At peace with the sun,
the gaze and some bait,
alone with himself,
or perhaps a mate.
His name could be,
likes to fish,
likes to wait,
or it could simply be,
man at peace
with his world
not worrying about his fate.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Thursday, November 19, 2009 - People's Curious Mind
HAHA! My senses are out again, but not sure whether is it true or not. Some form of coordinated effort to find out information from me with unsure objectives. But then again, I am not interested to play this kind of games with anyone. HAHAHA! Gd luck to them then... hehe!
Anyway, today's paper was pretty ok. I like the fact that my buddies after the paper come to me purposely and express their gratitude for the discussion sessions that I had organised. I really appreciate that, not because I am craving for attention, but rather seeing the happy faces on them, sensing their confidence after the paper makes me feel good.
Hope all of them succeed in getting the grades and marks they desired! :)
Wednesday, November 18, 2009 - Fathering? An excellent article from ST
Well, sometimes I got to praise ST isnt it? Cannot always criticize them. So this article by Richard Seow is indeed very useful for all guys. Might be too early for me now, but it is always good to bear these ideas and values in mind. :)
MR RICHARD SEOW, 47, is chairman of Parkway Holdings, one of the region's leading private health-care service providers, with 16 hospitals and medical centres throughout Asia, including Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, India and China.
An investment banker for over 16 years, he worked for big names such as Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan. He left the industry to spend more time with his family, as well as to pursue other interests in sports and community work.
A star sprinter in his youth, he is chairman of the board of governors of Anglo-Chinese School and Republic Polytechnic, and a member of the Singapore Sports Council.
'Whether it's values, work ethic or sex education, you can't expect schools to take over. Don't outsource the fathering, don't let the Game Boy or the Xbox take away from the time the father should be spending with the child.'
Mr Seow
Q & A
How does one become a good father?
There's no one-size-fits-all approach, and I'm the first to admit I'm sometimes at a loss. It's important for families to get together to share ideas on what to do.
I subscribe to a website that gives me tips every day on things like when's the last time you had a good discussion with your child.
When it comes to fathering, you can go on autopilot sometimes. So we need reminders and guidance. Being there for your children is a start, whether it's at a school match or play, or sharing a meal.
Look for that work-life balance. You may not succeed every day, but you must strive to get it once a week. You need to have that fix with your family, that's the reason you work in the first place.
Is life a lot different for children today than it was in your time?
There's a lot more external stimuli, whether it's the mass media or the Internet. The educational environment has changed and school can be more intense and challenging.
Life can certainly be more complicated. There are a lot more distractions for the parents and the kids. Family meals and gatherings are not as common as they were when I was young.
What are some fathering tips?
Take regular holidays together. We do, and commemorate each trip with a book made up of photos taken on the trip.
We recently went to Sipadan in Malaysia, and we did a book. The cover was of a swirl of barracudas taken by one of my sons while he was scuba-diving. Inside are fun photos taken by all the family members.
Make time for regular meals at home, and use the time to get everyone to talk about their day. Exercise as a family...get healthy in the outdoors. Bond through religion. Worshipping together helps cement the moral foundations of your children.
Well though I guess is an push by the media to encourage a balance family life, but it is a good article. :)
Peace and harmony, <<于人无争, 于世无求>>, and allow things to flow in naturally and yet with compassion and positive desires. Oxymoron? Contradiction? HAHA! I dont think so.
[A good rest from my last lap of revision on Molecular Technology! Having surprise soon for ... =) ]
Today (thursday) just finished with my first paper for this semester - Organic Chemistry. Looks good so far, with both the spectroscopy questions confidently (and checked with buddies) done correctly. And my dear local buddies are sooo cute, after pushing for discussion sessions for the last few semesters and including this year, they decided is time to create a "Joey Yeo Appreciation Society" on Facebook. I thank to all those who are truly appreciative of what I had done. And this brings me to today's theme for my entry - competition.
I dont really like people when they say they would like to compete with me or show selfishness in competition (i am not talking about sports competition here, i am discussing more about social competition). I dont compete with anyone, I compete with myself. I set my own standards and achieve it. If I dont, I will reflect on myself, if I do, I will give myself a pat. That's simple. Life is simple, is often our selfish complicated minds that makes it confusing and entangled.
True Compassion is the key to unlock it. It has nothing to do with being holy or not, is more of bringing peace and harmony to your own life, starting from your mind. :)
I believe in sharing. I believe that through sharing and discussion, I learnt more than just what I have if I keep it to myself. Seriously this statement may be oxymoron to some, but my personal experiences tell me otherwise. These 2 days of spending my time at the chemistry library with my buddies and Grace studying and discussing had allowed me to consolidate all the theories better, go through the analysis technique better and most importantly, identified some errors in my assumption. I really love such healthy and supportive environment that I am enjoying now.
Some say I am lucky to have such an environment. But let me share something, sometimes environment is created by ourselves. Such openness is not achieved one day or two, is via consistent reaching my hands out to the rest. Initially people might find me arrogant or being over confident, but gradually they realized my true intention of learning and sharing, and being acceptive of my proposal for such a healthy discussion.
And this brings me to the next part of the theme - what people perceived of me. Does it really matters? HAHAH!
In short, I dont really give a damn to what sort of perception people gives me, as long as I do things with a clear conscience. Let them say whatever things they like behind my back as I walk through this journey of Life, because my conscious is clear, my objectives are never evil and my motive is for the better good of whatever community I am in. Some may say "I dont deserve the good name I am enjoying", well, do you think I really bother? HAHAHA!
Again, Life is simple, is often our complicated minds that make it confusing unnecessarily.
Finally my 399 subject is done! Yesterday was my presentation to a panel plus quite a lot of audiences, with the Head of Chemistry present as well. Goodness. The presentation was very well carried out, as commented by my supervisor and my local buddies. After which, during the question and answer session, where my friend commented that it was the first time ever that he saw a student being grilled that deeply, but I was able to handle all those questions very well. I feel good indeed after the presentation. It was a lovely experience, the ability to be able to confidently present what I have been doing. I could see the smile on my supervisor face as I was presenting, and I hope through this presentation, it has also give other student audience an opportunity to know more about what he is researching on.
Today will be submitting my thesis, after a few rounds of stringent checks by my supervisor. I really appreciate Stephen's patience and guidance through this entire 399 experience. I really look forward to working under him next year! And hopefully the Japan trip application can be approved(he told me it will be made known by ~7 nov)! This year end shall spend time reading on X-ray absorption spectroscopy to expand my knowledge on this.
It was an excellent 399 experience and it provides me with some level of confidence and expectations for my honours, which I assume should be 10 times more intensive then this! =) Time management is crucial, busy it is, but remember to set aside time for personal matters ok? =)
Revision so far is all on track and by today I will be done with Organic chemistry.
There are quite a number of nerdy stuff I wanna blog on with regards to what I had studied, but time constraint manz, okok. Let me list them down and hopefully I can developed it during the holidays! (1) Semiconductors (2) Spectroscopy (Organic).
Well, on personal issues, can sense that there are lots of speculation flying around. Well, let it be then! haha... anyway, nothing has been fixed yet, still in the stage of "discovering", which will be taking quite some time. Time will decide the course. =) I think the current position can be described by this piece of song titled Make it Mutual (Olivia Ong)
A quiet moment making my footprints on the sand. A sweet feeling comes surrounding me. It's delirious. Now that's a sugar rush. My heart is beating oh so fast, And I dun wanna fall too deep but I want to make it last
There's no need to rush. We can take our time. Let it go the natural way. We begin as friends? And who knows what ? Where this could be taking me
In this nice cool breeze. Yes I am all at ease. When I gush. And this sweet feeling comes to me. Can't deny, can't lie, can't really face the truth. And I wonder if you're feeling the same way too [Yes]
You know what I would like? I'd like to get to know you more. Make that mutual. Boy [Girl], you know you wanna know me too
This is how you make me feel. When you're here, I feel your vibe, And I hope I don't fall into deep too fast
You're not the type, Who'll rush into things. And let it slip away. Yeah, I like your type. Caught up in this ride. It's kinda silly but I'll say
In this nice cool breeze, Yes I am all at ease. When I gush. And this sweet feeling comes to me. Can't deny, can't lie, can't really face the truth. And I wonder if you're feeling the same way too [Yes]
Let's enjoy the spring weather, though with exam stress =)
Yeah today will be receiving back my second draft from the prof, so far his comments were good. And will also be presenting him the ppt slides for the seminar next wednesday.
So far revision schedule is slowed a bit, but this weekend will have to pace myself to complete teh molecular technology part from Utta Wille. Next week will have to complete organic chemistry. Weekend will also need to firm up the ppt slides (so that I can do some rehearsing on monday and tuesday at senior theatre) and also commence on the assignment for molecular technology.
Life is good so far for my academic aspect. =) Enjoying what one is learning and gaining each day is satisfying for the soul indeed. Well, trying to squeeze in the facts in a short period of time is of course tiring, but nevertheless, the joy of knowing more is good.
I was digging through my library of songs one fine morning and chance upon "Believe Again" by Delta Goodrem. Meaningful indeed and with great melody which pleases my soul and mind. What a motivating song! =)
Have you ever stared into the rain Thought the clouds would never disappear Have you ever screamed out into the dark Thinking no one else could hear
I was leaving footprints tainted by my past On this winding road to you
I'd lost my faith in love Tonight i believe again My Heart was a broken place Now i feel whole again You bring my honesty And that's worth believing in and i believe I believe again
Have you ever spun out of control Like you never saw the road ahead Have you ever just kept looking back Ever closer to the edge
I was praying for the light i see in your eyes I had all but given up
I'd lost my faith in love Tonight i believe again My Heart was a broken place Now i feel whole again You bring my honesty And that's worth believing in and i believe I believe again
I believe the impossible is possible to overcome I believe in miricles Born from love in everyone I'd lost my faith in love Tonight i believe again My Heart was a broken place Now i feel whole again You bring my honesty And that's worth believing in and i believe I believe again
Monday, October 19, 2009 - Submission of first daft
Submission of first draft is the theme for today's blog, why? cos there are two first draft submitted.
My first draft for the Chemistry 399 research project report is submitted to my prof this afternoon and he will be returning to me by wednesday, thereafter start amending them and work on my presentation slides, i will adopt the 1 minute 1 slide convention for this presentation as we are given only 10 minutes with 5 minutes Q and A. And also I had submitted the honours application to the international office today, so yeah everything for next year should be fine now. Prof had submitted the application for beamtime at Japan and "there is no reason why the approving board will not issue the beamtime" (as quoted).
Revision so far on track, today will complete the section on polymerisation for molecular technology and commence on the Utta's section. Next week will attempt to complete the organic chemistry section and Paul's section, rather ambitious, but well, give it a try! But anyway, what is important is to do it at a comfortable pace. =)
The next first draft is more of a personal thing, a draft of a possible direction set. Well, this direction is rather uncertain due to numerous factors involved and of course lots of challenging thorns along the way. But well, that's life isnt it? This draft had already been submitted and feedback had been received as well. The subsequent drafts will can only be determined with time and opportunities. =) Time will and shall set the course. HAHAHA!
Blogging has been significantly reduced due to the need to do revision and handle some household stuff. Anyway, looking forward to after exam where clement will be coming to melbourne from canberra and thereafter leaving back to Singapore, most likely on 5 december 2009 depending on the new accommodation issues. Maybe I should change to 6 or 7 december 2009. see how things go... =)
Ok, Going to start developing my report for the 399 this week and hopefully by next weekend will get the ppt slides fully done. So far everything appears to be good. My professor had submitted the application to use the synchrotron in japan and if approved i will be heading with him and a post doctoral fellow (instrumental scientist) there for 1 week during the semester, hence there isnt a need for me to change my plans in the summer break. Now I am just confused as to whether to quickly search for my MOE overseas attachment, but time is really tight for me. And also this week got to fill up the honours application with my professor and submit it at the INternational Office. See how things go ba, take a step at a time. =)
A quick rest after today's lecture series before starting on my report analysis. Lots of thoughts and arguments are hovering in my mind, each with a set of interesting for and against. Past experiences had denied me mental access to take risk, but yet on the other hand, a risk-free future is never going to happen. Yes, emotions are often attached in risk taking, but the question will be how much should enter into such a venture (so business oriented right? haha!). Mum had shared with me the importance of checking, the importance of taking my time to observe carefully, the importance of making decision with a clear mind instead of being blinded by pure emotions. But the challenging questions are "how long? 1 month, 6 months, 1 year?", "when?", "how do i know that my mind is clear?", "how do i know that what is the bare minimum criteria level before setting an affirmative reply?".
How should I control the floodgates during this process of observation? Totally shut, allow to continue leaking, or simply open the damn thing... HAHAHA! Let me think again.....
Today is a quick relaxation day for me, quite tired of the entire week doing research work and doing revision memorising in the night. Tomorrow will got to complete one round of revision for analytical chemistry, which was a 6 weeks lecture course with 8 weeks of practicals. And also do the analysis for the numerous rounds of experiments which I had done, plus plan for monday's session. Moreover, got to look into filling up the application for honours next year. =) Hope that I can achieve at least 75% of the things planned. =)
Dinner was with Su San, Terence, Xing Qi, Lee Choo and Yeou Peng at Old Town. It was great chatting with them, of them sharing useful lessons and opportunities with us. After the dinner, Lee Choo, Yeou Peng and myself went over to Ten Ren's Tea for a cup of tea and talked at lengths on more about each other's thoughts and opinions. The kind of discussion with them is indeed priceless, an useful balance in life, preparing myself mentally for the kind of working environment that I will be facing in the future. I look forward to more of such discussion in the future.
2 days ago, I received a piece of sad news from one of my teachers, and my prayers go all out for her and her family. It woke me up to the basic reality of life - uncertainty.
I love listening to stories of others and I think I had indeed trained myself to listen at least 80% of what others are saying, without significant interruption. Listening is a privilege, is through listening to other people's life that you get to appreciate your own. It is through listening to other people's life that you could reflect on your own, or probably just laugh at your own experience.
Heart and mind are indeed 2 inter-twinning entity but yet it is essential to separate both of them. What the heart encounter are immediate feelings arising from the data received by the five senses. What the mind experience are the rationality of this received data. Often they could be mixed together and the rationality is engaged deeply with feelings, complicating the objectives or the reasons of certain actions or words. We cant deny that mixing feelings and rationality have driven excellence; sportsman achieved that, successful business people tapped on such a combination to achieve great heights.
For me, I believe that we must know how to separate these two entities. Follow the heart could be useful at times, giving you surprises that liven up your life. But yet on the other hand, could lead one to make unwise moves. Most of us used our heart to think and move in life, and little of us do really just concentrate on the rationality aspect only, yet this aspect contains a huge potential of wisdom. When could we possibly tapped on this pool of wisdom reserves? Inner peace.
Actions and words said with inner peace are never done with personal interest at stake, they are directed towards the greater good of others and the community as a whole.
And I think so far, I must say I have managed these 2 entities pretty well, achieved an invaluable experience, and also encouraged peace and harmony not just to myself, but most importantly to others.
Ok, exams nearing revision engine already started for this week, and will need to speed up more after this weekend. "Gentlemen, start your engine.." =) Installing facts into my brain is the most painful part, but then the aftermath of being able to explain without referring to the notes does give me a very peaceful feeling. Good good (my favourite phrase)...
Ok, back to my life in a game of chess, haha! Some people maybe expecting that I am going to make some critical moves, some people are watching closely at this like waiting for the next episode in a drama series (goodness). Well, in any case, there isnt going to be any significant moves made (too bad audiences...). So I will be moving my pawns and set them up just to waste time, like when you play chinese chess and you have no other moves to make, and that you are in a game where time is a critical factor, all that one does is to move any piece left and right till the clock declares you are the winner. Most importantly, there is more than 1 way of winning and doesnt necessary means that there is only one pathway to win, or one winning outcome. Opportunities are plenty, there isnt just one outcome or choice.
With what heart am I using to play this game of chess? HAHAHA! Peace. =)
Ok, quite proud to be in this university, where an alumna member just won herself the Nobel Prize in Medicine, i.e. Professor Blackburn. Being the first Australian female to win the Nobel Prize and a undergraduate and postgraduate student of Melbourne University. Moreover, recent rankings by the Taiwan Accreditation Council placed Melbourne University from 58 in 2008 to 51 in 2009, being top university in Australia and also 4th in Asia Pacific, with only Japanese universities ahead of us. I guess the life science sector in Melbourne University is growing very strong, with the 200 million Neuroscience facility up in 2011, the 1.1 Billion Cancer Research Centre setting up soon, and a whole new lot of renovation and upgrading works. Is great to see that the university that I am currently enrolling in gaining such a good ground in the area of Science. =)
Today achieved a good grounding for my research project, the crystals of nice dicyano compounds, useful for me to run the last set of confirmatory results before commencing on my writeup next week. Both Stephen and myself were very happy with it. =)
Tomorrow need to submit 2 assignments, one report and one long assignment, will be doing some small amendments and a final check tonight before handing in tomorrow.
And here are the MAF photos to liven my blog. So that when I become old and wanna look back at my past, I will not be too bored with words... HAHA!
This year MAF is held at YH Room, Sidney Myer Asia Centre.
Grace, Sian, Myself and Rey, all in some form of Oriental code.
Grace and Myself. I looked like some "Dian Xiao Er".
Julius and Myself, with a shocked face, dont remember why... haha!
A total of 140 people attended the event, biggest ever MAF in SSS's history. And I think ever in the history of the Singapore Student Associations in Victoria.
The stairways that reminds me of the NDP event as well. =)
The Best Dressees and EMcess, and Bryan... haha!
Some reflections
It has been a quite some time since I last had a heart to heart talk with my mum. This time round is to share with her some thoughts that was in my mind for a couple of weeks, a natural thing to do after the open discussion occurred prior. Now that I had said it out, it brings some degree of peace and calm to my mind indeed, not just to my external appearance. How will I chart out these thoughts, what piece of my chess game will I move, I have yet to sort it out, with the hope that nature will gradually deal with it, with great respect to whatever outcome that occurs. Be patient and see how things proceed from here.
A simple person who is searching for the peace and satisfaction in life (not passivity). A person who is striving hard not to take all positivity for granted. And a person who is trying hard to understand the true meaning of life.
A future educator in Singapore and looking forward to the commencement of my teaching life. =)
[Play the song below and enjoy reading my blog!]
