文彬 Chapter 1: childhood days (1985 ~ 1991)

01 December 2023

my childhood memories
#11121985

my favourite things from childhood
Jim Jim 22nd Birthday (1 June 2007)
Xiao Xiong 21st Birthday (1 March 2007)
Bai Xiong 21st Birthday (22 August 2007)

my memories of festivals & seasons
Winter Solstice
Christmas (X'mas)

other childhood memories
Showing of "TMNT" in Singapore

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文彬 Chapter 1: childhood days (1985 ~ 1991)   © 文彬 2004~2024. All rights reserved.

Bai Xiong 21st Birthday

22 August 2007

Bai Xiong is my 2nd teddy bear (or the 1st normal size teddy bear).

Papa, Mumy and I were shopping at the departmental store section (Level 2) of Bedok Central NTUC (Bedok Blk 212) in August 1986. My parents will routinely bring me to the soft toys section to choose a soft toy, which I will hold on to it throughout the trip on the condition that I have to put it back before leaving. However, it is different this time. When I saw Bai Xiong, I hold on to Bai Xiong dearly and I refused to let go when it is time for me to put Bai Xiong back. Therefore, Papa and Mumy decided to buy Bai Xiong, since I do not have any teddy bear of this size then. As Bai Xiong was huge for the 8 months old me then, it quite impossible for me to hug Bai Xiong to sleep. Thus, Bai Xiong spent most of its early days sitting on the bed and I only get to talk and sayang it during daytime and every night before I sleep. As Xiao Xiong is really small, Bai Xiong gradually replaced Xiao Xiong to become my favourite teddy bear as I grow up.

Happy Birthday Bai Xiong. Thank you for accompany me all these days.


my dear bai xiong

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Bai Xiong 21st Birthday   © 文彬 2004~2024. All rights reserved.

Jim Jim 22nd Birthday

01 June 2007

Jim Jim is my baby bolster.

Jim Jim is among the first gift that Mumy gave to me, because Jim Jim was made in June 1985, when Mumy was 3 months pregnant with me. Jim Jim becomes my transitional object. Besides accompany me to sleep, Jim Jim will follow me to wherever I go and whatever I do at home.

Happy Birthday Jim Jim. Thank you Jim Jim for accompany me all the while.


jim jim, my baby bolster

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Jim Jim 22nd Birthday   © 文彬 2004~2024. All rights reserved.

Showing of "TMNT" in Singapore

23 March 2007

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) are so popular back in my early childhood days and TMNT are the first superheroes that I really like. At that time, I was too young to differentiate the turtles by their strengths and characteristics, but this does not stop me from liking the turtles. It is much later then I know how to differentiate the turtles by their colour and weapons. I was fascinated when I found out that the turtles are named after famous Renaissance painters.

abs of the turtles
My cousin Wang Wei (who is 2 months older than me) and I are playmates. We will visit Ah Ma (our maternal grandmother) house on every Sunday until we started attending primary school. Wang Wei was a huge fan of the turtles. One Sunday (c.1989-1990), during one of our weekly visit to Ah Ma's house, Wang Wei asked our elder cousin Swee Chong (who is 11 years older than us) to draw a TMNT for him. After Swee Chong finished drawing and colouring the turtle, he asked me to cut out the figure for him. Being very cheeky and mischievous (and probably jealous), I purposely cut out only the yellow abs of the turtle and gave it to Wang Wei, telling him that this looks nicer. With regards to the mischief that I have done, it is very obvious that my cousins were naturally very upset with me and Wang Wei ignored me for the rest of the day...

TMNT cartoon
The "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" cartoon was aired over Channel 5 on every Thursday at 6.30pm. The TMNT cartoon was my next favourite cartoon after "DORAEMON". TMNT continues to air on Channel 5 until it stopped airing around late 1992 (when I was in primary 1). During primary 1, I remembered rushing home after school to catch the show. I still remember how to sing the theme song, which keeps repeating the line "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" from low to high with a crescendo. The TMNT titbits was also one of my favourite snacks then...

All shell breaks loose
After so many years, popularity of TMNT declines and my memories of TMNT started fading away... even though TMNT is still occasionally being mentioned in my conversations with my family.

The "TMNT" trailer which I saw in cinema months ago is the ultimate trigger that makes me interested with the turtles again. The trailer brings back several memories of TMNT. However, I decided not to watch this movie at cinema and choose to wait for the release of its home video (DVD). This is because by doing this, I am able to watch and re-watch the show repeatedly with minimal money spent. I also get to keep a hardcopy of the movie...

Something very creative about the promotion of this movie is the use of "All shell breaks loose 23.3.07" to replace the usual boring lines like "coming 23.3.07" or "23.3.07 in theatres only". "All shell breaks loose" absolutely suits the comeback concept of the beloved turtles...


TMNT: All shell breaks loose

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Showing of "TMNT" in Singapore   © 文彬 2004~2024. All rights reserved.

Xiao Xiong 21st Birthday

01 March 2007

Xiao Xiong is my 1st teddy bear.

Papa, Mumy and I were shopping at Metro Golden Mile (at Plaza Hotel / The Plaza) in March 1986. When Mumy saw Xiao Xiong, Mumy insisted of buying Xiao Xiong for me, as she thinks it is time for the 3 months old me to have a teddy bear of my own. Xiao Xiong becomes my favourite teddy bear during my childhood days and Xiao Xiong will accompany me to sleep every night.

Happy Birthday Xiao Xiong. Thank you for accompany me when growing up.


xiao xiong, my 1st teddy bear

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Xiao Xiong 21st Birthday   © 文彬 2004~2024. All rights reserved.

Winter Solstice

22 December 2006

December is my favourite month of the year... because it is the beginning of winter, my birthday on 11 December, and the season for Winter Solstice on 21/22 December and Christmas (X'mas) on 25 December...

There are 2 festivals in December that are associated with the white season of winter: the Winter Solstice and X'mas, and I love both...

Winter Solstice
Winter Solstice (冬至) marks the peak of the winter season and it is the day with the shortest daytime and longest night in the northern hemisphere. Winter Solstice is celebrated as a festival of reunion, with family eating tang yuan (汤圆 / glutinous rice ball). Unlike other traditional chinese festivals, Winter Solstice is not marked using the Chinese Lunar Calendar. Similar to Qingming (清明), Spring Equinox (春分), Summer Solstice (夏至) and Autumn Equinox (秋分), Winter Solstice is marked using the Western Gregorian Calendar, explaining the Winter Solstice being fixed on 22 December (or 21 December during a leap year). Winter Solstice is also 1 of the 24 solar term (节气).

Tang Yuan
My favourite and sweetest memories of Winter Solstice is, we get to make tang yuan on the night before... This is the ultimate favourite festive activities for my brother and I when we are young. Substituting plasticine with flour, we will make creative and funny tang yuan of assorted shapes and sizes (e.g. rabbit, bear, Ninja Turtle). Mumy will always say that we are giving her more trouble than help, as she needs to redo all the weird tang yuan we made... There was once when we tried to cook our creative animal tang yuan, but it turns out to be quite different from how it was supposed to be.

Our tang yuan is prepared and cooked according to our traditional kampong recipes of my extended family and it is very different from those sold commercially. The tang yuan we make are kosong (without fillings) and the soup is cooked using gula melaka and pandan...

Winter Solstice 2006
Winter Solstice 2006 falls on 22.12.06.

I used to love to eat tang yuan as it is a sweet dessert, but as I grow up, I find tang yuan too sweet, so don't like it as much... But after years of substandard quality floor, my family thinks the tang yuan this year was one of the best in recent years... In fact, there isn't enough for a 3rd bowl...


Mumy's homemade tang yuan 2006

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Winter Solstice   © 文彬 2004~2024. All rights reserved.

#11121985

11 December 2006

December is my favourite month of the year... because it is my birthday (11 December), the beginning of winter, and the season for Winter Solstice and Christmas (X'mas)...

To me, I considered my birthday as the most important celebration of the year. This is because it is the only day and celebration that is dedicated to me. It is the day for me to celebrate my achievements achieved in the past year, reflect on mistakes and set new goals for the next year (advantage of celebrating birthday in December)... These are the reasons why my family takes birthday celebrations momentously.

My first and second birthday were celebrated quite grandly by my extended family. However, from my third birthday onwards, celebrations became smaller and were mostly confined within my nuclear family only. Mumy explained that was because my brother was born and it became more challenging to organize a huge party and to manage 2 young kids concurrently.


1st Birthday #11121986


2nd Birthday #11121987


3rd Birthday #11121988

After I started attending kindergarten in 1990, I was quite envious of my classmates who get to celebrate their birthday during school term. Their parents would wrap titbits in small gift packs and distributed to the whole class. My birthday wish at that point of time was to distribute snacks gift packs to my classmates too. However, I do not have the opportunity to do so as my birthday is in the middle of the December school holiday. Knowing this, Papa and Mumy packed the gift packs and distributed them to my friends before school closed and I am really happy about it. But as I grew older, I am glad that my birthday is in the middle of the December school holiday as I do not need to study or panic for exams on my birthday.

In 1993, I thought celebrating birthday was troublesome and a waste of money, so I told Papa and Mumy there is no need to celebrate that year. But on the actual day, Papa surprised with a birthday cake. He told me that children should celebrate every birthday, which makes me very touch...

Another memorable birthday was my 10th birthday in 1995. Primary 4 was the year of streaming. My close friends and I knew that we were very likely to be streamed into different classes next year. Upon knowing that one of my birthday wish was to celebrate my birthday with them, Bryan and gang decided to give me a surprise on the last day of school. During recess, some of my buddies tried to hold me in the canteen, while they took turn to go to the bookshop to buy me stationery or cute gifts as birthday presents. Although none of these gifts are very expensive, they are all of practical uses and filled with love. It is the sincerity that makes me kept them till now. The cute surprise celebration almost makes me burst into tears (of joy). I am still to thankful to these thoughtful friends.

After entering secondary school, birthday celebration gets simpler at home, with the basic cake cutting and a good dinner at a restaurant. However, celebration with friends became more exciting. I usually celebrate my birthday with respective groups of friends by having dinner at different places every year. My birthday celebration is also incomplete without a ktv session since 2002. I am thankful to friends who remember my birthday.

On my 17th birthday (11.12.02), I volunteered to be an usher for the Fukuoka Girls Commercial High School visit to my school. It was an unforgettable to have so many Japanese girls of my age to sing "Happy Birthday" for me! The event lasted the whole morning and it is an unique birthday experience.

As I grew up, I got used to the default arrangement that my birthday is equivalent to school holiday. However, this default logic of my birthday = holiday started to get threatened since 2004... I am glad that my 20th birthday was during the post-BMT block leave and my Ops Bacinet duty schedule allows me to celebrate my 21st birthday at home. I am thankful to be able to celebrate my birthday with my loved ones and enjoy my birthday with an ease of mind at home. I would like to say "THANK Y♥U" to everyone who remember my birthday and make an effort to celebrate with me.

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#11121985   © 文彬 2004~2024. All rights reserved.

X'mas

24 December 2004

December is my favourite month of the year... because it is the beginning of winter, my birthday on 11 December, and the 2 festivals that are associated with the white season of winter: Winter Solstice and Christmas (X'mas). I love both Winter Solstice and X'mas. In fact, X'mas is my 2nd most celebrated festival after CNY...

X'mas Choco
Chocolates are a must for a merry x'mas... My favourite chocolate for X'mas are Kit-Kat, Andes Mint Parfait Thins and Storck Mint Chocs.

When I was young, my peranakan neighbours (who is an air stewardess) would always gave my brother and I a packet of nicely wrapped Kit-Kat as X'mas present. Kit-Kat was later substituted by other kinds of chocolates, which were more fanciful (although I still prefer Kit-Kat). Her family continues to give us chocolates, until we moved out of #05-71 in 1998. Glad we still keep in touch with all the neighbours; after all, we only shifted to the next block...

In 2002, my brother introduced Storck Mint Chocs to my family and we got addicted to it instantly. Our addiction to Storck Mint Chocs is partly because we have always loved mint-flavoured ice cream and chocolates...

Orchard X'mas Light Up
When we were young, Papa will drove us to Orchard to look at the Orchard X'mas Light Up. We were always very amazed by the Orchard Light Up then; the Light Up and decorations successfully brought the seasonal ambience and festive mood to the tropics. Our annual drive through the Orchard X'mas Light Up continued till December 1993...

X'mas with friends
In 2004, Shih Jia proposed the idea to gather as many schoolmates as possible for a X'mas gathering. After much discussion, we think it was a good and workable idea, so we decided to implement and titled it as the "Great X'mas melting pot"...


Orchard X'mas Light Up 2004

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X'mas   © 文彬 2004~2024. All rights reserved.