thoughts

School has finally started! In the previous years, what all my lecturers will do on the very first 'honeymoon' lecture is telling us their expectations of us for lectures, exam formats, syllabus, blah blah blah... all the standard stuff. This year was no different at all. Starting from last year, I had been hearing them say students who do very well (first class) study for at least 6 hours a day, excluding the lectures they attend in school. This year, the same thing was repeated by some of my lecturers. I didn't bother to even do it last year but starting this Monday, I finally did it. 6 hours, not very easy to clock one ok? I didn't manage to clock 6 but at least got about 4-5 =) It puts me on track, I like.

This morning, I read this article from Mind your Body, 'When water is hard to swallow'.

Extract: Drinking water poses a real danger to the elderly who have lost the ability to swallow. A stroke or ageing can take away someone's ability to swallow and when that happens, the necessity of drinking becomes a very real danger. Such patients - usually elderly - are not supposed to drink water because their impaired ability to swallow can cause the water to flow down the windpipe and into the lungs, instead of the oesophagus and into the stomach.

This made me think of the following: When we first came to this world, we know nothing, we don't know how to eat, swallow, talk, etc etc... as we grow, we pick up things bit by bit and before we knew it, we are already taking in whatever we were taught, be it at home, in school or in the society. But you know what? The sad thing is, as we gain, we are also slowly losing as we age. [It really sounds weird of me to talk about such thing at my age and on this blog. Hah. Nevermind, I will still continue =) ] Think of the elderly around us, some of them with senile dementia slowly creeping into their lives. They will forget what they want to do now and then, even recognising their own family members might become a chore to them. Isn't this bringing them back to the stage where they first started with - when they were a baby? Well, not all elderly will turn senile though, those who keep their minds active and engage themselves in healthy and enriching activities will probably keep this illness far away from them. It is like a cycle: from the time we learn to swallow to the time we can't swallow. We are probably born to learn this 'set' of things and when we grow old, and it time to leave the world, we sort of have to return whatever we know, maybe pass it on to another newborn baby? But if this is the case, then Einstine and Beethoven would probably have existed in all centuries. Rubbish right? It's just my thinking actually =)

I went back for Karate training after missing 1 week of trainings due to TM commitments. VERY TIRING and very xiong. We OT for about 20 minutes... But i had a very good workout today, at least some calories were burnt off during training =) I like =)

I met Mel today to collect something from her and we had lunch together. It has been so long since we caught up with each other =) We shall meet again soon! =)

PS, such a lengthy post w/o photos :X