Oscars 2017 Best Picture Screw- Up ;

           

Standard Chartered Marathon 2014 Video

       This was my 9th marathon ; at the age of 50 something, I can say I wasn't too disappointed with the hand timed result of 6 hours 2 mins, 28 secs. It was a warm morning, starting at the Wisma Atria pen for the 4 - 6 hours zone (this was based on my last few marathons), I recall that there were cheerleaders dressed in the Marvel comic book heroes, the Brazillian Conga boys and little else. 

      My best time (so far) was in 2007 at 4 hours : 48 mins, followed by 4 : 52, 4 (2004) : 59 (2005). My first marathon was the Penang Bridge Marathon all the way back in 2003 and that time was 5 : 30 mins.

 

        My hobby and love for running hopefully will keep me going on for some years to come. Its not a simple hobby, there is plenty of technicalities in the training and there are lots of books and magazines which cater to the marathon set ; I bought Runner's World to keep me inspired to firstly, improve my body shape and conditioning, eat right by following the recipes inside there, training tips and schedules and daily motivational quotes.   

       I hope to finish 25 before I call this hobby a done deal. 

  

Video from 1991 ;

         This was taken in 1991 December or so ; the start of the video shows my Dad Geoffrey entering the house, he was 70 then, still very strong and sprightly. Also our pet cat Tommy, who was crouching by the side of my car. It was the first car I owned and it was an Alfa 33 TI (twin injection) system. A 1.5 litre black roadster, it hugged the roads superbly though it gave me no end of small headaches just taking care of the fuses which blew ever so frequently, the power windows broke down (2 in all). The car's acceleration and road handling was superb, (considered a sports sedan then), the manual stickshift was not easy to handle, and the clutch,brake and acceleration foot pads were all positioned so close I could practically operate all 3 from one foot (though I never did it), hence the reaction time to accelerate and brake was faster than many other cars. 

       I had owned the car from 1987 - 1993 till the year I got married, or 6 years. 

       This car took many of my foreign principals from Frank Rigley and his family, to Mr. Hehl (the then Weiss Technik MD) to Ito san (8 Sangyo), Shimizu san (Sunteh) and Genda san (Yoshida Seiki)

       I was still a singleton then, and the car was my constant companion. Its black colour was quite appealing though inside it, the car (being something of a 'black body' absorbed more heat that only lighter painted cars and hence it was sweltering inside, much to my disdain. In addition, the indicator arms were opposite to that of conventional Japanese models, so it was a challenge when I switched and drove my Mother's Mazda 626 from time to time (when the Alfa was in service workshop for example). Frank Rigley's family took the car once and later decided to take a taxi to meet me in town, for subsequent gatherings ! It was that hot inside ! Coupled with a weak air-conditioned blower and the car was (I must admit) nice to look at but not too comfortable for transporting passengers.   

       The second half of the video shows the front of the house, my room's windows and heading to the back, in the kitchen was our Sri Lankan maid, Mary. The backyard was chock a block full of undiscarded stuff which my Mother used to keep (horde more like).

      The video camera was a Sony VCR7 bought in Akihabara district famous for its electronic goods. I can testify fully that the salesman's who sold this to me, his pitch that "Made in Japan" products like this one - made in Japan and sold to Japanese domestic market, was truly superior to the other electronics products made in (then) Malaysia and Thailand (this was way before the Chinese factories started making all the world's electronics good in late 90s - early 2000s.).  This camera gave me great service, never once breaking down or exhibiting any problems with recording, editing or playback. 

      Well, it does bring back lovely memories for me.   

Sorry State of Affairs when you cannot trust the guy at the top

This short clip shows President Trump being challenged on the number of electoral votes which he won in Nov 2016 ; he boasted that his margin was the widest by any President since Ronald Reagan.
(1980 - 1988)

When fact checked by the reporter, and told that Obama had more votes than him, he said he meant Republican President. When the reporter pressed on with the fact that George H W Bush (Bush Senior) had won 356 votes, much more than his 304 votes, he quickly said " Oh Iwas just handed this sheet of paper" I don't know about it.    

President Trump is obviously applying double standards ; when he accuses the press for providing 'fake news' which he our his staffers cannot substantiate, he goes on and on in a diatribe.

When he is cornered by a reporter with the actual fact that he is wrong, he quickly said he is given the piece of information and brushes it off.

The reporter questioned the logic that the information provided by the Press and they report it is 'fake', and when he himself goes about purporting the very same standard of 'fake facts' and hoping to pull off a fast one.

It is sad. A major embarrassment for the world's superpower and their citizens. 

The First Years 13 1975 Sanya Samaki Trip Swimming Club

L to R : John, Carl Chan, Mrs. Wee, Konrad Wee, Kenneth Ng, Tuck Fook

        That first trip to Bangkok in 1975 opened up a range of possibilities for our young swimmers at the Swimming Section then to bond and to have an objective to train for. In addition, it was a hit amongst the parents of all the swimmers because it provided a nice getaway holiday for the Mums and Dads who sacrificed their personal time for their children's well being. I do not recall much about that first trip apart from the incident in Hat Yai.

        As a mediocre swimmer, I learnt from watching the elder swimmers like Adrian Tan and Felix Chenong how they led the younger swimmers. There were plenty other swimmers who were fast and strong like Sng Tong Hoe, Khoo Teng Chuan and Teng Cheong, plus Audrey Tan who was Adrian's sister.

      I would be most happy and excited if we could all get together to reminisce about the good old times !!     

Song from that era the happy '70s ; Kung Fu Fighting

Carl Douglas was a One Hit Wonder with Kung Fu Fighting 

     Around the time of my swimming club days, I listened to whatever was playing on the radio, and one of the more recognisable songs of the day was "Kung Fu Fighting" (Carl Douglas, I never knew the singer to be really honest) and watched in awe at Bruce Lee movies as well as popular shows like 'Combat and Hawaii Five - O (starring Jack Lord)'. 
    
    In the late 60s, we watched 'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.' and 'The Avengers'.  

    The main stars are probably all no longer here now, but what uncomplicated times those were. Just study, go for swimming at the Swimming Club, some homework (token as I recall) and the usual hangouts with the kids from the neighbourhood.

   


       Opening Theme from the Hawaii Five - O in the '70s. 

The First Years 12 - Swimming Club Days and adventures

With Club friends L to R ; Tan Sian, me, Kelvin Wee, Gillian Khoo, Audrey Tan

     My parents joined the Singapore Swimming Club (SSC) in mid 1974, my brother and I were then enrolled in the swimming program helmed by coach Neo Chwee Kok, one of the top swimming coaches in Singapore.  As a late entrant into swimming, I was not much of a fast swimmer, partly due to my body shape (thanks to the Indian 50% gene) which left me with a belly, skinny legs and arms and starting at age 11, I had to play 'catch-up' with the much younger kids - some starting as young as 5 years old. 

     Fortunately, after about 1 year of swimming, I was able to represent the club in the Sanya Samaki regional swimming competition  amongst the ASEAN countries. There was SSC, the Penang Malaysia Ikan Bilis Club, Thailand's Bangkok Sports Club, Philippines Manila Polo Club swim section and Indonesia's Jakarta Swim Club. The first swim competition I took part was in 1975 in Thailand, and in those days, the entire swim section
headed by Swim Manager Mr. Henry Chan and the whole group of dedicated and fun-loving parents arranged for us to go to Bangkok by coach bus. It was a delightful regional experience for me and my brother, as I was 13 and visiting neighbouring countries was a great eye and brain opener for me. I was fortunate to travel to Europe (London and Greece) in 1973 - courtesy of my wonderful father and saw with my pre-teen eyes the cultured West.

    In December 1975, Club's swim section took off by bus from Singapore, through KL and Penang - those heady days there was no smooth North South Highway. I remember vividly the horribly filthy toilet (no flushing system at all, just a hole in the ground !) where are the human waste was piling up in the hole and the disgusting odour, ugh ! That place was the piss stop called Ayer Hitam (Black Water) and tour buses would stop at the eating centres and we would all bundle out into the dusty open air food centre just to stretch our legs and go to ease ourselves. 

   I remember vividly us using Malaysian currency, (I think after separation from Malaysia in 1965 Singapore established its own Singapore dollar) and although Singapore's economic growth was tremendously large (something like 15% year on year from 1974 all the way to 1985) the early to mid 70s saw our Singapore dollar having the same valuation as the Malaysian ringgit. That meant that in the early to late 70s, $S1 or 1 Singapore dollar was equivalent to 1 Malaysian Ringgit. Today, some 40 years on, the S$ 1 is equivalent to 
RM 3.2, which reflects on how strong the Singapore economy has grown all these years compared to our neighbour.  

    The first night en route to Bangkok, we all stayed at a hotel in Hat Yai. It was really a 'cowboy town' then. Another vivid recollection I had was when we stayed at this hotel in Hadyai, after dinner, the teens (boys and girls) were all camped up in our rooms playing blackjack or something when we heard loud "bang ! bang ! bang !". My first instinct was that someone had pushed down a large metal cabinet and it had bounced on the floor. My logical mind told me that that was not possible. Then it dawned to me that those were gunshots in the lobby of the hotel ! 

    My Mum and the other lady chaperones rushed into our room and after checking we were all accounted for, went down to take a look. Apparently there was some altercation between businessmen and shots were fired. We were shocked and I dare say, no one ventured outside that night !

    The next day when we checked out we found out that the businessman was drunk and he let loose on some hotel staff. Fortunately no one was injured or killed, but it brought me to the realisation that this big world was full of uncertainties and people with guns and other 'bad things'.

    We set off for Bangkok the next day, and the rest of the trip is another story.