Today is Singapore's 42nd Birthday!

We did not get the tickets to watch the parade live this year but we will be hanging around in town, near to the water front to see the fire works tonight.

As for my choices, i will definitely be leaving my service as a school teacher at the end of the year.

So this year's sec 4 will be the last batch of students I will be preparing for O levels physics and this year will be the last teacher's day for me :(

btw, my ex-student, Christina Gao, won the First Prize and Best Literature Award for a National Blogging competition! My heartfelt congrats to her! Go to the link below to read her entries! it's in Chinese though!

http://iblog07.new-media-arts.com/singaporelah/

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i think i have reached "mid-life crisis" earlier than usual.

at the age of dec1976 to aug2007 = 30y 8m to be exact.

people often said that you are at your peak when you are 30.
the next 10 years are the prime-time of your life.
it's the most precious part of your life.
your best years.
how you want to spend it will determine how you will turn out as you begin to slow down and wear off after 40.

I am now at this junction where the choice i make will affect me for life.

choice 1
remain as a teacher for the next 10 years and
*continue to drain myself dry physically and mentally every day because of certain requirements in the education system?
* rushing through to teach academic contents (due to the lack of time during school term) that are only useful for answering exam questions but not really useful or relevant in life?
* having to do some things that i find meaningless and superficial so that i won't lose my paycheck?
* can only provide minimum support and encouragement to students because there are too many to help and too little (me) to do the job?
* offering only leftover time and energy to my wife and my kids?
* forcing myself to give students a wrong impression about life? e.g. mistakes are penalised and misunderstood to be a bad and wrong thing when they are valuable part of life where we can learn more
* sound likes i am all ready to quit isn't it?
* i am holding on because of my students, especially the sec 4.
* i guess i want to see them through their O levels for the last time

choice 2
* take up a few jobs with different natures so that i can gain exposure to experiences and skills that can help me to equip myself in setting up my own business so that it may eventually lead me to financial freedom?
* lots of uncertainties here
* do i have enough faith to go on an adventure with God and trust Him on this?

choice 3
* rent out or sell my apartment and move to another country to adapt a simpler lifestyle at a slower pace?
* is it really as simple as it sounds?
* i kinda like living in Singapore (all our friends and families are here)
* where do we go if we really go?

choice 4
* rent out my apartment and bring my whole family to travel on board the MV Doulos to serve with a multi-cultured community around the world?
* will we get used to life on board of a ship with people around the world?
* will we get seasick or homesick?

choice 5
* become a full time worker in my church community and rely on free-will offering?
* is this really my calling?
* which area should i be serving?

choices that tears me apart.
what should i choose?
can anyone tell me?

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Today is my darling daughter's birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ARIEL!

you are 3 years old now!

When i asked her what she would like to eat on her birthday, she replied that she likes white rice! LOL! she is so easily contented! :D

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some call it the "bone-crushing" disease because of the muscle and bone aches. a terrible disease spread by the ades mosquito. the symptoms varies from person to person. the worst case results in death while most people end up hospitalised for several days. in my case, I am thankful to God that the symptoms did not prevail for long and i was not hospitalised.

I was running a fever on tues evening after the softball match. went to the doc and he said it was throat infection. took 2 panadol and went to sleep.

wed. woke up feeling a little tired and started feeling cold every now and then. by evening time, i was feeling quite alright but i thought i should rest for a day more to be sure. went to the doc and he said that i was on the path of recovery.

thurs morning came and so did a terrible headache. It felt like someone is kicking at my head all the time from the back and I started feeling naseous. the sudden burst of chill started coming again. I started to have diahorrea and finally vomitted in the evening. went back to the doc again and now he suspects it might be dengue fever. wrote a letter and asked me to take a blood test at the nearest hospital. did the blood test and they realised that blood platelet count is lower (120) than normal (150). They suspect that it's really dengue.

Fri morning. the headache was gone and i felt pretty normal. only felt tired easily.
went for another blood test and the blood platelet went down to 110. If it goes below 100, i may have to be admitted. went home and rest the whole day. by evening, i messaged a dear bro.-in-Christ about my condition and the church started to pray for me.

Sat morning. the blood platelet count went up to 127 and i am back to normal again. however, i cant go anywhere since any uninfected ades mosquito which stings me will become lethal and pass on the virus.

Sun. I can function as per normal but i try to avoid contacting people, just in case.

Mon. took the blood test again and the platelet count is now normal @ 168. however, my white blood cells level is below normal. that means I am vulnerable to infection. now i must avoid people to prevent viruses from infecting me. reverse role now!

So now i am on m.c till wed before i take another blood test. I have taken 4 blood tests so far and the sight of the needle and the syringe of blood that they sucked out is making me rather paranoid!

by the way, 2 pills of panadol was all i took for medicine. there is currently no vaccine for dengue fever.

Thank God, it's going to be over!

before i go, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to all who messaged me these few days when i am away!

I was touched this morning when my form class messaged me all at one go! my phone went on vibrating non-stop for about 30 secs because of the overwhelming incoming messages! when I was finally able to read the messages, it said there are 32 unread messages in my inbox! the class also called at 12 noon and shouted for me to get well soon! very thoughtful of them! thank you 4/1!

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Don't ask yourself what the world needs,
Ask yourself what makes you come alive
Because what the world needs are
People who have come alive!

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the whole family on the tu-tu bike!




















our pet who died recently :(

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