Birthday

So I turned 3# last Saturday. Was over at Keepsaker's place for a heart-warming dinner. Somehow turning one year older isn't that bad with Wifey, Faith and good friends around....


Exchanging babies with keepsaker!


Faith wondering what's the fuss

Thanks to CQ for being a wonderful photographer!

Old Airport Road

Scene on opening day of Kallang Airport 12 June 1937
(Photo from Singapore History Museum)

Update 27/02/2006: The hawker centre will close some time next week. Drop by soon to catch a bit of nostalgia! Beer is strictly on me though you'll have to pay for that char kway teow...

I can't find information about the impending closure of Old Airport Road. I'm going to miss the dingy hawker centre though.

Managed to unearth some interesting stuff about Singapore's first civil airport. More info at these sites:

Singapore's first airport

Flight into fantasy

Apparently Kallang Airport was opened in 1937 by Sir Shenton Thomas, the person whom Shenton Way is named after. The airport, located next to the Kallang River, could take ground- as well as sea-landing aircrafts and was billed as the "finest airport in the British Empire"

Interesting that Sir Cecil Clementi made this note when the idea of an airport in Singapore was mooted, "Looking into the future, I expect to see Singapore become one of the largest, most important airports of the world .... It is therefore essential that we should have here, close to the heart of the town, an aerodrome which is equally suitable for land planes and sea planes ...."

The original runway was laid along what is now Stadium Boulevard, the road that separates National Stadium from Kallang Theatre. It ended just short of the Mountbatten Road junction and when it was extended across that junction, making up what is now Old Airport Road. Back then they had to build traffic lights to stop traffic when a plane needed to land.

There's a Circle Line station to be built underneath Old Airport Road, which is why they're going to close the road. Funny thing is, the name of the station was changed from Old Airport Station to Dakota Station, presumably after Dakota Crescent, a road in that area. However not many people may know that Dakota was also the model of the plane that crashed at Kallang Airport. Now, I'm sure many old-timers in the estate wouldn't take too kindly to having a station name associated with some tragedy. In any case, Old Airport Station sounds much nicer. Another impending boo-boo by LTA? *slap forehead*

Whatever it may be, another piece of Singapore's history is about to close. So drop by the Old Airport area and enjoy the sights, sounds and food while you may...

Family

At 1 week


At 14 weeks

Faith has grown. Wifey is glowing. I am a thankful husband & father.

Personal responsibility

Photo from Google

Some students attending PE and swimming class are leaving their belonging lying around without thought of retrieving them after the lesson is over. Lots of lost items (e.g. goggles, dress watches, water bottles etc.) after dismissial. Maybe it's the "maid culture" prevalent in the middle-class of Singapore? Having someone picking up things after them certainly doesn't help train our precious young ones & future pillars of society in personal responsibility.

time...

Photo from Google

...is a precious commodity, especially when it comes to spending it with family.

We're so whacked out, reaching home around 7+ at the end of a long day that there's hardly enough of it to play with Faith and talk with Wifey. Got to be in bed by ten so as to wake up at 5.30 the next morning.

Repeat process...

Wifey has tendered her resignation. So it's a countdown to (ironically) Labour Day before things get better for us. I am so glad that one of us is staying home full-time to keep sanity in check.

Stuck at home

Down with the flu again. Backache, sniffles, low-grade fever, stuffed nose, irritated throat.

Sigh...

Good thing there isn't any lesson today although I like Fridays in school because it's a relaxing, dress-down day.

Anyway, remember this...?


Screenshot from Martin Brenner's website

Sure brings back lots of memories. It was one of the very first RPG game to capture my attention in the 80s when the Apple IIe was still working. Back during the pre-copyright days, games were usually sold on 5-inch floppies at 3 bucks a piece. I remember paying $12 for this game (in early 80s currency when one may buy a packet of chicken rice for 1/10 that price). 4 disks in all: Britannia, Towne, Dungeon and Boot. I remember huddled in the laundry room (converted into my private study) of the old apartment in River Valley, playing it late into the night.

And it came without a manual. No cloth map either. You know, they say kids are really creative because they've not been tainted by boxed-in thinking styles of adults. Yes, I can attest to that because I completed the game even without any instructions or map. Hack, I'd even made a rough pencil sketch map by sailing a ship around the game world and walking about aimlessly. I remember a wave of pride swept over me when I finally saw the map (on the boxed set of Ultima 5) and how similar it was to my self-made version. In fact, mine was "better" because it contained my own notes on where the "hidden" stuff were & where game monsters were likely to appear.

Like fire, nostalgia is a good servant but a bad master. Think I'll go rest in bed for the rest of today.