Learning to fly with pride...Singapore!!!!

Today I find myself philosophical. Hobby indulging can be very rewarding to the mind and soul....there is always the ever present, intense burning desire to always improve oneself and stand proudly above the crowd....done with pride and in humbleness can make oneself and also those friends and associates who share the same vision extremely motivated....this is what I would term "Calibrated Drive".....there is a lot of subtle and deliberate small rewarding experiences and interactions that hopefully helps create that positive response.

I particularly like this quote....

He who would learn to fly one day must first learn to stand and walk and run and climb and dance. One cannot fly into flying.

Friedrich Nietzsche
(1844 - 1900)
German philosopher


In ranchu language, I find the "above quote" very relevant. Learning the basic of ranchu keeping like quarentine new imports, treating of sick fishes, buying fishes with clear intention (buying fishes knowing the bloodlines of the Jap farms behind the fish) are like first learning to stand, walk, run, climb and dance and hopefully one day "Fly into Flying". It takes a while, but it is extremely rewarding to see bros that don't even bother about quarentine and treating new purchases now relishing in their newly found set of disciplines in grooming and upkeeping and acknowledging the background of the fishes before buying the fish.(Yes as amateur ranchu hobbyists, we might get confused and sometimes at the mercy of unscrupulous sellers.)

I am happily motivated the past few weeks from seeing some of my breedings posted by some bros improved and grown so much.....these bros grooming skills improved tremendously...this will definitely spur me to breed better fishes. I always believe that "ranchu keeping is not rocket science" and that if I can do it, there are many others who can do it better and I hope that many others will do it better so that I stay motivated. Singaporean ranchu hobbyists are so fragmented and yet I harbour the hope that someday Singaporeans can excel and participate in some oversea competitions and garner recognition for Singapore...there might be Singaporeans who already achieved that goal of participating in the Thai Ranchu or even the All Japan Ranchu Show, but to many of us on the lower tier of the hobby, out in the wilderness....it is like watching a Japanese Samurai movie.


In many initial instances especially in the early days of the 80's and early 90's, many foreigners never even hear of Singapore. In early 1992, I spent a few months in a dog training school in West Virginia...the instructors were Americans and one of them thought I was from China and Singapore was a city in China and he was quite surprised that I spoke English. This is just my little story of a Singaporean adventure in his youth into the "hilly billies" Virginian Mountains to pick up dog training certification and how I left my small little impression in the West Virginian soil that Singapore is a country and we do know enough about German Shepherd dogs and we are no pushovers.

I am crazy about bloodlines(genealogy) in German Shepherd and I can rattle bloodlines that spread over tens of generations and at my peak I can even trace the lineage to the first registered German Shepherd ...Horand von Grafrath

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horand_von_Grafrath

One of my dog training instructor have just bought a male German Shepherd dog from Germany that cost like between 10 to 20% the cost of his house price...naturally he was proud of his beau.... he rattled the bloodlines and how he want to breed from this male....quietly I realised that this male throw weak ears.I showed him my dog... a female that I brought to the training school and introduced her as the repeat breeding of VA Yambo von der Wildsteigerland...he was shocked when I showed him the certified pedigree and we became quite good friends as we both enjoyed talking shepherds. After being there for 6-7 weeks and when my instructor was planning his breedings to his male dog, I thot I felt comfortable enough that I can tell him that his dog throw weak ears...the response was instantaneous, very uncomfortable and I was certain he felt very offended....but surprisingly....not so the next day.... becos that night, he called the breeder in Germany and the breeder agreed with my view....in his words as he told the German breeder that a Singaporean told him so and the breeder told him.... "that Singaporean know bloodlines".

Before I left the training school, my instructor asked whether I can help handle his dog at the Canadian National Sieger Show....this is the biggest German Shepherd show in Canada(even today)and participants beside the Canadians, Americans, South Americans and Germans also participated and they brought their prized animals to show and hopefully win. The show was fiercely competitive and a little Singaporean handler was competing against GIANTS and won.





Hope to spur hobbyists to better themselves. Aquarama 2009 is round the corner...there are many professional and commercial entities participating....I am supporting and rooting for our small home grown hobbyists and hope they improve and win some honour for the backyard keepers and breeders....Cheers and Stand up for Singapore