Nostalgia or not ? You decide...

I have recently gotten this email from someone of an advanced age.

"

To

All those Born in the 50's , 60's & early '70s..

The article below was written by Patrick Teoh in his blog "Niamah!!".

To All those Born in the 40's, 50's , 60's & early '70s...

First, we survived with mothers who had no maids. They cooked cleaned while taking care of us at the same time. They took aspirin, candies floss,fizzy drinks, shaved ice with syrups and diabetes were rare. (Some died without ever knowing they had actually contracted diabetes.) Salt added to Pepsi or Coke was remedy for fever.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets. As children, we would ride with our parents on bicycles motorcycles for 2 or 3. Richer ones in cars with no seat belts or air bags.(I thought they were rich?)

Riding in the back of a private taxi was a special treat. We drank water from the tap and NOT from a bottle. (You could have filled a bottle with tap water, so I don't see the point here? Also, besides water, what else can come out of a tap?) We would spend hours on the fields under bright sunlight flying our kites, without worrying about the UV ray which never seem to affect us.

We go to jungle to catch spiders without worries of Aedes mosquitoes. (Childhood mortality was alarmingly high of course.)

With mere 5 pebbles (stones) would be a endless game. With a ball (tennis ball best) we boys would run like crazy for hours. (RUN LIKE CRAZY? Seriously?) We catch guppy in drains / canals and when it rain we swim there. We shared one soft drink with four friends (that precise?), from one bottle and NO ONE actually worry about being unhygenic.(Ever wondered why the fifth friend never shared?)

We ate salty, very sweet & oily food, candies,bread and real butter and drank very sweet soft sweet coffee/ tea, ice kacang (I hoped you did not eat all these in one instance?), but we weren't overweight because (you did not know what overweight was?).......

WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, till streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day (Talking about kids thesedays being irresponsible? I guess the fruits don't fall far away from the trees). AND WE DONT HAVE HANDPHONE S TO BUG US. (What about switching it off or to the silent mode?)(I believe you wished you had them when the streetlights are faulty or that you can reach no one for a few days.) And we were O.K. AND WE ARE SAFE.

We would spend hours repairing our old bicycles and wooden scooters out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes.(D**B?) After running into the bushes a few times(D**BER!!), we learned to solve the problem . (Like how?)

We did not have Playstations, X-boxes, Nintendo's, multiple channels on cable TV, DVD movies, no surround sound, no phones, no personal computers, no Internet. WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them! We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and we still continued the stunts. (Kidnaps were certainly a feature of going out making friends back then. I guess it was a risk worth taking considering the joy you derived out of breaking bones and teeth. Dental business is brisk thesedays with older folks needing dentures.)

We never had birthdays parties till we are 21. We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and just yelled for them! (Civility was understandably not important back then. I can also see where the infamous "kao pei" phrase orginated from.)The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law! Yet this generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever! (Note "ever"...the future remains to be seen!)

The past 40 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned

HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

And YOU are one of them!

CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the government regulated our lives for our own good.

And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.

PS: -The big type is because Long-sightedness or hyperopia at your age. he... he.... ( This email was actually in font >32 and colored!)

"

My response is in green and the original entry is in orange. Okie, some comments are unpleasant but my intention was meant for it to be hilarious. Pls don't get it the wrong way, yar?

Graduation - Roger Federer

Finally, I have graduated. While it sounds as though I cannot wait to get out of school, I actually accpted another offer into school! I don't know what I am getting myself into but at least, I hope this time round, it will be worth it. Not that the existing is totally useless, but I believe its value is undermined by my lack of effort. ahha..

Another guy has graduated. He is none other than Roger Federer. He has cemented himself as arguably the greatest person to have lifted the tennis racket. 14 grand slams in a span of 7 years and all 4 before the age of 28. Sampras took 13 years to do the same but never collected all 4 and did so before the age of 33. I did not even bother to watch the finals as its a forgone conclusion.

For his greatest rival, I just hope that Nadal wins the US Open in September and he would have outdone Federer by a wide margin. If he wins the US Open this year, Nadal would have taken a mere 5years to collect all 4 before the age of 24!

I pity Safina...if only she had the mantle of Federer. She had better win one big one before she assumes the unflattery honour of having been no.1 and not win a grandslam.

Fairness?

I am so livid with Federer always being able to shine in grandslams!
To put into perspective how gd he is during the slams...he has made 19 CONSECUTIVE SFs or better. It stretches from SF of Wimbledon 2003 till now. To many, making even 1 SF in a slam can be considered an achievement!

With Nadal gone, the French Open is as good as being served to him on a plate!
Being Chinese, superstitions are part n parcel of our beliefs. Roger Federer, born 8th August 1981...080881 (DDMMYY). Need I say more? He is freaking lucky...having collected so many slams during the void of real rivalry. After 13 slams, there are finally 2 other real competitors not called Nadal. Come this sunday, history will be made...federer will attain his god equivalent status in his sports.

New Toy

I have a new toy and it doesn't get any better than a PS3! A whopping $599 + $65 for a 2nd controller and $49 for Virtual Tennis, I will be knocking on doors for more tuition to patch the burn in my pocket!

At least, it will keep me occupied for a while. Who wants to catch Night at the museum 2?

Unsettled Ping Pong - Ping Pong attack

Round of applause for us winning the women's team silver medal in the recently concluded Olympics. But apparently, another type of ruckus is gaining momentum over the very same achievement. However, it is on the opposite side of any celebratory sort.

I stand on the side of the coach. How can anyone publicly question his professionalism or ethics. Even if there is really something of this sort, as the table tennis chief, you cannot discuss it in public! A wiser and more neutral comment would have been, "No comments or It was a fair decision as the board had deliberated long and hard or We acknowledge the achievement and contribution of all the coaches in 2008 but we were unable to find someone who had distinguished himself/herself."

Coach Liu's contribution is unequaled and to publicly discuss his morals is uncalled for. Even if you do not like someone, as an adult and especially someone in power, you cannot sling personal attacks. What image are you projecting to the people in Singapore and the world?

The repercussions are far and wide. From this incident, will foreign coaches and athletes be enticed to take up stints with us? I sincerely hope this matter will be resolved amicably. Having passion in table tennis does not naturally lead to sound leadership. I hope that someone in the higher echelon of authority will step in and give Coach Liu his due respect and honor. After all, we cannot brush aside the fact that he was instrumental in securing our republic's 2nd Olympic medal in nearly half a century.

Back to the courts

It has been a while since I last spoke of tennis. I shall stop that habit now.

Judging by the results in 2009, Rafael Nadal is almost unplayable, something like Roger Federer in most parts of 2005-2007. Rafael has won 5 titles so far, 2 more than the second most titlists. Of the 5, 1 is a grand slam, 3 are masters (its prestige is second to the slams). Well, it should be expected since he is the best in the world according to the rankings. Let's examine Federer.

Federer is still good to watch on tv, but his wheels seemed to have fallen apart. He gets 'owned' by Novak Djokovic, Nadal and Murray. These players only awhile ago are at the recieving end of his artistry. However, tables have turned and he has not beaten any of these in 2009. Nadal conquered him in Aussie Open, Novak in Rome and Miami and Murray in Indian Wells.

Murray is the man to watch for 2009. He may spoil Nadal's plans for completing his career grandslam in US Open. He is ranked no.3 now, higher than anyone from Britian (Tim Henman was 4th). At 22, he has surpassed all that Tim Henman has achieved in his career. With Federer no longer in the equation, I believe Murray's main rivarly will be with Nadal.

Novak Djokvic is equally entertaining to watch, with his matching blue outfit and shoes and impersonations. He seemed to have reached his potential and have produced outstanding showings in the clay season. He took 1 set from Nadal on clay and this is highly commendable as nobody has done that since 2007.

Roland Garros is round the corner and the likely winner is Rafael Nadal. His opponent in the finals may be someone different from the previous 3 years, and he is none other than Novak Djokovic. The woman's winner will be very hard to pick. My money is on Kusnetsova or Dinara Safina. Jelena Jankovic is destined to be the no.1 who has never won a grandslam. She's sooooo terrible.

Masters?

Should I? Shouldn't I? Should I? I don't know.