Daily Lessons from Life 26-30 May - Recovery from Poor Discipline!

I have a serious lack of discipline to blog daily when I was in Melbourne recently! I am covering the period from 26-30 May 2010 to make up.

"26 May 2010

'When you did not sleep well, your body will tell you!'

I found this out when my neck and back acting up after the 8-hr flight from Singapore to Melbourne where I tried to sleep on the plane across 3-seat lying down. A luxury really but the experience still left me with a strained neck and back!

Lessons learned: make more money and travel by the 'bed-like' seat on business class! Not really. But be prepared and bring something comfortable to nest your neck!

27 May 2010

'It is ok when you speak English carefully and be mindful that your audience may not be familiar with your accents!'

The workshop I was conducting is for the Australian audience. Australia has definitely become more and more an international melting pot as I have Greek, PRC/Malaysia/Hong Kong Chinese, Colombian, UK and, of course, Australian, Australians in the class.

It is a delightful group who are keen to learn and patience with a Singaporean trainer speaking English! I do have to be mindful of my diction and pace as Singaporean tends to speak too fast!

We have a good workshop and I am pleased though it is the clients' feedback that is the ultimately measure of if the workshop had worked well for them.

28 May 2010

'Nothing beats meeting friends in a foreign land'

Met up with a mutual friend of an ex-colleague and had a great discussion and learned about the Australian culture and habits. I also met up with my God-Brother who had migrated there from Singapore for good food and a wonderful chat about how the family is doing in Melbourne. He took me to the airport and that was really nice of him.

29 May 2010

'Nothing beats being back at home!;

Despite the pleasant experience on this trip, the feeling I had when the plane touched down was simply irreplaceable. That of coming home! I could have lived anywhere in the face of this world besides Singapore but I did not for the simple fact that I defined home as: 'wherever my family is'. Of course, when the children grow up and set up their own nests, it will be wherever my wife is, then the kids, and my parents and family.

30 May 2010

'Nothing beat meeting an old friend from afar in Singapore!'

Tonight I will be meeting up with Scott whom I first met in Shanghai, PRC, during the volunteer work with JA China in 2003. He has travelled much since then with an investment banking stint in Hong Kong and then off to Columbia School in New York for a Master degree. In between he did a stint at the USA Treasury Department and now in Singapore for an internship with the Standard Chartered Bank!

I look forward it as he is one of the young people who has a sense of mission to help the less fortunate besides just making money!

May I regain my discipline as I preached that: to have a sustainable success, discipline is one of the chief ingredients!

I must practice what I preached!! :-)