The Big O with Miss Clarity!

One might think that a rainy afternoon might put a dampener on our boys night
out. Slowly but surely the old boys began to trickle in. Some as early as 6pm, while the majority was in by 7pm. It goes to show the eagerness of our long lost brothers to meet ... Once again as the snake gang of ACSS 81! ;-)

We are pleased to see an average of 30 pax turning out at our "annual" gathering ...
Although this year, this is our 2nd "annual" gathering. If u missed the first, it was on 30 Jan 09. We welcome many new faces - Shentley, Muthiah, Sinthu, Meng, Eric Tang (my classmate whom I can't recognise! - sorry bro!), and others ... sorry if I missed you out cos my brains are not what it was 28yrs ago ... that's if I had a brain at all.

I know that at least Sinthu and Meng both came back to Singapore to visit just for this
event! How honoured are we?!!

Have a look at how much fun we had :D

More photos are found here:
ACS-Class-81-Nov-20th-2009 with some head shots too! eh ... not what u are thinking ok!!! But these head-shots are the collection taken from the gathering on 30 Jan and this gathering on 20 Nov. Take a peek and see how many of the faces do u recognise? Yes .. pls add your names to the photo so that you may be identified.

In my email list, I have about 70 of us contactable. However, at the http://ACSoba.net, I see the stats as:

ACSS1981
# all alumni 586
# connected 102
% connected 17.41

So guys ... looks like we still have a long way to go. So, please let your friends know about our blog at http://acss81.blogspot.com! Encourage them too to join the Google group - acss81. Through this group, we will send notice of gatherings and other interesting tit-bits of our cohort.

How do you get connected? Easy ... just enter yr email at the top-right column @ http://acss81.blogspot.com and click on "Subscribe" :D

Before I sign-off, I'd really really like to thank every one of you for being there with us last Friday. Watch this space for more photos and other upcoming events. We have said it many times before ... how about doing it at Bintan? Bernard! Dude! Can u give us a quote? Maybe even include the family during the School Hols in Mar/Jun 2010? I hear the resort is really family friendly! :D

Till then this is Alan & Fabian signing off.

The Best is YET to be!

PS:
In case u were wondering about the "O" in the title ... it's "The Big One at Miss Clarity"

It's a date 20th Nov 2009 our next annual gathering

It's final, 20th Nov 2009 @ 6.30pm Miss Clarity Cafe over at 5 Purvis Street!

Confirm your RSVP at http://acss81.eventbrite.com/
Rain or shine, few or many, the annual gathering will go ON ! So clear you schedule and See you there this Friday !

The growing up years .....

(Photo copyright of the National Heritage Board - please do not download and/or make copies)

I think the PS boys will remember this more ... no so much me (horray JS!!) but I understand that this photo was taken during dismissal from school in 1972 - our P1 years :-)

Thks to Peng Wah who found this, and he thought, wouldn't it be nice if YOU can pick out yourselves and friends and tag them? hmmm ... wish I had the FB interface here for tagging a photo ;-)

So c'mon guys ... get cracking!

Cheers
Alan Fu

PS: For more photos ... lookup http://picas.nhb.gov.sg/picas/public/internetSearch/

Nov it shall be! 20 Nov 2009. Here's why ....

Ok ... voting aside - although the blog voted to have the next meet in Dec, we have thought that it might be better in Nov ...

1. Begining of school hols, not many of us would have left Singapore for our Annual (bi-annual, even quarterly) holidays :)
2. Availability of the rooms.
3. {put whatever reasons that suits u} ;-)

But seriously, the dates in Nov are 19 (Thurs), 20 (Fri) and 26 (Thurs).

19 Thurs -
pro: not much family commitments
con: Fri is a work day, people want to leave early

20 Fri
pro: nothing on sat, can stay late and have nice long chats
con: family nights for some families.

26 Thurs (eve of Hari Raya Haji)
pro: Fri is a holiday
con: Fri is a holiday! Long weekends and school holidays so families may want to skip town.

So I guess, Firday 20 Nov is set - pending the decision of the location. Mark that date in yr diaries/PDAs/Oulook/Yahoo/google calendars - It's time to PAR-TAY! ;-)

Cheers
Alan Fu

Aug 4th Informal Gathering

We are on Facebook

Hey guys ... we are now on FACE BOOK ! If you are on FB, then search for the group "ACS Class of 81" and please join us.

Who's up for a run? ... Yes! A marathon, that is!

Yes indeed ... Mr Chan Meng Hui is Singapore's oldest marathoner. And having said that ... puts us ALL to shame!

He is the father of Wei Siong, one of our own in ACS Class of '81. And I wonder, Wei Siong, do u pace yr dad during the 42.142KM ? ;-) 8hrs! Man ... that is endurance. As Erik mentioned, he broke his foot doing the 1/4 marathon 2yrs back ... heh heh ... if he had trained for the "full", would he have broken his leg instead? Or maybe ...broke it in 4 parts. ;-)

Personally, I have tried to run the marathon twice but managed to complete it only once in 1994 - The Singapore Marathon.

For my first try, in 1984, I trained together with some friends. We ran Macritchie, met at stadiums after school, and also participated in the many events organised by the CCs (Community Centers as they were known then). It was great fun. When the day finally arrived, I was so excited. Did the carbo-load and all.

Flag-of was 6am (if memory serves me ..). As we started to run, we hit Nicholl Highway. Suddenly, we heard a loud "kling-klang-klung"! We turned around and saw this guy straddled across the distance marker! He must have ran straight into it. Then someone else shouted "Oi! Kwa char-bor har??!!"

It wasn't long after that, we truned the corner to Mountbatten Rd and soon passed Katong Shopping Center. There I recalled, and old auntie who was pushing a trolley of cardboard box saying "Chiak pah bo tai chi cho!" LOL.

I truly can't recalled where we ran, but I know I arrived at Boundary Road and was approaching the 1/2 mark (Ang Mo Kio Swimming Complex?). Legs were still doing well, and I was soaked in sweat. Stil pacing myself I arrived at the 1/2 marathon finish point. As it happened, my friends who were faster had decided to stop and call it a day. When they waved and called out to me, I picked a drink and stopped to chat. I know! BIG MISTAKE! They decided to leave and I decided to continue running ... as I ran, my mind started playing tricks on me :( All the way till I arrived at Up Thompson Rd, I decided that I can't finish the race. I also thought that I had better go back to the 1/2 way mark and collect my souvenier T-shirt!

That's when it happened. I turned around and walked all the way back got my T-shirt. Against shouts from the on-comming runners joking, "Hey! The finish point is that way!", all pointing behind me. It was a horror-movie that never ends each time I tell this story. And, of course, when I arrived at the 1/2 mark, my friends were gone and I had to find my way back home all alone. I was haunted by this decision till 1994 when I did complete the race. - That is a story for another day!

So Uncle Chan ... Way to go! You have my fullest admiration and I'm sure the cohort of ACSS 81 will be cheering you on! You are a shining example of what it means to say, "The Best is Yet To Be!".

Cheers
Alan Fu