Of people who made a difference in our lives

With the recent release of SPM and STPM results, my thoughts went back to 20 years ago, when I was in Form 3 and going to sit for SRP (equivalent of PMR nowadays).

My class, 3A8, was not in a good shape and Bro. Albinus was a bit concerned. So, he decided to force the entire class to come to the school at night to study. I still remember cycling to school via Tiong Hua road every night after dinner.

Bro. Albinus visited the classroom every night to make sure we were all there. At the end of the year, the results spoke for themselves - almost everyone got decent results, including myself.

To this day, I always remembered what Bro. Albinus did that year, and what a difference it made for all of us in 3A8.

News on Eng Soon

Our friend Pui Eng Soon called me up a few weeks ago. He's moving to KL from Shanghai, and by coincidence he bought a house in the same Taman as me! The first thing he said when he found out was, "Yay, got mah jong kaki!" LOL


He'll back in KL at the end of March, so when I catch up with him I'll update you guys :)

Sie Chiong

Paths Crossed

Sometimes, no matter how big the world is, its always small enough for you to bump into your old friends :)

In 1989, when I was at Taylor's college, Ting Siik Siew and Eng Kia Hock were in the same college. During that time, Stephen Chung and Peter Yii were my mahjong kakis during weekends. Kong Lieng Tee went to my uni in UK in 1992.

When I came back to KL in '96 I met Stephen Yii and Anthony Ting again. Later Eric Phang came to KL to work and stayed with me for a few years.

David Hii married one of the girls from my church, and soon I'll be working for him :)

And various times in my 10 years in KL, I met Dennis Chua Hock Lim, Liu Chuan Ming , and Ngu Sia Hook.

Who did you bump into since you left SHS (not counting reunion lah :) )?

Roaring 80's (Our Wonder Years)

Each generation will usually remember the most the decade that they grew up in, and for us it was the roaring 80's.

It was the time of the 2M era (Mahathir and Musa), Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, Challenger disaster, the Philippines People Power (20th anniversary this year!), Rubik's cube (still remember how to solve it?)

It was also the time of the rise of the PC, though in those days they ran at 16 Mhz (!) and had 640 kb (!!) of memory.

And who could forget the video games - Pac Man, Frogger, Space Invaders, pinball; though they were later banned by the government.

And most of all, it was the time of the golden era of pop. Though I also love listening to the edgier stuff of the 90's and beyond, nothing could compare to the sheer purity of pop of the 80's. I mean, do you guys remember Madonna (Like A Virgin, Crazy For You, Live To Tell, Papa Don't Preach), Michael Jackson (Beat It, Bad, Billie Jean, Thriller), Lionel Ritchie (All Night Long, Say You Say Me)?

And I remember doing my homework to the following songs that my neighbour used to blast out at night - Everybody Wants To Rule The World (Tears For Fears), Brother Louie (Modern Talking), Within You'll Remain (Tokyo Square), Wild Boys (Duran Duran), Glory of Love (Peter Cetera), How Will I Know (Whitney Houston).

And of course, there's also Pet Shop Boys (West End Girls), A-Ha (Take On Me), Johnny Hates Jazz (Turn Back The Clock is one of my most favourite song ever!).

And due to the wonderful world of the Internet, you can relive those glorious days! I trawled around a bit on Google and found numerous sites dedicated to the 80's. Here's a selection of the ones I found interesting:-

80's Nostalgia - an especially comphrehensive site that covers 80's music, TV, movies, and memories.

80's Movies - a site with an exhaustive list of all movies made in the 80's.

80's Music Site - as the name implies, everything you could possibly want on 80's music.


What do you guys remember most from that era? What were your favourite songs and movies?