Take A Step Forward...

If you have a great ambition, take as big a step as possible in the direction of fulfilling it. The step may only be a tiny one, but trust that it may be the largest one possible for now.

Mildred Mcafee


Recently, a lot of my friends got retrenched or laid off. The economic crisis is not abating and many of them are looking into other industries for jobs. Some of them are in their mid thirties. To this group, the change in job scope and industries can be a major challenge and paradigm shift.

I hope this quote from Mildred will encourage their hearts :)

Believe in Yourself? Half the truth only :)

Last night, I was at a company function and heard someone said, "After tomorrow, the White House will no longer be white"... haha. It brought the house down!

Today, Mr Obama took over and sworn in as the 44th President of the USA.

Many people asked: "Can Obama deliver"? Last week, I came across an interesting USA TODAY/ Gallup Poll. It seems that there are stratospheric expectations for Obama. A majority of those surveyed say Obama will be able to achieve every one of 10 major campaign promises. Every - Single - One!

I don't want to dampen hopes, and I'm not quoting this to make any predictions. But reading this poll just made me think to myself:

Why people often count on others to make changes or to deliver results?
How come it's easier for people to believe in someone they haven't met to make change in their lives, and yet they find it so hard to believe in themselves?

Isn't it time you believed in YOURSELF to make the change you want to see this year? But wait, that's not the reason why I blog this here. Believing in yourself is only half the equation.

Yes, you should believe in others sometimes, but there is One that you should believe in and put your hope and future in EVERYTIME - the LORD Jesus!

You see, those who quote that you should believe in yourself is only half correct. To me, believing in the One who changes not and who does not fail nor falter holds much more confidence than placing my trust in someone, met or not met, near or half way across the globe.

Who do you place your confidence in this year?

The Ultimate Measure of a Man

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."

Martin Luther King, Jr.
1929-1968,
American Civil Rights Leader

Rise with the Occasion

"The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion."

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
16th President of the United States

My Last Movie in 2008 - Ip Man

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In this bio-pic, Ip Man, one of the earliest Wing Chun martial arts exponents credited to have propagated its popularity, gets portrayed as the best of the best in 1930s Fo Shan, China, where the bustling city has its own "Martial Arts Street" where countless of martial arts schools have set up shop to fuel the craze of kung fu training. With each new school, the master will pay their respects to Ip Man and to challenge him to a duel. Ip Man, an aristocrat who spends most of his quality time developing and perfecting his brand of martial arts, will take them on behind closed doors, so as not to damage his opponents' reputation nor embarrass them in public. His humility is his virtue, and his style is never violent or aggressive, which often gets assumed and mistaken for being effeminate, since Wing Chun after all was founded by a woman.

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The bulk of the story gets set in the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese war, and it's not all fight and no story. With this historical setting, at times it does seem that there is an air of familiarity with the type of stories told, with how the Japanese Imperial Army had made life really miserable for the Chinese, and how the Chinese being fragmented in spirit, fail to unite during dire straits. More often than not, martial arts become a unifying force.

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I'm no Wing Chun practitioner, but Donnie Yen has this marvelous calm and zen-like approach with his Ip Man character in taking out his opponents quite effectively with the minimal of moves. Like Huo Yuan Jia, he doesn't deliver the killing blows to friendly opponents, but rather simulates the various hit points, which actually calls for some astonishing control of strength and precision. This approach will change, of course, as the opponents become anything but friendly. And unlike the usual martial arts stance of crouching low, here we see him standing tall and striking with such precision and efficiency, it's like poetry in motion with some astounding closed quarter combat utilizing plenty of upper limb strength.

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What a way to bring 2008 to a cinematic closure with this wonderfully crafted show. Bravo to Donnie and Master Ip!

Vision - The Things to Come

All of the great achievers of the past have been visionary figures; they were men and women who projected into the future. They thought of what could be, rather than what already was, and then they moved themselves into action, to bring these things into fruition.

Bob Proctor

Good men say, "When I see it, I will believe".
Great men say, "When I believe, I will see it"!

Eagleboy, on 20 Jan 2009

Cheers to the great men!

Change...

Things do not change; we change.

– Henry David Thoreau