Hear The Words

"He who is different from me does not impoverish me - he enriches me".

"I was wrong to grow older. Pity. I was so happy as a child".

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, French writer and aviator.
His most popular novel was titled The Little Prince.

Hmm, same thoughts that my good friend had when he coined this phrase," How I wish I could laugh like a child once again".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_de_saint-exupery

The Growing Years

It's great to see the siblings together. Ally at 5+, with her electric smile, and Ash at 3 months 3 weeks, with his Popeye impersonation. Ash is now strong enough to hold up his head.

I Dare!

Reqad about this activity on the internet while trying to look for a place to bring Ally to.

Motorised boat....hmm, that sounds interesting. In a nutshell, Ally had a hard time controlling the boat as you really have to learn how to counter-steer or else the boat just went round and round. $5 for 5 minutes.

After the ride, I gave Ally a big hug for her achievement in being daring enough to try out the boat ride. Her reply," Papa, I'm not afraid. I will not fall into the water".

That's the spirit. You should not be afraid to try out anything.

Death of a Legend: Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) is a legend of our era. So many memorable songs that have acted as milestones of my life. His contributions to the music world started way before the 80s, but it was in that decade that the songs truly impacted my life.

1982: Thriller
Songs in this epic album includes Thriller, Beat it, Billy Jean and The Girl is Mine.

"Darkness holds across the land..." Always remembered a deep male voice saying this entire phrase. The song ends with his evil laughter too. I was in Primary three when Thriller went came on air. I remembered that my neighbours and I, back in my MacPherson estate days, learnt those zombie-fied moves.

1982: Beat it
This was a song that epitomises the bad boy in us. Gangland Attitude.

1982: Billie Jean
This song brought moonwalk into our lives.

A Date With My Girl

It was a Ally-Papa date at Downtown East. We caught bits of the Transformer show, bought Ally dinner at Teasire Cafe, and got a ticket for her to have a ride on the kids car ride.

Heavenly.

One of Those Nights

It's one of those emo days that I'm into those emo songs. Currently listening to Gold 90FM. I'll list the better songs as I go along.

Radio has been pretty much a part of my life. I remember that I have a stereo set in the living room of my parents living room in Circuit Road. I believe that it was in the early 80s where my Vivian (My second sis) and I would buy cassette tapes to record songs played over the radio. Talk about bootleg!

We await closely the next song intro by the radio presenter. Once it's been introduced and it's the song we wanted, we'd click on the record button. So song after song, we'd do that. Soon, we'd have our fav songs all in a cassette tape.

Two problems though:

1. When the radio presenter continued their talk when the music was already playing. We'd usually stamped our feet and prayed for the talking to stop.

2. Tape ends before the song is fully recorded. You could see that it's running out of tape but you just want to record that final song. Finishing, finishing, damn! End of tape. Quickly! Turn to side B and press record!

Another iconic change in life is the arrival of walkman with radio. You don't have to only play music when you're at home. Now music has become portable. The walkman was one thing that it was a must have on long bus trips. No more noisy aunties. I'm in my own musical world with no cares in the world. It also provided me with the most soothing of music during those late night bus ride home.

In the 90's, I'd also fashioned my room to have a radio on for the entire period when I'm studying or even when I was calling it a night. Hmm...don't think I could have survive without music.

12.48am: Eric Clapton - Wonderful tonight

This is one of my fav guitar-playing song. Have never sang it to Jac. One day I will. 10th anniversary?

1.01am: Bob Seger - We've got tonight

Sweet, sweet song.

1.13am: Helen Reddy - That ain't no way to treat a lady

Love this song, but don't think it was really my era. My era? Guess it's the 80s and 90s.

1.22am: The Stylistics - Betcha by golly wow

Wow! Classic! It's always on the late night radio show that you'd get to hear this song. I didn't even know this was the title of the song until I did a web search. By golly wow!

1.25am: Michael Jackson - Happy

Another classic! Michael was not even a teen when he sang this song. Lost innocence? Life bogged down by fame, family feud and betrayal. How he must wish that he was able to return to his happy self.

1.32am: Andrea Bocelli - Besame Mucho

Not an old singer, but the song is old, dating back to 1940.

Family Picture

It's official!

The world of today has been inflicted with swine flu. The name has been a pariah to Jews and Muslim community that it's now just termed as H1N1 Influenza A virus.

As of today, Singapore has seen their 15th case of H1N1 victim and the numbers are expected to grow. Minister of Health Mr Khaw Boon Wan has warned that there may be a chance that the virus may spread within the community and we have to be ready for it.

Mr Khaw also gave a very sound advice. ""Every week that we earn without a community spread, it is useful because vaccines will eventually be produced. You shorten the time waiting for a vaccine".

So I was in my mask today. Never had I been in a mask, not even during SARS period in 2003. But this time is different. Jac's down with stomach flu and she was crunched up in a ball as the intestinal spasm is causing her much suffering.

In 2006, my family has gone through a time where Jac, Ally and I were down with stomach flu, all within a few hours of each other. It was horrible because I'd to send Ally to the 24hr clinic as it was about 1am. When I reached home at 2.30am, it was Jac's turn. She was throwing up and I too, felt a little unwell. By the time we got back, it was already about 4am.

http://adrianphuah.blogspot.com/2006/12/tired-all-so-tired.html


Only my maid, Darmi, was still well. It was truly a difficult time for all of us.

Back to the origin of my topic. So I brought Jac to see a doctor. Great! Once I got there, I received a lecture for the young doctor. "There is no difference between gastric flu and stomach flu. Why do the public think there's a difference. Ok, Jac is in pain and I was in no mood to tell him that, "Well, because you're the doctor and I'll have to pay you $70 for all the injections and medication!" Ah well, I'll just let it slip off my back like water on duck's feathers!

Today as well, I've been given the official title of an uncle! After the visit to the clinic, I drove Jac home so she could rest, then went off to get her porridge. I was in the queue to get breakfast. When it was my turn, the girl of not more than 20 years of age asked me in mandarin, "Uncle, what do you want to order?" Uncle? I've finally reached that stature!