One day, when I was a Teenage in Zhenghua Secondary school, I saw a guy from my class was walking home from school. His name was Terry. It looked like he was carrying all of his books. I thought to myself, 'Why would anyone bring home all his books on a Friday? He must really be a nerd.' I had quite a weekend planned (parties and a football game with my friend tomorrow afternoon), so I shrugged my shoulders and went on.

As I was walking, I saw a bunch of boys running towards him. They ran at him, knocking all his books out of his arms and tripping him so he landed in the dirt. His glasses went flying, and I saw them land in the grass about ten feet from him. He looked up and I saw this terrible sadness in his eyes. My heart went out to him. So, I jogged over to him and as he crawled around looking for his glasses, and I saw a tear in his eye. As I handed him his glasses, I said, 'Those guys are jerks. They really should get lives.' He looked at me and said, 'Hey thanks!' There was a big smile on his face. It was one of those smiles that showed real gratitude. I helped him pick up his books, and asked him where he lived. As it turned out, he lived near me, so I asked him why I had never seen him before. He said he had gone to private tuition before now. I would have never hung out with a private tuition guy before. We talked all the way home, and I carried his books. He turned out to be a pretty cool guy. I asked him if he wanted to play football on Saturday with me and my friends. He said yes. We hung all weekend and the more I got to know Terry, the more I can click with him. And my friends thought the same of him. Monday morning came, and there was Terry with the huge stack of books again. I stopped him and said, 'Damn boy, you are gonna really build some serious muscles with this pile of books everyday!' He just laughed and handed me half the books.

Over the next four years, Terry and I became best friends. When we were seniors, we began to think about college. Terry decided on Polytechnic, and I was going to College East ITE. I knew that we would always be friends, that the miles would never be a problem. He was going to be a doctor, and I was going for Project Engineer on a Building Drafting scholarship. Terry was valedictorian of our class . I teased him all the time about being a nerd. He had to prepare a speech for graduation. I was so glad it wasn't me having to get up there and speak. Graduation day, I saw Terry. He looked great. He was one of those guys that really found himself during in school. He filled out and actually looked good in glasses. He had more dates than me and all the girls loved him! Boy, sometimes I was jealous. Today was one of those days. I could see that he was nervous about his speech. So, I smacked him on the back and said, 'Hey, big guy, you'll be great!' He looked at me with one of those looks (the really grateful one) and smiled. 'Thanks,' he said.

As he started his speech, he cleared his throat, and began. 'Graduation is a time to thank those who helped you make it through those tough years. Your parents, your teachers, your siblings, maybe a coach… but mostly your friends. I am here to tell all of you that being a friend to someone is the best gift you can give them. I am going to tell you a story.' I just looked at my friend with disbelief as he told the story of the first day we met. He had planned to kill himself over the weekend. He talked of how he had cleaned out his locker so his Mom wouldn't have to do it later and was carrying his stuff home. He looked hard at me and gave me a little smile. 'Thankfully, I was saved. My friend saved me from doing the unspeakable.' I heard the gasp go through the crowd as this handsome, popular boy told us all about his weakest moment. I saw his Mom and dad looking at me and smiling that same grateful smile. Not until that moment did I realise it's depth.

Never underestimate the power of your actions. With one small gesture you can change a person's life. For better or for worse.

" Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly ".

Track and field is a sport that tests a wide range of physical abilities. From the 100m dash to the 3000m steeplechase and up to the gruelling marathon, different physical attributes such as speed, agility and endurance are tested. However, every event will test a particular or a few main physical abilities.

The 100m dash is purely a speed event. Reaction time is no more greater in importance than in any other events. It is also the most psychologically pressurizing event over a short period of time. Any mistake can cost greatly. There is no time to rectify any mistake during the dash. It measures explosive speed and power.

As the events progress in distance, for example, the 200m and 400m runs, speed is no more the prime physical prerequisite. Another major component is introduced. It's endurance.

200m and 400m runners will also show distinct different body structures from the 100m sprinters. They are leaner and less stocky. This is to accomodate the need to go fast over a greater distance.

And near the end of the distance spectrum lies the 1500m, 5000m and 10000m events. The 5000m and 10000m are distance events. The 5000m event tests more of speed than the 10000m. The 1500m will naturally require greater speed ability than the 5000m and 10000m.

Finally the most unique of the running events is the 3000m steeplechase. Runners need not only have good endurance but also the agility and strength to hurdle 28 9.14cm barriers. In addition, one of the four barriers placed on the track is put behind a pit of water for the runners to land on.

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We use energy everyday. Electricity, petroleum and lunch. Life will be a standstill without any of these. This web of energy transfer and transmission is very very complex and systematic. Am I contradicting myself? Well complex because there are an infinite number of interconnections of the energy transfers. Systematic because the interconnections enable each need to meet it's fulfillment. Food is obtained from plants. Food is for lunch. Lunch gives energy for you to survive another day's work. And plants rely on water, air and sunlight to grow. That's the interconnection of energy transfer.

It makes me realize how important the Sun is. It's amazing what the rays of the Sun can do. It caused the weather. It caused rain. Water rushes through the dam gates. And so we have hydroelectric power to keep the lights on in homes at night.

It's pretty scary to imagine life without the Sun. The visual imagination is quite scary. Then Earth will be illuminated by lights. We'll need many many lights. Across the streets and anywhere possible. Then we'll realise the lighting power of the Sun. When the Sun lights up the Earth, it is almost everywhere. Across and throughout the sky. Lighting the Earth on our own will be nothing compared to what the Sun can do. So we'll need the power stations to give energy to light up. We need to burn fuel to generate the energy. And fuel can deplete, sooner or later.

That leaves us to plunge into total darkness, sooner or later, without the Sun. At first when there is no Sun, we could still light up from our power stations. But not for long.

The Sun is an enormous ball of fire great enough to lead some people to worshipping it. But a god in that property seems furious all the time, engulfing whatever existent. Is that God? Or is God the One who created the Sun?

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