Life Lesson #8: Of The Olympic's Archery Teams

The first Olympic's match I watched was the archery competition. I had tuned in when the men's team semifinal match began.

I didn't manage to keep my eyes open till the very end, so I went off to bed after the United States had sent Japan out of the match.

p.s. The US team proceeded to beat Korea (oh no!!!) and met Italy in the finals. But Italy emerged the final winners with a one-point difference.)

This morning, I watched the women's team competition. This time though, they were at the 1/8 elimination round.

This time, the finals weren't held today. But I'll be wide awake for the finals (if I don't have school the next day).

Archery is a sport that involves loads of patience, skill, luck and a pair of incredibly steady hands. It requires optimum time control and the ability to overcome sudden wind currents.

Most of all, it requires teamwork.

Each team is given 2 minutes to shoot 6 arrows. Each person can use about 40 seconds to shoot both their arrows.

If a teammate takes too long to aim and shoot, the others are left with less than ample time to make an accurate aim. This case was sadly, very true for a few teams.

What happens when a teammate takes way too long to complete part of his/her project?

Instead of blasting off, complaining about it to other people or creating bad vibes within the group, maybe we should get into the Olympian spirit and look up to the archers.

They just smiled, gave each other a pat on the back, and got ready to make up for their teammate's unintentional error.

It takes a lot to be able to reach this mutual understanding. Teamwork and team spirit played an important role.

Till now, it is still hard for me to comprehend and try to take in my teammate's different attitudes, behaviours or principles.

Sometimes, I feel like yelling at them. At times, I have done so. But I ALWAYS regret my decision immediately after.

Yelling, scolding, firing up or complaining isn't going to get anything done. That's a lesson well learnt from my 17 short years of experience so far. Especially in a team.

Teamwork is the only key to any success in a group.

And that is what the Olympian archers have shown us time after time.

Life Lesson #7: Of A Cab Driver

In school, we are taught to behave ourselves well, no matter where we are, as our actions ultimately affect how society perceives our school.

My experience in Bangkok was a very good example of this statement.

But I'm not referring to myself as the goodie-two-shoes in this post. I was hopelessly lost in translation and had fallen sick before half of my trip was over in the land of Tom Yam.

I shared one of my most memorable experiences in Thailand with my Malay oral examiner. It was pretty unconventional, but I talked about a cab driver.

Actually, I don't quite remember this cab driver's name. But through our brief cab rides, I've come to admire this person greatly.

When we first got into the cab, he shook hands with my dad and told my dad that his proficiency in English was about 70%. We all breathed a sigh of relief as we'd encountered several drivers who couldn't understand what we were saying.

Over the course of two days, he acted as our personal cab driver. He was friendly, always ready to offer good suggestions on tourist spots, and even helped us plot a strategic route so we could cover more places in less time.

But his 70% didn't mean he understood every word we said.

Sure, there were a few times when we tried really hard not to burst out laughing when the cab driver and my dad were trying to communicate, sometimes using hand gestures.

What made me admire him most was his dedication to learning.

He always tried his best to use proper English, and to seek out the best places in Thailand for food and shopping.

In fact, all around the streets in Bangkok, you can see people of all ages walking past holding English books or audio books, learning English grammar and pronunciation.

Age is no limiting factor for these people. To them, it is never too late to learn, nor is it too difficult to learn what may be a totally foreign language to some.

It is this spirit of learning and hospitality conveyed by the people of Bangkok, but most importantly from that cab driver that makes me want to visit Thailand again.

And I hope that one day when I do return, I can meet this cab driver again.

Life Lesson #6: Of A Banana (and some worms)

As I am on the couch getting my daily dose of CNN, I feel this sudden urge to randomly browse through some sites and update myself on my friends' activities.

I see a simple update message. One word that expresses more than 7 simple letters. One word that carries a message of sorrow and regret.

Have you ever felt betrayed when you've been in something for such a long time and suddenly discovered that it wasn't what you thought it to be?

Something like that happened to me once. I must've been about 9 or 10 at that time.

I was peeling a banana in the backseat of my car. 

Halfway through the banana, I discovered some white things moving in the banana.

They.... were.... maggots. And there was a clump of them, right in the centre of the banana. The banana I was eating.

First thought: EWWW!!!!!! I don't know what made me manage to wrap up the rest of the banana and put it in a plastic bag. I might've just thrown it out the window.

Since that incident, I've been really apprehensive of bananas. I avoid bananas at all costs. Every time I peel a banana, I expect to see maggots wriggling in it.

This fear has induced me to hate bananas. This unexplained phobia of bananas sometimes annoys my family members.

Back to modern-day me.

An incident that occured recently reminded me of something very important in life.

Although bananas aren't exactly very prominent in my life, I did use to like it. It was healthy, tasty, and most importantly, had potassium - which allows people to be more mentally-energized.

I told myself it'd be silly to mistrust all bananas for eternity just because one of them happened to have maggots in it - even if it is totally gross.

The same held for this incident. It wasn't a biggie in my life or anything, and even though not a lot of people noticed, I had been down in the dumps for about a week following the incident. I buried myself in work.

As much as we'd like to convince ourselves otherwise, there are some things and people in life that we just like to have around for company.

When you find out a person is not what you think he/she is, what does one do?

One can break off all ties. 

One can attempt to distance him/herself.

One can attempt to pretend nothing happened.

Or, one can choose to express her insecurities and opinions, and hope to exercise change. Which is what I tried to do.

I doubted my decision after the first few days; I was a naturally straightforward person, so some of the things I did could've been overboard for others.

Now, though, I do not regret that decision one bit.

I got an answer. I got an assurance. I got a promise of change.

Only time will tell if my restored trust is worthwhile.

But for now, I shall trust my instincts and blog on.

Just as I have learned to drop my prejudice against an innocent piece of fruit, I should also learn to regain trust when one has been proven worthy of it.

Life Lesson #5: Of Chocolates

There are a variety of  chocolates in life.

Friends aren't any different.

Best friends are like dark chocolates.

At first glance, they look like any normal piece of chocolate. As such, it is sometimes easy to overlook them and go for the ones with the richest toppings. But once you pick them up, you know there is a difference.

They may be bitter at first, but the sweetness and flavours you taste later on are enough for you to accept the bitterness as part of the package. In fact, you may start to enjoy the bitterness after a while.

Then there are those like milk chocolates.

I will always prefer dark chocolate over milk chocolate, any time any day. But they're pretty high on my list as well.

Milk chocolate buddies are sweet and smooth all-the-way. Little resistance in texture translates as little resistance in personality. They are easy to get along with, and pleasantly acceptable.

Fruit chocolates are pretty nice too.

These are the type that are full of surprises. They may look normal on the outside, but their personality is unforgettable. Sour, sweet, exotic, you name it, they've got it. They're likeable, but not necessarily warmly received by everyone. Not everyone enjoys surprises.

There is another kind that I've come to like over the years.

I call it uber-dark chocolate.

I don't really like bitter stuff unless it's bittersweet like dark chocolate. This is the type screams "bitter". For some apparent reason, it only seems incredibly bitter to you.

So you leave it alone and live life. But then, curiosity gets the better of you and you re-open the wrapping.

As you delve deeper into it, you find little pieces of ingredients you'd never expect to find before in a piece of uber-dark chocolate.

After a while, you actually start to enjoy it.

But when you think back on your past experiences, you cannot find a reasonable explanation as to why you disliked it so much in the first place.

This type of chocolate is one of the leading shockers in chocolate-town.

But these type of friends are also one of the hardest to find in life.

Often, we are at a loss for words when we wonder why we did or didn't do something in the past. We can't explain our behaviour, we can't explain the change.

Defining ourselves in 1+1=2 equations can stop us from meeting some of the greatest friends in life.

So before putting a person into a mould, let us appreciate the different layers of a person, because there is always more than meets the eye.

And chocolate is the best proof.

Life Lesson #4: Of Anderson Hays Cooper

It is very easy for us to chicken out and say 'no' to someone out of fear. Be it fear of the unknown, fear of the known or just fear of messing-up, we often don't have the courage to face our fears.

I am not a brave person. In fact, I may very well be the most cowardly person anyone has ever met.

But there is someone I hold in very high esteem over his bravery.

His name is Anderson Hays Cooper. Better known as the primary anchor of CNN's Anderson Cooper 360, he now hosts an eponymous daytime talk show, Anderson.

He used to work as a live war-zone reporter. I was pretty impressed with his bravery at that time.

Now, there is more reason for me to admire his courage.

About a week ago, he posted an e-mail acknowledging that he was gay.

This was actually a well-known issue among society - but up till then, he had never openly acknowledged it and avoided talking about it.

He used to be afraid of admitting it. But he has spoken out now.

It may seem simple to type an e-mail, but it is never easy to highlight our own differences and insecurities.

We fear rejection and we only want acceptance. But we also know that this is very much wishful thinking.

A person once said that courage is not having no fear, but rather moving on despite knowing the fear.

To have fear is to be human. To face fear is to have courage.

Thanks to Anderson Cooper and many other people who have come clean about their differences, they've become a candle that illuminates the path for those seeking acceptance.

Courage is not something that is only bestowed upon special people - it is knowingly and willingly shown by ourselves. :)

Life Lesson #3: Of Card-stacking

It was a pretty cool day at KFC, spent talking and card-stacking.

Chow Qing's brother, Darryl stacking a card tower

No, I'm not kidding. Card-stacking in public.

My mini 3-level card pyramid

That was a pretty new experience for me. I always thought that card-stacking was something done by people who had nothing better to do. People who wanted to waste their time making something that would collapse eventually.

Perhaps, for us, we really did have nothing better to do.

But I realised that wasn't the case after I went home and started building a card pyramid myself.

I started off building one on my table. That one was about six levels tall. And it didn't topple.

So I got ambitious and built one on the floor. I was aiming for 7 levels.

There was one problem though - my structure kept collapsing at the 4th level.

After about 4 collapses, my spirits were almost gone. I felt demoralized.

I wanted to just give up.

Luckily, a thought ran through my head. If I gave up now, then it would be a real waste of my time.


So I tried one last time. Once or twice it threatened to collapse again along with what was left of my hopes. As I placed the last two cards on the structure, everything around me just froze.

Right before me was a creation of my own hands. I did it.

At that point, I didn't really know what to do. But I knew I had to get a picture.

My completed structure!

Card-stacking isn't that bad, and it certainly isn't a waste of time.

It taught me that with hope, patience and perseverance, anyone can succeed. :)