For the first time, I look forward to moving house. Packing, moving and settling in at a new place is such a hassle. More so if you move every so often - almost every half a year - you felt it’s just a dread. But not this time. 

Reason is easy - it is such a nice place!

And after getting used to a place where you make it look nicer than it was earlier - no air flow, entertainment from all around you, old newspaper vendors ringing and singing their hearts out almost every hour daily early in the morning, rock music from across the window, scoldings from the other direction, fighting from yet another direction, walk out smelling like a sweaty and unwashed Indian, feel like you are being watched at all times, smell car exhust fumes, hear conversations below your unit, floors where we scrubbed until it is cleaner than when we move in - it is a bliss to be moving into a place where you feel comfortable from the first step into the house. 

Now, not only all these are history, we get peace and serenity with vast greenery to feast our eyes on. A song to the soul, a relaxing massage for the mind, a place you can come home to feeling rejuvenated. 

Now, the mess and the hassle of moving doesn’t seem like a big and dreadful task anymore. In fact, I want to get it over and done with as soon as possible to enjoy the new ‘home’!

A fellow blogger left me a message asking why have I not been blogging for a while. I was grateful for this blogger’s reminder. As what I’ve replied to this blogger, I had been jerked off the boat I was on heading towards my goals. And now I’ve climbed back onto the boat and in the process of steering the boat towards its rightful destiny.

No doubt, there was a lot of inertia to overcome and fights over priorities to settle. However, amongst all these, there are beautiful moments and lovely memories to keep. And lots of changes in just a few months.

Just to list some of them down:
1. I’ve moved to another place and will be moving again soon when 6 months is up. Leading a nomad’s life
2. I’ve changed department and learning lots of new things, picking up new skills as well as facing new challenges. So far, I’m still coping alright.
3. One of my beloved flew to somewhere far for further studies. Gonna miss her much…
4. Dreams of walking amidst clear blue sky with crystal clear lake nearby and lush greenery embracing the warm, lovely place are coming back again.
5. Another of my beloved is not longer separated by distance. But one came, another left…
6. One of my best friend also closed the distance gap.

And of course, the best of all… I’m BORN-FREE, bond-free ;p

Freedom is a very great feeling. When you are no longer bonded to anything and you feel as though you can do whatever you wish to, it is really AWESOME!

FREEDOM is definitely something I value very much. I can smell freedom, feel freedom and experience freedom!

Everything happens for a reason. How true. If not for an incident which had happened, I would not realise how I can be like a serene island, remaining calm and composed in the middle of a stormy turbulence. In a battle of emotional intelligence, the master of his or her own emotions is the king. And a king wins battles.

Are you a King who wins battles or are you a mongrel, who fights to see who can shout the loudest?

I am thankful that while I am struggling to brave through a rough patch in life, I have angels around me in various forms, giving me moral strength to carry on. I want the angels in my life to know, from the bottom of my heart, I really appreciate and love all of you!

The past few days have been an amazing and awesome experience. An experience that is heart-warming, fulfilling and one that floods your heart with love. And I too felt that, I’ve stretched and grown to be a better person, someone who makes a difference being who I am.

As I relive the experience here as a first time coach for Patterns of Excellence (POE) Module 2 by Adam Khoo and Stuart Tan from Oct 3-Oct 7, I could still feel the exhilaration and the warm, fuzzy feeling I felt.

Initially, it didn’t start off quite well for myself. I did my best to complete my job at work and then rushed to AKLTG. As I reached there, I was just right on time for the Milton Model language patterns game.

It was really fun having a conversation with each other using the language patterns. I would remember how Robert used that to strike a conversation which means a lot to me, something that I felt the same way too.

I wouldn’t not deny that initially I was a bit lost, just like the feeling when I first coached for POE Module 1. I’m so thankful to have Tracy Tan as my co-coach for Mod 2, and also Uncle Yew Soon for Mod 1, who guided me through. Thank you Tracy and Uncle Yew Soon! Who you are really did make a difference!

After a while, I began to get the hang of it and I told myself that I will do my best to be the best coach I can be and at the same time, carry out the tasks assigned to me and also to help others out.

There were times when I do feel fear inside me, and it means a lot to me when I’ve conquered them! Just like how I see lives transformed up there, with soft breeze on my face and wind beneath the wings of eagles, bringing them soaring through the sky.

I would always remember the way the eyes lit up with joy when the participants have achieved their goals! I could feel a sensation of warm feeling rushing through me, and I could also feel as though my heart is smiling together with them. I was ecstatic, and at the same time, feel so happy to see breakthroughs in their lives! I will always remember these moments

I would also remember how one of them kissed his goal so many times and not willing to let go, how the tears of joy spouted from another girl’s eyes after she had conquered her fears and how another participant could finally enjoy the time she has with her son.

I’m also very touched when one of them wrote to me, saying my smile had meant a lot to her. I’ve never known I would mean so much to others. And as I realised that I could help to transform lives and helping others achieve breakthroughs in their lives, I vowed to myself to always give my best, to be the best person I can be.

All the challenges and fears that I’ve overcomed and conquered for the past few days, only means that I am now a more confident person, a more flexible person, a more loving person, a more capable person, a better communicator as well as a more resourceful person. And now I know, I can survive and remain energetic with only two to three hours of sleep a day

Thank you all for stretching me, and for allowing me to stretch you too. Thank you for giving me a chance to be the best coach I can be.

To fellow coaches - Pete, Lukas, Tracey, Tracy, Yew Soon, Robert, Tim, Dave, Eldhi, Jack, Jacklyn, Peter, Meng, Meng Chew, Iris, Winnie, Ee Yan, Ben, Ken, Alice, Ann, Adrian, Rachit, Jun De, Jing, Freddy, Linh, Woei Tang - thank your for being a part of my life, for your friendship and for brightening up my life. I felt so fulfilled with all the love I felt, answering to a part of me which has been yearning for it. I’ll remember all the hugs and kind words said to me, thank you all.

I had some interesting observations today. I’ve been monitoring the events that happened in the recent happenings in my life. And I am blown away by how the secret works!

It was a series of happenings - an event that leads to another. And they all seemed inter-related.

I’ve been wanting to do reporting, it was on my mind all the time. And then comes along this conference which I’m also interested in. So I requested to go, and my request was granted. And on the day itself, I when I took a cab, the taxi driver was rather negative by saying that there will be traffic jams, and he will t . r . y. - the word I avoid the most.

In my head and heart, I told myself that I will reach at 8.45am and indeed, despite the earlier pessimism, I reached there at 8.45am, almost right on the dot. The taxi driver was rather surprised; he said that the traffic was rather smooth.

Then as the day progressed, I had another vision - to write a report with my byline. And sure enough, it became a reality. My colleague who was supposed to be there also couldn’t make it there as she needs to cover another event. So ended up only me and another guy from money was there. And he didn’t file any story, so the story was all mine.

Then, the series of events that happened after that saw me taking action and the small action led to the final outcome - a report with my byline.

I was so ama-ed. And I began reflecting on the previous thoughts I’ve had which had led to the current happenings in my life. And boy, wasn’t I shocked!

To list some, my current room, the best I’ve ever stayed before, was found with this thought in my mind that I want to get a place cheaper, nearer to work place, bigger and with good housemates. And it materialised.

Another instance was as I was chatting with a friend whom I’ve not kept in touch for some time, led me to declare what I wanted to do after the ‘duration’. And sure enough, the next day, I received an unexpected call from someone who wanted to find me for the plan I told my friend earlier.

I almost freaked out. But it was really a pleasant surprised. The experiment has been successful so far! I’m going to experiment with the secret further by slowly progressing to envisioning even more challenging outcomes that I want to achieve.

I know, I will achieve it, because in my mind, it is already happening.

HAHa what a title..

What I want to write about was that, there’s this observation I made during the window crash drama. Before that, everyone on the bus was very cool. No one talked to anybody, everyone was lost in their own world. There’s even this girl sitting on the same row as me, reading some notes, and busy scribbling something during the whole journey. No one smiled much at anybody too. So I joined in the “coolness” and tried to go to sleep.

However, after the shattering drama, suddenly, everyone seems to be talking to everyone, and everybody seems to know everybody. Suddenly, everyone became chatty, friendly, kind, concerned and bothered to smile at each other.

Voila! From total strangers, everyone became acquaintances. This was also also noted by another passenger, who came to Singapore for a business meeting.

And we started chatting. And he apparently knows a colleague of mine. What a small world!

Strange isn’t it? Sometimes, I do think, everything that happens, happens for a reason. Maybe, fate wanted me to know this person, or the other passengers who were in the same bus as me.

If not for the drama, everyone would have still remained as strangers.

There’s another queer observance today. I was walking home after work, taking my own sweet time strolling down the staircase to the MRT. Actually, I don’t usually walk like this, there’s some certain reason, which I won’t divulge here, haha!

And then out from the trail of people walking out from the station, there’s this girl who was smiling at me and hey, when I looked at her properly, I do know her! She’s a friend I’ve not met for some time. So we chatted and caught up with each other, and even arranged to meet for dinner sometime.

The funny thing was that, I purposedly walked slower for some reason, but instead I met a friend whom I have not met for some time. If I have walked the normal speed I usually do, maybe I would have just missed her. Queer isn’t it?

It was a smooth journey, all the way from Kuala Lumpur to Johor. In fact, it was quite a comfortable ride. I was dozing off most of the time, even thought the tv was on. din know what’s going on in the movie too, cos was seated quite far from the tv. so i went to dreamland instead.

After we passed the Johor Checkpoint at the Second Link, as usual, we got onto the bus to be ferried over to the Singapore side for immigration checkpoint.

Most people were packing up, getting ready to bring their luggage down at the other side. As for me, I was on the phone, telling my mum I’ve safely reach Johor checkpoint. The bus driver started up the engine and slowly pulled out from the parking bay beside a pedestrian walkway. Who knows, that’s when the whole drama started.

Out of a sudden, I was jolted out from my conversation with a series of loud bangs which sounded like gunshots from a machine gun. I saw the window next to me cracked and immediately, tiny shards of glass rained on me. I felt as though fireworks are showering on me. Where the tiny shards of glass landed, it hurts. And it’s hot. My first instinct was to quickly move away from my seat. I thought someone attacked us, reminding me of those terrorist attacks.

When I looked towards the back of the bus, the windows were all cracked, and the last one was the worst hit. The glass looks as if it is going to crash down any moment. I saw a guy in green, looking dazed, still sitting in his seat, right beside the badly damaged window on the last row.

By now, the bus has stopped moving. Then came along the bus driver, with eyes wide open, looking shocked. He paced up and down the bus aisle, and then went to the back to ask if the guy in green is ok. I saw the guy nodded his head and the bus driver walked back down the aisle, looking at the windows.

He then disappeared down the bus. As for me, I was busy picking out glass pieces from my palm, and a girl sitting at the single seat, same row as me, offered me a tissue. I gladly accepted it and used it to wipe away the glass debris sticking to my jeans and my sweater. The other passengers were all standing up and trying to figure out what happenned. Some went down the bus to find out.

After I’ve gotten rid of the debris and gotten over the shock, my logical thinking took over. Immediately I took my digital camera from my bag and went down, snapping away at the damages.

As you can see here, this is what happenned to the window which is right beside where I sat. What’s worse, there was a piece of metal (you can see the piece of metal on the road in the following pictures) which was sticking through the hole, before the bus driver removed. it.

This was what happenned to the rest of the windows behind my seat. See the cracks on the windows?

Then, this is what caused the whole incident. The walkway roof struck the windows on the right when the bus was turning round the bend. See the piece of metal on the road? That was the piece of metal sticking through the hole in the window right beside where I sat.

The earlier picture could not capture the severity of the last window, so here’s another picture. Imagine if you were the guy in green sitting beside this window, would you be shocked?

A passenger exclaimed that she saw the bus driver’s hand was shaking when he was making a call after the incident.

After the whole drama, all passengers (about 20) of us) proceeded on to the Singapore immigration before we were transferred to another bus which came about half an hour later.

Thank God, no one was injured. In fact, I felt luckily I managed to escaped unhurt.

Another passenger, sitting behind the girl who offered me tissue paper, analysed that the metal roof first hit the window beside me, and the window bar actually saved my face. If not, the metal piece could have just hit onto my face and hurt me. The bar stopped the metal piece, and it bounced out, before it went on to hit other windows.

What an experience. Waht an adventure. What a close call!