done that!’
5 July 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
No heavy school bag
Post 99 It is fun going to school
When I was in the primary school in the 1950s, I had very few textbooks and homework. My siblings and I spent our afternoon in outdoor activities. We slept at 8.30 pm.
The school life of my two grandchildren staying in Southampton, United Kingdom is even more fun. While on vacation to see them, I asked my grandson who is going to be 11 years old to show me his school textbooks. He told me there was none. Learning takes place in a virtual environment coupled with hands-on activities.
His school bag had only one homework notebook to record the assignments to be done within a stipulated time during which he had to do research from the internet. His assignment was to be handwritten. When he took leave from school to be with me for one week, he said he could email his homework to his teacher.
Digital resources are used as teaching aids and pupils are taught to do presentations through power-points. He reads and writes; represents his school in drama, cricket, relay team for a running event, long jump; plays the guitar and the keyboard, and could swim 2500m without a break. He too slept at 8.30 pm.
What a truly holistic education in nurturing pupils to have joy, self-confidence and be healthy and innovative!
28 June 2011
When I was in the primary school in the 1950s, I had very few textbooks and homework. My siblings and I spent our afternoon in outdoor activities. We slept at 8.30 pm.
The school life of my two grandchildren staying in Southampton, United Kingdom is even more fun. While on vacation to see them, I asked my grandson who is going to be 11 years old to show me his school textbooks. He told me there was none. Learning takes place in a virtual environment coupled with hands-on activities.
His school bag had only one homework notebook to record the assignments to be done within a stipulated time during which he had to do research from the internet. His assignment was to be handwritten. When he took leave from school to be with me for one week, he said he could email his homework to his teacher.
Digital resources are used as teaching aids and pupils are taught to do presentations through power-points. He reads and writes; represents his school in drama, cricket, relay team for a running event, long jump; plays the guitar and the keyboard, and could swim 2500m without a break. He too slept at 8.30 pm.
What a truly holistic education in nurturing pupils to have joy, self-confidence and be healthy and innovative!
28 June 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Eat food of different colours
Post 98 Chinese physicians and the colours of food
When my siblings and I were young, our parents consulted Chinese physicians to treat our minor illnesses. They had more confidence in Chinese medicines. As I grew older, I began to understand their preference for Chinese medicines over the western ones. The former treats patients to make them strong to fight the illness while the latter treats the symptoms.
The parts of the body and the different colourful food of nature are closely interrelated. For a healthy diet we were told to eat less “white” food like sugar, salt and rice but eat more “black” food like black beans and dates. We were also encouraged to take in more green vegetables and red food like tomatoes and carrots. The only supplement we took then was the cod-liver oil. It is interesting to note that the price has since gone up 10 times, and the bottle is smaller now.
It is of everybody’s concern nowadays that the quality and safety of food, beverages and milk sold in the market may have been compromised. We now have tainted dairy products, vegetables covered with pesticides, and meats contaminated with strains of drug-resistant bacteria just to name a few.
Besides, the unbalanced diet of the modern affluent society has caused more people to suffer from heart problems, diabetes and other diseases. Chinese physicians recommend that drinking green tea is good for health. The thousands of years of Chinese tea history can attest to that.
21 June 2011
When my siblings and I were young, our parents consulted Chinese physicians to treat our minor illnesses. They had more confidence in Chinese medicines. As I grew older, I began to understand their preference for Chinese medicines over the western ones. The former treats patients to make them strong to fight the illness while the latter treats the symptoms.
The parts of the body and the different colourful food of nature are closely interrelated. For a healthy diet we were told to eat less “white” food like sugar, salt and rice but eat more “black” food like black beans and dates. We were also encouraged to take in more green vegetables and red food like tomatoes and carrots. The only supplement we took then was the cod-liver oil. It is interesting to note that the price has since gone up 10 times, and the bottle is smaller now.
It is of everybody’s concern nowadays that the quality and safety of food, beverages and milk sold in the market may have been compromised. We now have tainted dairy products, vegetables covered with pesticides, and meats contaminated with strains of drug-resistant bacteria just to name a few.
Besides, the unbalanced diet of the modern affluent society has caused more people to suffer from heart problems, diabetes and other diseases. Chinese physicians recommend that drinking green tea is good for health. The thousands of years of Chinese tea history can attest to that.
21 June 2011
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
A family trip to Europe
Post 97 Well- spent holiday
The decision by the European Union to abolish visas and human borders and become homogeneous with one currency has made my family trip to Europe a pleasant one. When the world opens up, one gets to see and experience different cultures and ways of living without any hindrance.
I was on vacation in Europe for two weeks with my family members in May/June 2011. From Dover we boarded the Peninsula and Orient (P&O Ferries), a British ferry operating the English Channel route, to begin our exploration by car. We drove to border cities like Calais and St-Omer of France; Aachen, Germany; Brussels, Brugge and Antwerp of Belgium; Luxembourg; Rotterdam and Amsterdam of Netherlands; London, Reading, Portsmouth and Southampton where we stayed for a few days. We rented a cottage in Ohey, Belgium to make it as our base in Europe and put up two nights at a resort home in Stellendam which is a town in the Dutch province of Zuid-Holland.
It was also a trip down memory lane in the United Kingdom which had been home to my family for a year in the 1980s . It is very interesting to recollect how events have shaped our life. In each phase of our life, opportunities present themselves at their heights leading us to new avenues and new fortunes. They become experiences that enrich our life. That is why it is important that we take stock of each phase of our life's journey knowing that an examined life is a meaningful one.
This well-spent holiday offers me ample time to relax, recall the past and re-think my perception of life, besides enabling a closer bond to exist between the family members.
14 June 2011
(On vacation from 25 May -8 June 2011)
The decision by the European Union to abolish visas and human borders and become homogeneous with one currency has made my family trip to Europe a pleasant one. When the world opens up, one gets to see and experience different cultures and ways of living without any hindrance.
I was on vacation in Europe for two weeks with my family members in May/June 2011. From Dover we boarded the Peninsula and Orient (P&O Ferries), a British ferry operating the English Channel route, to begin our exploration by car. We drove to border cities like Calais and St-Omer of France; Aachen, Germany; Brussels, Brugge and Antwerp of Belgium; Luxembourg; Rotterdam and Amsterdam of Netherlands; London, Reading, Portsmouth and Southampton where we stayed for a few days. We rented a cottage in Ohey, Belgium to make it as our base in Europe and put up two nights at a resort home in Stellendam which is a town in the Dutch province of Zuid-Holland.
It was also a trip down memory lane in the United Kingdom which had been home to my family for a year in the 1980s . It is very interesting to recollect how events have shaped our life. In each phase of our life, opportunities present themselves at their heights leading us to new avenues and new fortunes. They become experiences that enrich our life. That is why it is important that we take stock of each phase of our life's journey knowing that an examined life is a meaningful one.
This well-spent holiday offers me ample time to relax, recall the past and re-think my perception of life, besides enabling a closer bond to exist between the family members.
14 June 2011
(On vacation from 25 May -8 June 2011)
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