A melancholic poem

Longing to escape from you,
I try very hard to learn how to fly.
Finally, wings began to appear on my back,
Ending the days of agony with you around.

Suffering and pain gradually leave my sight,
Underneath me I see you diminish in size.
Christ, bring me home today,
Kiss me, welcome me in heaven and
Say to me, "Your worst days are over."

- Anonymous

All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten by Robert Fulghum

All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand pile at school.

These are the things I learned:

• Share everything.
• Play fair.
• Don't hit people.
• Put things back where you found them.
• Clean up your own mess.
• Don't take things that aren't yours.
• Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
• Wash your hands before you eat.
• Flush.
• Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
• Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
• Take a nap every afternoon.
• When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
• Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
• Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.
• And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK.

Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.

Take any one of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or your work or government or your world and it holds true and clear and firm. Think what a better world it would be if we all - the whole world - had cookies and milk at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments had as a basic policy to always put things back where they found them and to clean up their own mess.

And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out in the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.

Goalball

i was just totally intrigued by this sport called Goalball which is featured in the Paralympics when i switched on the TV less than an hour ago. There's Sitting Volleyball and Wheelchair Rugby too! Haha.

Goalball is a team sport designed for blind athletes. It was devised by Hanz Lorenzen (Austria), and Sepp Reindle (Germany), in 1946 in an effort to help in the rehabilitation of visually impaired World War II veterans[1]. The International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA), responsible for fifteen sports for the blind and partially sighted in total, is the governing body for this sport.

The sport evolved into a competitive game over the next few decades and was a demonstration event at the 1976 Summer Paralympics in Toronto[1]. The sport's first championship was held in 1978 and goalball became a full part of the Paralympics from the 1980 Summer Paralympics in Arnhem onwards[1].

Participants compete in teams of three, and try to throw a ball that has bells embedded in it, into the opponents' goal[2]. They must use the sound of the bell to judge the position and movement of the ball. Games consist of two 10 minute halves[2]. Blindfolds allow partially sighted players to compete on an equal footing with blind players[2].

- Wikipedia

A word that sounds wrong

i never actually thought breaststroke sounded wrong until i chanced upon a photo caption in the papers during the Olympics period. i realise when it refers to the swimmer executing the breaststroke, it sounds wrong to me. Don't accuse me of thinking dirty. Just read the article below and judge for yourself.


While American Olympic Swimmer Michael Phelps continues to dominate the pool and shatter World Records [6 Gold Medals, 6 World Records] on his quest towards 8 Gold Medals, another headline story overlooked but nearly as impressive is Breaststroker Kosuke Kitajima of Japan.

...

Kosuke Kitajima has rewritten the record books and rewritten the approach to swimming technique. What American's Steve Lundquist ['80's breaststroke sprinter] and Mike Barrowman ['90's breaststroke endurance] meant for the face of Breaststroke and were combined in American Brendan Hansen ['00's hybrid sprinter/endurance], has finally given way to the tidal wave of Kosuke Kitajima as perhaps the most efficient Breaststroker of all-time!

http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/REIGNBLOOD/163523

A Curriculum Fable

One time, the animals had a school. The curriculum consisted of running, climbing, flying, and swimming, and all the animals took all the subjects.

The Duck was good in swimming, better in fact than his instructor, and he made passing grades in flying, but he was practically hopeless in running. Because he was low in this subject, he was made to stay in after school and drop his swimming class in order to practice running. He kept this up until he was only average in swimming. But average is acceptable, so nobody worried about that except the Duck.

The Eagle was considered a problem pupil and was disciplined severely. He beat all the others to the top of the tree in the climbing class, but he had used his own way of getting there.

The Rabbit started out at the top of the class in running, but he had a nervous breakdown and had to drop out of school on account of so much make-up work in swimming.

The Squirrel led the climbing class, but his flying teacher made him start his flying lessons from the ground instead of the top of the tree down and he developed charley horses from overexertion at the take-off and began getting C's in climbing and D's in running.

The practical Prairie Dogs apprenticed their offspring to a Badger when the school authorities refused to add digging to the curriculum.

At the end of the year, an abnormal Eel, that could swim well, run, climb, and fly a little, was made Valedictorian.

- Anonymous

My last week as a teenager

Will hell be less hot now?

My last month as a teenager

Barely a few weeks ago, my neighbour referred to me as "Uncle". Do I look that old?

We were in the lift. He was with his wife and his infant son in a pram. The little one was looking at me. He was cute (just like anyone else during his/her infant days) so I smiled at him (I don't only smile at cute people mind you, although I tend to give a bigger smile when I meet one). My neighbour started to engage in some baby-talk with his son which I thought was pretty entertaining, considering the usual 75 seconds of awkward silence I go through each time I take the lift with others.

I was amused up till the point when he said something like this to his son, "Why are you staring at Uncle ah? It is very rude to stare at Uncle like that you know?" And then he kept referring to me as Uncle for the rest of his baby-conversation. Of course I wasn't offended or anything. Nevertheless I decided to make some clarification. So I said smilingly to my neighbour, "Not Uncle la." Then he said, "Huh, really ah? Then Kor-kor ah?" "Er ... ya." Before the lift reached the 14th storey, he said, "Normally when you're 20 onwards, you can be called Uncle already." I wanted to reply, "I'll be 20 only next month, yet I don't wanna be called an Uncle even then." But I merely gave a chuckle and left the lift.

So, do I really look that old? I always thought I look younger than my peers. Or perhaps it was my little goatee which I've been trying to grow that made my neighbour perceive me as an adult.

It's only one month before I'm no longer called a teenager. But I wanna be forever young. Especially when I'm currently two years behind most of my peers in life.


Cherishing my remaining month of teenage life ...

A day for fathers, and a deeply missed friend

Church was unusually quiet this morning. The majority of the congregation went for the church camp, so the service was a single Traditional one instead of Contemporary. No Praise 'n' Worship, only 4 hymns were sung during the entire service instead. I don't usually enjoy hymns but today I was reminded of my Awfully Good Friend during each hymn.

You told me you could appreciate hymns because your church sang quite a few hymns during its services. Today, I got to hear some hymns in church. The music wasn't as catchy as contemporary songs, but as you said before, the lyrics were as meaningful, if not more meaningful. Somehow they reminded me of you. I wonder how you're doing over there in Canada. And of course, I miss you alot. I hope you're doing fine.


I thank God for speaking to me through Reverend Ng Seng Chuan today.
Happy Fathers' Day, Abba Father!

The value of a smile

A smile costs nothing, but gives much.

It enriches those who receive,
without making poorer those who give.

It takes but a moment,
but the memory of it sometimes lasts forever.

None is so rich or mighty that he can get along without it,
and none is so poor but that he can be made rich by it.

A smile creates happiness in the home,
fosters good will in business,
and is the countersign of friendship.

It brings rest to the weary,
cheer to the discouraged,
sunshine to the sad,
and is nature's best antidote for trouble.

Yet it cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen,
for it is something that is of no value to anyone until it is given away.

Some people are too tired to give you a smile.
Give them one of yours,
as none needs a smile so much as he who has no more to give.

- Anonymous


It's been a long time since you last smiled at me.
Would you do it again?