Its really quite inspirational the Chinese national anthem. You can listen to it here.
I have also copied the lyrics here with an English translation too.
起来！ 不愿做奴隶的人们！
把我们的血肉，筑成我们新的长城！
中华民族到了最危险的时候
毎个人被迫着发出最后的吼声
起来！ 起来！ 起来！
我们万众一心，
冒着敌人的炮火，前进！
冒着敌人的炮火，前进！
前进！ 前进！ 进！
Arise, ye who refuse to be slaves!
With our flesh and blood, let us build our new Great Wall!
The Chinese nation faces its greatest danger.
From each one the urgent call for action comes forth.
Arise! Arise! Arise!
Millions with but one heart,
Braving the enemy's fire.
March on!
Braving the enemy's fire.
March on! March on! March on!
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
Foreign Immigrants
i know this topic has been beaten to death in recent days by the local press but let me wade in a little.
specifically lets talk about Singapore's table tennis team. And the local reaction to their silver medal winning effort.
make no mistake, Singapore IS a country of immigrants. But of course. So is China actually, for the Chinese are migrants from Ethiopia too. Some 325,000 years ago of course. Obviously I recognize that immigration has been a trend, and most nations are formed by that. foreign talents help supplement the existing population and enhances its capabilities. thats fine.
But i think there is a huge difference between supplementing talent, and whole sale import of players! The ENTIRE team in Singapore is made up of Chinese talents specifically picked to only play table tennis. That is bordering on ridicule.
I also recognize too that many other countries are also embracing foreign talents in sports. there is a difference though, between specifically INCENTIVIZING foreign talents to join a country using monetary rewards, versus the athlete CHOOSING to defect or migrate a nation on his / her free will without any incentives. THAT, is a big big difference.
What I find objectionable to Singapore's intentions, is that the authorities deliberately went out to get Chinese players by paying them extra money / incentives etc. I embrace Ronald Susilo as although he is foreign born, he did not come here due to badminton but our system helped him reach his potential. Ditto for Tao Li.
But these Chinese table tennis players? Its not about their identity card colours, its about their intentions.
specifically lets talk about Singapore's table tennis team. And the local reaction to their silver medal winning effort.
make no mistake, Singapore IS a country of immigrants. But of course. So is China actually, for the Chinese are migrants from Ethiopia too. Some 325,000 years ago of course. Obviously I recognize that immigration has been a trend, and most nations are formed by that. foreign talents help supplement the existing population and enhances its capabilities. thats fine.
But i think there is a huge difference between supplementing talent, and whole sale import of players! The ENTIRE team in Singapore is made up of Chinese talents specifically picked to only play table tennis. That is bordering on ridicule.
I also recognize too that many other countries are also embracing foreign talents in sports. there is a difference though, between specifically INCENTIVIZING foreign talents to join a country using monetary rewards, versus the athlete CHOOSING to defect or migrate a nation on his / her free will without any incentives. THAT, is a big big difference.
What I find objectionable to Singapore's intentions, is that the authorities deliberately went out to get Chinese players by paying them extra money / incentives etc. I embrace Ronald Susilo as although he is foreign born, he did not come here due to badminton but our system helped him reach his potential. Ditto for Tao Li.
But these Chinese table tennis players? Its not about their identity card colours, its about their intentions.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
twisted fate
i thought i was on the cusp of something special in my life, but yet again, i guess fate has twisted itself. maybe things aren't meant to be. it was a pleasant surprise to me recently when i heard some good news, and just as i was about to really go for it and do what i wanted to do for a really long time, things changed.
and i think the way things are now, it just isn't meant to be. sigh. never mind, life goes on. maybe its a sign that it just isn't meant to be. i know this sounds really cryptic and probably nobody can make sense of it, its ok. i just venting my emotions through this faceless medium.
and i think the way things are now, it just isn't meant to be. sigh. never mind, life goes on. maybe its a sign that it just isn't meant to be. i know this sounds really cryptic and probably nobody can make sense of it, its ok. i just venting my emotions through this faceless medium.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Regret
This is a really excellent post from Mr Wang in his blog http://mrwangsaysso.blogspot.com
Do read it. Sobering.
http://mrwangsaysso.blogspot.com/2008/07/your-career-and-other-miscellaneous.html
My friend and I were just remarking the other day, that probably what we should have done, was to do badly in our A levels, and end up in Business Admin course in NUS. We would probably be Citibank bankers now, driving Alfa Romeos.
Do read it. Sobering.
http://mrwangsaysso.blogspot.com/2008/07/your-career-and-other-miscellaneous.html
My friend and I were just remarking the other day, that probably what we should have done, was to do badly in our A levels, and end up in Business Admin course in NUS. We would probably be Citibank bankers now, driving Alfa Romeos.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Tennis Training Videos
Here are some videos of me training. Here in this video, I had 2 bad volleys but the last one was quite sweet, a lot of backspin to produce a nice drop volley.
In this one, you can see me hitting some groundstrokes. I did not do a good job for the last 2 forehands. Hit them off my back foot. Was a bit too tired to do good form for the strokes.
In this one, you can see me hitting some groundstrokes. I did not do a good job for the last 2 forehands. Hit them off my back foot. Was a bit too tired to do good form for the strokes.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Monopoly and Real Life
So yesterday, a couple of close friends played Monopoly. We had previously played once, about 3 months ago. It was a very fun experience, partly because it had been a long while since any of us played, but also because it was extremely competitive. Yesterday's session was just as competitive and very fun.
The reason why it was very fun, was due to the very interesting dynamics at play. There were 5 or 6 of us, depending on how one looked at it. One of the players was constantly absent from the table, and made the rest of the players play his turn. He gave up any property he happened to land on, putting it up for bidding, eventually quitting the game altogether. The other 4 opponents, were actually 2 couples. I was pretty much the lone one out, which made my role important somewhat, as a potential deal breaker. All these combined with our life experiences as working professionals, made the game extremely satisfying.
I thought the outcome of the game gave some very interesting insights and lessons.
1) I realised everyone was fiercely competitive. In the format that we played, we explored very interesting payoff scenarios and deals. For example, we developed complex deal structures, whereby we were willing to give up cuts of profits, in exchange for investment in housing, or free passes, or combinations thereof. There were intricate relationship and under the table wheeling and dealing which made the payoff scenarios very interesting. It must be the RI/RGS/RJC/HCJC competitiveness that has been burnt into us.
2) Steady, interest / dividend bearing instruments, often give the absolute best return when measured over a long period. For a long time, whoever controlled the railway spots tends to enjoy the best income streams, despite not having any spectacular payoffs. This mirrors real life somewhat --> bonds and index-linked funds historically have performed well but time period must be appropriately long.
3) Leverage can kill you. Some of the more daring players among us, went for very dangerous maneuvers, borrowing from other players to build up massive properties. Highly leveraged, they hoped for that one big payoff. However, it was very much hit and miss again, and when the dice did not cooperate, their poor cash positions did them in. Side moral of the story: Buy OCBC stocks.
4) Angel investing in a diversified portfolio works. One of us in the first game, started the concept of angel investing, where although he owned no property, he kept punting others with little bits of cash, allowing them to build up property, but also negotiating for small cuts of the profits. Eventually although he held pretty much nothing, he was reaping in profits everywhere.
5) You can't beat the market. The one friend before he quit the game altogether, although he did absolutely nothing, bought no property, dealt nothing at all, was the richest guy before he quit.
I look forward to the next round of Monopoly. :)
The reason why it was very fun, was due to the very interesting dynamics at play. There were 5 or 6 of us, depending on how one looked at it. One of the players was constantly absent from the table, and made the rest of the players play his turn. He gave up any property he happened to land on, putting it up for bidding, eventually quitting the game altogether. The other 4 opponents, were actually 2 couples. I was pretty much the lone one out, which made my role important somewhat, as a potential deal breaker. All these combined with our life experiences as working professionals, made the game extremely satisfying.
I thought the outcome of the game gave some very interesting insights and lessons.
1) I realised everyone was fiercely competitive. In the format that we played, we explored very interesting payoff scenarios and deals. For example, we developed complex deal structures, whereby we were willing to give up cuts of profits, in exchange for investment in housing, or free passes, or combinations thereof. There were intricate relationship and under the table wheeling and dealing which made the payoff scenarios very interesting. It must be the RI/RGS/RJC/HCJC competitiveness that has been burnt into us.
2) Steady, interest / dividend bearing instruments, often give the absolute best return when measured over a long period. For a long time, whoever controlled the railway spots tends to enjoy the best income streams, despite not having any spectacular payoffs. This mirrors real life somewhat --> bonds and index-linked funds historically have performed well but time period must be appropriately long.
3) Leverage can kill you. Some of the more daring players among us, went for very dangerous maneuvers, borrowing from other players to build up massive properties. Highly leveraged, they hoped for that one big payoff. However, it was very much hit and miss again, and when the dice did not cooperate, their poor cash positions did them in. Side moral of the story: Buy OCBC stocks.
4) Angel investing in a diversified portfolio works. One of us in the first game, started the concept of angel investing, where although he owned no property, he kept punting others with little bits of cash, allowing them to build up property, but also negotiating for small cuts of the profits. Eventually although he held pretty much nothing, he was reaping in profits everywhere.
5) You can't beat the market. The one friend before he quit the game altogether, although he did absolutely nothing, bought no property, dealt nothing at all, was the richest guy before he quit.
I look forward to the next round of Monopoly. :)
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Scholarship Bond 2
There were a lot of interesting emails between my friend and I on this topic.
I think there are a couple of points though, I like to make clear about my views.
I will put it on record here that personally, I do not agree with bonded scholarships. I do recognize that scholarships represent opportunities, and personally i am grateful for my chance to go abroad for my studies. It gave me dreams, which I am still chasing to this very day. Those 4 years spent abroad, while not necessarily the absolute "best" years of my life, they were definitely the most important to me.
For my undergraduate years, I took a government scholarship and in return, I was bonded to work with the body for a number of years. For my Masters, I accepted a bond free fellowship from the university. After my Masters, I came back to Singapore to work for a number of years, before breaking my bond and going on to work for a new venture capital group in Singapore.
The experience of receiving a free education at my Masters institution, left a very deep impression on me. I was frankly very surprised how much the school went out of its way, to help me pay for the tuition and bills. They awarded me a full fellowship, and all these for absolutely no conditions, apart from wishing me the best and wanting me to do well in my research and studies. They could very easily have taken another student in my place who could afford to pay for his/her education, but they told me not to drop my place when I told them I could not afford the school fees. And I am not even American!
This contrasts so starkly against what I received for my undergraduate scholarship, which came preloaded with a whole lot of conditions. I am not necessarily saying that one is better than the other, but I cannot but help getting this impression, that my Masters institution is far more interested in developing me as a talent, than my undergraduate scholarship board, which seems far more interested in just retaining me as a future employee for them. While the intentions of my Masters instituation may not be entirely altruistic (they may really like to just have the best students as it may help improve the instition's standings), its arguably far more altruistic than my scholarship board. There is this implicit trust that they gave me, that is wholly absent in the case with the scholarship board.
It is this stark comparison, that ultimately led to my rejection that there is any semblance of morality being attached to a bonded scholarship. Ultimately, there is only contractual integrity here. The intentions of the scholarship board is devoid of altruism, but geared entirely towards selfish intentions of empowering its own organization. If its not altruistic, then there can be little more I should honour apart from the contractual paper.
Ultimately I am not criticizing one entity over another. But on a very personal level, the gratitude I have for my Masters institution far far outweighs that I have for my scholarship board.
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