Happy New Year 2010

xxx

and bottoms up everybody ...

The Mother of All Reunions - Part 7 (Favourite Photos)

A great number of photos were taken at the Grand Reunion - both during the day when we made various visits, and of course at the dinner itself. I'm sure we all had our favourite shots, and I'd like to invite you to send me yours so that I can include it here, and share it with everyone.

My favourite shot was this one:

which shows the happy reunion of two old buddies, RLNH and HTTK, both from Form 5Sc (1976). Back in those days, these two chaps were electronics whizzes and did very well in Ah Chui's Physics classes. I understand it has been more than 20 years since the two last met. RLNH now lives in Singapore while HTTK is based in Canada.

Someone suggested this one showing a sporting Mr Anthony Goh after receiving his "rottan award" from Datuk Justin Jinggut ...

Someone else said I should put up this shot of the "organizing team"...

So what's YOUR favourite photo? Send it to me at jslyong@hotmail.com .

Your Resolutions for 2010 ?

It's two days to a new year. In fact to a new decade.

This is traditionally the time for reflections and resolutions. What did you learn this year and what do you want to commit to achieving next year?

Don't tell me you are among the millions who have given up making new year resolutions just because you have been unable to fulfil some of them in the past? If so, I think that's sad. I think we should all look forward with optimism. And especially after such a Grand Reunion that we've all had. Hey, we've made it through half a century. Let's aim for a next half century of health, harmony and happiness.

I made some resolutions for 2009. If you like you can read them in my other blog, Asian Observer. Click on this link:

http://www.asian-observer.com/2008/12/resolutions-for-2009.html

to go straight to my resolutions posting, which I wrote on 31st Dec 2008. I had decided to make them public to give myself an added push to complete more of them. Did it work? Well, I didn't complete all of them. But I think I did achieve more than half of them. And one of them was to help organise a reunion of old schoolmates ... I think with everyone's help, that one went pretty well, don't you?

Well, I haven't quite completed drafting my resolutions for 2010. Hopefully I'll get it done before end of tomorrow. I hope some of you guys give it a shot too ...

[Added later: Well, my 2010 resolutions are here.]
Here's an interesting article from CBC News that gives some advice on making new year resolutions that are more achievable. I must say I don't necessarily agree with doing just 1 resolution, but I think I will whittle mine down to a smaller number for next year.


Think small on new year's resolutions

Tuesday, December 29, 2009
CBC News

Millions of people fail to fulfil their new year's resolutions because of a faulty approach, suggests a new study.

Prof. Richard Wiseman at England's University of Hertfordshire conducted a study of 700 people who aimed to achieve several resolutions, such as losing weight, quitting smoking and improving their job qualifications.

 He found that only 22 per cent were successful. Those who used commonly recommended approaches such as focusing on the negative implications of not succeeding, removing temptation, having a role model and visualizing about being successful, tended to be unsuccessful.

"Many of these ideas are frequently recommended by self-help experts, but our results suggest that they simply don't work," Wiseman said in a release.

Conversely, people who attained their goals thought small, rather than big, dividing up the steps to achieving their goals into small manageable chunks.

They also rewarded themselves when they experienced progress, mentioned their goals to their friends, frequently thought about the benefits of attaining their goals and tracked their progress.

Stick to 1 resolution

"Many of the most successful techniques involve making a plan and helping yourself stick to it," said Wiseman.

To ensure new year's resolutions are met, he suggests:

• Make only one resolution, to ensure you channel your energy into attaining that goal.
• Make resolutions well in advance of the new year to gather your focus.
• Avoid previous resolutions, to prevent another failure.
• Skip the usual resolutions and choose one that's unique to your circumstances.
• Share your goals with friends and family to receive their support.
• Give yourself small rewards as you see results during the process.
• Track your progress through a journal, spreadsheet or via a notice board.
• Don't give up after a temporary setback. Expect small failures from time to time and accept them.


What are you waiting for? Get out that pen and paper ...

Message from Website Jaga (Dec 2009)

Dear friends,
Firstly at the close of 2009, I felt it's timely to take stock of the reconnection status for our Class of 1976, since this was the primary objective of my creating this blog.

While we had almost 70 boys attending the Grand Reunion last week, we have actually reconnected with many more individuals - like those who could not attend for various reasons, but had been contacted via email or mobile phone.

So the following chart shows how many we have reached ...

Secondly I need to inform you guys that I've had to slightly change the way comments are posted onto this blogsite. Previously your comments were posted instantly after you entered them and clicked on "Post Comment". However, as we have seen some mischievious or malicious individuals (who I'm sure are NOT from the Class of 1976 or 1974) who're constantly trying to put unkind comments on this site, leading to my having to delete them from time to time, I've now configured it such that the comments go into a temporary area where I have a chance to check the comments first, and if it is malicious, I won't allow it to be published. I'm sure all of you agree that this blogsite is for friendly chats, sharing of memories and reconnecting old friends, and not for causing hurt or anger by stupid and insulting remarks.

Festive wishes to all
--- James

The Mother of All Reunions - Part 6 (Walking Down Memory Lane)

This was from a rolling presentation I prepared which was shown on the screen before the Grand Reunion party began. It reflects in an alphabetic fashion various items or events or people who feature in our collective memories from the 60s and 70s. Enjoy ...

That's all folks !

The Mother of All Reunions - Part 5 (Videoclips from the Party)

Here are a few videoclips that will give those who weren't there a sense of the mood on the night. And for those who were there, it will serve to augment your memories of our "The BIG 50" Reunion forever ...

Remember to turn up your PC volume to the max !!! LOL

In the first clip, you can see our St Joe musical talents Suhiri and Felix, with the Victoria Arms singers.

The second clip was taken right after the excellent Bollywood dance performance by Ms Sangeetha. Here we have her dancing with her parents and another Bollywood Wannabe (BW .. get it?) ... hehehe ...

In the next clip, you'll see some Josephians letting their hair down and dancing to the dulcet tones of Subra in his rendition of "Geylang Si-paku Geylang".

This one was actually taken before the dinner started, when our musicians were still practicing. Looked and sounded darn good tho'.

Enjoy ...

The Mother of All Reunions - Part 4 (Dinner Extravaganza)

I know many people are impatiently waiting for this posting. Patience guys, patience ! LOL

Here you are - our "The BIG 50" Reunion Party on 23 December 2009 in pictures ... (I may not have all the best photos, so I urge any of the attendees who have better or more interesting photos to send them to me for sharing on this posting. Let's capture the best moments of the night forever. BTW, my email is jslyong@hotmail.com )

We started at 7pm with a beautiful rendition from Christmas carollers from the St Joe Youth Group.

We then organised our group photo taking. Class after class, followed by everyone squeezed into one shot. Try to spot your teachers, classmates and buddies ...

Form 5Sc (1976) with (seated) teachers

Classmates (from left to right):

Chen Liang Fang, Wilson Chao, Bob Chew Pok Vun, Kuan Chee Kok, Julai Sharif, Lawrence Chin, Francis Lee, James Yong, Lawrence Kuek Thiam Chai, Rev Father Nicholas Ng Wei Kiang, Christopher Sim Kay Guan, Philip Chin, George Lo, Leong Kuek Fook, Harry Goh , Raymond Thong Ee Yu, Richard Lim Ngee Hong, Herbert Ting Thong Kong

Form 5Arts1 with (seated) teachers

Classmates (from left to right)
Bakrie Zaini, Michael Kong, Johnny Tan, Vincent Toh, Teo Soo Hock, Anthony Ung, Dato Anthony Macpherson, Jensen Ng Khoon Teck, Albert Sim Kee How, Law Cheng Seng, Curtis Teo, Ch'ng Seng Chai, Brendan Lee Sin Foh, Nicholas Lau

Form 5Arts2 with (seated) teachers

Classmates (from left to right):
Edward Chin, Suhiri Affendi, Robert Ong, Lim Cho Chua, Peter Foo, Robert Chin, Benjamin Wong, Batholomew Sinos, Ronald Kueh, Robert Chang Kuo Cheng, Mark Chin, Norman Tan, Jude Jong, Loh Siaw Boon, N. Subramanian, Stephen Yeo, Datuk Justin Jinggut, Tan Yok Hai

All attendees

[ All the photos above were taken by Chen Liang Fang, Form 5Sc (1976) ]

Everybody would agree that we had a most talented and funny Master of Ceremonies in the person of Edmund Lee Ah See. Thanks ELAS for a wonderful job!

We started our event proper by singing the school rally "Sons of St Joseph".

Just before dinner began, we invited Rev Fr Nicholas Ng (from Form 5 Sc, 1976) to lead us in saying grace and giving thanks.

Father Nicholas Ng

During and after dinner, we had musical entertainment provided by the talents of Felix Lim and Suhiri Affendi, of the Royal Vintage band, together with two guest singers (photos later).

Then we showed the video message from Rev Bro Columba, followed by other messages from buddies who could not attend the function. (These have been shared in Part 3)

Next was another surprise performance was a Bollywood style dance by a lovely Indian lass ...

... who turned out to be none other than Sangeetha, daughter of our form mate Subra.

Later a birthday cake was rolled in to mark our half century. We requested Fr Nicholas to represent the boys. Dec 23 also happened to be Herbert Ting's actual birthday and he was invited to join in the cake-cutting, as were all the teachers.

We even had a special awards ceremony, with medals presented to Datuk Justine Junggut and Dato' Anthony Firdius Bujang for their honorific titles, N. Subra for his P.K.T. honour for bravery, and - to my great surprise - to myself as Website Jaga for helping to reconnect the boys.

There was also a special presentation of "rottans" (ok, rottans with ribbons) to the teachers. Such as to Mr Nicholas Jee below.

And finally, the part of the programme most people were waiting for - the Lucky Draw prizes. We had many attractive prizes, with the top few being KL-London-KL airtickets, HD pocket camcorder, one-year newspaper subscriptions, free hotel stay, etc.

Congratulations to all the lucky winners:

1. Air Asia KL-London-KL ticket : Michael Kong

2. Air Asia KL-London-KL ticket : Tan Yok Hai

3. Cisco Flip MinoHD pocket camcorder : Nicholas Lau

4. Borneo Post/NST newspaper (one year) : Suhiri Affendi

5. Borneo Post/NST newspaper (one year) : Ben Wong

6. Borneo Post/NST newspaper (one year) : Albert Sim Khee How

7. Complimentary stay at Merdeka Palace : Loh Siaw Boon

8. Dinner voucher at Merdeka Palace : Robert Chang Kuo Cheng

9. DVD player : Cikgu Bujang Hadi

It was a wonderful night of combradeship, recognition and fun. We had almost seventy boys, who came from as far as USA and Canada. We had eight teachers as special guests of honour. We even had some current Form 6 girls of St Joe as helpers for the event.

I have tried to put up some of the pictures which reflect the key events of the day, but there are hundreds more photographs taken by the many cameras the attendees had. I urge you to share what photos YOU have taken on Flickr or other picture sharing site. For example, our buddy Lawrence Chin has uploaded his photos onto the following

www.flickr.com/photos/lcmsia

Check them out. Thanks LC !