One of my family generations in Tanjung Balai Karimun Island, Indonesia

Karimun Island is an island where my beloved grandparents lived in.

It is a small island, located just off the east coast of Sumatra, guarding the southern entrance of the busy Straits of Malacca. It lies west of Batam and to the southwest of Singapore and is the furthest west of the Riau Islands.  This island is found in the Riau Islands province of Indonesia. It is also the name of a group of islands and regency (kabupaten) to which it belongs.

Map of Karimun Island in Riau Archipelago (Indonesia)

Coming on way soon, I'm planning to set up a family tree to indicate the origin(s) of our family members. It includes which countries my family members are born in. I guess this must be good for my future family generation(s) to see, know and explore our real origins. It would set a good example for my future family members to follow my footsteps in doing/updating the family tree. : )

SMS ‘71222’ to book a taxi

Dear my deaf and hard-of-hearing friends,

I would like to share with you about my true story, how to book a taxi in Singapore.

Last month, I was working in my office to handle horticulture / environmental matters. Before departing for meetings/seminars outside, I had to get a taxi to travel. As I was born deaf, I had to rely on my collegue to make a call for a taxi booking. During that time, I was feeling abit frustrated as this could consume some of my precious working time. In addition, I did not want to be “spoon-fed” as I would wish to be fully independent.

So, I came up with an idea to sort out this problem. Surfing on the internet, I found the website, which could allow me to SMS 71222 to book a taxi. It is actually free of charge! I have tried out doing this SMS. This really worked for me!

Let’s say in your sms: Send “Book postal code pick-up point” to 71222.

For example: Book 109918 Keppel Club

In about 10 to 30 seconds, a message came in my handphone inbox. It said “Citycab Toyota Crown taxi 8734 with a booking fee of $3.50 will arrive in 5 to 7 mins. Pls proceed to your pickup point. Thank you for using Comfort & Citycab” I was delighted upon seeing this fast response in my hp.

In few minutes’ time, a specific taxi with correct plate number (8734) arrived at my workplace at a great convenience!!! This brought such a relief to me. = ) Thanks to ComfortDelgro for its wonderful SMS Booking service. Please refer to http://www.comfortdelgro.com.sg/files/press/attachment/216.pdf for more details. Let’s try one for yourself if you would like to book a taxi. Cheers!

Winning PUB Watermark Award '09!

The best day has arrived for me. Phew!

On last Tuesday, I rushed to attend PUB Watermark Award Ceremony at Marina Barrage after my work. Feeling deserved and honoured to receive the prestigious award from the government board, Public Utilities Board (PUB) for recognition of water conservation & efforts @ Keppel Club (K.C). It has brought great happiness and joy to K.C staff. The other winners are big organisations - CapitalLand, HDB and Hitachi.

Ronald holding PUB Watermark Award '09

From left to right in a row: Peter (Newsletter Conveyor), Vicki (Admin Executive), Sook Fun (Communications & Marketing Manager), Desmond (Deputy General Manager), John (Captain), Edwin (President), Tahir (Vice Captain), Gene (Communications Executive), Ronald (Horticulture Officer).

Keppel Club goes green! Come and join us in going greener! Yeah!

Go Green with Keppel Club stickers to outreach visitors / guests in going green.

Besides Singapore Environment Achievement Award this year, it is ME who prepared, planned and compiled the PUB Watermark Award submission once again! : ) My deputy general manager (DGM) said “Well done!”. I am very contented. Upon hearing from the high-level management committee of K.C, they praised me for doing well in my great job in spite of my hearing-impairment. I know that my DGM told them about this earlier. Anyway, I have to continue to work hard BUT remember to take it easy. Liao! My DGM is going to throw lunch retreat for us later on! = )

On last Wednesday, it made me happy again. Because Keppel Club was featured in the Straits Times Newspaper. Please refer to the article below.

New Version of Heineken Ad!

Hello,

The old version of Heineken ad has been born to a new small version one! Funny! Haha. This is one of my favourite ad! Go and see below:-

Old version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1ZZreXEqSY
New version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xk5JNs7KO30&NR=1

Enjoy watching these ads! ; )

World Water Monitoring Day

Transition of Weather & Arboriculture

Transition of Weather

In this morning, I prayed that the weather conditions would be bright and fine within Keppel Club golf course. This could enable me to have meetings with two ISA Certified Arborists at different time intervals to carry out the health and safety conditions of 7 tall Albizia trees. Few hours later, the sky turned out to be dark with heavy grey clouds. But walking by faith, I believed in God that it would not rain so soon. Gradually, the darkness has “transformed” into bright and fine day! It happened as what I had thought. Praise the Lord! Always give thanks to Him! Amen!

Conducting the arboriculture inspection with two arborists, the findings are such good and knowledgeable to me. I have learnt a lot from them. In my heart, I am really very passionate to take up a recognized International Society of Arboriculture course so that I can become a certified arborist. This can be done at NParks CUGE. Will seek, ask and hear from God first for this plan. Because His plan is better than my plan, this will help guide me to walk in the right path. This would please God! Amen!


Arboriculture

For Ronald’s own reference / notes about Arboriculture:

Albizzas are dangerous trees as they are generally very soft wood. At this big size, they are self-disintegrating = they will snap and cause failure anytime. ON the other hand, Albizzias are always good because they are vigorous. But it’s the structural stability that is always the concern.

The health of the trees can be indicated by

1) live crown ratio
2) leaf size
3) leaf colour
4) leaf density
5) canopy dieback

The arborists generally never recommend Albizzias to be grown near target areas. Targets are defined as people, structures (buildings), places with traffic movement, etc.

If you see the Albizzias’ main trunks which have hollow holes (almost or more than 50%), it is mostly predictable to fall down anytime. It is dangerous.
Normally, the certified arborists will encompass both health and structure of the trees when they conduct our Visual Tree Assessment Report.

If the health condition of trees is good, the tree is structurally unsound, the arborists will normally recommend for removal in the interest of the people’s safety here. [Vice-versa]: - If the health condition of tree is poor but the tree structure is ok, the arborists can boost their health by giving them treatment like element injection, soil restoration works, etc.

The pruning of Albizzias should be recommended to be carried out each half-year (every 6 months).

Question: How will the workers access up the tree at a very tall height?

Answer: They use safety harness & ropes to access high up on the tree. They should wear in full PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) such as safety helmets, boots, goggles, gloves, etc for safety reasons.

Attending Environmental Seminars today

Today was my hectic day.

At Keppel Club, I helped out and attended the IGOLF Forum in the morning and afternoon. The forum was such an enriching and interesting one. The topics were covered on turf diseases, biodiversity conservation, water & energy conservation. They were presented by the turf professionals, managers & doctors as well as IGOLF representatives from Switzerland & Thailand. After the presentations, I made a first move to introduce myself to them and to know them better during the coffee break. Managed to exchange our name cards each other so that we could interact, share and learn in the turf & environmental fields via email. For promoting environmental and green causes @ Keppel Club, I have been working closely with IGOLF, National Parks Board, Nature Society (Singapore) and Public Utilities Board.

Keppel Club & IGOLF working together to make the forum a great success.

Turf professionals, managers & doctors attending the IGOLF seminar at Keppel Club.

Leaving the IGOLF forum halfway, I rushed to Botany Centre at Singapore Botanic Garden by a taxi at 2.30pm. From there, I also went for other seminar, organised by Singapore Environment Council. It was about Energy Efficiency, presented by environmental professionals from Denmark. Have learnt about the good Denmark government system, which supports the renewable energy such as solar, heat and wind energy. Compared to Denmark, Singapore really does not practice much on renewable energy. Necessary actions and efforts are really needed to be done in Singapore. Do you know that Danish government have implemented green taxes for people who use carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and pollutant gases? It made my eyes widely open... And if you invest in buying the energy-saving devices for commerical buildings & homes, it will reduce the running costs. This leads to saving a lot of money- more GDP is generated. These savings, in turn, can be spent for good domestic uses & benefits.

Beyond horticulture and landscape management, I am extremely happy to explore new things that are related to the environment. It sounds very interesting! Yay!

Singapore Environmental Achievement Awards 2008/2009

Hooary! Keppel Club has won the Singapore Environmental Merit Winner Award 08/09!

Behind this winning secret, I was the one who actually prepared, wrote, took photographs, designed and compiled the 133-page report submission to the Singapore Environment Council. : ) It is really about the hard work I have done so far. My hard work has finally paid off... I know my disability has not stopped me from going in extra miles. Deafness makes me work doubly hard to achieve the mark. It is all against the odds!

Winning this award, my high-level management team and I were invited to attend the Singapore Green Summit Award at Four Seasons Hotel Ballroom on 28 July 2009. However, my high-fever (38.6 C), running nose, cough, sneezing and body aches overcame me at around 2am at home on that day. This seemed as if I could have H1N1 symptoms. Feeling worried, I was then rushed and admitted to CGH with my parents in a taxi immediately. Upon the arrival at CGH, the doctor examined me for about 15 to 30 mins. He said that I was down with just a common flu and had to stay at home for 7 days. Wah, this was so long that I missed the golden opportunity to witness the Awards Ceremony.

Nevertheless, I am still contented that Keppel Club has received this Award. Congrats to the Keppel Club! I also wanted to give much thanks to my Heavenly Father. Because I had been depending on Him all the way as I was doing the submission report. Give praises to the Lord for His Blessings upon me! Thank you, my Savior!

Evian Roller Babies advertisement

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQcVllWpwGs&feature=email

I love the beautiful & "natural" dance of Evian Roller babies. The body languages of babies are pretty nice! Cheerios!
How I wished I could be one of them to roll and dance on the streets gracefully!!! : )

Touched by my dear sis' testimony

In the church service today, I was deeply touched by my dear sis' testimony.

In front of people, Char stood on the stage with David Wee (pastor). She told them that she had been waiting to get hearing aids for 4 years. Finally, time had come to her. She was very grateful to me because I was willing to give my hearing aids to her. It was the Holy Spirit who had told me earlier. My heart was filled with peace after giving and meeting my sis' needs. Upon seeing my sister's nice smile, it gave me utmost satisfaction , happiness and joy. After all, I wanted to extend and give thanks to God for His blessings upon my sister.

I wanted to share my true story with you.

When I saw Isaac calling his mum at her back, she did not respond anything to him. She was hearing-impaired. She could not hear anything, except for loud sounds. In my eyes, I really understood how Isaac felt after trying to call his mum. Feeling sorry for him. Then something started to flare up in me. "How I would REALLY wish I could give my hearing aids to my sister. This would eventually break down the communication barrier between her and her son.".... The Holy Spirit slowly spoke to me that it was right to give my hearing aids to her. God's peace and happiness started to glow in my heart. I decided to follow and do what my heart wanted to.

Want to share God's verse with you:

Each one should give as you have decided in your heart to give. You should not be sad when you give, and you should not give because you feel forced to give. God loves the person who gives happily. And God can give you more blessings than you need. Then you will always have plenty of everything - enough to give to every good work. - 2 Corinthians 9:7-8.

Neck Exercise -- It works!

Today, I read my collegue's funny email in my office. It made me read by moving my head to the left side and then to the right side many times in front of my computer screen.. Do you know why my head moved in such a "crazy" way?

Read yourself below:

"A doctor advises his patients to exercise their neck by just reading this message.

In the end, all patients go home happily without asking the doctor for any medications. 'It is very effective,' said the doctor.

'All my patients never come back to me again.'

Hahahaha... hehehe!!! Funny, isn't it? My neck exercise finally worked! : P

Spending great time with my whole family.

Hi my avid readers,

After the deaf church service on last Sunday, Char, Alan, Isaac (my cute nephew) and I planned to pay a visit to my parents at home.

Before reaching home, Isaac stared at and admired me for a while as we walked together to the carpark. Then he asked in voice and sign language:

Isaac: How tall are you?
Me: 1.80m ++. Do you want to be like me in future?
Isaac: …… Yes, but 2.2m.
Me: Oh my gosh! 2.2m?? *Grinning*. Haha, I will teach you how to get tall and taller.
Isaac: *Nodding*
Me: *Smiling as I looked at him below*

Upon reaching at the carpark, I was asked to drive the 5 seat pick-up vehicle by Alan. Accepted his request. Before we were about to travel, I asked all of them to pray for our safety. After the prayer, I began to drive and cruise smoothly along the expressway. It was cool. : ) Arriving home safely, my parents were very happy to see us. Mum cooked and catered lunch for our stomach to be filled tremendously. Yummy!

In the night, all of my family went out to East Coast Park for dinner. Enjoyed having great makan together there. Thank God for this great time! Amen!

P/S: This clearly shows that it is important to focus on and build up our family relationship. : )

I LOVE ASL LAUGHS!

Greetings from Ronald,

It has been ages since I wrote the last blog. Pretty busy doing stuffs at work and home. Phew!

Today, I was looking for deaf funny videos on YouTUBE. Grabbed a chance to watch 'ASL LAUGHS' videos. They were so hilarous that made me laugh until my stomach came out from my mouth! Hehehe! I love The number one JohnABC joke!!!

Enjoy watching the videos:

1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zeYdTjNrBg&feature=related
2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ycws2lM7TU0&feature=related
3) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qpsbHPn1qk&feature=related

In my mind and observation, ASL (American Sign Language) creates a lot of actions, feelings and gestures, compared to other sign languages such as SEE (Sign Exact English).

Watching these funny deaf videos has made my day! : )

Meeting the Holy Spirit at my home...

At my home, I tried to search for the chapter in the Holy Bible, which mentioned about "The Vine and the Branches". But I could not find it. However, Holy Spirit started to work in me, saying to me to look up for that chapter on the internet. So, I listened to Him and started doing it. Surfing on the internet, I then managed to retrieve the chapter and its verses, John 15:1-7. At that time, I realised it was the Holy Spirit, who did all this...

For a while, I preferred from using the internet to reading my Holy Bible. Before I was about to read the John 15:1-7 on the Holy Bible, "The Father Will Send the Holy Spirit" captured my eyes. This topic is found in John Chapter 14, which is just before John 15: 1-7. At that time, I was speechless, sensing that the Holy Spirit was here with me.

By reading through John Chapter 14, Verse 15-30, I wanted to highlight and quote below:

1) John 14:16 ---> "I will ask the Father. And he will give you another Friend to help you and to be with you forever. That is because the world does not see or know him. But you know him. He lives with you, and he will be in you."

2) John 14:19-20 ---> "Before long, the world will not see me anymore. But you will see me. Because I live, you will live also. On that day, you will realize that I am in my Father. You will know that you are in me, and I am in you."

3) John 14:26 ---> "But the Father will send the Friend in my name to help you. The Friend is the Holy Spirit. He will teach you all things. He will remind you of everything I have said to you."

Upon understanding all these verses above, the Holy Spirit is the Helper and Guider. In truth, I had wished that I could meet and understand the Holy Spirit one day. The time has finally come to me tonight. Thank God for letting me experience who the Holy Spirit is in my life.

How wonderful the Holy Spirit really worked in me miraclously!!! Amen!!!

My Go Green Project for Keppel Club

Greetings from Ronald!

Putting in all my efforts, my Go Green website project has paid off for Keppel Club. I would like to thank God as He is the One who guides me along in this project. You can proceed and have a look at my project via http://gogreen.keppelclub.com.sg.

Recently, I snapped the leaves and fruits of grapevine plant in Kitchen Garden at Hole 3 (Keppel Club golf course). The grape fruits started to emerge in the second quarter of this year. Can't wait to pluck and eat it.. Hehehe.

Spending Countdown Party Year 2009 with God!

On 31 December 2008 in night, I went to Marine Parade Touch Centre for Countdown Party celebration with brother & sister in christs. The party theme was 'Occupations'.

At the main lobby, the numerous youths were wearing in different occupation attires/uniforms outside the gate doors. Most of them claimed to be "nurses", "police officers","army" and "school students" while waiting anticipatedly for the doors to be opened. As we waited for the time being at the lobby, I saw a "zoologist", a "matador", a "macho man", a "pilot" and a "taxi driver" loitering around. *Humorous* -->The taxi cover was displayed on top of a man's head instead of on a real taxi!! I have not seen it before!!! Sound interesting, isn't it? Coming across in my mind, I asked myself how I would wish I could wear my company's brown uniform. It could be more fun. However, I could not be allowed to wear in the uniform because there got an identification game for me to participate.

As the gate doors started to be opened by the ushers, the youths entered in the auditorium area. We started to worship God by singing songs. The songs were very great! After the songs, there got games for the youths. One of the games was the Identification of Occupation. There were 6 people (including me) to be lined up on the main stage in front of audience for identification purposes. On the Powerpoint screen, it outlined the different job positions as stated below:

• Singapore Media Award finalist


• Nurse


• Horticulture Officer


• Defence Engineer


• Pro-Gamer


• Business Analyst

The emcees requested someone to come, give a guess and pick a correct person that was related to his/her occupation. To give this person a difficult guess, all six of us wore in clothes which did not relate to our occupations. Everyone failed to give a guess initally. Hahaha!!! To the worst, Luke Lai said I was the one who gave the audience the longest time to have a correct guess. Hee!!! Indeed, I am a horticulture officer.

The next game was "60 seconds of Thanksgiving". The winner went to a person who would thank God in the highest numbers within 60 seconds. I was one of the competitors on the stage to give thanks to God. But from the bottom of my heart, I did not like to compete BUT just want to give thanks to God. That's it! I thanked God for:

1. Giving me a right job.
2. Creating wonderful & beautiful nature which I am really enjoying in the working environment.
3. Guiding me to walk in the right path, which would please God.
4. His words which provide me great comfort, kindness, patience, love, mercy and protection.
5. His words which show the way, truth and life!
6. Taking good care of me, my family, friends and bro & sis in christs.
7. His forgiveness on all my sins in my whole life.
8. Staying joyful, no matter what my life is good or bad.
9. The church deaf ministry through Pastor David Wee. (Want to add here although I have forgotten to say to the audience yesterday. Alamak!)
10. Giving Up His Life for paying the price of our sins on the Cross. (Want to add here although I have forgotten to say to the audience yesterday. Alamak!)

After the thanksgiving game, I received a token of appreciation. Guess what??? Wah, a cute turtle doll!!! This animal is part of my nature conservation! : )

Afterwards, we worshipped God by singing songs with joy and happiness. God is great and good all the time! Amen! Pastor Eugene Seow shared God's gospel with us about Psalms. The whole book of Psalms has 150 chapters. This Psalm book has the highest number of chapters among the other books. Read a Psalm chapter each day.

Striking towards 12am midnight, we were standing readily and looking at "10, 9, 8,....3, 2, 1" on Powerpoint presentation. Then came a loud burst of big balloons and colour strips falling down from the ceiling. At same time, the small balloons were also falling down upon us. It was very great! Give thanks to God for spending my wonderful time with Him in the Countdown Party. After the party, I still stayed happy and joyful with God! It is such worthwhile! I was thinking that ungodly people who might feel emptiness after Countdown party was ended. Without God, it is not possible!

Wishing you a blessed Happy New Year!!!

Want to share God's verse with you:

Jesus spoke to the people again. He said,"I am the light of the world. Those who follow me will never walk in darkness. They will have the light that leads to life" - John 8:12