O Australia

O Australia, we meet you yet again
Far from our loved ones we are here to train
A land of riches, a land of beauty
Far are we from our beloved city

The long winding roads like rivers a'flow
Laden with gravel made the going slow
Gum trees spread out in an endless vista
From the plains to the shores of Sabina

Sunsets so gorgeous they can make one stare
Deep blue orange they are without compare
Bathing the landscape with her glow so bright
The full moon walked with us throughout the night

Skies a deep blue with not a cloud in sight
Skies so clear the stars brighten up the night
Days so hot under the shade we sit tight
Nights so cold the sun our only respite

Kangaroos caught in the cruisers bright light
Wandering wallabies jumping in fright
Ebullient emus escaping the glare
Wild horses and cattle, just stood and stare

Warm sleeping bags cocoon our cold bodies
The sleepless nights turned us into zombies
Cold morning runs on long dusty gravel
The fact that we did it, was a marvel!

From the cool of Sam to the dust of Growl
To buckin' broncos and leopards on the prowl
Chattering chinook and super puma
Unleashed airborne troops onto Atila

And now there are three...

Before there were two and now there are three
All together as one big family
Atan, Ibrahim and Moha are we
Young or old, together we are happy

Our first game together was just bowling
We had so much fun, it was exciting
Win or lose, first or last, we did not care
What's important was that we were all there!

Slowly but surely...

I was reading my sister-in-law’s blog about how fast her son is growing. And wishes that he wouldn’t grow up as fast as he is doing right now.

I guess this is what every parent goes through. It IS amazing how fast our kids grow. Sooner and later, we will discover that it is about letting go. Letting our kids grow up. These things creep up on you. Slowly but surely... First they start walking... then they start reading... very soon they start doing things that will further amaze you! As a parent, I know that we will go through different phases as we bring up our kids. And each phase has its own challenges. We were at Kiddy Palace just the other day and as we walked through the bottles and diapers sections I remarked to my BH about how we will no longer go through ‘that’ phase of buying those stuff again...with a tinge of sadness...

Just the other day, our two princesses did a ‘first’. We wanted some cheese to make dinner but it had turned bad (that is another story by itself, right dear!?). So I asked Kakak whether she wanted to go down with Adik to buy some cheese for us and both excitedly said, “Yes!”!!! And so, armed with $10, lots of advice about holding each other’s hands and not running, etc, we sent our girls out to the ‘world’ on their own. Oh, and I gave Kakak a walkie-talkie too! ;) We kept an eagle eye on them as they passed through the fountain area and disappeared into the club house. I had good comms with Kakak all the way. By the time both reached home, both were beaming with joy at their accomplishment!

I went for a talk by David Chiem, CEO of MindChamps at CMPB the other day and one of my take-aways from that very uplifting and inspirational talk was about creating ‘moments’ with your children. It is not so much about spending a lot of time with them, which of course is important, but more of creating ‘moments’ that they will remember for life.

What we practise in our family are ‘moments’ we hope our girls will remember for life. One of these ‘moments’ we picked up was from none other than Obama himself, from an article in the June 09 edition of Reader’s Digest. During dinner, which we insist on everyone sitting at the dining table, we would ‘play’ ‘Highs and Lows’. We take turns describing the highs and lows of our day to the rest. And we will then summarise what the other person has said. It is a very good way for the girls to do their own self-reflection of the day’s events and for us to discuss them further. And it teaches them to listen. They are so used to it now that they look forward to it and can’t wait to tell us their highs-and-lows! Another ‘ritual’ that we do as a family is to have a ‘Games Night’ on one of the weekday nights. Obviously the girls look forward to this and would do their homework, prepare their beds and school bags for the next day before they play the games, which they choose. We play Scrabble Junior, Monopoly Junior, Zingo, etc. I love these games too for it teaches the girls how to follow the rules, play fair, win and lose graciously. Another ritual we do at least once a week is the ‘Reading Night’ where we take turns reading aloud to the rest. This gives the girls confidence to ‘address’ a crowd and of course, to enjoy a good story at the same time! My ‘thing’ with them that I will not fail to do if I’m at home before they go to bed is to read them a chapter of a storybook. This takes about 15mins and they just love it! It gives me the opportunity to explain things to them. Adik will not fail to ask words that she does not know. We have finished the whole series of the Faraway Tree (one of my all time favourite book), a book on the Wishing Chair and many other shorter stories. I’m currently going through “The 7 Habits of Happy Kids” with them, dispensing to them some of life’s lessons at the same time!

Oh and another thing from David’s talk is that parents seldom say how proud they are of their kids. They may love them and say so but there is a difference between loving them and being proud of them. Kids need this encouragement. So, I personally, will always look for opportunities to say how proud I am of my girls. And of course, the recent ‘proud’ moment we had was when Kakak passed her NASSA Bronze Swimming Test. I was heartened by the effort she put in into passing her test. She told me that, “I told myself that I want to pass and that I want to do well!” You go girl! The mind IS an amazing thing...

Here’s a poem to sum up this entry’s topic...

It wasn’t too long ago

It wasn’t too long ago
I held you in my arms
Softly whispering in your ears
Allah’s name and His Greatness

It wasn’t too long ago
I would wake up in the dead of night
To comfort you when you cry
Until you drift off to sleep

It wasn’t too long ago
I would carry you in my arms
And lullaby you to sleep
Exhausted from the day’s play

It wasn’t too long ago
That you couldn’t swim
But now, my princess
Has passed her swimming test!

It wasn’t too long ago
That you couldn’t spell
But now, my princess
Devours books with gusto

It wasn’t too long ago
That you couldn’t play the piano
But now, my princess
Plays it with such confidence

As you go through
The trials and tribulations of life
And its pains and joys
Know that whatever happens
Whatever will be
I will always be there for you
I will always love you...

Effort

I am only one,

but still I am one.

I cannot do everything,

but still I can something;

and because I cannot do everything,

I will not refuse to do something I can do.



Edward Everett Hale (1822 – 1909)

American Author & Clergyman

On Children

You may give them your love but
not your thoughts,
for they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but
not their souls,
for their souls dwell in the house of
tomorrow, which you cannot visit,
not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them, but
seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries
with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.

- Khalil Gibran

Sunday morning at The Arts House

We spent a lovely Sunday morning at The Arts House as the girls had their quarterly art trip there. I didn’t even know there’s such a place as The Arts House! The last time I was around the area was during the launch of the National Family Celebrations at the start of the June school hols! It’s a nice place...full of history...old buildings...
​
The girls looking very happy to be out and about!

We met the rest at The Arts House and waited for half an hour longer than the expected time. Apparently, quite a few of the other children, or their parents rather, had bailed out as they were ‘sick’! Even two of the teachers can’t make it. No matter. Parents were there to help out. The children were first given a briefing by the founder of the school who irritated me by repeatedly saying, “chewren” so many times! OMG!
​
The ‘chewren’ listening attentively to the founder of the arts school...

After the short briefing we proceeded to Victoria Concert Hall. The children were to draw the building while seated in the front lawn. Although it was a hot and humid morning, the lush trees fronting the grand old building provided us with shade and the occasional breeze a bit of relief. Being old hands at external arts events, we had brought along out ‘camou’ mat and plonked ourselves under a tree that would provide us with the most shade!

Raffles kept watch over us!

Adik started off by crying because the ‘principal’ approached her and egged her on to start...quite insistently too I might add! Adik is the sort who takes a while to warm up but after she does there’s no stopping her! After she had ‘made’ her cry, the ‘principal’ called Adik’s teacher over to soothe her. Quite persistently so too. So the poor teacher had to stop whatever she was doing to pop over to see what was happening. All the while I was observing all this with much amusement! She ended up helping Adik. She needn’t had done that actually for Adik is quite independent. Kakak on the other hand, had to be ‘encouraged’ to try her best. I did my level best to sketch the building to show her that it’s not too hard after all. A teacher walked past and commented, “Wah! Daddy can draw!”...Duh... Kakak did well too and finished her drawing in time. When it was time to announce the winner for each category, I knew Adik would clinch the top prize as her drawing was the most ‘artistic’! The last time we had the same art trip to the fire-station she was so confident that she would win that I was afraid that she would be disappointed if she didn’t! Surely that’s the quality of a champion! Adik’s I mean...not mine!!! Suffice to say, Adik clinched the top prize in her category for the second time! Kudos to you girl! Although Kakak didn’t win anything, she understood that she had to try harder and that she could do better... Anyway, the important thing was the girls had fun in the process! After drawing, we chased butterflies and took some pictures at the fountain.
​​
In full concentration...


​Adik managed to calm down after a while.

​
Adik and her art teacher, Jasmine

Teaser shot!

A teaser shot of our latest holiday... ;)

When I was a YSL...

When I was a YSL
Thinking that life was swell
I would assault up hills with ease
Running up them was such a breeze

I tried to assault up those hills again
But was myself assaulted with pain
My aching legs and heart that burned
Reminded me that I was no longer a Young Second Lieutenant!

Of Facebook, the Army, Education, Journeys & Adventure!

I blame the dearth in blog updates to - among other things - Facebook! But updating my blog gives me a sense of stepping back and to - quoting from my own favourite quote - stand and stare. Facebook status updates are the quick updates one does to just 'let off steam' but to update here takes more thought and effort, I think. For me, not many know of the existence of this blog so it's somewhat 'private'...as private as a public blog could be I guess...but you know what I mean... Forgive me for my ramblings but I'm at work now (yeah, yeah, it's about 2325hrs on a Friday night) with reports to vet, reports to write and exercises to plan. So just taking a break...

2nd May 2009 was a significant day for me. That was the day I had been in the Army longer than I have not. Geddit? That day, I had served the nation for 18 years 4 months 13 days versus being a civilian for 18 years 4 months 12 days! I'm a sucker for this kind of tracking. I track my talktime, I track my receipts, I track my weight, I track my runs, I track my movement using my GPSr, I track the flight numbers of all the flights I have ever taken, I track flight times, I track distance, etc... Anyway, with today's announcement (actually we knew about it much earlier) that officers are retiring at 50, I would be in the Army for more than 32 years if I choose to retire at 50!!! Wow! Then I would have to be alive for at least another 14 years to beat back the record of being a civilian more than being in the Army...confused? Hah! Told you I just dig this kind of tracking. Anyway, a wise general told us about the 30:20 ratio for long term planning. Meaning that one marries and gets a kid by 30 and by the time one retires at 50, the kid would be 20. In Singapore's context, that would mean finishing tertiary education...

Talking about education...The FD just finished her SA1 just now. Three papers since Wednesday - English, Maths, Mother Tongue. Ha...Mother Tongue! Back in the days, we used to called it 2nd Language but I guess Mother Tongue is more appropriate now! Anyway, being first time parents with a kid facing exams, we were naturally 'excited'! Being Singaporeans, we had naturally scouted for past assessment papers to let her 'practise' all three papers. "Eee...so kiasu one!", some would say...Wait till you have your own kid facing the exams lor...This is called 'bo-pian'. Anyway, we of course try not to pressure her. We encourage her to try her best. We have seen great improvements in her MT. Used to be that she refused to have anything to do with it but kids being kids, when they see their friends do certain things, they don't want to be left out. There's a positive and negative side to it of course but I guess this peer pressure has helped the FD in wanting to improve her MT. Incidentally, I'm amazed at the kinds of material that are provided to support our kids in their educational journey. There's LEAP, there's ROAR, there' Learning Journeys, tons of other supporting materials. It's no wonder that kids are so much smarter these days. Anway, although there are CAs and SAs in place as a benchmark on their progress, to me, the journey is AS if not MORE important than the destination. It's no use if a kid can score high but did not enjoy the learning, and worse, becomes turned off by the whole process. I believe the best form of motivation is self-motivation and the desire to excel and to better oneself. This would put one in good stead throughout life. This, incidentally was what today's khutbah Juma'at was about - delivered in English at Al-Khair Mosque! Take for example, the FD's piano lessons. There were many times when she wanted to give up. But we encouraged her to perservere and to keep on trying. To me it's not so much learning the instrument but the life lessons it would teach her along the way that is more important. And if along the way, she picks up a musical skill, all the better. It was always difficult for her after learning a new piece. But each time I would try to guide her and tell her that what at first may seem difficult would get easier if only she tries harder. And each week when she has mastered a particular piece, she would feel a sense of accomplishment. It got to the point that she would practise on her own just to be better. You can't put a price to that! And she came home one day glowing with pride as she had gotten 3 stars from her piano teacher who said "bagus"! A little bit of praise and motivation can go a long way... So, to all teachers and educators out there reading this (I know at least 2...3 including the husband of one of the 2!), you guys have an important role to play to nurture and inspire the future of our nation! I have played many roles in the course of my career before and hands down the most fulfilling was when I was given the honour and privilege to lead, motivate and inspire my men. To turn them from boys to men. And when I was in OCS as an instructor, to turn civilians to officers who carry themselves with pride, honour and integrity. It wasn't easy but after 10 months of hard training and seeing these cadets standing on the parade square dedicating their lives in defending Singapore in front of the President, it was worth it...and it always brings a lump to my throat.

Next up for the FD is her Madrasah exams. Specifically Sirah and Fiqh. We're helping her revise these two subjects and coming up with mock test papers because obviously we can't find past years' papers of them! I'm coming up with a simple mind map for her complete with colourful pictures to help her remember! Then slowly but surely letting her do her own mindmaps. I use mindmaps for every aspects of my life. Planning events, self-reflection, taking notes, studying, etc. It's very useful for me but may not be for someone else. It's good for quick revision for an upcoming exam or test. I used it for my recent exam on 12th May. My path for this part of my educational journey is almost over! 10 more credits to go! With the SAF encouraging more of its officers to pursue their education, I will go for another degree in another field and may even get a masters. Why am I doing this? Partly for self-actualisation (Maslow's topmost level in the pyramid!), partly to prove that I can do it and partly to inspire my daughters. To show them that learning is live-long. And I've truly enjoyed my learning journey so far...

And someone who has accompanied me on my journeys all along is of course my better half...Among other things, she has accompanied me in my runs. Kudos to you, sayang, for trying your best! We are participating in upcoming local runs as our objective. Nothing like working together towards a common goal... We've also starting playing badminton as a family. Went to Mustapha Centre the other day and bought 4 badminton rackets. We had a raucous time playing near our place that day. Shuttlecock ke mana, racket ke mana. But at least we had fun and a good work-out with the girls! Once the girls are big enough, we'll bring them for runs...Their Nya'i used to be quite the athlete in her Raffles days right Mak?!? :)

Ah, the ATEC Adventure Club (which we coined while waiting for the bumboat back to the mainland from Pulau Ubin, for lack of a better name) had its inaugural trip to Pulau Ubin a while ago. Although it was mainly made up of avid photographers from ATEC, we didn't want to make it seem like a photography outing! It was a good ride all the way to Chek Jawa followed by the tongue-dragging, butt-cramping bash up to the summit. The guys were cursing at me for 'forcing' them to climb all the way up! They left their bikes halfway up while I carried mine (it was a personal one while the rest were rented!) till the top. The view was worth the climb. Over-looking the pristine abandoned quarry... We plan to go to Pengerang, Gunung Ledang and Mount Kinabalu next though not necessarily in that order... There are even plans to go to Bhutan and who knows one day we may even catch a glimpse of the 'roof of the world'...

OK, that's enough updating for now...it's almost 0100hrs... gotta look for the 'kiak-kiak' bed (that's the sound the bed makes when one unfolds it!) to 'koon' soon... gonna collect the race pack for next week's race with the wifey tomorrow! Catch you guys soon...

Far too long...

As I stand here staring into the distant seas

The simmering lights far below caught my eyes

As I stand here freezing in the cold night breeze

The very thought of you makes me feel nice!

I've been away from you for far too long

Yet my feelings for you are ever so strong

I'm glad that you're in my life

I love you dear, my darling wife

Life So Fragile...

The fragility of life is once again brought to bear

When a buddy had an unfortunate meeting with fate

On the hills of Lim Chu Kang, we used to sit, stare and share

We were quite close then, both me and my mate

I will always remember the cars he had

His streetwise ways is not easy to forget

His presence lights up any room

Talking to him will chase away any gloom

We used to stare at the stars over Areas A, B and C

Waiting for the NSmen and for time to pass

Over hot drinks we kept each other company 

And talked about things that are close to us

Farewell to you my friend

Farewell to you my buddy

My thoughts and prayers are with you

Rest well dear Azmi

Of long queues, shopping and gatherings

I am ‘writing’ this entry while queuing up at the bank. Having a mobile broadband internet connection makes queuing up a lesser waste of time! I can check the many news sites that I subscribe to, looking up information is a breeze with apps like rednano, plusmo and wapedia (the mobile version of Wikipedia), hooking up with friends via MSN, Yahoo or Google Talk through ebuddy is also not a problem as is religiously checking out FaceBook. Checking out the blogs that I am a fan of is also a breeze. In fact, I don’t queue as often as I did mostly due to the advent of technology. Now one can do virtually everything online whether it’s from the comforts of one’s home or on the move with the many available gadgets around. I remember waiting in queues at the bus stops or even taking long bus or MRT rides and doing most of my readings then. So why am I queuing now? Well, some things you just have to queue at the bank...

I was just talking to another buddy of mine the other day in camp and we shared the same thoughts. Why is it that I tire out easily when going shopping but can last throughout the night going long distances while I am on exercise? Ah, for those who may not know, ‘exercise’ here does not mean exercising one’s body as in going for runs or hitting the gym. Here it means ‘training exercise’...Anyway, this buddy of mine had the same experience as me and I suspect many more of my buddies feel it too! Is it just us men or men in the army in particular?!? I mean, I can walk through the jungle (we don’t usually use the word ‘jungle’ here in Singapore to refer to our training area since they are mostly ex-vegetable plots! But when you talk to ‘civilians’, using the word jungle gives them a better idea! To us, jungle would be like those found in Brunei...now, that’s what I would call a jungle...), anyway, I can walk in the ‘jungle’ throughout the night without sleep and still be fresh in the morning. But once when I hit the concrete jungles of Orchard Road, I like cannot tahan long! Even in the air-con comfort of the malls... Maybe if I put on my jungle hat, carry my tongkat (this is a combination walking and sitting stick that I always carry in the ‘field’. Here again, ‘field’ does not mean the wide open field that people play in. What civilians refer to as the ‘jungle’ here in Singapore, we refer to as the ‘field’. Geddit?) and put on my No.4, I can last longer! Why ah?

There were gatherings galore over the CNY weekend. It started with a BBQ at Nyai Bik As house (now that’s a confusing term for those uninitiated but what to do...In the first place, pangkat si Asiah to me is cousin but since young I’ve been calling her Bik As, then my kids pulak call her Nyai...so...) on Sunday attended by some 35 people! Banyak kan?!?! It was supposed to be something small...just a few trays of food that’s all. But small just don’t dig it with my family. So it became a full blown BBQ with roaring fire, tons of food and games too! Games was requesting by Aqilah for me to organise. A bit last minute for me but I dig last minute! Came up with quite decent games that involved young and old. I hope everyone enjoyed them although I lost my voice a bit. It ended way past mid-night. We even celebrated Cik Lah’s birthday. Cool!

The next gathering happened the next day on Monday. A gathering of cousins and kids at West Coast Park. We participated in the time-honoured camping-at-a-park-during-CNY bit! The plan was to stay overnight but semua macam tak larat gitu. The usual suspects descended upon WCP on a windy, cloudy afternoon sans Boboy and family who wanted to Batam-ised their bundle of bubbly cuteness. As usual, the whole place was full of people since the malls were like ghost towns. Kites dotted the skies, blue tents popped up like mushrooms and the playground was full of kids. We plonked ourselves near the sand pit and the 4 kids plus Dennis the Menace promptly made themselves at home in (and I mean IN!) the sand! There was to be a partial eclipse of the sun but with the cloudy skies, it wasn’t that obvious. Furthermore, the maximum coverage happened at about 1749hrs which was nearly twilight anyway so...not much difference. I think not many people were aware of it anyway! I brought some stuff and we played dodgeball in the sand. It was great fun and everyone got sweaty and sandy. Pak Bonyo and clan came by bearing murtabak! And gamely joined in our next game which was rounders/baseball. You should have seen the Pak Bonyo and Cik Jamilah flying and diving into the sand! Bakat terpendam sey! After that we played Twister, Mentalogy and told ghost stories till about 0100hrs when we wearily trooped back to our cars with sleepy kids in tow!

The last ‘unexpected’ gathering happened the very next day! With the usual suspects. Hai, muka engkau jugak! It was to be a karaoke outing but I suggested karaoke-ing at my place and it was soon flooded with crooning ladies and sleepy babies! The usual tidbits and drinks were prepared and I took out my entire karaoke collection for the guests to sing along to. Ada orang tu mula-mula cakap lagu-lagu untuk orang-orang tua tapi at last nyani those songs jugak! Oh, ada orang Perancis tu dating untuk berenang...tak dengar dia nyanyi pun! Just before going back, sempat jugak si Farah dan Julie main si Wii...berpeluh-peluh di buat nya!

Till the next gathering then guys...

What was the most FUN you had?

Ok dah…dah lama tak blog ni… Tadi terbaca blog adik ipar aku (aku ada dua adik-ipar, tekalah sape yang blog!) dia kata boring dah pergi blog yang tak updated. So I oso dowan to be like the rest of you who has a blog but don’t update them!

Most people who has not blogged for a while will say things like “a lot has been happening in my life that I have no time to blog” or “hmmm, it’s been a while since I’ve blogged…where to start?” but I’ll try to resist that.

It’s about 0135hrs early Sunday morning…the SD is sleeping at my feet while my BH is to my right. The FD is sleeping soundly in her room. This is the second time the SD has walked to my room after I had sent her back to her room. I’ll carry her again to her room after this…She doesn’t sleep as soundly as her sister…so this walking to my room and me carrying her back to her room goes on every night…I can’t remember the last time I had 7 hours UNINTERRUPTED sleep! So those of you who have younger kids with irregular sleeping habits, good luck if you don’t train them NOW! Anyway, my years of ‘training’ allowed me to sufficiently survive on a minimum of 4 to 5 hours of sleep.

I’ve just gone through with the BH a detailed schedule of our girls’ daily timetable from the time they wake-up till the time they go to bed. From what time they eat breakfast, their rest time, playtime and study time. They will sleep a minimum of 10 hours everyday. The latest bedtime is at 2100hrs EVERYDAY including Saturdays and Sundays. We feel that it is important to have a structure and routine built into their lives. Time management is something one is never too young to learn. Of course we are flexible and will see how they are coping with their schedule. But hey, those who fail to plan, plan to fail right?!?

We crossed a major milestone in our lives as parents. The FD crossed into the realm of primary school 3 days ago. Awww…my little girl…so big already…sometimes I can’t believe that this tall, gangly girl used to be someone I can carry easily in my arms as I cuddle her to sleep…sob…sob… So parents, treasure your kids at EVERY stage of their lives… there’s no going back… that’s part of the reason why I am a stickler (and my BH too) at trying to ‘document’ every significant and not so significant moments my girls have gone through be it in pictures or moving images. I must have taken thousands of photos and many hours of footage of my girls since the day they were born.

When I finally go back to work on Monday, I would have been away from it for 25 days!!! That will be like the longest time I’ve been away from work since I joined the military many, many, many moons ago! “Wah so long ah? So rileks ah?”, some would say. Ah, but one must know the kind of training we have been through the whole year! Many overseas training away from loved ones, many local night training again away from loved ones with little sleep and rest. So, yes, I think we deserved our long break…

It has been a good 3 weeks spent with my loved ones. We believe we have created many happy memories for our girls in those three weeks. And we certainly had lots and lots of fun! Taking care of 5 kids for a few days was fun! A’Famosa, with some 25 of us all there, was fun! Korea was cold…and FUN! Guitar Hero was tiring for the fingers, but FUN! St John’s Island was FUN in the SUN! Spending time with the BH while the girls were taken care of by our parents was FUN! Going for our spa session was fun! Going cycling with the girls was fun! Swimming whenever we could at our pool was fun! Eating our sushis, pizzas, ice-cream, satays, kimchis, etc was FUN! Going ‘prawning’ with the girls was FUN! Playing with my one and only niece and nephew was FUN! Getting shot at and shooting at others during paintball was FUN! Water World with its awesome slides was FUN! Go-karting with the girls and getting oh-so-muddy and dirty was FUN! Playing the wii as a family was FUN! Regaling my girls with tales from the Faraway Tree was FUN! Having a blast at Mind Café was FUN! Most of all, just spending time with the family was the most FUN of all…just being there with them…The simplest pleasures are always the best…