F1, F1 and more F1!!!

The F1 craze is here. Many shopping malls have race cars parked right ouside them. I found one outside CK Tangs.

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Doing things with great love?

Last week, I read somewhere about what Mother Teresa once said.

"In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love."

It caused me to ponder for a moment to do some self-reflection.

I realised that I often do things with my very own self-interests in mind. I didn't do them out of a heart to love others. Not all the time anyway.

For instance, when I do discipline a student in school, I need to do it with the intent that I want him to change for the better, and not just to do it for the sake of doing.

I really can't accept this!

About half an hour ago, I happened to tune in to the Chinese radio station, 93.3FM.

I almost couldn't believe my ears.

There was this on-air game show whereby the caller is supposed to call into the radio station and make a guess as to what the 4 secret digits are. If he can guess correctly, he will walk away with some prizes.

But the context of this 4 secret digits went like this: There's this female 93.3FM deejay who wore many layers of clothes. How much time does she need to strip to her sexy bikini underneath? There were many other suggestive remarks made by other deejays as well.

I really can't accept this!

93.3FM is one of the most popular radio station in Singapore (maybe it's the most). What kind of message are they trying to send to their listeners (especially the young ones)?!

The media have tremendous influence over our people - especially the younger ones. I really think that they have to be more responsible in the kind of messages they are sending out.

Otherwise, the future for Singapore looks pretty bleak.

Can You Identify with this ...?

I found this on the internet. If you can identify with a significant number of this, you must be quite near my age. I wonder if youths today can even identify with any one at all. It just shows how much Singapore has changed.

I can identify with 40/50 things. What about you? =D

1. You grew up watching He-man, Transformers, Silver hawk and Mickey Mouse. Not to forget, Ninja turtles and Smurfs too. (That's me!)

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.(That's me!)

3. You know what's Bin(1) Fen(1) Ba(1) San(1) is all about. (That's me!)

4. You know what SBC stands for. (That's me!)

5. You were there when the first chinese serial, the Awakening was shown on TV. (That's me!)

6. Internet? What the heck is that? (That's me!

7. You find your friends with pagers cool in Secondary school (handphones don't exist). (That's me!)

8. SBS buses used to be non-airconditioned. The bus seats are made of wood and the cushion is red! The big red bell gives a loud BEEEP! when pressed.There are colourful tickets for TIBS buses. The conductor will check for tickets by using a machine which punches a hole on the ticket. (That's me!)

9. Your favourite actor and actress is Huang Wenyong and Xiangyun. Next is Lee Nanxing and Zoe Tay and the Aiyoyo woman. (That's me!)

10. You've probably read Young Generation magazine. You know who's Vinny the little vampire and Acai the constable. (That's me!)

11. You were there when they first introduced MRT here. You went for the first ride with your parents and you would kneel on the seat to see the scenery. (Not me)

12. Movie tickets used to cost only $3.50. (That's me!)

13. Gals are fascinated by Strawberry Short Cake and Barbie Dolls. (That's me!)

14. You learn to laugh like The Count in Sesame Street.(Not me)

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 ring pop, where the lollipop is the diamond on the ring. (That's me!)

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

17. All that you know about Cantonese is from the Hong Kong serials you watched on TV2.(Not me)

18. Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, The Three Investigators, Famous Five and Secret Seven are probably the thickest story books you ever thought you have read. Even SweetValley High and Malory Towers.(Not me)

19. Civics and Moral Education was “Hao3 Gong1 Min2”. (That's me!)

20. KFC used to be a high class restaurant that serve food in plates and let you use metal forks and knives. (That's me!)

21. The most vulgar thing you said was asshole and idiot and THE MOST EXTREME WAS 'super white'...you just couldn't bring yourself to say the hokkien relative.(Not me)

22. Catching was the IN thing and twist the magic word. (That's me!)

23. Your English workbooks was made of some damn poor quality paper that was smooth and yellow. (That's me!)

24. CDIS was your best friend. (That's me!)

25. The only computer lessons in school involved funny pixellised characters in 16 colours walking about trying to teach you maths. (That's me!)

26. Waterbottles were slinged around your neck and a must everywhere you go. (That's me!)

27. Boys loved to play soccer with small tennis balls in the basketball court or play something that uses tennis ball to hit other players known as “HUM TAM BOLA” during recess /after school. (That's me!)

28. Hopskotch, five stones,chateh and zero point were all the rage with the girls and boys too... (That's me!)

29. Science was fun with the balsam and the angsana being the most important plants of our lives. (That's me!)

30. Who can forget Ahmad, Bala, Sumei and John, eternalized in our minds from the textbooks. Even Mr Wally. (That's me!)

31. You did stupid exercises like seal crawl and frog jumps. (That's me!)

32. Every children's day and national day you either get pins or pens with 'Happy Children's Day 1993' or dumb files with 'Happy National Day 1994'. (That's me!)

33. In Primary six you had to play buddy for the younger kids like big sister and brother.(Not me)

34. Chinese teachers were always old, boring and damn fierce looking.(Not me)

35. Your form teacher taught you maths, science and english.(Not me)

36. The worksheets were made of brown rough paper of poor quality. (That's me!)

37. You went to school in slippers and a raincoat when it rained, and you find a dry spot in the school to sit down, dry your feet, and wear your dry and warm socks and shoes.(Not me)

38. Famous Chinese singers were only Jacky Cheung, Andy Lau, Aaron Kwok and Leon Lai. (That's me!)

39. School dismissal time was normally around 1 pm. (That's me!)

40. There would be spelling tests and mental sums to do almost everyday. (That's me!)

41. Your friends considered you lucky and rich if your parents gave you $3 or more for pocket money everyday. (That's me!)

42. During class gatherings, parents always tag along in case someone gets lost at Orchard Road.(Not me)

43. You freak out when the teacher tells you to line up according to height! and hold hands with the corresponding boy or girl.(Not me)

44. Handkerchiefs were a must for both genders. (That's me!)

45. Collecting notebooks and all kinds of stationery was a popular thing. (That's me!)

46. Autograph books were loaded with “Best Wishes”, “Forget Me Not”, and small poems like “Bird fly high, hard to catch. Friend like you, hard to forget”. (That's me!)

47. Class monitors and prefects loved to say “You talk somemore, I write your name ah!” (That's me!)

48. There were at least 40 people in one class. (That's me!)

49. Large, colourful schoolbags were carried. (That's me!)

50. You brought every single book to school, even though there was one thing called the timetable. (That's me!)

Childhood Games

I suddenly thought of all the childhood games that I used to play: catching, five stones, "hantam bola", 1-leg, erasers flipping and hopscotch. I will go on to do a short introduction on each of them.

Catching
For this game, out of a group of children, 1 will be selected as the 'catcher'. Then this catcher will run around the whole place chasing after any of the other children. If he managed to catch any of his friend (by touching him), that friend will take over the 'catcher' role and everything will start all over again. It's really fun and everybody will run and hide and run and hide.


Five Stones
Come on guys. This is NOT a game just for girls. I played it too when I was young. Basically, there are 5 small bean bags, as shown in the photo on the left. The players will take turn to do all kinds of things with the bean bags. For more details, go to this website.




1-Leg
This is a real classic. The players will be divided into 2 groups. One group will have to cross a certain distance by running. The other group's players will each be constantly hopping around with only 1 leg. These 1-leggers will try to touch the other group's players. If anyone from the running group is being touched, they will be considered 'dead'. Heh..


Hantam Bola
My all-time favorite!! Players are divided into 2 groups. Each group will have a certain number of table tennis (not tennis) balls. Both groups are to throw the balls at one another. If a player is hit by the ball and the ball falls to the ground, his number of lives will deducted. If the player is hit, but yet, manages to hold on to the ball, the thrower will minus 1 life then.




Erasers flipping
I used to go crazy over this. Everyday, I would buy 1 eraser (those with flags). Then I would play against my friends with the erasers I bought. To put it simply, each player will take turns to flip his own eraser until 1 eraser lies on top of the other. The person's whose eraser is below will lose. (I was quite good at this!)



Hopscotch
Draw the hopscotch. Jump within the boxes drawn. Cannot skip any step unless the stone you throw lies on the squares. It's a great great game. But I wasn't really that agile and didn't excel in it. Hopscotch 101 is an interesting website that teaches how to play the game real well. =)