Feb 26th 2011 Scouts Investiture

Andrew with the Scouts Salute 

Saturday 26th February was a very proud day for me as a father, my 2nd boy Andrew was officially inducted into the Scout family at the ACS Barker Road Lee Kong Chian Hall. The principles of the scouting movement were initiated by the Lord Francis Baden Powell, and last year was the 100th anniversary of scouting in Singapore.There was a massive Jamboree or meeting of scouts,past and present from 12 countries in Singapore, and our chief scout is the President, S.R. Nathan.

                                         Andrew standing before the troop, he is in Huron Tribe

The principles of scouting are simple, service to God, family and the scout troop. Values cherished are the brotherhood of scouts (also the Girl Guides or  Female Venture Scouts as they are called now), honesty,integrity, uprightness, discipline and being prepared for any kinds of contingencies possible in life and also in daily activities.

                                                      Putting on the scarf and woggle

                   Its now 2 generations (maybe 3 as my father ,Geoffrey, I recall was also a Scout if I recall properly) in our family, that all the males have all become scouts and proudly so too. Admittedly, I was not a very enthusiastic scout during my time, but did attend the activities for at least 2 years (Sec 1 and Sec 2) in secondary school. There were weekly footdrills, the scouts camp in Sarimbun 2 times a year, the preparation for the tests such as cooking, knot tying, map reading etc. etc. which all earned us some badges if we passe them. Then, there is the annual Job Week where the scouts have to go to strangers or housing estates and offer to do jobs for whatever they paid us. I remember vivdly doing jobs for my father such as washing the family car and cleaning the office and being rewarded for S$ 5, a princely sum then.

                                                Wearing the Green Beret with Pride

       We all aim to leave our mark in this world during our lives, and as a father, I am proud to say that I am doing my bit to ensure that the next generation grow up well adjusted. We have our failings and disappointments along the way but pick ourselves up, wipe the dust and tears away and press on towards the goal without fear of further failure. Being in part of a uniformed group gave me, and I'm sure for my sons too, a sense of mission and responsibility to the troop and ultimately, the overall well being of one's self.

                                                    Proud father with his Scout son

   What I hope for my son to be in the years to come is that he will be an upright person, God fearing, and always give of his best. There will be many activities which will be deemed as 'character building' such as scout camps, jamborees, Job week and badges of merit such as knots, cooking and jungle survival. These so called survival skills will hopefully equip him well for the trials and successes  well for his future life.

Andrew at Attention in front of his troop

                                              Reciting of the Scouts Promise in front on the Colours

Boy Scouts in the Family - 1975, 2008 and 2011

                      My investiture or formal acceptance ceremony as a scout in 1975, 35 years ago !

 This is a much treasured picture of me and 2 mates of mine, Freddy Choy (extreme left) and Chew Ping Nan (right) during our investiture ceremony in the opne field of St Andrew's School at Woodsville.The date was sometime in February 1975 when I was 12 goingon 13.  Now the area is called Potong Pasir, the field no longer exists but the school and its premises have expanded to include the St Andrew's Junior College and so provides for 12 years of seamless education.

I recall vividly the ceremony whereby we start out as recruits and after 2 months or so, get promoted to be fully fledged scouts. After the investiture, we were made to crawl through a human tunnel with the senior scouts forming a triangle with their spread legs and we had to crawl in the mud through their legs. When we started crawling through, the seniors then took their berets and whacked the hell out of us !
Some even were made to be the 'horse' and were pushed face first intot the ground. It took about 10 minutes for us to finish the tunnel and after that I was so tired and muddy, I still remember the occasion to this day !  

Although this photo is in black and white, I must add that the uniform of the day was brown or khaki,
with black belt and silver buckle. The beret is a dark green and scarf is white with red stripes representing Singapore flag colours. Our scout troop was numbered 2501, or the first troop in the Potong Pasir constituency.

We had many campfires and night games were remembered with relish. Jamborees were the events where we could meet with scouts from brother and sister schools (they were called Girl Guides then).

I put this post up as I was invited to attend my son Andrew's Investiture yesterday at the ACS Barker Road school and was full of curiosity as to what to expect. The event is put up in the next couple of posts.

Coincidentally or not, my 2 sons, Noel (16 going on 17) and Andrew (13 going on 14) are also Boy Scouts, here is a picture of Noel taken in 2008 (above). He was made Patrol Leader in 2010 in Sec. 4 last year. The uniform is now a faint green with dark green pants, the beret is green and the scarf is red.

Christmas 2009 video - my first Youtube upload

This video is my first attempt at uploading videos via Youtube. The event is the annual Christmas lunch hosted by my Mum and Dad for as long as I can remember,maybe 25 years or so. This lunch is normally at their house and now in recent years it has been hosted at my house. The people here are mainly my Mother's sisters,their families and my parents' close friends. This video brings back warm memories of my parents - just taken over a year ago.  

New Hobby Sport - Triathalon

                                                     Felt Tri Road Bike ; weight approx. 2.5 kg

I have finally managed to afford the basic triathalon bicycle, the brand is called the 'Felt' and it is made in Taiwan. The interest was stoked about 2 years ago when I had a pulled hamstring and I was contemplating taking the 3 discipline sport, which athletes have to swim, cycle and run. The distances vary from the mini-triathalon which has a 200 m swim in the sea,20km cycle and a 2 km run. For the sprint triathalon, it is 500 m swim, 40km cycle and a 10 km run.

I am motivated that one of my long time friends who has recently retired, (ie. made a lot of money while still young) is the champion in the Osim category of the mini-triathalon. Coupled with the fact that my elder son, Noel, wants to give this multi-discipline sport 'a try' has gotten me off the backburner so to speak. It has got everything to do with tie discipline, 'transitioning' (changing) from one medium to another, and using different sets of body parts. In short, it has more complete use of all the limbs than the marathon.

As my blog has always proposed 'seizing the day' I decided that now was as good a time as any and I plunged headlong into buying the starter bike for my son, so that we can share, and started planning a run-bike-swim schedule with a July race in mind.

I took the first ride today on the tri-bike and my impression was "Wow ! Great ! Why didn't I try this earlier ?'   Well, the answer is of course, firstly one needs to be able to afford the time and also invest in some serious money as the starter bike can set one back at least $2,000.

Anyway, the feeling for me is that, this is one race I will try at least for a couple or more times. Time is running fast away so I had better make the most of it.

 

Simple Healthy Breakfast

                                                      This Bruschetta can be made in 10 minutes tops

   This is my humble but healthy breakfast, which can give you the necessary carbohydrates, some calcium and fibre. Called the brushcetta, the ingredients are as follows :

a) 2 slices of wholemeal or almond wholemeal bread
b) Cut 2 a tomato into 7 - 8 slices
c) Cheese, ideally edam or camemberre
d) Olive oil
e) Garnish with Italian herbs and Black pepper

   Toast the bread in the oven, pour on the olive oil on top of the bread, after a few minutes put in the cheese and garnsishes. Once the toast is slightly brown, take out and serve.

   Put the tomatoes on top as the final ingredient.

   This is indeed a yummy snack or brekfast which is literally fast to 'cook and good to eat' to borrow the catchphrase from the famous Maggi Noodles advertisement.


 

Time - We can't go back

Mr. Hehl (Weiss MD before he retired) and wife circa 2004 Dec 31st New Year's eve party

Time, slips slowly like a river. And time, once it passes, is gone forever. So we need to make use of the time we have left on this Earth wisely and not squander it with doing useless things. As the values of people vary from culture to culture, we need to critically assess what we value the most at this juncture of our lives. 

Perhaps for the young businessman , it is to make as much money as he or she can can possibly can in as short a time as possible. That is well and good, but make the money in the right way and not by cheating or misleading people.

For the religious, perhaps it is finding solace in doing God's work. Again some overzealous people forget that for the most part, the world is full of other religions too so it is very important to be mindful that while we are helping other people, we should not adopt a 'I am holier than you attitude'. We are all sinners in the eyes of God.

For the students, it is studying as best as they can to ensure that they have a decent future. But for the many perhaps 80% to 90% of the workforce, it is to find decent earning jobs to feed their families. So here lies the issue of work-life balance. 

With our world increasingly being globalised, and the concept of the cheapest and most competitive of nations experiencing the fastest GDP growth, many of us, are inexplicably caught in the 'rat race' for which there is NO END POINT. A lot of people talk of financial independence, but realistically speaking, how many of us can happily say that " I have no debt" or "My house and my car are fully paid off and I have  S$ x, xxx, 000 in the bank "which can last us and our family comfortably for the next 20 years . 

The fact is this, countries like Singapore and Malaysia are already facing structural unemployment, whereby many managers, or directors, after having worked 20 or 25 years of their lives, then get retrenched, and there are no jobs for them which pay them equivalent or even 75% of their last drawn salary and the only jobs available are those in a totally different line and there is little chance of switching unless they undergo major training or they have to accept a low paying job and work their way up from there. Many people in their late 40s or ealry 50s are driving taxis, working in security firms as guards, or 'consultants' or housing agents etc. because their past jobs are gone and will unlikely to come back again.  

Given the facts of the world today :

1. The population is increasing exponentially, and 7 billion people are expected to be in this world in 2025.

2. More mouths to feed, and with the 2 Asian giants, China and India getting wealthier, the costs of feeding more people with the same amount of arable (farming) land will go up.

3. We have been experiencing severe global warming and cooling in the last 5 years. Crops have been destroyed due to drought, fire or massive floods. natural habitat and rainforests are being destroyed  for more industrialisation. Cost of food will go up. 

4. US is printing more money, the Quantitative Easing 2 will mean that more money will flood the market and lower the value of your money accordingly. This will lead to inflation. 

 So,  in a nutshell, it is unlikely for many people in the population to amass the amount of money, financial planners calculate for us to retire, say in 10, 15 years time because by the time that time comes :

a) medical care (good one that is) will have gone up by perhaps 100%

b) inflation would be compounded and our todays' $500,000 would be worth perhaps $250,000

c) just to get by living decently would easily mean a couple,spending about S$5,000 per month for the rest of their lives. That told, if in 10 years time, a person is 60, then he may have 20 more years to live.

   Say he spends 12 years in decent health. He would spend S$ 720,000 in those 12 years. Say you're in your mid 40s, and want to retire by 57 - 58. Would you have the means to save up to S$ 720,000 ? That means you would have to save around $28,800 PER YEAR for 25 years to achieve the $720,000. Your savings would most likely come far short  (maybe $300 - 400,000), and it is likely you may have just fully paid off for your house or apartment.

   So, in essence, you would have to DOWNGRADE your house, and pare down your spending to afford the lifestyle for your Golden Years.   

   If the person falls ill and requires medical care, that costs would shoot up astronomically, and unless he has invested in major medical insurance, the bill would come up to a hefty sum. 

  The scenarios are too scary to speculate.

We really need a step back and look at ourselves and question, what is more important, the need to ensure you do a good job at work and at the same time, ensure that you have ample time for both your family and yourself.

So, at the end of the day, it boils down to this, we cannot go back to the good old days of slow and steady work and just doing 'your old job'. Because, your old job is no longer relevant now. Everybody has to be 'wired in, clued in, or blackberried in'. Speed and response to customer is all important. The need to be contactable 24/7  is paramount.  New ways of doing things smarter and faster is 'in'. People use all kinds of platforms to be closer to their friends and their customers. Facebook, MSN Messenger, Twitter, Blogger, MySpace etc. etc. Embrace the new wired world or lose out.      

Me and the Boys, circa 2004

We may pine for the 'good old days'  but as this post so aptly states, "we can't go back". 

Do I have the answers ? Yes, be a businessman. But then again, the businessman may run into bad times and end up a bankrupt. There are a high number of business failures within the first 3 years of business (about 70%), so starting and managing a business is fraught with risks from start to wherever it takes the person. You may lose all or a substantial amount of your capital if your business runs into financial troubles. 

Make shrewd financial investments, with either property,equities and currency. We all need to pay our 'tuition fees' to get better at this game. Only then, we can afford to look towards the future with confidence. It won't be easy, but the winners of this game are the ones who invest in their active income (ie. job) as well as their passive income (investments,assets). 

Seize the Day.

You will Finish It !

100 metres to go. 'Damn shiong  (tough) seems to be written on the guys face behind me !

The culmination of almost 6 hours of running in darkness and hot sun

The will  to succeed overcomes all obstacles. In short, if you want to run for a marathon, you can do it. Despite the contraints of time, preparation - mental and physical workouts,work commentments, family and friends plus all the other distractions of our fast paced, 100 km/hr lifestyles you must set aside the time to train.

The key to running swiftly, as the legendary African coach, Adolphus Rubenkanya teaches is unity. Many Africans have been brought up in war zones, long distances to schools and workplaces so much so that running is part of the life. If you see, masses of people who are having a party, many of them would be running and singing at the same time. This is part of who they are.  Running unifies them as much as family.

Unity comes when the entire mind,body and spirit are at peace. When this happens,coupled with a clear focus on your goal can you achieve the distance you want. Running frees the mind from the day to day complexities, allowing it to float and dream, to transcend the present and after sufficient mileage is done, to achieve the "runners high". A dream like existence whereby everything is super clear, and there is a tremendous sense of satisfaction.

Natural chemicals found in our body, called endorphins, which generate pleasure, are released. The image around is, that is, the sky, the air, all seem so bright and clear. The colours of the trees and the contrasting flowers so vibrant, the sounds of the chirping of the birds are so alive abd the smell of the dew and flowers so fragrant. In short, all our 5 senses are heightened. It is good to be in this state !

So when we can see things most clearly, and objectively, we let the mind think independently.

Our day to day frustrations, issues and schedules are quantified, studied, analysed and thought through in a clear and independent manner. The simple act of 'seeing things in the open' after a short 40 - 45 minute run provides me with the optimum solution and / or a clear course of action to tackle these schedules/problems/issues. 

Try it for yourself and see the results !