Birthday Musings 1

I celebrated my birthday on 27th Nov recently. It was a Sunday and my wife had a wonderful surprise for me. She secretly arranged for my younger son, Andrew, to fly back to Singapore just in time to spend my birthday with me. It was a fantastic present for me. In addition, it was  overdue as he needed to come home for some quality family time.It was a lovely secret and a wonderful surprise from May. I am hugely grateful to her for making this once in a lifetime experience which any father would cry with joy.

Thank you. I was beset with joy as you would expect. 

I had no inkling, and the day was like any other, except that when it came to dinner, I exclaimed, : "Woah, Andrew, how in the world ???". The best things in life money cannot buy like a family together. I have and I am so blessed to have a lovely and supportive wife, 2 young men who strive to build up their lives and careers in an upright manner. 

What more can a father (parent) expect ? Ha ha. I know the answer !  

My happy family.

From left : Noel, Andrew, May and me. 

We try all our lives to lead good lives and create meaningful relationships with the people around us. No one is perfect, except God and while we have our failings, we must never give up on ourselves or with our loved ones, for with the positive human spirit, we can always try to make life a little better. While we are privileged to be living in a post modern Singapore, there are people who fall between the cracks and need support. So, that is where I want to position my 3rd age focus when I actually get to it.

 

The world is facing unprecedented challenges in population, (8 billion), climate change, sustainability, food shortages, oil shortages caused by war in Europe, the tensions between US and China, escalating prices in food, electricity and everything, it is scary to think too deeply about whether we can actually retire in comfort, in say 5 or 6 years time.

Rather than fall and feel depressed about the future, we can take firm steps to ensure we have saved enough and to have proper medical insurance covering every conceivable scenario

We need to make sure that the next generation is well prepared to take on the big challenges of the coming decade. 

It is not for the faint hearted.

 

As I age, I find new hobbies

The 60 year old body is not something to be taken lightly. I have a 'bum knee'. Apart from that, I am OK, and I am very fortunate and blessed for everything else. I was a very good runner for the greater part of 20 years.

I finished running 10 full marathons and over 10 half marathons in those 20 years. Its time to move to more sedate and less impactful hobbies as my body literally can't take it.

I went out and bought myself a foldable bicycle from Queensway for $248. It is a steal at this price and today I went out and had a 1.5 hour hard ride along the waterfront at Tanjong Rhu. The weather was nice and cool and the ride was uneventful from the start near the Singapore Swimming Club, to the end at Old Airport Road, all the way to the Marina Barrage and back.

The knees may be stiff, the body may be aging fast, but my spirit is still young at heart.

Why are there apparent double standards ?

I read with some dismay as to the recent 2 incidents which occurred recently. One was the incident where 6 schoolgirls from an Australian international school were given a warning for shoplifting. The second was an incident whereby a passenger was abusive and hit the Singapore airlines steward. He was left off and returned home.

We have been known to be strict on misbehavior be it from painting graffitti, to shoplifting to simple acts of violence. If there is a relaxing of punishments for offences, then let it be applied evenly throughout all aspects of our civil society. 

I wonder why the authorities have decided not to implicate the 6 schoolgirls and rather, let them go back to their home country. The same could be said of the passenger who abused and hit the SQ steward.Is there a hidden hand here ? 

This harks back to the Michael Fay incident in the 90s when the Government of the day decided to lessen the caning sentence of the boy and his accomplice, when previously it was strictly enforced.

It appear that there seems to be a double standard, one for locals and one for foreign people. Or am I reading too much into these 2 unrelated incidents ?

The law and the dispensation of it should be applied equally. If there is a light touch, then it should be applied throughout all aspects of society and not just microscopically.

I am disappointed. 

     

My best ever marathon time ; in 2007

This is the picture of my 'salad days' oh when I could easily run 10 K to 14 K most days of the week. 

Asian teams are already world class. Japan and S Korea ; take a bow.

Good Bye Christie McVie - singer songwriter for Fleetwood Mac.

One of the bands during my formative years (there were many, such as the Rolling Stones, Genesis and Bee Gees just to name 3) is Fleetwood Mac. Formed by Mick Fleetwood (drummer), Lindsay Buckingham (lead guitar and lead singer ), Christie McVie (singer and songwriter) and Stevie Nicks (bum shaker and not much else) they played hit after hit of pop rock in the late 70s till the early 80s.

Don't Stop was co- writtten by Christie McVie  and I read with sadness that she passed on yesterday 30th Nov 2022 aged 79. RIP Christie. You will be missed from afar but your music and youtr lyrics stays on forever. 

Many of the singers of my formative years have burned brightly and gone to the great stage in the sky, so I respectfully put up this awesome piece done in 1997 Burbank Studios in California together with the University of Southern California marching band.

For the younger readers, you missed a tremendous era when music was untainted by the Woke, cancel and LGBTQ culture. 

It was a purer, perhaps more immature time for all of us. 

 

Savour Victories Large and Small ; Find Joy in doing the small things well

 

Today I will list out some of the things I think I have overlooked and I need to savor and enjoy more. In addition, I need to be thankful for the many blessings bestowed upon me these 60 years running / walking / swimming / flying up this path.

1. Savour the completion of a very difficult or diabolical Sudoku (strange for many but for those who 'play' it makes so much sense.  As my brain gets old, the numerical, spatial, logic, memory, deduction or left side of the brain will lose its capability. So I am cognizant of this fact and must savor each and every challenge to it every single day. If I fall down hard, I must resolve to pick up the pieces and take on new challenges each and every single day.

I did a very difficult Sudoku this morning from the Sunday Times. 

Next up : Chess and Intermediate French. 

Timeline : 1 Year. 

2. I did 2 hard hours of cycling in the hot sun at East Coast Park yesterday. I pledge to do 5 times minimum per week of hard exercise, while my ACL recovers, at least to be able to run 10K one day without stopping.

I am glad, that for my age, I still have balance, stamina and speed

3. I am happy that every Sunday I am able to mentally calculate the sum total of the fruits bought from the Tiong Bahru market, as well as mentally tote up the bill for the dry groceries from Cold Storage supermarket at Cluny Court close up to the nearest 3 dollars. Its not perfect but I have trained my mind to memorise these numerical arithmetic calculations instead of ever relying on the calculator or handphone.

Things to improve upon :

a) Get back to running - albeit more slow, but increase the mileage 

b) Focus and concentrate on people's conversations and keep to the train of the discussion and not go off tangent. Stay on Point, rather than jump here and there like a frenzied chicken.

c) Be humble and do not self inflate my status, position and / or abilities.

d) Take criticisms from loved ones, relatives and genuine friends and understand why they said them, reflect and decide whether they indeed do have merit or not.  

e) Help the genuinely afflicted but do not fall into their state of mind. In short, stay connected by all means dive in BUT do not get myself enmeshed into their unique problems.  

f) My social connections are at their pinnacle. Now I need to improve on the "Pay It Forward" connections such as School, JC, Club and / or Charity.

g) Finally, ACCEPT that my body and mind will gradually decline. So I pledge to eat more healthily, drink in moderation, and accept that I am not as young as my mind thinks it is (forever 36 haha ).  

This is my Birthday Musings - from an Young Old Man