Memories….

From now till many more days to come, you will most probably read a lot about my secondary school life. I am a SCGS girl. (Once a SCGS girl, always and forever a SCGS girl) Unlike most of the girls, I joined only in sec 1. I was from Tanglin Primary School and when I put SCGS as my choice of school, I still remember my form teacher telling me how hard it would be to get in cos’ they have a primary school and priority will be given to their girls. But I insisted and I am glad I did.

So, from 1979 to 1983 I grew up in SCGS. One of the best time in my life. Making some of the best friends of my life. I spent five years in the school because I failed my sec 1. I am thankful I did cos it was my second year in sec 1 that I found my way back to God and back to church and found the spouse. Till today, it is the same church that I am attending. Imagine, all these would not have been possible if not for my second year in sec 1. Did I become a failure because I repeated sec 1? No, I am successful in my own way. Always remember, we only fail but we are no failure. Profound?

Most of my batch left SCGS in 1983 and for these long 30 years, most of us have gone our separate ways BUT… we have found each other, a good 50% is found. Very sadly, two of them have passed away. This is life. How many more 30 years do I have. This 28th July, come what may, I will reunite with my girls.


Sec 1


Sec 4

Can you spot, yours truly?

My kid, you raise

Sadly, this is our society now. Parents no longer raise their own kids. A caregiver does it. A maid, grandpa or grandma, a nanny, childcare center teachers…everyone, anyone except the parents.

I see this maid pushing the child at 6.45am when I send Ann to school. When I come back from marketing, I will see her. On weekends, I also see her with the child. I seriously wonder what happen to the child’s parents? Are they sick? Do they work long hours? I really do not know.

A society that encourages you to have more babies but asks you to let someone else to the upbringing, has seriously gone wrong.

Opportunity knocking

Kai has been selected for the creative writers’ workshop. If he clears the criteria, he will be mentored by an author. I am so happy for him. See, don’t under estimate a “no-brand” school. Everything happen in life for a purpose. Yes, God is in control. I see so much potential in him…

Darkness
I must fight it. The Darkness. It seduces me, lulls me ever closer. I try to fight it. I am losing. My vision clouds over. I try harder. My head falls onto a hard, cold surface. I float along in Darkness. Suddenly, reality returns. Laughters. Caught sleeping in class again.

His writing has matured with him. Gone are the fantasy world of thrillers, ghosts and monsters. He can now write in various form. The next stage, I would like to bring him to write critically, argumentatively. Slowly, one step, one genre. 

The Past

The kids and I went to the National Museum. I couldn’t remember when was the last time I was there. It was good to visit. The History of Singapore was amazing. We spent three hours there, just looking and listening to the narration.


She is still looking great. I hope they won’t sell her off or flatten her to make way for roads or houses.

Then I saw this…
 
Unless you are from the school, Singapore Chinese Girls’ School (SCGS), you wouldn’t know about this desk and chair. I told Kai and Ann, this was what I used when I was in secondary school. Kai said that it could have been the exact one I used. Well, perhaps…

This chair and table opened up the flood gate to all my childhood memories. My secondary school days were the best days of my life. Yes, the 80s. The 80s was a fabulous time. Life was simple, things were nice, people were honest and warm. There was a sense of sadness that my children will no longer have those days to enjoy.

Looking at the exhibits, I marvelled at what our founding fatherS did. It was an amazing transformation. I began to wonder what was our present leaders thinking of when they sold Raffles Hotel. Should not she be the pride of our country. A heritage that should have been preserved. Actually, along with her, many iconic buildings were all demolished in the name of urbanisation. Well I see the need to build for human habitat but some things just have to preserve. Removing shorter HDB flats to build taller ones, that would be acceptable. But to destroy iconic buildings of a country…it reflects on the kind of leadership we have. We built the Singapore Flyer (the modern icon) and see what happened? Why build something which others already have?

These three buildings were all very close to the hearts of Singaporeans, they are all gone now. Replacing them are just empty land…waiting for a rich buyer?


 
 
These structures beat any of those elongated buildings any time.

Another good piece

Going through Kai’s holiday homework. One of them, a poem he wrote…

Sparkler Nights
When I was a child,
I longed for Sparkler Nights.
When my imagination would take flight.
When dancing stars and smiling moon come out,
And matches flair, sparks fly sizzling through the sky
But when they sputter out and die,
It just isn’t fair,
Gone is the magic in the air

And he even attached a picture of him playing the sparkler in his pj, he was just three.


It’s picture like this which always make me wish….they will never grow up. So cute, isn’t he.

I am not sure what prospect is there being a writer in Singapore. A place which places little value in Literature. If his talent is indeed in this area, I will do everything I can to make sure he gets the best in order to reach his fullest potential. A Wordsworth in the making.

Haze, time to get out

What we did when PSI hit 401 in Singapore.


 
 
He just “broke” their chair! The kids called this the Dr Seuss’ house



Great hands-on activity

 

I love these. Just using rope and UV light to create art

 
Inside the Art Museum. The former SJI.

 
Guess what is this portrait made of?

 
Believe it…shampoo caps



This poster shows the art of embroidery

 
 
Reminded me of Sam Lo (aka sticker lady)

 
 
Playing with lights.

Why do they always say we have no talent. Look at all these creative works of our people. Seriously, I think we still live in the colonial era where anything "angmorish" is considered art. What the locals do is the 'V' word. Just like 'obit' design sold in market is considered so aunty but same 'orbit' design with a glam label is so in, so fashionable.

Check the site The Art Museum to know more about these activities. Better than getting stuck at home, facing the one-eye monster.

Hazy days

We have been living in a haze country for the past many days. Today was the scariest of them all. At 11am plus, PSI peaked at 401. This is a collection of my ‘hazy’ pictures.


This was taken at the start of the hazy days. Not too bad.  

 
This was taken on Wednesday around 7.30pm. By midnight, it hit PSI 300

 
Start of dreadful days to come. Notice the tennis court is empty. We have three tennis courts in the development, they are always used. These few days, the whole compound has become a ghost town. Notice, I could even look at the sun and capture this shot.

  
Yesterday, one of the worst recording.


This was taken today around 9am. The sun has turned orange-red. By 11am, it went up to PSI 401.
Kai’s Boys Brigade camp was cancelled. MOE has ordered all schools to cancel all the June holiday programmes.

Well, many has commented that there was nothing the government could do but I think, if they are good leaders with foresight, this could have been avoided or at least, it wouldn’t end up so bad. Every year, we all know haze will come around this time. It is a matter of how bad it will be. Just because the past few years, the wind direction was in our favour, we were not so affected. The leaders just ‘la-la-ing’ away. Do we wait for the wind direction to determine the people’s welfare? A true leader will solve the problem when there is one, not until it become catastrophic, then start looking for solution. This is caused by man which means, there is a solution. Unlike the 2004 tsunami. It was purely a natural disaster.  Remember also, I talked about messing with Mother Nature? We may not have it so bad if our greeneries were not destroyed too much, too soon.

The saddest part in the haze situation, at 400 PSI, no stop work order was given, at least for all construction sites. It would have been good for all outdoor workers and all the people who stayed near these construction sites. Dollars have superseded welfare of humans. What else is going to happen when the country is so driven by money? I fear for the fall of this nation. “The love of money is the root of all evil.” Tim 6:10