Corner or Space?

I am by nature quite a pessimistic person.
And I frequently drive myself into a tiny corner, when if only I realise all the space behind me.

Limitations

I have never felt limited ever in my life till now.

All my life, I had always believed, that whatever I want to achieve, so long as I put my whole heart into it, I can.

Could not speak English at age of 8? I put my whole heart into reading English books to the point where at age of 9, I was regularly topping my school in English.

Don't have Biology background yet want to do Biomedical Engineering as an undegrad? I did that, and did pretty well too.

Only had one year and want to do a 2 year Masters? I survived the process too.

But now I genuinely feel so limited. In the corporate world, ability sometimes count less, much less, than real ability. Put it this way, if your boss doesn't like you, you are screwed. And even if your boss likes you, if his boss does not like him, you are screwed too.

I really feel limited now. Not by ability, but by circumstances.

SS Open - Table Tennis

Another week, another SS Open.
This week, we bring you table tennis action.
Here, we see Ching training under the feared Japanese Penholder Tay.
When interviewed later, Tay had this to say of his protege, "I believe Venga should have his hands full."

This game is damn fun!

http://www.miniclip.com/games/bush-shoot-out/en/

SS Open

this was footage from an earlier round in SS Open.
i had always wanted to put this up but had been too lazy.

Bishan Open Report

The eagerly anticipated match never got going.
The players were stuck in ball stroking mode throughout the session.

A pity, for Ching was definitely on form that evening.

You know what really grinds my gears?

Rainy Singapore.

Ok, more precisely, rain when i want to play tennis.

Pissed as anything, had been looking forward to my lesson this morning.
Damn.

EARTHQUAKE!!!!

scary!!!! massive 7.9 richter scale earthquake smashes Indonesia and singapore really felt it.
i am still in my office building only 2 stories tall, and the whole building was swaying.
lasted at least 2-3 minutes.

Queen Elizabeth

her speech to her soldiers facing the Spanish Armada in 1588 is brilliant.
In particular i like this passage.

"I know I have but the body of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart of a king, and of a king of England, too; and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realms: to which, rather than any dishonour should grow by me, I myself will take up arms; I myself will be your general, judge, and rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field. "

This battle (and victory) would prove to be crucial. By the end of her reign, Britain ruled the seas.

Tay vs Ching

Tay handily defeated Ching 6-2, 6-1 yesterday morning, in the final of the SS Open at the NUS Sports and Recreational Center.

Facing a quiet crowd estimated at one, Tay capitalized on Ching's characteristic poor serving, and numerous unforced errors to break all of Ching's service games. Towards the end of the match, Ching repeatedly charged the net, evoking images of Patrick Rafter, and entertained the crowd with several pleasing volleys (and grunts). Alas to no avail.

In the post match conference, Ching remarked, "I graciously accept defeat. However, I yearn for a rematch."

Tay replied with a shocking lack of sportsmanship, "It can only get worse for you. *%$^ I give you too much room and time to play your shots. Once I get my service game in play and normal shots, you'll be crushed."

The rematch would be at the Bishan Open, on Thursday, 13th Sep.

The Hamadrayas Baboons

so i went down to the singapore zoo over the weekend.

nothing much has changed in the zoo since i last went there 3-4 years ago. there is currently a new exhibit on white tigers, which is pretty standard, lazy tigers sleeping on a rock kinda thing, but its not too bad. i am very proud of the Singapore Zoo, i think its the best in the world, absolutely no contest.

the highlight of the singapore zoo though, has to be the Hamadrayas Baboons exhibit. its spectacular, with more than 7 troops, each troop consisting of a dominant male, with about 3-4 females, 2-3 immature males, and 3-4 youngs. Observing the social dynamics is absolutely spectacular. i am posting some pictures here for everyone to see. Venga, you would be interested to know, that new DNA studies show that all the varieties of baboons, olive, black, hamadrayas etc. are all just races of baboons, not different species.

Here we see part of a troop. Notice in the background a female with a gigantic distended, swollen backside? That means she's in heat. some monkey's gonna get lucky soon... Also notice the huge male in the middle. These baboons are about 2/3 the size of a human, with canines as long as a leopard. don't mess with them.

Here we see an example of the social dynamics. You can see the mother attending to her 2 young, one which is probably 1-2 years old, and another which is probably around 3 months old. They are sharing food, the mothers are extremely attendant, the behaviours are shockingly human like. Notice the young male in the background, haha.

Ah, the great circle of life. There was a premature birth that morning we went to the zoo. We saw the mother fiercely holding on to the lifeless ragdoll like figure of her baby. We spoke to the zookeeper, the keeper said that its too dangerous now for them to move in to remove the baby. The entire troop is still very protective of their young and probably in grief.

It was a great experience. these baboons are worth the 22 dollars admission fees alone. watching them, i can't help but think how little difference there is between us humans and animals. its a humbling thought.

South Korean Hostages

so the S. Korean hostages are back.
its reported that the South Korean government paid US$20 million in ransom to these terrorists. the terrorists themselves remarked that they will use this money to buy more weapons, train more people, and essentially further their terrorist cause.

jie, when you replied to my initial blog that they should die, i felt it was a little harsh. but in light now of the way their reckless actions had thrown (in your words) thrown years of diplomacy and peace works into disarray, i too agree they should have just died.

in fact frankly speaking, the government should not have intervened. i understand they are citizens of S. Korea but the government had warned them not to go already. yet they chose to defy the government's warnings. by interfering, you have elevated the issue into a political one, which serves the terrorists' purpose perfectly.