I lived in Singapore for a few years when I was younger, 1972-1974. I was there for my freshman year of high school.
We were a population of fairly transient ex-pats. Most did not stay in Singapore more than a year or two then there were others whose families made Singapore their home. Our dads worked in one of the following fields; oil, military, embassy, missionaries and the early days of computers with IBM. Some of the kids such as myself and my brother had lived in other countries, we lived in Mexico City for almost 3 years.
Due to the transient nature and people losing contact with each other we don't have class reunions like most schools do we have school reunions. They are held all over the world with the popular ones being Houston, Texas, Las Vegas and Florida.
Many of us for whatever reason have never been able to make it to these reunions and a few months ago I noticed that there were actually quite a few of us SASer's in the Midwest... the wheels got to turning and this past weekend we held our first Midwest Singapore American School Reunion.
Friday night we met at my house for satay, fried mee hoon, spring rolls and Tiger beer. Retired music teacher Mr. David Boyd brought some amazing slides from back in the days when Ulu Pandan school was newly built, sites that we all remembered including Holland Village. We poured over yearbooks and photographs as our spouses sat back and listened to what must have seemed like some pretty strange tales of our Interim Semester trips, chi chats crawling on the walls, drinking soda pop from plastic bags and our crazy antics at the American Club.
The following evening we once again met for dinner and the memories continued to flow. Including the introduction of American football to the area by a group of oilmen/dads, the junk boat rides to deserted islands for an afternoon with family and friends.... if the boat made it all the way to the island that is. All of the rules we thought were so crazy at the time such as no gum chewing. Riding the rickety old buses all over the island and the food.... oh that wonderful food from the stalls and the bicycle street vendors.
The funny thing about it was that even though none of us hung out together in school and years separated us as to when we attended SAS, we came together those two evenings as if we had known each other for years. I think it is because we have this common bond of sharing such an amazing experience in a foreign land, something that most people can only dream of.
We were small in numbers these two nights but big in memories and kinship.
For any SAS alumni who read this, we are already planning on another Midwest SAS reunion in 2010 around the same time, the middle of June. So please mark your calendar now and plan on attending. I will try to get some Anchor beer for the next one.... Tiger beer tastes pretty good though.
As a teenager I did not really see how exotic and amazing this beautiful part of Southeast Asia is but I am so glad that I now have another opportunity to forge friendships that will last a lifetime all because of this wonderful place.
As soon as I get the photos I will post a link to them.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Looks Like I Will Be Voting Republican
I am so disappointed and also disgusted with the outcome of the Democrat primary race. First, I think they need to change the name of their party from the Democrats to the Ourways or We Don't Care What the Popular Vote Is Party. With their Superdelegates making decisions based on .... does anyone really know?
I do not want Barak Obama as a President. The man has ZERO experience this is a given. He has no platform. "Change" is all I have heard from his mouth. Change what? The few things I have heard scare the shit out of me. He has talked about invading Pakistan, a nation armed with nuclear weapons; meeting without preconditions with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who vows to destroy Israel and create another Holocaust; and Kim Jong II, who is murdering and starving his people, but emphasized that the nuclear option was off the table against terrorists - this is something no president has ever taken off the table since the inception of nuclear weapons in the 1940s. Even Democrats who have worked in national security condemned all of those remarks. Mr. Obama is a foreign-policy novice who would put our national security at risk and for what reason.... he is ignorant to foreign policy.
He believes that his same slick non-talk that has worked on the American people will also work on these savvy and ruthless ruler's. He is a kid with a new toy that he is not really sure what to do with it.
He says that he is going to offer free college educations, fix medicare and social security plus a score more systems. The only way that he can do this is through raising our taxes. Use, the working class that can hardly put gas in our cars and pay our bills are going to be taxed more by Obama to provide all of these "free" and better services. That is if we are still even alive after he pisses off all the foreign leaders who don't fall for his smooth talk.
An interesting fact was brought up to me by a friend, it was actually an editorial in the Pueblo. Co. newspaper on June 1,2008.
Adolf Hitler's methods for gaining popularity were; 1) The state and mindset of the German people after WWI, feeling helpless and divided (reminds me of the U.S. over Sept. 11 and the Iraq War) 2)Hitler's promise of change and prominent nationalism (all that Obama talks about is change and the government taking control of all programs so that we the people don't have to worry about them anymore) 3) Hitler's rhetoric and charisma (he has been call the Kennedy of today.... oh please. and he is good a spewing rhetoric).
Just a thought:
According to The Book of Revelations - The anti-Christ will be a man, in his 40s, of MUSLIM descent, who will deceive the nations with persuasive language, and have a MASSIVE Christ-like appeal....the prophecy says that people will flock to him and he will promise false hope and world peace, and when he is in power, will destroy everything. Is this anti-Christ.......... OBAMA??
I tend to think that he will destroy everything through his ignorance.... and those of the people who vote for him. Remember, he has only been in politics 1 YEAR... his second year as IL. senator has been spent campaigning for President. The man needs a few more year of experience real life and political before he rules my country.
WOW... I just compared one person to Adolf Hitler and the Anti-Christ, yet he is knocking people over with his speeches and he is gaining votes left and right... literally. Except for mine.
I do not want Barak Obama as a President. The man has ZERO experience this is a given. He has no platform. "Change" is all I have heard from his mouth. Change what? The few things I have heard scare the shit out of me. He has talked about invading Pakistan, a nation armed with nuclear weapons; meeting without preconditions with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who vows to destroy Israel and create another Holocaust; and Kim Jong II, who is murdering and starving his people, but emphasized that the nuclear option was off the table against terrorists - this is something no president has ever taken off the table since the inception of nuclear weapons in the 1940s. Even Democrats who have worked in national security condemned all of those remarks. Mr. Obama is a foreign-policy novice who would put our national security at risk and for what reason.... he is ignorant to foreign policy.
He believes that his same slick non-talk that has worked on the American people will also work on these savvy and ruthless ruler's. He is a kid with a new toy that he is not really sure what to do with it.
He says that he is going to offer free college educations, fix medicare and social security plus a score more systems. The only way that he can do this is through raising our taxes. Use, the working class that can hardly put gas in our cars and pay our bills are going to be taxed more by Obama to provide all of these "free" and better services. That is if we are still even alive after he pisses off all the foreign leaders who don't fall for his smooth talk.
An interesting fact was brought up to me by a friend, it was actually an editorial in the Pueblo. Co. newspaper on June 1,2008.
Adolf Hitler's methods for gaining popularity were; 1) The state and mindset of the German people after WWI, feeling helpless and divided (reminds me of the U.S. over Sept. 11 and the Iraq War) 2)Hitler's promise of change and prominent nationalism (all that Obama talks about is change and the government taking control of all programs so that we the people don't have to worry about them anymore) 3) Hitler's rhetoric and charisma (he has been call the Kennedy of today.... oh please. and he is good a spewing rhetoric).
Just a thought:
According to The Book of Revelations - The anti-Christ will be a man, in his 40s, of MUSLIM descent, who will deceive the nations with persuasive language, and have a MASSIVE Christ-like appeal....the prophecy says that people will flock to him and he will promise false hope and world peace, and when he is in power, will destroy everything. Is this anti-Christ.......... OBAMA??
I tend to think that he will destroy everything through his ignorance.... and those of the people who vote for him. Remember, he has only been in politics 1 YEAR... his second year as IL. senator has been spent campaigning for President. The man needs a few more year of experience real life and political before he rules my country.
WOW... I just compared one person to Adolf Hitler and the Anti-Christ, yet he is knocking people over with his speeches and he is gaining votes left and right... literally. Except for mine.
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