VS Class of 2010- Sec 4 Graduation

Today marks the graduation for the VS Class of 2010

Let's see some interesting characters who have followed me through my years here!

Here's Fadzly, Kwek Daniel and Jinjie, whom I've taught since Sec 2




What are we pointing to? We're pointing to the blank spots on the honor rolls in hopes that one day their names will be there. Jin jie was VS first Wushu DSA candidate and he has grown from a small skinny boy...


But look at him now, look at all of them now.

All grown to men.
They took a bit longer than some of their peers but the time was well spent. No regrets, man; no regrets.

Of course, close to my heart are the wushu boys.
Here we have Ryan Goh, the Captain of the team who has learnt the most that I have to teach- Lion Dance, Wushu, Sparring, Balintawak...


You are a champion indeed Ryan.

Next is Tan Yuda, our dependable Vice-Captain, who complements us in all we do.
When Ryan is the Lion-Head, Yuda is the tail. When we spar, Yu Da is the ideal practice partner to match my size, when we do Wushu, he's always the dependable last member-- may not get so much glory, but without him, we couldn't pull it off too. (Imagine Lion Dance got no backside...)


Then we have Saw Eh Tha Khu and Kong Wei Chung:

Saw overcame the barriers in language to learn Sanshou from my own teacher and to gain a resounding win for VS in the SNWF Wushu Invitational Sanshou Free-sparring event. Proving that VS Wushu boys are not just about pretty moves and to top that, he's one of our top students!
Next to him is the one and only Mr Kong Wei Chung, our Malaysian scholar-who is the first overseas scholar in the VS Wushu team.
All members in the VS Wushu team unanimously agree that Weichung's roar can be heard all the way from Siglap to JB, some say KL even.
Next to WeiChung is Adrian Tan Jian Yang, one of the most outstanding NCC Cadets VS has ever produced.

Then we have Jin ZhenYu, who though academically weaker, has worked hard to receive the PSG Most Outstanding Improvement Award.

Keep it up, Mr Jin--- you'll be a global leader one day :)

And who can forget the scholars... it took me 7 years to have a daughter of my own cos all my time is taken up by these energtic 'sons' of mine!

First off, our neighrbourly Malyasians:

Malaysia BOLEH!

Then we have the silent, quiet but ever polite and diligent Vietnamese:


Also, the Mafia Wars gang from Bangkok, the Thai scholars:


And who can forget our Serious PE class of 2010

"Eng Lek, stop staring at your crotch"

Last but not least our various student leaders:
Ben and Laksman


The one and only Barry


The rest of the gang from 'The Climb'


As Mr Low our principal rightly put it today- a gift only has meaning when it takes on a life of its own.
Thank you boys for the gift of the best years of my life and in return it is a fitting final for us to give back. Every year, graduating Victorians pen down their thoughts in the Voices of Victoria journal, but this being my final year with VS I decided to collaborate with our Senior leaders and do a 'live' Voices of Victoria:

"The Climb"- Senior Leaders, Class of 2010

"The Climb"- Senior Leaders, Class of 2010

A good way for us to say our goodbyes.....

Life & Death

Take nothing for granted
Live life to the fullest in order to leave life with no regret.
Who we are today was planted in the seeds of yesterday
What we become tomorrow is built on the deeds done in the moments between 'now' and 'then'

When the race is run, when our deeds are done, when we lay down to rest;
Let our stories be told:
with tears and laughter and with fondness and sadness
and in the telling of our lives, we touch eternity.

"The best thing that martial arts gives is Heart, but it's the hardest thing to teach"

Five competitors train to fight against their toughest rivals as they struggle to become the next National Karate Kid Champion.

"The best thing that martial arts gives is Heart, but it's the hardest thing to teach"

"Shout"- Tears for Fears

"Shout, shout let it all out- these are the things I could do without
C'mon, I'm talking to you, c'mon"

"In violent times, you shouldn't have to sell your soul
In black and white, they really, really ought to know.
Those one track minds, they took you for a working boy
Kiss them goodbye, you shouldn't have to jump for joy"

Father and Daughter

Hard to say no...

Who's your Daddy, girl?

What does a Baby do after her 2nd bottle of Heineken?

Siow's little hiccuping machine..

Pepsi 2010

I want to ride my bicycle

Labour of Love

What do expectant fathers do while expectant mothers rest and prepare for delivery?




Yup, we keep our hands busy!


Sleep tight, baby!

See the resemblance?

Nothing without Labour

Although there were initially No Signs of Labour, my wife has started her first series of contractions. Bearing in mind that there is Nothing Without Labour- I'm now prepared to take the step to be something more- I gonna be a father :P



Baby Grace was born at 6.16pm, 3.5kg 50cm
Mother and Daughter all doing well

Corporate Retraining

Community Drumming @ Kallang CC

In preparation for YOG, various teachers from the PE Dept and other departments have been working with students and other school partners to come up with a good way to represent and promote our twinned country, Zimbawe.

During the YOG season, VS will partner the athletes from Zimbawe and lend them the indomitable spirit and support from our might VS cheering contingents of Red and Black Shirt student leaders! We're also setting up a cultural booth at NIE to celebrate and showcase the rich cultural diversity of African nations, particularly our new friends from Zimbawe.

African drumming has a strong presence in the world music scene and Zimbawean drumming also has its own distinctive style. I once joined in a drum circle during our VS Arts DAy and after doing some research on the web, I found out that Kallang Community Club had a drum circle that met on Saturdays. This would be a good point to start learning about drumming in general and see if there were any way we good get insights into African drumming.

I touched based with their Chairman, Miss Soh and was generously invited to join them on Sat. In my mid-30s, I make a conscious effort to still stay relevant and 'cool' so that I can still connect with the young people but the one thing I realise is that most 'cool' activities are very niche- they don't appeal to everyone.
For example, check out the paintball excursions in my previous posts- I love it but even some of my more outdoor friends don't go for it cos they don;t like to get bruised; then scuba diving- again, not everyone wants to go for it.
But when I stepped in to the drum studio on Sat at Kallang.... it was the coolest thing I've seen that is so inclusive. Take a look at the following clip and see what I mean:


Most of these participants have no music background, but sounds good, right? Best of all you got housewifes, elderly, kids, working professionals- all playing together! I bet you're hard pressed to find another way to engage such a diverse group of people at the same time.

During my conversation with the lovely people from the Kallang CC Drum Circle, they've kindly agreed to work with our students and support us in our cultural presentaion for YOG. This means that our booth will be able to provide a interactive hands-ons experience for visitors by allow us to engage them in a communal drumming activity where we can showcase African rhythms.

As we left, my wife made an observation- she said "Look at the senior citizens- they're happy and engaged!" And it's true- most of the time when we plan activities for senior citizens or are engaged with them, I realise we subconsciously relegate them to passive spectators- we put on a show, give them some gifts, shake their hands and then send them on their way. But standing there watching the intensity and feeling the pulse of the group, I felt a strong sense of purpose in everyone there.
And this I believe is the Olympic spirit!

East meets West; Traditional meets Modern,

JK Rowling Commencement Speech @ Harvard- The Importance of Failure & Imagination

JK Rowling gives a commencement speech to Harvard Graduates
She talks about the importance of failure and the power of imagination
(Thanks to Amos for the heads-up)




This is what education is all about.

"Shooters watch your front! (and rear too!)"

Got my new toy just the other day-

Multi-cam battle belt & harness with 4 pod mag holders and 1 dump pouch


Couldn't wait for today to try it out at Austin Hills Paintball field in JB
Adjusted the entire rig to fit first and it felt good.

Enough compartments to hold 4 pods of paintballs (about 400 rounds), 1 dump pouch for misc items if needed in the scenario
Some of the guys had more elaborate rigs- with camelbak hydration pouches and comms gear attached. I'm still relatively noob, so this lite-weight set-up good enough for me without sacrificing mobility

With the top on, the harness blends in with the rest of the multi-cam pattern and I'm good to go!


Today was a tad less satsifying because our first warm-up Elimination game ended in draw for both sides
Second game, Capture the Flag game had my O2 tank purge completely in the middle of the game cos of a ruptured O-ring. Sian... caught in the middle of cross-fire right insight of the flag with a fully loaded marker but can't shoot cos got no air in the tank. No choice but to hunker down and dogdge bullets.
Third game, every one shack-out liao.
So we did a small-sided 3 on 3 elimination.
we played 2 rounds- Round 1, my 2 team-mates got shot while running for tree cover in the opening 10 secs. With 3 expert speedballers from the opposite team aiming at me, it was only a matter of time before i got hit. Longest 30 secs of my life.

Second round, our guys took revenge! We eliminated 2 of the opposing team early with 1 loss on our side. With 2 to 1 advantage, we had their last member pinned down.
After laying suppressing fire, I sprinted to flank him while he sought to engage my team-mate.
Then suay suay, Phoenix, my team-mate mistook my sudden sprint as enemy movement, shot me from behind. wah liao
PK'ed by friendly fire *sigh*
The last remaining opponent took this opportunity to close in and then we were all out.

Not exactly triumphant but still, it's the spirit of the game that counts.
The small triumph I take back this weekend is I know the cough that's been plaguing me this week is breaking. Should be on my way to full recovery by next week, just in time for VS Wushu team to enter National Inter-school Wushu Championships.

So time to get ready for another battle, on another battle field!

What do big boys do to have fun ...

Big boys, small boys- all of us like to play with guns :P
The most realistic way to shoot each other and make it back alive is by playing airsoft- the airsoft scene is really big in Manila where I sometimes go to play and train. But closer to home, next door in Johor- there's a great paintball field where Singaporeans and Malaysians gather to play scenarios paintball aka woodsball.

Since 2009, I've played a couple of games with the Wargh crew (they've even help us set up a laser tag mission for Veloci-T Camp in 2009)
Here's footage of the Wargh crew and what mischief big boys get up to on the weekends!
Watch RazorTV as they interview 'Master Chief' Andy and the rest of his crew at Austin Hills , JB.
We'll be heading down tommorrow for a great shoot out!