50 things, Singaporeans aged 20 something would identify with.

Posted by otterman under Food, Hobbies and Toys, Lifestyle, Reflections
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This could be “Life of a Singapore School Kid in the 80’s.” It may have been adapted from an American version that was circulating the internet and localised for Singapore. Can you identify with this? See if you’ll go “Hear! Hear!” and add to it if you can. Or if things were different (or even similar) at a different time, tell us when that was and share some delightful anecdotes! I loved the one about the kid with the red-stained gauze clamped in his teeth, coming to class to ask for the next kid to visit the school dentist. That was such a funny thing to remember; he was like the grim reaper’s messenger!

“50 things, Singaporeans aged 20 something would identify with.”
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1. You grew up watching He-man, Transformers, Silverhawk, Ultraman, Super Friends, Woody WoodPecker, Tom & Jerry,Care Bears, My Little Pony, Smurf and Mickey Mouse. Not to forget, maybe Ninja turtles too.

Collection of toycon.

2. You grew up brushing your teeth with a mug in Primary school during recess time. You will squat by a drain with all your classmates beside you,and brush your teeth with a coloured mug. The teachers said you must brush each side 10 times too. Not forgetting the silly red tablet which you know not the purpose for.

3. You know what SBC stands for.

4. You know in school, you could subscribe for the milk which will come before you go back home. Somedays you could get Chocolate milk, other days strawberry. The old magnolia fresh milk came in a triangular packet.

5. You were there when the first chinese serial, the Awakening was shown on TV.

6. Everyone in class would tremble in fear when someone with a gauze stuck in the mouth would go to your class and ask for someone’s name to go to visit the school dentist.

7. You find your friends with pagers and handphone cool in Secondary school.

8. SBS buses used to be non-airconditioned. The bus seats were made of wood and the cushion was red. The big red bell gave a loud BEEEP! when pressed. There were colourful tickets for CSS buses. The conductor will check for tickets by using a machine which punches a hole on the ticket. All SBS buses used to be manually operated, with a huge gigantic gearstick to the left of the driver.

9. Your favourite actor and actress were Huang Wenyong and Xiangyun. Next were Li Nanxing and Zoe Tay and the Aiyoyo woman (Chen Liping).

10. You’ve probably read Young Generation magazine. You know who’s Vinny the little vampire and Constable Acai. For some, cikgu will always ask to buy the “Dewan Bahasa” magazine.

11. You were there when they first introduced MRT here (Yio Chu Kang to Toa Payoh). You went for the first ride with your parents and you would kneel on the seat to see the scenery.

12. Movie tickets used to cost only $3.50. Tickets were scrawled across using big red pencils. Ushers brought you into the cinemas using big metallic torchlights.

13. Gals were fascinated by Strawberry Short Cake and Barbie Dolls. You also collected sticker books of things like Street fighter, The Semi-Pro Soccer League(For Boys) and carebears (For girls) by Panini, trying to complete the impossible task of filling up the sticker book.

14. You remember some taxis were green in colour. Taxis had gearsticks behind the steering wheel, with a transparent knob and little colourful flowers inside the knobs.

15. You longed to buy tibits called Kaka(20 cents per pack), and Ding Dang(50 cents per box), that had a toy in it and it changes every week not forgetting the 15 cents animal crackers and the ringpop, where the lollipop is the diamond on the ring. There were such things like the 20 cents dinosaur eggs, The 10 cents satay, Choki Choki Chocolate stick and not forgetting the all favourite 10 cents “Air batu” broken into 2 parts and shared amongst friends.

16. You watched TV2(also known as Channel 10) cartoons because Channel 5 never had enough cartoons for you.

17. All that you know about Cantonese is from the Hong Kong serials you watched on TV2. You probably would remember George Lam as the mustached man whose line was ” Are you OK?” in the Guiness Stout Advertisement.

18. You grew up reading ladybird books “READ IT YOURSELF”. Hardy Boys,Nancy Drew, The Three Investigators, Famous Five and Secret Seven were probably the thickest story books you ever thought you had. Even SweetValley High and Malory Towers. You also love Enid Blyton’s Enchanted Wood, Magic Faraway tree…and the 5 dollars Bookworm book you bought when there was the Book Fair in School.

19. The only food you bought from Macdonalds was fish fillet burger and French Fries as it wasnt halal back then and your parents didnt allow you to buy other stuff.

20. KFC used to be a high class place and let you use metal forks and knives.

21. The most vulgar thing you said was asshole and idiot and…you just couldn’t bring yourself to say the hokkien relative.

22. Catching was the IN thing (aka Police and Thief) and twist or “choap” was the magic word. For the ones who always frequented the void decks, there was the “rumah dayak”, Octopus and “Goli Duit”

23. Your English workbooks was made of some damn poor quality paper that was smooth and yellow. And the textbooks were striped in colour with different coloured stripes for different levels.

24. Some part of your school was ALWAYS haunted, like the toilet or clock tower or a certain block. You walk fast to avoid them.

25. The only computer lessons in school involved funny pixellised characters in 16 colours walking about trying to teach you maths. You printed with noisy dot matrix printers and use computer papers with two rows of holes at the sides. Mouse? What’s that?

26. Waterbottles, with your favourite cartoon character on it,were slinged around your neck and a must everywhere you go.

27. Boys loved to play soccer with small tennis balls in the basketball court.

28. Hopskotch, five stones,chapteh and zero point were all the rage with the girls and boys too… Remember 5 times, highest, one-inch…

29. Science was fun with the balsam and the angsana being the most important plants of our lives. Remember the “Young Scientist” badge you got when you completed the set of tasks in written on the Blue Booklet for Young Ecologist, Young Botanist etc etc? The 1st excursion to the Science Centre was the best day of your life.

30. Who could forget Ahmad, Bala, Gopal, Sumei, Peihua and John, eternalised in the textbooks. Even Mr Wolly, Mr Yakki.

31. You did stupid exercises like seal crawl and frog jumps.

32. Every children’s day and national day you either get pencils or pens with ‘Happy Children’s Day 1983′ or dumb files with Happy National Day 1984′.

33. In Primary six you had to play buddy for the younger kids like big sister and brother.

34. There was a day called ACES day where you would get this stupid hat and do the Great Singapore Workout.

35. The Scouts used to wear shorts, and the NCC uniform was a plain green colour without camouflage.

36. The worksheets were made of brown rough paper of poor quality. During art and craft, you were made to do your own art folio with the vanguard sheet.

37. You went to school in slippers and a raincoat when it rained,and you find a dry spot in the school to sit and wipe yourself dry. Then you wear your dry and warm socks and shoes.

38. During National Day, you would have to do and decorate your own shakers, usually using a cassette tape container, or an empty aluminium can with green beans inside all taped up and decorated with white and red paper. Who could forget the all-time favourite recorder you played during music lesson?

39. After exams, you brought Game & Watch to school, and play card games like ‘Snap’ and ‘Donkey’ and ‘Old Maid’ and you also play pick up sticks and Snake & Ladder and the aeroplane board game. The erasers with the flags were also a popular game.
Either this or you would play those cards comparing aeroplanes, warships, or tanks; who would have more firepower or speed or weight, etc.

40. You remember you uncles, big brothers and father screaming and shouting in front of the TV when the S’pore soccer team (always in blue jerseys) play against the Malaysians.

41. Your friends considered you lucky and rich if your parents gave you $3 or more for pocket money everyday.

42. During class gatherings, parents always tag along in case someone gets lost at Orchard Road.

43. You freak out when the teacher tells you to line up according to height and hold hands with the corresponding boy or girl.

44. Handkerchieves were a must for both genders

45. Collecting notebooks, erasers and all kinds of stationery was a popular thing. The bookshop was a favourite place to go to get all those stuff during recess.

46. Autograph books were loaded with “Best Wishes”, “Forget Me Not”, and small poems like ‘Birds fly high, hard to catch. Friend like you,hard to forget’, ’stay funky always”

47. Class monitors and prefects loved to say ‘You talk somemore, I write your name ah!’

48. You remember songs sung by a huge group of people, like 4U2C, Feminin, Nico (Malay) and the English “We Are The World”. In Sec Sch, you listen to Bananarama, Jason Donavan, Kylie Minogue, New Kids on the Block, ABBA, and Tommy Page (Remember ‘A Shoulder to Cry On’?)

49. Large, colourful schoolbags were carried. And fanciful pencil cases with lots of small tiny drawers, trays, sharpener or thermometer, that pop out at the push of a button were the ‘in’ thing.

50. You brought every single book to school, even though there was one thing called the timetable, written on the inside cover of your little blue notebook.

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