Because it’s Home.

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Someone asked me, whether if there ever was a war back in Singapore, would I go back and fight? I thought about this question and decided that yes, I actually would.

Why? Because it’s home.

I went back to Singapore for a grand total of 9 days recently, taking advantage of a little break I had after my semester 1 exams ended and before my semester 2 lectures start. It was a brilliant 9 days and I tried to maximise every minute of it. Worked a little, trained with the SG crew and tried to meet up with as many of my friends as I could. The only thing that suffered naturally was my sleep.

It’s ironic how only when you’ve been away long enough, that you start to understand the meaning of home.

You can be in many places around the world, live and work in different countries, stay in different houses and apartments, but somehow there will only be one home.

You’ll realise that home is actually also a mobile concept. That you can actually survive just about anywhere in the world, but there will always be that one special place you keep in your heart that is more about the people rather than the space. All the memories, both the good times and the bad, shared with a select few that you unknowingly grew up with. It’s hard to explain, but I guess that’s something that you have to experience yourself to realise it.

Every single person in the pictures above, taken during my recent trip back, would be one more reason why I call Singapore my home. And that is why I am willing to continue fighting for it.

Read a brilliant blog post (click here to read) about someone reminiscing growing up during the ‘90s in Singapore and that made me all nostalgic.

You see the thing about being in your mid 20s is that you realise that even though you’re not exactly old, you’re no longer that young anymore. And you’re old enough to start seeing the places and things you knew when you were young start to change and disappear.

Having chosen to pursue my dreams led me far away from home, away from my family and friends, and thanks to the unbelievable pace of change back in Singapore, sometimes it feels like I’m watching the place change and pass me by.

I miss the sun. I miss the beach. I miss the food. I miss the smiles. I miss the heat (ok so maybe slightly less hot would be better, but I would still choose that over the cold and wet weather over here).

But I tell myself that maybe, just maybe, someday when my work is done, I’ll be able to pin that flag on my chest and raise it up high for all to see where my home truely is.

Saw this awesome video recently (thanks to Damien for the awesome share on fb!). I guess even though I’m spending some of the best years of my life over here running jumping and throwing, and it’ll definitely be something that I’ll look back upon when I get old and have no regrets over.

Being overseas has also made me realise both the good bits of Singapore and the bits that are still lacking. We really are still a young country and that is why we each have to aim to be the best that we can be, do our part and take that one small step forward, whatever our field may be. Cause when you add up all those little steps together, can you imagine where Singapore could be?

And please don’t be cynical, I understand how some will be jaded by the system having tried and failed, but please don’t stop believing. Cynicism gets no one anywhere and worst of all might even have a negative effect on those around. So please don’t put others down just because you could not, instead aim to help others reach where you did not.

Practical dreamers do not quit. – Napolean Hill

I’ve recently planned out my training and competition schedule for this season with my training partner, and the main competitions I plan to take part would be as follows:

1. North East Championships Open Indoor Pentathlon 6th March 2011
2. Woodford Green Combined Events Meeting 7th-8th May 2011
3. England Senior Combined Events Meeting 4th-5th June 2011
4. Hexam Meeting 23rd-24th July 2011

Looking at the next 15 weeks of training leading up to Woodford, I must say I feel a little apprehensive, as it is filled with sessions such as 8x200m and 4x300m runs to build lactate tolerance, something which really hurts and I dislike these kind of sessions the most.

But you got to do what you got to do. After all if you want to reach somewhere that most people do not, you got to be prepared to do what most people will not.

So that’s it from me for now. I will leave you with the recently released music video ‘Home’ which is one of my favourite national day songs. But being an old school kind of guy, I still prefer the original so that one’s attached below as well.

So we’ll build our dreams together, just like we’ve done before. Just like the river that brings us life, there’ll always be Singapore.

Let’s get building.

Take care and see ya! =)