Quality or Type of Drive

We all need drives, just like cars need batteries and fuel.

No drive, no energy, no progress, and you may even say, no life at all.

Then, in history, I see repeatedly that

(1) Drives driven by cleverness don't work.
(2) Drive driven by disdain/contempt  don't work.

(3) Drives driven by fear, anger, or revenge don't work.

(4) Drives driven by greed without empathy or sympathy don't work.
(5) Drives driven by lust don't work.

Then  what kind of drives work?


Drives arising out of virtues only, can be sustainable. Other types are even self-defeating.

Wit and Force

I have used "A D U L T . . . I N T E L L I G E N C E" only twice on my children.

 (1) I asked one of them to push a bike for an hour, then mount and push with one foot for an hour, then put both feet on pedals and push and glide a far as he can for an hour. After only 5 sessions, he could bike well and declared that he had learned biking all by himself! With no teacher!

 (2) I read them some story in English about 15 mins about 5 days a week when they were in K1, and 2 days a week in K2.

About 10 mins of discussions on what they had read almost every day in P1, P2, P3. Then I stopped.

No grammar analysis. No rhetoric discussion.

We ban speaking in English at home. They also had to learn Chinese. They now speak Myanmar, Chinese and English.

After P6, they all could take and pass Junior College/A-Level/(General Paper). They believe they had learned English all by themselves.

They thought I didn't teach or help them at all, but just had fun with them!

Force or wit? I will use only what is good for others. That is my moral authority.

Three Very Short English Lessons

ME: What are you reading? (Son in P2 or 3)
SON: "The Red Badge of Courage"
ME: Aha (please and surprised)
ME: Are you reading the original?...
SON: No, this (showing a comics of about 20 pages.)
ME: What is this about?
SON: A young man joined the American civil war, became brave and a hero.
ME: Which side did he fight on?
SON: Union side.
ME: What is his read badge of courage? It is a medal or prize?
SON: No it's a scar.
ME: The enemy hit him or something?
SON: No, one soldier from his own side hit him when they were running away.
ME: Yah, it is a nice story. The original is very famous and good.


ME: What are you reading? (Son in P4 or 5)
SON: "The Red Badge of Courage," comic, longer version.
ME: Funny, you find another comic for same story. Good. Can you tell me how he found his courage?
SON: I don't know.
ME: Maybe the book abridged too much. It is in the original. Even psychologists and military trainers praise the author's points.


ME: (Son in P5 or 6) This is "The Red Badge of Courage," original.
After running away, he cam back to his regiment. During the next fight, he fought bravely and found his courage. Try to show me the exact sentences about his discovery of courage.
(A few hours or days later)
ME: Have you found the place?
SON: I think .... these paragraphs.
ME: Right.



No grammar analysis. No rhetoric discussion. No dictionary to check long words. We just talked about what we wanted to talk about.

Software business is uncertain. So?

March 15, 2015

Software business is uncertain.

Then how can we make it certain?

No need to spend lots of  money. ...

we can embed very certain things inside it.

That way,  it can become more certain.

Very Unfair Exchange with my Students --- Episode 1

May 27, 2014

So I decided to invest about 1 hour to prepare for the 8-hour course. In 1 hour, I covered 90% of preparation for the course. Then as usual, I went further. In the end I spent about nearly 10 hours to prepare. In Jurong East Library(Level 3) alone, I re...ad nearly 150 books of marine engineering books and about a dozen Singapore, Malaysian insurance books. From Internet, I read dozens of vessel insurance reports.

He is older than me and has many degrees and certs. So we didn't need to do basics of grammar or writing. Only a few tricky stuffs and cases.

Well, some cases were so tricky that I even recalled David Crystal's remarks: In some cases, English usage becomes so tricky and so full of irregularities that it becomes hard to know which are rules and which are exceptions.

I was right almost all the time. My grammar is not strong any more as I have neglected it for nearly 20 years. Then I realized I was unconsciously using strategies of Poker players, day Traders and investors. That is, every time I am unsure, I check with grammar books or dictionaries. Every time I am sure, I can afford to bet 200% or more. Like George Soros, who borrowed to "gamble" when he was sure.

Soros's lesson is How often you lose or you win doesn't matter. But how much matters.

I told him: My grammar is shaky, but I stay with "clear-cut cases" and expand on them. So, you can be right 100% of time that way if you want to be right 100%.

I gave David Crystal grammar and I got George Soros's Courage because the Universe never allows an unfair exchange. Don't you see how much LOVE I put into my work and my STUDENTS and my CUSTOMERS?

I even told the student directly: The probability of me teaching a student like him again for the rest of my life is nearly 0, so I won't invest much in him. Tough teacher!

office to office, office to office

June 30, 2014

 office to office, office to office, ... I never get used to this kind of movement. Now it is over. RELIEF and REGRET. Things could have been very different ...

Now, a new start

Day 2 "Express Gratitude"

Oct 3, 2014


(1) About 11 years ago, I read in "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance":

"Flight from and hatred of technology is self-defeating. The Buddha, the Godhead, resides quite as comfortably in the circuits of a digital computer or the gears of a cycle transmission as he does at the top of a mountain or in the petals of a flower. To think otherwise is to demean the Buddha--which is to demean oneself."

 (2) Having read Poincare's revelation/confession that when a mathematician gets lost, not knowing how to move from Point A to Point B, s/he can rely on certain thing.

(3) Open source communities for being so generous