A bit lost... not just sometimes

I don't like to watch advertisements. Well, not all at the least. But being in a hotel room, I notice that I have the tendency to flip through the channels. And today, I stumble upon an advertisement that is promoting a christian CD. Amy Grant's - Thy Word is a Lamp Unto My Feet, was aired.



It was breadth taking. Stealing a moment of my life. I was time-ported to worship. It is a beautiful song and I like what Amy spoke about in her performance:

Erm,... it is a good thing to remember this song.
It's a... the choruses is from Psalms.
'Cuz all of us get a little bit lost in life.
Sometimes we are lost when we are young.
Sometimes we are continuously lost.
But it is easy to loose your way, especially when life last a long time.
I got a letter from a woman the other day,
she handed to me which is kindda crumpled and...
she said, "My mother has just passed away, she was in her 90s. [And] I was her care giver. I am probably a little too old to feel this way, but I feel just a little bit lost."
And I thought, "Well, I've known that feeling myself."

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
And a light unto my path.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
And a light unto my path.

When I feel afraid,
And think I�ve lost my way.
Still, you�re there right beside me.
Nothing will I fear
As long as you are near;
Please be near me to the end.

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
And a light unto my path.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
And a light unto my path.

I will not forget
Your love for me and yet,
My heart forever is wandering.
Jesus by my guide,
And hold me to your side,
And I will love you to the end.

Nothing will I fear
As long as you are near;
Please be near me to the end.

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
And a light unto my path.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
And a light unto my path.
And a light unto my path.
You�re the light unto my path.


I've know that feeling myself....

The words are so familiar.

The are so very familiar. I could recall those words were embedded in so many places in the bible. Being lost. Being tempted. Being sad. Feeling lonely. I recalled Him saying, "I know that feeling myself" (Hebrews 4:15).

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.

I am glad to have known Jesus since childhood. Feeling a "little lost" does occurs, and when they do come... it is good to know that His Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. I never have the chance to hold a real powerful lamp that shines the whole city. The torchlight that I use in periods of blackouts only shines nothing more than just a few feet away. Similarly, during those periods of a "little lost", the Word of God provides just that sufficient guidance for me to move forward. There is still a lot of darkness infront, but the light is just enough. Just enough... ah, just enough. Reminds me of another verse that is hidden somewhere in my heart:

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. (2 Cor. 12:9)

His grace is just enough for me.

A father's chronicle (A little walk with our friends)

We have a little walk with our family friends - Tom, Carol and Hannah, at the McRitchie on Sunday. Actually, I was there for my regular (ahem, not so regular these days) run. Some shots that I have taken with the kidz having fun...



Hannah is Theophilus' sunday school mate and Primary school mate too.




Our kids have grown a little... more funny. Look at Gracia! She is really having fun.

A father's chronicle (Our last trip to the Zoo, before membership expiry)

Like all typical Singaporeans (or is it?), we maximized our last bit of our Zoo's membership this weekend. Honestly, I still find our Zoological Gardens as really world-class. This is not just about "national pride", but I have visited a few other zoos. The Singapore Zoo is really a nice place to visit.

Here are some shots taken.



Gracia in a supermart with us just prior to going to the Zoo... we need to load up some food to fill our tummy just in case, right? It is another "Singaporean" characteristics - must have food.

We have a "special treat" today. Went really near to the Giraffes.



So, who is this "tall dark and handsome" fellow?




A victory sign from Gracia...




Some evidence that the younger always follow the elder....



Well, we might not renew our membership since I am able to get "free" tickets from my company for the entire family. Nice perks, huh?

A father's chronicles (He is writing)

It has been a long journey in teaching Theophilus. Reading, writing, values, play.... one of the most rewarding experience is teaching him to read and write. We have so many story-making together. Kingdoms fighting against each other. Smoke, fire, clouds,... arrows, and shields.

It is an understatement to say that I am happy to read his writings. He is a little like me. We imagine things and have pretty graphical imagination. We can stare into thin air and watch a movie made up all with the sight, sound, smell and taste. And yes, we get very drained by this kind of "little adventure" too.

Tonight, he came home writing. He is found of reading, but he is beginning to write lately. I am infringing into his copyrights now. But I want to share with you this beautiful piece of art. I am writing it in verbatim, all grammar mistakes, spelling errors and such. Perhaps, in a few years later we can catch his progress:


The pale moon hung across the cloudless sky. Four black swan flew in the sky. A boat rowed away in the shimmering water. It was very strange, because no one rowed the boat. It seemed that there was magic from the four swan's wing's, or the wings propelled the boat to a vast black mountain. As soon as the boat was on land, the swan's transformed to women. They carried out of the old lady. She had a scarred melted face and a emty socket. She cracked dryly, go now my sisters, I have work to do. As soon as I get my hand on the Pendragon, the owner of the sword will pay for this!

I must admit that some parts really caught my attention and I could sense his imagination very strongly as I read it. I am glad that he is writing. He is always very shy of his writings, but tonight he shared with us what he has written. I am so glad to take a peek at his work. He is growing. I am glad he is growing.

Well done, my boy. Great job!

A father's chronicle (Investment)

I was talking. Explaining how a system is working while I was at the church's bookends... at the side of my eyes, I could see them coming. Boys in blue. They are from the Boys' Brigade. They are walking around asking for donations. Theophilus also have such an experience a few months back - raising funds for Pei Hwa Pres. Pri. I often felt such fund raising is a good chance for them to train up their courage and toughen their resilience to rejection. While the organization gain in the funds, the volunteer gains something else... but not many people see it that way. For one thing - we don't enjoy rejections. We see it as a setbacks.

So, three of them came to me to ask for donations - two at first.

"Excuse me, can you help us in the donation?"
"Excuse me, can you donate six dollars?"

Errr.... if I give you six dollars, can you each get a book at the cost of $1 each? - I twisted it to be a business proposition. I often like to make opportunities as learning lessons. They gain donation, while I gain sale. At the end, they get their donation card done up - I could only see the up side on their end.

Nope, they didn't bite. To them this is not a good duel. I am left somewhat puzzled. I explained my business proposition in greater detail and explain their up-side. ... Nope, it is not biting. Nothing to loose on their end, why did they not do it (at least for the fun of it?) Perhaps, it is our culture? - we take and don't give back. We take everything from the society and does not give back anything. Perhaps, business ideas is too abstract an idea for them, they are ... perhaps 10 years old? Well, I must have overestimated the age which these things can be understood and taught.

Just when I was about to exhaust myself in explanation, the third boy came forward. He is a little cubby Indian boy. He said: "Excuse me, sir. Can you invest $6 in me?"

Boy! He strike a note in me immediately. I took out a $10 bill and smiled at him. To that, I responded:

"Yes! I would. Because I believe in people. I believe in investing in people. Not organization. Not groups. I believe in you and I want to invest in you."

Yes, I believe in people. I invest in people. Not things. Not groups. Not organization. Not property. Not stocks. Not shares. Only people. It is a risky business. Unlike gold, people change. But perhaps, it is also because of this .... that's why I invest in people! Change does not necessarily lead to decay. We can improve for the better.

I felt good the whole day. I walked away feeling satisfied. I have planted my $10 well into the heart of this little boy. As he walks away (I was the first person who signed on his donation card, and the one who gave the largest amount marked on the card), I reminded him: I only invest in people. I invest in you because I believe in you.

He walked away feeling happy, bewildered.... but happy.

Perhaps, he will understand this lesson when he is older. Perhaps, he might also be an investor. I pray that he will invest well.

I hope I will have the chance to teach Theophilus on this lesson on investing. Investment in people.

A christian father's chronicle (A song in times of need)

Being a parent can be rough, and a father has its own set of challenges. Last Sunday, this song was sung in church - "How Deep The Father's Love". I thought it is a really good song with strong anchors. So for those Dads out there who needs anchorage when the storm is wrapping you up, here is a little resting point.

Lyrics can be found here.

Spring + Quartz

I have started to use Quartz within Spring last night after thinking about why I cannot run away from using a scheduler and how I could avoid using one.... in the end, I ran out of options, so I started to design the job and stick out a few lines of configuration.

There were two interesting lessons that I have learnt.

1. The cron expression for the org.springframework.scheduling.quartz.CronTriggerBean is not a standard unix cron expression. It is only "cron-like" definition (as written in the javadoc for CronTrigger).

This one bites me a few hours. Reading the documentation at first glance gave me the impression that the expression used to setup the cron job is the standard unix crontab expression. Oh, how wrong I was!!! In the end, I was battling with a strange error message (a snapshot shown below):

Invocation of init method failed; nested exception is java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: org.quartz.SchedulerException: method (Ljava/lang/String;Ljava/lang/Throwable;)V not found
Caused by:
java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: org.quartz.SchedulerException: method (Ljava/lang/String;Ljava/lang/Throwable;)V not found
at org.springframework.scheduling.quartz.SchedulerFactoryBean.registerJobsAndTriggers(SchedulerFactoryBean.java:795)
at org.springframework.scheduling.quartz.SchedulerFactoryBean.afterPropertiesSet(SchedulerFactoryBean.java:599)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.invokeInitMethods(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1118)

Of course, when you read this blog you already have the wisdom it is due to the cron expression. But that's hindsight. Looking at the error message gives you a few misleading indicators. It was actually saying something really different. The underlying class have a mismatch method signature or using one that does not exists. So, I try other Quartz library... 1.5.1, 1.5.2 or even 1.6.0 which ships with the Spring that I am using. Nothing works until I changed the cron expression to the one that follows EXACTLY as in the documentation, then my unit tests start to fire up again.

Actually, a hint that there might be something wrong with the crontrigger bean happens when I commented out the portion of loading of triggers to the SchedulerFactoryBean. The error message is no longer showing up, ... and of course, neither was the job firing up.... but it was hinting something to me...

This is when I started to go back to the javadoc for CronTrigger and discover to my horror that the cron expression IS NOT the standard cron expression. Perhaps, Spring could put a liner of warning to the documentation too (not just the javadoc). Not their fault, I should have better known this.

2. Strangely, Quartz 1.6.0 that ships with my Spring 2.0.8 did not work on runtime. It works on compile time.

Well.... there is a strange liner when the Spring's javadoc for SchedulerFactoryBean have this liner:

This version of Spring's SchedulerFactoryBean requires Quartz 1.5 or higher.

So, I resort to Quartz 1.5.2 and it works again.

So, just make sure that all these are out of the way and ... enjoy the fun of firing up your jobs.

A father's chronicles (Learning to ride a bicycle on two wheels)

I should have written this in late January, or was it in February.... in any case, the time dragging part of me won the better side of my being.

I did write on a post previously on teaching Theophilus how to ride a bicycle. I often wonder how we "magically" learn how to ride a bike. It is a strange thing. How to start? Where to start? For me as an engineer by profession, I have the evil tendency to sit by the side of the road. Dig out the Bike's User Manual. Read from page one, and until the point I get too bored and then locate the index page or content page, and zoom in to the specifics... perhaps - Which direction should your bike be facing while you peddle forward? in the FAQ section. OK OK common sense (some call it cow-sense or horse sense is not that common, OK?)

Anyway, credit really have to go to Yan. She has determination that surpass mine in teaching the boy how to ride a bicycle. We have two different approaches: I usually hold the handle of the bike while the boy rides on and I will let it loosen as the days goes by. While, she does it differently. She holds the back of his bike, allowing him to freely handle the bike (which can swing from left to right and back to left again... you know? How first timers does it?). There are many times, I sit by the side of the pavement and watch how she does it (and yes, mock at the idea and methodology of it all). I think it is a human thing to always think YOUR method is THE method. Anyway, I now know that it was wise of me to marry her! And [her] wisdom have a way to mock at [my] folly.

OK OK OK... the bottom line is: Her method works better (at least on Theophilus).

Shorting of writing a manual or an Idiot's guide on "How to teach your child riding a bicycle". I am giving out some pointers from the lessons that I have learn from the entire episode:

1. Gravity is still switched on.

Yes, your child will fall off the bike. So, don't get too stressed out over that. I put this as the FIRST pointer because well... to be honest... I often felt Singaporean parents tend to get too upset over the bruises and scratches that comes along as a learning fee to how to ride on a bike.

One way to minimize the bruises or cuts is to wear gears. Theophilus was wearing them initially, but along the way felt they are very uncomfortable and getting into the way of things.

It is natural to get bruise. It is part of the learning. It is part of the cost to learning. And I must say... unless you get really hurt... the price is a small price for a skill of a lifetime!

2. I recommend that you hold the hind of the bike and not the handles.

This is something that came out of the lessons of Yan. And I must admit that it is more effective. Just ask the kid to peddle and waggle the handle (never mind of that). Hold the back of the bike for balancing and control... but let him control the bike.

I must say it is a back-breaking experience. So a little warning here.... because their bike is a little small and lower than our adult ones... we need to bend over to hold the hind of the bike... and you are running or walking fast with your back bent... for some period of time, and it is painful after some time - believe me, it will take more time than you anticipated and your back will tell you so.

3. Go to an open space to train

We started out lessons in a pavement at the sidewalks. Naturally, this is one of the more challenging places to learn and to teach. Why? Because he got to maneuver in a rather rigid straight line. So, forget it. Go for a big open area. Maybe a basket ball court?

For us, we went to the highest level of a multi-storey car park. Yup, we carried his bicycle (with water bottles and such) up to level M (or was it M?... ok, many many levels up).

Teaching him there is easier, and when he finally master the basics, he has a lot of room to really move around and execute turns and bends and try out foolish stuns.

If you trying out on the top level of a multi-storey car park - do still be on the lookout for cars. We teach him in the mid-morning, so there is very few cars coming up.

Now, some photos.

Evidence that Mommy carried the bicycle up and down the flights of steps.



Now, some evidence that Theophilus is really brave and determine to learn how to ride on a two wheeler. Falling is a common experience in the beginning.... you have to respect gravity - it is a good teacher.



Victory comes only many attempts of working on a problem. It is a basic principle of life - only tough people last, tough situation won't.



You should see the satisfaction on his face whenever he sees someone older than him riding on 4 wheels now...

Since then, we have many sessions riding as a family together. Gracia is riding with me, of course.... it is a very nice family experience.

ERP

Yeong Sheng sent me a podcast by Mr. Brown on ERP (Electronic Road Pricing). I find it so funny, so here is the link to it for your enjoyment. The lyrics can be found here. Beep! Beep!

BTW, some of the things that were in the lyrics are hard truths that we are struggling. To some they are perceptions, but I don't think so. Some days back on radio there was an "expert" who commented that there is only a small fraction of the drivers who encounters the ERP gantry. I wonder whether he stays in Singapore or in the digital world. I used to drive along the PIE to work. When they put up the gantry just before Stevens Road, I have to avoid it using Bukit Timah. Now, I have to avoid BKE gantry... and I thought I was wise enough - I drive along upper Bukit Timah... guess what? Yes, there is one just outside Hume Park Condo. So, there is absolutely no chance to avoid the gantries except to go to office later. But that is tough for a parent - since I drive my daughter to school. Put her on the school bus - but guess what? Ask the school bus companies how much have the jacked up the fees! And BTW, driving her to work is a good bonding opportunity between father-and-daughter. So, I guess the hard and dry answer from LTA is probably: Too bad, this is the ONLY solution that we have come up with and the one that works (with a smile, of course).

So there is some truth in the phrase:

Cos car is only luxury
Build the road for Fellari
Normal car will up lorry
Ji Pa Ban (uh!), Ichiban (uh)
No million dollars you Lan Lan
CTE is the place to be
Singapore road for VIP

In practical terms: how much improvement can the public transport achieve? I think it is already very good from a global standard. But I don't think that can address all our needs. If I were single, I think that is an ideal solution. If kids? Hmmm.... perhaps, I have to "Lan Lan" and accept whatever fast birth rate of gantries and ERP charges.

Ah, I know what? Why can't there be a law to have everybody work from home? That will solve the driving around in large numbers. Or at least have the government encouraging companies to move towards that direction and gives incentives for that?

Something interesting I learnt about Singapore

Hmmm.... I am a Singaporean. Born here. Educated here. Working here. Have kids here. Still here.... but little did I know about something interesting that happened in the past.

OK, I was watching a movie and it mentioned something about raining of fish. That is, fish literally raining from the sky. Not just one. Not just a couple of them, I guess.

Did a little check, and it seems that fish raining happened in Singapore before! It happened in 22 February 1861 (close to 147 years ago). It seems to be mentioned in American Meteorological Society (AMS) Journal in 1917 in the article "Showers of organic matter", check out page 7, paragraph 2.

Hee hee hee hee.... they should rain some fish this week. It is coming to the Lunar New Year, and that will be a good sign for everybody - but not too good to the fish sellers, the prices of fish have just gone up due to the festive season.

There is good and ugly (Maven2)

Well, thought I might just add some thoughts in the debate on Maven that started a couple of days back. Didn't want to add to that blog's long list of comments as it already is a long list and honestly, took me sometime to read all the valuable experiences of others.

I must at least quantify where and what I do: I am a Development Manager. I look at development processes, and toolsuite is part of my constant concern as it impacts how my teams get their work done. There was a kung-fu movie (StormRiders) that has some nice wisdom:

Cloud: Which is better, martial arts or a good sword?

Cloud's father: A good sword can help a novice and make a expert really powerful. But the most important is who is using the sword.

That's the subtitle, yurks! Let me paraphrase it using my Cantonese:

Cloud: Which is more important? Martial Arts or a good sword?

Cloud's father: A good sword can make someone without martial arts mighty, and also can make a master conquer the world. But most important is the character of the person who uses the sword. Remember, there is no enemies to kindness.

And that's perhaps my starting point.

There were a few things that drawn my attention to Maven2. And yes, the push factor is the documentation (more of that later). The most important part was a clear definition of a project structure. It is not entirely easy at first I must admit coming from the pure ant environment. Took some time to familarize with it. And I have also similar problem with "moving" or "shifting" artifacts. One way to control this is really to host an internal repository and we control what is really needed (together with fixing the version of the dependencies). This is a fact of life - there are many "untested" or "ill-tested" artifacts. The original developers might not have meant to do a bad job, it is just a reality that we have to live with (even with commercial products!). Rather than whinning and crying, I control this chaos.

Oh, I forgot to mention - why is it important for me to have a clear project directory structure. Of course, to be honest, I could define one and the rest of my teams follow it. But think: Is this what you want your guys to learn? i.e. YOUR structure, and YOUR way of organization? Well, what I want is this: I want to enhance their productivity. If I can follow some open way of structure, and there is wide adoption (i.e. other companies are also adopting - which is of course a dream), then it will be easier for my team to move onto another job or role in another company. Or for other skilled engineer to join my team too - it works both ways. Let's be honest: this is NOT their first company or team, and won't be the last. If I enhance their role and skill, I think I am on a better bet to retain good skilled teams.

Furthermore, I often think when running multiple projects with my teams, it is really best to have a "common" structure, so that when a "new" team member is dropped into the project, productivity will not be affected too adversely - it is a reality of life, at times we do need some help from other teams.

So, there is a plus if we have a proper project directory structure. i.e. where we place our codes, where we place the configuration files, the web stuffs, etc.

Maven provides that. I do not have experience with Ivy (yet). But I think I will take a look at it soon from all those good words that were said, not to forget a few others in the blog mentioned above.

All said, I admit the documentation of Maven was more of a hinderance to me than of a help. In fact, at times I do better without it! Why is it so? well.... blame it on us! I thought it is supposed to be an open source project, isn't it? And one with a good intention. Those who complained about the documentation (like me), are NOT the ones writing the documentation. If we want it to be better, well... roll-up your sleeves and help out by contributing to the quality and detail of the documentation. In fact, there are so many "experts" who have used Maven and complained about the quality of the documentation, yet I don't see them on the list of contributors. Is Howard on the list? Is Jay on the list? Is Jon on the list? Is Gabriel on the list? Carols who is from the maven team commented "documentation could be better way" in the long series of comments. Notice there is no ivory tower talk - he is already contributing to the project. I think his credential blows the rest away (and mine too when I say the documentation is a hinderance because I have not helped in the documentation either, so shame on me). It is because of this, that's why I kept much of my silence. If it is not good (enough), most likely it is because we are not contributing to its success when we see the problem. Just admit it.

The point is simple: This is an open source project. Complains will go that far. The better thing to do is to help out when you see the problem. Of course, as end users of a product, we can fly to another product which gives us better stuff (that's seems to be a prevalent behavior when you read those comments)... but honestly, I think that is a ... not so good attitude to life in general. When we take something, it is always good to give back something too.

So, what is said in the StormRiders quotes above is true: But most important is the character of the person who uses the sword. Remember, there is no enemies to kindness.

A father's chronicle (Staying on the same page)

There are so many things to do in order to keep up with our kids. Cartoons to watch together, toys to play together.... and yes, for me now at this late hour of the night.... books to catch up.

Theophilus have read The Phantom Tollbooth for .... 4 or 5 times. And I think it is a great book. Actually, it was Yan who stumbled over the book while browsing through Amazon. She read a portion of it to him and both of them were rushing to the bookstore!

So, here I start.... I want to be on the same page as my son. I am going to read the book that he read.... and walk the same alleys of imagination which he has journey. I wished we have read it together.

Oh, I must confess: we bought him more books over the weekend. I think 6 of them. It will be gone in no time. Two classics - The Treasure Island, and The Secret Garden. The rest are for real nice fun with language. I wished I have had so many books when I was at his age. This is going to be real fun.

A father's chronicle (School orientation)

OK, this is fun. It is not just Theophilus' first day (yesterday) in Pei Hwa Presbyterian Primary school, it is also Gracia's first day in Glory Kindergarten too. Unbelieveable. It is school time!

Wait... he is having orientation. She is having orientation. They are having school orientation on the same day. It is nice at least to know that Gracia is having morning session while the boy is attending school in the afternoon, else this might have to defy some physics law.

So, it was fun. Drove the whole family to Glory Kindergarten. The girl have absolutely no problem in settling down in class. She has been going to Glory Kindergarten so often to fetch the brother from school anyway. It was only last month that Theophilus left the same kindergarten and now joins the "Alumni". Furthermore, she has been going to Sunday school and have been watching the brother. She wants to attend school. Just like the brother.... but a little more - she is often attracted by the goodie bags given out whenever there is a birthday party in class. She is already dreaming of parties after parties. Playgrounds, food... this is endless amount of fun for her. Pretty teachers....






In fact, we have a very interesting conversation....

Dad: So, Gracia, what do you like about school?
Gracia: Miss [name withheld to protect the innocent].
Dad: Why? You like her?
Gracia: Yup.
Dad: Why?
Gracia: Because she is pretty.
Dad: [Duh]
Theophilus: Ya ya ya ... she is pretty. But her homework is pretty xiong! (means very tough in Hokkien)

So, school is fun.

There are things in Gracia's orientation that is still in my mind. Her leaving home for school....



Her walking around the class. Her sliding down the slides in the playground. Her happy face. Her laughter. Her teachers saying that she is really very independent. No crying. No whinning. No bully of others. Share. Not afraid to take a school bus on her way back home (yes, we pick her up at our home). She is so small (both physically and age), but she is really very independent. BTW, we really have a tough time getting a pair of school shoes for her. She is really very small in size.... even her uniform have to be XS.

Theophilus' orientation has a different experience. We prayed for his primary school explicitly. We went for registration, submitted forms. Waited for the outcome of the registration, and today I get to taste the reason of why I wanted him to get into this school.

The students went to the hall. They set down in neat columns.







They have a singspiration with the help of a chaplin. They sang. They sang! They sang praises to God. They actually sang praises to God in school. The hall have Bible verses around. The school have so many verses written all around. They sang the song - In whom I can trust. When they sung, I almost cried. This is what I want. This is the environment I want to grow him in. To be honest, I almost knelt down and worship God when they sung that song! It was like heaven to me. For that entire 4 minutes... I was immerse into a heavenly host. All our prayers pointing to here and now. A taste of things to come. Here are the meaningful lyrics:

You are the Lord

In whom I can trust

You are the Rock

I can stand upon

Every step of the way

You take my hand and say

You'll always be there right beside me

When I call on you,I know You'll come to me

Chourus:

You are the Lord

In whom I can trust

You're my fortress

You're my deliverer

My shield,my strength

For all of my days

I place my hope in Jesus

Who loved me with his life

The Rock of my salvation

In whom I can trust

Here is the video clip (recording using my poor handphone).



It was only like yesterday that Theophilus said he wanted to go to this school because they tell bible stories. Today, I am thankful that I am getting more than that. He has the challenge to memorise all the bible verses on every wall in the school before he graduate from this school. Too easy for him, a more challenging task is to meditate on it and let those verses infuse into him. Let them transform him.

Nope, I am not particularly impressed with their academic results. Yes, as a SAP school I expected more. But heh, that's not the most important thing to me for him. It is important. Just not the most important.

OK, some other stuffs.... caught him talking in class again... he has the ability to talk while listening to instructions actually... it is a weird thing... but he needs to be careful not to distract other classmates....



He is sitting with Emma who happens to be his Sunday school classmate too. So they see each other 6 days in a week!

Oh, the part of school which Theophilus look forward most is: recess!

They have a buddy-buddy system which the Primary 2 students will help the new arrivals (Primary 1 students) during the canteen break. They bring them to the stores. Showed them where to get food. Help them to calculate the change.... and some of them are so good. They have badges on their collar. One girl whom we noticed have 3 badges: Model student, Avid Reader (Chinese), Avid Reader (English)... wow....

I caught a boy who was wearing an English Avid Reader badge just before I left the school. A primary 2 boy. I couldn't help it. I stopped there. I held his collar and examine the collar pin and said "Well done, boy! Well done!" He beamed. He just beamed. I am happy to have given him the additional help along this long journey of growth. Growing in things that are good. Who knows? He might be my Prime Minister in the future? They are leaners today.... and they will be my leaders tomorrow.

A father's chronicle (Port Dickson)

We took a short break, just a couple of days. Drove up to Port Dickson.... and stopped along the way for the kids to take a short break... nothing beats brotherly love...




So, it is beach....



Beach....



Beach....



And beach... which is good ....



We did manage to catch a few crabs... yes, in the red pail that I am holding.

I think the morning walk on the beach is nice....



Good thing my camera can take pictures in two ways....


The beach is still quite empty... they actually have to smoothen the sand every morning...



Nope, we didn't stay on those apartments... we are more land-loving people....



What the brother does.... the sister will do...




She is climbing up.... and tells me not to take the shot first till she climbs up....

No, girls don't climb trees.... at least not to me.... now come down!



Believe me... this is a tough shot. Yan is tickling her actually...

Oh, I was suprised to know that they have a farm in the resort. It is like a mini-zoo... so it is animal feeding time...




As usual, he need to touch those creatures...



And feed them....



And feed them more food....



The bad experience that Yan and myself got: We were badly bitten by some mosquitoes.... and it is really badly bitten. Good thing the kids are spared. I went to see a doctor for it, it didn't work that well. Suprisingly, the Aloe Vera Gel from Jorubi did a better job.

A father's chronicle (The power of motivation)

It was only yesterday that he went for his award ceremony and today we are seeing the result of positive motivation. On top of his usual set of worksheets, he completed one full set in 20 minutes (without any mistakes) and I couldn't do it as fast as he does.

The whole family clapped and celebrated his improvement. It is really difficult for him to do it all right and so quickly..... and at times, when I overlook his shoulders.... I found that my answer is wrong. So he is quickier and more accurate than us now... hopefully, he will get stronger and stronger as the days roll on.

A father's chronicle (Receiving prize)

This is my much anticipated ceremony after the first disappointment blogged earlier. I was hoping that this time round, the prize giving event will be more memorable. Something that can last for quite a while for him.....

Today we have the award giving ceremony for Ten-Mile junction.




It is a ceremony to encourage the students who have tried hard and excel. Never mind whether it is gold, bronze or silver. They are getting a pat on the back to let them know they are heading the right direction. That to me is very important.

Here you see, Theophilus with the rest of the kids waiting for the ceremony to start....



While the brother is waiting... so is the sister... need to keep her occupied... come on, let's do some writing...




In case you are wondering, yes, she has hit pass her letter "J" now and moving on to "K". She is quite a self-motivated girl. She practises her writing of alphabets on her own.

There is a very interesting video clip of the students... what they want to be. Here is a short list from what I remembered:

1. Doctor
2. Teacher
3. Soldier
4. Chef (not bad huh?)
5. Judge (wow)
6. Fireman
7. Accountant
8. Astronaut (my son!!!)

Well, I have thought of most of them as I was a boy too (especially the fireman and soldier too). I did consider muscian, mathematician and at one point a scientist. Not a doctor. I hate needles. Never mind about poking others and not myself. I still got to look at them when I inject someone isn't it?

Here you have it, Mr. Yang and Theophilus. Mr. Yang is his teacher... very patient with him, believe me when I say teaching him maths can be just one level above eating broken glass. The "funny" thing is that once he gets it, he flies faster than I could read the question!




He is getting his Gold award this year.

Gracia cannot keep up with all these... she needs food...



Theophilus is excited about his prize. He was just expecting his usual medal, but it came with an additional suprise - a set of vouchers too.




Here you have Mr. William Tan making a speech.... I am glad that he told the kids to quiet down... what a din! And now William and Theophilus taking a photo together. It ended well...



Forget about the food, let's take another shot with Mr. Yang again...



I always try to look at what he does with the awards.... I caught him again polishing this new medal (and it can be polished!!!)



He was using his shirt to polish his new medal!



Now, the medal sits on his piano top besides his trophy and believe me, he says this is such a nice medal. To me, I think so too - it has a star on it and to the kids ... stars mean something special to them.

BTW, in case you wonder about something. I think it was really very nice that William taught the students to thank their parents (and people who have helped them). Theophilus thanked us more than 3 times after the ceremony, and I know he really meant every word that he said. To me that's a virtue I want to instill in my kids - gratitude. Not just being an intelligent kid, we need to have kids who show gratitude. It will go a long way in life - more than the fractions that he is doing now....

And what does Theophilus wants to be?



Yes, he wants to complete his journey in Kumon - to be a Kumon completer, I think he is heading in the right direction.

Well done, boy!

Celebrating our 10th year as one

Today marks our 10th anniversary. We have to get some fun, so guess what? We tried to enjoy a bit like a tourist. We took a cable car from Mount Faber to Sentosa and look at some tourist attraction spot.



Here we are before taking the cable car. BTW, there was a promotion - we can get discount as Singaporeans if we produce our Identity Cards and the kids get discounted tickets too. So rush for the cable car fun before the holiday runs out.

Here is how the Integrated Resorts look from the cable car....




We are reaching the end of the ride....



We went to the butterfly kingdom....







Quite a few nice exhibits here (free promo for them)...



As usual, static displays is a yawn to Theophilus.... he needs to touch. He learns by touching living objects. There was only a few "live" things. How about a turtle?



It is so scary putting your life in the hands of a small boy.... put me down quickly!!!



Good thing that's not the end of the tour... the second part is nicer actually.... the collection of bettles...




Took a rare shot of myself.... most of the time, I prefer to take photos instead.



Heh, these guys look like our angsana seeds....



How could we leave without taking photos of his favourite three-horned bettle?



Well, Gracia is having a nice time dancing...



And seeing the real one in action again....



Took the cable car ride back..... btw, even for this short trip.... we are tired. But it was sure fun having the whole family around to celebrate our 10th year!