panda

I think I am a person who remembers misgivings in the past. To the extent when I will be apprehensive if a person has somewhat exhibited communication characteristics which put me in a dead end before, I will not be very interested in talking to him/her again. Below of some examples. This post will consist largely of dialogues I had with another person (not necessarily the same person even though it CAN be the same person) to illustrate the instances at which communication breakdown took place. Comments from me will be added at the end of each dialogue to show how apprehensive I am when communicating with this person until now. For the purpose of anonymity, letters from alphabets (they do NOT represent initials of the other party!) are used to represent the other party and "ME" will be used to represent me, duh!

Example 1
People who put me down immediately.
A: What are you studying?
ME: Biology
A: So CRAP!
ME: -.-|||
Period. end of story. Biology has been the field of my studies until now, probably medicine in the future. I deleted the person from my HP after this instance. (a bit drama hor?) I din even bother to argue with it (notice the use of the pronoun "it" normally used for animals and inanimate objects) In my opinion, the other party has EQ so low that the use of pronouns used exclusively to separate human beings (like "him/her") from animals is not necessary. Wait a minute, dogs do have EQ... Hmmmz...

Example 2
People who use God/faith as a tool in communication.
*In the midst of discussion*
ME: I feel that it is aganist all odds to do this.
B: Despite of that, I still think that we should do it by faith. God told me this will work in my prayers.
ME: =__=|||
Eh... In my opinion, there is no need for discussion if God has already told the other party what to do. This God has been telling him/her what to do for everything he/she does, next time dun nid to ask me for opinions. God must be right one mah... When you bring God/faith in to discussion, there is no more room for discussion.

Example 3
Unforgiving and judgemental people.
C: The church is utter rubbish.
ME: how come ley?
C: Worship refers to the state of heart Christians adopt in approaching God.
ME: uh huh?
C: Look at what they printed. They call the people who lead in singspiration "worship leaders". They should be called song leaders.
ME: so?
C: So this church is rubbish. The sermon is rubbish.
Wahseh... so serious one ah? use one word "sala" then kena condemned. Liddat I cannot communicate with him/her lar... too stressed. One "sala" word used kena left right centre. Too scary.

Example 4
Arrogant People
D: Look, I dun nid your advice.
ME: OK.
D: All my friends have been advising what I am doing is wrong.
ME: Hmmmz... if all your friends tell u u r wrong, can it be the case that you are wrong?
D: How can I be wrong?
OK lor... you are right then. No need to talk liao...

Example 5
Saying the obvious (for a lot of times).
*in the lift, at top floor*
E: Going down?
ME: *duh, we are at the top floor. is there any other direction?* Ya...
E: Go where?
ME: hawker centre.
E: buy food?
ME: *duh* ya...
E: eat lunch?
ME: *my watch show 1 pm, double duh* ya
E: weather very hot hor?
ME: ya...
E: that's y everybody wear shorts now
ME: *cannot take it anymore*
eh... this conversation has degraded to an extent too insulting to intellect beings.

Example 6
People who open the conversation with insults and keep on insulting non stop for jokes that I cannot appreciate.
*Upon seeing I am reading a book by Ben Carson*
F: Ben Carson... sounds like ben4 car1 chng1 (stupid backside in Mandarin and Hokkien) *burst into uncontrollable laughter*
ME: Hey, Ben Carson is a brilliant person!
F: car1 chng1 *burst into monstrous laughter*
ok lor... laff all u want lor... I read all I want

Example 7
Obnoxious pseudoscholars who think they know a lot.
ME: Euthanasia... I think I know more than the lecturer!
Notice I am in this example, I am referring to myself. I think I should watch this aspect of me b4 I degrade into another arrogant animal.

Example 8
People who keep repeating
H: No one understands me...
*after listening for 15 min*
H: No one understands me... (another cycle of 15 min repeating almost similar issues)
*after 15 min*
H: no one understands me...
ME: eh... sorry, I need to go liao...
hmmmz... i think i too cruel lar... i hate to admit that I simply dun have patience for this, I think I need to improve on listening, even if it means listening to the same thing over and over again. Apply what I learnt from "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus". Hmmmz.. luckily John Gray din use pluto when he wrote the book.

I took these pictures while walking back to my hostel after a heavy rain. Nope. The pictures are not taken anywhere outside Singapore, even though they are taken at an obscure corner of Singapore. Note the "clouds" that I ringed out on the pictures. They are really clouds. They are evidences for transpiration as the trees in the background give out water vapour to the atmosphere. Because of the cold temperature and the dusty *ahem* environment, the water vapour the trees gave out condensed on the dust particles. Although the pictures are static, the "clouds" are really moving. I thought it was an awesome sight even though the pictures are not that awesome... ha...

I remember back in my days when I was in NUS, the first essay that I was given to write upon is - "While we know there are proper nouns in English, is there such a thing as a proper verb in English Language?"

To start off, here are some examples of proper nouns. The first letter of the words for the proper nouns are are usually capitalised, like National University of Singapore. They can be abbreviated. e.g. NUS. They are very specific. e.g. there is one and only one NUS in the whole world. In case you are looking for the model answer for the essay, the model answer is, "No, there are no proper verbs."

Alas, back in those days, I argued for the presence of proper verbs. I argued that there ARE indeed proper verbs in English Language. Though not rampant, I argued that there ARE proper verbs. In addition, I stated that I expect more proper verbs in time to come.

To start, I shall qualify what I mean my proper verbs. Using the same measure, I think it is reasonable to state that the first letter of words that make up proper verbs can be capitalised, they can be abbreviated, and must refer to a very specific act. I gave the examples of SMS as in "I SMS-ed him just now" To pin it down, we see a tense inflection usually seen for verb, the word SMS is given the suffix -ed to denote past tense. Need more examples? Yahoo websites asked people, "Do you Yahoo?" with "Yahoo" occupying a position where a verb should occupy. In each of the case given, the proper verbs refer to a specific act. SMS is specific verb, in addition, it is abbreviated. Yahoo is a specific verb, in addition, the 1st letter for the word is capitalised.

Nowadays, I see proper verbs getting more and more rampant. I hear people asking people to google over something, mrbrown made this remark in his recent post "When you IMF-ers are done IMF-ing" with inflecting IMF with a continuous tense typical of verbs and verbs only.

Notice a trend? I expect to see more of proper verbs in future as out society progress. Another trend I want to point out is such proper verbs are almost used only exclusively to describe some new actions which the dictionary does not have. Because of the emergence of new actions, there is an emergence of proper verbs. In short, I expect proper verbs to keep abreast with new actions. Co-incidentally, such proper verbs that I have pointed out are related to computer and technology.

Just in case you are wondering how much did I get despite of not adhering to the model answer, I got a A-. Rats~! I think I deserve an A+! hahahaha... just joking. :P

Ben Carson made a statement in his book. The sports and entertainment industry got blown out of proportion today. So much so that the minority (and I shall emphasize, small MINORITY) will say they see someone like Isaac Newton as their role model to sucess. Aris-tortoiseAristotle? A great thinker (but that does not necessarily means he think of the right thingz). What is that? Can eat one? How about Hippocrates? The Father of modern Medicine. The last Nobel Prize winner? Beats me (and I mean it, I really dunno).

Let's try another approach. Last world cup champions? Italy. How about the world cup before? Brazil. Last season NBA MVP? Steve Nash, back to back MVP for 2 seasons. NBA champions? Miami Heat, with Dwayne Wade being crowned as the Finals MVP.

I agree with Ben Carson. Sports and entertainment stole the limelight. Carson is not saying (neither am I) that sports and entertainment are not important, its that that they are blown out of proportion. If we look at history, when a country gets focused more and more on the entertainment and starts neglecting knowledge, the fall of the country is almost eminent. Babylon, once a great centre of learning, notable for the Hanging Gardens, fell when its people stop seeking knowledge. Egypt, notable for the pyramids, collasped. Greece another centre for learning took a similar turn in fate, not too long after they started building colosseum in the name of entertainment. The wisest man in the face of the Earth, too, fell when he chose to forsake his knowledge
and forsook The Most High.

According to Carson, K in the acronym "T.H.I.N.K. B.I.G." stands for Knowledge. I guess I will focus more on knowledge seeking from now on. Sports and entertainment are important and good. But I think I have to remember overdose of any tonic becomes toxic. When sports and entertainment occupy ijn the right proportion, they do good. Similarly, too much knowledge can be detrimental. The Bible says Knowledge puffs up, and love builds up. I guess I need to watch out of that also. (:

Here are 2 maths Brain Teasers. Perhaps I should not have warned readers in advance. Ha... anyway... here they are

Brain Teaser 1
You travelled from Town A to Town B at 30 km/h and arrived at Town B at 5 pm.
You travelled from Town A to Town B at 20 km/h and arrived at Town B at 7 pm.
What speed must you travel to get to Town B at 6 pm?

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If you answered 25 km/h, you are WRONG~!

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The answer is 24 km/h. Go ahead and prove it if thou have time using the algebraic skills thy maths teacher has imported imparted unto thee.

Brain Teaser 2
There are 8 sticks. 7 sticks are identical with the 8th stick marked. The sticks are mixed thoroughly in a bag. You are among 8 people who are to draw one stick from the bag each without looking. The 8 persons are to draw the sticks out of the bag one after another without replacement of the stick into the bag. The person who drew the marked stick get a forfeit. Does the first person to draw the stick have less probability of drawing the marked stick?

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No. All have equal probability (1/8) of drawing the marked stick regardless of whoever go first. Go ahead and prove it if thou have time using the probability skills thy maths teacher has imported imparted unto thee.

A story was told when a lady heard that a driver is driving against the traffic flow on a road over the news. Anxiously, she called her husband and cautioned him. The husband answered, "on the road that I am in now, everybody else but me is driving against the traffic!"

In my opinion, arrogance is the mental state at which a person is blind to his own mistakes. When being told of his mistakes, not only does the person refuse to see this as his mistake, he accuses of everyone else of being wrong.

I have a friend whose name shall be kept anonymous for obvious purpose. He thinks he knows a lot about the Bible. In fact, he thinks he knows more than his pastor, his mentors, his cell group leaders. Full of himself, he refuses to seek and follow the advice of others. When his friends leave him one by one, he accuses them of not being a true friend as a true friend will stay with him no matter what happens. To some extent, he is true. I am not saying I am correct nor say he is wrong. Yes, a friend should stay with him. Beyond a certain threshold, I will think it is only logical for the friend to leave him. For example, let us just assume X sees Y swimming in a river. X knows that a current is coming and Y will be swept away if Y continues to waddle in the river. In love, X tells Y to get up the shore and tells Y that a current is coming. Y insists that it is only right for him to remain in the water and X should come and join him. By now, the current is just a few kilometres upstream. X tries to pull Y up, Y refused and accuses X of meddling with his life. At this juncture, I will think its only logical for X to leave as it is foolish for X to jump in and join Y knowing both will be swept away.

Chances are, this friend of mine will not read this. Even if he is to read this, it is very likely that he does not even know that I am talking about him. Nonetheless, I pray that he will be moulded by God the way God wants him to be. As far as I can see, he is definately not living the life God has intended for him to be and showing no intentions for change. Granted, I may be seeing things from my human perspective, but here are the evidences.

1. He claims that he knows the Bible. He believes that those who knows the Bible can judge. Thus, it is justifiable for him to pass judgement on anyone even when Jesus says he passes judgement on no one in Jn 8. (If he reads this, he will say I am quoting Jn 8 out of context. Frankly, I don't see how have I quoted this out of context from the little human wisdom God has given me). Christ urged us not to pass judgement, as if we pass judgement on others, the yardstick that we used to judge others will be used against ourselves (Matt 7). In my understanding, if he claims that he uses the Bible to judge, none will stand, including himself.
2. Friends around him urge him to change his mentality as they see him going against the traffic. Instead, he claims that his friends are the ones going against the traffic. Only he is right.
3. When his church adopted a model for growth, he claims that the church is instilling secular management theories in the church. This is not Christ-like. But if you look at the model the church adopted, it is Christ centred in every aspect, at least in my opinion. The model beseech members to pray more, adore Christ, read the Bible, give sacrificially, etc. He mean these are not Christ-like? Then what is?
4. When people make mistakes, he is unforgiving.
5. When he thinks he is hurt, he turns defensive and is out to seek revenge. In fact, he made the following remark, "... be sure that I will return you tenfold" when he feels threatened.
6. He thinks everyone else is wrong. The ministry is going the wrong direction, the church is going the wrong direction.

In case you are wondering, I already given up talking to him. Frequency very different. In fact, most of his friends have given up. To show how different our frequencies are, below is a snippet of our conversation.

Me: Can I have the contact of C? (In case you are wondering, C is a lady)
Him: No.
Me: Why?
Him: I need to ask her before I give to you.
Me: *thinking its fair enough* OK
*5 minutes later*
Him: Her email. ABCDEFG@HIJK.LMN
Me: thanks bro
Him: Enjoy, she online, knock yourself out bah, dun bully her.
Me: *Huh???* nah... just chat
Him: whateva, means nothing to me.
*then he logged off*
*few days later*
Him: I am glad I was generous to you.
Me: Huh?
Him: I generously gave u her email when you asked for it.
Me: *double huh?* what you mean?
Him: nvm

eh... liddat very hard to communicate ley... dun u think so?

I have several mentors in my life of 25 years so far. Interestingly, I had not met a handful of them face to face. Perhaps I should get the word “mentor” properly defined. With respect to this post, the word “mentor” is used to describe persons who have impacted my life, positively.

David Robinson. A man of God, a MVP in NBA, officer in Navy. Having accomplished much, Robinson is still a humble man. After he retired from NBA, he continues to be actively involved in community work. So much so that any NBA sportsman who makes significant contributions to the community gets the David Robinson award. Because of him, I continue to support San Antonio Spurs.

Mama. A brave woman who takes difficulties as they come. She brought up me and 3 other siblings singlehandedly. She’s a woman with taught me what perseverance mean. Of course she is not perfect. At times, she is naggy. At other times, she feels lost and dunno what to do with us. Nevertheless, she remains to be a woman of amazing personality to me.

Jesus, who else can impact my life more positively from what he does and what he had already done?

Various leaders in my church with special mention of Uncle Keng Seng, Uncle Barry, Uncle Jeremy Ponniah and Benjamin. Despite of holding high positions in the secular world, they are among the most humble persons whom I have encountered.

Dr. David. He showed me shrewdness in handling difficult patients when I was a medic.

Dr. Kevin. He is ever encouraging to me. When people generally discourage me from taking a path less taken, he is the one who encourages me to go where I want to be.

Dr Low. CEO of a certain company. A humble man of God who affirms what he learnt from the word through the actions he does. Integrity is the top of his value when it comes to doing business. To me, that is admirable to a businessman cum doctor like him.

Dr Benjamin Carson. I am currently reading his 3^rd book. Being a Black born in US, he is often ostracised. Yet, he succeeded in life by holding onto the values his mother instilled in him – to do his best in whatever he does. T.H.I.N.K. B.I.G. will be the acronym that I hold on to from now on.

Robert Kirosaki. Most have heard of his book “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”. He taught me the way money should be handled with proper risk management.

Dr Michael Lim. A Christian doctor who does his best in leading medical teams to the less privileged countries for humanitarian works.

Pastor Derek. He showed me what the word “perseverance” means by the most practical way through his example. In spite of difficulties faced in some areas of work, he continues to persevere.

The names mentioned here are by no means in order of recognition.

I was smoked out. On 10 Sept, 2006, 0500 hrs, I was awoken by the smell of smoke. Thinking that its someone burning joss papers, I went back to sleepz. At 0530 hrs, I was awoken by an explosion sound. By now, I can no longer convince myself that its someone burning joss papers. I went out of the apartment and saw thick smoke. After waking my mama up, we assembled at the field downstairs.

Picture taken at the stairway between the 3rd and the 4th storey.

Picture taken at the stairway between the 4th and the 5th storey.

Nope, none is injured in this fire.