Graduation 2013; celebration of all the hard works

 16 May 2013.

The day I graduated from Singapore Polytechnics, Dilpoma in Human Resource Management with Psychology.

Three years have passed. Time to graduate and move on to another phase of life. Well, army.

Diploma award presentation, my moment of glory. Sorry reader, you have to tilt your head to see the picture clearly.

With Le family

 

With the flower from Toby!

My awesome CCOM - Media Relations Team! 

With Le boss of Department of Corp Comm.

It was definitely a proud moment for me. All these was made possible thanks to my Laobu, Empress Dowager aka my dear loving mother for all her sacrifices and her selfless love. Her love for me knows no bound despite constant quarrel and conflict. Thank you for everything Mom. :)

Thanks for everything Mother. :) 

What make me even prouder is that I am the first one in my family (both father and mother sides) to obtain a diploma or a proper education certificate. How awesome can it get. :) I did it! 

Along with this graduation, let me dedicate this to my dear father who passed away just a month before my graduation. 

"Hi father, I did it. I hope you can see your dear son and hope you will be proud of my achievement. I am happy that you are always proud of me and thanks for not forgetting me. Of course I am remorseful and regretted my actions towards you, like calling you by your name, not being there for you when you needed me, wasn't able to take good care of you when you were sick. But in the deep within, you know that I love you dad. Just that I was unable to bring it out. I always struggled between two families. My mom and your family. As much as I love you, mother needs me more than you ever were father. I am all what mother has and she is my world too. But father, you were loved by me too. I am so sorry that I wasn't able to spend a proper father and son quality time with you. 

I hope that you will be in a better place father. At least, you are free from complication of material world. You are free from sufferings in this world. I hope you will find a better place father. Wherever you are, just remember that I will always love you, as much as I love mother. You will always be remembered, because you are my father, and no one else is going to replace you father. 

I believe that my thoughts will be able to reach you, I believe you will be able to see it too. You will always be in my heart. 

Please look after your beloved ones father. And just to let you know, no matter how wicked, despicable and deceitful you-know-is, no matter what they think of me (as some asshole after your assets and inheritance) or what they did to me, I won't hate them. Trust me, your son is not a greedy person after, I don't really need any of them. I truly pity those people. You gotta be proud of your son's compassion. I am not being weak or softhearted, this show how strong I have become. You have to be proud of me at this.

Thank you for your gift of life and your kindness and your tender love. I am proud to be your son. You will always be missed father."

 Rest in Peace father. I hope that my graduation and me adorning this robe will be able to make you proud. Though, you were not able to see it while you were alive, I believe you would be feeling proud of your son wearing this robe. This is the only way I could ever repay you. Hope you can see this from the other realm.

My graduation has come to an end. Life moves on. Hi Army, please be good to me. 

Signing off. 

If we don't unite, who else will?

There has been reports on new wave of sectarian unrest in Myanmar. This news is not unusual to the people living in Myanmar.

So what's going on in Myanmar?

Fight. Unrest. Violence. All started by difference in religious practices.

There fighting between the Muslims and Buddhists has been for quite a while. Just when you think it is over, another scene broke out.

Just what went wrong?

I wish I know what went wrong but there were many rumors circulating around. All I could say is the Intolerance and lack of Unity among devotees of two religions in Myanmar.

I wouldn't dare blame anyone or make judgement on who is right and who is wrong. Because, it wouldn't be fair for both sides.

Knowing my fellow countrymen's character and their "A hti ma kan Shwe Pa Gan" or untouchable gold plate (literally) attitude, it will be hard to bring the situation under control and settle the things in amicable manner. But Keep Trying U Thein Sein (President) and Government. I believe you can do it.

So let's get back to topic.

Our country seriously lacking in Unity. Religious intolerance is becoming a norm in the country. To stir up, people taking advantage (in a bad way) of Internet to spread false rumor, be it true or false.

As a results, things turn BLOODY! WAY BLOODY THAN ANYONE CAN IMAGINE.

My point here is hey, We may be Buddhists, we may be Muslims. We may be followers of any other religions. But, we are ONE people. We are one country. We are a part of Myanmar. We stay in Myanmar, we drink the water provided by her, we eat the food that grown here. We live in ONE MYANMAR! We speak the same language.

So why are we so divided? Is there a need to be divided because of difference faiths?

I really hope that everyone will learn to live in harmony, regardless of race or religion.

The road to harmony is long, but, I know that the day will come. One day... til then, stay strong Myanmar, stay united fellow countrymen, regardless of who you are.

Because if we don't stay united, who else will?

Signing Off.

Pleasing people, are you happy with that?

"We were born to be ourselves, not to please others."

Do you agree with this? Are you a pleaser (sorry, this word does not exist in dictionary. It is a new term given by me, heh!) who is so busy pleasing other that you don't have a time for yourself? 

So here's the question? You are pleasing others but are you please and happy with yourself? 

Sometimes, people are trying so hard to please people so that they can be accepted, but to be honest, I doubt they are happy and satisfied with themselves at the end of the day. You don't find the satisfaction with yourselves as you were busy satisfying other. 

In other words, YOU ARE NOT BEING YOURSELF. You are being someone like, hmm, how do I put it ... hollow. YES, HOLLOW! THAT'S THE WORD. It's like you don't have a life for yourself. You are like a shell with nothing inside. You are living your life according to people's opinion. You are constantly changing yourself (mind, clothing, appearance, etc) to please people. You dare not say no to the people fearing that they might not like you. 

Seriously, I pity these type of people. They have low self esteem or worse, none at all. They are not happy with themselves. They are constantly finding ways to be accepted into social circle. One word, PATHETIC. 

To be honest, I too used to be a pathetic joker who always finding ways to please other, two or three years back.  I was never satisfied with myself. I always feared, what if, one day... What if. I started questioning myself often, am I really happy with myself? I did an inner soul search, asked myself, what I want to do? *the journey to the truth is being omitted*

Yes, I am definitely happier now. Life is much better and more awesome now. I am living being me. 

I was not the only one. Yours truly has a friend like this. I am omitting the friend's name in order to protect her identity.  Her story is much more pathetic (and sadder) than me. She would do anything, technically to make people; to please them. She would make up stories, do whatevercrapnonsensical to be accepted, to get sympathy from people. She would lie over and again. She was not being herself. She was being the person other people see in her. 

I would say this kind of people are really insecure. They need someone to assure them that they don't have to do all these meaningless shits everyday. Next time if you see someone who was trying so hard to pleasing others, making other happy, instead of taking advantage of them, give them a hug or a talk or whatsoever thing you can think of, tell them that they don't have to try so hard to be accepted. Ask them to be themselves. If you are true friend enough, I believe you would not want to see your friend to be sad, am I right?

"All you need is 20 seconds of insane courage, and I promise you something great will come of it."

Signing Off. 

Celebrating friend's achievement - are you true friend enough?

Let's have a train of thought times. The topic is, "Are you true friend enough?"

You do not have to think far for that. Let's do something simple. Say, if your friend has achieved something great. Will you be happy or will you be getting jealous over your friend's achievement, secretly cursing him while putting on a sheep skin?

If you chose the former, yes, indeed you are a true friend. 'Nuff said.

So this close friend of mine was awarded the Gold medalist of his course and in fact, I was real happy proud of him. He earned it, he deserved to be awarded.

In fact, I was getting all hype up, excited and happy. I would love to show him off and tell others that he is my friend, my bro. Haters gonna hate but screw them. Haha.

I am proud and I know it.

End of story.

Reality - Are you brave enough?

Sometimes, it occurred to me that, you know, one day we have to let go of the friends who were so dear to us. Even the thought of it makes me sad. We can't hold them forever, we will have to part ways sooner or later.

Oh well, there's a saying; most friends do not last. Yup, let's take a look at ourselves. Let us rewind back a little, perhaps 3 years ago. We met many friends (definitely) for past three years. Some of them became a part of us. And now, let's ask ourselves. Did those last forever? Did those so called people that became a part of us stayed with us? 

The answer is obvious, no. They moved on. These friends came into our lives and then they chose to move on, leaving us puzzled. 

Well, this is the reality. Most friendships did not last. 

I too, hit by the harsh realization that oh well, I would have to let go of friends who were so endeared to me. Nope, I am not contradicting myself; I treasure my friends, I tried my best to retain them and it pained me to see them leave my life too. 

What could I do? Nothing. It was an obvious fact that the friendship was fading and there was nothing I could do to stop it from fading away. I could not do anything prevent them from leaving. I pretend to stay oblivious to the fact but at the end of the day, I still need to accept it. This is inevitable cycle of life. This is reality, not some fairy tale nor fantasy that we see in television and books. 

But hey, there are some extraordinary people, the true friends, they chose to stay behind with us. 

Yes, they are the people we should cherish and treasure because they did not leave us. They are the people worth fighting for. Don't ever let go of these people, or you will be regretted for the rest of your life. 

This is reality, are you brave enough to embrace it? Not to worry, you still have the people worth living for. 

Signing Off.

Greeting with a hint of Chinese, NI HAO!

Hello all. Sorry about not updating for a while. Anyway, NE HAN (Ni Hao) from Suzhou. Yeap I am in Suzhou right now, for my internship program. I am currently attached to Singapore Aerospace Manufacturing (Suzhou) ( 新宇航空制造（苏州）有限公司) It is a Singaporean company operating in Suzhou. They manufacture parts of airplanes, A320, B737, etc! Sounds cool eh? Yeap. It is! HR boy being attached to Aerospace company, haha, fate or what?

I am currently in Procurement Department ( Yeah, kinda weird that I am not in HR but I will be posted to HR after a month. I am not sure of the reason but eh, I am loving my current department. And I am kind of attached to the current department that I am feeling reluctant to move to HR next month. Haha. Poeple here are nice.

Well, 2 more months to go back home. I might as well make full use of my time in Suzhou. :) 

7 Nostalgic Years

Seven years ago, I set foot in Singapore for the very first time. Bewildered, amazed and confused, I began my life journey in the land of Merlion. Seven years has passed since. Don't be surprised, time flied, people changed, I changed too. 

When I first came here, everything was a new experience for me. Everything was new. It was WOW. My jaws literally dropped when my family brought me around Singapore. I remembered I once chased and scolded by the security for standing at the ATM machine and staring at people making transactions. HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW! HAHAHAHHA. AH, HOW NOSTALGIC.

There was a major transition of life, from rural to urban life. Adapting was not easy. Unable to speak English or Chinese made added more trouble for me. So guys, you can't blame me if I still have problem with grammar or pronunciation. I started speaking English, only seven years ago. Haha, Singlish, I LOVE IT LA! SO FUN TO SPEAK SINGLISH. HEHE, NOW I TALK LIKE A SINGAPOREAN. No one knows I am not a Singaporean unless I tell them. Shiok! 

I am so well integrated into the culture and the life here and I think and speak like a Singaporean. In fact, I see myself as a Singaporean. Of course, not forgetting my origin and my background. I still am a proud Burmese boy. Heh. 

7 seven years ago, I set foot in Singapore. 4 years later, I finished my GCE O Level, and just recently (23rd November 2012) I finished my Diploma in Human Resource Management with Psychology. Haha, not really graduated from Singapore Polytechnic yet but it was a self declared graduation la, not going to school liao. So yeah, off to internship I go next week. Hello Suzhou, please be nice to me for three year yeah. :)

It all happened, made possible thanks to my awesome mother. Love you mom, you are great. <3 p="p">

Let's end it off with a song, You Raise Me Up. :)

That's all folks. Have a good day ahead. 

Signing Off. 

A New Semester

Our dear Polytechnic students should know what today is. Yeah, last day of semester break for most of us. Anyone anticipating for tomorrow? I guess not eh. 6 weeks passed like no one's business, don't you agree.

My last semester, or rather last term (6 weeks) in Singapore Polytechnic. A rather saddening realization this is my last semester in school and I will be graduating not too far from now. 

To be honest, I could not wait to graduate and get it done and over with. Now if you ask me, if possible, I wish I could turn back the time to enjoy every moments I have with my friends in poly life. All the madness, the craziness, the fun and the laughter, oh man, poly life is one of the best few years of life.

What I can say. I do not have the power to control time except making the best out of it. Have to tell myself to enjoy the remaining 6 weeks in school before I am off for attachment. 

Guess what, at this very moment in 2011, I was at Mt Kota Kinabalu with SP-NCC Mt Kinabalu Expedition. Time flies. One year has passed since we set foot on Highest Peak of South East Asia. Memories. 

Took this at this very moment in 2011 from the mountain. Magnificent isn't it.

What did we learn here? Time, it does not wait for anyone to make amendments and changes, it's up to us to make the best out of it and enjoy life to the fullest without any regret.

That's all folk. Have a nice week ahead. 

Signing Off. 

NYAA: We are going GOLD and BEYOND

Imagine yourself walking up the stage, shaking hands with His Excellency, President of Singapore Dr. Tony Tan and having a moment of GLORY, everyone applauding at you. Feel good and recognized, don't you feel so?

That's the reward of completing the prestigious National Youth Achievement Award (NYAA) Gold. Is this the biggest reward for me? NO. My biggest reward is to be able to see the smile of the people I have come across throughout this journey. Needless to say, NYAA Gold Award Presentation Ceremony is one of my biggest event in life. 

“The joy and satisfaction of being able to help someone and seeing them smile and laugh because of you, the feeling is indescribable”.

We feel the happiness within when we were able to help people and being appreciated by them. That was the irreplaceable happiness I experienced along the NYAA journey by serving people and reaching my hand to those in need.

Completing the National Youth Achievement Award with strenuous efforts has been a milestone of my life albeit the journey was no bed of roses.

There were countless tribulations faced along the way. To be honest, I feel like dropping out of course after many events along the journey. Time management, stress, work, project, most importantly have to learn how to tolerate and handle difficult people who posed a serious challenge. However, the passion for learning, thirst for more knowledge, supports and encouragements of my peers, lecturers and student development officers motivated me to move on. I laughed, I cried, I smiled, I frowned, but at the end of the day I know I would survive, thanks to the people who has been there for me.

Through this journey, I have formed invaluable friendships with friends, getting to know people, shaped me into a person of fine character. I get to form many close friendship in fact, my bros sis and my closest friends are the awesome people I met along this journey. I have learned to step out of comfort zone and looked at the world in different perspectives, and learnt not to take all I have for granted. 

I was able to go beyond miles, discovered my passion for putting a smile on everybody and transformed lives when I underwent residential project in Shangri-la (Tibet). I had a life changing moment while serving the villagers of Ringha Valley in Tibet. The little kid from the nursery gave me a hug and a kiss at the cheek. Even though it might be normal for others, I was deeply touched and could not hold my tears to stop rolling down. I felt appreciated; it was worth every effort I had put in. This moment has made me want to help to the less fortunate more than before. Gerald Jampolsky once said, “Through our willingness to help others we can learn to be happy rather than depressed”. It is undeniably true, don't you think so?

The biggest reward for completing this journey was not shaking hand with Mr. President, nor getting recognition from the nation but the seeing the smiles on the people I have met. It worth more than anything to me :) 

To the rest of the Gold award winners, a very hearty congratulations to you too.

NYAA gold, mission accomplished. GAHA (Gold Award Holders' Alumni) here I come. Next Mission, OITP Suzhou, China!

"5 Sections, 1 Goal, 1 Dream, let your dream comes to life." 

Leap Intermediate 2012 Ipoh, Gopeng Malaysia

Lost In Nature (5 Sept to 8 Sept)

Hello guys, thanks for waiting. Haha, anticipating to read about my trip to Gopeng, Ipoh? Anyone? Sorry for the late post, was really busy these few weeks. Working for everyday, LITERALLY EVERYDAY. Anyways, let us start shall we. 

Waking up as early as 500 AM to get ready to leave the house to meeting point at Woodlands train Check Point. Of course, you can't expect to go HEY YO SUP HOW ARE YOU to other people when you meet them for the first time as meeting point right? You need to warm up, get to know them first, am I right? 

Nonetheless, bonds were formed along the way. :) 

The trip begin with a train ride. YEAH MAN, TRAIN RIDE! CHOO CHOO! I was getting excited of course. My first train ride after 10 long years! Who's not excited you tell me?

Train Ride
Well, the train was ok. Really ok. I was kind of disappointed with the train. I was expecting a better train cabin. The interior was really bad. The seats stink and worse, the food was expensive. Worse than train rides in Myanmar I tell you. KTM, PLEASE REFURBISH YOUR TRAINS SOON. I spent about 40 RM in the train, just purely on food. I bet the train food vendor must be loving me a lot. The rest of the journey was awesome because everyone was getting excited. 'Nuff said.

The Camp (Earth Camp)
This I must admit. IT IS SO FAR THE BEST CAMP I EVER BEEN TO. Earth Camp really lives up to its name. The materials they used for bunks were made from recycled material. The toilets and bathrooms were made from recycled materials too. The camp was surrounded by nature. Take a look.

Awesome isn't it?

The mountains behind the camp

The River

The Bunks 

The Food. The meals were SUPERB!

The friendly cat in the camp. I named it SUSHI! No idea why. There were two other cats too. They were shy. :X

Our Banner

The Activities

Well, this camp really was challenging. The activities such as swift water rescue, high element climbing really challenge you mentally and physically. That made us prepared mentally and overcome our own fears. I wish I could show the photos but sadly I did not take the photos and the photographer has yet to upload the photos as well. White water rafting was one hell awesome experience. I miss my 10 RM Kampong Adidas shoes. Haha. Awesome it is, nuff said.

The "Lectures"

I was like, AHHHH! EXAMS JUST OVER-ED. WHY WE HAVE TO LISTENING TO LECTURES. But hey, I WAS PRETTY WRONG. The lectures delivered by Mr Lye, the boss of TAM (The Absorbent Mind) was really effective. I learnt a lot. Really a lot. Refer to my previous post.

And Last but Not Least,  IPOH TOWN!

After about 40 minute journey from Gopeng town, we reached Ipoh town. Kinda reminds me of Kota Kinabalu. Not much to see, probably because it was too late by the time we reach there. I ordered a lot of food. REALLY A LOTTTTTT. 

A LOT, ISN'T IT! AND I TOOK SOME MORE FOOD FROM MY FRIENDS TOO. SINFUL DINNER. BUT HECK!

And went to Tesco shopping mall, well, nothing much. I planned to take a deep shit in the town because I was uncomfortable with the toilets at the camp but the toilets at the shopping mall was, WOAH, WOAH. Nuff said. I decided to take a shit back at the camp instead. 

Back to Reality, Back to Home

Someone told me, "you might not like the place you are visiting for the first time, but when you finally fallen in love with that place, it is time to leave that place". True enough, just as we are having fun and enjoying, the trip has come to an end. Well, it was a beautiful ending. It was fun, Earth Camp. It was worth every cents spent. 

We took a train back to Singapore. Really no more comments on the train ride already bro. 

To those days when we were really "Lost in Nature". 

LEAP INTERMEDIATE IPOH 2012 (SEPT 05-08)