Today, while not being the best day ever, was admittedly an excellent proxy to my notion of an ideal day.
I woke up at seven, ate my favorite breakfast at boarding (loh mai kai and chasau biscuits), drank coffee, and headed straight to Punggol. Having reached there early, I took the LRT for fun and went one whole loop to witness "Punggol New Town". The first few stops of the LRT were quite dramatic -- the relatively undeveloped area looked nothing like Singapore. It had the classic rustic feel of an old town in a Final Fantasy game, its LRT stations reminding me of the trains that exist in my childhood game. However, the other half had a Woodland feel. As I learned later, the area used to be a forested haven -- now it is laden with HDB flats higher than Toa Payoh and Bishan's. As I see Woodlands, I can vividly imagine the more untouched part of Punggol being urbanized -- giving the New Town a factory line feel. And I'm afraid that Bukit Brown might suffer from the inescapable doom; it's just the question of when.
Frankly speaking, does anyone care? To be precise, anyone in Singapore? Not having anywhere pristine, authentic, untouched, and instead live in efficient and mass-produced environment. Not criticizing them though, as I admire practical people as well who does not really complain about their surroundings but instead choose to live on. This issue was part of the cause I went to Punggol in the first place; the bigger cause was my teacher's wishes :D Anyway, I have to admit, I learned a lot. Apart from shaking hands and learning how to smoke your way through a DPM, I also learned how to be shameless (basically, just convince yourself that you got nothing to lose, so nothing would stop you then), and also got to connect with some NParks people (they say he's the big shot.. I don't know) and the waterway people. Most importantly, I learned 'how to speak their lingo' -- a lesson in aligning interests -- leading me to three volunteering opportunities, a few name cards, and a resource sent through e-mail.
Enough narrative about what I learned -- I also had fun as I ate a sugar free ice cream. Yeah the ice cream tasted a bit bland but an ice cream is still an ice cream :D caught up with a few old friends -- glad to know they are doing well :) and spammed milo at the milo truck! Heheh felt bad but the milo was delish :D
Anyway, I rushed back to school to attend an Interact meeting and an Interact camp dry run. Pray, tell me that I did not get wet :D and I walked blindfolded from the 7th floor to the Gryphon Square :D Another important highlight would be the videos we watched for pre-poverty banquet game. It strikes me, once again, that I am very lucky, that I am very blessed. Even the beneficiaries I am working for now are admittedly blessed enough. The tale of a guy still continuing to live as a freelance graphic designer (he moved his mouse with his feet and typed with a pencil on his mouth) and the tale of the visually handicapped still having the courage to live -- while people with faculties intact get stressed and undergo suicide. Exposed to the sufferings of the world, I am reminded of equanimity: Suffering is inevitable as long as there is life. After taking a calm approach, you actually realize that you can MAKE A DIFFERENCE. Even a SMALL one. This is again, why I do community service. Making people's life slightly happier, one person at a time,with these two hands and a smile. Go Interact Club! (:
Well, the hidden room at the back of blue room was quite fun, as we terrified a few girls by leaving them in a pitch darkness and delivering a "special surprise" but what was more fun was the truth or dare session we played as we go out for dinner :D (oh, the shoot, shag, and marry was kinda awkward, but the dare played with the random chio girls hanging out at J8 was quite fun :D) Anyway, about one third of us stayed past 10pm.. leading to an intimate sharing session ;)
Finally, I told a good friend of mine whom I trusted that I don't like her anymore. But I told him her name and that I used to like her (this is disputable, but still). I guess the courage to talk of those kind of things really solidifies the fact that I gotten over her (or never actually fell for her).
Ultimate lesson learned: You have nothing to lose -- nothing to be afraid of. You don't need to be scared, the world is more forgiving than you think. Do it, just learn from it, let it out of your system, and move on from there. Let nothing, and nothing hold you back.
Truly Indonesia's Finest,
PS: Sorry for rambling -- am racing against the clock to bathe and to sleep. And today's events strengthened the hunch I had back then -- that suprisingly good things pop up my way, without even a slight effort or planning on my part. Hmm. Let's take a look further..
Saturday, 25 February 2012
Wednesday, 22 February 2012
Day 138 - Asymptote
Egad. It's been a while since I post D:
Anyway, I remember that my Boarding Master once said that Junior College is the time to push yourself and stretch yourself to your maximum limits (if you have any at the first place). Yesterday can be an epitome to such stretching: Slept for 4.5 hours, abstained from eating solid food for 33 hours, ran 5km and forced 30 assisted pull-ups amid the hunger pangs. Surprisingly, I survived! I wasn't that cranky (I hope) as I still forced myself to help interviewing my juniors, to deliver a speech for Gavel, and even to tutor some underprivileged children well into the nightfall (:
Why am I pushing myself so far? What keeps me going? Frankly speaking, I have no idea. I felt very tired today, and opted to slack around browsing through random websites; putting off my homework for tomorrow. Then, my boarding master came knocking, inspecting our room cleanliness. He decided that our bathroom condition was unacceptable --- thus I spent 15 minutes brushing and washing the cubicle. That good fifteen minutes sparked something inside me, something that I really don't understand. I just did it without complaining, without thinking about it, and --- wait for it --- I had motivation to do my homework afterwards :D That's why I have the time to update my blog now :) Anyway I guess what I've read before is true: The hardest part in anything is to fathom about it.
Let me end with a bold aspiration: Shall these two hands bring glory to my country.
and let me ask myself often --- Will whatever I am doing get me closer to my aspiration?
Truly Indonesia's Finest,
Anyway, I remember that my Boarding Master once said that Junior College is the time to push yourself and stretch yourself to your maximum limits (if you have any at the first place). Yesterday can be an epitome to such stretching: Slept for 4.5 hours, abstained from eating solid food for 33 hours, ran 5km and forced 30 assisted pull-ups amid the hunger pangs. Surprisingly, I survived! I wasn't that cranky (I hope) as I still forced myself to help interviewing my juniors, to deliver a speech for Gavel, and even to tutor some underprivileged children well into the nightfall (:
Why am I pushing myself so far? What keeps me going? Frankly speaking, I have no idea. I felt very tired today, and opted to slack around browsing through random websites; putting off my homework for tomorrow. Then, my boarding master came knocking, inspecting our room cleanliness. He decided that our bathroom condition was unacceptable --- thus I spent 15 minutes brushing and washing the cubicle. That good fifteen minutes sparked something inside me, something that I really don't understand. I just did it without complaining, without thinking about it, and --- wait for it --- I had motivation to do my homework afterwards :D That's why I have the time to update my blog now :) Anyway I guess what I've read before is true: The hardest part in anything is to fathom about it.
Let me end with a bold aspiration: Shall these two hands bring glory to my country.
and let me ask myself often --- Will whatever I am doing get me closer to my aspiration?
Truly Indonesia's Finest,
Friday, 10 February 2012
Day 125 - Expressway
Today I suggested my friend to cross an expressway to save time.
But the expressway I'd like to touch upon is the expressway that links two extremely different worlds. I am a believer and a proponent of the nurture world, everything around me makes who I am now. (who am I? now that's a different question altogether.) Hence, I believe strongly that, whatever I take, I must give back. Presently, I'm doing so through the world of community service.
Along the way, however, I sometimes stumble and ask myself:
"Am I really doing the right thing?"
That is the most fundamental question a person doing community service must ask. Just yesterday I somehow ended up in a car with a stranger who works as a physiologist, and her words struck me:
"To you she is just an old lady. Remember, she is somebody's daughter, somebody's wife, somebody's mother, somebody's grandmother, and somebody's beloved. What would you do if she is YOUR grandma?"
Her words truly echoed in my head as I was tutoring the children today. They were being disobedient, impolite, quarrelsome, and chaotic. Casting away my anger and irritation and impatience, I thought to myself:
"They are somebody's children."
All those negative feelings vanished. This is how one cares, and this is how love develops.
The much-debated question in the service world is whether we should follow the demands of the beneficiaries, or whether we should impose on them what we think is good for them. Who are we, the State? Does the State know the best for every single of her citizens? Should we decide what's the best for them? Or should we bring them happiness, which is our ultimate goal of doing the community work. Or is it?
I shall not impose any answers on the readers, allow me to offer another school of thought (which is not a direct contrast to the initial one) and two case studies.
The question pops up in my mind after the elderly in my service center complained about them not getting to play Bingo. They told us that it is pointless to force the elderly to play other games as they just want to have fun, and the other games are at best not enjoyable and at worst are irritating. However, the service center manager insisted on forsaking Bingo as she believes that Bingo does not encourage the elderly to be active. The game just gets too repetitive and neither trains the elderly's physical health nor their mental health. Who should have the say? Who should we obey?
The school of thought I was referring to is offered by one of the speakers from a panel I attended in Hwa Chong Giving for Good Symposium. The speaker believes that the purpose of community service is, paradoxically it may seem, to eliminate the community service itself. In short, to teach the man how to fish. In other words, to make sure that the beneficiaries "graduate" and break the vicious cycle by helping themselves. The process is not easy --- take a look at Africa. The number of social worker groups and helps given are increasing instead of decreasing. Are we really doing a good thing?
The steps taken to direct the beneficiaries are not easy as they require a lot of effort in the beneficiaries' part. This means that we might be forced to sacrifice their happiness as we aspire to make them independent of our help, something which might never happen. So should we try? Should we force our ideals? Should we clash, conflict, and make them unhappy, in a vague dream and hope to make them independent?
The second case study is located in Africa. A particular tribe has a tradition to drown their babies on certain months, as the babies born then are deemed to bring disaster to the tribe. So at certain months, the river nearby the tribe would be full of babies being drowned. It is their culture, and to them, it is perfectly ethical. Should we impose our ideals and stop them? Who are we to tell them that what they are doing is an atrocious cruelty? Why should they listen to us? Won't we, in the process of reforming them, destroy a part of their culture? Is humanity more important than culture? Are lives more important than cultural preservation, more important than societal cohesion?
I highly doubt that I would get part of the correct answers by the time I lie on my deathbed. However, the expressway has taken you through my world of community service and social work, and as I continue to build this expressway, I hope I am one step closer to these truths.
On the other exit, my expressway leads to a personal circumstance hypothesis: I achieve great things with little or no effort at all. Allow me to sit down on this hypothesis, and let us examine if this is the case.
Truly Indonesia's Finest,
But the expressway I'd like to touch upon is the expressway that links two extremely different worlds. I am a believer and a proponent of the nurture world, everything around me makes who I am now. (who am I? now that's a different question altogether.) Hence, I believe strongly that, whatever I take, I must give back. Presently, I'm doing so through the world of community service.
Along the way, however, I sometimes stumble and ask myself:
"Am I really doing the right thing?"
That is the most fundamental question a person doing community service must ask. Just yesterday I somehow ended up in a car with a stranger who works as a physiologist, and her words struck me:
"To you she is just an old lady. Remember, she is somebody's daughter, somebody's wife, somebody's mother, somebody's grandmother, and somebody's beloved. What would you do if she is YOUR grandma?"
Her words truly echoed in my head as I was tutoring the children today. They were being disobedient, impolite, quarrelsome, and chaotic. Casting away my anger and irritation and impatience, I thought to myself:
"They are somebody's children."
All those negative feelings vanished. This is how one cares, and this is how love develops.
The much-debated question in the service world is whether we should follow the demands of the beneficiaries, or whether we should impose on them what we think is good for them. Who are we, the State? Does the State know the best for every single of her citizens? Should we decide what's the best for them? Or should we bring them happiness, which is our ultimate goal of doing the community work. Or is it?
I shall not impose any answers on the readers, allow me to offer another school of thought (which is not a direct contrast to the initial one) and two case studies.
The question pops up in my mind after the elderly in my service center complained about them not getting to play Bingo. They told us that it is pointless to force the elderly to play other games as they just want to have fun, and the other games are at best not enjoyable and at worst are irritating. However, the service center manager insisted on forsaking Bingo as she believes that Bingo does not encourage the elderly to be active. The game just gets too repetitive and neither trains the elderly's physical health nor their mental health. Who should have the say? Who should we obey?
The school of thought I was referring to is offered by one of the speakers from a panel I attended in Hwa Chong Giving for Good Symposium. The speaker believes that the purpose of community service is, paradoxically it may seem, to eliminate the community service itself. In short, to teach the man how to fish. In other words, to make sure that the beneficiaries "graduate" and break the vicious cycle by helping themselves. The process is not easy --- take a look at Africa. The number of social worker groups and helps given are increasing instead of decreasing. Are we really doing a good thing?
The steps taken to direct the beneficiaries are not easy as they require a lot of effort in the beneficiaries' part. This means that we might be forced to sacrifice their happiness as we aspire to make them independent of our help, something which might never happen. So should we try? Should we force our ideals? Should we clash, conflict, and make them unhappy, in a vague dream and hope to make them independent?
The second case study is located in Africa. A particular tribe has a tradition to drown their babies on certain months, as the babies born then are deemed to bring disaster to the tribe. So at certain months, the river nearby the tribe would be full of babies being drowned. It is their culture, and to them, it is perfectly ethical. Should we impose our ideals and stop them? Who are we to tell them that what they are doing is an atrocious cruelty? Why should they listen to us? Won't we, in the process of reforming them, destroy a part of their culture? Is humanity more important than culture? Are lives more important than cultural preservation, more important than societal cohesion?
I highly doubt that I would get part of the correct answers by the time I lie on my deathbed. However, the expressway has taken you through my world of community service and social work, and as I continue to build this expressway, I hope I am one step closer to these truths.
On the other exit, my expressway leads to a personal circumstance hypothesis: I achieve great things with little or no effort at all. Allow me to sit down on this hypothesis, and let us examine if this is the case.
Truly Indonesia's Finest,
Friday, 3 February 2012
Day 118 - Ooooorientation
Phew, orientation is done and over with.
I joked around that I felt like crying not because orientation has ended, but because I'd have to do all my homework and CCA stuff afterwards. There is a lot to catch up D':
Notwithstanding, orientation had been a great experience. I was talking to my fellow MT03 OGLs about how joining the Orientation Team and becoming an Orientation Group Leader was primarily to challenge myself. It was quite a challenge, indeed. I remember, exactly a year and four days ago I was a lost sheep in Raffles, having little friends and still grieving over MOE's rejection of my SJII scholarship. Now, I am blogging as an OGL who (hopefully) made orientation a fun time for the new J1s!
Whatever I write down here will not do justice to describe the awesomeness of my experience in orientation. Yet, I feel that I MUST write down something, for this is definitely an important milestone in my journey in Raffles. So, here it goes!
There are lots of things I learned from being an OGL. One of them is the fact that joy and enthusiasm is contagious. Being a station master for this year's External Activity, I jumped around and explained the game with zeal, and to my delight, the OGs playing caught the fever and cheered harder and harder :,) Another thing I experienced is not to take things too seriously but to stay mature at the same time --- I encourage my OGlings to stay enthusiastic, to play hard, but to have fun above all else. I learned to not take offense from the J1's rudeness, jest, or impunity, but instead approached them and "calibrated" them in a light-hearted manner :) I learned to talk to strangers, and above all else, to acquiesce to the fact that I know very little people, and start building my repertoire of friends from scratch :)
Apart from the serious stuff, I am thankful for the sexy shirt my OGlings gave me, which comprises of a white shirt with abs and packs drawn over it, plus a kiss mark on the chest ;) And I am freaking broke! I had exactly 80 cents on my wallet on Thursday, and I had around 16 bucks on Friday evening after paying for the Pizza! D: I fell victim for the OGlings nasty pick-up lines (which gave me, more than anything, a whatthefuu look on my face) to get my handphone number for EA. I enjoy the weird look other people gave me when I spiritedly cheered for other houses (HH's Hutalu is my favorite, followed by BW's Anone), and I really love the weather forecast and dancing to the retarded Speedy Gonzales song. The irony when it turned out that rain only came during the EA day, precisely when we are expecting a sunny day D: and the awesome feeling of hoboing around in MPH after every debrief hehehe. Eating fast food four days in a row, and running while eating two slices of sandwiched domino's pizza to catch curfew. These snippets of moments I shall hold dear.
As a closing story, allow me to share the tale of my EA day. I have to say all the preparation and effort put in EA was worth it, despite the rain that came cancelling the second game :( I am lucky to have a certain girl as my partner, while initially I was disappointed of having her instead of another one ;) She's really awesome, being decisive when needed, and paying a great attention to minute details. The rain added another colour to our interaction. As I woke up late on that day, I forgot to bring an umbrella, and when we were walking to Bishan Active from Caldecott (since we changed stations) I told her that I didn't need one. Subsequently, she also told me that she did not need the umbrella and folded it. I grabbed the umbrella and insisted on trying to cover her from the rain, but she scolded me for doing so as she claimed that she was "drying" the umbrella. Hence both of us ended walking in the rain, and rendering the umbrella she brought useless. HAHAHA ladies these days.
The Indonesia's Finest
Post Mortem: Hmm. Valentine's day is coming. Should I buy a chocolate or two? hee hee :D
I joked around that I felt like crying not because orientation has ended, but because I'd have to do all my homework and CCA stuff afterwards. There is a lot to catch up D':
Notwithstanding, orientation had been a great experience. I was talking to my fellow MT03 OGLs about how joining the Orientation Team and becoming an Orientation Group Leader was primarily to challenge myself. It was quite a challenge, indeed. I remember, exactly a year and four days ago I was a lost sheep in Raffles, having little friends and still grieving over MOE's rejection of my SJII scholarship. Now, I am blogging as an OGL who (hopefully) made orientation a fun time for the new J1s!
Whatever I write down here will not do justice to describe the awesomeness of my experience in orientation. Yet, I feel that I MUST write down something, for this is definitely an important milestone in my journey in Raffles. So, here it goes!
There are lots of things I learned from being an OGL. One of them is the fact that joy and enthusiasm is contagious. Being a station master for this year's External Activity, I jumped around and explained the game with zeal, and to my delight, the OGs playing caught the fever and cheered harder and harder :,) Another thing I experienced is not to take things too seriously but to stay mature at the same time --- I encourage my OGlings to stay enthusiastic, to play hard, but to have fun above all else. I learned to not take offense from the J1's rudeness, jest, or impunity, but instead approached them and "calibrated" them in a light-hearted manner :) I learned to talk to strangers, and above all else, to acquiesce to the fact that I know very little people, and start building my repertoire of friends from scratch :)
Apart from the serious stuff, I am thankful for the sexy shirt my OGlings gave me, which comprises of a white shirt with abs and packs drawn over it, plus a kiss mark on the chest ;) And I am freaking broke! I had exactly 80 cents on my wallet on Thursday, and I had around 16 bucks on Friday evening after paying for the Pizza! D: I fell victim for the OGlings nasty pick-up lines (which gave me, more than anything, a whatthefuu look on my face) to get my handphone number for EA. I enjoy the weird look other people gave me when I spiritedly cheered for other houses (HH's Hutalu is my favorite, followed by BW's Anone), and I really love the weather forecast and dancing to the retarded Speedy Gonzales song. The irony when it turned out that rain only came during the EA day, precisely when we are expecting a sunny day D: and the awesome feeling of hoboing around in MPH after every debrief hehehe. Eating fast food four days in a row, and running while eating two slices of sandwiched domino's pizza to catch curfew. These snippets of moments I shall hold dear.
As a closing story, allow me to share the tale of my EA day. I have to say all the preparation and effort put in EA was worth it, despite the rain that came cancelling the second game :( I am lucky to have a certain girl as my partner, while initially I was disappointed of having her instead of another one ;) She's really awesome, being decisive when needed, and paying a great attention to minute details. The rain added another colour to our interaction. As I woke up late on that day, I forgot to bring an umbrella, and when we were walking to Bishan Active from Caldecott (since we changed stations) I told her that I didn't need one. Subsequently, she also told me that she did not need the umbrella and folded it. I grabbed the umbrella and insisted on trying to cover her from the rain, but she scolded me for doing so as she claimed that she was "drying" the umbrella. Hence both of us ended walking in the rain, and rendering the umbrella she brought useless. HAHAHA ladies these days.
The Indonesia's Finest
Post Mortem: Hmm. Valentine's day is coming. Should I buy a chocolate or two? hee hee :D
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