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

I would run along the coast here once e very 2-3 weeks. I read that a new park would open soon with mixed feelings. Singapore has a tendenc y to make everywhere and everything looked the same with ruthless efficiency. We are in dire need of different thinking I feared. The clear blue sky of the last few days makes many people chirpy again. We should remember and not complain when it is too hot and humid or when it is raining. All we need are clear blue skies! So I decided to run again and to do it right up to Coney Island  and most people will be surprised if I told you  that I first  visited Coney Island when I was a child in primary school. My elder sister was on a school ex cursion and I tagged   along. This I remembered  but thinking back I wondered how I could so so? It was quite crowded. Young and old were here. Now it is connected by a little bridge walkway. Those days, you can actually walk across to the island during low tide but y...

The End Is Near! When you watched those end of the world movies, you can see crowds of people holding placards and chanting. This could be the scene at Stamford Bridge. You are as good as your last deal. Hero or not, it is not eternal when it comes to human affection, especially when you are a soccer league manager. Tim Sherwood got the sack from Villa. Steve McClaren is living dangerously at Newcastle. Brendan Rodgers was no more with the Reds. Dick Advocaat has gone from Sunderland.  Who is next? Jose Mourinho's exit from Chelsea? No manager will quit. Better to get severance pay when sacked! Chelsea v Liverpool - History strongly favours the Blues who are unbeaten in their last six meetings. Liverpool failed to score against Chelsea only once in ten clashes. Liverpool has remained unbeaten for some time but they just could not win. They are either feeling too much pressure or are lacking in confidence or both but if there is one team everybody wish to play now it has got to...

The English Premier League is not the best league in the world but it is the toughest and most exciting!  Singaporeans are not the worse people in the world but they are the best complaint king in the world. If you could ever predict three perfect scores out of ten matches you are a genius but nobody praise or thank you for that but that is life. For most people, the last time you got any praises could have been in primary school or kindergarten where the teachers draw or paste a star on your work.  There are methods in my predictions and at times madness in the methods for who would dare to stake their reputation in doing so. If I say 1-1 and it turned out 2-2, it is still a good prediction for at least it is a draw. Ditto if I predicted 2-1 ans it came out 4-2. At least I got the right team winning. Well, at least I got the Southampton/Leicester game perfect for 2-2 and it was close for some other matches. Now, for game week 10: Leicester City v Crystal Palace - Kin...

Callaway, so named after its founder Ely Callaway who once said something I really like - something like golf is about that occasional good shot. This mantra defined Callaway golf equipment not just for its quality but about being user-friendly and very forgiving. My own experience dated years ago when I was a beginner. All beginners will suffer from using a driver for it is the longest club and the bag and has a low loft. I tried using a 3 iron which is not an easy club to play too. It was not until an uncle passed me a Callaway Warbird no. 3 wood which I used in place of a driver or 3 iron that I begin to have a decent tee off. I still keep that club for sentimental reason. You have to remember that some of today's 3-wood is bigger than the old drivers of years gone by. The problem with most golfers is that when they see that they are far away from the green, they will pull out their longest hitting clubs to play. This is so even for experience golfers. It is probably psyc...

A lot has happened during the international break week. Liverpool's Brendan Rodgers has been dismissed. Juergen Klopp has been appointed. A new era has just begun.  Brendan Rodgers - When he first came on board especially in that almost defining season two years ago the first thing that came to my mind was there has not been a team that played such swashbuckling soccer for such a long time since the day Kevin Keegan also almost brought Newcastle United the title but in a ruthless world and soccer being so much about the money these days, nobody remembers second best. Everyone can now point a finger at Rodgers, jump on the bandwagon of condemnation and saying all the negative things about him. That is being fickle as there was a time he could do almost no wrong. Rodgers'Liverpool never had a good defence but they always outscored the opponents. Suarez and Sturridge carried the team with the muscle from Jordan Henderson and the mercurial speed of Raheem Stirling.  The side...

Asians are mad people. Sometimes when we gathered in big groups overseas I could her people saying Crazy Asians and those who uttered it are Asians.  In Singapore we love our chicken rice, bak kut teh, laksa, hokkien mee, prawn noodle, satay, chili crab, etc. and even foreigners who visit or live and work here love them too. I would like to add one more food item that is commonly found not just in Singapore but in various Asian cities in Malaysia, Thailand and others as well - the humble ''Kway chap''. I do not know who spelt it a 'chap' when the pronunciation sounds more like 'chup'.   Kway chap has soy based gravy with pork offal (where offal sounds like awful) served with flat rice noodles. Its origin is from the Chinese Teochew. Everybody knows that famous Blanco Court Kway Chap but they are everywhere now since Blanco Court was no more. Just other famous bak chor mee, etc. They splintered and grow into new cells. Funny thing is everyone...

Animal Farm comes in different forms. One famous one was from George Orwell. The other one was about Old Macdonald who had a farm. Let's explore.  Explore. Let's find some beautiful places to get lost sometimes. It's a big world out there. Even in tiny Singapore. Courage is found in all the unlikely places. You need not be Indiana Jones but anyone is an explorer who observes the world around you, people, places, events and take note. You may even collect things or document your findings. You can trace trails or follow patterns, examine and record. The world out there is a book to be unravelled.  Henry Miller wrote that a destination is never a place but a new way of seeing things. We always need a new way to see things not necessarily abandoning the old but to be updated.  Just like a river, the same water does not flow twice through it, therefore, you do not experience a moment twice in your life. You missed it and it is gone.  It is that very moment you capt...