My Father Perseveres

Weather:Sunny
Mood: Fine

All along I always thought he was lazy. I thought he only knew how to play sports and to enjoy life. I was wrong, very wrong indeed. There was another side of my father, the side I never knew. He was a very capable and hardworking person. He had suffered much in his childhood in a small village with few people. In the end he was able to overcome all obstacles to become what he is today. I admired him for his courage to take risk and his perseverance.If he did not persevere, I will not exist today!

My father was born in Malaysia in an very sparsely populated village. He grew up in a not very clean( at that time) environment. His family was quite poor. His family consists of his parents, seven sisters and a brother. There were eleven members in the family including him. Every morning, before he went to school, he had to help my grandparents to tap rubber( collecting sap from the rubber tree to make rubber) It was a tiring job I must say. After helping, he still had to go to school. Sometimes after school, he still had to help his parents roll rubber sheets. His family could barely make ends meet as there were so many mouths to feed. Life was indeed hard then. This was something I could not understand.

At the age of 23, he came to Singapore in search of a better life. He worked in an auditing firm as an audit assistant but his pay was low as he did not have a degree. In Malaysia, more Malays had a higher chance to go to the university then. Only the top few of the Chinese race could get in and my father couldn't. This turns out to be a blessing in disguise.

It was in that company that he met my mother.It was there where my parents love for each other blossomed. They dated for years and later got married.It was because he came to Singapore so he was able to meet my mother. My father at that time was studying very hard to pass the professional exam in accountancy( ACCA). It was organised by an accounting body in U.K. If my father passed the exam, he would have a degree that was better than the accounting degree you get in a university. The exam was not an easy one. It was very tough according to my father . Many people had tried but failed.Some have failed so many times that they gave up in the end. Only 20% of the candidates were able to pass sooner or later. The (ACCA) consists of 18 SUBJECTS. Six to be tested in the first year and 4 subjects each for the 3 subsequent years. He had to pass all the subjects in a year in order to move on to the next year. My father passed the first yearbut failed the second year. He took the second year exam again and passed. For the third year he failed twice before he passed on the third time .For the last year, he failed twice more before he actually passed the whole exam. For the four-year-exam, he took 6 years to complete altogether. The exam was very tough.

After he got the degree, he had a much higher pay. It is because of his perseverance that we can have a better life. If not for his perseverance we would not have what we had today. ( I may not even be born come to think of it) He is living a much better life now, relaxing sometimes and still working at times. We are able to have a good life now because of the fruit of his labour.I really admire him. He now owns a small accounting practice, be his own boss.

I feel perseverance is very important in life. Without it, many things will not be completed. Let's take rich people for example. Not all of them become rich because of their rich ancestors. Most actually work hard to earn money. They put their heart and soul, sweat and blood to persevere to become what they are today. Peseverance plays an important part in getting work done. If one does not have perseverance in life, he is a failure in life. He will not have any achievements at all.The lazy streak in you will take over and destroy your life. We must persevere like my father, persevere to achieve our goal, in hope for a better life in the future.

WE MUST PERSEVERE!!!

Tick Tock Tick Tock...

This blog entry was inspired by one of my friends

Weather: Normal
Mood: Sad

Time is a wonderful yet horrible thing. I am sure you have heard of the phase, time and tide waits for no man. How I wish it was not true.

Time was something I had taken for granted for many years.Time has fly so fast that I can't adapt to the all so big changes to my life. Leaving my primary school life behind, a new chapter of my life starts to unfold.It is going to a secondary school, the part of my life that I dread the most. Before, I became a secondary student, I thought time will always be there for me, waiting patiently to be use. It soon dawned on me that it was not so. However, now time is not in my control. It continues to tick away, bit by bit, soon it will be gone. Now, it is a relentless struggle with time. I trying my best to cope with all the assignments that pour relentlessly on me, the homework that drown me and the CCA that left me lying on the floor, panting, with tiredness searing through my body. There was many tests that I had to prepare, which I feared of failing. Failing was not an option and never will be. Having to study to the wee hours of the night, Tiredness, without fail, would overwhelm me the following day. Have the teacher no mercy? I dread everyday, as I had lost hope of the teachers lightening our loads. Every single day is a race against time, which I always lose. How I wish I had more time, more time finish my work.

As I looked back on my childhood that time had cruelly taken away, I realised that my childhood was the happiest. How I wish I could turn back time and tide to the time I was in Kinder garden. How I wish I could relive the happy memories of my ever so carefree life. It is very funny, when we live in the present, we feel that time has tick so slowly, feeling that time moves so slow, but as we look back on our past, it is only then that we realised time has flew so quickly. I had never cherished time with was abundant then, it is only now, when time has passed, that I regret the days I took time for granted. As time passes, the longing for a second childhood grew within me. But, time is irreversible. I had my chance but I did not cherish it. I only have my self to blame. It is only now,too late that I realise the importance of time.

Time is not all bad. Time allows us to exist. Without it, we will be wiped off the face of the Earth. time has given us the opportunity to live our life to the fullest. I allows us to experience feelings and do things that one desired.

Time, time, time, how I wish time could be altered so I could return to my , happy and carefree life. At the present moment, It cannot be done. I will be hoping in wait of a new machine which could fulfill my long desired wishes. For now, the happy times of my childhood will remain as memories deeply etched into my mind forever.

Health beats the rest

Health is the most important. People often neglect their health. They work and work , earn and earn. I really wonder how they could live until today. Many people tend to overwork. Some may even die from it. We must always have sufficient rest. If not , we may not perform in our tasks. For example, the day before a test, we must not study late into the night. We will be so tired that we would not absorb information. On the day of the test, we will be so grouchy and tired that you could fail or even sleep in the tests even though you had done enough preparation. Not having enough rest can lead to illnesses. You will be sick and in the end no work can be done. So I feel rest is the most important.

Next, your diet should be nutritious. Do not eat too much fast food like Mac Donald's. It is high in calories and low in nutrients. Overeating of sweeties can make you overweight. It is very unhealthy to be overweight. When fats are formed on your body, you need to work doubly hard to burn them. So I suggest that we eat food they are high in carbohydrates like rice and noodles. They are easier to burn. Too much ice-cream is a big no. High in sugar food can be easily turn into fats if they are not burned. You know what I drink to keep healthy? It is herbal soup. These herbal soup are very nutritious. It helps the body in many ways. Some make you feel warm while others cure or prevent illnesses. You may think they are very bitter, actually some are not bitter at all. It is true that some are bitter but it is good for your health. My mother was right to force me to drink herbal soup since young. That is why I am healthy and not sickly like some other people. Drinking herbal soup should be a habit. At every dinner , there should be a bowl of herbal soup to drink.

Another or actually the most important is you get a lot of exercise. Exercising train your cardiac muscles and all the other muscles too. It also builds up your stamina. I highly recommend swimming and running. Swimming trains stamina and almost every muscle in your body. Running does the same too. I always go running with my sisters. My sister runs when she is free and she can complete at LEAST 10 rounds at one go. I can't accomplished that. So I must train more. I also play tennis as a CCA in school.The training is extremely tiring but it is very good. We do a lot of physical training to build stamina, push-up, sit-up, shuttle run, long distance run, skipping you name it.I recommend you get a sporting CCA as it trains you to be fit before you go for NS. Exercising also burn fats. It is a good way to slim down.

The obesity rate in Singapore is on the rise. We must watch our diets and regularly exercise. We must also watch other peoples' diet to prevent them from becoming obese. After becoming obese, it is very difficult to become fit and return to your previous size. So start caring for your health. If not.....( it will be bad)

FOBT is free for anyone above 45 years old

What is FOBT? It stands for faecal occult blood test. It tests if there is any non-visible (occult)blood in your stools. It there is blood, it is possible that you may have colorectal cancer. This disease is the number one killer in Singapore and not heart disease as most people assume. The government strongly recommend anyone who is above 45 years old to go for their annual Colorectal Cancer screening using the FOBT kits which are issued free-of-charge for those above 45 years old. Apparently, most Singaporeans are not aware of this as they do not care much for their health. They only know how to work hard and earn money, thereby neglecting their health.

I came to know about this test because my doctor-in-training sister had told us about it. It was during one of her public health screening exercises that she participated that she collected the FOBT kits for my parents to test. Thank goodness my father was cleared but not my mother' s. She had to go for colonoscopy. It is a procedure where the doctor examines the inside of your bowel using an instrument called a colonscope. During the operation, the doctor found out that there is a polyp( growth) in her large intestine. It was removed on the spot and sent for further test. Luckily it was benign and not cancerous. If such polyps are not removed, they may turn cancerous over time. By the way, my mother did her colonoscopy at NUH and the day operation cost only about $500 and can be fully paid by medisave. After this, my mother collected more free FOBT kits for my grandparents and my uncles and aunts to test.

Luckily for free FOBT kits that my mother had found out early that she had a polyp in her intestine. I greatly encourage you to tell your parents to go for this test.Adults above 45 years old are more susceptible to such risk.

The free FOBT kits are available at the Singapore Cancer Society at the following two addresses: (1)15 Enggor Street
# 04-01 to 04 Realty Centre
Singapore 079716
(2) Blk 22 Boon Keng Road
#01-11 Singapore 330022

I feel that health is the most important. Your health should be the first priority. If you are not healthy, you are not able to do anything well. Your mood will be affected and your work efficiency will be lower . We should always go for such health test to check that we are always in tip top condition . We must also encourage our loved ones to go for such tests. It is to ensure that our loved ones are healthy. Who knows, your loved ones' lives may be at risk. You may be the only one that can save their lives. So encourage others to go for health tests often especially the elderly.