Emotional Outburst...

Today, I had an emotional outburst. No kidding.

I went for Higher Chinese 'O' level invigilation at Hwa Chong Institution (formely known as The Chinese High School). Well, I was assigned to invigilate class 4B for around 30 mins in all.

As I was standing in class 4B at the clock tower block, I was overwhelmed with emotions. 10 years ago, I was in this same exact classroom taking some of my 'O' level exams (I took the rest in the school hall).

How time flies. 10 years ago, I was a student. Now, I'm a teacher doing invigilation. I could almost feel tears in my eyes.

After doing invigilation, I managed to meet up with my ex-Sec. 4 Chinese teacher, Mr. Tan Yew Keng for lunch. It's really amazing how much he can still remember about my class. He taught me in 1997. And now, he can still remember who is my form teacher, and who are my other subject teachers.

He told me, "Shijiang, when you teach students, you need to teach them with your heart."

Yes, I will do my best and teach my students with my heart, and not just upload infomation into them.

"Above all, teach them moral values. Teach them character.", Mr. Tan went on.

I realised that I really believe in what he says (even before he told me today). I don't want to bring up students who are successful in society, but are filled with character flaws and have no integrity.

Come on, some of you may think that Mr. Tan is some super-old teacher or something. No. He's not. He's only in his late 30s.

I thank God for placing me in The Chinese High School when I was young. He allowed me to meet great teachers who have shaped my life - Mr. Tan and Miss Mok (my ex-form and Chemistry teacher).

And after speaking to Mr. Tan, it has further affirmed me that I need to continue to be firm & strict with my students in RI. I'm not teaching Physics. I'm teaching students. Future leaders who are going to shape the nation.

I must dare to be unpopular at times.

My Life Journey Part 5 - 98S33

After considering VJC (20 min away from my home) and HCJC (45 min), I eventually settled for the more obvious choice. I decided to go to a place where all my friends are. I chose with my heart and not my mind.

Hwa Chong JC is a very different place from The Chinese High. One obvious reason would be that there are girls around. Having being in a boys' school for 4 years, surprisingly, I can still get along with my female classmates.

Being a more Science than Arts person, I chose double maths (C.Maths & F.Maths) and double science (Physics & Chemistry).

98S33. That's my class.

We had a Orientation Camp right at the start of school. It was organised by the Students' Council. The camp was fantastic. Though we were hit with mud and ketchup, dirty beyond reason, my class bonded together really well. And hence, we were quite close. We even had class outings within a short span of time.

After the camp, I made an important decision. I decided to serve the school as a Students' Councillor. To do that, I had to go for elections. My JC classmates helped me come up with simple tokens to get the students to vote for me. My ex-classmates from The Chinese High did a banner with me. My slogan was "No one is more willing to serve you than me."

Yes, I made it. I was elected. But I know that I wouldn't have made it if not for my JC classmates and ex-classmates. I'm really thankful for them. They have made a difference in my election campaign.

And hence, my life in JC totally changed after I was elected.

Always be thankful for your friends. Especially those that stood by you in times of need. You can also choose to stand by your friends when they need you. I think there's more joy in the latter case.

Do You Have a Life?

About a week ago or two, my cell group brothers and I came together and played the "Game of Life". It's a rather interesting boardgame.

Features of the game:

1) You have to get a job.

2) You have to get married.

3) You have to buy a house.


Here are our photos..

My Life Journey Part 4 - The Hidden Side

When I was in secondary school, I have a side of me that not many people know. Except my NPCC-mates.

I think it all started when I'm Sec 2. Every time, after NPCC training on Fridays or Saturdays, my squadmates and I would go to the usual MacDonald's at KAP (King Albert's Park - the biggest Mac in S'pore) to have dinner. Or if we're tight on money, we will go to the the hawker centre at Beauty World.

After dinner, many of us would automatically make our way to the arcade centre either at Bukit Timah Plaza (the preferred one) or Beauty World. Then we would spend tokens and time and money at the machines. For me, I liked to play fighting games.

Almost every time, without fail, I would spend all my pocketmoney at the machines. Yes, literally down to the last cent.

These are the games that got me crazy (and addicted).

Marvel Super Heroes





X-men VS Streetfighter





Marvel Super Heroes VS Street Fighter





Marvel Super Heroes VS Capcom






Marvel Super Heroes VS Capcom 2






Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo

But seriously, I really don't know how much money and time I've wasted over arcade games. Every week, at least once or twice or even thrice, for a total of about 3 years.

Time is something that once you have wasted, it will never come back. I have wasted a significant part of my youth on arcade games.

Are you wasting your time doing something not worthwhile? Like addicted to online games such as Maple Story or DOTA?

Marina South Steamboat 14/10/07

Last Sunday, I went to Marina South for steamboat together with my cell group. Stephen's & Darren's cell & Weijie came along too. We had a really good time cooking all the crabs and prawns and other stuff. =)

Can You Identify with this ...?

I found this on the internet. If you can identify with a significant number of this, you must be quite near my age. I wonder if youths today can even identify with any one at all. It just shows how much Singapore has changed.

I can identify with 40/50 things. What about you? =D

1. You grew up watching He-man, Transformers, Silver hawk and Mickey Mouse. Not to forget, Ninja turtles and Smurfs too. (That's me!)

2. You grew up brushing your teeth with a mug in Primary school during recess time. You will squat by a drain with all your classmates beside you, and brush your teeth with a coloured mug. The teachers said you must brush each side 10 times too.(That's me!)

3. You know what's Bin(1) Fen(1) Ba(1) San(1) is all about. (That's me!)

4. You know what SBC stands for. (That's me!)

5. You were there when the first chinese serial, the Awakening was shown on TV. (That's me!)

6. Internet? What the heck is that? (That's me!

7. You find your friends with pagers cool in Secondary school (handphones don't exist). (That's me!)

8. SBS buses used to be non-airconditioned. The bus seats are made of wood and the cushion is red! The big red bell gives a loud BEEEP! when pressed.There are colourful tickets for TIBS buses. The conductor will check for tickets by using a machine which punches a hole on the ticket. (That's me!)

9. Your favourite actor and actress is Huang Wenyong and Xiangyun. Next is Lee Nanxing and Zoe Tay and the Aiyoyo woman. (That's me!)

10. You've probably read Young Generation magazine. You know who's Vinny the little vampire and Acai the constable. (That's me!)

11. You were there when they first introduced MRT here. You went for the first ride with your parents and you would kneel on the seat to see the scenery. (Not me)

12. Movie tickets used to cost only $3.50. (That's me!)

13. Gals are fascinated by Strawberry Short Cake and Barbie Dolls. (That's me!)

14. You learn to laugh like The Count in Sesame Street.(Not me)

15. You longed to buy tibits called Kaka(20 cents per pack) and Ding Dang(50 cents per box), that had a toy in it and it changes every week not forgetting the 15 cents animal crackers and the ring pop, where the lollipop is the diamond on the ring. (That's me!)

16. You watched TV2 (also known as Channel 10) cartoons because Channel 5 never had enough cartoons for you. (That's me!)

17. All that you know about Cantonese is from the Hong Kong serials you watched on TV2.(Not me)

18. Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, The Three Investigators, Famous Five and Secret Seven are probably the thickest story books you ever thought you have read. Even SweetValley High and Malory Towers.(Not me)

19. Civics and Moral Education was “Hao3 Gong1 Min2”. (That's me!)

20. KFC used to be a high class restaurant that serve food in plates and let you use metal forks and knives. (That's me!)

21. The most vulgar thing you said was asshole and idiot and THE MOST EXTREME WAS 'super white'...you just couldn't bring yourself to say the hokkien relative.(Not me)

22. Catching was the IN thing and twist the magic word. (That's me!)

23. Your English workbooks was made of some damn poor quality paper that was smooth and yellow. (That's me!)

24. CDIS was your best friend. (That's me!)

25. The only computer lessons in school involved funny pixellised characters in 16 colours walking about trying to teach you maths. (That's me!)

26. Waterbottles were slinged around your neck and a must everywhere you go. (That's me!)

27. Boys loved to play soccer with small tennis balls in the basketball court or play something that uses tennis ball to hit other players known as “HUM TAM BOLA” during recess /after school. (That's me!)

28. Hopskotch, five stones,chateh and zero point were all the rage with the girls and boys too... (That's me!)

29. Science was fun with the balsam and the angsana being the most important plants of our lives. (That's me!)

30. Who can forget Ahmad, Bala, Sumei and John, eternalized in our minds from the textbooks. Even Mr Wally. (That's me!)

31. You did stupid exercises like seal crawl and frog jumps. (That's me!)

32. Every children's day and national day you either get pins or pens with 'Happy Children's Day 1993' or dumb files with 'Happy National Day 1994'. (That's me!)

33. In Primary six you had to play buddy for the younger kids like big sister and brother.(Not me)

34. Chinese teachers were always old, boring and damn fierce looking.(Not me)

35. Your form teacher taught you maths, science and english.(Not me)

36. The worksheets were made of brown rough paper of poor quality. (That's me!)

37. You went to school in slippers and a raincoat when it rained, and you find a dry spot in the school to sit down, dry your feet, and wear your dry and warm socks and shoes.(Not me)

38. Famous Chinese singers were only Jacky Cheung, Andy Lau, Aaron Kwok and Leon Lai. (That's me!)

39. School dismissal time was normally around 1 pm. (That's me!)

40. There would be spelling tests and mental sums to do almost everyday. (That's me!)

41. Your friends considered you lucky and rich if your parents gave you $3 or more for pocket money everyday. (That's me!)

42. During class gatherings, parents always tag along in case someone gets lost at Orchard Road.(Not me)

43. You freak out when the teacher tells you to line up according to height! and hold hands with the corresponding boy or girl.(Not me)

44. Handkerchiefs were a must for both genders. (That's me!)

45. Collecting notebooks and all kinds of stationery was a popular thing. (That's me!)

46. Autograph books were loaded with “Best Wishes”, “Forget Me Not”, and small poems like “Bird fly high, hard to catch. Friend like you, hard to forget”. (That's me!)

47. Class monitors and prefects loved to say “You talk somemore, I write your name ah!” (That's me!)

48. There were at least 40 people in one class. (That's me!)

49. Large, colourful schoolbags were carried. (That's me!)

50. You brought every single book to school, even though there was one thing called the timetable. (That's me!)

My Heart's Prayer

Early in the morning, I came across this Christian song (by Planetshakers) that bears the following lyrics. Let this be my prayer to Jesus today.

"If You can use anything,
Won't You use me.

Take me and break me
And mould and make me.

You died for me,
So I'm living for You

I'm living for You,
I'm living for You."

My Life Journey Part 3 - The Chinese High

I spent a significant part of my youth life at The Chinese High School. As mentioned before, what drew me to this school was its sheer size and good reputation. Every day, in order for me to travel to & fro the school, I need to spend at least 1.5 hours on the road. But I've never regretted it.

One of the main reasons was because I joined the National Police Cadet Corps (NPCC) as CCA. When I first joined the CCA, it was because I felt that the uniform looked smart. I didn't think so much. I didn't know what I was in for.

My squadmates & I went through 3 years of really really tough training. When I was in Sec. 1, we had to gather at the monkey bar every day after school. Our NCOs (officers) would meet us there and made sure that each of us cross the monkey bar a few times. As a result, our hands were always filled with blisters. Eventually, these blisters hardened and became hard skin.

Besides physical training, foot drill was also an essential part of our training. It's really crazy, marching up and down in the hot sun, doing amazing numbers of push-ups and sit-ups. The record number of sit-ups my squad did was 500. Crazy right?

So, the question is why didn't I quit the CCA? After all, some of my squadmates did left us & I don't see the purpose in all that tough training at all. 2 reasons that I can think of. Friends. And pride.

Friends
My squadmates and I began to form a bond, mainly because of shared experiences (shared sufferings to be exact). My closest friends till date, besides my church-mates, are all from The Chinese NPCC unit 1994 - 1997.

People like Lenin, Jianzhuang, Jingrong, Tianshen, Kaiyang and Junqiang all left footprints in my life. Every one of them had been a tremendous blessing to me personally. Even now, we still keep in contact.

Of course, there're many other squadmates who had also influenced me but I have kind of lost contact with them - Kangliang, Liangbing, Shukun, Shane, Marcus, Zhong Hui, Weiwen, Gim Teck, Ah Phua, Yunxi, Danny, Dalian and Junchao.


Pride
Even at that age, I hate giving up halfway. I preferred to endure the tough training and show people that I can make it. There was a lot of pride in me, and that sometimes caused me to do foolish things in the latter part of my life.

At the end of 4 years, I attained the rank of Staff Sergeant and was the Publications Chairman in the Executive Committee. I had the badges as shown below. More importantly, I made many many good friends, who had been with me throughout my life journey.

Don't give up. Persevere on in the things that you really believe in. We need this in every stage of our life.

中秋节快乐

Today is Mid-Autumn. 中秋节快乐

Last Sunday night, I had a little mooncake celebration with some of the PRC students who are currently studying at NUS. There were altogether 15 of us.

We had a great time of sharing, having fun, eating mooncakes, playing around with laterns and sparklers.



Because the group is not very big, we were able to give the PRC students a sense of feeling of family. It's really not easy to come all the way to Singapore and study on their own, when their own families are back in China. For them, they have to stay here for at least 10 years.

One of my close friends, Stephen shared these words that day:

举头望明月，
低头思故乡。

(It means when you look at the moon, you will think of your family. It's from a very famous Tang poem.)

He had been in Singapore for 8 years. Every year, during 中秋节, he will always think of his family back in Malaysia. This kind of feeling, people like me would never really understand. All my life, I had never been away from my family physically for more than 5 months.

Do learn to cherish your family. It's not perfect, but it's the only one you have.


Here are the photos!!

Photos all here!!

My Life Journey Part 2 - Those were the days...

I found some of these old photos. Yes, the boy is me. =D

Childhood Games

I suddenly thought of all the childhood games that I used to play: catching, five stones, "hantam bola", 1-leg, erasers flipping and hopscotch. I will go on to do a short introduction on each of them.

Catching
For this game, out of a group of children, 1 will be selected as the 'catcher'. Then this catcher will run around the whole place chasing after any of the other children. If he managed to catch any of his friend (by touching him), that friend will take over the 'catcher' role and everything will start all over again. It's really fun and everybody will run and hide and run and hide.


Five Stones
Come on guys. This is NOT a game just for girls. I played it too when I was young. Basically, there are 5 small bean bags, as shown in the photo on the left. The players will take turn to do all kinds of things with the bean bags. For more details, go to this website.




1-Leg
This is a real classic. The players will be divided into 2 groups. One group will have to cross a certain distance by running. The other group's players will each be constantly hopping around with only 1 leg. These 1-leggers will try to touch the other group's players. If anyone from the running group is being touched, they will be considered 'dead'. Heh..


Hantam Bola
My all-time favorite!! Players are divided into 2 groups. Each group will have a certain number of table tennis (not tennis) balls. Both groups are to throw the balls at one another. If a player is hit by the ball and the ball falls to the ground, his number of lives will deducted. If the player is hit, but yet, manages to hold on to the ball, the thrower will minus 1 life then.




Erasers flipping
I used to go crazy over this. Everyday, I would buy 1 eraser (those with flags). Then I would play against my friends with the erasers I bought. To put it simply, each player will take turns to flip his own eraser until 1 eraser lies on top of the other. The person's whose eraser is below will lose. (I was quite good at this!)



Hopscotch
Draw the hopscotch. Jump within the boxes drawn. Cannot skip any step unless the stone you throw lies on the squares. It's a great great game. But I wasn't really that agile and didn't excel in it. Hopscotch 101 is an interesting website that teaches how to play the game real well. =)

My Life Journey Part 1 - Primary School

I'll be starting a new series of posts on my life story. I believe that everybody has a story to tell.

Me? I was born into a family of 7 - my grandparents, my parents, my elder brother, my elder sister and I in 1981.

My brother and sister are older than me by 7 years and 5 years respectively. Hence, they don't really interact much with me when I was young. The only thing that drew me and my brother together was the computer. He taught me how to hack games at the age of 10.

My primary school life at Maha Bodhi was mainly filled with memories of me and my friends. We played games like catching, five stones, "hantam bola", 1-leg, erasers flipping, hop-scotch, Chinese chess, etc. (Compared to now, kids are usually playing PSP, Gameboy, Nintendo DS, etc)

One of the key highlights of my primary school life came when I was in Primary 5. My Maths teacher, Mrs. Teo chose me to represent the school in a Maths compeititon in the Chinese High. Though I didn't win any award, I gained a lot of confidence because I felt that my teacher trusted me.

Futhermore, the compeition exposed me to the compounds of the Chinese High. It was really really huge with water and hills and many many classrooms. I was captivated by it and that propelled me to choose the Chinese High after the release of my PSLE results in 1993.

A simple action of my Maths teacher caused my life to be changed. It just goes to show we can never underestimate the long-lasting effects that a teacher's actions (or lack of actions) can bring to a student's life.

Fun Day @ MacRitchie Reservoir

Today, I had a great time doing canoeing at MacRitchie Reservoir. The above photos showed how we looked after 1 hour of fun. Yes, I think it's quite exhaustive, but fun.

Evan Almighty

Last Sat, I watched Evan Almighty on the big screen. Here's a short description of the comedy movie.

"A newly elected congressman, Evan, was tasked by God to make an ark. He risked his career, his family and basically, his life to get the ark done. And because of what he has done, he was able to save the lives of his family, colleagues and neighbours from a broken dam."

The whole movie is full of funny jokes. I can't stop laughing throughout almost the whole show. But beyond the laughter, I do feel that this show does have some lessons that we can learn from.

1. Courage
When Evan received the calling from God to build the ark, he devoted his life to it. Despite people (including his colleagues) laughing at him, he continued. At one point, even his beloved family left him. Yet he persevered on.

Courage - to do the right thing even if the people around you do not understand.


2. Love
Evan's family drew together to do this apparently 'silly' act of building the ark after God enlightened Evan's wife.

"When you prayed to God for greater intimacy within the family, do you think God will just give you the intimacy? Or do you think that God will give you an opportunity for this to happen?"

Evan's wife realised that this whole thing about building the ark can help bring the family closer together than even before. She brought the children back to Evan, and the 5 of them went on to build the ark together as a family. That is love.


3. Kindness
In the show, it was repeated a few times. How can we change the world? We can change the world by doing acts of kindness one at a time. Always be a blessing to those around you. Don't be calculative.

And when you do that, the atmosphere around you in the workplace, school or classroom will change positively. People will be smiling more and be more cheerful. Don't wait for someone to give on to you. Be that somebody who gives.

Happy Teachers' Day

I must say. Today's Teachers' Day Concert in school has been really entertaining and enjoyable. It has put many wide smiles on the teachers. The two MCs were fantastic and hilarious. I think they can host TV shows in MediaCorp or something. Really talented.

Since this is a season of always being thankful, I would llike thank all the teachers that had taught me before, in all my 16 years of education. Special mention to the following wonderful teachers (without them, I would never have made it to become a teacher myself now):


Primary School (Maha Bodhi School)

Mrs. Teo (My Maths Teacher)
- For believing in me and giving me a chance to take part in the Inter-Schools Maths Olympiad Competition.

Mr. Shue (My Chinese Teacher)
- For teaching me so many life values, including the need for discipline.


Secondary School (The Chinese High School)

Mr. Peng (My Maths Teacher)
- For making Maths really interesting. He inspired me to perform well.

Ms. Mok Lai Koin (My Chemistry Teacher & Form Teacher)
- For being so strict with my class on the surface but actually was extremely caring about our needs.


Junior College (Hwa Chong JC)

Mr. Chan Kwok Leong (My Maths Teacher & Form Teacher)
- For supporting me to run for Students' Council and for making Maths easy to understand.

Mr. Ng Soon Kok (My Physics Teacher)
- For inspiring me to excel in Physics and fall in love with it. He's really really a nice and caring person.


University (NUS)

Prof. Ha Yajun
- For being constantly supportive throughout my Final Year Project (FYP) and giving me valuable assistance and advice.

Hi Sir, I'm from Fraud & Security..

My handphone rang in the middle of the night last Thursday. It was an unknown number.

"Hi Sir, I'm from the Fraud & Security Department of a bank. We suspect that your credit cards had been stolen."

I was like ....

Then after talking to the guy, I realised what had happened. I actually had applied for a credit card 3 weeks ago. However, the credit card never came. Somehow along the way, someone stole my credit card and used it.

That someone used my credit and choked a bill of more than $3000.

I can't believe this happened to me. I lost something that I had never received in the first place. Gosh.

The Fraud & Security guy told me to make a police report. Yes, I reported the loss of something that I had never seen or touched before. Strange right?

Anyway, I was a bit like asking "Why me??" Honestly, I felt a bit resentful that this kind of thing can happen to me.

Last night, someone reminded me of 1 of the key attitudes that I wanted to have in the year 2007. And that is to be always thankful. Looking at this credit card case, I realised that I can learn to be positive about it.

I'm thankful that the Fraud & Security department of the bank notify me that some suspicious transactions had occurred.

I'm thankful that the bank froze the usage of the stolen credit card.

I'm thankful that I do not have to pay a single cent for the credit card bill.

See? There're indeed many things to be thankful about. If you're in a difficult situation, do try to be thankful. You will find more joy and gladness. It's a matter of perspective. =)

Getting Connected with Nature (with 1M)

Raffles Institution Anthem

When Stamford Raffles held the torch
That cast Promethean Flame
We faced the challenge of the day
To give our school a name
The eagle eye and gryphon strength
They led us to the fore
To reign supreme in ev'ry sphere
The sons of Singapore
Come heed the call Rafflesians all
And let our hearts be stirring
We'll do our best whate'er test
And keep our colours flying
Let comradeship and fervent hope
With one voice make us pray
Auspicium Melioris Aevi
With God to guide the way

Composed by E W Jesudason, Headmaster, Raffles Institution, 1963-1966

Well, I must confess. I still can't memorise the whole institution anthem yet. But I'm working towards it. The words of the song are really meaningful.

I really like the last two verses:

Auspicium Melioris Aevi: Our school motto which means Hope of a Better Age.

With God to guide the way: Wow!! Amazing!!