www.Go To The Mountain - Musings of a Potential Guru

There was a saying that there are three types of people - those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who  wondered what happened. Today, I will be sharing with you that actually there are four types of people. Vesak Day This week is a short week ending on Friday as Vesak Day, the name of this observance is derived from Pali: vesakha or Sanskrit: vaisakha which is the name of the lunar month falling in April-May.  In a world conference in 1950 it was decided to formalised it as Buddha's birthday. On this day, Buddhists all over the world commemorate events of significance to Buddhists of all traditions. The birth, the enlightenment and passing away of Gautama Buddha.  Devotees may bring flowers, joss sticks and candles which reminds us that just as flowers will wither away, joss sticks and candle will burn out, so too our human life. Also birds and fishes are released as a symbolic act of liberation.  Buddhism Simplicity, humility and ...

It is the June school holidays soon. People are packing their bags and leaving on jet planes. Many people must have their fixes of overseas vacations. Nothing wrong to take a break but for some folks better to be careful not to over indulge such as going first then pay later. These days it does get a little more tricky. It could be flooding at one place but then drought at another. Then there is the H7N9, etc. Others have staycation, checking into a hotel locally. It is good to also support your own economy. I have done a staycation cum overseas stint at Changi and Pulau Ubin on a Vesak Day previously: http://gforce-guru.blogspot.sg/2010/05/i-survived-ubin.html I have some friends with young children in toll and have asked me for suggestions on simple and convenient things to do.  It was the same question I asked myself many years back when my children were at that age. We wanted a short vacation somewhere not too far away where the children have t...

Manchester Red or Blue lost both their managers. On the red side due to retirement after an illustrious career and the blue side for not achieving targets  but Mancini is getting lots of moolas for it. 7 million pounds! Even Mancini and Man City sounded alike, that is an awful lot of money. May be if I were in charge I could have won the F.A. Cup. Meanwhile, after 8 seasons of struggle and maintaining their Premiership status, Wigan has the dubious honour of winning the F.A. Cup and qualifying for a European competition and yet being relegated. Which is better, the F.A. Cup or Premiership status? You are going to have to enjoy the last matches of the season because weekend night won't be the same again for a few months. Meanwhile, David Beckham is retiring even though he was offered an extension by PSG for another season. Beckham has won League titles in four different countries Man Utd, Real Madrid, L.A. Galaxy and now PSG. He is never as talented as Messi or Ronaldo but he w...

Now I run less but still run at times with walking, cycling added on. Variety is the spice of life? Walking is not bad at all. It's like walking the talk. I tend to see more things when I walk. Or even cycling where one can stop any time to take in the sights, smell and all. Maybe you can walk closer to God. You need a little quiet time. Besides smelling roses, I like watching insects. Like dragonflies, butterflies, etc. Or praying mantis and grasshoppers. When I was young, we could just walk downstairs and we could catch lots of grasshoppers but I didn't like the "chow mare kong" - the grandfather grasshopper which besides hopping so powerfully could actually fly with their wings and they are huge. I do not like them as their hind legs are extremely prickly and the eyes are huge. I remember catching fighting spiders at the backyard behind my granny's place. Especially good catches among the pandan leaves. Every time I saw two leaves closed to...

You can't blame Americans if they do not understand the rest of the world can you? By themselves, they are huge and have too many places and things to discover within their own country. What about Singapore? Do you know your Singapore? Sometimes I do wonder if it is actually easier to find things in a big bungalow than a small house. Our small "Singapore" house is changing too quickly. Just like recently, when my son brought us to a makan (eating) place. It was a surprising find for me to discover "Mr. Teh Tarik" Eating House, a 24-hour relax one corner style heartland place at Block 608 Ang Mo Kio Ave 5. It is actually nearby (opposite) the Adam Road Nasi Lemak (Block 603). When here, first thing first - Order the teh tarik of course. For the uninitiated, teh tarik is tea with evaporated milk where you can have it hot or cold or with ginger added but the most important part has to be the drink being pulled high and down from...

If you do not get down to doing things you never will. In life, we are just so busy with too many things. Not that other things are more important so it is really a matter of priority. I used to live quite near to Bishan Park and have been there but not as often as I would like or could. Always working late with two young children didn't help.  When I relocated I have visited the place but it was long ago so I needed to check out the old place. It is now named Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park (River Plains). On this day we could only cover one half of it.  The Park has been transformed. It is now like natural terrain. Even a banana plant and its flower took its place. These huge benches could easily take two adults lying down on a picnic or if seated two little ones could fit in. Streams run all over the place. Lao Tzu said: "One cannot reflect in streaming water. Only those who know internal peace can give it to others."  "No stream rise higher th...