It’s About Time

What will I indulge in if I were a rich man one day (fat chance but will entertain the idea for this blog entry!)?  I was thinking about this a couple of days ago and came to this conclusion (not foregone) – that I would like to build a special room where I could store different models of guitar – acoustic and classical – and play and sing songs according to the mood or genre of music.  That would be nice, wouldn’t it? 

My dream collection would be several models of Ovation guitars. I know some people dislike this round-back guitar for their personal reasons. I fell in love with this design back when I was 15 when I walked past a shop in Peace Center in Sophia Road.  It looks so cool and I suppose what caught my eye was the rosette design at the sound hole.  A beauty to behold indeed.  Alas, at that time, the price was beyond my wildest imagination. Today, it still is as far as brand new models are concerned.  Thankfully EBay helps us to realize our dream of having one via second hand or whatever number of hands by the time it reaches us. 

My dislike with Ovation is their cutaways model.  I think it’s ugly and their holeless models too. Maybe it’s because I’m old fashioned.  L

Anyway, apart from that, I might just indulge in Taylors, Epiphone, Washburn, or Martins.  Somehow these doesn’t catch my fancy.  I’m sure they are quality stuff but somehow it doesn’t appeal to me. 

Of course, several guitars that I would collect would be Yamaha, Ibanez, as those were brands that I had used before – for sentimental and maybe nostalgic reasons. 

Of course, if I were rich, I would retire and then hire a guitar teacher to teach me formally.  Then I could play some pieces by sight rather than by ear.  My dream piece is the theme music from the movie, The Deer Hunter, which I think it is entitled Cavatina.  That would be the day.

Anyway, it’s time to come back to reality. It will not be happening anytime soon – not at least I won a special lucky draw or some real distant relative died and left me a huge sum of money.  I will announce it when it does happen J 

In the interim, I will be contend to live in my HDB four-room flat, and enjoy my Yamaha FG-512II (12 strings); Ovation Custom 1117 legend; Ovation 1997 collectors’ edition Parlor style, and perhaps Concert Classic 1616.  and Hofner classical HF-12.

As I surmise my childhood hangout, another chain of thought brought me back to the wet market near our house. Every morning it is teeming with activities. The perimeter of the wet market is lined with food stalls and some sort of flea market that sells knick knacks for whatever needs. It range from pottery to sewing kits.

I missed the aroma of food and can still remember the baba stall that sells the mee siam, mee rebus etc. the stall besides it sells deserts (real deserts like cheng tng not the diluted jelly these days). For 20 cents one could indulge in a bowl of tao swan or cheng tng. For 50 cents one can have a plate of mee siam! Then further on there is the peanut pancake stall; kway chap stall; and the yew char kuay stall that don’t seem to stop selling those deep fried yew char kuay. Not forgetting the chai tao kuay either. Real authentic stuff is hard to find despite the glut in food centers. The quality just isn’t there anymore. Sigh. . . .

I heard the wet market has since been torn down and rebuild into 2 stories building. The lower being the food center while the upper floor being the wet market. It will be nice to drop by that area and walk down memory lane one of these days.

My childhood was spent growing up in C’wealth Crescent, a subset of Queenstown.  Where my home was located, we could access Chip Bee Garden, Holland Road estate very easily.  Incidentally it is one of the oldest housing estates in Singapore. 

The block of flats where I lived is situated on a slight “hill” and that plateau was two other blocks of similar design. Together the three blocks formed a nice triangle.  Interspersed between the blocks is a field (in those days we have lots more spaces). Kids used to play football literally downstairs.  No fancy jerseys; boots. Most of us played barefooted.  No need for government’s involvement to foster racial harmony. We kids simply join in and get to know one another. In fact, I learned Malay through such activities. 

One time the folks from some govt agencies planted trees (don’t know why they need to do that), so they started digging pits so they could plant instant trees.  Once they did it then the kids came out and played war games. Actually we were simulating the scenes from the TV hit series “Combat” (Vic Morrow).  Then came rain and we played in muddy water.   Those were the days. 

During those days when firecrackers was still legal for celebrating Chinese New Year, I’ve always been fascinated by the sound, smell and sights of it all.  But the highlights is always the 15^th day of CNY. Many families would string long chains of firecrackers. Some as long as 10 stories high.  Individuals would lit the firecrackers from the ground floor while their family members would be holding the bamboo stick from way up high. It was very noisy as you can imagine when so many household firing firecrackers simultaneously. This occasion occurs in the evening. By next morning, the field would be bright red in color. It was cool!  But alas with the firecrackers outlawed such things were thing of the past. It was real and I can still picture the scene vividly in my mind.

I’m thinking of entering a series of blogs to recollect my childhood or things that trigger my memory to way back when.  Perhaps it’s nostalgia but it might be that I am middle age now so things start getting sentimental on me now!   

My mind harkens back to Holland Road HDB estates. It’s now quite a high priced area since its proximity is to Holland Village – a hip hangout for locals as well as foreigners.  When I was a kid, the whole area was just a huge cemetery primarily belonging to the Hakka clan.  I remember going with my elder brother Fred and 3 neighbors to that area when graves were being exhumed. We played hide-&-seek!   It didn’t occur to us kids as creepy to be playing there at all.  Of course our mothers didn’t know either!   

One day, the newspapers reported a coffin was unearthed and intact (referring to the coffin itself).  In the olden days, Chinese coffins were made of hard wood such as teak. They last for many years and afforded by the wealthy folks.  It would have been fun to see it person.   Later the place was being constructed into HDB blocks. Today, there is still a plot of cemetery in Holland area.  Much smaller no doubt.   

During the construction of these blocks, my brother, Fred, and neighbors Ah Lek; Ah Leng and Ah Hui, often go there to try to catch “longkang fish” and not very successful I must say.  One day, we walk along a big drain (actually canal) and being a rainy season that time, we wandered into the deeper end not being careful to note that the mud and slush had gone into that drain. As we tread further and deeper, the whole place began to feel like quicksand pit.  We panicked but nobody was around to help us out. Thankfully Fred maintained his calm and saw a wooden pole that was lying not too far away.  With this pole he helped all of us out of that situation; I still think that we could have died that day.  my neighbors blamed my brother for bringing them into danger. Amusingly they like to tag along and when things turn back, my brother always get the blame. Reminds me of the children of Israel blaming Moses at the first sign of trouble!   

Holland Village was not that fancy then.  A pet store selling birds and accessories was at one corner (now occupied by Cold Storage), Sandwin sports shop, and a whole host of shops that are long gone and now occupied by fast foods and upscale shops.  Like now, those shops catered more to expatriate (including British armies and families staying at nearby Chip Bee Gdn).  The shopping center wasn’t build yet. At the back was the open air cinema that showed older movies at 50 cents a ticket.  It was a treat to be able to afford entrance fee.  I think I only saw one or two movies there.  

There was an old bicycle shop that was running down – an old man that fixes bikes and only a handful of bicycles there. At least he owns his own business and property.  We frequented there when Fred found a discarded bike body and then saved money to buy wheels and other peripherals to make it into a full bike.  We had lots of fun and scary moments then.  Those were happy times for that was when Fred was around most of the time during his seconday days.  He had a fall and then was soon hospitalized for quite a while.  After that, we never did spent so much time anymore. I missed that. 

Chip Bee Garden.  That was where many of the British soldiers and the their families lived. I remember well that these folks had lots of big dogs that they probably brought over from UK when they were posted here.  All I could remember was every time we walk along that road, we have to be prepared to run for our lives because these dogs would dash out of its front gates.  I remembered being so scared as a 5-6 yr old boy that I wouldn’t walk even when my sister or brother tells me to do so.  It was too scary then. 

Speaking of dogs. Once my brother and our good ol neighbors walked along Holland Road and went into the driveway of one of those big houses. At that time, it appeared nobody was home since no car was seen at the porch. So we walk and chattered away when suddenly a dog came running out and barking.  Man alive!  It was running fast!  We all ran and I being the smallest and youngest of all was –also the slowest of all.  I yelled as I ran and then jumped over a drain like everybody else.  Didn’t really make it over totally; I just made it barely – and the dog stopped right next to me. Thankfully it didn’t bite me. Otherwise, I’d been a basket case that day.   

Holland Road area holds many fond memories of childhood for me.  I don’t live there, I just trek there ever so often in those days.  Even when I drive past it sometimes, I will recall those good’ ol days.  That place has changed so much over the years and now. It’s probably a hip and snobberish place where the snooty felooty folks hang out. Sigh . . . 

My last blog entry mentioned about bible works and Logos – both are bible software program meant for novice as well as experts. Doubtless I leave none guessing what my preference was (or did I ?)Now comes the word processing software. Most people uses Word, whereas a smaller portion (at least in Singapore) uses WordPerfect. In the mid-eighties WordPerfect was THE software used. However, late-eighties on, Microsoft was aggressive in its marketing and eventually the WP was replaced. It would be unusual for shopkeeper or users to say, “huh, you’re still using that obsolete program?” They would be surprised that WP is still in business today and churning out newer versions regularly.

Here in Singapore, it’s not easy to purchase WP. Even the megaspore Challenger in IT Mall doesn’t always carry it. Incidentally it’s the only place to stock such amongst its outlets. if they don’t have it then that’s it. Order directly from the US!

Currently I have both programs on my laptop and PC. This is for pragmatic reason obviously. My favorite is still WordPerfect because of its intuitiveness. Word bugs me tremendously when it comes features like outlines. Even simple Roman numeral outline can be a pain. It is stupid (to be kind). I have had many experiences whereby an outline can suddenly becomes many sub-points because I had hit some key accidentally. With WordPerfect, using outlines have been a breeze. Its reveal code is my favorite because it allows me to see what and where those enhancement features are. I could drag and drop it away if I don’t want those anymore. It helps me to troubleshoot my problem (this was especially so during the DOS era).

Writing papers with WordPerfect with its readily useable templates were blessings. I would be pounding my laptop had it been Word. Any anomaly in setup can be quickly diagnosed and resolved through reveal code. Several of my classmates were saved by the bell because I helped them through the reveal code to tidy up and beautify their papers. Of course it would have been wonderful if they had paid me for the services rendered too! But of course, students aren’t rich (unless your father owns John Deere or Macy’s). Even then, a cup of coffee would have been nice

I’ll continue to use WP extensively until one day Word improves its outline features. Until then, its WordPerfect and truly as its name implies. Perfecto!

I’ve been a user of logos software since mid-90s. Initially I dislike the features as I find it rather cumbersome to meander (maybe it’s because I am not that patient nor tech savvy). Ever since libronix came on board the entire setup has been fantastic. The books that I used to own but hardly access suddenly became readily available.Having tweaked some features for personal preference, I found that it was seamless in its ability to link different books and resources and present it as one package during searches. This is helpful for pastors who just want to read and study. Of course when TJLCD was introduced, it helped boost the usage of logos.

I wished Logos would load up and then move quickly. Being owner of Bible works 7.0 I still find it a winner in terms of rate of accessing information. Speed is definitely on the side of BW. Logos’ strength is on its library of various books that are readily available. This would serve missionaries well seeing these literature could cost a huge bomb to ship to other parts of the earth. So what would I recommend? Both Logos and BW if one can afford it. Otherwise I would go for logos for its vast libraries; BW if I want to do exegesis extensively. otherwise, logos also has sufficient software and diagraming tools to help do the work. Again the speed is critical issue. I wonder why Logos doesn’t go into 32 bit or 64 bit mode of operation?