Food for Thought

Plenty of food for thought on this day as we had a meeting at the National Library Board and lunch after that with great company. 

My Birthday Wishes

Tomorrow is my birthday. I haven't thought about what I wish for myself but more about what I wish for my girls. I guess that is what being a mother is. :P

Random/ Non-random Thoughts

Saw this t-shirt and couldn't help laughing. 

I am sure in each of our workplace, we all have a person who just would not stop talking or dominating at meetings. Maybe I should buy the t-shirt and wear it during one of our meetings. But then, the person has NO self-awareness that s/he wouldn't even know the t-shirt is talking about him/her. 

Smiles, Warmth and Friendship

Thank you, colleagues/ friends for keeping me in your thoughts. 

Simple gifts but bring a HUGE smile to my face and fill my heart with warmth and friendship. :)

Words of Wisdom

I saw this on Facebook. It is profound and simple at the same time. Such wisdom. Such positivity. 

"If you fail, never give up because
F.A.I.L. means "First Attempt In Learning"
End is not the end, in fact
E.N.D. means "Effort Never Dies"
If you get No as an answer, Remember
N.O. means "Next Opportunity"
So let's be positive"   (Source: Naptural Roots Magazine)

I shall pass this on to my counsellees. :)

Sobering Moment

A dear friend and colleague's father passed away suddenly yesterday afternoon while on tour in China. Friend was frantically arranging for flight yesterday night, etc to get to China to repatriate the body back to Singapore. Due to my proficiency in both written and spoken Chinese, I was helping to read Chinese documents and summarising into English for him, checking up the contacts for undertakers in China and helping to make calls to them, etc. Friend and brother managed to fly off last night and are currently in China dealing with the repatraiting of the body. I really hope all goes well for them.
I suddenly realised that my parents are out of Singapore between 4- 6 months at a stretch, usually in Xiamen, China or in Taiwan and (TOUCHWOOD!) something similar could befall on them...
A truly sobering moment for me. Would I be able to handle it?

Camp's Out

Marieann is back from her P5 camping trip. Wah so fast, I have yet to truly enjoy the peace and quiet and she is already back home!
Asked her about her camping experience. Just one word - TIRED! Hahaha. She proved to us how tired she was when she slept from 4pm till 7.30pm! Guess I will ask her about her camping experience again when she is rested. Otherwise her comments would be skewed and inaccurate lol.

Will I Return?

I went to MOE HQ for a meeting today. While I was there, I started thinking back to my time working at MOE HQ. There is no denying that I did learn a lot during my time there. It was then a steep learning curve as compared to teaching. When I left MOE, my life has taken on different priorities and goals. Then, I thought I will never return to MOE again. However it seems life has me thinking hard and re-prioritising my goals again. Just wondering, if someone asks me, "Will you return to MOE?", I seriously do not know.

Bali: Afterthoughts

We have been back in Singapore for a day and we realised that we missed Bali lol.
I missed the laid-back lifestyle, the greenery (the natural kind, not the man-made kind in Singapore) and the inexpensive prices of food. :)
Both Marieann and Juliane mentioned that the rice terraces, the stray dogs and cats, and the crazy driving in Bali made the deepest impressions on them. Both of them would love to go back to Bali again and they want stay at Desamuda Village again lol.
Here are some photos of Desamuda Village that were not uploaded previously.

The villa that we stayed in, Villa 20

Room 20.1 is the bedroom downstairs and Room 20.2 is the bedroom upstairs in Villa 20

Swimming Pool II (the first villa in the background is our Villa 20)

Another one of the resident cats, a very shy orange tabby :) Didn't get to take photo of the other two shy cats, a grey tabby and a black and white cat. 

PhD Thank You and Thoughts

It is still pretty surreal that I have finally achieved what I set out to do - get my PhD.
Although the PhD is in my name, I could not have completed it without the contributions, support and encouragement of many people. I really have to thank the following people for my achievement.
THANK YOU to:
Dr Koh and Prof Paris, for their guidance.
Dennis, for always pushing me to think more critically and outside of my "tai-tai" box lol.
Yee Zher, for coaching me in statistics, my kryptonite lol.
Dr Chew, Dr Wong, Dr Foong, for their encouragement.
Aik Ling, Sharm, Azlina, Filzah, Han Jing, many other friends and colleagues, my former students, for their moral support and encouragement.
My parents, for putting up with all the stacks of books and articles I left all over the place and for putting up with my moods when I am stressed about my PhD.
My daughters, for putting up with the part-time mother I have been to you and for cheering on me when I was writing my extra thick "homework" of 300 pages.

Thank you to all for your support and encouragement. :)

Alternative Parties and PAP

"I explained to them my plans for forming a party to represent the workers and the dispossessed, especially the Chinese-educated, not in order to win the coming election, but to gain a significant number of seats so as to show up the rottenness of the system and the present political parties, and to build up for the next round. - LKY, on formation of the PAP, 1954.

".. it was perhaps fortunate that the PAP had not set out to form a government and therefore would not be implementing our proposals. ..we had aroused expectations of great changes. We had got the people interested enough to come and listen to our speeches, and then tossed them stirring ideas, instilling in them a spirit of defiance" - LKY on the formation of the PAP, 1954.

Way back in 1954, the above reasons were given for the formation of the incumbent party, PAP which was then the opposition or alternative party. However, it seemed PAP has forgotten its own humble beginnings and is now behaving in a thug-like manner towards the opposition/ alternative parties as well as towards its voters who voted them into power in past elections. The founding father of the incumbent has even warned Aljunied voters they will have to live and "repent" for the next five years if they vote in the opposition.

The PAP has forgotten its roots. It started out "not to form a government" but to "represent the workers and the dispossessed" in order to "gain a significant number of seats so as to show up the rottenness of the system and the present political parties". The voters then, listened to their speeches, took a gamble, gave PAP a chance and voted it into power. However, over the years it has slowly become that which it was first formed to oppose. Sadly, money and power have gotten into the way of serving the people.

Are the alternative parties of now any different from the PAP of 1954? It is a resounding no. The alternative parties are doing exactly what was proposed by the founding father of the incumbent back in 1954. The alternative parties want only to "gain a significant number of seats so as to show up the rottenness of the system and the present political party". The alternative parties are not asking to replace the incumbent party but only to have enough alternative voices in the parliament so that there is check and balance. The alternative parties are only asking for a chance to be the voice of the people. However, the incumbent and its supporters said that the alternative parties have not proven themselves, they have no track record and that the alternative parties have not done anything other than talk. It is an unfair statement to make. Without given a chance, how can the alternative parties prove themselves? It will remain words because the alternative parties are not given a chance to put words into action. Imagine if our forefathers decided not to vote for PAP just because they didn't have a proven track record but only stirring ideas, would there be a PAP today? At least our forefathers were fearless. At least our forefathers were willing to embrace change. At least they were willing to take the risk. They voted for the PAP to give them a chance to prove themselves.

Polling Day is tomorrow. I wonder what will the voters of today do? Will they be fearless like our forefathers? Will they embrace change? Will they vote for an alternative voice to represent them in parliament?

It is unfortunate that I have been denied the chance to vote because of the Tanjong Pagar GRC walk-over (yet again). If I can vote, I know where my vote will go. To the party which is willing to listen to the people. To the party who is willing to be the people's voice.

Doing and Being

I heard these expressions yesterday: human "doing" and human "being". Simple terms but thought-provoking. At the current stage of life, I am not a human "being" yet but a human "doing". I am doing a lot of stuff because I have to do, because of duty, because of obligation, because it is my job, ... Being human is a state of mind, a state of consciousness, a state of self-awareness, ... a state I hope to be someday.

So what are you now - human "doing" or human "being"?

Afterthoughts of Denver Trip

I really enjoyed my Denver trip, despite the cold and the scratched cornea haha. Being in a new city, seeing new things, taking in another culture, learning about its history and geography, doing as locals do, sampling new dishes, wandering wherever my feet take me, ... all these and more make me feel alive.

It has never been a problem for me travelling overseas alone. In fact, I love it. I find myself learning a lot on trips like these, not just about the places I visit but also about myself. You can say every trip is like a self-discovery trip for me lol. It is also the freedom of going where I want whenever I want, doing what I want whenever I want without having to follow anyone's schedule but MY OWN! :) It is the wanderlust in my genes that I blame lol. :P Look at my own immediate family: my parents originated from other countries and my brother now resides in UK lol. Looking further back in time, it seemed on my maternal side of the family there was a sea-faring Dutchman for one of our ancestors haha.

Kindle

My colleague recently bought a new electronic gadget. He brought it to show us in the office. It is a Kindle Wireless Reading Device.

The Kindle is pretty amazing. It is really thin and lightweight. The display screen looks like and reads like that of printed paper and there is hardly any glare even when I stood under the light! Really good for people with astigmatism like me haha. :) The Kindle can hold more than 1500 books, newspapers and magazines. And what's best for us researchers, it can also download journal articles onto it. :) In addition, you can change the text size which you can't do with books, newspapers and magazines. Good for those of us who are getting older haha. :P

However I am in two minds about getting a Kindle for myself. The Kindle will definitely help to free up space in my room (from more and more books that I am buying haha), cut down on waiting time for paperbacks and such and it is definitely convenient as you can have a number of books on hand to read at any one time. However, I am still an old-fashion kind of person when it comes to reading. I love books. I love nothing better than to feel each page as I turn it, to hear the rustle of the pages, to inhale the scent of books... I just love being with books, otherwise I wouldn't have been a librarian and head librarian for 6 years! And also with technology, it keeps advancing. What can be read today on Kindle might not be supported by newer reading devices a few years down the road... So I am in two minds... I guess if I ever buy a Kindle, I will still buy the physical books especially if they are books that I want to collect and keep. So much for saving on space huh lol. :P

Post Conference Thoughts

1. I can breathe easy, now that the conference is over lol.
2. I have finally presented on part of my PhD findings and making headway with it.
3. I have now the experience of working on a conference, especially working with keynoters.
4. I am honoured that some of the keynoters and invited panelists now consider me as their friend.
5. I am really thankful to my friends who believe in me that I could do a good job looking after the keynoters and that I could do a good job presenting.

Some Personal Thoughts...

Christine's Farewell:
The farewell lunch (yesterday) was for 8 people, including Christine. However, only 4 of us were there - D, BR, myself and Christine. The others couldn't make it last minute due to various family situations. Although they couldn't help it, I couldn't help but felt somewhat disappointed. This is not the farewell I had envisioned for Christine. The farewell I envisioned had Christine surrounded by all of us, all her friends whom she has made over the years at the research centre and whom she holds dear. I have wanted her last few memories of the research centre to be those filled with happiness and of friends. Sigh.
Anyway, I am glad that we three managed to pull it off and made it a cosy lunch for her (I hoped, lol). :) We did get some strange stares from the other patrons as there were only 4 of us on a big table for 8, lol. :P Oh well, nice way to be noticed, haha. :P

Friendship:
Thanks to a good friend who noticed my subtle call for help. It is not in my nature to openly ask for help, not wanting to bother others. I am touched by my friend's attentiveness and concern. Friend's help came right when I needed help the most. Thank you so much.
Sometimes, being a friend or helping a friend doesn't take much, just a simple "Are you ok?", a listening ear, or even just keeping the person company is enough. It lets the other person know, "Hey, you are not alone. You have got a friend in me". Thanks, Friend. I really appreciate your help, your time, your effort, and most importantly, your friendship. Now I know I have a friend looking out for me. :)

Random Thoughts

Was watching "Be Strong, Guem-Soon!" with the girls this evening. Saw a scene where Guem-Soon was being wheeled into OT and saying it was strange watching the lights passing by overhead. I recalled my own experience with my emergency operation last year. It was a truly weird feeling, being wheeled from your ward into OT. I could only lie there, watching and counting the lights as they passed overhead. I remembered shivering badly which I put it down to me being scared. Of course, it was that and plus the fact that I was actually going into septic shock then which I didn't know. Or else I would have been even more terrified knowing that there was a possibility that I might die. *Shudders*
So I must really thank my lucky stars, keep healthy and live life to its fullest!

***
Part of my keeping healthy is eating a balanced diet. After dinner, I would try to take fruits. Tonight, it was cherries. While eating them, I suddenly recalled that a good friend could tie a knot in a cherry stalk in his mouth. I decided to give it a go. I succeeded the second time. Hahaha. I realised the length of the stalk does make a difference. It was easier to tie a knot with a longer stalk and of course, a flexible tongue helps too. LOL.

***
Working out is good for health too, which I try to do regularly (like once a month?!). Hahaha. You know you have really worked out when your legs and arms ache as you move them. No pain, no gain, right?! LOL. Those are good aches! Hahaha. Looking forward to my monthly work outs. LOL.

Emotions swirling, Thoughts swirling

When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but creatures of emotion. - Dale Carnegie

Emotions swirling round and round - jealousy, anger, sadness, fear, bitterness, remorse, loneliness, happiness, hope...

In one of my jobs, I have to deal with emotions. Early on in this career, I learnt to detach myself from my clients' emotional states/ situations. It does sound very cold but it is something I have to do in order to maintain the objectivity. I won't be of much help to my clients if I am overwhelmed by their emotions.

***
This dead of midnight is the noon of thought,
And Wisdom mounts her zenith with the stars.
- Anna Letitia Barbauld (Source: A Summer's Evening Meditation)

Thoughts swirling round and round. My mind is at its best in the dead of the night, resulting in me doing some of my best thinking and writing in the wee hours of the morning, as can be seen with my blog. Oh, of course with my Phd thesis too. Hahaha.