I was 9 when I was introduced by Henry Teo to the world of computers. We went over to his place to play games on his monochrome Apple II PC, and from there, we proceeded to spend whole afternoons programming basic text games just for kicks.
I didn’t have a computer, so I had to write my code down on A4 papers and then type it all in when I was at his place…
One day my mum decided to sign me up for Art Class at Yamaha. I went for my first class and was told by the instructor to draw a beach scene. I quickly drew a coconut tree and peeked at the works of others.
My drawing was terrible compared to the rest of the class and I promptly got out of the class and dissuaded my mum from thinking that I had any artistic inclinations.
I never went back and now I wonder if my mum got a refund…
One day in Primary 2, one of the girls, CMH, asked to be excused to the toilet. Nothing was out of the ordinary.
Suddenly, a shout from outside the window broke the silence in class. As the whole class looked outside, we saw CMH running around outside with her top off and shouting at us! The teacher looked on in shock and hurriedly went outside.
My first Chinese lesson didn’t turn out too well and probably set the pattern for the rest of my life. Everyone was made to go to the blackboard one-by-one to write out their names in Chinese for the teacher to see.
Well… I didn’t know how to write my name in Chinese, and the incredulity of the Chinese teacher made me so embarassed that it probably set in stone my attitude towards the language for my life.
Its easier to blame my Primary One teacher than to say my Chinese sucks… :p
One of the memories I have about kindergarten and primary school is my late grandfather sending me to school every day. He was always there to walk with me and I actually don’t remember talking much, but it was one of those daily rituals that I remember clearly.
One little known fact about me is that I was one of the people who led the school in the pledge almost every other morning. Guess that’s one of the reasons why I seem to be able to recite the pledge easily from memory when some Singaporeans my age have trouble going past the first 3 lines.
Challenge yourself! Can you do it without any assistance?
Once I went to Centrepoint MacDonald’s by myself when I was in Secondary (or Primary?) School and I ordered a meal. Unfortunately while I was walking to one of the stone tables outside of Macs, my drink slid off the tray and dropped to the floor! As there was nothing much I could do, I sidestepped the mess I created and looked at the cleaning staff guiltily, bemoaning the loss of my drink at the same time…
As I was eating my burger, one of the Macs staff came up to me and gave me a replacement drink gratis! Although it was probably a small gesture coming from a multinational conglomerate like Macs, it was very, very appreciated by a young, little, innocent me (yes, it was that long ago….).
Thanks Mr Ronald MacDonald!
For my first day in Primary School, my mum accompanied me for most of the day and she brought me to the tuckshop for lunch. The first item I bought on my own (of course with some coaching from mum) was a bowl of laksa.
For the next few days, I ordered nothing else but laksa as that was the only thing I was confident of ordering…
When I was in Primary 3, my mum had just bought me a new water bottle and I wanted to impress my friends on the (unproven) durability of my water bottle. So I got their attention and I dropped the water bottle to the ground.
Needless to say, it crashed to the floor and broke into pieces, releasing water on the classroom floor. The incident resulted in a destroyed water bottle but it also created a memory for AJ, who was seated beside me.
I used to have this red plastic tricycle that was stored under my grandparent’s bed. I dragged it out from under the bed very often and then I would spend plenty of time cycling around the flat. It never seemed to get boring…