Road accident

Every time we step out of our house and head for work, school or the shopping mall, we walk through death risk zones and technical hazards. These death risk zones and technical hazards come in many ways and are inevitable. One common death risk zone is the long stretch of tarmalt we call the road. The road seems harmless when it's empty. A heavy fast- moving expressway traffic is a big death risk zone. Why can deaths occur on the road? One reason is careless pedestrians. Another reason is vehicles going too fast that they can't react and stop on time. Road accidents have to be the most common form of deadly accident in Singapore, compared to drownings and work accidents. It is ironic that the road, an invention by man to facilitate transport can also be a threat to his own life. A car at 80km/h can kill. It will just ram any human being and kill on the spot.

After Mas Selamat

This whole Mas Selamat issue is really funny. Not that I want to have a good old pure happy-go-lucky laugh. But the escape. And the buzz over it. I saw the picture of the toilet where the prisoner escaped from. It's just like one of those schools' toilets. And yesterday in the bus I saw on Mobile TV how the government is trying to arrange words to put a report on the whole matter. Do we need a report? If the wanted man is still at large then just forget him and move on. Mr Wong Kan Seng may be sacked. I don't know. Someone just said that he should resign. I think he should do that to send a message across of how serious the issue is. If he is sacked, he can still get a decent job after that.

The incident is pretty serious. It just goes to show the standard of security of the state. They probably have to think of ways to tighten up security. Should we revise the training for security officers? Should we use computers? Should we pay the security officers more?

The Sun

We use energy everyday. Electricity, petroleum and lunch. Life will be a standstill without any of these. This web of energy transfer and transmission is very very complex and systematic. Am I contradicting myself? Well complex because there are an infinite number of interconnections of the energy transfers. Systematic because the interconnections enable each need to meet it's fulfillment. Food is obtained from plants. Food is for lunch. Lunch gives energy for you to survive another day's work. And plants rely on water, air and sunlight to grow. That's the interconnection of energy transfer.

It makes me realize how important the Sun is. It's amazing what the rays of the Sun can do. It caused the weather. It caused rain. Water rushes through the dam gates. And so we have hydroelectric power to keep the lights on in homes at night.

It's pretty scary to imagine life without the Sun. The visual imagination is quite scary. Then Earth will be illuminated by lights. We'll need many many lights. Across the streets and anywhere possible. Then we'll realise the lighting power of the Sun. When the Sun lights up the Earth, it is almost everywhere. Across and throughout the sky. Lighting the Earth on our own will be nothing compared to what the Sun can do. So we'll need the power stations to give energy to light up. We need to burn fuel to generate the energy. And fuel can deplete, sooner or later.

That leaves us to plunge into total darkness, sooner or later, without the Sun. At first when there is no Sun, we could still light up from our power stations. But not for long.

The Sun is an enormous ball of fire great enough to lead some people to worshipping it. But a god in that property seems furious all the time, engulfing whatever existent. Is that God? Or is God the One who created the Sun?

Earth Day

It's Earth Day and the buzz to save our planet is big. We talk about conservation, saving energy and cutting down waste. I've always thought that despite all the desperate efforts to save our dear Earth, the globe is actually ageing and wearing off. The green patches that you see on planet Earth are slowly and subtly turning grey and dark yellow. I'm sure there's a rate for that. The rate of deforestation. The rate at which the planet's resources are used up. The rate at which we the inhabitants of planet Earth destroy the only place all living things and creatures call home. Pollution is inevitable. As long as mankind exists, Earth is going to be conquered and have its resources used up. If man didn't modernize, the Earth will be at the virgin state it was millions of years ago. Now that we're using tractors, cranes and excavators, we emit toxic gases and continue to redevelop, reurbanize and build. That is the 180km expressway spanning the green forest. This is the new harbour on what used to be a thriving giant coral ecosystem. Here is a new golf range on the plot of marshland used to house 46 species of thrushes and many many other wildlife. This is a dilemma that we all face. We love the natural habitats and the education and aesthetic appeal it offers but we also face the pressures of redevelopment.

In Singapore it is a balance of both redevelopment and conservation. Thank God there is still nature left although the redevelopment rate continues to increase albeit subtly. The aesthetic value of natural mangrove swamps, forests and nature parks is irreplaceable. I do not want to live in a future where all that surround me are big tall buildings, roads and concrete. I like the smell of trees and grass. The smell of the green forest. It reminds me of my scouting days that remain etched in my mind timelessly. We should all treasure Sungei Buloh Nature Park, MacRitchie Reservoir, Central Catchment Reserve, Pulau Ubin and the Southern Islands.

Anan called to say hello

Joe called me to give a surprising piece of update. Anan squashed the field on Sunday to win in 4 mins 13 seconds. I went like, "Wow." Honestly i felt green too. Things are just gonna get harder, I thought. Anan is a close rival. Almost like arch- rival. I've always wanted to beat him in 5000 metres. But now, very obviously, he is getting stronger. Bigger. Faster. He's totally revolutionised. He's just outran Marcus. 2.01 mins for 800m. Pretty mindblowing. And now he has just killed Feroz. I just don't know what he did, but he sure rocketted up there in the sky. All I can do is be amazed.

Well, Anan's victory means a lot also. It means shaving off 15 seconds in the 1500m within a season is possible. Or at least a difference of 15 seconds in between two consecutive 1500 metres is possible. And that gives us a reason to just go out there and fight till we can shave off 15 seconds. I have this thinking about what happens when you see your rivals performing well and intending to leave you. It is that when they are getting better, the chance for you to get better gets bigger. You will get better if you catch them.

I know sometimes the road is tough. But patience and determination can lead to greater things.

Too much of a thing is bad

I can see the logic in the saying, "Too much of something is not good". I was at coach's house doing strength training this morning. And i had to admit i felt pretty bored with the mundanity in training for 5000 metres. Like it's all been the same thing. Not so interesting. Well, maybe i should skip for 1 and a half mins non- stop next week. I didn't just now because I'm in pretty bad shape after over- racing and that 2 hour long run.

I bet apart from just running, life can be more interesting if there are other aspects as well. Like a date later in the evening. Time spent on self- study. And many others. The human mind likes variety. However multi- tasking can be a disaster for some.

Too much of a variety is also not so good.

A deduction is always only a deduction

I recently engaged in a thoughtful discussion with a highly- experienced senior educator. She talked about how she desired to die peacefully, to die on the bed with her loved ones all around her bidding a special farewell. Yeah, i thought that's pretty normal. Heard that before.

But is that really peaceful? She compared with another scenario of dying in a brutal traffic accident. I beg your pardon. What she said may not be true at all. Who says dying in a traffic accident is painful? It may not necessarily be. If the force of impact totally disconnects the nervous system that detects the pain sensation in an accident, the accident victim wouldn't feel a pinch. Yeah he's lying there in a pool of blood, his body broken into two but his broken neck ensured that he doesn't feel anything. A stark contrast to the person in coma on the bed surrounded by her loved ones. Mind you, she's in a coma. Struggling with her breath. You think there's no pain? Not really. She is literally dying. All other body dysfunctions will strike one by one until the final one, which is the halt of the heartbeat. That's terrible. You could feel tingling, numbness and pain at the same time. And you're struggling to breathe.

What I'm saying is, we could make so many deductions. But age- old beliefs may not necessarily be always true.

Happy

Something funny was in the papers today. Straits Times. They talk about a man who is claimed to be the happiest man in Singapore. Right. How do you measure happiness? Is there some kind of a scale machine that can gauge your level of happiness? Is there a special SI unit for happiness? This article is ****. I've observed this obsession has become stranger and stranger, weirder and less familiar. It has become irrecognizable. And not too far ago, on Yahoo news they rated Singapore people as one of the happpiest people on Earth, also citing the fact because it has good governance. I find that Yahoo article a bit political. I mean what it's trying to say is not about genuinely rating and researching about happiness but trying to talk about governments.

I don't deny that of course anybody is looking for happiness. But this happiness is not like some kind of an easy thing that you can measure and rate. There is a best sportsman award. A most- intelligent person award. A most- successful actor award. But most happiest? How do I prove i'm happier than you right now? By how wide my smile is?

Happiness is reliant on your expectations. Happiness depends on how positive and negative your thinking is. Happiness can be affected by your health. Your financial status. But none of these factors can give definite guarantee of pure never- ending happiness. Because there are other factors as well.

This brings me to another issue: Can you be happy forever?

Gender revolution

I stopped in front of my mailbox yesterday for a pleasant surprise. The government is giving away monetary tokens. And based on my brief calculations, the GST credits can really cushion the impact of the GST hike. I was skeptical at first. But now i'm assured. What if the government just gave away money like that without putting it across as GST credits? That they don't increase the GST rate but just give away monetay tokens. That can make the people complacent. The government is right.

Yesterday night I was supposed to sleep early but was not disciplined enough to get to bed. Then I came across this passage by Chan Wai Leong titled Gender Revolution. It was quite abstract. But interesting. Interesting to question why some things the way they are: Why are there families? Why are there two different kinds of sexes? Well, i can see the importance of the two sexes because they complement each other, need each other. They're different to complement each other. Beautiful isn't it? In the world's greatest religions, Islam and Christianity, the woman is created to be the companion for man. I couldn't agree more.

Then the essay talked about women demanding equal rights as men. Is that possible? We've seen laws that were designed to protect women. We've seen sports races categorized into Men Open and Women Open categories. We've seen National Service that is compulsory only for men. I'd not like to sound chauvinistic but these are facts. So what is men supposed to learn? It's humility. The importance of being down- to- earth. Genuine humility.

Human biological experience

I've learnt that human biological experience yesterday. My blood glucose was very low and i could feel it. Feels great to experience it. When you try to search your human limitations and you just made a significant achievement, that's how great it feels. You put a challenge for yourself right in front of you and you survived it. You can try. It can go well. It can go bad.

I've never clocked 2 hours for a very long time and when i had to set myself upon this task as instructed by my coach, i just knew it's gonna be a tough nut to crack. An uphill task. It was an experience, indeed. Just after quite some time i looked at the watch and it said 37 mins. Oh my God, i thought. Only 37 mins? Okay.

At 1 hour i was at the end of East Coast where it meets the park connector. So I u- turned and trudged back home. Thump. And thump. Thump. And thump. Foot after foot. Breath after breath. Thought after thought. People after people. Skater after skater. Cycle after cycle. Bedok Jetty came and went. I counted down my distance. I felt like stopping. But i never did. Never ever, for the record. For the record, don't shame yourself, I thought. I've always been a firm believer of completing workouts. I thought about Nate Brannen and Alan Webb and Kevin Sullivan. I wanna be a sportsman like them.

Last Saturday was the cross country nationals. It was okay. But a lot of work needs to be done, i've seen. I've been beaten by the same people, same suspects, same names. I will have to get them soon.

My second 5000m and. . .

Some days aren't just too good. You take some, lose some. You have bad days, good days. That Sunday my 5000m didn't unfold well. First 200m didn't go as planned. Instead of 42, it was 37 for the first 200m. Ignore bad starts and don't give excuses. I think as a whole I wasn't in the mental state as i should in this kind of races. No fighting spirit. That's apparent.

Another thing, Darsha lapped me. Yes. I hate to conceive that. Well, I just have quite a long way to go before I get to match him. The emphasis here is: I do have a way to go. Not that there is no way.

Before i reached 17:31 i didn't know that i could reach 17:31. So the show must go on.

I thought that 5000m would be pretty exciting. It was not nice, that Sunday. So what makes it exciting?

The fact that it's challenging and something not so easy to master. Doing a PB is elusive. And exclusive.

KL was for the upcoming 5000m

The trip to KL was a great eye- opener. How different can KL be from the other states of Malaysia? I think it's quite crowded and cosmopolitan in comparison with the other states. And I got to see how business is done there. At Petaling Street is the black market. Some peddlers are downright rude. The most polite would just keep quiet while you check out the goods and deals. And when you ask them the price of something they would ask you back "How much you want?". It's totally hilarious.

The race was quite an experience. Fought with this lanky HCI guy. He's somewhat like Jim Ryun. Rode behind him twice. Tried to cut him twice. He came back all the time. And the last time he came back, he gave a deep gash. Wide cut. It was just great. I wanna do something like that next time. Ok, time to try that the next time. This is the thing about racing overseas. Good things to learn. Experience will make you sharper the next time round. My second 5ooom will be this Sunday morning. These 5000ms are getting easier and easier and more fun. Not to forget, more interesting too. I'm looking at 5000m from a totally new perspective now.