A Walk After The Talk

Immediately after Chun See's talk on "Blogging For Senior Citizens", I went home to pick up my family. We were eating out because it was our 17th wedding anniversary. We ate at an old nondescript eatery in Chinatown, Lee Tong Kee:

The eatery is famous for its sar hor fun.) Its prices are quite reasonable. A simple meal for the 4 of us costs less than $50, an amount which even a kiam siap (stingy) civil servant could afford. What's more, there's no "plus-plus" (service and GST charges). However, that amount does not include desserts or drinks.

After a very satisfying meal, we decided to have dessert at a very famous dessert shop nearby. Since we only heard of the shop before but had no idea where it was located, we asked some shopowners. The first one we asked actually pointed us in a wrong direction. While we went astray, we ran into this famous grilled sausages stall set up by Mr Erich Sollbock, an Austrian who was one of the 40 honourees of the Spirit Of Enterprise Awards in 2005.


We also visited the Chinatown Heritage Centre where we bought two old games:


The above photo shows the chatek which I paid $2.50 for. I used to make my own chatek for free. After my mother slaughtered a chicken (in the olden days before bird flu, this practice was common), I salvaged a few long wing feathers for making my own chatek. Of course, I left the colour of the feathers as au naturel, i.e. brown. I used to be able to kick the chatek more than 100 times at one go when I was a kid. Now, I am lucky if I can manage 5.


The above photo shows the $3.00 see sek (4-colour) cards which I used to see adults play when I was a kid. Up till now, I still don't know how the game is played.

After a short walk, there was still no sign of the dessert shop which we were looking for so I asked a second shopowner. He directed me to the shop just round the corner:


In our opinion, the desserts were not that fantastic but were passable. After my family had their desserts, they were unanimous that it was my just desserts to walk all the way back to Sago Street where the car was parked and drive it to Temple Street to pick them up. I had no choice but to oblige. Whilst taking a short cut via a backlane, I found out that food and childhood games were not all that Chinatown had to offer:



Too bad that the children missed an opportunity for an early lesson about the bird and the bees. (I have blogged about a 'not so traditional shop' in Chinatown before.) I conclude this post with a quote from an article in Today dated 27 Nov 2006, written by Mr William Lim, a 74 years old architect and thinker:

"Chinatown for example is culturally dead, it's a theme park and tourist trap today. The tourist board has had a hand in cleaning it up, and that's the point - you want the genuine chaos and excitement, not the tourist catering stores."

Chinatown has been cleaned up? Far from it. In my opinion, it is getting as sleazy as Joo Chiat, if not more. And these sleazy businesses may not be 'tourist catering stores'.

Talk On Blogging For Seniors

Last Saturday was the day of Chun See's talk on "Blogging For Senior Citizens" at the Queenstown Community Library. The talk was conducted from 3 pm to 4.30 pm but I was released by my "vehicle commander" only at 3.00 pm. Driving along the PIE, it started pouring. I was wondering how many of the participants would be deterred by the inclement weather.

I reached the library at almost 3.30 pm and was told that there were no more seats. I stood at the back of the hall at first. Then I realised that there was a front door that was opened so I sneaked in through there. I was quite impressed by the turnout. There were about 100 people in the audience. I think their ages ranged from 40-90.

I eagerly scanned around the audience for Elaine, my "blogo-god-daughter". (I said "eagerly" because I haven't met Elaine in person yet and neither has she seen me before. Yet, I know how she looks like because she has posted her photos on her blogsite before.) Elaine had earlier said that she would turn up for the talk. When I could not find her in the audience, I smsed her and found out that she had thought that the talk was on Monday instead. She apologised for her oversight. (Hmm... seems like her memory is even worse than mine. For her, it must be due to work stress, not age.) Too bad that she didn't turn up. If she did, the age range of the audience would have been from 22-90. (Elaine is turning 23 next month.)

I wasn't really paying attention to Chun See's talk, not because I don't consider myself a senior but because I was busy snapping a few photos for this post. Nevertheless, Chun See came across as a very professional speaker - proficient, knowledgeable, but yet humble. (This is not a surprise because as a management consultant by profession, he often conducts training at work.) He started off by explaining why he started his personal blog called "Good Morning Yesterday". He also mentioned how our PM had, in his last National Day Rally Speech, exhorted to older Singaporeans to share their stories and experiences with the younger generation via blogs. In that speech, the PM had mentioned "Bullock Cart Water" blog as one example. (I personally think that Chun See's blog stands a good chance of being mentioned in the PM's next National Day Rally Speech.) Chun See was able to connect with the audience. (Erm... maybe there was no generation gap?) The audience laughed at his humorous and amusing stories.

Chun See then described his blogging experiences, the comments he received and the overseas blogo-friends he made. Through blogging, he got to know the children of the ex-British servicemen who were stationed in Singapore in the 1950s - 1960s. (Click here for an example of such a website.) Many young people also commented on his blog. One comment which Chun See particularly liked was "Uncle, you rock." (Actually at Chun See's age, he not only rocks but rolls too.)

I heard Chun See mentioning about me. He pointed to me in a group photo taken at a yesterday.sg gathering and said, "This guy's 50-year old." (People usually think I am much younger than my age. Now thanks to Chun See, my age is no longer a secret.) At the end of his session, some people asked questions. (It is always a good sign when people ask questions. It shows that they have understood the topic and are keen to find out more.)

Sunny asking Chun See a question

Then Ivan gave a live demonstration on how to register for a free blogger account, posting the first entry and editing it. Finishing everything in less than half an hour, Ivan proved beyond all doubt that there was nothing technically intimidating about blogging. I hope that the audience was convinced.

When the talk ended, some people came up to personally thank Ivan and Chun See. You could see the satisfied look on their faces (both of the participants' and the speakers').

It would be interesting to see how many in the audience had been moved enough by the talk to take up active blogging. For those who do, I hope that they will also post their entries in yesterday.sg. Even if they do not blog, I would be very happy to see more of them commenting on yesterday.sg or Chun See's blog. Since signing up is not necessary for commenting on a blog, it is really easy for people to share their views and personal accounts of those old times.

You can read more about the talk from posts by Ivan and Walter.

Does Forgetfulness Come With Age?

I start this week's post with a joke quoted from today's New Paper. The joke was entitled Three Sisters:

Three sisters, aged 92, 94, and 96, live in a house together.

One night, the 96-year-old draws a bath. She puts her foot in and pauses. She yells down the stairs: "Was I getting in or out of the bath?"

The 94-year-old yells back: "I don't know. I'll come up and see." She starts up the stairs and pauses. Then she yells: "Was I going up the stairs or down?"

The 92-year-old is sitting at the kitchen table having tea, listening to her sisters. She shakes her head and says: "I sure hope I never get that forgetful." She knocks on wood for good measure.

She then yells: "I'll come up and help both of you as soon as I see who's at the door."

To me, the above joke is so relevant that it seems to be on me. You see, although I'm a long way from 90, this morning I forgetfully left my keychain at a food court which I visit almost every Saturday. I was walking back to my car when I realised that my keychain was missing and that really freaked me out. I wasn't afraid that someone would break into my home but rather, replacing my car's keycard (which unlocks car as well as starts the engine) costs more than $400! And it had to be specially ordered from France. Meanwhile, if you lose the only other spare keycard too, you'd better get used to using public transport for the next two months because it takes that long for the replacement keycard to arrive. Fortunately, one of the staff at the food court had kept my keychain safely. I thanked her profusely when she returned the keychain to me.

Like a 90-year-old, the wife yelled: "This is the second time that you lose your keychain in past week. Next time always remember to check first before you leave a place, okay?"

Ridden with utmost guilt and remorse like he just murdered someone, the husband could only think quietly to himself: "Yes, I remember losing my keychain last week but thankfully for my poor memory, I've already forgotten about that unhappy incident until you reminded me now. And I totally agree that if I always check first before I leave a place, such an incident could be avoided. Obviously, I also forgot to check, right?"

(Note: The preceding 2 paragraphs are NOT a continuation of the joke quoted from the New Paper.)

If I go back further in time and remember correctly, there were also a few occasions when I left my keychain hanging from the keyhole of my flat's front door after unlocking it. On one or two occasions, this careless act was discovered by me and hence I was spared a woman's fury. However, at other times, I was not so lucky. There was even one occasion when I had left the key dangling from the letter box at the void deck at my block - it was like sending an open invitation to a burglar to pay a courtesy call to my flat. Luckily, a good neighbour found the keychain and returned it promptly to me. Once, I dropped my keychain in Chris' car while lunching out with him and had to trouble my wife to come to my office after work so that I could drive the car home with the spare keycard.

Then recently, I nearly missed a turn on the expressway while sending my younger son for tuition class. The expected yells followed. (Funny, I don't remember ever marrying this woman.)

Could it really be that I am getting forgetful because I am getting old? Does age inevitably comes with forgetfulness and weak ankles? My mind refuses to believe that. For proof, just look at people like MM Lee and our President. They are well past their 80s and yet their minds are easily many times sharper than mine. Of course, I know that I am making an unfair (to me) comparison here. Yet, we cannot deny the fact that countless of our brain cells are dying every minute and our bodies are getting physically weaker as we age. Eventually, all of us cannot escape death when our bodily functions fail us permanently, whether from old age or from illness. As they say, the mind may be willing but the body is weak.

A recent research concluded that forgetfulness was due to stress. Chris will vouch that I appear to be one of the least stressed persons in the office. But as another colleague MGC said, I could be like a duck swimming in a pond - looking very calm above the surface but paddling frantically below the waterline. Perhaps I am getting stressed up due to all that yelling at home.

The mind works in mysterious ways - while there are some things which we want to remember but find it hard to do so, there are other things which we want to forget but find it just as hard. Some of us find great difficulty in remembering the 3 F's - facts, figures and formulas - especially when we are studying for exams. However, we have no problem remembering pleasant experiences. For example, I could remember very clearly my personal experiences that happened during my honeymoon in New Zealand more than 17 years ago. I could recall events that occurred in the day time as well as in the night but I shall not go into details here (as there are young people reading my blog). One thing I remember very distinctly is that there was no woman yelling at me at that time. But then again, I don't think that I was so forgetful then that I deserved a yelling or two.

At the other end of the scale, people also find it very hard to forget unpleasant incidents. For instance, it is never easy when we suddenly lose someone close to us, regardless of whether he/she is a loved one or "a loved once". (Those of you who did not marry your first boyfriend/girlfriend will know what I mean.) Let me illustrate with a real life example by citing another article from the same day's New Paper:

A woman died in hospital in July last year after developing a skin disease as a result of a drug allergy. The state coroner had ruled out any criminal negligence on the part of any medical staff who treated her. Yet the woman's father found it very hard to accept that nobody was found responsible for his daughter's sudden demise. He even stripped himself in protest at the College of Medicine building recently in a bid to get the Health Ministry to reopen the case. Counsellors and psychiatrists advised that in this case, the father needed to go through the mourning process, however long. He should try to get over his grief by not constantly dwelling on the past. Of course, that is easier said than done but the father must try to forget the past, not her daughter.

One good thing - despite my forgetfulness lately, I think that I still remember to update my blog at least once a week. (I just checked and found that this is indeed true.) Maybe I am suffering from selective amnesia. Whatever the case, if one day you find that I fail to update my blog for 2 weeks or more, it could be that one or more of the following things happened:

1. I am really busy (with my other "obsessions");

2. Someone has been yelling at me not to spend so much time on the computer;

3. I actually forgot (unlikely but can happen); and/or

4. Something worse has happened (don't know whether likely or not, but can't be ruled out either).

In any case, for all of the above scenarios, Chris will surely update you via his blog or via a comment on my blog. (He usually pens a poem about spider webs and the like.) Provided that he too didn't forget to do so.