it's been a long long long time since i've posted. a very brief update on the past few weeks in my life.

1. tormenting first two weeks of dec: visit to singapore by some swedish navy delegates. i was in charge of entertaining them, ie bringing them around and facilitating their stay. wasnt really that tough, but i had to sacrifice some weekends to bring them around. brought them to eat roti prata and dim sum on separate occasions. realised that describing local food is a rather difficult task (according to a food guide released by the tourism board, roti prata is flat bread).

but the real difficult part is the unpredictability of my routine and the need for last minute changes. for example, on the first day, i had to return after midnight because one of the flights was delayed by four hours. another time. another irritating thing is that pple keep hounding you on the movt of the delegates. once when i was bringing some apparently swedish big shots to our base. within three minutes i received three calls from three different ppl asking me for the time of arrival of the delegates.

kinda like my new ship. although there's a lot a lot of miscellaneous work to do, it kinda makes it easier to ask for incentives / rewards. now i ask my superiors to cover duties for me when i'm not available and find it easier to reason with them.

2. went to langkawi with mika. this time a bit further than tioman. had q a lot of fun. main highlight was trekking in langkawi. on the second day, we went up to one of the peaks on a cable car, and walked across this super high suspension bridge. the view was wonderful and mika was so so so nervous. then we trekked to this waterfall plus seven wells, and we had fun playing in the waters. think mika will post on the trip. so pls look up her blog. haha.

3. had a fun GR xmas gathering at mika's place. sorry. getting lazy to blog. so pls refer to any of the GR's blog for more info.

4. now i'm actually at pacific coffee company, waiting to get my essay draft so that i can edit tonight. as said earlier, this time round my job entails many miscellaneous obligations, which includes writing a submission for an saf-wide essay competition. maybe will post this essay if it doesn't win anything.

short update

vertical marathon
Originally uploaded by hanmao.

1. an institutionalized job is one where the employee accepts a lower pay and works long erratic hours to protect a set of higher values. ok. my pay is not that low (but i’m q surprised that ppl with the same degree as me gets the same pay in other civil service sector...) but the hours are certainly v long and v erratic. lost my last weekend due to some things which i cannot say. and there are so many other misc things to do outside my job scope (but i guess it’s the same for all jobs..) k. i’m not supposed to complain here.

2. met up with the roosters for mika’s liangyu’s and lijie’s bday. great to meet up with old friends and it was a good break from all the work. this dec gg to langkawi with mika. and hopefully bangkok with mika lijie and mika’s frens. and more hopefully can go with roosters to kukup in jan. good things to look forward to.

3. just completed the vertical marathon! it felt much shorter than expected. though climbing steps is rather agonising. haha forced mika to go too... felt bad when she looked so stressed before the race. but after the race, she was bouncing around as usual. haha. oh. met ee jay there too and we went up together. but climbing steps is really rather demoralising cos everyone slows down the pace v early in the climb. think there’s some technique to moving up at a fast and reasonably comfortable pace.

life update:

1. Now, i’m back onboard ship. yet again, still an officer under training, but gonna take over soon. i hope. gonna be a navigation officer... watever dat means. sigh. wish i could be under training forever... haha.

anyway, new ship is called bedok. i was previously onboard katong. moved from katong to bedok. haha. lousy joke. i’m quite happy to be onboard the same type of ship, the minehunter. our grand mission: to protect the sea lanes of singapore free of mines and the threat of mines! so that insurance premium for shipping in our lanes will be low forever. (ps: i added the last part)

2. finished a book called ‘the millenium problems – the seven greatest unsolved mathematics puzzles of our time’ by keith devlin. contrary to popular belief, although mathematics have been around for a super super long time (more than 2000 years), there are still many problems which havent been solved. yah. any maths major should be aware of this fact.

so, there’s this institute called the clay institute which will award 1 million usd to seven such problems. (actually, there are only six left. the poincare conjecture was proved by some reclusive russian, who like most smart eccentric chaps, refused to accept the 1 million usd) so, the book gave some lay descriptions of the problems, giving the historical background and highlighting their importance. and really, 1 million usd is peanuts compared to the fame and further remunerations the solver will receive, and compared to the impact the solution has to the world.

anyway, the book’s q an easy read. i should put a disclaimer here. i found that i could relate many of the material to what i learnt in uni. but like i wrote in the previous post, when we learnt maths in uni, it’s often without context. devlin just provided the background and motivation required for the problems, making them accessible to most people (which includes me).

hmmm. was considering if i’ll do a part-time masters in maths in these 3 years. one problem which surface is the fact that i’ve to take leave for exams etc... which my sailing schedule might not permit. but in the case if i do not do a masters, i have another objective in mind. to understand (not to solve) the seven problems. haha. (which i think is more daunting than doing a masters...)

oh. the book also offered a reason why mathematicians like to solve such impossible problems. or why some mathematicians can dedicate their entire life or their sanity to one problem. (oh. if you watched John Nash in ‘a beautiful mind’, one probable cause for his schizophrenia is one of the problems – the Riemann Hypothesis)

the reason is: “because it is there”.

dear primetime morning presenters,

i’ve got a book to recommend you. it’s called ‘for the sake of peace’ by daisaku ikeda. the guy dr carter was talking about. the guy whom he said deserves e nobel peace prize. oh watever. he’s got a un peace award, the rosa parks humanitarian award, and the international tolerance award of the simon wiesenthal center.

although the book is based on the human principles of buddhism, it does not contain lines and lines from the old sutras. instead, u find other ideas from old western philosophers like plato, socrates, goethe, kant and modern thinkers like umberto eco, arnold toynbee, edward said. i hope these ppl fall into your period of modern age.

probably, wat u’ll find discomforting in this book, is the strong conviction that peace can be attained from within. e themes of self mastery, inner universalism, individual reform are constantly repeated, and u’ll find it amusing that such ideas reside within many other philosophers and thinkers.

that being said, i think it’s a fine read for ppl who think they’ve seen and experienced the world. for pple who think that peace is a dream for those who have no other dreams.

“you are your own master. could anyone else be your master? when you have gained control over yourself, you have found a master of rare value.”

ps: this post is like one week overdue. the interview was on last tues morning.

bali

bali
Originally uploaded by hanmao.

just came back from bali. had a super slack time there. went there mainly to dive. mika was complaining that i wasted my flight ticket there, cos i didnt really go and visit the culture side of bali... oh well, the trip was a bit too short. but bumming around at bali was q relaxing. sigh.... dunno when will there be such a long break, where i can go explore, tour and bum around at a relaxing pace.

found the balinese industry v tourist oriented. the ppl there generally go the extra mile for service, without ‘really looking forward to tips’. go many examples lah. the taxi driver who drove us to our legian, the place we were staying, was rather patient. he waited for us while we try to choose the hotel to stay in, even though the fare was a flat rate. then there was another driver, who ferried us to and fro from the dive site. The journey took 3 hours. so to and fro, will take 6 hours for us, BUT 12 hours for him. (since he came from the dive site) it was super tiring for him lah... but he was cool about it. on the second night, he brought us to a nice beach to eat bbq seafood dinner. (which was rather ex... but still worth it. ambience plus taste)

wah... but the service at the dive center was great. the last time i dived was in 2003, when i took the open water course with leeway. wah. that time, had to lug around the air tanks, BC sets, weights etc etc. rig up your diving equipment. wash equipment after the whole thing.... ok lah. wasnt that sian then. but at tulamben (the dive site), everything is done for you. you just have to carry your fins, mask and weights to the shore (where we enter) and the BC set and the tanks are there, rigged up for you, miraculously. (actually got lady porters who carry the tanks on their heads in the traditional manner) so just pick up the equipment and don for a short distance and down we go... will blog about the diving and show the dive pictures when i get them from my friend.

but despite all this, the dive master (ie the guy who dive with us) earn v little. he told my friend that for the three dives he took us for the day, he earned only 30,000 rupiah which is less than 6 sgd. but the dives that day, we in total paid 210 usd which is more than 315 sgd. well... my friend gave him some tips in the end. (perhaps he was trying to get sympathy... but so be it)

hmmmm. while we admire the high service standards there, and push our service industry to reach higher standards, we should be cognizant of the vast differences in circumstances between us and them. i took a module about the service industry in nus, and the lecturer always compare singapore service providers with those in bali and thailand, etc. perhaps we should be aware that places like bali survive on the tourist industry and (this is wat i think) given a choice, the natives would rather get a better job than to serve. BUT... this is no excuse for the lousy standards that we experience in singapore SOMETIMES.

Gandhi, King, Ikeda – A Legacy of Building Peace
International Exhibition on Non-Violence

15 to 20 Oct 2006, 10am to 10pm
Multi-purpose Hall @ Tampines West Community Club

The exhibition highlights themes common to the lives of three pacific leaders, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr, and Daisaku Ikeda. It illustrates how one person of courage and profound commitment to peace, can transcend differences in faith, race and ethnicity, to change the world.

my ten cents’ worth: if you find it inconvenient to go down, at least visit the official website: www.gkiexhibit.org and watch the GKI video.

berlin wall

berlin wall
Originally uploaded by hanmao.

extract from President Ikeda’s “For the Sake of Peace”,

“There are those who sincerely believe in the historical reality of national or ethnic hostilities. Such antagonisms do persist, but they are essentially based on delusions. Recently, I read the interesting autobiography of Melina Mercouri, an internationally famous Greek actress who from childhood considered the Turks to be enemies. When she traveled to Nicosia, on the island of Cyprus, to work on location for a film, she found the city divided into hostile Turkish and Greek quarters separated by checkpoints that she, however, was permitted to cross. She was frequently entrusted with messages or small gifts from Greeks to Turks on the other side of the boundary. As time passed, Turkish people also started asking her to perform similar errands and to take letters and other things to their friends in the Greek zone. Reflecting on this experience, Mercouri said to herself: ‘I saw that they could be friends... Greeks and Turks would live together in peace if politicians didn’t find it useful to keep animosities alive.’

“When everyone sees the world this way, we will have built a new spiritual Silk Road joining East and West, North and South, in trust and respect.”

indeed, many such artificial barriers have been erected and some still stands strong today. on the right is a picture of the berlin wall, which i visited last dec. during part of this guided tour called the red berlin, we also visited a train station called Friedrichstrasse Station. here was where the w germans would cross over to visit their relatives in e germany. the guide then told us about the difficulties and inconveniences of crossing the border and how at the end of the visit, the relatives would part in tears. (i must comment that these guides are q good story tellers...) and the station was called the palace of tears.

sigh. with the testing of the nuclear weapons by n korea and the possible un sanctions, family contacts will be cut once again. i think it was not long, when the two kims met in 2000. and it was not long, when images of reunions across the boundary coupled with tears and hugs filled our screens. but...

From Creative Life, Oct 06

“Buddhism teaches that it is our heart that matters most. Those who have a sense of appreciation are happy. Their lives abound with rich vitality and joy. They are dynamic and cheerful and have tremendous fortune.

“On the other hand, those who lack appreciation are unhappy. Their hearts are dark and impoverished, and they are always discontented, filled with jealousy, resentment, and complaint. In this way, they isolate themselves from others, whittling away all hope and good fortune. They destroy their own happiness and send themselves reeling into a state of emptiness and despair. Arrogant people, who likewise lack a sense of appreciation, are also unhappy and lonely. Indeed, it is the spirit of gratitude that gives rise to a brilliant life.” – SGI President Ikeda

Read this from CL (a publication for Singapore Soka Association, about Buddhist Perspectives on Human and Social Development). I noted this down, because of the “unfortunate circumstances” of one of my colleagues. Basically, I was listening to his problems (gee… guess this is the first time someone shared his problems with me. though it’s for ulterior motives…). At first, I was rather sympathetic. But after a while, I got pretty irritated and felt that the source of all his problems was he himself. Well, he fit in the category of pple, whose hearts are dark and impoverished, and who will always find it difficult to get out of their circumstances.

Sigh… in some perverse sense, life is indeed fair. If you should to negative towards your problems, you will never overcome them. But if you choose to be positive, and work relentlessly to face the challenges, you’ll win and become stronger.

gee… that being said, I shall endeavour to practise what I preach. and try as far as possible to quit whining about things.

haha. I’ve got a huge huge assignment plus presentation to hand in on thurs and I’m still blogging here!!!! haha.

Book Review: The Math Instinct by Keith Devlin

Problem: 243 minus 75

Solution: You just give me the two hundred. I’ll give you twenty five back. Plus the forty three you have, the hundred and forty three, that’s one hundred and sixty eight.

Q a complicated algorithm for a simple computation huh. but interestingly, this is how brazilian kids compute as street vendors. and even more interestingly, while this algorithm appear more complicated to most of us, it is more comprehensible to the kid than what is taught in school. well, a group of researchers conducted a experiment. they tested these kids on the streets with computations while posing as buyers. they then tested them again in school with similar computations with paper and pencil at school. as you would have guessed, the kids fared significantly better at mental calculations on the streets.

the following is an example. one girl when asked how much would 12 lemons cost, if each lemon cost 5 cents each, replied 60 correctly. But when asked to compute 12 times 5, and with the aid of paper and pencil, she actually came up with the answer 152.

as devlin tried to explain, and as u can guess, when endowed with a meaning, math is easier to understand and master. in fact, human beings have an innate math instinct, which was developed through evolution. and in the book, he brought up many examples of this math instinct which are present in dogs, lobsters and even plants. unfortunately, some of these examples are rather contrived and his exposition got a bit incoherent in the middle. but some are really intriguing and illustrate well the math instinct. for example, a dog exhibited the ability to do calculus, by finding the fastest way to retrieve a ball in the river.

another example was rather coincidental. in a recent navigation examination, we were supposed to learn to ascertain our position on earth after we sailed a number of courses at certain speeds. it’s a bit complicated cos we need to account for the earth’s curvature and such. however, a Tunisian ant is able to perform the above task without any difficulty. basically, when the ant goes out in search for food in the desert, it twists and turns and crawls in various directions. at the end of the day, when it is done, it calculates and heads home in a straight direction without retracing its steps (the book also explains that it was not due to other factors like scents..).

frankly, the book seems rather disconnected and it’s like a collection of articles which have some link to the theme. but the concluding chapter states an interesting proposition, that math is really formalized or abstract common sense. an idea which i’m q fond of (but the author agrees only to certain extent. n the reason is too deep for the book…). mathematicians reason in a manner like any other ppl, but in an environment without context nor tangibles. and it is precisely this lack of context that makes math so distant to ppl and yet so powerful. powerful cos it enables one to transfer ideas from one environment to another in such ingenious manner.

talk too much le. my course ending soon… ie I’ll be back onboard ship and sailing… no more undisturbed weekends and evenings le… so sad…

anyway, the book is still q interesting, cos of the first and last few chapters. haha.

birthday

birthday
Originally uploaded by hanmao.

this month is my birthday month. well, when u get older, such things get less impt. somehow, this year there seems to be more celebrations.

1. celebrated with my coursemates last thurs. basically, it was a celebration for all the sept babies. got a card from them, and there were two amazing nice cakes from breadtalk.

2. yesterday, celebrated with the roosters. had a sheltered “foodcourt” picnic at esplanade. got one lovely cheesecake from mika and a card and a ‘surprise’ book with a ‘not-so-surprising’ title from them. must thank mika for organizing it. and of cos, the roosters for coming down.

3. today, going out with mika again! dunno where it is and i'm pretty clueless. she just told me to meet her and hougang mrt station later.

4. tmr, going out with wl (this is an acronym for something which is q embarrassing). eating steamboat at liang seah. basically, okm owes us a treat and prob shun bian celeb bday.

5. with a5? the maths guys… nic’s organizing it. but dunno if we’ll meet up.

was q surprised to receive so many sms on thu, my bday. though much is mika’s arrangement. haha. but there are some which are rather surprising. like kl, jt and ivy… my jc classmates. and nic. (hmmm. dunno if mika messaged him too…)

k lah. havta bathe and prepare to meet mika le!

This is a nice posting from mrbrown.com

To mothers of autistic children

Help and encouragement can be found in the most curious places.

A rather unpleasant event happened today. But like most crises, many lessons are learnt. Basically, one friend of mine who had been borrowing money from many people borrowed again. And the new creditors were shocked to learn that he was in such a huge debt, and having so many problems.

I shant describe the problems as they are confidential. But today we met up to confront and discuss solutions to the problem. Well, we hope that things do change, but I was really impressed with my friend.

Probably because he’s older (he’s 27), he approached the problem in a very mature manner. His knowledge of how the organization (the Navy) worked and how to help my friend is simply amazing. Moreover, the way he put across was v sincere and well, convincing. By the way, he’s a grassroot leader, and after hearing from him, I realised that the grassroot leaders and the MPs are doing q a bit. Just that we do not know. And that most people are very unwilling to approach them for help.

After looking my friend, and hearing opinions from other people (well, everyone was chipping in their ten cents’ worth), I realize that there are some distrust about those “professional help” that is available. Some prefers to solve problems within themselves, rather than approaching superiors or more senior people for advice. Because of the fear of reprisal or possible punishment.

Well, advice from the professionals or from senior ppl is definitely more feasible than those from friends (unless the professionals are your friends lah). Though they may be more distant, they’ve seen many more similar cases and know more resources. Moreover, professionals can dedicate more time to helping. Most likely than not, their success rate at helping people is more than other peoples’.

Shit. I’m getting v preachy. While the quote on this blog says that the cause and solution to a problem is oneself, the biggest help one can give oneself is to be honest about the problem and seek help for it.

Cultural Revolution Exhibit at Sheraton Towers

Cultural Revolution Exhibit at Sheraton Towers
Originally uploaded by hanmao.

Hmmm... Think it's a bit too late to advertise for my friend. Basically, he (as he claims) have collected ardently pieces of art pieces from the cultural revolution over the past 3 years. More accurately, his father has started collecting over the past 10 years.

Now, he's exhibiting and selling them to members of the public. The exhibition is from 9 to 10 september at Sheraton Towers near Newton MRT station. He's selling posters at prices ranging from 150 to 250 bucks.

The pieces look not bad though. The good ones are already snapped up... Haha. There was a psychologist, Dr Yeo, who was the guest of honour. He apparently is THE collector in Singapore / Asia. He also gave a speech then and talked about how China is rejecting this 'part of their history' while the rest of the world are finding things to remember it. He talked about museums about the revolution in countries in Europe, but in china, efforts to have a museum have only recently started. Moreover, he talked about his experience in collecting the art pieces during the early eighties/nineties. While the mainland Chinese were disposing these memories of a "sordid" past, he was collecting them. Q interesting lah.

He was impressed that there were so many young ppl there. Haha. Think he wasnt aware that most of them are his friends.

Navigator Course

singapore_waters
Originally uploaded by hanmao.

Ahh.... The next few weeks seem so busy... I havent been blogging much these few days, because work in my course at SAFTI is now coming in at a super fast rate. partly because my instructors like to give last minute instructions.

why must they inform us only at the last minute, that they want this, this, this and that?????? (actually... i think they've told us before. but we have conveniently forgotten about the stuff. :P) yesterday we got quite peeved when he told us to produce a piece of work individually. because initially we had been working as a group and assumed so.

haha. but on hindsight, it isnt so bad and manageable, as the deadline is fri. just wanna bitch about it.

find it v difficult to practise wat i preach. i've written in a previous entry about the importance of mentors. and always felt that there is a general lack of respect from students to their teachers. but i never seem to be able to act appropriately. haha. bitch about work, sleep and play games in class. hmmm... oh well. gotta go...

Army Half Marathon

Army Half Marathon
Originally uploaded by hanmao.

Wooohoo!!! Today completed my first half marathon... 2 hours and 25 minutes of gruelling run of 21 km...

fri life! got this section on running in singapore and apparently running is the number one sport in singapore. and today was a great proof. not only were there so so so many pple, there were ppl from all ages and both sex.

some of them are quite fast. my fren complained that he was cut by two aunties. i saw many elderly men, women and girls still going strong even at 18 - 20 km mark. they kinda motivated me to continue running and overtake them. bwahahaha.

while the run was tough, it wasnt really that impossible lah. q surprisingly, the 'climb' up sheares bridge wasnt the toughest part. there were many other up-slopes like the one from outram mrt to neil road. but as long as u see other pple going, you'll just follow along.

ahhh... my legs are aching now... and there are abrasion all over my body... didnt realise until i bathed and switched on the shower head. owww...

Rooster's Graduation Photo Shoot!

Rooster's Graduation Photo Shoot!

Sophie Scholl and the White Rose

Sophie Scholl and the White Rose
Originally uploaded by hanmao.

watched Sophie Scholl on tues with my navy frens. it's about a group of students, called white rose, who printed anti-Nazi pamphlets and distributed them. Sophie and her brother was caught, and most of the show was about e interogation and a short trial. not much action, but the acting and dialogue were powerful and thought provoking.

there was this part during the interrogation where Sophie and her interrogator were involved in a debate. he asked rhetorically, without law, what would decide who is right, who is wrong. what would prevent the chaos and establish order. Sophie simply replied, ‘conscience’. a bit cliche... but yet v philosophically true.

however, sadly, the group of students were executed in the end. while sophie hoped that their deaths would inspire other rebellions or protests, nothing really happened.

oh. this picture of the white rose memorial in munich, which i took when i was backpacking. the guy was a guide bringing us on a tour about the third reich (ie hitler’s regime). he was an artist and gave q a few artistic impressions of the monuments and architecture in munich. about this memorial, he was rather disappointed. he said the rectangular/cubic design of the stone was representative of the nazi regime. and the words on the stone (if u look carefully, it’s a copy of an abstract from a leaflet) were “scratched”, and they didnt seem to leave any impression. the memorial did injustice to the sacrifices of the youths. hmmm... a deep interpretation.

nevertheless, the movie’s not bad. can catch if you’re at cineleisure and if you’re a sucker for such historical films.

made in singapore

CIMG3609
Originally uploaded by hanmao.

today is national day! just watched ndp on tv with mika and read the straits times section about my singapore in the afternoon. yup. it’s the time of the year where we share our love for the nation and appreciate the blessings we’ve had as a singaporean.

for me, the one value that i immensely appreciate in singapore is that of meritocracy. cos without meritocracy and singapore’s emphasis on education, i would not have been able to here and wat i am today.

well i was born to a family with modest background. my parents were chinese educated and held only o-level certificates. they did odd jobs and hence our family income was not very high. but yet, through many bursaries, subsidies and a study award, they were able to see me through until tertiary education. and today i’m holding a university degree and enjoying a comfortable income. to me, this is not by chance or by my own talent (if i have any) or my effort alone.

it’s thanks to a national policy to provide for all, “regardless of race, language and religion”. it’s not just about money or subsidy per se. it’s about creating an environment whereby anyone who’s willing to work hard will be able to reap his or her reward.

when i was in ri, i felt q stressed out initially. not just that the guys there were smart or that they were rich. it was also that most guys there had a strong family support. they spoke absolutely powerful english because english was their “mother tongue”. they could do projects in a such wonderful manner because their parents are so knowledgeable and capable. to be frank, i was then v jealous and resentful. but the thing was that: i was not alone. i had many friends who were in the same predicament and this so-called “adversity” did not appear as difficult as it seems.

but it’s easy to take this meritocracy for granted. i was reminded of the importance of meritocracy when i was in kolkata, india. i was helping street kids there and through their stories and wat i saw i realised how precious meritocracy was.

the kids were born to parents who were practically unemployed. the parents saw no value in education (some would rather pay for a cassette tape than to pay for a pencil and paper for their child) and had little interest in sending kids for education. however, some kids do show interest and may perform well in the “communal” schools. but when these kids enter mainstream schools, they are usually isolated and ostracized and end up back in the slums. it’s a vicious cycle and it’s sad to see the lack of hope amongst some of these people.

and it’s during such moments when one appreciates things that we have at home. yes. sometimes our concept of “meritocracy” may be skewed to some “merits”. however, the existence of meritocracy had given opportunities to many pple like to benefit and grow. so, we must continue this spirit and perhaps spread it to other “merits”. we shall encourage and help our fellow comrades to live their dreams!

majulah singapura!

Must the world be in Black and White?

Must the world be in Black and White?
Originally uploaded by hanmao.

Today we were talking about some issues over lunch and it seemed that we were getting to no conclusion. Then my friend tried to force me to take a stand. Yes or no?

It seemed that my friend sees 'sitting on e fence' as a sign on indecisiveness. Probably thanks to some neorolinguists, phrases like 'yes, but...', 'perhaps', 'maybe' have become a big nono in e commercial world. Ppl must always have a stand! and sound so.

but things have always been in shades of gray and it is important to recognise so. not recognising this fact is rather dangerous.

one pitfall was pointed out by edward de bono. in the 1980s, he pointed out that our education system tends to focus on teaching one to think logically, but not perceptively (a way of thinking such that one considers different perspectives). hence, there’s a tendency for pple to state an hypothesis and find facts to support the argument in a logical manner. one exercise which ‘trains’ this tendency is the debates that a teacher usually involve the class in. one even more dangerous tendency is that one uses the argument ‘You’re wrong and therefore, I’m right’.

not surprisingly, many academics and politicians and entrepreneurs have probably fallen into these pitfalls (i use the word ‘probably’ out of due respect). probably, the crisis of the middle east is the result of looking at things in just black and white. not only are the islamic fundamentalists insistent that the west is debauchery and they must leave the holy land, the americans are also adamant that democracy is the only medicine and ‘birth pangs’ are inevitable. such views have resulted in the suffering and deaths of many. ironically, the deaths are also viewed from both sides as inevitable, and even necessary.

probably, buddhism teaches the wisdom of the Middle Way, where we do not accept wholly nor reject totally either view of the opposite polarities. this was reflected in shakyamuni’s path to enlightenment. shakyamuni wanted to alleviate the suffering of mankind and bring about happiness. when he was the prince, leading a luxurious life, he found that he could do nothing. then he abandoned his life as a prince and led an austere life. and inflicted a lot of pain onto himself. starving, freezing, etc... until he came to a near death incident, he also realised that austerities were not the answer. then he led a life of moderation and soon came to the enlightenment.

actually, the Middle Way has always been the logical way to go. you need no rocket scientist to tell you so. but somehow we have a tendency to go towards one way so as to achieve faster results, and to assimilate with others. learning to balance is a difficult act but we must learn to do so.

so, remember, no stand is a stand.

ndp preview 2006!

had dinner with prof ling san and prof leung ka hin at akira japanese restaurant.

1. the restaurant is super ulu. it's in some condo behind the emerald hill stretch. but it was not bad lah... sashimi's v fresh, and the price of the buffet is reasonable. $30+++.

2. went into some gossip about the staff movt at nus maths dept. contrary to popular belief, life as a professor is not cosy and the job is not v secure. two maths lecturers are leaving the dept (and it's not a voluntary choice). apparently, over the last 10 years, 80% of the teaching staff have changed. surprisingly, many young phd holders do not even make it to hold a tenureship. (note: asst professor and below are those who are on short term contract with the university. assoc prof and above are on longer term contract/ tenureship with the uni.) moreover, believe it or not, the competition to teach nus/ntu is v stiff. at the nus commencement dinner, the deputy head of maths revealed that it received 100+ applications for 2 teaching positions. so, dear students at local uni, pls count your blessings...


sometimes, the lecturers cannot speak or elucidate certain concepts well. but this does not mean that they dunno their stuff. most prob, it's simply because they come from a diff environment and culture. moreover, i dun think it’s right if we demand that they assimilate to our culture and teach in the way that we want them to. if they were to meet our demands, then who’s learning from who?

3. prof ling actually visited my blog before. apparently, there are other ppl who came to this website, and mentioned to him about my speech. haha.

4. saw this calligraphy on the wall in the restaurant. i've heard of the famous title before, but i nv seen the orginal piece until today. i'm no calligraphy expert, but i think it's rather interesting. hmmm. possible artpiece to put in my new house (if there is one). anybody care to guess the title of this piece?

a story i read a long time ago...

by an italian writer called giovanni boccacio, entitled the three rings.

to summarize, there was a sultan and a rich and wise guy. the sultan was jealous of the wise guy and called the latter to his palace and wei2 nan3 the latter. the sultan asked the wise guy a question lah.

“which of the three great religions is the true one – is it the jewish, the moslem, or the christian?” (NB: the spelling is inherent from source.)

then, the wise guy told the sultan another story..


there was this rich family with a lot of wealth and assets. the heritage was handed down from father to son, and it was symbolised by the handing over of a special ring. well, the system worked well until it came to a worthy man with 3 equally worthy sons.

the man would soon be coming close to death and be required to choose a worthy heir. of cos, the 3 was equally worthy and the man couldnt come to a decision. so, he hired a craftsman to duplicate 2 other copies of the ring, and handed a ring each to his sons on different occasions.

when the man died, the 3 sons each produced the same ring and claimed to be the rightful heir. the story goes that they argued and argued but the dispute was nv resolved.


the wise guy after telling the story asked a sequence of questions to the sultan. and the sultan was awed and decided to consult the wise guy on all matters.


at different points in life, the story meant a different thing to me. i used to think, why should i believe specifically any 1 of the 3 sons? listening to all 3 would suffice since they are equally worthy and the rings carried little significance. in fact, it’s because of the attempt to find out which ring is true, that we have so much conflicts today.

but then i realise that the father had created the two duplicates not out of convenience. but he created so that, the sons can individually lead and carry on his role. if the father’s intent is for the 3 to lead together, he wouldnt have duplicated the rings. he wanted pple to follow and place trust on either 1 of the 3 sons, cos they are worthy in their unique way. there is only one true ring. but each son is carrying it.

about volunteering

had a debate with my navy colleague about “helping ppl”, not really about volunteering. the following points are some views i wish to share. not to say that i’m right or my colleague is wrong. nor am i implying anything about his character, nor are the following statements his views. the whole debate was very lengthy and covered a lot of area. most imptly, very differents set of experiences would have shaped our disparate views.

1. “people shouldnt help others, because the former thinks the latter needs help.” yes. many overenthusiastic volunteers do commit this mistake. true. many of those whom we think need help have a lot of self-pride and dignity, and would rather struggle themselves than to receive help.

however, i dun think we should stop helping others simply because the latter says that they do not need. simply put. those who ask for help need not need help, and those who do not ask for help may just need help. but it’s not easy to discern who’s who.

but “who are we to judge?” well, many have judged before us. my parents judged and hence made many decisions for me before i matured. my teachers judged and hence decided wat to teach and wat not to teach. my frens judged and decided to befriend me and help me in times of need. most significantly, gandhi, king and many others judged and decided to help those who suffered in silence.

i agree judgement is not easy, nor will it be fair. but it’s necessary.

2. “many times, ppl help others to feed their own egos and hence makes the latter feel inferior.” my fren referred to a famous sociologist who described her experience in a hospital. as a patient, she felt the entire medical experience v condescending and she felt very inferior.

ok. i’m guilty of this at times. many times we go into volunteering so that we’ll feel good at the end of the day. we go to other countries so that we can “show them the light”.

well, maybe such thinking is very prevalent before volunteers embark on their jobs. but this is certainly not true at the end of the day. in fact, many will find the experiences very humbling. having compiled articles for my club magazine, a recurring theme in all articles had been that, the volunteers received more than they gave. they’ve learnt more from the so-called “impaired” or “needy” than they’ve helped. the strength and determination of those we helped. their warmth and kindness. these are wat is most inspiring and that keeps volunteers gg.



there are more issues to volunteering than what i’ve described, and certainly are not as simple as i’ve described. but there’s one more message, “volunteers dun become great volunteers overnight”. in csc, those experienced at volunteering are apparent. they do not give in to all the requests of the elderly. they cheer up the moodiest mentally ill patient. they make a hyperactive kid listen to them. but all these skills are not acquired overnight. these skills are slowly developed and the volunteers learn to tackle the above issues over time.

the world has an endless demand for kindness and help. yet there are issues in “giving aid”. but we should not use these issues as excuses. yes. we’ll make mistakes along the way and some may be detrimental. but these mistakes will serve as lessons and make us better in helping in the future.

will end off with a quote, from martin luther king (i think),
“it is not the violence of the few that i fear, it is the silence of the many.”

today i was discussing about signal transmission with navy friends (which was totally irrelevant from the course.) basically, i learnt more about the transmission process. well, my honors year project was about coding theory, which forms like only a small part of this process. but nevertheless, it's rather interesting and there is a whole industry working on it. yup so i'll share more about coding theory and try to illuminate it in a layman's fashion.

coding theory has another name, which i feel is a more apt description of wat it is about. the theory of error correction. to me, the theory of error correction is very similar to an aspect of the mechanics of our daily language.

consider the word 'lettter'. i think with one look, you'll notice the typo and correct the word to 'letter'.

how did you do it? a simple explanation is that the english dictionary, while containing a lot of words, do not contain all the possible permutations of the 26 letters. there's no such word as 'lettter', and from our many years of education, we know that and hence we detect the error. this is also why it is almost impossible for a monkey to type a comprehensible sentence by chance.

wat i described was an aspect called 'error detection'. how do we then correct the 'lettter' to 'letter'? in some sense, 'letter' is the 'closest' to 'lettter'. if we delete one letter (no pun intended) or add one letter or change one letter of 'lettter', the only possible word you can end up with is 'letter'. (i didnt try but i think it's true...) so, intuitively, we simply just correct 'lettter' to 'letter'.

(there's a danger here. wat i described was making only one alteration. if we allowed to make two alterations, we could end up with words like 'latter' and 'litter'. and we have another aspect to discuss about..)

yes. so in coding theory, or theory of error-correction, that's wat we do... to conjure up some dictionary, but with only the letters 1 and 0. and we measure the efficiency of this dictionary by the number of errors it can correct.

(this is very very vague. for the above example of 'lettter', we can say that we can correct up to one error, but not to two errors... and the overall efficiency is measured by the worst case scenario)

application of error correcting codes are quite common. NRIC, ISBN or even bank accounts used it. (well, maybe not in the way i've described. more commonly engineers use terms like parity check, or redundacy...) more advanced application will be cd technology... that's why we still can scratch ur cd a bit. and more advanced, will be communications over space.

super tired after one long weekend

1. fri evening went to double o with navy ppl. got coursemates (who just wanna have fun), squadron pple (a clerk’s bday) and my ship crew (boss’ promotion + one officer’s bday).

double o drinks are v cheap, and some navy ppl are just too rich.

they just keep buying drinks and passing them around. i drunk dunno how many diff types of drinks... bottled beer, syringes, shots and jugs of dunno wat...

i dun recall much of the nite, as i was too drunk. apparently, after finding out from friends on sat and mon, after double o, we went out for supper, and some guys fetched me home in a cab. and miraculously, i managed to walk up the flat alone, and go to bed. all of which, i can only recall.

wat a decadent lifestyle.

2. sat evening went for julian’s, my NO’s, wedding as sword bearers. you know the type who line the aisles and holds up the swords to form arches for the bride and groom to pass thru.

actually it’s supposed to be an easy job. but julian’s wedding was q a formal one. (cos he’s from new creation) the ceremony was horrendously long and we had to stand and hold up the swords for almost an hour.

was super tired. but the dinner at marriott was super. (though not as wonderful as he had promised) but overall, thought the whole ceremony was v well planned and sweet. (julian actually sang to his wife... i’ll nv do that for mika, for the audience’s sake)

3. sun morning went for my commencement. many thanks for those who came and it was nice to meet up frens from sch.

thought the valedictorian cheryl made a v good speech. actually, if i knew that cheryl had such a story, i would have gladly let her speak. there was no need for us to write drafts and let the faculty choose.

her story is an inspiring one. her father passed away last year, and yet she persevered on and did well to earn her honors. rather admire frens who can carry on with their lives despite the departure of their loved ones.

4. sun afternoon. mika and i went for can project. pls visit official website www.nuscsc.net/~can for more details. though we didnt go around collecting cans, sorting cans and dried rations was just as tough. so many diff types of cans and diff types of dried rations... sort until my eyes blur liao. but the most siong part was carrying the huge boxes unto vans, into containers, down slopes.... argh...

but i must compliment the committee as they were v organised. the whole collection was v well planned and executed. it is apparent that the culture of knowledge sharing is growing v strong in csc. certainly csc is the epitome of organisational learning.

5. sun night. world cup 2006 at mark’s place. the weekend ended at with a climax with italy’s victory over france. haha. was super tired... i only watched the first half and slept through the second half. woke up a while to see zidane head butt an italian. slept again and woke up to see the penalties.

later departed from mark’s place to safti mi for course. kept dozing off in class.

another book review. this time on mitch albom's the five people you meet in heaven.

like albom's other book, tuesdays with morrie, this is yet another book expounding on the meaning of life. well, mika told me 'tuesdays' got a bit preachy at some parts. well, but i prefered 'tuesdays' with 'five people'. but the latter got a more creative narration. basically, it's about this average guy who dies and goes to heaven. and realises that heaven's q different from the typical perception. in heaven, there are five people that he'll meet who'll tell him more about his life. and yes... the wonderful insights come in. at parts, it's q motivating too. the main moral is that, everyone has a meaning to his existence.

but there's a sad part to albom's novels. his main characters have to be either dead (like eddy) or going to die (like morrie) to realise all these wonderful lessons on life. haha. but of cos, the point of him writing these novels is to bring forward these lessons.

each existence has its purpose. this is a truth which many of us lose faith in. my fren commented that singaporeans work v hard but they do not know wat they are working for. to some extent, this is true. however, i think it’s a matter of perception. and i believe if we have the faith in ourselves, we are able to find the meaning for our existences.

sorry i cannot substantiate this with any examples. but i’ve got this quote to share:

‘a great human revolution in just a single individual will help achieve a change in the destiny of a society, and further, will enable a change in the destiny of humankind.’ –daisaku ikeda

since i'm still online, italy 2 germany 0. hmmm. shows that playacting works well.

hai....

watching germany vs italy now... gg into extra time, 0-0. kinda expected sia. italy’s kinda disappointing. playing defensive has been always their style. but this year, they added play acting to their style, and it gets kinda disruptive.

anyway, that’s not the point of this entry.

unfortunately, i’m gonna talk about something negative (haha despite my entries on positive thinking). has anyone followed the www.mrbrown.com vs mica saga?

mr brown with his usual sarcasm criticises the recent price hikes and increasing income disparity and such. you can read his column article on his blog. then some minister from mica wrote a letter to criticise mr brown. note. the chap criticised, not refuked. yup. you can also find this letter on his blog.

so much for being an open and inclusive society. i shant write more less i get reprimanded too. but do go and take a look before the blog gets shut down.

about the price hikes... n also e headlines on mon about pple spending their cpf on housing. ‘surprising’ news. actually when i was at e wp rallies back in apr/may. i distinctively remember these issues being raised.

someone (dunno which wp chap) mentioned that singaporeans are always in debt. for car or for house. blah blah blah.

mr low thia khiang prophesised that when the elections are over, there will be even more price hikes. wat a prophesy.

k lah. maybe such predictions are not difficult to make. but hey, it certainly shows that the opposition is much more worthy than wat e media makes them out to be.

BuCKLe Up!

is a ‘workshop’ of the course i’m attending at SAFTI-MI. BuCKLe is an acronym for Building Capacity for Knowledge and Learning. it can be seen as an effort of SAF to reshape itself as a 3G armed forces. learnt about learning and it’s mostly about organisation learning and learning organisation. as i said in the previous entry, i’m q interested by the concept.

there are some insights i like to share.

1. ironically, today i went back to nus for some valedictory speech workshop. at the beginning of the week, i felt that the speech workshop would be more interesting and fulfilling compared to the SAF learning workshop. but i was totally wrong.

it really felt different. during the discussions in the saf workshop, we felt q motivated and positive, when we heard each other speak. even when some of us talked about some negative issues. but at the nus speech workshop, we practised the valedictory speeches with each other. while the speeches were supposed to be motivating, they failed. perhaps we were lousy speakers or we were too tired to listen. essentially, i felt that all our speeches lack the spirit. in the name of formalities, proper pronunciation and some unknown ‘rules of public speaking’, most of us just spoke roughly the same stuff.

in some sense, i felt wat most pple talked about. the lack of feeling for convocation. the sense of jadedness. was talking to another reserve valedictorian (i shant name which major). and i just felt a dearth of enthusiasm for life and plain indifference from this chap. maybe it was me, or that i’m too self-righteous. i just thought that a representative of a class should be something more.

but i dun think he represents the majority of students i met in nus. most pple, esp those in csc, are v enthusiastic towards life and hold a much stronger sense of responsibility to society.

back to the main point. i just felt v surprised at how much better organisation gurus in understanding learning as compared to nus, a institute that suppose to epitomise learning. i think the latter is too caught up in delivering world standards and upgrading systems that she has failed in teaching the spirit. felt kinda sad.

but this is not to say that i didnt learn anything from nus. i’ve certainly grown in these years and yup, one impt lesson i took back is certainly that about mentor and apprentice. as i wrote in my speech.

2. on a positive note. i’ve realised a lot of similarity between some organisation thinking concepts and nichiren buddhism. and one thing i learnt today is that of the creative tension.

there should be a diagram. but i’ll put down in words instead. imagine two hands holding on to the same rubber band. let the two hands move in opposite direction (in a vertical axis) and the rubber band becomes tense. the top hand represents one’s ‘vision’ and the other hand one’s ‘current reality’. the gap between ‘vision’ and ‘current reality’ creates tension.

there are two ways to resolve this. one is to focus on the current reality and this creates emotional tension and one haves a reactionary orientation to the problem. the result is ‘vision’ lowering down to close the gap.

another way (the obvious preferred one) is to focus on your vision and adopt a creative stance to the problem. bring up ‘current reality’ to your ‘vision’.

then there’s a quote by peter senge, a guru in this area.

‘the essence of personal mastery is learning how to generate and sustain creative tension in our lives.’

to quote nichiren daishonin,

‘Those who believe in the Lotus Sutra (a Buddhist writing) are as of in winter, but winter always turns into spring’

Celebrate what is right with this world

Was watching this videoclip with the abovementioned title by this guy called Dewitt Jones. He's a freelance photographer with National Geographic. Actually wanted to put his photos, but dunno if got copyright implications. But yeah... here's the web link www.dewittjones.com

I saw this 22min long videoclip in my course in SAFTI. As the name implies, it's about positive thinking. There's really not much content and most of his material are actually about his photography. But i tot it was q motivating and there's one line.

"If you believe, you'll see it."

I felt quite amazed to hear this statement. Esp at SAFTI. The course is a military one, not one that is dedicated to self-help. The instructor is a lieutenant colonel, not a civilian. So, I was rather pleasantly surprised to hear such things. In the past, such self-help things are done with lacklustre and are really done for the sake of doing. Today, (or the past two days) it just felt different. Instructors are more committed to it and the students are more receptive. As I commented, this was the one day that I've witnessed so much positiveness amongst junior officers.

Another thing that struck me was that how these postive things keep coming to me ever since I accepted Nichiren Buddhism/started chanting. Four years ago, my midshipman (OCS) course was never conducted in such a manner. The atmosphere of learning was never so relaxing and so conducive. But somehow, when one takes up faith and believe in it, the environment will set its course. This is indeed what one calls oneness of self and environment.

I think I must have been thinking of getting a PHD too much. So much that i've lost my sense of reality.

Wanted to print the "academic gown online order" so that I can collect it tmr. To my surprise, i've ordered the wrong academic gown.

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Been reading lotsa books recently... decided to do a short review of them.

In order of ‘most recently’ read...

1. dan brown’s ‘angels and demons’. It’s quite a good thriller. The story is very engaging and is capable of keeping one awake from 2 to 6 am. The book is v similar to his other book ‘da vinci code’. In fact, I think it’s the same with only a change in the female lead and theme. Now, it’s about the war between science and christianity. The twists are rather predictable if u have read ‘da vinci code’.

2. and 3. malcom gladwell’s ‘blink’ and ‘the tipping point’. I read the latter first and the latter was gladwell’s first book. Gladwell is a writer with the New Yorker and writes a blog at www.gladwell.com. Basically, the two books are about his insights on social phenomena. It’s kinda mix between sociology and psychology. His views are rather refreshing and in the words of some reviews, revolutionary. ‘Blink’ is about ‘two-second decisions’ or ‘snap judgements’, while ‘The Tipping Point’ is about how small things can make big differences, ie start social epidemics. His arguments are very balanced and he draws from a wide range of examples. I’d prefer ‘the tipping point’ as his argument/message is brought forward very clearly and coherently. V interesting read which teaches one a new approach to life. One way to look at his writing is to visit his website. he actually got excerpts of his books there.

just came back from batam yesterday

i had only one day to explore the place, and i think it was more than enough. there's really nothing much there. i was lucky that when my friend and i were walking around, we met a ship crew who was with his auntie (a local). Luckily, the auntie brought me around to buy the ikan bilis and dried shrimps my parents wanted. From there, we just tagged along with him, as he also had another friend bringing him around.

1. we first went to dua bei gong temple to bai bai. i dun really believe in such things la, but just do it to show some respect. q interesting lah. e chinese really pray to almost every famous character in the chinese history.

2. then we went "shopping" at Batam City Square. the so called newest and largest mall there. nothing much too. but we mainly shopped for food/snacks to bring back to ship.

3. then the 'highlight' (which i think everyone on my ship went for): a one and a half hour massage. Now, for those who are thinking what i think you are thinking, the massage parlour was a clean one. No special services... But the massage was indeed v cheap. around 13 sgd for the 1.5 hour session. But dunno if the massuses know wat they are doing... they got do a lot of funny manoeuvres lah. twisting the head, back, ankle... pull the fingers, toes, legs... kneeling on your back... but dunno if really good or not. but feel v shiok after that.

4. ate some seafood at dunno where. my crew's friend brought us to this open air hawker place. the food was ok lah. quite cheap though... think it was around 50 sgd for 10 pple. but we didnt pay cos the crew's friend was v generous.. so paiseh. the place q interesting though. got an open air karaoke and got pple singing. then when u sit down, beer girls each representing a brand will stand around your table asking u wat to drink. but in the end, my friend (the crew) ordered green tea...diao...

after one day of 'enjoyment' at batam, we went for the exercise. i wasnt involved in the actual exercise, so i helped keep watch (something like guard duty) when the ship was at anchor at night. super boring. first night i managed to finish dan brown's 'angels and demons'. but second night i got diarrhoea and amazingly managed to survive the night and keep watch.

lucky today feeling much better. starting course on monday at safti mi for 4 months. so no more duties and sailing for the next 4 months! haha.

weekend of gatherings

1. 16 jun dinner. grp4/ragnaroc outing. went to eat at marina square foodcourt and went to settler's play games. updates: timothy and bryan graduated. tim is a business developer at some it firm. the rest nothing surprising lah.

2. 17 jun lunch. maths honors class gathering. organised by the dept for the honors graduates. q boring at parts, as some of the more 'fun' lecturers are not around. won a $5 popular voucher and found that most pple are doing masters or got a job liao.

3. 17 jun dinner. coming soon. westlife gathering. actually we meet up q often lah. haha. later treating them to dinner at some zhi cha place in hougang and watching soccer later.

4. 18 jun dinner. coming soon. rooster gathering?? not actually a gathering lah. just forced by mika to watch some SD concert at tampines tmr.

q eventful weekend. mon i'm gg batam for exercise (naval minehunting exercise) until fri. prob may blog at batam. batam go there can only shop shop shop. cannot take part in water sports as we are not allowed to do so. so sian...

mcdonaldisation of the football experience

today i watched soccer with kunhui, mark and his gf rochelle at hougang green mall's 24 hr mcdonald's. i must say that it was a refreshing experience, compared to watching at kopitiams/pubs.

1. mcdonald’s for the first time was actually crowded. not the normal crowded. but crowded as in every available space had pple either sitting down or standing to watch. it was amazing how the staff could just bring in chairs and put at any space for pple to sit. even outside the store, they actually borrowed chairs from a neighbouring store for the spectators to watch.

2. it was the first time i watched soccer with kids and families. that is to say aunties. it's rather comic as they laughed at things which they thought were silly and they screamed at the slightest opportunity. haha. think mcdonald’s had provided these young boys to watch soccer in a comfortable environment, as compared to pubs/kopitiams.

it's kinda late, so i'll keep it short.

i'm loving it!

just came back from genting. had a gruelling bus ride back. sigh. and checked my email and found out that i was the reserve valedictorian.

ok. the story started out last week. when someone called me and told me that i was nominated to be the valedictorian for the mathematics dept. then another person called me and told me i was a CANDIDATE to be a valedictorian. the other person apparently came from physics dept (i guess, since this was another dept attending the ceremony). yeah. so they asked for drafts for the valedictorian speech, and judged based on the speeches. So, hers was better than mine, so too bad for me i guess.

Well. think the following points are why i nv got to be the valedictorian.

1. i forgot to thank my parents and mika in the final part of the speech. (ok. i actually plan to add it in in the final draft.)

2. i forgot to thank CSC for being such an integral part of my varsity life.

3. Cause CAN project is on 9 Jul 2006. The same day as my commencement ceremony. So, those who could not decide between hearing me speak and going for CAN Collect, can now go for the CAN Collect!! for more details, log onto http://www.nuscsc.net/~can haha. i so bhb.


Since this speech will never be spoken, i might as well post it here.

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Mr Chancellor / Mr Pro-Chancellor / Mr Provost / Dean of Science, Fellow Graduates, Ladies and Gentlemen, good morning. First of all, I’d like to thank the faculty for giving me the honor of standing here today to represent the graduating class of 2006.

Today, we don our academic gowns to receive our degree scrolls. These scrolls represent the knowledge that we have acquired over the past 3 or 4 years and symbolize the fruits of the efforts that we have put in. Yet, these fruits would not have been born, if no seeds were sown. Today, on behalf of the class of 2006, I’d like to thank one special group who helped us along the way, our mentors.

A friend once told me that the university education is distinguished from other forms of education in that, her mission is to nurture through a mentor-apprentice relationship. He then told me a story of a fellow undergraduate.

Well, this fellow undergraduate had a peculiar timetable. When my friend looked at it, he noticed something strange about the 10am-12pm slot on Friday. It wrote “KOPI”. “K-O-P-I. KOPI.” Was there such a module called KOPI? If it was really just drinking KOPI, was there really a need to remind himself to drink KOPI every Friday at 10am? So, my friend just asked his friend. And he realized. Oh. This friend of his actually arranges to meet up with his lecturer to drink KOPI every Friday after lesson.

Indeed, many of us here would have developed similar relations with our lecturers. The other day, I heard rumours that a current undergraduate sends his honors project supervisor home in his car every now and then. More ridiculous rumours include a student washing clothes for the supervisor. No, that student is not standing in front of you today. No, I’m not the one. To be honest, the most I’ve done for my lecturers was to send them Christmas cards. And probably after today, I may have to treat them to a meal.

But let us return to the topic. Were these students trying to bribe their supervisors? Well, they did fare well in their exams and projects. The KOPI-drinker did score an A+ for that particular module. However, the reason is not that these students had pleased their supervisors or lecturers. Rather the reason is that they had created a close bond with their lecturers, and this bond has created wonders.

It is only through this bond, can the brilliance of the academic mind be illuminated. It is through this bond, can virtuous habits of an experienced life be rubbed off. It is through this bond, can values of a great character be passed on. The KOPI-drinker did so well, simply because he had unconsciously learnt to think like his lecturer through the many KOPI-cum-chit chat sessions.

Yes. The KOPI-drinker understood well the fact that, the student need not restrict his relation with his mentor to the classroom. Indeed, most of us here will have some close lecturers, who have taught beyond the theorems and formulae, and shared with us precious experiences from their lives.

For me, Professor Ling San, the present head of the Department of Mathematics in NTU, had always been a role model. I’d like to thank him here once again. Indeed, I have forgotten most of what he has taught on coding theory. But I’ll always remember his warmness, his modesty and his generous capacity to listen to students. These are great attributes. Great attributes which I’m trying to practise at my workplace.

There are also many other mentors who appeared in my life in these four years, and amongst them are Associate Professor Leung Ka Hin and Associate Professor Tan Kai Meng. I’m sure if we were to write a list of lecturers who have touched at least one of us seated here, the list will be very very long.

Today, we shall leave the university to join the workforce. While mentors do not appear explicitly as lecturers, mentors will appear in other forms. They may appear as superiors, senior colleagues, co-workers or even subordinates. These mentors shall have inspirational stories, keen insight, worthy values to share and pass on.

Indeed to quote the late philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson, “In every man there is something wherein I may learn of him, and in that I am his pupil.”

Hence, we need to explore and uncover these mentors and be their pupils. We shall develop the mentor-apprentice relationship similar to the ones we have nurtured in university.

So, join me in applauding to all mentors, those in the university and those in life!

As we remain standing, my fellow graduates, this is a proud day for all of us and for our parents and loved ones, who have supported us in our journey here.

Therefore, before we leave this hall, let us take this opportunity to turn and face our family and friends, and show our appreciation with a round of applause.

Please join me in this gesture. Thank you.

ah.. last week was a slack week, but still most of my time was preoccupied by dunno wat. so, now, i'm no longer sailing to kuantan, and instead i'm on leave for this whole week! yay! mika has come back and we're planning to go to genting this wed. woohoo!

mika has also brought back my portable hdd, which contained the pictures i took at hanoi.

shall some pictures of halong bay here.

halong bay. shot taken by me.

halong bay. shot of a artpiece not done by me. it's actually made from thread and i guess u can call it an embroidery.

lifting up one of the rock formations in surprise! cave.

Mika and me doing a stupid pose on the peak of some rock in Halong Bay.

Sunset at Halong Bay. Wanna guess who took this picture? Me! Btw, in the background, u can see a pavillion on the peak of the rock/mountain. Yup that's the pavillion i took the shot with mika from.

Me jumping into the sea from the junk that we lived onboard.

pretty mika

think i've been on a reading craze recently, and been reading books which I tot I would never read. best-selling non-fictional books by 'self-claimed' gurus. just finished two books by edward de bono, well known for his lateral thinking and his campaigns for changing thinking. And just now I bought malcom gladwell’s “The Tipping Point”.

Had always been cynical towards these gurus. Had the view that they are just picking out concepts that researchers and academics had worked on, and repacking these concepts into a book that is marketable to the masses. Well, loss of important details may occur, but I think these gurus do the favour of bringing deep ideas to the masses.

Also, had the view that these gurus are just restating things that are happening around us and putting it in a fanciful and fashionable and popular manner. Well, in some sense, the statement is true. But these ppl do a good job in crystallizing everyday phenomena. De bono clearly elucidates the pitfalls and mechanisms of human thinking and even proposes simple and yet effective means to fully utilize the brain.

lastly, had the view that if these ideas are good, they’ll be v popular. So popular that u dun need to read the book to find out more. Somehow somewhere the ideas will be implemented. Unfortunately, not so. In de bono’s book, ‘teaching thinking’ , 1976, he pointed out the inadequacies of ‘content-based’ subjects in ‘developing thinking’. He further proposed specific tools (v simple tools) to help ‘teach thinking’. Well, apparently, his ideas never made it to our education system. Perhaps MOE feels that the ideas are inappropriate. But my feel is that: his tools will work more effectively than things like project work, etc.

1. an interesting quote from de bono’s ‘simplicity’:

“The simplest things are often the hardest to understand – because our minds keep racing off in the wrong directions.”

This is probably one reason why ppl cannot understand mathematics, or even science. Ppl have complex frameworks in their minds and when there is a simple explanation for things, they are unable to accept it. Take for example, the imaginary/complex number i . the general perception is that anything to do with i is v complicated and unnatural, cos the square of any number cannot be negative. Hmmm. I cannot argue against that, but the introduction of i was to deal with this “exceptional case”. So that squares can be negative. The interesting thing is that i is used in many areas in engineering and modern science, of which I am yet unable to describe. But in mathematics, the choice of using i has been quite ingenious. Because now, there are “no more exceptional cases”. What I mean is that, suppose you give me a complicated equation (a polynomial, in technical terms), I no longer need to introduce a “new number” to solve it. i is already sufficient to describe the answer! And this can be proven. That is the simplicity of i.

This leads me to give another quote,

“In order to make something simple, you have to know your subject very well indeed.”

2. This is a super long post, which was never intended for. I just started reading ‘the tipping point’ by gladwell. There’s an interesting excerpt, which is simply interesting and amusing. Nothing deep or thought-provoking. I’ll just quote verbatim.

“A world that follows the rules of epidemics is a very different world from the world we thinking we live in now. Think, for a moment, about the concept of contagiousness. If I say that word to you, you think of colds and the flu or perhaps something very dangerous like HIV or Ebola. We have, in our minds, a very specific, biological notion about what contagiousness means. But if there can be epidemics of crime or epidemics of fashion, there must be all kinds of things just as contagious as viruses. Have you ever thought of yawning, for instance? Yawning is a surprisingly powerful act. Just because you read the word “yawning” in the previous two sentences – and the two additional “yawns” in this sentence – a good number of you will probably yawn within the next few minutes. Even as I’m writing this, I’ve yawned twice. If you’re in a public place, and you’ve just yawned, chances are that a good proportion of everyone who saw you yawn is now yawning too, and a good proportion of the people watching the people who watched you yawn are now yawning as well, and on and on, in an ever-widening yawning circle.”

Ok, I yawned when I read this in the book and typed this onto the blog. Did you yawn too? (You probably had yawned many times before when reading this post.)

3. yeah. on the even lighter side of things, i was doing up a brochure on kuantan for my ship crew. yet again, i decided to practise my "artistic" talent in drawing a turtle. for those who dunno, my ship is called KATONG. for those who dunno (more of you i guess), KATONG is the malay name for a certain type of turtle.

kuantan seems like a boring place. probably, i'll blog even more!

dunno should i feel sad or happy.

today finally got the confirmation that i'm sailing for kuantan for two weeks in june. hope it'll be an eye opener being involved in a foreign exercise. moreover, got one whole week at kuantan to slack about. though i think i will run lotsa errands for my officers.

but the sad part is. i'm sailing on 4 jun in the morning, while mika is coming back on 4 jun in the afternoon. sigh. so two more weeks of parting...

oh well....

just watched 'da vinci code' with xiaoyun, crystal and zhenhao. tot it was a good movie, well staged and directed. v entertaining as some radio djs suggested. having read the book before, i tot the movie was q quite clear in the exposition of the 'holy grail'. but crystal and zhenhao (who nv read it) was q blur after the movie. hmmm. (probably also because they are not christians and nv read about christ before)

anyway, let me try to explain the story which the whole controversy revolved about. the holy grail. well, according to dan brown, contrary to 'popular belief', jesus is just a mere mortal, nothing supernatural or divine. jesus married to mary magdalene, whom (according to dan brown) the church smeared as a prostitude. jesus and mary married and had children. the problem is that the church did not want this 'side' of jesus to be revealed and hence did their best to kill the heirs. the church also did other atrocious acts to keep the secret. the holy grail therefore refers to this 'secret' (which ironically the whole world now knows).

ok. the above is wat dan brown says, and it's debatable whether wat he wrote or the movie showed is true. if u type 'da vinci code' or 'holy grail' in google, u'll find many websites (other than the official ones) which contain discussions of the historical/factual inaccuracies in his book. some say that he has distorted facts and proven hoaxes to suit his hypothesis. of cos, dan brown will argue otherwise, claiming that they are victims of the
great coverup or accomplices of this conspiracy.

watever.

(while dan brown does not claim wat he wrote is fiction) i think as a piece of fiction, it's rather interesting. in fact, i do not see it as anti-christ (but it's rather anti-church). dan brown did not in anyway try to undermine jesus and his teachings. nor did he defame christianity as a religion. (well, at least to me lah)

wat he did was to bring up some questions to provoke thinking. and i quite like the final quotes by robert langdon(tom hanks) in the movie.

"Is human divine? ... Does the heir (of jesus and the accompanying secret) destroys faith? Or does he renew faith?"

yeah. i think sometimes when pple get too zealous in promoting their faith, they tend to forget the true aim of their religion. that, which i think, is to improve the lives of everyone and to bring about spiritual happiness to everyone.

yeah. "Is human divine?" from a buddhist point of view, the answer is yes. yes, if u accept the fact that divinity is nothing more than just understanding how life works and how the universe moves (or wat we call the law). buddhahood refers to the state of life whereby one is enlightened to the law, and the buddha is someone who is in the state of buddhahood.

contrary to 'popular belief', the buddha is NOT some god we worship to to. in fact, it is a state of life which we constantly worked towards to. yes. u can say it's a concept created by man. but so what? i think the values taught are correct and relevant for me to cope with life.

ok. shall stop the preaching. the movie was a good one.

ron howard's adaptation of the book is a good one, though i still preferred the book. but this adaption of 'da vinci code' is much better than his adaptation of 'the beautiful mind'. something is interesting is that he likes to have scenes where his character will still while the surroundings move in a ghostly manner. it happened when john nash (russel crowe) got some revelation in game theory. it also happened many times in 'da vinci code' when langdon and teabing described the history.

shall continue my blogging about my hanoi trip. on the last day, i visited ho chi minh mausoleum and ho chi minh museum.

while the mausoleum and the museum was nothing much compared the museums in europe, the experience was rather interesting.

the mausoleum is where ho chi minh's (hcm) embalmed body is kept, so that his admirers and supporters can pay their respects. apparently, lenin and mao (not me) have their own mausoleums too.

well, like what lonely planet described, the mausoleum had a long queue of visitors consisting of both locals and tourists, and the queue moved v fast (no thanks to unfrenly guards). But the reactions of the locals are not as exaggerated as the lonely planet described. but the sense of respect was strongly felt. ironically, it was shown thru the guards' apparent coarse behaviour. Glaring at visitors who talk or wore headdress. Pushing/pulling people who stopped too long to glance at the late leader. AND pulling out people to check their bags for cameras/handphones/waterbottles. Crystal and Claudine got pulled out many many times.

the museum was not bad. but a bit propagandistic, and sang lotsa praises for the leader. portrayed a v warm image of hcm, and certainly explained his nickname 'uncle ho'. there were tonnes of pictures of him interacting with the common pple and working with them (like at the fields, or carrying arms). at the third storey, there was an exhibition hall, with lotsa interesting art pieces, giving impressions of the communist regime and its leader. again, the pieces were rather biased. but they were rather good and abstract. had this impression that communist art will be straightforward and not v thought provoking, but the pieces showed otherwise.

also felt that history had not been fair to this great leader. to many of us, the americans lost the vietnam war, because of the media backlash and the prevalent public dissent. moreover, the war was seen as exposing the US military weakness. however, i feel that ho chi minh had played an integral role in the victory of the viet cong. he was certainly an inspirational figure, and had set clear moralistic goals for his followers. he had successfully motivated his people to fight and nurtured a strong sense of resilience against the americans.

read this article on times, which placed him as one of the top 100 in the last century. after visiting the museum and the mausoleum, i certainly appreciate the author's viewpoint.

http://www.time.com/time/time100/leaders/profile/hochiminh.html

while he stood for may be debatable, i think his qualities as a leader should nv be undermined by history.

nv go back to work immediately after a holiday. was back on wed night and reported to work on thur. today is fri and yet i feel v v stoned.

i realised that i didnt do justice to the food i tasted yesterday at sichuan douhua restaurant. The food was simply marvelous!

1. soft shell crab with pork floss. wow. it was so soft and crispy, and so much bigger than those u get at genki/sakae sushi. plus the fact that the pork floss took out the oiliness. ooh...

2. tender beef. we had two variations, one fried with spring onion, the other in some ma la sauce. oooh... the beef was extremely soft and hua (slippery), that it simply 'slipped' into the mouth. but the nice part is when u chew it, and the juice just flows in the mouth.

3. big fresh peeled prawns. wah seh. cant remember how many variations we had. one was fried with sotong. another one in sweet sour sauce. the peeled prawns were so big. to imagine, just make an O shape with your thumb and index finger. the prawn will be able to sit on your fingers, and may slip off (not through the O shape).

4. other normal stuff like steamed sea bass, fried sea bass, shark fin, scallops, etc etc.

the price of all these were 45 SGD after all the tax. but on weekend, it'll probably cost about 50 SGD. oh yah. met the same tea-serving waiter that served mika and i on new year's eve. the 'tea waiter' serves hot water with a kettle that had a vv long spout.

Oh yeah. must blog about the hanoi trip! it was certainly fun and interesting. hanoi's a simple place with a lively atmosphere.

wat made the trip best were my bunch of 9 (including me) cranky frens. haha. too bad there are no photos to show. will upload some when i get the chance.

here are some reasons that why one should travel with a big grp of crazy frens:

1. when one gets tired of haggering/bargaining, there are 8 others to support and carry on the job.

2. one gets to squeeze into a room with 4 others, hence resulting in overusage of the bathroom, hence resulting in flooding, hence inviting funny 16-year olds to come in and clean the room.

3. one can pose with 8 others to get a variety of stupid photos.

4. there can be an amazing race up a limestone rock.

5. when one jumps down from a boat, there can be 8 others to take pictures/video and cheer u on.

6. one can do yoga/sync swimming/make a fool of yourselves with 8 others on the deck of a boat.

7. one can have the challenge of crossing busy roads with no traffic rules in a huge gang.

8. one can take many many many stupid photos.

9. one can enjoy beer at the roadside on stools with peanuts.

10. one can be assured that there are 7 other pple taking care of your loved one when u are away.