E-Club To Be or Not To Be

My Rotary club is called an E-Club. We are a prototype, the future model of clubs in the Rotary world. The main attraction is the cyber meeting we conduct as compared to physical meetings the ordinary clubs are having weekly.

Our members are supposed to be cyber-literate. It means that we don't have phobia handling computer and the internet. It means that we understand the difference between forum and chat, between email and website.

Ideally, we should be very familiar or at least comfortable with the cyber things. However, far from ideal, the reality is many members still have phobia touching computer, not to mention on using the internet.

Theoretically, many things can be done through cyber meeting. The fact is people are still more comfortable having face-to-face meeting, sending fax instead of email. This is quite an irony.

Perhaps, we should add in a test for new members before we admit them in. Ask them to go online, register the user id and post an introduction on the forum. Only after satisfying these will we them induct them to the club.

At least with this barrier taken out, cyber attendance will not be a problem anymore.

Legalities of Having a Blog

These few weeks there were few articles in the newspaper regarding the legalities of web logs. Most of the time, the bloggers are not aware of this. They just write whatever they feel like publishing online. Only until someone notifies them that they realize that they are brushing with the law.

It is not so simple to do this within the legal framework. Most of the time, the bloggers just put down whatever comes to mind. These may include something the legal thinks inappropriate.

Frankly, I lost a bit of enthusiasm when I read the news. Not that I intend to write something unlawful, but rather I don't want to worry unnecessarily on these things.

After stopping for sometime, I have decided to do a comeback. I think I will just pen down my ideas and not worry too much. Besides, I an not any celebrity and I doubt that this page will receive more than a handful of visitors.

Healthy Lifestyle Outing

In Singapore, a Community Centre or Club serves residents staying nearby. It is a place where there are activities for residents. It also serves as resident mobilization centre.

Today I took part in Healthy Lifestyle Outing organised by Sembawang CC. I used to take part in this kind of activities, but stopped for at least a year due to various commitments.

Today we visited the Chinese Garden. There is nothing glamorous, but with a piece of bread, a bottle of water and lucky draw costing S$2 departing at 7am, participants found it worthwhile. Besides, it is healthier compared to people who woke up late and did not do simple exercises.

On why I said it is a centre to mobilize residents, we can just take a look at turnout for today. There are at least 800 people with no less than 17 buses taking part. This is definitely a very important phenomena to notice.

I think this is one area that Singapore has done very well. Other than healthier lifestyle, it also fosters family bonding and cultivates good habit of waking up early.

Overall, I am satisfied and I would definitely encourage my family to take part more in the future.

Mental Arithmatics

For the past few years, mental arithmatics has been gaining popularity in Singapore. I also noticed the same trend happening in Indonesia. Starting from pre-school age (kindergarten), children were attending enrichment classes teaching the subject.

I have tried myself to learn the technique. Being a math geek when I was younger, I found it very interesting and useful. The method really simplifies the addition and substraction without using pen and paper.

I don't know how it would affect the performance in school. Either it will motivate the children further when they can handle the subject or the children may feel overwhelmed with additional pressure on studying especially if they already have few other enrichment courses to attend.

No matter how the result maybe, it is important to have a balance coupled with individual's interest.

Eat-With-Family Day

Starting two years ago, there is a new day called Eat-With-Family Day in Singapore. It falls on the last Friday of May. It is a way by government to encourage companies to release employers to release the employees to go home earlier so that they can have dinner with family members. Today is such a day.

There is no special arrangement required. For my company, we were allowed to go home at 5pm. This is nothing special as people starting work from 8pm would have gone home by that time. Howeve, it is a good gesture from the company.

On my way home I say my co-worker. She was in a rush. I complimented her as a good mother and housewife rushing home to prepare dinner for the family to eat together. But to my suprise, she told me she was late for her appointment with friends at Orchard Road.

Well, there are many ways to celebrate any events. For her, perhaps, that was the best, since she might not have the chance to see and meet up with her friends as her work would only be finished after 6pm.

The whole idea to have such a day is very good, indeed. Finally, it is up to the individual to decide how best to utilise it without neglecting the true meaning of the special day.

Health Supplement

In my course on Fundamental of Nutrition, the author of the text book we are using explained in very detail about various vitamins and minerals including the optimum dosages for healthy body.

Although he explained about the natural sources of those important nutrients, he also advocated supplementing with health supplements.

For the past few years, I have been involved in few multi-level-marketing companies dealing with health supplement. The message is basically similar. Our nature is not the same as before. The natural food that we have does not have enough nutrients to supply and to give us the necessary nutrients to build and maintain a healthy body.

To stay healthy we have to supplement our food. Of course there are other things like exercise, stress management, healthy mental state, etc., etc. we need to take care.

In a sense I agree, but only to a certain extent. No doubt we have to supplement, but taking in natural food, especially the non-meat source is equally important. From the start of mankind, human has been living out of the nature. Health supplement is a relatively new intention. I believe synchronising our life with nature is equally important.

In conclusion, lead a healthy lifestyle, eat sensibly and take enough supplement and your health should be in a tip-top condition.

Choosing Primary School

When it comes to choosing primary school, most people will look at the school academic performance first. Other factors will come in later.

The same thing is happening to me as well. As parents we would want to provide the best to our children. So, this was the first step I did.

Along the way other factors come in, the proximity, the co-curricular activities, pastoral care, teacher's commitment, etc.

Primary one being the first time a child go for full session study can be quite stressfull. Besides, the need to wake up early in the morning to catch up with the school bus and to start the school early can be quite a difficult routine to adjust to.

Based on there two factors alone, the most important thing that matters is only one, the proximity. Then, how about academic that was supposed to be the most important?

Somehow, I noticed it is actually up to the child to put in the hardwork and discipline to be successful. No doubt the school and environment play a sold here, but ultimately it is the individual that will determine the success.

With this understanding, I realise I don't have to do much. Just find the nearest neighbour school with not-too-bad academic achievement and my children should be alright. I hope this is a wise choice.