Shortly later , I was enrolled in Assumption English School (AES*).
AES* is really run-down even at that time, but it brought golden memories. There was an animal farm which housed the rabbits I donated and tons of fish and hamsters.
Behind the school was a cemetery, beside it was a chapel where mass were held fortnightly. (AES* is catholic school for those who don’t know)
Every morning, my mom would make ham/cheese sandwich for me and my elder brother
Then ,I have a habit of disposing the painstakingly-made (Many years later ,during lunch I confessed to my mom I never once finished eating the sandwich she made, and she was like “no wonder every time I go to the market ,I come across something rotten yet familiar , at the roadside.) sandwich just as I board the school-bus.
At the main road along the pedestrian foot path, that’s where I would throw the sandwich.
Later on in life, nobody (not even me) would expect ham & melted cheese sandwich to be one of my favorite snacks.
Ah, irony in life….
At the end of primary 2, my dad announced to the family that we will be moving to somewhere, I didn’t ask why (I hardly asked questions, not till I became a teen).
Months later (1990), we moved to upper serangoon / yio chu kang which I'm currently staying.
I was enrolled in another catholic school (why not, we are a catholic family) , St Gabriel’s Primary. I didn’t quite like that school however I’m grateful that later on I was educated in St Gabriel’s Secondary.
I was pretty much an outcast and loser in secondary school (or rather in my teen years).
Majority of the former primary students would enroll in the affiliated secondary school.
Having known them prior to secondary education, makes adapting to the new environment a lot easier,. Unfortunately it also meant that there wasn’t much chance for me to start anew.
Though I talked a lot and try to be friends with everybody I didn’t fit or was invited to any posse / group.
I was always picked last in football/basketball or any sports during P.E…I remembered being picked last in a canoe expedition , nobody wanted to be in the same vessel as me , I felt miserable, I lied to the teacher that I don’t want to take part in it, he then paired me with a kid from another school. He seemed to me like a fellow-loser as well.
(Even in my pursue of education in polytechnic , I was chosen last for group projects.I hated that , I guess it’s fine because before enlistment in national service I realized that I'm no team player or leader. I’ve never liked rules , boundaries...And much to that , I developed an interest in anti-establishment , anarchic views and concepts.)
By the time I turn 16,I'm accustomed to being alone ( I finally found solace in libraries and churches when I'm 21.)
When I was in secondary 3 , I met Marvin , who digs punk rock as much as I do.
After school, we would hang out in mine or his house , listening to music cassettes.
We would talk about which band influenced another and who’s cool and stuff.
One day, he asked if I wanna pick up skateboarding .i was elated and anxious. I’ve been thinking of skating for a long time but I don’t have anyone to skate with. Now it’s my chance to fit in or be accepted.( my first encounter with extreme sport was on a way to swimming classes, I often seen kids older than me riding bmxs in a ramp in front of the swimming complex.)
I got into skateboarding pretty much just like that , I skated everyday after school.
My mom , didn’t like what I was doing. She doesn’t understand (till now she still doesn’t) why would anybody wanna jump off a flights of stairs with a board, risk breaking every imaginable bone in the body, paying $100+ for a pair of skate shoes which the manufacturer claims it made solely for skateboarding but could barely last for more than 6 months.
In fact she was mainly upset because she thought I was made for golf , you see , I played golf at the age of 10. It was an entirely sport or not-so-common sport at that time, honestly I love it and I was not bad at it ; able to aim and strike golf balls to a distance for 100+ meter, that’s excellent for a kid at that age.
It was challenging , knowing that you’ve gotta get da ball into the whole with less strokes as possible, what can be more challenging that that? (well , skateboarding.)
Back then,skateboarding was an alternative, outlawed, alien sport (till now it’s still is, albeit its popularity and widespread with ESPN, video game , tony hawk).
It didn’t matter that Marvin and i and a few kids were shunned by basketball players, footballers because of skateboarding. We have our posse , and that matters the most.
By the time O levels are over , most would have grown up or growing up. Leaving their shackles , exploring/threading into new territories.
Marvin left, he found drums n bass(which was new at that time too, Subvert and Guerrillas didn’t exist yet) . Nicholas was no where to be found ,he moved out of my neighborhood.
That didn’t stop my passion for skateboarding, I got into polytechnic shortly , befriend a fellow skater who brought me to memorial tower and raffles place. It was then , skateboarding took off for me and it lead to a whole bunch of debauchery ( peeing in the public , theft , grievous harm to my body ß I tore an ACL in my right knee twice and dislocated my elbow ,etc.)
As much as I’m proud to ride a board , i get devious when its comes to introduction to a new person. When one (a person belong to the general public) ask what do I during weekends or what sport do I play, I would love to tell he/her I get all dirty,sweaty, injuries from skateboarding and very often evading arrest from the cops but I find it wiser or less embarrassing to say something or lie that I do some normal, main streamed , more accepted activity like soccer and stuff.
I remember an occasion which the opposite sex said “Isn’t it meant for kids? “ in response me being a skateboarder.(I was 19-20 then)
At the same time , skateboarding did stir up some controversies and mystery.
A classmate of mine, back in polytechnic thinks that I perform self-mutilation , because I often go to class on Monday with cuts, grazes and bruises from a weekend of menace.
After a knee surgery at 21 , I mellowed a lot . I swear never to jump down any stairs bigger than 4 steps. I decided to be more technical like flips to grinds n slides....or maybe watch let my board sit underneath my ass while i torment my friends who are skating by bugging them to sit with me
