I dreamed a dream...

"I dreamed a dream in time gone by,

When hope was high and life, worth living.

I dreamed that love would never die,

I dreamed that God would be forgiving.

Then I was young and unafraid,

And dreams were made and used and wasted.

There was no ransom to be paid,

No song unsung, no wine, untasted".......... Les Miserables

Last weekend, I attended a presentation from the Sport School and felt that kids today are really blessed. If I had a sport dream back then when I was young, there is absolutely no support system to nuture the dream. So, Singapore has come a long way in this area.

As I sit back think about the dreams that I had when I was young, some seemed so funny and others.... should stay as memories at the back of my mind :-) Can I still have a dream at this age...?

싸움 싸움 싸움!!! 加油 加油 加油!!!

The title says "Fighting, fighting, fighting!"... a phrase that I heard many times when watching K-drama and game shows.

Watching from shore during the recent Pesta Sukan Regatta, it was quite a stressful time for me... Chloe was having to deal with a snapped mailsheet (tried to tie back the rope, hand-held the boom, etc.) as she was approaching Mark 1 in 21st position.

After that race and sitting in the shade of the big tree, I realised that it must have taken a lot for Chloe to try to tie the rope and failed, to sail with her hand on the boom and then to attempt to tie the rope again (this time with success), to stay racing again when every single sailor had passed her and the last of that lot was almost reaching the Mark 3 gates when she was still at Mark 2...

Honestly, it was somewhat of a proud moment for me... my baby did not give up! I was sure that she had tears in her eyes and all over her face as that has been the way she dealt with stress since she was very young. She fought with her bare hands and did not give up by making more than one attempt to re-tie the snapped mailsheet. Most of all, she restarted her racing... stayed focused (if you enlarged this picture of her heading down to the Mark 3 gates, I am sure you will see the determination on her face... because I did). She race down to Mark 3 gates when all other sailors headed back upwind, rounded it to head upwind to chase the entire fleet and completed the last downwind segment to catch up with the sailor in the 66th position before crossing the finishing line. If you know me... you would have know that I watched all that with my binoculars!

I don't know if Chloe is be a great sailor (i.e. win lots of medals... AYG, YOG, Olympics, etc.) but I do know that all these time spent with sailing will make her a stronger person to deal with things outside sailing in the future as well.

Shy man!... wonder whether anyone heard me shout "싸움 싸움 싸움!!! 加油 加油 加油!!!" as she rounded the Mark 3 gates and was heading towards finishing line... :-D