6th Oct 2017 ; Son's enlistment into National Service

     

A last wefie before Andrew steps into military life

      6th October 2017 marked another milestone for our family, my younger son, Andrew was enlisted into National Service today. Just shy of his 20th birthday, he dutifully did his part by shaving his head and preparing mentally for the day - which was yesterday.

    All enlistees will serve their National Service for 20 - 21 months approximately (1 year 9 or 1 year 10 months) and the first station is normally the Basic Military Training Centre at Pulau Tekong camp for recruits.

Barracks at BMTC

Cupboard for each soldier 

    The day began early by all of us (wife, myself and Andrew) waking at 6.00 am, having an early breakfast and leaving the house by 7.00 am. Taking the Pan Island Expressway, the pickup point for all new enlistees is the Pasir Ris Bus Station. When we reached the destination at approxinately 8.00 am, we were ushered into buses and brought to the ferry terminus at Changi Point. The Singapore Armed Forces nowadays is very organized and provides staggered enlistment dates and times to cater for the logistics and seamless point to point movement of enlistees, their family members and friends. 

A balanced lunch of protein, vegetables and carbohydrates

    On the ferry, we watched videos of the early days of National Service, with flashbacks to our then Prime Minister Lee Kwan Yew, and Defence Minister Goh Keng Swee making impassioned speeches on the necessity of having defence for the nation. 

    From then on, we went to visit his camp, had a peek into a typical bunk where he would be putting up for the next 6 weeks, had a lecture about what type of training he would undergo (he has several medical conditions, so he is within a lower PES category), the vision for the Armed Forces, safety aspects, typical day (reville is at 5.30 am, and all recruits will need to rest for 7 hours no exceptions). The Commanding Officer of the camp also make a talk highlighting the camp's expectations of the recruits, the adherence to discipline, and made available all means of communication with the camp through email, twitter, facebook and of course fixed line. 

    Finally, we witnessed our boys taking the oath to the nation ; this event made me especially proud because like they say, every Singaporean son goes through this rite of passage where they transform from boys to men. I am proud to have served my part years ago and very proud to see both my boys off into their next phase in life. 

    We had a meal together, a rather poignant moment to appreciate our bond and yes, undiminished love. He is a good son, and will one day become a father (we hope) like me. Now he has to do his duty and we see him back home in 2 weeks with his first stories of what recruit  life is like.

Eating the Cookhouse food ; Not bad, and a balanced diet 

   At about 1pm, the new recruits were asked to fall in in rows of 5 and with a sombre wave, and a right turn , they marched into their new phase of life.


   We went home feeling very proud and thoughtful that National Service is such an integral part of all our young men, regardless of race, religion or gender affiliations (that nonsense about transgender rights from the dysfunctional West). Every male from 16 + years onwards of age will serve National Service for 20 or 21 months.

    While doing their duty, we hope that the service will instill values such as discipline, honesty, integrity, leadership, competitiveness and hard work which will be so important in the later years of their lives.  

The batch of recruits falling in before they go into their barracks 

       

Latest Mass Shooting in Las Vegas shows how little we know about Mental Illness

            The recent mass shooting of people in Las Vegas USA randomly in a cold calculated manner, just reinforces the fact that I live in a gun free society, which though some people may call it slightly restricted in certain freedoms, in actuality it is because of these restrictions, that the ultimate freedom is given to its citizens and the permanent residents who can move around at practically any time of day or night, we can walk into ALL neighbourhoods without the slightest fear of harassment, robbery, being caught in the cross-fire of gangs, drug dealers or worse.

         I am happy that for the greater good of society, Singapore and its Government has advocated tough rules on many things. Guns are totally prohibited, and while the US has their 2nd amendment in the Constitution, don't forget that the Constitution was forged when America was a fledgling society 200 odd years who has fought themselves away from the imperialist rule and carrying arms was a way to protect themselves from the British.

          If the Government is there to provide security for its citizens, then there would be no need to resort to carrying or using firearms. I have had the benefit of shooting rifles and semiautomatic weapons during my National Service and Reservist days. All these were done under a strict controlled environment during live firing exercises.  

          The state of mind of people can never be taken as stable. It fluctuates. Mental illness, depression and instability are in my opinion, so insufficiently covered and known by the general population. When you are down with the 'flu, cough, aches, chest pains, you know there is a medical practitioner you can visit and he can diagnose and dispense the medication for your illness.

          If you are mentally ill, have depression or are feeling down, do you go and admit that you are not well 'up there?' Or do you just shoulder on the day to day existence and plod on ?

Accident waiting to happen ; and with access to all the weapons of mayhem at his disposal

         Stephen Paddock was a typical retiree, but something inside him made him do this heinous deed. It was meticulously planned, but the fact he put cameras in the hallways of the hotel floor he was staying in showed he was sane and calculative. The other question which is on people's lips is "why?".  Did he have a big grudge on society ?  Did he want to go out in a big way so that people the world over will remember his gross deed ?

         Did he discover he had an incurable disease and wanted to right the wrongs ? What did all the innocent people at the country music jamboree do to him if anything ? 

        The society in USA is really reeling from this latest horrible act. If we cannot adequately treat the sick or demented mind, then we should at least curb or totally eradicate weapons which would cause this kind of carnage to innocent human beings who will be scarred for life mentally about the objective of humanity. Nothing will change in the future and people will be giving up on living purpose driven lives since random acts of this magnitude  can and will happen time and again.  

       As Trump would say :  "Sad". 

           

  

  

After the 2 - 0 Away Loss away to Sheffield a resounding 4 - 0 away Win at Burton Albion

The team which lost 2 - 0 to Sheffiled United on Tuesday, bounced back and trounced Burton Albion 4 - 0 on Saturday 30th September 2017. The coach is a very wise man and he changed players and using new players as substitutes, the team is not short of firepower. 

The process has been refined to a team which was unlucky having lost 1 defender to a red card, early on during the Sheffield Utd match the team never really regained its shape. I love the way the team players such lovely flowing football instead of the cross and hope of the English game. Goals from Diogo Jota, Siass, a brilliant individual goal from Vinagre and the final icing on the cake from Leo Bonatini leads me to believe this team has the makings of a great side.



A video blog from a teenager who supports Burton Albion, very balanced and very composed vlog. I am impressed by his impartiality as a Burton fan and able to give a very non partisan assessment of the game. Keep it up son ! 


Mr. Nunes Esperito Santos, 

you have my vote as the best coach Wolves have had for 30 years !!! 

Saturday 30th Sept 2017 Run at East Coast Park from B1 to Lagoon Ski 360 Details

The big hairy audacious goal (BHAG) has been set and now is to focus on the process which entails a lot of sweat, some blood, and conscientious and gritty chasing of the daily runs, massage sessions when the body is tired, eating right, getting enough sleep, cross training, fasting the list is endless. The life of a marathoner is lonely but it is something I am accustomed to, from 2001 to 2007.

Its the chasing of the goals at all corners which is the fun aspect. The true satisfaction is only when the actual BHAG is a reality then I can gloat and say "I did it."

We always break our resolutions, because we are not serious in our goal settings.  

My Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) for 2018

Telling the world my BHAG 

I'm taking a leaf from Mr. Sim Wong Hoo, Creative Technology boss who in his book declared that when you have goals, make them Big, Hairy (I think it means a little over the top), audacious (which is Hairy x 2) and a Goal for a lifetime.

So for 2018, I would like to declare this as my BHAG. I have already bitten the bullet and signed up for the Paris Marathon on 8th April ; I have roughly 6 months to train.

Second BHAG : To record a 4 hour 15 time ; for the full 42 km, this means an awesome (to me of course) average time of 6 minutes 7 seconds PER KILOMETER for the entire 42.195 km !!! 

Third BHAG : To lose like 3 - 5 kg (from a 76 kg), my target is to be a trim 71 kg by then. Yes, I will have baggy and loopy looking pants, but the SACRIFICE is worth it.

1. Clarity of mind (objective) : its clear what I need to accomplish ; I then need to break down the objective to bite sized daily, weekly and monthly objectives for a) exercise, b) diet intake and c) sleep sufficiency.  Its the adherence to the package that makes the whole goal realistic.  

2. Purity of Spirit : I want to do this with a pure heart and tell myself that I am doing it for the best intentions ; I will start looking for a charity to support to raise money. Details will follow.

3. Relentless pursuit of the objective : This will be the most challenging and painful. Time will be short. There is business to attend to, bills to pay, appointments to be met, customer visits local and overseas, a year end holiday, new customers, old customers, meeting and managing new staff and overseeing operations, as well as 1 major project with 2 more in the pipeline.

   Tough ; management of time and energy is critical.   

4. Sacrifice : As mentioned, I will need to sacrifice my love of white wine, chocolates and excess foods and drink with the friends to lose that weight. Its an ascetic lifestyle for the next 6 months. 

5. Focus : the goal is the end result ; the process is the training, cross training and the dieting, plus following up on weekly logging of the kms.

6. Discipline :  This is the further manifestation of the previous 2 process factors above. 

    Achieving or finishing the marathon is 1 thing ; achieving it in a Personal Best time is something out of the ordinary. At 55 years of age. 

   I must be crazy. 

The Purposeful Journey

Bringing my time down bit by bit ; target : 54 minutes by October 

During my long and sometimes hard run today I thought deeply about life and the journey which each of us must take. To me, life is about taking that purposeful journey full of goals set for you either by yourself, or other significant people in your life, it could be your school (exams), spouse or partner (living together, starting a family), office (objectives, KPIs), friends and business associates, principals and most importantly,yourself.

If you set you goal in life, you will just go with the flow and don't be surprised how fast time flies and before you know it, voila, you are middle aged, the kids have grown, and your nest egg isn't almost there (where had all the money gone), friends, acquaintences business partners have passed on and you are facing challenges in health, work, family, business and even the foriegners are coming in to 'steal your lunch !'.

Let me state, that this is my opinion of life, to make it your success, take the purposeful journey.    Only you be the judge of how successful you will be at the end of it. The end is when you take your last breath and close your eyes and you are no more. So I would state that the following values are absolutely necessary for you to bring along the purposeful journey :

1. Clarity of the mind 

2. Purity of the spirit

3. Set clear goals and Relentlessly Pursue these goals 

4. Focus on the process to reach those goals and work to continually improve the process    

5. Discipline yourself in mind and body

6. Sacrifice time, energy and sweat to reach in within a set deadline. 

It will never be easy, I have picked up bad habits along the way, so I need to shed these if I truly want to achieve what I set out to do. 

There are no short cuts - especially in life.

Seize the Day      

Wolves go marching on to the 4th round of Carabao (League) Cup

           There is a certain spring in the play of the team,  the head coach Santos can make changes to the first team and still win, luck is with them and Wolves have a great reserve keeper in Howard. With the new Chinese owners, they now have Wolves TV for every match which they participate in. 

          I will say it, if Wolves make it to the final, I will want to watch them at Wembley !!! Of course there are 3 more very tough matches ahead, the 4th round (last 16), quaterfinals, semi-finals to contend with. They will be most likely facing the likes of any of the big 6 along the way, I am sure. The big 6 I am referring to are : Man. United, Man City, Liverpool, Arsenal,Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur. 

          But with the team brimming with confidence,players going for goal and not being selfish or greedy, this is a team which is on its way up to the Premier League. They must not let the past govern their attitude, remain grounded, focus on their passing, counterattack and defend strongly. 


          Full-time score, Wolves 1 ; Bristol Rovers : 0.