-Sunday, September 30, 2007
Childhood Revisited, 1
"
AH CHIEN! Time to wake up already lah!" I heard my maternal grandma shout at a distance.
There I was, lying in the bed, rolling about. I turned around and saw that it was 7.30am. I didn't want to get out, till...
"You better come wash up right now or I'll come get you." That was the last thing I wanted. My mafia grandma to come personally to pick me out of bed. Oh, I was only 4 years old then. It was my first day of kindergarten. My no-nonsense grandma put me straight into the shower, got me dressed up. As she was getting ready, I took a sip from her mug of coffee and bit on the lotus paste
pau she'd always steam for me and my cousins. There were 4 cousins living in there for 8 years. Sometimes 3 more would come by. That makes 7 sometimes. Okay, back to where I was...
We hit the road. With my little palm held tightly in her grasp, she'd walk me and my older cousin to kindergarten. I knew how to get to my school even before my first day. I have to say that I was an observant kid. I peer out of MRT windows all the time. In this case, I used to tag along with her when my older cousin, Ah B went to kindergarten in his first year. Getting to school was simple. My grandma seemed to be well known in the neighbourhood. She gave nods of acknowledgment to people who waved to her as her hands were full with 2 messed up kids.
I settled in easily while the other kids whined and whined for their parents. Looking out of the grilles, I saw nothing but plenty of eyes peering in. I found my grandma's. She saw that I was good, so she just left me alone.
* My grandma is kinda like a living superwoman. She wakes up early to make breakfast for a husband, 4 working adults, 4 little brats, and herself. She then washes up and wakes the little brats up. She brings the oldest 2, me and Ah B to kindergarten. She leaves the 2 younger ones, Ah Mei, my sister, and Ah Siang, my younger cousin at home. Who knew what the 2 of them always did. After she left us at school she'd go home, pick up the other 2, bring them along to the wet market to get the groceries for the day. Ah Mei and Ah Siang would always poke the eyes of the fishes, just for fun.
Back home, she'd put the ingredients in to the clay pot for the soup, which was cooked using charcoal. (No I don't live in that long ago time. My grandma really uses the charcoal pit in the 90s) She left it there. Left my sister, Ah Mei, and Ah Siang to play. They'd fall asleep after a little while.
Then it was time to pick me and Ah B up. Chances are if the younger 2 were awake, she'd bring them along to pick us up. She'd but them a little snack to keep them quiet along the way. By the way, it was a good 500-600m walk from my grandma's to the kindergarten.
Okay, here's where I left off just now.
So I was left alone, I was doing fine, at least better than the other kids. The first day ended in just a little while. I was picked up along with Ah B with my grandma and the other 2. We went home. She made us wash up and let us off to play. The maid helped her to prepare dinner everyday for almost 15 people. That was madness. We lined up with a plates, like inmates, as my grandma carefully put the portions of food into it. We all lay down in front of the TV(we didn't have alot of entertainment back then), and eat. Ah B and me didn't have much of a problem finishing everything, but being young, Ah Siang and Ah Mei took the longest time to finish. My sister made a record time of 3 hours, 5pm-8pm to finish her dinner. My grandma was pissed.
Then came the most exciting part. My granddad would come home, yell at us kids for playing with toys while eating. My grandma would come to our rescue with a barrage of hokkien profanities hurled at him.
"Ninabeh, %^%$^%$^%$^$^^*%&^)$%&*&(*&#%3" were the most often heard phrases in my childhood. Sometimes it was exchanged between my grandma and her children, my uncles and aunts. They couldn't stop fighting and my grandma always won. Now you know why I call her my mafia grandma. I can show you a news article next time.
Its getting a little long, I have some more coming up tomorrow.
Yeechien Wrote;
9:53 PM
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-Thursday, September 27, 2007
This direction please, reverse gear disabled.
Okay, here comes the time.
I'm not going to make a big fuss out of it and make myself look dumb, but I'm clear about what to do, what's the game plan. Positive thoughts, positive actions, positive results. Of course just believing isn't everything. A fair bit of hard work, a little bit of faith and what not.
Many believe in rewards. People ask why we don't do a good job. Try to shift the spotlight to the job, rather than what you'd get after that. If you wanna help, just help for the sake of helping, not the CIP hours. I could write letters stating you helped a thousand hours, but that's not the point, damnit. We could use a little sincerity here. Man those kids are staying back till late to study, maybe we should just head to their direction and give them a little hand without expecting anything in return. Maybe the satisfaction of solving an algebra problem with them could bring about this.
What if there were no incentives? Would you back out, or stay? People today are moved by incentives and material satisfaction in exchange for their efforts. That's not for me. I'm not a single bit apologetic about what I said cause thats how I feel and I mean it. So, stop asking me about incentives.
Look at our neighbour, Myanmar. Whatever happened to humanity? Though I'm not a buddhist, who the fuck beats up innocent monks protesting on the streets? The last people you'd expect would be the police. I don't know much about it, but the picture really made me think. Why are we taking our own blood. We're all humans.
It is not necessary that we have to like everyone. If you don't, never make war with them. Some people are just like that. Interfering in other's businesses seems to be their source for life. Let me rephrase it.
Don't kaypoh, will die like that.Wahlao. Please. The earth still rotates in the same direction, the tilt is the same, the sun's still there.
At times we can show concern and love. But too much may be a hindrance. Some merely want to indulge in others' problems for the sake of entertainment. What entertainment value can you make of your friend crapping in his pants cause he had diarrhoea? It may be funny at the moment I don't deny, but there is no need to make it the talk of the town, right?
Cheers to us cause we show sincere care and concern for others!
Yeechien Wrote;
10:13 PM
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-Monday, September 24, 2007
Give me a moment, please?
Exams not very far away
leh.
Just enough time to make it, barely. Have to maintain a positive outlook on life. Imma make it. How nice the sense of satisfaction when problems are solved, knowing you played a part in it. Teaching and helping has never been so fun.
For the past year, I've been putting away some extra time to head back to my
alma mater to help out in some mentoring work. The kids are very funny and they never fail to make your day. Haha. If you guys are reading this, hello then. Material rewards are not everything. Roaring applauses in appreciation beats the dollar bills easily.
In our age and time, material seems to be like everything. LV, Gucci, whatnot
lah. Take this example: A $5 wallet can hold 5 cards, and my notes and coins. A $500 branded wallet can do the same thing. Which would you prefer?
We would soon come to realise that going after material wants will not bring about content. It may bring you moments of happiness, but that will soon come to past. Being content, being satisfied with what you already have, but not wanting to have more, is the way to go for me.
Personally I'd rather spend on good food thats of reasonable price. Makes my stomach happy, makes me content. I'd wont ask for more unecessarily. Better to spend more on food than clothing and whatever and whatever. Food is something we need, so why not find more good food to fill your needs, instead of spending it on temporary desires, wants? My opinion by the way.
//
Don't know say don't know, don't say know. Make you look like idiot. Don't know nevermind, can ask and learn. Don't know don't ask become like fool, talk empty. Try harder!
Know nevermind, listen. Maybe can learn from someone, can share idea. Know know lor, not a big deal
ma. Know already? Find out more. There's no end.
yeechien 24/9/07
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Yeechien Wrote;
11:26 PM
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-Monday, September 10, 2007
Thoughts into words?
Here's what suits me.
"A plethora of thoughts waiting to be put into words."
Sometimes its just too difficult to put our thinking into words people can actually understand. Probably during the conversion, bits are lost. As time passes, these get bottled up. Slowly but surely, the bottle gets full. One day, it erupts.
Why the hell is it so damn hard to do it? I roll my eyes thinking of each sentence to type in here.
Ah.
I don't need to be taught to sit and stand like a little puppy man. I'm on my own now. Breathing down my neck, setting unreasonable curfews. Damn.
Now is not really the time; but I really need a break sometime soon.
The last months has been rather cold and lonely, I guess its just part of my nature to be alone; to spend time with myself. I may hang out with a couple of great friends, but I don't know. I prefer to take in the night lights alone, or probably 1 or 2 mates.
Thats it for now. I had a hard time writing.
Yeechien Wrote;
11:13 PM
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-Thursday, September 06, 2007
Holi-holiday.
Holidays; work free days.
Devoid of any routine, I always find myself doing nothing. How can you do nothing? Or maybe staring into space and... nothing. Past, present, future. As the second hand advances on the clock when you read this, the past just left. Welcome, to the future. Sound familiar?
As I was just getting comfortable into my seat on bus service 18 today, plugging my earphones in my ear... I looked up. I saw a commotion between two middle aged
aunties. Apparently they were both in the same seat. It seemed like the woman from the inner seat edged out the lady on the outer on, onto the aisle. She scrambled for balance; as soon as she did, she hit the lady sitting down with a rolled up brochure in her hand. She shouted, (
in chinese) "I'm going to call the police, hey you all, she called me a fatass and edged me out of this seat!"
"I dare you to call the
poly(police in lousy english)." the other lady replied.
The latter was arrogant. Further into the argument, she used this as an insult to the other party. "You can't even speak proper English, you dont scare me."
Like as if she could even speak that good in English.
All these happened between the period of 2 bus stops, and they got down to settle the 'case'. Everyone was just looking and doing nothing, myself included.
Welcome to Singapore; a place where drama can take place between 2 bus stops.
So long, everyone; as time moves into the next second. [[:
Yeechien Wrote;
5:41 PM
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