Globalisation, commercialisation, rapid growth and expansion in Singapore, many changes to our landscape, surroundings, many new tall skyscrapers and malls, replacing many old places. The fast pace of modernisation and expansion is not just kept to Singapore only, it’s happening around the world too! We are expanding that fast until have we asked ourselves to slow down, take a look behind and reflect on our history, cultures and practices, how many of them are still retained today ? How many are already lost in history ?<\/p>\n

I went back to my email folders and dug out an email that I saved in 2001, yes, that’s 10 years ago, and it’s something very meaningful, heart warming and it’s a very special that really touched my heart and soul because it’s my childhood … It’s those little things in life, for me, it’s my childhood, for some, it could be their teenager days.<\/p>\n

Before you read this, this was not written by me, if you happen to know the author who composed this, drop me a comment and I will acknowledge this wonderful person !<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

50 things, Singaporeans aged 20 something would\u00a0identify with.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

1. You grew up watching He-man, Transformers,\u00a0Silverhawk, Ultraman,\u00a0SuperFriends 4, Woody WoodPecker, Tom & Jerry,\u00a0Smurf and Mickey Mouse.\u00a0Not to forget, maybe Ninja turtles too.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a02. You grew up brushing your teeth with a mug in\u00a0Primary school during\u00a0recess time. You will squat by a drain with all\u00a0your classmates beside\u00a0you,\u00a0and brush your teeth with a coloured mug. The\u00a0teachers said you must brush\u00a0each side 10 times too.<\/em><\/div>\n

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3.You know what SBC stands for.<\/em><\/div>\n

4. You know what it means by the Centrepoint Kids,\u00a0breakdance etc.\u00a0<\/em><\/div>\n

5. You were there when the first Chinese serial,\u00a0the Awakening was shown\u00a0on\u00a0TV.<\/em><\/p>\n

6. Internet? What the hell is that? So you thought\u00a0a decade or more ago.<\/em><\/div>\n

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7. You find your friends with pagers and handphone\u00a0cool in Secondary\u00a0school.<\/em><\/div>\n

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8. SBS buses used to be non-airconditioned. The\u00a0bus seats were made of\u00a0wood\u00a0and the cushion was red. The big red bell gave a\u00a0loud BEEEP! when pressed.\u00a0There were colourful tickets for CSS buses. The\u00a0conductor will check for\u00a0tickets by using a machine which punches a hole on\u00a0the ticket. All SBS\u00a0buses used to be manually operated, with a huge\u00a0gigantic gearstick to the\u00a0left of the driver.<\/em><\/div>\n

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9. Your favourite actor and actress were Huang\u00a0Wenyong and Xiangyun. Next\u00a0were Lee Nanxing and Zoe Tay and the Aiyoyo woman\u00a0(Chen Liping).<\/em><\/div>\n

10. You’ve probably read Young Generation\u00a0magazine. You know who’s Vinny\u00a0the little vampire and Acai the constable.<\/em><\/div>\n

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11. You were there when they first introduced MRT\u00a0here (Yio Chu Kang to\u00a0Toa\u00a0Payoh). You went for the first ride with your\u00a0parents and you would kneel\u00a0on the seat to see the scenery.<\/em><\/div>\n

12. Movie tickets used to cost only $3.50. Tickets\u00a0were scrawled across\u00a0using big red pencils. Ushers brought you into the\u00a0cinemas using big\u00a0metallic torchlights.<\/em><\/div>\n

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13. Gals were fascinated by Strawberry Short Cake\u00a0and Barbie Dolls. You\u00a0also collected Care Bears stickers, trying to\u00a0complete the impossible task\u00a0of filling up the sticker book.<\/em><\/div>\n

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14. You remember some taxis were green in colour.\u00a0Taxis had gearsticks\u00a0behind the steering wheel, with a transparent knob\u00a0and little colourful\u00a0flowers inside the knobs.<\/em><\/div>\n

15. You longed to buy tibits called Kaka(20 cents\u00a0per pack), and Ding\u00a0Dang(50 cents per box), that had a toy in it and\u00a0it changes every week not\u00a0forgetting the 15 cents animal crackers and the\u00a0ringpop, where the\u00a0lollipop\u00a0is the diamond on the ring.<\/em><\/div>\n

16. You watched TV2(also known as Channel 10)\u00a0cartoons because Channel 5\u00a0never had enough cartoons for you.<\/em><\/div>\n

17. All that you know about Cantonese is from the\u00a0Hong Kong serials you\u00a0watched on TV2. In ?Man in the Net?, you watched\u00a0Ah Chan eat 30\u00a0hamburgers.<\/em><\/div>\n

18. You grew up reading ladybird books? READ IT\u00a0YOURSELF? Hardy Boys,\u00a0Nancy\u00a0Drew, The Three investigators, Famous Five and\u00a0Secret Seven were probably\u00a0the thickest story books you ever thought you had.\u00a0Even SweetValley High\u00a0and Malory Towers. You also love Enid Blyton’s\u00a0Enchanted Wood, Magic\u00a0Faraway tree…<\/em><\/div>\n

19. Civics and Moral Education was ?Hao(3) Gong(1)\u00a0Min(2)?.<\/em><\/div>\n

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20. KFC used to be a high class place and let you\u00a0use metal forks and\u00a0knives.<\/em><\/div>\n

21. The most vulgar thing you said was asshole and\u00a0idiot and… you just\u00a0couldn’t bring yourself to say the hokkien\u00a0relative.<\/em><\/div>\n

22. Catching was the IN thing (a.k.a. Police and\u00a0Thief) and twist or\u00a0“choap\u00a0choap” was the magic word.<\/em><\/div>\n

23. Your English workbooks was made of some damn\u00a0poor quality paper that\u00a0was smooth and yellow.\u00a0<\/em><\/div>\n

24. Some part of your school was ALWAYS haunted,\u00a0like the toilet or clock\u00a0tower or a certain block. You walk fast to avoid\u00a0them.<\/em><\/div>\n

25. The only computer lessons in school involved\u00a0funny pixellised\u00a0characters in 16 colours walking about trying to\u00a0teach you maths. You\u00a0printed with noisy dot matrix printers and use\u00a0computer papers with two\u00a0rows of holes at the sides. ?Mouse?? What’s that?<\/em><\/div>\n

26. Waterbottles, with your favourite cartoon\u00a0character on it, were\u00a0slinged\u00a0around your neck and a must everywhere you go.<\/em><\/div>\n

27. Boys loved to play soccer with small tennis\u00a0balls in the basketball\u00a0court.<\/em><\/div>\n

28. Hopskotch, five stones,chateh and zero point\u00a0were all the rage with\u00a0the\u00a0girls and boys too… Remember 5 times, highest,\u00a0one-inch…<\/em><\/div>\n

29. Science was fun with the balsam and the\u00a0angsana being the most\u00a0important plants of our lives.<\/em><\/div>\n

30. Who could forget Ahmad, Bala, Gopal, Sumei,\u00a0Peihua and John,\u00a0eternalised in the textbooks. Even Mr Wolly, Mr\u00a0Yakki.<\/em><\/div>\n

31. You did stupid exercises like seal crawl and\u00a0frog jumps.<\/em><\/div>\n

32. Every children’s day and national day you\u00a0either get pencils or pens\u00a0with ‘Happy Children’s Day 1983′ or dumb files\u00a0with Happy National Day\u00a01984’.<\/em><\/div>\n

33. In Primary six you had to play buddy for the\u00a0younger kids like big\u00a0sister and brother.<\/em><\/div>\n

34. Chinese teachers were always old, boring and\u00a0damn fiercelooking. Your\u00a0form teacher taught you maths, science and\u00a0english.<\/em><\/div>\n

35. The Scouts used to wear shorts, and the NCC\u00a0uniform was a plain green\u00a0colour without camouflage.<\/em><\/div>\n

36. The worksheets were made of brown rough paper\u00a0of poor quality.<\/em><\/div>\n

37. You went to school in slippers and a raincoat\u00a0when it rained,and you\u00a0find a dry spot in the school to sit and wipe\u00a0yourself dry. Then you wear\u00a0your dry and warm socks and shoes.<\/em><\/div>\n

38. You listened to Xin(1) Yao(2). Remember Eric\u00a0Moo’s Kopi ‘O’,\u00a0‘Sunglass’etc?<\/em><\/div>\n

39. After exams, you brought game and watch to\u00a0school, and play card games\u00a0like ‘snap’ and ‘donkey’, and you also play pick\u00a0up sticks and snakes &\u00a0ladder and the aeroplane board game. Either this\u00a0or you would play those\u00a0cards comparing aeroplanes, warships, or tanks;\u00a0who would have more\u00a0firepower or speed or weight, etc.<\/em><\/div>\n

40. You remember you uncles, big brothers and\u00a0father screaming and\u00a0shouting\u00a0in front of the TV when the S’pore soccer team\u00a0(always in blue jerseys)\u00a0play against the Malaysians.<\/em><\/div>\n

41. Your friends considered you lucky and rich if\u00a0your parents gave you $3\u00a0or more for pocket money everyday.<\/em><\/div>\n

42. During class gatherings, parents always tag\u00a0along in case someone gets\u00a0lost at Orchard Road.<\/em><\/div>\n

43. You freak out when the teacher tells you to\u00a0line up according to\u00a0height\u00a0and hold hands with the corresponding boy or girl.<\/em><\/div>\n

44. Handkerchieves were a must for both genders.<\/em><\/div>\n

45. Collecting notebooks, erasers and all kinds of\u00a0stationery was a\u00a0popular\u00a0thing.<\/em><\/div>\n

46. Autograph books were loaded with ?Best\u00a0Wishes?, ?Forget Me Not?,and\u00a0small poems like ?Bird fly high, hard to catch.\u00a0Friend like you, hard to\u00a0forget?.<\/em><\/div>\n

47. Class monitors and prefects loved to say ?You\u00a0talksomemore,I write\u00a0your\u00a0name ah!?<\/em><\/div>\n

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48. You remember songs sung by a huge group of\u00a0people, like the Chinese\u00a0Ming(2) Tian(1) Hui(4) Gen(4) Hao(3), and the\u00a0English ?We Are The\u00a0World?….In Sec Sch, you listen to Bananarama,\u00a0Jason Donavan, Kylie\u00a0Manogue, New Kids on the Block, ABBA, and Tommy\u00a0Page (Remember ‘A Shoulder\u00a0to Cry On’?…<\/em><\/div>\n

49. Large, colourful schoolbags were carried. And\u00a0fanciful pencil cases\u00a0with lots of small tiny drawers, trays, sharpener\u00a0or thermometer, that pop\u00a0out at the push of a button were the ‘in’ thing.<\/em><\/div>\n

50. You brought every single book to school, even\u00a0though there was one\u00a0thing called the timetable, written on the inside\u00a0cover of your little\u00a0blue\u00a0notebook.<\/em><\/div>\n

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Spread this heart warming message around, you\u00a0don’t get something like\u00a0very\u00a0often.\u00a0Remember, you come from a generation worth\u00a0remembering.<\/em><\/p>\n

I had kept this for 10 years in my mailbox folders, never deleting it and I sincerely thank the author\/composer who wrote the above 50 points for you had summarised my childhood days. I hope to be able to acknowledge this wonderful author\/composer! The pace of life in Singapore has gone so fast and it’s not that we are caught in the past and not looking forward to the future.<\/p>\n

It’s that while we embraced changes, growth and expansion, we do not want to forget our roots, cultures, heritage and history, the fun and laughter, peace and joy. Let this be a kickstart for me to start capturing back my childhood memories and if I can still find them, I would showcase them and share it with the world and for the future generations of Singapore, something to learn and remember!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Globalisation, commercialisation, rapid growth and expansion in Singapore, many changes to our landscape, surroundings, many new tall skyscrapers and malls, replacing many old places. The fast pace of modernisation and expansion is not just kept to Singapore only, it’s happening around the world too! We are expanding that fast until have we asked ourselves to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[15,24,13,7,11,12,14,9,1,274],"tags":[398,1343,382,1348,43,1346,37,354,381,185,38,1345,1347,186,39,33,1342,1339,29,1355,110,397],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n