A Nice Story About a Man with a Nice Name

John Wooden

On the 21st of the month, the best man I know will do what he allways does on the 21st of the month. He'll sit down and pen a love letter to his best girl. He'll say how much he misses her and loves her and can't wait to see her again.

Then he'll fold it once, slide it in a little envelope and walk into his bedroom. He'll go to the stack of love letters sitting there on her pillow, untie the yellow ribbon, place the new one on top and tie the ribbon again. The stack will be 180 letters high then, because the 21st will be 15 years to the day since Nellie, his beloved wife of 53 years, died.

In her memory, he sleeps only on his half of the bed, only on house pillow, only on top of the sheets, never between; with just the old bed spread they shared to keep him warm.

There's never been a finer man in American sports than John Wooden, or a finer coach. He won 10 NCAA basketball championships at UCLA, the last in 1975. Nobody has ever come within six of him.

He won 88 straight games between January 30, 1971, and January 17,1974. Nobody has come within 42 since.

So, sometimes, when the Basketball Madness gets to be too much -- too many players trying to make Sports Center, too few players trying to make assists, too few coaches willing to be mentors, too many freshmen with out-of-wedlock kids, too few freshmen who will stay in school long enough to become men -- I like to go see Coach Wooden.

I visit him in his little condo in Encino, 20 minutes northwest of Los Angeles , and hear him say things like "Gracious sakes alive!" and tell stories about teaching "Lewis" the hook shot. Lewis Alcindor,that is...who became Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

There has never been another coach like Wooden, quiet as an April snow and square as a game of checkers; loyal to one woman, one school, one way; walking around campus in his sensible shoes and Jimmy Stewart morals.

He'd spend a half hour the first day of practice teaching his men how to put on a sock. "Wrinkles can lead to blisters," he'd warn. These huge players would sneak looks at one another and roll their eyes. Eventually, they'd do it right. "Good," he'd say. "And now for the other foot."

Of the 180 players who played for him, Wooden knows the whereabouts of 172. Of course, it's not hard when most of them call, checking on his health, secretly hoping to hear some of his simple life lessons so that they can write them on the lunch bags of their kids, who will roll their eyes.

"Discipline yourself, and others won't need to," Coach would say. "Never lie, never cheat, never steal," and "Earn the right to be proud and confident."

If you played for him, you played by his rules: Never score without acknowledging a teammate. One word of profanity and you're done for the day. Treat your opponent with respect.

He believed in hopelessly out-of-date stuff that never did anything but win championships. No dribbling behind the back or through the legs. "There's no need," he'd say.

No UCLA basketball number was retired under his watch. "What about the fellows who wore that number before? Didn't they contribute to the team?" he'd say.

No long hair, no facial hair. "They take too long to dry, and you could catch cold leaving the gym," he'd say. That one drove his players bonkers.

One day, All-America center Bill Walton showed up with a full beard."It's my right," he insisted. Wooden asked if he believed that strongly. Walton said he did. "That's good, Bill," Coach said. "I admire people who have strong beliefs and stick by them, I really do. We're going to miss you." Walton shaved it right then and there. Now Walton calls once a week to tell Coach he loves him.

It's always too soon when you have to leave the condo and go back out into the real world, where the rules are so much grayer and the teams so much worse.

As Wooden shows you to the door, you take one last look around. The framed report cards of his great-grandkids, the boxes of jellybeans peeking out from under the favorite wooden chair, the dozens of pictures of Nellie.

He's almost 95 now. You think a little more hunched over than last time. Steps a little smaller. You hope it's not the last time you see him. He smiles. "I'm not afraid to die," he says. "Death is my only chance to be with her again."

Pre-exam Post

I must be kidding myself if I thought this time would be different.

The past is the present, isn’t it? It’s the future, too.

I guess it's hard to peel myself away from the computer even though exams are on.

It's not going to help that mom's going away. No one will chase me off the computer (unless my brother is around but that's what a gamecube is for)!

Discipline, JG, discipline!

I can't do it, but He through me can.

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As a birthday present to Oinkypig, I shall make special comment about something he talked about in his blog.

Taken from the entry:
Sunday, 18 June 2006
Of Relationship And Being Happy
Oinkypig writes: "Yet there's this part of me that feels warm and fuzzy when I see couples happy together. "

JG says: It's the media's fault! Always showing how warm and fuzzy relationships can be!

Happy Birthday, Oinkypig!

Hi, Atus!

One week until school re-opens. It's time to abstain from computer usage until exams are over.

JG out.

The Jump

It's irritating. Life is like many things but it sure is not like bungee jumping.

It's easier to stare into that horizon and take a deep breath before the plunge. There's the assurance of the bungee chord after all. It just takes a few seconds and it's over.

In life, things are not so easy. Every action has an equal reaction. It's not just as simple as 1,2,3, jump.

Simulations. Predictions. Assumptions.

All these hinder our decisions.

"Don't look down."

As if that will help.

I stepped up the ledge. And decided that now is not the time to make that decision.

Even though I know the jump could be so exciting.

I'd rather wait for that jump that is higher than 50 metres.

Which will be much greater!

Memory Technique

I just learned a memory technique that I heard a long time ago but thought it was ridiculous. The technique is to ridiculize what you have to remember. I will now apply it to the Macroeconomic Objectives (without referring)

Objectives of Macroeconomic Policies:
1. Economic Growth
2. Low Unemployment
3. Stable Prices/ Low Inflation
4. Balance of Payments
5. Strong and Stable Exchange Rate
6. Social Objectives

Gosh, I hope I didn't forget anything. I shall now explain how I applied what I learned.

Economic Growth - Imagine a balloon with "Economy" labelled on it. Blow it up and it GROWS.
Imagine the balloon does not fly and it falls to the ground. It drops LOW to the ground labelled "Unemployment".
The balloon is held by a boy who stands on a STABLE beam labelled "Prices".
He has to BALANCE his way across the beam.
He switches the balloon from his right hand to his left hand. He makes an EXCHANGE.
He has to reach the goal or the OBJECTIVE at the end, a post with the label "Social".

Ridiculous but effective. For all those reading who do not take econs, I'm sorry, but you'll probably remember the objectives too because the story is too ridiculous to forget.

Songs

I just hate it when songs that sound nice have such depressing lyrics. Singing them seems like speaking over my life.

Imagine singing songs like, "I'm broken..." when I'm not.

"I can't live..." although I can.

And so forth... So depressing...

And I don't want the world to see me.
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

Nice song... I have no idea what it means.

Stories

They say you really never know a man until you hear him tell a story.

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Nah, I just made that up.

The Phonecall

(Phone rings. JG picks up the phone.)
JG: Hello?
Man's Voice: Hello? May I please speak to Jonas?
JG: Jonas? Oh, he's not at home.
Man's Voice: Oh, he left already ar?
JG: Yeah.
Man's Voice: Oh, John ar? You know who I am?
JG: Um. Yeah. Brandon.
Brandon: No. This is policeman.
JG: *gasps*
Brandon: We need you to come down here at Jurong East.
JG: But, but, but I deleted all my downloaded songs already!
Brandon: Oh, that means you got download ar?
JG: oh shit... Really meh?
Brandon: Yes. You got download before means you did it. It's just like murder. You don't murder someone and then say you don't know it's murder.
JG: Oh yeah.
Brandon: So we need you to come down.
JG: Oh. Ok. Which station ar?
Brandon: Jurong East.
JG: Oh, what time must I be there?
Brandon: Be here in 30 mins time.
JG: Ok.
Brandon: Ok.
JG: Okae =D
(JG puts down the phone)

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Brandon is my church friend who is posted to be a policeman. (someone correct me if I'm wrong, later I kena-arrested ar)

Identity Theft

3:28

Wow. I'm awake at this time.

Poland vs Ecuador

Watching from RTV 1.

I have no idea how my TV can get the signal from a lot of Malaysian channels, but it adds variety considering that I don't have SCV.

Anyway, thanks, guys and gals for coming over. Too bad we didn't play Taboo. Next time ya?

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I pray that one day all my friends can gather together and we all can just hang out and have fun together. Everyone from HWA, everyone from Greenwoods Village (when we were still children), everyone from 4E1, everyone from church, everyone from 05a12, everyone in 05a32 that I have hung-out with (I think only two of you lah, but since I'm generalizing I will not give names), everyone in SAGE, everyone of my cousins (those that I know of, the distant pretty one on my mother's side can also. haha.), EVERYONE!

I pray that everyone will get a chance to know Love, perfect and patient.

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What if I was thinking of you?

Post-Birthday Post

I can feel the burn on my shoulders.
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They say it's my last year as a teen. Heh.
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If you ask me, the "kick" comes in when I'm twenty-one.
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Or at least I hope it does.
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As with all birthdays, I don't feel any different when I woke up.
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I didn't wake up with super powers seeming any smarter, being any taller, feeling any stronger, etc.
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I enjoyed Sentosa though.
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Shall post some pictures soon.
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For tonight's results, I think Jasmine and Gayle will go on the next round. Rahimah is good, but she might not have attracted the votes. However, if Singapore does vote solely on singing, then it'll be Rahimah and Gayle. If the first scenario occurs, then Rahimah and I think Woon will be wildcards or if second scanario, then Jasmine and Woon will be wildcards.
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If my scanarios are anywhere near what will happen... I can be the next Singapore Idol... judge!
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Happy Birthday to me!
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Thanks to all the presents so far!

Happy 19th birthday

When I See You Smile Part 1

Sometimes I wonder how I'd ever make it through
Through this world without having You,
I just wouldn't have a clue
'Cos sometimes it seems like this world's closing in on me
And there's no way of breaking free, and then I see You reach for me

Sometimes I wanna give up, I wanna give in, I wanna quit the fight
And then I see you, Jesus, and everything's alright, everything's alright.

When I see you smile, I can face the world, You know I can do anything through You
When I see you smile, I see a ray of light,
I see it shining right thru the rain
When I see you smile, Jesus when I see You smile at me.

A Smile

A fact about smiles:

Seeing a child smile creates the same amount of stimuli as...

Eating 2000 bars of chocolate...

Or receiving 16,000 British Pounds.

The effect is even greater when the smile is returned...

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Smile. You're on candid camera.

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When I see you smile...
I try and make sense...
But maybe...
It's better to be dense...

Berries

JG: What's this drink? (Takes a sip out of Des' drink.)
Des: It's wild berry.
JG: Oh. Ew. I don't like berries. Unless they're blue berries.
Oinkypig: What about black berries?
JG: Only if they're in pie.
Oinkypig: What about strawberries?
JG: Only if it's ice cream.
Oinkypig: What about Halle Berry?
JG: Hmm, hmm, hmm...

Love Cake

The Love Cake

See the love?

Taste the love.

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I predict that Paul Twohill and the Jonathan guy will be the two that will move to the next round for Singapore Idol tonight.