nostalgia...

"50 things, Singaporeans aged 20 something would identify with."

Source Unknown

1. You grew up watching He-man, Transformers, Silverhawk, Ultraman, Super Friends, Woody WoodPecker, Tom & Jerry,Care Bears, My Little Pony, Smurf and Mickey Mouse. Not to forget, maybe Ninja turtles too.

2. You grew up brushing your teeth with a mug in Primary school during recess time. You will squat by a drain with all your classmates beside you,and brush your teeth with a coloured mug. The teachers said you must brush each side 10 times too. Not forgetting the silly red tablet which you know not the purpose for.

3. You know what SBC stands for.

4. You know in school, you could subscribe for the milk which will come before you go back home. Somedays you could get Chocolate milk, other days strawberry. The old magnolia fresh milk came in a triangular packet.

5. You were there when the first chinese serial, the Awakening was shown on TV.

6. Everyone in class would tremble in fear when someone with a gauze stuck in the mouth would go to your class and ask for someone’s name to go to visit the school dentist.

7. You find your friends with pagers and handphone cool in Secondary school.

8. SBS buses used to be non-airconditioned. The bus seats were made of wood and the cushion was red. The big red bell gave a loud BEEEP! when pressed. There were colourful tickets for CSS buses. The conductor will check for tickets by using a machine which punches a hole on the ticket. All SBS buses used to be manually operated, with a huge gigantic gearstick to the left of the driver.

9. Your favourite actor and actress were Huang Wenyong and Xiangyun. Next were Li Nanxing and Zoe Tay and the Aiyoyo woman (Chen Liping).

10. You’ve probably read Young Generation magazine. You know who’s Vinny the little vampire and Constable Acai. For some, cikgu will always ask to buy the "Dewan Bahasa" magazine.

11. You were there when they first introduced MRT here (Yio Chu Kang to Toa Payoh). You went for the first ride with your parents and you would kneel on the seat to see the scenery.

12. Movie tickets used to cost only $3.50. Tickets were scrawled across using big red pencils. Ushers brought you into the cinemas using big metallic torchlights.

13. Gals were fascinated by Strawberry Short Cake and Barbie Dolls. You also collected sticker books of things like Street fighter, The Semi-Pro Soccer League(For Boys) and carebears (For girls) by Panini, trying to complete the impossible task of filling up the sticker book.

14. You remember some taxis were green in colour. Taxis had gearsticks behind the steering wheel, with a transparent knob and little colourful flowers inside the knobs.

15. You longed to buy tibits called Kaka(20 cents per pack), and Ding Dang(50 cents per box), that had a toy in it and it changes every week not forgetting the 15 cents animal crackers and the ringpop, where the lollipop is the diamond on the ring. There were such things like the 20 cents dinosaur eggs, The 10 cents satay, Choki Choki Chocolate stick and not forgetting the all favourite 10 cents "Air batu" broken into 2 parts and shared amongst friends.

16. You watched TV2(also known as Channel 10) cartoons because Channel 5 never had enough cartoons for you.

17. All that you know about Cantonese is from the Hong Kong serials you watched on TV2. You probably would remember George Lam as the mustached man whose line was " Are you OK?" in the Guiness Stout Advertisement.

18. You grew up reading ladybird books "READ IT YOURSELF". Hardy Boys,Nancy Drew, The Three Investigators, Famous Five and Secret Seven were probably the thickest story books you ever thought you had. Even SweetValley High and Malory Towers. You also love Enid Blyton’s Enchanted Wood, Magic Faraway tree...and the 5 dollars Bookworm book you bought when there was the Book Fair in School.

19. The only food you bought from Macdonalds was fish fillet burger and French Fries as it wasnt halal back then and your parents didnt allow you to buy other stuff.

20. KFC used to be a high class place and let you use metal forks and knives.

21. The most vulgar thing you said was asshole and idiot and...you just couldn’t bring yourself to say the hokkien relative.

22. Catching was the IN thing (aka Police and Thief) and twist or "choap" was the magic word. For the ones who always frequented the void decks, there was the "rumah dayak", Octopus and "Goli Duit"

23. Your English workbooks was made of some damn poor quality paper that was smooth and yellow. And the textbooks were striped in colour with different coloured stripes for different levels.

24. Some part of your school was ALWAYS haunted, like the toilet or clock tower or a certain block. You walk fast to avoid them.

25. The only computer lessons in school involved funny pixellised characters in 16 colours walking about trying to teach you maths. You printed with noisy dot matrix printers and use computer papers with two rows of holes at the sides. Mouse? What’s that?

26. Waterbottles, with your favourite cartoon character on it,were slinged around your neck and a must everywhere you go.

27. Boys loved to play soccer with small tennis balls in the basketball court.

28. Hopskotch, five stones,chapteh and zero point were all the rage with the girls and boys too… Remember 5 times, highest, one-inch…

29. Science was fun with the balsam and the angsana being the most important plants of our lives. Remember the "Young Scientist" badge you got when you completed the set of tasks in written on the Blue Booklet for Young Ecologist, Young Botanist etc etc? The 1st excursion to the Science Centre was the best day of your life.

30. Who could forget Ahmad, Bala, Gopal, Sumei, Peihua and John, eternalised in the textbooks. Even Mr Wolly, Mr Yakki.

31. You did stupid exercises like seal crawl and frog jumps.

32. Every children’s day and national day you either get pencils or pens with ‘Happy Children’s Day 1983’ or dumb files with Happy National Day 1984’.

33. In Primary six you had to play buddy for the younger kids like big sister and brother.

34. There was a day called ACES day where you would get this stupid hat and do the Great Singapore Workout.

35. The Scouts used to wear shorts, and the NCC uniform was a plain green colour without camouflage.

36. The worksheets were made of brown rough paper of poor quality. During art and craft, you were made to do your own art folio with the vanguard sheet.

37. You went to school in slippers and a raincoat when it rained,and you find a dry spot in the school to sit and wipe yourself dry. Then you wear your dry and warm socks and shoes.

38. During National Day, you would have to do and decorate your own shakers, usually using a cassette tape container, or an empty aluminium can with green beans inside all taped up and decorated with white and red paper. Who could forget the all-time favourite recorder you played during music lesson?

39. After exams, you brought Game & Watch to school, and play card games like ‘Snap’ and ‘Donkey’ and ‘Old Maid’ and you also play pick up sticks and Snake & Ladder and the aeroplane board game. The erasers with the flags were also a popular game.
Either this or you would play those cards comparing aeroplanes, warships, or tanks; who would have more firepower or speed or weight, etc.

40. You remember you uncles, big brothers and father screaming and shouting in front of the TV when the S’pore soccer team (always in blue jerseys) play against the Malaysians.

41. Your friends considered you lucky and rich if your parents gave you $3 or more for pocket money everyday.

42. During class gatherings, parents always tag along in case someone gets lost at Orchard Road.
43. You freak out when the teacher tells you to line up according to height and hold hands with the corresponding boy or girl.

44. Handkerchieves were a must for both genders

45. Collecting notebooks, erasers and all kinds of stationery was a popular thing. The bookshop was a favourite place to go to get all those stuff during recess.

46. Autograph books were loaded with "Best Wishes", "Forget Me Not", and small poems like ‘Birds fly high, hard to catch. Friend like you,hard to forget’, ‘stay funky always"

47. Class monitors and prefects loved to say ‘You talk somemore, I write your name ah!’

48. You remember songs sung by a huge group of people, like 4U2C, Feminin, Nico (Malay) and the English "We Are The World". In Sec Sch, you listen to Bananarama, Jason Donavan, Kylie Minogue, New Kids on the Block, ABBA, and Tommy Page (Remember ‘A Shoulder to Cry On’?)

49. Large, colourful schoolbags were carried. And fanciful pencil cases with lots of small tiny drawers, trays, sharpener or thermometer, that pop out at the push of a button were the ‘in’ thing.

50. You brought every single book to school, even though there was one thing called the timetable, written on the inside cover of your little blue notebook.

eeeeekkkkkkkksssss

my hamsters at home gave birth!!
eeeekkkksss

it was really freaky...i was just exclaiming on thurs that the female one looked dam pregnant..then on sat..while i was lazing in front of the tv..
a heard a loud squeaking noise...
eeeeeeekkkkss...

there was these small red things with no eyes, no fur, just bare skin and a layer of film over the black eyes..
i thought 4 at first coz that was all that we could see..then as we unintentionally provoked the mother...and to our horror...THERE WERE 6!!!
so we separated the dad in fear that he would eat up the small ones
and very gently, with a scoop..pushed a runaway baby closer to the mother as she seemed to have forgotten about him
phew...

now..just to wait to see how they would grow..
it's all quite fascinating i must say..
the miracle of birth right before ur eyes!!..=)

busy beeeeee

i can't really pinpoint what i have been busy with
i know i fell sick for like a day or two last week, erm..played games, worked?
heh..nothing exciting but just to keep up once in a while..

on leave tmr!! so exciting!!
actually just clearing time off
might as well right?
so having nice lunch and after meal activity..hurhurhur...

will have more updates or news later on......

did you know...

1) there are 7,107 islands in philippines
went to a restuarant opened by the tourism board in philippines and it was really lovely! food was good..singing was good..albeit slightly loud but it was really quite nice

2) 2 people turn 30 by the end of this week
happy birthday to the 2 of u...no matter how different u think u are, i'm going to say..u really r similar to each other one...hopefully one day u'll stop thinking otherwise and say hi to each other.

3) tian ya xia yi is ending soon
the hong kong drama that is showing every wkend from 7 to 9pm is coming to an end next sat! i hope the doc survives and the wife of the other doc is alright..it's too drama i feel but still..i'm compelled to continue watching

4) gst computations are quite a chore
had to help my mum, yet again..this time to sort out gst computations and really, i must say, u need the necessary computer systems to comply with all of these regulations man..difficult for small company to do it all...

5) gay bars play really good music?
went to a few, the most i've ever been in my life..n i enjoyed myself pple watching! it was fun, though i must say, i'm pretty sure all was judging everyone else..quite scary though..

6) my friend xin has issues
must drill into her that gay men like men...would do little for her except break her heart...

7) i miss playing netball with my team mates from school
finally, we had training last thurs and it was seriously good fun! i really miss the school days and the days when we trained for fun..nowadays, it just seems that everyone else is busy with the other parts of their life...that playing together don't seem so important anymore

8) I've become so slow that i hate it
everything points to the fact that i'm ho ho ho ho unfit..have to train harder man..defending sucks..setting sucks...gambatte!!

9) i'm nearing top 10 most experienced officers in my dept
pple come and go..n it's not that much different in my office, except of course we are more like friends and we hang out quite a bit...2 more officers from my team have quit and it has come to saturation point for me..i can't believe that i actually gave wrong information to my boss...sighz...

10) i can't believe i had 10 things to write here.......
hurhurhurhurhurhurhurhur....

she's scary man...

she never fails to amaze me....

check out the height man!!!

funny - 小学生造句

1.题目: 原来
小朋友写: 原来他是我爸爸。
老师评语: 妈妈关切一下

3.题目: ..一边...........一边............ ..
小朋友写: 他一边脱衣服 ,一边穿裤子.
老师评语: 他到底要脱还是要穿啊~~

9.题目: 其中
小朋友写: 我的其中一只左脚受伤了。
老师评语: 你是蜈蚣？~~

10.题目: 一... 就....
小朋友写: 一只娃娃就要一百块。
老师评语: 老师笑到不行..

11.題目: 你看
小朋友写: 你看什么看! 没看过啊

12. 照样造句
例题: 你 (唱歌) 我(跳舞)
小朋友写: 你(好吗 ) 我(很好)
老师评语: 你在写英文翻译吗??

13.照样造句
例题: 别人都夸我( ),其实我( )
小朋友写: 别人都夸我( 很帅 ),其实我( 是戴面具的)。
老师评语: 什么面具这么好用???

14.题目: 好... 又好..
小朋友写: 妈妈的腿,好细又好粗...
老师评语: 那到底是细还是粗？

15.题目: 陆陆续续
小朋友写: 下班了,爸爸陆陆续续的回来。
老师评语: 你到底有几个爸爸呀?

20.题目: 皮开肉绽
小朋友写: 停电的夜晚,到处很黑,我吓得皮开肉绽!
老师评语: 看到这句... 老师佩服你。

21.题目: 欣欣向荣-比喻生长美好的样子。
小朋友写: 我的弟弟长得欣欣向荣。
老师评语: 孩子,你弟弟是植物人吗...
还有一个更瞎的…
小朋友写: 欣欣向荣荣告白。
老师评语: 连续剧不要看太多~~

22. 题目: 谢谢....因为......
小朋友写: 我要谢谢妈妈,因为她每天都帮我写作业......
老师评语: 原来你的作业是妈妈写的!!!!!!!

23.题目: 难过
小朋友写: 我家门前有条水沟很难过。
老师评语: 老师更难过......

26. 题目: 天才
小朋友写: 我3天才洗一次澡。
老师评语: 要每天洗才干净~~

27.題目: 一… 便…
小朋友写: 我一走出门,对面就是便利商店。
还有一個更瞎的…
小朋友写: 哥哥一吃完饭,就大便。
老师评语: 造句不要乱造...

31.題目: 又.....又.....
小朋友寫: 我的妈妈又矮又高又瘦又肥。
老师评语:你妈妈......是怪物吗?

32 果然
上课小朋友说:昨天我吃了水果,然后又喝了凉水
老师:这是词组,不能分开造句。
小朋友又说:老师,我还没说完呢,果然晚上我拉肚子了!
老师:…………

33 瓜分
小朋友:大傻瓜分不清是非
老师:小傻瓜也分不清

34 好吃
小朋友:好吃个屁
老师:………

35 况且
小朋友:一辆火车经过,况且况且况且况且.....
老师:……………

it's over...

all it took was just a good conversation
even if it happened over sms
sort of settled everything..now feeling so much lighter
no more strange thoughts in my head
n really..i'm happy now

to know that both of us had moments of picking up the phone or sending out smses just further affirmed that we are very similar
i suppose this just teaches me to be more honest with ourselves and with pple we care about
which is a good thing to know now i suppose

anyway..all's well that ends well....
another chpt closed...=)

tribute to studying at home

my my...depressing!

Story Print Friendly

Business Times - 05 Oct 2007

Singaporeans are a gloomy lot: survey
The country ranked the lowest among 8 others in terms of optimism and life satisfaction
By GENEVIEVE CUA

WE ARE a gloomy lot here, according to a survey by AXA Life. It found that Singaporeans rank the lowest among eight countries in terms of 'life satisfaction' and optimism about the future, despite strong economic growth.

The most optimistic and satisfied were the respondents in India and the Philippines, AXA Life has found in a new Life Outlook Index (LOI) survey conducted this August.

Using statistical modelling, the index seeks to measure respondents' satisfaction and confidence in four areas - career, family, health and retirement. The survey polled a total of 2,400 respondents in eight countries - Singapore, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand. In Singapore, 300 people participated in an online poll. In other countries the survey was conducted face to face.

AXA chief marketing and strategy officer Annette King said the respondents were the 'mass affluent' who satisfied country-specific minimum income requirements. In Singapore, 70 per cent had a monthly personal income of $2,500 to $3,999, and 31 per cent had a monthly household income of at least $7,000.

Singapore's low LOI score of 59.2 - against 71.6 for the region - was affected by a lack of confidence over career and retirement issues. India's score was 87.2 and the Philippines' 85.
Singapore respondents were, however, among the most prepared for retirement, with 59 per cent having planned seriously or intending to start planning.

Singaporeans were worried about job security and prospects, and this led to concern about retirement. 'We don't think this reflects poorly on Singapore. Their lack of optimism about their career and retirement prospects indicates that they have a realistic view about future job security and opportunities to use their skills,' said Ms King.

I think the biggest obstacle is the fact that (Singaporeans) don't think about the issues seriously enough or early enough, and rely on information from the news or their friends. But at the end of the day they are not actively planning or seeking financial advice.'
Singapore's LOI score also indicates that many are not willing to sacrifice their current living standards for an earlier retirement. That is, they prefer to work until retirement age so they can maintain their lifestyles.

Singaporeans want to retire at an average age of 57, but say they will only be able to retire at about 62.

In contrast, the most optimistic countries like China, India and the Philippines are the least prepared for the future.

Singaporeans are not confident about being able to provide adequately for their children's needs and education. They perceive the costs of living and education to be rising too rapidly.
They were also extremely concerned that medical costs are rising faster than their savings. Three quarters have medical insurance, but they feel their coverage is inadequate.

happy chewren's day!

this means so much more to me simply coz i've been cooped up at home for the past few days and studying! you have no idea how nostalgic it has been listening to 933 at night and all the people dedicating songs to those who are studying for their exams...

i used to be one of those!

i remember the times when i actually did write in..or if anyone of us did..we'll be waiting by the radio just for that dedication!...heh so strange..to feel like a kid even when i'm in my late 2os..it's a good feeling...=)

anyhoo...the exam's on wed..i'm happy for it to come..but also scared coz seriously..i don't think i'm all that well prepared. but heck..just take the paper and see everything goes!..

no pain no gain right??..=)