How we can change ourselves.
April 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment
It was 15 April 2012, and I was slated to attend the 16th National Chinese Life Insurance Congress that was held on 15th of April to 17 April as part of my quest to further improve myself on all aspects of financial planning as well as to gain knowledge from International Speakers whom are true professionals when it comes to this field.
This congress is one the first for me as at the current moment, my knowledge, planning know how and usage of tools are still very limited to product introduction and matching process, which I felt was totally inadequate when it comes to planning and reduction of risks associated with life. As usual, we financial planners had been labelled with ‘Insurance Guy’ and this had been ingrained into the thoughts of customers where Financial Planners are only after their money while services rendered as well as planning are sorely lacking. For the purposes of this posting, I will be talking less about financial planning rather I would like to share with you about the story of a man whom only believed in his dreams and made them come true.
Pictured below would be a photo that I had taken with this man, ordinary looking and you’d notice that I am squatting. Yes, I am squatting beside this man because he is sitting……on a wheel chair. You may be asking what is so special about this man that I chose and took a photo with rather than the speakers whom are ‘greater’ in every aspect? What really strike into my heart about this man was after his beautiful performance on stage, there is an interview session with him and he told the audience what his profession is.
He is a DANCER. Yes, he is incapacitated waist down and he is a DANCER.
His story started during his teens where he exhibited signs of a great dancer, like his mom used to when she was in her teens. The parents decided to let him dance as it is natural to do so and it was during this time, he grew from strength to strength loving dance moves like they were his own life.
However, it was one fine day when he met a serious accident during one of the family outing while traveling in a car from Sibu to Kuching. All of his family members are fine except him, where he suffered multiple fractures to his lower back and during that time, came very close to death due to excessive bleeding. To fast forward, at the hospital the doctors manage to save him but not his legs as his back to too badly injured while from then on, he knew only one thing…..he can never dance like before. Depression, anxiety and sadness came to him. His only motivation to continue with physical restorative therapy was only for one purpose only and that is none other than to dance….like he used to. His only words, which is repetitive in nature to the doctor was…can I dance again? Alas, he never really recovered the usage of his legs and was promptly confined to his wheel chair.
At one point in time, due to his parents aging rapidly while not being able to take care of him, they sent him to Kuala Lumpur and was being housed in a nursing home where he could get the proper attention that he needed from the nurses. The decision was shocking to him while instead of thanking them, he hated his parents….wondering why had they sent him to this place while questions like ‘am I going to be abandoned?’ kept on playing in his mind like a record player that never had a stop button.
Fast forward, time flew and naturally he adjusted to the environment while knowing that everything was done in his best interest. It was during one day when a Japanese came, looking for physically disabled individuals whom had the knowledge on dancing that he began to change and believe, that there was hope after all. At the current moment, 10 years from the day when the Japanese gave him his chance, this man is one of the top dancer within this region and had held performances in more than 10 countries all over the world.
My friends, what I am talking about may seem trivial but I would like to highlight several things that he had said during the interview that made a lasting impression of him inside my mind. He told us that in him, there was nothing but dance. He only lived dancing and believed that this is the only thing that he knew and be good at. Although incapacitated, he never ceased to believe that he will dance again. One of the questions raised by the interviewer was that…’You knew you could not move your legs anymore, don’t you feel inconvenient when it comes to movements?’
His answer was: I AM NO DIFFERENT THAN YOU. I STILL COULD MOVE. I HAVE MY HANDS.
That my friends, is STRENGTH OF CHARACTER. Many times I have questioned myself on how good and strong my character was, while my answer today is, I AM INCOMPARABLE TO THIS MAN. I am comparing my heart to his heart.
His immense strength and drive to be a dancer led him to believe that despite physical disadvantages, he could still achieve his dreams. How many times had we given up just because we were faced with an obstacle? How many times had we believed in ‘fate’ that we have given up due to an obstacle? Have we truly believed that we can make a difference and be what we wanted to? These questions can only answered by you and it will probably sound like…
- Well, my job is like that bla bla bla…I can’t change it.
- Well, its none of my business so what?
- Well, my problems are usually created by whom and whom…so I am always at the center of this crap.
- Well, I am me and he is him. I am not him!
If your answer is above, then you seriously need to think AGAIN.
Many times, we gave in to such trivial things in our lives that we failed to see the bigger picture and wasted resources utilizing our most basic component of human life and that is BELIEVE. Why did I say that we have ‘wasted’ a lot this basic component of life?
- We believe 4 cores are better than 2.
- We believe iPhone’s screen dpi is the highest.
- We believe OSX is the most advanced.
- We believe our neighbor is a !@£%^$&£
- We believe this car had the best tech.
Well, looking at the above I bet Apple Inc. ‘believed’ that you will believe the above, hence they are making all the money by successfully telling us that their product can make a difference to our lives (tell that to parents whom their kids spent tens of thousand of dollars buying virtual cows for their farm).
Believe is an important resource and we should really consider using it in order to change our lives for the better. There is no fast magic bullet here because according to the dancer, his belief came with a price and his price was….
- Time spent on falling from the wheelchair and getting himself up again.
- Time spent on practicing his dance moves.
- Time spent on strengthening his arms so that he could spin the wheels of the wheelchair better.
- Time spent on choreographing.
- Time spent on preparation for his next performance.
My question is…..WHAT HAVE WE BELIEVED TODAY?
Putrajaya Night Marathon 2011
October 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Putrajaya Night Marathon had been going on for 2 years now but I never took part in this year’s edition instead, I chose to Kay Poh (Busybody) by going there and took pictures instead. Therefore in this post, it will not be post regarding my race experience rather it would be a post on what I had to go through during the night.
First thing’s first, in my opinion my shots are lousy. What I had planned against what did turned out was the total opposite and I was shell shocked to face so many problems. All the shots that I had preplanned in my head never materialized and I was left reeling from what I can salvage from my shots with my gear. So why did it turn out so wrong?
In my heart, I have that tinge of feeling that my gears may not be adequate for action night shots but I chose not to believe it. Instead, I planned to take shots at areas where there is ample of light hence, after studying the route that the runners had to go through, I chose to be at the Seri Saujana Bridge which among all the route, was the brightest lit.
Camera Body: I had always trusted my old Canon EOS20D as it never failed to provide me the shots required whenever I needed them. To me it was more than a companion, bordering on being part of an extension of my mind where things I see, I capture them accurately. However, it was in this night I realised that age is catching up especially on technological advancement in camera sensors. The EOS20D’s sensors are just totally inadequate when it comes to night shot where the highest setting was at ISO3200 (denoted by a H). Although Seri Saujana Bridge was fully lit during the run however to my dismay, the camera sensors are not sensitive enough to pick up light hence, requiring longer shutter speeds to get proper exposure while long shutter speeds are the bane of any sporting event where fast shutter speeds are the rule of thumb and without a proper exposure, the photos will turn out too dark.
Lenses: I wanted to compose shots of individual’s faces while they run and again to my disbelief, even at the setting of ISO3200 it was still inadequate to get proper exposure especially on my long lenses where the largest opening is at f5.6 only. Although I use f5.6 all the time during sporting events especially on bright days but when it comes to night marathons, it proved totally inadequate.
Flash: I tried to use the flash but the prospect of flashing directly into the path of oncoming runners is something that I hate others do to me. So the adage of ‘Do Not Do Onto Others What You Do Not Want Others Do Unto You’ applies here. Besides, I hate runners running after me instead of completing the course.
Well, with 3 of the factors above working against me, I had to improvise. First, I accept the fact that light will not be available and because I am seeking natural light, therefore flash is out of the option. Instead, I watched out for lamp posts as my ‘natural source’ of lighting. I timed my shots to coincide with runners running under these lamp posts so that lighting will be at their brightest while taking the shot. Not only that, I ditched the long lens and mounted the Sigma 24-70 f2.8 instead, with the aperture set at it’s maximum. As I knew that the reach of the longest 70mm is totally inadequate, I proceed to change my position from middle of the bridge to the sidewalk, as this this will enable me to get close to the runners capturing their emotion.
For the first few series of the shots, they turn out blur and I was wondering whether there is something wrong with the settings. I tweaked the ISO setting to ISO1600, with the Kelvin setting of 5000K while the shutter speed is at 1/50th seconds which I am already flirting with potentially blur shots here. It was then I decide to mount the camera onto my Manfrotto Monopod where I let loose the ball head so that the camera is allowed to rotate but resting on on top of a somewhat ‘stable’ platform. From then on, the number of good shots began pouring in while things begin to look better.
It was during this night that I learned quite a lot that why pros always upgrade their equipment. The prospect of having ruining shots will totally disrupt a pro photographer’s earnings and if I am a Pro myself, this is totally unacceptable. However, I had to admit that I was never a pro while I’m only a beginner, the thought of investing into a 70-200 f2.8 proved too much for me.
It was also at this night that I enjoyed photography so much where it totally pushed me to come up with an idea on how to get proper exposures with so much odds stacked against me. Although I have to admit, there weren’t much photos and they are not of acceptable quality but perhaps, my skills may not have rusted that much after all and yes, Jamie Pang’s Canon EF135 f2L is beginning to look like an indispensable tool to me.
