Reality of life.....

Just got back one of my common test re-test results and got a lecture from my lecturer as i failed again getting even a lower mark than the previous attempt.
I can't study or do well academically and that is a fact. Close friends of mine know i'm definately not an academically gifted person. Is being academically gifted really so important? I've know of people who are gifted academically but have totally fucked up attitudes or have seriously low or even zero EQ to speak of.
Even though i express my views in this manner, i know academic results definately plays a part in having a good start up to their careers. Hopefully i will be abe to obtain my diploma and after my service to the nation, we will see how i will move on from there whether i will get a KNNBCCB degree or enter the KNNBCCB workforce. However, one thing is for certain is that i have to stop getting allowances from my parents ASAP as soon as i finish my diploma. If i go for my KNNBCCB degree, i think it is fair enough for them to pay for my course fees if they can afford it but i will have to earn my own allowances be it from working part time or from saving up during my NS days.

To those people who like me are not academically gifted, lets show the rest that even with average or medicore results, with the correct mindset we can acheive wonders. Singapore is an extremely competitive society, we are all judge on how well we are doing by our monetary achievements. This is a cruel but hard fact. In a few months, i will be starting my attachment in a logistics company provided i clear all my year two module. Hard luck to the organization who will be receiving an intern of my exceptional calibre. Jokes aside, i will definately be taking a Mr Cheong with a serious attitude to the logistic organization and will show my employers that i am willing to learn and i will get going when the going gets tough. Additionally, i will definately show them that i am willing to learn and it does not matters if i fail now, or the next time , or the next next time as i belive that if i am willing to learn i will be able to gain knowledge that will be able to put to good use in the future.

Thereis a chinese saying"A MAN MAY HAVE MANY IDEAS BUT HAVING BOSSOM FRIENDS IS HIS GREATEST GAIN." I truly hope that i am weathly in the term of the number of quality friends i have. Still, i belive that there's no escape from one's fate. Somestimes in life, you've got to accept that some things seem destined. No matter how hard you try, the result inevitably will remain.

As Forest Gumps mama said: "LIFE IS LIKE A BOX OF CHOCOLATES, YOU'LL NEVER KNOW WHAT YOU'LL GET" .

That fateful decision.....

Me and my comrade in arms during the aviva bintan lagoon triathlon in May.

The truimphant face after completing my first olympic distance triathlon. Completed in a totally atrocious timing...haha

Father: "Son you sure you wanna sign up...this one serious one le... must train you know"

Son:" Can one la daddy.... is mind over matter....i confirm can one , dun see small me le "

The heated debate above happened over six months ago between me and my dear father. The topic, whether to sign up for Singapore 70.3 which is inching closer and closer each day. The D-Day date: September 2nd 2007, 0530hrs, venue :East coast park.

The 70.3 series is held all over the world, there is 70.3 Australia, 70.3 Califonia........and many others including Singapore. The race consist of a 1.9km swim, 90 km bike and lastly the dreaded 21 km run and the total milage clock adds up to 70.3 miles, hence the name Singapore 70.3. The distance clock is also equivalent to a half-ironman race.There are three other comrades in arms of mine joining me on this grueling mission of a lifetime.

Firstly, there is Chong. SOF(Special Operations Force) wannabe and future french foreign leigionaire. This guy is a bull and is definately bulit for the military. I am not sucking up to his balls here but i have rarely seen someone who has so much self imposed discipline installed in oneself. This guy is fit both mentally and physically, thus if i am the president and Osama have hijacked a plane. Chong will be the first man i sent onboard to eliminate those insane freaks. He may even stand a good chance in getting some awards for this race with some luck as well as some of god blessings.

Next, Sky the proffesional ironman who train almost everyday i presume. He has a target and that is to be the youngest ironman in Singapore. An ironman race consist of a 3.8km swim, 180 km bike and a full 42.195km run. From the way he is going, i'm sure he will accomplish his goals set and have his name in the record books somewhere. He is a man of god and maybe that is why he is so focus and dedicated to his goals as he fully has god blessings.

Next, keith the drinking triathlete. This guy is serious stuff in the sense that he have to pump himself with vodka, chivas, beer or anything that has alcohol into body or he will mulfunction....haha. Hey but beneath the cute innocent looking face is someone who may even swim faster than most of the divers in our navy's elite naval diving unit. He can dive a whole length of the pool 50 metres without surfacing and once swam i thinks 150 laps non-stop.

A potential US navy seal in the making.

Lastly, yours truly.....the self confessed lazy bum, slacker, coach potato and sleeping beauty....opps i mean beast...haha

I may not be accomplished at either swimming, biking or running but i was once a warrior ... in the sense that i was once an entremely enthusiastic fitness freak. Breaks between lectures would be spent at the pool honing my swimming technique or else i will be at the chin up bar building up my strength.

However that was glory of the past. Nowadays, you will will instead find me at the library watching a movie while munching on nachos or siting somewhere in campus ogling at the many sweet young things that abound in our campus.

The reason for this happening....hmmm....maybe the many mind busting project have taken its toll on my weak vunerable mind........maybe i have impose the "i come to polytechnic to study mentality" in the pea brain of mine....may be this..maybe that......

Triathlon is actually an extremely good sport to take up. It is a multi-disciplinary sport and thus trains both your upper and lower body muscles, your cardiovascular strength as well as your mind. This is so as it is often staed that the human brain is ten times stronger than the body. Hence,there is no way you can test a person’s psychological strength until you break his physical strength first.

Hence, to all my friends out there....no matter in what name do you call god. ...whether is it Allah, Shiva, Jesus or the Virgin Mary....please pray for me that i Harry Cheong Jie Hao will be able to complete the race of my life in the designated time of 8hrs 30 mins as stated by the organisers.

May god bless us all.

Amen

Busy.....

Been quite occupied the last few weeks finishing the last of those dreaded projects. I've did alot of headwork the last few weeks which includes thinking of my goals and ambitions in life before realising i have none at all. Is life in Sinapore basically, study hard, earn big bucks, find cinderalla , start family, earn more big bucks..period....cycle continues for the next generation.

What is my ambition .....be the next Mr Abramovic? Date hot models? Basically i have no idea.....
Basically i'm sure Mr Mao is not the only one with this thinkings as i'm sure many people are too going with the flow of the motions and systems that the government of Singapore has set for us which is to basically study, study, study.....work, work, work...then FO and die faster to stop taking up space.

From my 19 and a half years of my life i can tell i'm no Einstein thus having no interest or natural ability in my studies at all. I am not boasting here but my smart alac father has provided me with a lifestyle a niche above the level of most average singaporeans and for that i am eternally grateful. However, he is no Li Ka Shing or any other famous tychoons whose assets and wealth can last a few generations. Imagine if Mr Li is my father......i would be driving an Ashton Martin to school, shu qi can be my maid(actually she sucks), have carvier for supper.....and most importantly have an extremely rewarding career waiting for me.Sadly, lim pei is not. Hence, like everybody else it is ultimately still up me to provide for myself and my family to ensure that they would be able to live comfortabiliy like others.

Hey guys, i'm not pussing around here but i am just feeling a little loss... may be a lack of direction or drive... so the question to you people out there is ? Study, Work, FO, die ASAP......or????? Whats your purpose of existence in this world in this world?

Ok ok after this so called "brain storming sessions" i have some ambitions

1) Try to be an officer during my ns days

2)Afford a car before 30

3)Marry cinderalla...haha( but it is important..really)

4) Have Harry junior...the more the merrier

5) Try my best to be a man for others

See.... i'm a simple man.... i will work for the above ....and for my friends out there.......no matter in what name you call god........pray for me that i will succeed and overcome the numerous obstacles that awaits me.....in the jesus name we pray .....amen

The Marist Spirit

The 4k CMI batch.(cannot make it)



A WWF session in process.





The 2I parang gang.

Harry boy may not have even gone through a quarter of his life yet but he knows that a certain four years (unfortunately, in his case five) would hold some of the best memories he will have during his life.

I could still vividly remember the reason i went to the school(Maris Stella High) in the first place, reason being that my father insisted that he was in a boys school(VS) thus i should follow in his example and enter a boys school as well. The other reason being told to me was that the absence of the opposite sex would enable greater concentration with my studies on my part(sadly that did not materialize). What did he think his son was, some hard core chee kor pei.............The school was quite a distance away from my Bukit Batok hometown hence travelling was quite a hassle espically after school where i had to take the public transport during the much dreaded school dimissal hours.

I've learn so much during the years spent there, there was never a dull moment. There were the slight skirmishes we had with boys from other schools, the stupid WWF sessions i got into, the numerous heated debates i had with my caucasian teacher(losing in most cases unfortunately), the hounding sounds of wolves produced when my classmates and i see some sweet young things in our school, the kicking of the lower secondary students soccer ball to the cemetary opposite our school.... and many others.

The most memorable incident i experience was the one with my english teacher Mr Christoper James Turdy who hails from the city of Auckland in New Zealand. He was an exceptional english teacher and to-date i would fairly said that he is one of the best educators i worked with. However, he is a relatively eccentric person and one incident in which he insulted the dignity of our parents made me scream my guts out at him nearly resulting in a David verses Goliath battle which lucky did not took place as he was rumoured to be an ex-professional boxer.

The defination of a Marist ... a gentlement, a scholar, a sportsmen.....

Am i a gentlemen ?....well i'm always trying my best to be one

Am i a scholar?.......no and never, at least not in this life(studying is never my cup of tea)

Am i a sportsman.....ok for this point maybe i'm one

Coming from an all guys environment definately has its perks as we would be able to do things that will never take place if a female is around...... the stupid nonsense we did daily still vividly lives in my mind.

Living on , forever with the marist spirit embedded in my heart

marist moto>dilligence, determination, loyalty and dedication, courage

The marist creed:

I am marist stella

my conduct is guided by

respect for god and country

respect for siblings, peers and juniors

respect for self

and respect for property

In all that i say or do

i bear in mind that it affects or influences others directly or indirectly

Lastly i find that anything worth doing should be done well and cheerfully.

GI JOE

Process of the torture....



The aftermath.......

Yesterday i decided to have a hair cut at 11pm and i did...For you guys who not know which saloon i have my hair styled at, it is located at 4 Shamah Terrace, singapore 597556...... which is of course my own home.

The barber is non other than my beloved sister(yucks yucks). Since i entered poly, she is the one who has been trimming my hair and so called styling it. The service is relatively good since i can have it done any time of the day but most importantly it is free. The reason why i've stopped going to a barber outside is because of the ridiculous speed in which my hair grows and thus it would definately burn a hole in my already burnt pockets.

The way i want my hair cut is simple... short and neat... this is so as i am never a fan of fanciful hair styles, hair waxes, hair foams or whatever shit you guys spread over the grass patches growing above your heads.

Therefore the theme of my hair style is always " free and easy" as i tell my sis... meaning she can do any thing she wants to my hair provided it is short, neat and presentable. Normally my sis only uses a pair of thinning scissors to cut my hair.However, weeks earlier my mum had bought a hair shaver(the kind which army barbers use) or whatever you call it thus she had a new weapon to play with. "OPPs harry" "SORRY harry" these are the two phrases that was most commonly heard during the daunting process yesterday as she was totally unfamilar with the use of her new found toy.... thus instead of just slight trimming i ended up having a GI joe type hair style......

A Bloody encounter....

The great saviour enduring terrible pain (tryin to act tough)

A week ago a few of my mates and i decided to donate our precious body fluids to the blood bank which was having some sort of campaign at our school. Actually, i wasn't the least interested in the task but since my friend jarrell was donating, i decided to join him together with LY who was the one who persuated him to join her.

At the convention centre where the blood bank was being based, i read through several posters decribing the different blood types and how they are in relations to our ancestory.

My conclusion:For type O, this is the oldest type of blood known to man kind linking back to the prehistoric times where dinosaurs abound. For people with this blood type, your great great great grand uncle probably got chased around by king kong and flintstone may be your distant relative.

For type AB, this is the blood that was recently discovered around 500 years ago, scientist are still researching on the ancestral origins of this blood as it is the most uncommon type of blood avalible in the world.My conclusion of people with this blood type, their ancesters probably mated with ET when he landed on earth.

For type A, this blood has its orgin traced to central asia and European nations, thus we may be the decendants of kublai khan and are of the warrior class with pure ayran blood.....haha.. ..

Anyway back to the main agenda, we had to go through a series of test and had to fill up some particulars to make sure we as virgin blood donators are suitable candidates.In the process of doing so, joker no. 1 mr jarrell suddenly told me that he was on medication and can't donate, next joker no. 2 miss LY had iron deficiency in her blood.Hence, yours truly who was there just to make up the numbers had to go through the valley of death by his own self. Harry is no rambo hero... however i dare say they he is no mousy coward either. When the nurse tried to find the vein to suck the life out of him in his left arm, she encounter some difficulties and so said:" er boy, kannot find your vein le... still wan to donate use other arm anot?". At that point, i was quite apprehensive on whether to continue or just give up, but i though since three of my class girls went through this yesterday i as a guy should lead by example and soldier on. Besides, there were so many females donating and for me to just back out like that would be a total disgrace.

Before i knew it, the process was almost done but jarrell kept telling me that they were stealing my blood as my packet of blood seem bigger then the others which made me quite worried for a while.

I at the end of the day felt pround that my bodily fluids will be put to good use and may make a difference between whether someone lives or says tata to the world. My conclusion is that the process of donating blood is relatively painless and i encourage all suitable candidates to donate blood a least once in a life time to experience the process. As they say, we all only live once and if there is an opportunity to try new things.... why not... especically when it is free...haha

A glance into the future

My classmates with our lecturers



Yours truly trying his best to act cute.

Yesterday, i went for a study/field trip to the main logistics hub of DHL located besides changi airport.

Enroute to reaching our destination, we pass by hendon camp home of the commandoes and the saf ferry terminal. Whenever i pass by any army camps or even see people in their army no. 4, i would feel an rush of adrenaline as if i can't wait to join the army and serve my country with honor and glory. At one stage, i even considered signing on an army diploma scholarship which would guarantee me a monthly income of over 1k even before my army career even begins which i found extremely appealing.However, after much considerations and lisitening to the first hand stories by my friends who are serving the nation, i decided not to as the saf did an exellent job in their advertising campaign and it is a fact that whenever young innocent teenagers look at televison advertisement of saf soldiers in action, they are in an air condition room maybe drinking pepsi and munching on nachos but being in the bloody jungle is an entirely different thing.Imagine the fatigue you are feeling after days of trekking and you have to soldier and push on to acheive your objectives no matter how much pain you are in as you have to answer to your superiors and your men are all looking up to you. I seriously would not be able to take this kind of streneous mental stress. Besides, how can i choose my career so blindly when i have not even experience the life in the army yet.Maybe after serving my nation then would i be able to fairly judge whether a career in the military is suitable for me.

Now back to the main topic, the DHL logistics hub is where the products are sorted out then shipped out by air,sea or land all over the asia pacific region. During the tour inside, i saw how the real working world is like and it is indeed a no nosense society unlike all the fun, rubblish and cock i am having during my poly days.I can't imagine myself entering the working world as i'm a happy-go- lucky- guy who simple hates paper work. To be able to succeed in the working society one would need both IQ and EQ to survive.Communication wise(EQ) i find i'm still relatively ok but where (IQ)application of my skills i learnt is concern, i am in for a big disaster as i'm the type who hates doing tutorials but enjoy doing projects aspecially presenting them in front of an audience. This is so as i always find a sense of satisfaction whenever i'm able to convey my message across successfully.

OKOK..... Mr mao's aims in life now
1)complete my diploma with the highest GPA possible
2)try to experience anything i feel like doing with a i can do it attitude
3)most importantly try to wake up for school on time and cut down on cabbing
4)be happy