Snippets

My father, now referred to as Ah Gong, is the youngest of 10 children, I don't know my paternal grandfather; I was told he had a wife before my paternal grandmother. This first wife bore him two girls - 1st Auntie and 2nd Auntie - I don't know them as well... I think they all died before I was born. All I knew was that my grandma gave birth to 3rd Auntie, then Uncle Ah Pek, then 4th Auntie, then 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th Auntie, followed by my father.

7th Auntie also stayed at Bukit Purmei. Go up the road, pass the church, walk a bit more, there's a path to the left. This path led to some houses and that's where 7th Auntie stayed. I remembered going there once. A lot of people were gathered there that day to listen to the radio ( or maybe it was Rediffusion.) This was when I was about 7 years old, so should be 1959... I think that's when we got independence from British rule. Everybody was cheering..

8th Auntie also stayed nearby - nearer the church but on the opposite side of the road. She had a large family and her home was small... I think she rented the room... All her three daughters slept on one wooden platform.. Don't know where she and her husband slept, nor her two sons .. I spent a night with them.. only once.. too cramp.. I felt bad.. they were poor and there I was eating what could have been their share of food... sleeping in an already crowded bed.. so one time.. I didn't stayed over after that. Don't get me wrong.. They are my cousins and I have no quarrel with them.. I did visit their house often though because I had to pass by the area to go to 3rd Auntie's house.. Their neighbour made peanut cakes (the small round type, like a carrom seed) and to this day, that's one of my favourite snacks.

3rd Auntie stayed a bit farther away.. From 8th Auntie's place we followed the railway line, walked for about half an hour and we would get to 3rd Auntie's house.. 3rd Aunti moved a lot and I also stayed over once or twice. I remembered having to collect water from a tap some distance away.. The well nearby had yellow colored water...only suitable for bathing.. You collect the well-water in a pail, let it stand for a while and then carefully scoop the water on top.. Halfway through you would get muddy water.. Would you stay many days in this condition? I think not!! Their neighbour (maybe the landlord) had a television though! One of the first few in Singapore! 4th Auntie's house had a well that was within an enclosure and we could bathe while directly scooping water from the well... The water is icy cold and very clear... Didn't bathe there though.. Someone carried water up the stairs and I bathe in another bathroom next to the kitchen.. hot water added.. pampered!!

Also somewhere near 3rd Auntie's house was a place where we watched open-air movies, quite like the drive-in...[My husband told me he also went to THAT movie 'theatre' - karma? ].. When we were living at Margaret Drive, my father was also in charge of running the movies at the community centre at Strathmore Avenue.. People had to pay 10 cents to enter the compound, we got in free...( and when television came to Singapore it spelled the end of open-air movies).. It was kind of nice and fun to sit under the stars and watch a movie and cheered when the hero appeared, and booed and hissed when you see the villain.. Of course when the projector broke down.. you get an "Oi!" and clapping when the movie came back on.. REAL FUN!! Even when it rained... just hold an umbrella over the head!!! Screening would only stop if the winds was strong because the screen would flap and once, it even flew away!!.. Also the wind blew rain to the projector... My father was afraid that the projector wouldl be damaged... When this happen, there would be a repeat screening the next day.. Free entry... Later a TV was put up and that's the end of that! BORING...

Times Of My Life

Let's get the time line right. To do so, we start from the beginning.. A long long time ago, my parents got married and they rented a room at 4th Auntie's house. Then along came my older sister Jean; then came my older brother Jeff; then came me.. When I was about eighteen monthes old, my mother landed in hospital..(???) she said I sucked the life out of her.. I was breast-fed!..They say mother's milk is the best and it's free!.. Actually my mother had a weak heart and problems with her blood pressure..
So I was left in Auntie's care.. She tried to feed me bottled milk.. I don't want.. It's not the same!!!.. Then she tried giving me Milo (in the bottle)... I still don't want. After a few attempts, Auntie got fed-up and plonked a cup of Milo in front of me. DRINK!
Surprise, surprise, I took the cup and started drinking from the cup! Must be very hungry by then. Well, how much got spilled, I don't know. From then on I started feeding myself. So imagine how my mother felt when, coming home from the hospital, the first thing she saw was me sitting on the wooden platform, eating porridge by myself... all alone... with no one else around.. . Tears came to her eyes..SO POOR THING...SO SAD...
[this episode of my life was told in one of my mother's story-telling sessions. I was only eighteen months old!!]

Now this wooden platform was a common feature in houses back then. It was located just outside of the front door on the left side..About two feet high.. easy to get on.. In those days, there was no electricity and so to keep cool, people sit ouside of their houses, some even take afternoon naps on the platform. It's raised so that you don't get creepy crawlies joining you in whatever you do on the platform - sewing, preparing food, playing card games, etc, etc. For me, this was sanctuary from two huge dogs that belong to Auntie's husband. Uncle usually chain the dogs to a tree but he let them loose now and then to patrol his estate.. The dogs were not actually fierce but they were huge and no one would want to mess with them.. I thought that they were quite harmless when I got older because they never hurt me. Maybe because Uncle keep scolding them when they even got near me!!

As I mentioned before, we moved out of Auntie's house when I was 3+ and moved into the house in Margaret Drive. But Auntie missed us and would ask Jeff and me to spent a few days with her, especially during school holidays.. Those were fun days!!
I remembered that Jeff and I would go and pick grass-seeds to feed the chickens and sometimes Jeff would find a worm... Then we both would run, I with a handful of grass-seeds and Jeff with a wiggly worm in his hand. We would rush back to the house and throw the worm into the chicken coop (actually a fenced-up area).. One chick would get the worm in its beak and the other chicks would chase the first chick round and round.. Then another chick would manage to bite off the worm and all the others would chase him.. Round and round they go until no more worm.. Then the chicks would look around all confused. I would then throw in the handful of grass-seeds and the chicks are happy.
Jeff and I are also happy and this is when we would go to the guava tree and bounce.. and fight.. and drama drama...SO HAPPY...

[ I have no re-collection of the tricycle accident so it is possible that it happen before the fight over who gets to bounce on the guava branch...A bit off a mess here (time line wise)... My mother didn't tell me how old I was when I got the scar on my foot but I should be about 4 or 5 years old when I went back to holiday with Auntie.. Jeff and I continued to spent time with Auntie until we were about 10 or 11 .. After that Auntie seperated from her husband and she moved from house to house staying with her siblings and sometimes with us... Even my two daughters got to know her and I would like to think that they also loved her and have fond memories of her..]

House On The Hill

I remembered the times I stayed with my 4th Auntie in her house on the hill in Kampung Bahru. Her house was located in Bukit Purmei. There was a church on the left and I think there was also a school.. you have to walk up a slight slope then down again, cross the road and then up a small hill. There's a flight of stairs carved into the hill about twenty steps or so. I don't like going up to the house by this way because it was quite steep. Coming down was more scary..
There was another way to the house, a longer walk but less steep and no proper steps, just a uphill walk. This path was on the right side of the house if you were standing in front of the house looking downhill. The stairs were in front slightly to the left, off-center. Flanking the stairs were two jambu ayer trees, one red jambu and one green. I liked the green ones. [Still like the green ones over the red but they are so expensive now.] Next to the slopey path was a blingg blingg tree.. [Thinking of the tree make my mouth sour!]
Behind the house there were lots of other trees.. I remembered a guava tree in particular. It had a branch that grew parallel to the ground about three or four feet high. My older brother Jeffery and I would take turns sitting on the branch and bounce. The branch was not too thick so could only take us one at a time and we can bounce. Two of us together and the branch would sag to the ground.. Sometimes Jeffery would not let me go on the branch and I would cry and complain to my Aunt and she would say to my brother "Chye Chye, let her play, she's younger." And I would get my way.. I supposed he got his revenge one day when I did the same crying bit when I wanted to ride the tricycle..He pushed me so hard that I fell over and got hurt.. [Still have a scar on my left foot..]
There were also mango trees and other fruit trees that I can't remember the names of and there was also a vegetable garden with tapioca plants and other greens.. Too young to know what kinds. Somewhere in the midst of this outback was an outhouse (toilet, for those of you who are blur)..Going there after dark was a scary affair..Just think..in the dark with only a candle..funny noises..not easy to take a shit!! On top of that, mosquitoes stinging your butt!! So if you needed to do a shit, you wait till almost the last minute, run to the outhouse with a lighted candle, make sure you don't miss your footing or you drop into the hole (with all the shit in a bucket) , do a quick dump and run back home!! FUN!!

Patches of my life

Why am I doing this? I want to record all that I can remember before I forget it all..Who's to know..I might be afflicted with some sickness that wipe out all my memories and I don't know who I am..Anyway this is for me and my children..I intend to write down all that I can recall that has happened in my life..patches here and there.

The earliest event I can remember is breaking my coin bank.. I was just a bit older than three.. My parents and my two older siblings (there were only three of us then..later two more came along) moved from my aunt's house in Kampung Bahru to a rented two-storey terrace house in Margaret Drive.. In those days coin banks (piggy banks) were made of plaster (of paris) or clay or something breakable..We three kids have those plaster types that are very chalky..The broken pieces were used like chalk to draw on the pavement..graffitti in those days.. My bank was a rabbit (what else), my older brother's (bless him) was a tiger (born in the year of the tiger) and my older sister's was a rooster (no, she was not born in the year of the rooster but I think they couldn't find one of a cow).

These things were quite big ( or maybe I was small)..about 100 cm long..maybe my concept then..but then the other two surviving banks were later broken when I was already in primary school..so I think they were quite big... I was about three years old then and all I remember was my father was either taking it down from on top of a glass showcase or putting it back on the showcase..the thing slipped from his hand and fell and broke into pieces and all the coins fell and I cried.. After that all I had to keep my coins was a tobacco tin..and the broken pieces I used to draw on the pavement..How sad.....

Another early memory was of waking up from anesthesia after a visit to the dentist...this is very traumatic for me..I was about four or five, before I enter primary school..there were no kindergarten schools then.. I started teething very young, at about 5 months and I suppose I had a sweet tooth..My mother like to pacify me with sweets and so by the time I was four-plus my milk teeth were all in a terrible state and had to be taken out. So I supposed my mum took me to the dentist where I was knocked out with anesthetic and I woke up on Dawson Road exactly at the spot over the canal that runs parallel to Margaret Drive.. [This canal is currently being covered so that there is a walkway all the way from Queenstown to downtown] That's all I remember - waking up right there.. Can't remember what happened after that.. I didn't eat much sweets after that but that's not to say I don't eat sweets at all..I still like cakes and other desserts..

That brings me to what I like to do.. have a cup of tea with some sweets on the side...Mmm

Going Deaf

This happened sometime in April 2003. we were always having the slightest excuse to have a party at my father's house. Any excuse to get together and eat and chat. So we had a laksa party on Saturday, home-made laksa with those pre-packed thing that you add water and coconut milk to. Then just add fish cake, tau pok, prawns, and cockles with lots of bean sprouts.. Yum Yum.
But there were a lot of leftovers and being the waste-not-want-not person that I am, I had the same for lunch and dinner on Sunday. You might say that's not good for health. Well what happened was not quite what I expected.
Come Monday morning. The phone rang and I picked it up. Hello? No sound. Hmm.. Put down the phone. It rang again. Picked it up, put to my left ear..total silence. Put to my right..my sister on the line. Chat with her a bit. After the call I put the phone to my left again..silence. I've gone completly deaf on my left!! No matter.. Went about my daily chores.
After dinner my world turned upside down..I felt very dizzy..everything was spinning..got my daughter [this is daughter number 2] to call for the ambulance. The medics came , I was vomiting everything..[this daughter can't see people vomit- she wants to throw up also] After a few hours at Alexandra Hospital for observation, I was send home with medicine and told to come back in a week's time. The world was still spinning.
On top of that, daughter number 2 had to do her final collection for her fashion design course in the La Salle-SIA School of Fine Arts (Diploma). Being not quite rich, we opted to make the clothes ourselves instead of hiring a professional seamstress..they charge an arm and a leg for each article of clothing! The collection would have cost us hundreds of dollars!!
Anyhow, manage to crawl over to my father's place to sew..the machines are there..our house have too much stuff and not enough space. Manage to finish the sewing on time after pulling an all nighter..this is about four weeks from THAT monday.
Now one week after the hospital visit, I was tested and found totally deaf on the right and the doctor explained that I got dizzy because my brain compensated for the loss of hearing. If this was gradual I would not feel it but since it's sudden..whoa!! So he prescribed some medicine and told me to come back two weeks later..
Two weeks later I was tested again and part of the hearing came back together with a buzzing in my ear. So to cut the story short [I'm actually quiet lor sor already] after a few months I was discharged as there was no hearing improvement and was told to go get a hearing aid..which cost upwards of $1000.00. If the hearing aid can help then I'll get one. The technical assistance said maybe. Maybe? I'm not going to spend that amount of money on maybe.
So here I am two years later, partially deaf with an irritating buzz in my ear that gets very annoying when I'm in a crowded (noisy) place. When this happen, I can't hear anything..not even in my good ear. I got to live with it. I tell my family to speak to my right ear..my husband still insist to stand on my left [chivalry- he got to be on the nearer side of the road- some people will understand what I mean] and talk..I choose to ignore him..haha. Sometimes that's a blessing..

How I got Started On This

I was just talking about creating a blog to my daughter and she just jumped off her butt and created this for me. So here I am writing away at the ungodly hour (3a.m.). What attract you to my blog? The title? Being lazy and loving it. I'm not actually lazy just a long suffering procrastinator. What's that you ask? Someone who likes to put off doing what can be done today.
Being a procrastinator is part of me being born under the star sign Aquarius. January 1952. That makes me old, and cranky and grumpy besides other things like half blind, partially deaf and sometimes I can't smell properly, usually when I wake up with a stuffed-up nose. This is a blessing. Tell you about it some other time.
My Chinese Zodiac sign is the HARE or I prefer the RABBIT. Because I'm usually very even temper and quiet but like I always tell my friends and relatives, don't piss me off. I'm just a bit away from being a dragon, being born on Chinese New Year's Eve. And those who have pissed me off know what it means. Enough said.