Sunday, May 12, 2019

父母的陪伴

Another great article by 袁凤珠.

https://www.zaobao.com.sg/zlifestyle/familynlove/story20190506-954161

问

孩子小学时乖巧听话,学业成绩拔尖。升上优质中学后,成绩却一落千丈。他变成网迷,交到很多不同网友,开始逃学,爱顶嘴,甚至说:“你打死我也不读书了!难道我们做父母的就此得放弃了吗?

您在讲座中提到青少年有生理和心理的障碍和偏差,网络游戏本身不是问题,而是玩者自己扭曲的变态心理。此外,父母必须认识自己的孩子是属于什么样的种子,聪明人不一定是读书人。我们的孩子是慢成熟的,所以我们愿意耐心地等待他开花结果,但学校和社会不能等啊,他是会被淘汰的呀!

您说过,让孩子做自己。看着这么懒散的孩子,他怎能做好自己?我又如何能找出一个好方法指引他?

答

每个家长都盼望自己孩子出类拔萃,但孩子的兴趣、梦想和热情都是重要的,而懂得“自律”,是出类拔萃的人才普遍具有的特质。

让孩子走自己的路,可能看到不同的人生风景,具备“能有自己的想法”“知道自己的目标并朝目标持续努力”“自律”以及“为自己的决定负责”这些条件的人。

我们应鼓励年轻人多方尝试,发现自己所擅长的事物,也鼓励他们思考“活在这个世界上,有什么事情想做的?”或是“能为这世界做些什么?”然后用自己的兴趣和专长达成梦想,也帮助社会建设更好的生活。

你多了解自己的孩子?他们的潜能、性格性向、兴趣、价值观是哪些?重要的是:他们的脑海里想的是什么?如果能身体力行,让孩子学习到:爱自己、爱家庭、爱亲友、爱国家,他们的人生大多数不会偏离正道。

你的孩子大概无人生目标,向来以为读书是为了父母,所以一旦成绩下滑就气馁了。如果能够帮助他找到人生目标,就有生活方向,生活方向确定了,也会激活他的动力,再而激发丰沛的生命力。

当孩子的学业成绩不尽人意时,父母可以主动跟孩子说“不管你考几分,我都爱你”,然后再进一步了解孩子成绩不理想的原因,是因为没读书,或是老师课堂教的听不懂。成绩不好非罪,少一点对孩子发出负面情绪,多一点发自爱的关怀,这样会让孩子对于学习更感兴趣,而非只是在考试分数上打拼。

我也建议家长避免让家中孩子手足之间相互比较,而要鼓励他们适性发展,父母懂得因材施教。

很多孩子在小学教育阶段,在班上名列前茅,但随着他们进入优质中学及大学之后,发现强中自有强中手,很多孩子会因为成绩不若以往而深感挫折。失败为成功之母,但成功也可能是失败之母,不一定要孩子赢在起跑点,但要鼓励他们赢在挫折点。

为人父母的要留心关怀自己的孩子是否把太多的专注力放在课业成绩上,不敢或无暇发展其他兴趣,导致视野和世界越来越小。每个挫折都是开启下个学习历程的门道,父母的信任和接纳会让孩子快乐学习,挫折及犯错是孩子学习的必经之路,父母要经常给予提醒和鼓励,让孩子知道自己的表现须要修正、补强的地方。

台湾国立阳明大学姜安娜教授说,从小培养孩子易于进入成功人生的基本条件包括:身体健康、快乐知足、不怕失败、正向思考、刻苦耐劳、随遇而安,以及清楚地表达能力和幽默感;而进阶人才的特质则包括视野宏观、心胸宽大(会换位思考)、创新思考的灵活度、乘风破浪,掌握时机,以及愿意为他人付出。

中学前期的教育,应培养学生多元兴趣,建立吸收新知,灵活思考能力,而家庭就是培养人才的基石,家人提供的正面能量,可让孩子的世界变大,而信仰是改变生命的力量,也指引彷徨无助的人,看到生命的价值和意义。

孩子需要父母的陪伴,记得常常与孩子聊天沟通,就可减少他们叛逆的行为。许多父母看到孩子不合作、成绩差、叛逆、态度不佳,就情绪化地谩骂,甚至说出伤害其自尊心的毒话,使彼此的关系恶劣,所以许多的青少年从此不愿意与父母好好沟通,甚至长期冷战。

如果不能拉好与青少年的感情线,随意地折断,那么,即使学会一套很好的亲子教育,也无法应用在他们身上,因为他们的心灵已经与父母隔绝了。

学习是一条漫长的路,每个家长都希望自己的孩子在这个过程中,可以走得稳,走得好,孩子的学业成绩不是不重要,但在关心孩子的成绩前,应注意孩子的学习态度和困难,做父母的不可急躁,以免让孩子失去学习的兴趣。若是自己的孩子已经找到兴趣的,要鼓励孩子勇往直前,未找到兴趣的,要鼓励孩子在尝试中继续探索。当找到方向后,就义无反顾地努力向前进。

当孩子表明有兴趣选读某个科系,或将来想要从事的职务,父母要从旁帮助孩子了解兴趣,以及本身是否具有竞争力这两个指标来作为衡量,然后学习放手,让孩子成为自己生命中的主人。

Friday, February 22, 2019

Jaybird Tarah Bluetooth Wireless Earphones

The Jaybird Tarah bluetooth wireless earphones have been getting a lot of rave since its launch in Sep 2018. It is better-priced and yet comes with almost all features of the Jaybird X3 and X4.

I have been looking for a pair of sports earphones for gym use. I had used the JBL Reflect Contour (died after a few months) and JBL Endurance Sprint (bulky battery compartments with touch control that was simply too sensitive).

The Jaybird Tarah is now my choice after reading up on it and trying it out at Stereo Electronics.

It has a dedicated app to customize the equalizer and has better sound quality. My untrained ear couldn't really tell the difference in quality from my other earphones but the ability to customize the equalizer does add to it the cool factor.

The more expensive versions, the X4 and Tarah Pro do not seem to bring much more value and Tarah seemed a good buy. Of course this is simply a pricing strategy of Jaybird where different tier of products are priced differently to create an impression that Tarah becomes the best value for money. The customer would then be self-convinced that he/she has made an informed decision. Ka-ching!!

I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that it supports multi-point as well, although I do not need the specific feature in the context of gym use. Nevertheless it shows that Jaybird does not shy away from squeezing in quality features into its products for a reasonable price point.


Sunday, November 25, 2018

JBL E25BT Bluetooth Earphones

The JBL E25BT earphones are my current earphones that I use at work. It is a reasonably priced set of earphones that have the muti-point feature, which allows simultaneous connections to 2 devices, such as the laptop and handphone, at the same time.

After pairing has been done properly with the laptop and handphone, the 2 devices will always be connected automatically and ready for use once the earphone is powered on.

During normal usage, the sound on the laptop will be muted when there is an incoming call on the phone. When the call has ended, the sound from the laptop will resume. These are done automatically without you having to switch connection manually between the 2 devices.

In the office I can always wear them and be ready to answer any phone calls or listen to web conferences. I could even join conference calls using them while on the way to work or while commuting between venues.

Click here for the technical specifications.

Saturday, November 24, 2018

输给了心情

I came across an inspirational "Aunt Agony" article on 联合早报 by 袁凤珠. I thought I had to document it down.

The original link is at https://www.zaobao.com.sg/news/fukan/family/story20181119-908792 and the actual text is re-produced as below.

问

因为不想朝九晚五的工作,我32岁就出来创业。第一次创意不成功,我把毕业赚来的薪水全赔上;祖父母希望帮助我,给了他们的老本让我再创业,最终还是垮了,我实在无法再向父母要钱了。

现在已经43岁了,我想也许需要去找一份工作,乖乖上班,但我的心却常常感到不快乐。有人说得好,在你跌入人生谷底的时候,你身旁所有的人都告诉你:要坚强,而且要快乐。坚强是绝对需要的,但是如何快乐?在这种情形下,恐怕是太为难自己了。父母怪我成天灰心丧志,死气沉沉,为何不能重新刚强起来。我觉得每一天的生活都好累,什么事都提不起劲。没有好心情,做什么事都乏味。一个堂堂男子汉,却为这些事暗自流泪。我应该如何重新站起来?

答

你不是身体的疲倦,而是心累!

每个人都得按照“日出日落”的作息时间去度过每一天,你不愿意按日子上班,是因为不要受人管制,还是骄傲不肯低下头,或是心中仍有做一番事业的宏愿?

失败的事业,受了挫折的雄心,往往积聚起来变为自怜。过度的自信也是失败的原因之一,平庸的人只有一条性命;优秀的人有性命和生命两条;卓越的人则有三条命:性命、生命和使命。这分别代表着生存、生活和责任。而使命,是一定要把事情做成的责任,是对国家社会、对人民的一种责任。他们把自己的生命同国家、民族甚至整个人类的未来紧紧联系起来,肩上有着沉甸甸的担当,就是神圣的使命。一个人会成功,第一,是目标明确;第二,是使命与理念非常的清楚。

你必需好好地省察自己,一个人一生最失败的,不是他的学业、婚姻、事业,而是不认识自己,不能正确地评估自己的价值。不要看自己过于所当看的,你最大的工作,就是去找一份适当自己的事业。心是一块田,快乐自己种 ,如果你有一颗宽阔的心胸,有一颗善良的心,有一颗充满生机的心,你就是播下了快乐的种子,就会收获一颗快乐的果子。

几次的失败是生意人的常事,问题是在每次的挫折里,有否学到功课?人生,总有一些挫折坎坷需要面对;走过的岁月,总有一些伤痛需要领悟。这一路走来,有奋力的打拼,有跌倒的伤痛,有不断的学习,也有沉淀和积累。累了的时候,也允许自己放慢前行的脚步,用心聆听自己的声音,是否应该再打拼,还是替人打工,冷暖自知。

别让人生输给了心情。心情不是人生的全部,却能左右人生的全部。心情好,什么都好,心情不好,一切都乱了。我们常常不是输给了别人,而是坏心情贬低了自己的形象,降低了能力,扰乱了思维,从而输给了自己。控制好心情,生活才会处处祥和。好的心态塑造好心情,好心情塑造最出色的你。

上苍给予我们一样的生命,我们却选择了不尽一样的生活方式。我们可能活得不高贵,但完全可以活得高尚;可能无法逃避厄运或生活带来的棘手的问题,但我们可以从容豁达。我学习到的是,专注在阅读或弹唱音乐,可以把坏心情放一边,希望你也能找到忘我的时刻。

毕竟,谁能在跌得头破血流时还觉得高兴?但是至少可以做到平静。平静地看待这件事,平静地把其他该处理的事处理好。平静,没有快乐,也没有不快乐呀。

人生是一条有无限多岔口的长路,永远在不停地在十字路上做选择。每一个重大的选择都影响深远,而不同的选择也必定造就完全不一样的人生。而人生没有重来的机会啊。有些路,走的人多,似乎平坦,而有些路,罕无人迹,充满未知。选择的结果,是迫于外力,迫于亲友压力,唯独缺失了自我的意志和智慧,某天会发现,适合自己的原来是另一条自己看不起眼的路。

其实使人疲惫的不是悠悠的路途,也不是忙碌的无尽头,而是心灵的颓废,盼望的丧失。你现在正经历着辛酸,感叹自己的一路艰辛,感觉前路漫长黑暗,期待曙光降临。然而你要相信,乌云上面的太阳仍然照耀,明天也许是彩霞满天,苦难的日子终将过去,经历生命的最低潮,迎接你的便是升起的朝阳,否则你怎么能够度过43年呢?

一场好哭之后,给自己一份坚毅,擦干眼泪;给自己一份自信,不卑不亢; 给自己一份洒脱,然后悠然前行人生的路途中。人的脆弱和坚强都超乎自己的想象。有时,可能脆弱得一句话就泪流满面,有时,也发现自己咬着牙可以走了很长的路。即使你跌倒也要面向太阳,就请锻炼一份美丽的心情吧。所谓天助自助者,你要加油,再加油!

Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Why I Started Jogging In The Late Evenings

As I grew older, I found myself spending my time in the evenings (after the kid has gone to sleep) browsing the web and looking at Facebook, scrolling non-stop night after night, not turning in earlier than 1-2am.

It struck me one night that this cannot go on and that I am spending my time in an un-productive manner. I decided to start my jogging regime after the kid has gone to sleep, at least twice per week. (Could no longer manage 3 runs per week which I used to when I was in my 30s).

Later on I had signed up for gym since I can run without the mercy of the weather and could also do some endurance training on weights as well.

So far so good. Running helps to induce endorphins and after a run all worries seem to matter much less. You are also more ready to take on the work stress the next day and face that same problem with less strain on your heart, literally.

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Nikon D7500

My favourite camera brand remains as Nikon and I got myself upgraded to D7500 from D7000 earlier this year.
Consideration factors:
  • Tilting TFT touch-sensitive LCD. This adds flexibility to the type of shots I want to take.
  • Information display on the top-right LCD panel. This eliminates the lower end cameras without such a feature. This is important in my shooting workflow.
  • Full-frame camera is not necessary. This eliminates the top-end full-frame camera meant for professionals.
All these factors led me to the specific choice of Nikon D7500.

For a full specifications do refer to http://www.nikon.com.sg/en_SG/product/digital-slr-cameras/d7500

Thursday, September 28, 2017

Carrying multiple cards in the wallet when taking MRT

Have you ever wanted to tap your wallet (containing multiple credit cards, ez-link cards, cash card etc) onto the MRT gantry, only to find that the gantry will throw you an error regarding multiple cards? But how did that dude in-front of you manage to pass the gantry just by tapping his wallet and not taking out the MRT fare card? Surely he has multiple cards in his wallet as well?

After doing some investigation, it turns out that no matter what card you are carrying, the important point is to identify whether the cards that you are carrying in your wallet has the ez-link logo (on the left in the picture below) or the MRT logo (on the right in the picture below)

It does not matter if the credit card supports paywave or not, and it does not matter if it is a debit card, credit card or cash card. As long as either of the 2 logos are there on the card, it will be picked up by the gantry. It is therefore advisable not to have more than one of these cards in the wallet at the same time.

For my case I am using my DBS Debit/ATM card as my MRT fare-card, so there is no need to buy a dedicated ez-link fare card. I have another credit card that has the MRT logo which I do not carry. Instead I added the credit card onto Apple Pay and so the physical card is now redundant.

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Topeak Accessories

I have gotten myself some of Topeak's accessories as below.

The Topeak Mini 9 toolkit.

I like that additional 8mm wrench that is missing in other models.

The Pocket Rocket DX II hand-pump.

You can put it in the car or mount it on the bike, and be prepared for any onsite need. The smart head can fit both Schrader and Presta valves, the locking mechanism is also easier to operate. It is not the lightest hand-pump around though.

The JoeBlow Max HP floor pump.

It can bring any puncture up to full pump within seconds.

Friday, May 10, 2013

Bike Friday New World Tourist

I got myself a Bike Friday New World Tourist!

The main reason for getting the bike is really the double chain ring at 53/39T as well as the drive wheel size of 20 inches. The rear cassette has 11-28 teeth, so this equates to about 20 * 53/11 = 96.4 for the highest gear inches and 20 * 39/28 = 27.9 for the lowest gear inches. 

Bike Friday - New World Tourist
Wellgo M111 detachable pedals
Wheel-Sport Smart 20-inch rims
FullSpeedAhead (FSA) Vero crankset and Shimano front derailleur
Shimano Tiagra rear derailleur
Selle Italia Flite Flow saddle and Zixtro saddle bag
SRAM MRX twist shifter and Tektro brake levers

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Polygon Bikes Apparels

Gotten myself Polygon Bikes cycling jersey and shorts from Rodalink.

Monday, May 6, 2013

Bicycle Lights

Installed the Smart Superflash (rear) and KNOG Blinder 1 Standard (front) onto my Tikit

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Polar RC3 GPS

Head over to polar website to read about the features of the Polar RC3 GPS that I bought to monitor my cycling and running exercises.

Friday, May 3, 2013

Selle Italia Flite Flow (Black)

Upgraded my saddle to the Selle Italia Flite Flow (Black) after taking my butt, thigh and hip measurements at Hup Leong.

Here is a video for it:

Monday, April 29, 2013

Manage Favourites/Home/Office locations on Garmin Nuvi 40LM

Garmin Nuvi GPS allows the saving of favourite locations into memory so that there is no need to re-key in the same set of addresses over and over again if you need to go to such places frequently. For example you could save Home and Office locations into the GPS and you could quickly activate it to navigate to those locations from wherever you are on the road.

There was one day which I accidentally saved a wrong address as my Home location and I had a hard time figuring out how to change it on my Garmin Nuvi 40LM. I used to be able to able to do it easily on the Nuvi 2465, which often had menu options within the navigation screen. This is not the case for the Garmin Nuvi 40LM.

I managed to find out how to do that one day. As below are the steps required.

Start from the home screen. Tap on Where To?
Tap on Favourites. (You may need to scroll up or down the menu to locate that option)
Tap on Home (or any other favourite locations that you want to remove)

Note: I do not live in Teban Gardens, this is just a bogus address.

A map of the selected location will be presented. Tap on the white speech balloon that is surrounding the address field.
You will be presented with some options that you can use for that location. Tap on Delete.
Confirm the deletion by tapping on Yes.

That location should then be gone from Favourites.