friday high and books as usual

i found the lky book really good; it's my first lky book though i bought one of his earlier books which i never got around reading it.

my view on lky still stands, if not more rooted now; he is definitely a man with foresight and boldness during the singapore's tumultuous formation years. he was like a doctor feeding the nation with the bitter pill of bilingualism. i can almost imagine how the deep rooted chinese must have dispelled his drive to make english first language for all school going students. i can vaguely remember the redifussion days, i was borned in the years when the government pushed for more use of chinese and lesser of dialects (remembered the speak chinese campaigns).

i think singapore has come a long way though we are not even close to half a century old. the development we have made is commendable, yet would not have been possible without the sacrifices made by those who were caught in the transition.

in contrast to today, i think we have somewhat come to a plateau with the people becoming fairly complacent. i read and hear more complaints than real efforts made to adapt and change. these are the days when children are no longer disciplined by the cane and must be "reformed" by tender loving care. i grew up being caned for being mischievous, which i personally think it did me more good than harm. i laugh to the past when my bro and i used to hide the canes and wrapped ourselves in blankets so that it didn't hurt as much when my parents caned us.

back to the lky book, it gave me glimpses of the many challenges of running a country. for all those who incessantly pass repulsive remarks on the government, please step forward and try it for yourself. even as employees, we will feel discouraged if our colleagues snide at our work, why are you doing it to our country's leaders? it is always easy to point fingers and blame, but few dare to step forward and lead.

my next book is the tiger's wife. it was an unexpected find as i was in np's library passing time and decided to see if i can find this book on its shelves. to my surprise, it was there waiting for me. i've read about 30 pages of it and i am a little "lost" with the writing. i am not really getting how come people gave reviews which raved about it. maybe i am not up to that kind of literary level yet. nevertheless, i will try to finish it before i conclude.

i was at np to support dearie's runners' relay event. it was just a fantastic way to end the work week, with ECE coming in FIRST for the staff event. i thought all the runners in his team were dressed all unassumingly - white FBT singlets with loosely fitted shorts, yet proved it's about the legs not the outfit. i am super proud of how dearie came in way ahead of all the staff runners, he was about 100m ahead of the next runner when he came back. i could see he was pushing hard as he ran up that last hill and sprinted down the track. he's my superboy! zoom zoom!

it was a fabulous team effort and it proves that hard work does pay off. all the weeks of training helped some get into better running form to take on this run. winning was just the pinnacle of it all. i'm glad i can be a part of it and running with the ladies was fun! i was thinking why haven't i got more colleagues who can run like them!

dearie told me about the trekking trip his colleagues are discussing to organise. to me it's like WOW.. trekking for a department event.. this will NEVER happen in my department. i'm just going to be the usual thick skinned tricia and tag along dearie's department. hoho!