Go Back To The Past
Go Back To The Past
This Post written for Cherie.
Almost could not wake up to have a much anticipated visit back to ACS Barker a few days ago. The thing is that, I still visit Barker and ACPS at least once a year, sometimes twice. Just to greet my former teacher as well as to keep tabs as to what is happening in the school that shaped my life for the first 10 years of it. I'm really happy now that the Primary and Barker schools are together on one campus back on nice Prime Land along Bukit Timah Road. And everytime I drive past that newly built Clocktower on my way to work. I feel so immensely priviledged to have been (mis?)educated within its hallowed halls. My life then was and still is a far cry from the one that I currently eek out.
Its been great to have been part of the "fundraising efforts" for my life as long as I can remember. I do remember that even in Primary 1, my form teacher thurst donation cards which totalled "280 Dollars" into our hands and told us to "do your part for the school". Yet again, so much time has passed that now, even my primary one form teacher cannot recognise me. It helps to a certain extent if you're the most naughty boy in class, because that will be a solid stoke on one's teacher's memory for as long as time to come. Being to too-good-boy doesn't really get me too far in this aspect. Then again, its ok. I now realise that I can actually say to any other ACS boy in school in a much philosophical fashion, "When I was your age in ACS, I did not have the chance to enjoy such good facilities". This is an oft repeated statement I've heard at least a few times each year in my life by some old boy waxing lyrical in one corner of the school.
Is ACS too rich? I hope we get richer that we can buy more land to rival Duh Sekolah Tenghi Cheena. Its been a pleasure to be part of the various carnivals as well as efforts at fundraising even after I have left Barker in 2000. The thing is that, I'm more attached to this "neighbourhood secondary school" than I am to the most nonsense college in the country. I find it particulary true to say that which secondary school you go to does play a huge part in influencing as well as shaping your perspectives in life. Perhaps at least till the age of 18? Maybe 21? That one is hard to say though. Come to think of it, when its like one and three quarters into the two years in ACJC. And when new people I meet still ask me "what secondary school are you from?". Perhaps it only goes to show that we never can completely shake off the identity our secondary school gives us.
The place feels strangely familiar, yet unfamiliar now in the New Barker Road Campus. Gone are the lack of parking spaces with a huge multi-storey carpark. Gone are the fields that on one side, the "Normal" guys would play catching with each other during recess. And on the "other side". It was restricted to membership of GEP-students-only. Gone is the memorable slope near the non-existing pond that I'd run down everyday after school. No longer seen is the two huge expanse of basketball courts in the quadrangle. The waiting area is no more. The Shaw pool is non-existent. And I can't find the badminton halls. So much has changed. Its a puzzling maze inside that school. I guess I can never shake off the open serendipity of the old campus as a good classmate skilled in the arts described as "A form of architecture with way too many triangles in it". No more is the library above the canteen - where'd we all rush to buy refried chicken rice everyday. Even the canteen vendors are different. Does anyone happen to remember Uncle Henry at stall no. 8? The drink stall? He's sold drinks in ACS for 36 years! And I remember him as being the very first person to show me a REAL black and white silver gelatin photo print from the 70s. Of course, the picture was of his "Number 8 Drinks Stall" in the Coleman Street Campus.
Now there stands a canteen where purchases are made with EZ-Link Cards. Architecture that is defnitely more futuristic than I would expect a school to have. Every inch of space has been maximised. The Clocktower feels just "too new" and its weird that the hands actually move to display the time correctly. The hall is a far cry from the dusty, sandy and loamy floor that I sat upon a decade ago in the former campus. There is even a water fountain somewhere at the equidistant intersection of three buildings in the center of the school. Yet some things never change: The primary school kids playing badminton. And getting freaked out when I point my camera in their direction. The school is a maze of staircases that go from one place to another seamlessly. The so called "haunted-house" of the Black and White variety has been demolished and annexed for more land space. The Clocktower is still build in the architecture similar to the old one. But the doors are all in the wrong places. The Spiral Staircase is now readily accesible. And one can go to the higher levels of the Clocktower.
I've only been into the Clocktower mainframe mechanism twice. Once in Secondary 1 and another time in Secondary 4. I sneaked up to the clocktower mainframe in secondary one. As I heard that from my brother that "my classmate's dad who owns/runs a watch shop is fixing the clocktower and you can go up there and see". True enough, the company fixing the mechanism was something along the lines of "The Hour Glass". And I thought, "How apt! A watch company with an outdated name fixing an outdated clock". I can now eat my words when I realise that Breguet watches are sold by them... And for the 2nd time, was just before the whole clocktower was demolished and the place was in a bad state of disrepair. Today the heart of that clockwork mechanism hangs as an emblem tribute to the past in public display to all.
I have far too many memories about my 10 years there to blog about. Maybe I'll go out and do what I can to recollect all these memories into a personal book of sorts. Or maybe somehow, I could rally a good number of school mates to each contribute a few of their most memorable stories and we could all join the printing machinese of the Vanity Press. Perhaps as another "Fundraising Venture?". Then again, I'll just describe a an incident that only goes to show, that the world around us is closer than we think it really is. That six degrees of separation might be applicable globally. At the same time, one or two degrees is enough locally. Just look at your friendster account.
I remember fondly after I got posted to Barker in secondary one. I had the usual introduction of teachers that ranged from English to Geography, Science to Mathematics. And Design and Technology plus "Home Economics" was to be taught at Thomson Secondary School (But that's a whole different story altogther!). I had been assigned a maths teacher called "Mr. Yip". Ok. He came into class on the first day, introduced himself as an ACS Boy. As well as saying that we can find him in the Shaw Pool as he'll be there most of the time. Most of his classes at first were pretty easy. Primary Six material. And he was a teacher we could all casually joke around as well as laugh at on a constant basis. I still remember getting like 45/50 for the very first test that he had set. It was laugably easy as the whole class all scored 42 marks and above for it. Then as the year drew on. He kinda "changed".
I remember him coming into class, with really short pants. And the guy who sat next to me in class once said. "I think Mr Yip wears ACS Pants. Got one time I saw the words 'ACS' sewed at the back of his shorts". I wondered if it was right. Only to be positively convinced when on that particular day, Mr. Yip walked into class with really short ACS Barker Road Secondary School shorts. Another guy in class, who wore really short shorts too laughed at him, saying, "Eh Sir! You trying to act gay is it?". And he was promptly sent out of class first. Not before doing like 20 push ups with a delayed "yes" to the question "Permission to Recover, Sir?". Mr. Yip, you see, was actually a teacher in charge of the NCC(Sea). And usually every now and then during assembly, we would hearing an announcement by him along the lines of:
"Will all the N-C-C-C boyz please assemble at the bleaches during recess today..." I couldnt' distinguished between the way he pronounced the letter "C" and the word "Sea". Another time, I remember he shouted into the microphone about our lackadasical standard of discipline with regards to our care of school facilities, notably with regards to the Shaw Pool.
"Cannot even take care of what the school gives you! Chicken Bones in the Shaw Pool somemore!". To this, my class found it utterly hilarious and laughed and laughed. I am guilty of throwing ice by the bucketful into the Shaw Pool. From the 2nd floor of the badminton court balcony as well. But Chicken Bones? The pepetrator must have had a good sense of nonsensical humour. Ok, this basically happened because there was to be a massive swimming pool clean up at that time and if I am not wrong, it was because St. Margaret's Secondary School wanted to use our swimming facilities a few days thereafter for their swimming meet. And I guess the Shaw Pool Administration (With Mr. Yip as one of the members) was horrified at the nonsense we were dumping into the pool.
I remember someone suggesting on the day St. Margaret's had their swimming carnival at the Shaw Pool. Some joker in class suggested during Mr. Yip's Maths class that "Eh Sir, we skip your lesson go to Shaw Pool and see see lah". To this he smiled at us and laughed for a while. Before barking an order asking the poor soul to do like somewhere along the lines of 50 push ups or so. And the rest of the class laughed. I believe that Mr. Yip was the one to suggested to locking up the gates that linked the Shaw Pool to the Shaw Block on the ACS Side to keep us out of the place. From the Shaw Block, this small gate would be a shortcut to enter the Shaw Pool, otherwise, one would have to walk out of school, walk down Barker Road to the main entrace to the Shaw Pool. On that day itself, It saw me climbing over the gate (no spikes) along with a few other like-minded ACS Boys, so that we could go to the lifeguard's office to "look at girls". Mr Yip was often found in the Lifeguard's Office, for some reason or other. And I often saw him eating at the Shaw Pool Canteen instead of the school canteen. And the Shaw Pool Canteen Auntie often tried to rip us off by returning us a few cents less than our actual change. With the closure of the old Barker Road campus, it saw two of the Uncles in the Shaw Pool who would do quite a good deal of the cooking, migrating over to ACJC in one of the canteen stalls which is the holder of the "least ridiculous name" of them all.
Mr. Yip was a very interesting Maths Teacher. To be honest, he didn't really do much teaching. I think he safely banked on the fact that most of the stuff in secondary one is just a rehash of the primary six syllabus at that time. Later in the year, his classes would let say start at about 10.30. And in those days, one period was half an hour. Mr. Yip would ALWAYS come at least 5-15 minutes late. Without fail. I think the mean was like 10 minutes of being "delayed". So usually we took this time to copy any homework from each other that was due to be passed up. Not that he cared anyway.
And usually when he came into class. We would stand up to give him his monotonous greeting, "Goooooo. Moooooorning.... Sir!". And then before we could sit down. He would start shouting. "Why is the classroom so dirty! Monitor! Who is on duty to clean up the classroom today?". After a bit of fumbling on the part of the monitor who would point out the guilty parties who had not swept the classroom during recess. The guilty parties would usually rush to one corner of the class to retrieve brooms and to start doing their work. HOWEVER. Most of the time before this could happen, Mr Yip would tell everyone, "Ok everyone! Push Up position Down!". Well, when he's in charge of NCC. I guess the Stupidity, Senselessness and Sadism of the "21st Century Army" somehow gets into his brain to think that we are all a bunch of 13 year old recruits in the Island of Doom who are about to undergo Obedience Training. And it would happen almost every lesson! I think we did so many push ups that year during maths class that some of my classmates in the NCC boasted that for every regular push up we guys could do. They could do one Diamond Push Up. So sado-masochistic.
I thought "What's the big deal with a diamond push up?". So I got into the position. Went down. And didn't come up after my nose smashed into the floor. (Hahahaha!)
Mondays would be especially funny. On Mondays, we had to wear our ties for Chapel. And leave it on until recess time. And Mr. Yip's class would be just before recess. So on mondays, the sight of having's one's tie scrape the classroom floor was quite a common sight indeed. And often, Mr. Yip would "pump us at least 20". Over a time of about 10 minutes. So he'd say, "DOWN!" and we'll count "ONE!" or maybe "THIRTEEEEEEN!". And then it would be repeated about 30 seconds later. Its not too hard to do 20 regular push ups at that time I guess. What made it difficult would be that the upper arm joints would cramp or else just have this gradual build up of pain in the shoulders that made it difficult for us to "keep our butts in the air". There was much laughter in between the push ups even as we were "tormented" by our Maths Teacher from "Mindless Oblivion". And the fact that Mr. Yip's back was sometimes facing us as he was writing something on the whiteboard and said "DOWN!". No one in class would go down, but all of us would count as if we had done the push up. Only to finish up with much more laughter. Sometimes, those who sat in the corner of the class was spared doing any push ups because by virtue of the placement of the desks, they were effectively camouflaged and well-hidden from the prying eyes of the Mathematical Drill Instructor.
Usually before class ended each time. Mr. Yip would assign us some work to do from our Maths textbook. He'd write something like "TB Page 27-29, Ex 7a and 8b Exercise Book". And then walk out of class. This was to be done in our Maths exercise books and handed up to him the next day. Supposedly. But he hardly ever collected any work from us, prefering that "we mark among ourselves". The best thing is that since the answers for the questions can be found at the back of the Textbook. I'd just take note of what the final answers were. Nod my head thorought class and act like I did my work well. And usually, because we did so many push ups over the span of 10 to 15 minutes. Plus that fact that Mr. Yip always comes late for class by an average of 10 minutes. Our 30 minute period has effectively lost 25 minutes of time doing mindless things like sweeping the classroom floor as well as "work practise" with push ups on the classroom floor.
The remaining Five Minutes? Oh well, Mr. Yip have us all sit down and settle down. And then ask the monitor, "What work I assign you to do yesterday ah?". And then after that, he would flip to the BACK OF THE TEXTBOOK, look forthe answers for say "Exercise 7a and 8b" and copy them down on the whiteboard. Turning around, he would proclaim, "There, here's your answers for yesterday's questions. Mark among youselves. No questions right?". And then he'd scoot out of class! Usually we didn't mind since he was a welcome reprieve from the drudgery of Chinese Lessons later in the day. And I guess everyone's mum and dad was happy with the son bringing home scores of 45/50 for every maths test they took.
My first so-called face to face meeting with Mr. Yip, outside the context of the classroom was actually on the day of my Mid-Year mathematics examination. Not that we were worried. But a few of my more adventurous classmates and I decided to tackle some of the supposedly more "challenging questions" in the Maths Textbook. And when we could not solve them, we panicked and decided to look for Mr. Yip. Guess where we found him? At the Shaw Pool eating his lunch facing the swimming pool. So we descended upon his table like a flock of crows and asked him. "Eh Sir! How to solve this question". He looked at the question in our textbook, tried to solve it on a few scraps of rough paper he had from his Shaw Pool Administration and then when he could not. He mumbled to us in-between chewing down his lunch,
"I don't know how to solve it. But I know that my daughter can...."
And then one of my classmates said. "Woah Sir! You got daughter ah! How old ah?!"
"Same as you, Sec One..."
"Then from what school one ah?"
"MGS"
Ok, once again, you must be reminded that MGS is the "Preferred Girls' School" from my batch. And that's at least the way I experienced it. Hey its kinda true when her, her and her are all from MGS. And since I guess most of us had this high esteem of MGS girls. I too was like, "Woah! MGS girl!". If you compare the contrast in average intelligence by the Law of Averages with MGS girls and ACS (Barker) Boys. Its like having an Unsharp Mask running at 500% with a radii of 2.1 and a threshold of 8. So, our conversation on "Mr. Yip's Daughter's" continued for a while, for which I've only chosen to extract this part of the conversation. With many more jokes. I was thinking to myself that if Mr. Yip cannot solve this question, and that his daughter can solve it (since Mr. Yip recognised the question and claimed that his daughter had solved it for him once before). I came to the conclusion that: (1) MGS Girls are damn smart. (2) Mr. Yip's daughter must be damn smart. And to be honest, I've only had excellent impressions of MGS girls, even till this date.
This was the time of the tamagotchi craze. Even in class after this. Mr. Yip would very occasionally crack jokes about "Who wants to be my Son-In-Law?" To which I guess the general consensus was "Um......No one?... Hahahahaha!". And before the year was out, I believe that Mr. Yip was transferred out of ACS to teach somewhere else. And then my memory of him fades into oblivion somewhere around here. So we skip the track of time a few year forward. To the time of the Most Nonsense College In The Country. My first class so-called party-cum-gathering. To bid a fellow classmate goodbye as she would be leaving to further her studies abroad. And it was like, the first successful class gathering after a few failed attempts in the first 5 months prior to that. My class didn't really gel well or bond together until our 2nd year. So in a sense, this former classmate of mine did start off the spark to fire off the binding energy process that is now seen in class gatherings as and when we can meet up altogether again.
I had the chance to meet a very nice girl called Cherie at this particular class party. A very good friend of my former classmate. And indeed, Cherie's a very pleasant person and I learn that she was from ONE SCONE. The Premier Triple-Science Class. The so-called pyramid tip of the Upper Echelon Classes in ACJC, only rivaled by the SAI class (1SA1 - Double Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics) and the SBONES (1SB1 - Double Science with Economics). One fine day along the corridors of ACJC. One of my F-Maths tutors laughed loudly in the corridor when he had his own form of Nirvana proclaiming "SG1 is the class of the Super Gundoos!" (SG - 3 Subject Combi). I also learn that she was from the Student's Council. A very nice person. And I think that Flowers In The Window by Travis is such a nice song. No less recommended to me by the person who proclaimed, "Cherie's from ONE SCONE Leh! And in student council somemore". And I didn't think much of it at that time, just giving her a casual wave every now and then that I had the chance to pass her by in school. And see her in CF once in a while whilst I was in JC2. The SCONE class is a great class in terms of Christian Spiritual support. And I respect them, despite what their many detractors in school keep harping about.
And maybe in life, the only way we can be fair to everyone. Is to be unfair to some.
Time flies very fast. This was so many years ago. And I could only join the dots recently when I realised that Cherie was my mei's OGL in ACJC. And one fine day, when somehow I surfed onto her blog. I found a picture of her family. And guess who is the Man of the House?
Mr. Yip.
I jaw fell as all those memories just joined together instantaneously and my thoughts were suddenly straightened out and a realisation just struck me. That this world is really smaller than we think. And its really by pure serendipity that I have the chance to know Mr. Yip in the capacity of a nonsense secondary school maths teacher at Barker and Cherie as a really nice person who has always given me an excellent impression of herself as far as I know her. Its strange that I know realise that the "mysterious Mr. Yip's daugther", has been a person I give a smile and a wave to every now and then in school. Amazing. The world is smaller than I think. And suprisingly more connected than I expect. I think this happens all the time, just that, well, maybe its because its all the more memorable in the context of a nonsense mathematics teacher having a daughter who can solve a question he couldn't.
The last time I saw Mr. Yip was quite a long time ago, maybe 8 months or so. Near the Singapore Dragonboat Federation? He still wore short shorts...So... Sigh. I guess some things never change.
In closing, maybe this isn't such a good post. Then again, I find it somewhat midly amusing in a personal sense. And thought that I'd just share it. Besides, I did promise to write something dedicated to Cherie quite a while back. In any case, definitely a unique memory that traversed two schools, an internet revolution, personal memories as well as experiences. In any case, Cherie, when you read this. God bless you and your family. And all the best for your studies.
This Post written for Cherie.
Almost could not wake up to have a much anticipated visit back to ACS Barker a few days ago. The thing is that, I still visit Barker and ACPS at least once a year, sometimes twice. Just to greet my former teacher as well as to keep tabs as to what is happening in the school that shaped my life for the first 10 years of it. I'm really happy now that the Primary and Barker schools are together on one campus back on nice Prime Land along Bukit Timah Road. And everytime I drive past that newly built Clocktower on my way to work. I feel so immensely priviledged to have been (mis?)educated within its hallowed halls. My life then was and still is a far cry from the one that I currently eek out.
Its been great to have been part of the "fundraising efforts" for my life as long as I can remember. I do remember that even in Primary 1, my form teacher thurst donation cards which totalled "280 Dollars" into our hands and told us to "do your part for the school". Yet again, so much time has passed that now, even my primary one form teacher cannot recognise me. It helps to a certain extent if you're the most naughty boy in class, because that will be a solid stoke on one's teacher's memory for as long as time to come. Being to too-good-boy doesn't really get me too far in this aspect. Then again, its ok. I now realise that I can actually say to any other ACS boy in school in a much philosophical fashion, "When I was your age in ACS, I did not have the chance to enjoy such good facilities". This is an oft repeated statement I've heard at least a few times each year in my life by some old boy waxing lyrical in one corner of the school.
Is ACS too rich? I hope we get richer that we can buy more land to rival Duh Sekolah Tenghi Cheena. Its been a pleasure to be part of the various carnivals as well as efforts at fundraising even after I have left Barker in 2000. The thing is that, I'm more attached to this "neighbourhood secondary school" than I am to the most nonsense college in the country. I find it particulary true to say that which secondary school you go to does play a huge part in influencing as well as shaping your perspectives in life. Perhaps at least till the age of 18? Maybe 21? That one is hard to say though. Come to think of it, when its like one and three quarters into the two years in ACJC. And when new people I meet still ask me "what secondary school are you from?". Perhaps it only goes to show that we never can completely shake off the identity our secondary school gives us.
The place feels strangely familiar, yet unfamiliar now in the New Barker Road Campus. Gone are the lack of parking spaces with a huge multi-storey carpark. Gone are the fields that on one side, the "Normal" guys would play catching with each other during recess. And on the "other side". It was restricted to membership of GEP-students-only. Gone is the memorable slope near the non-existing pond that I'd run down everyday after school. No longer seen is the two huge expanse of basketball courts in the quadrangle. The waiting area is no more. The Shaw pool is non-existent. And I can't find the badminton halls. So much has changed. Its a puzzling maze inside that school. I guess I can never shake off the open serendipity of the old campus as a good classmate skilled in the arts described as "A form of architecture with way too many triangles in it". No more is the library above the canteen - where'd we all rush to buy refried chicken rice everyday. Even the canteen vendors are different. Does anyone happen to remember Uncle Henry at stall no. 8? The drink stall? He's sold drinks in ACS for 36 years! And I remember him as being the very first person to show me a REAL black and white silver gelatin photo print from the 70s. Of course, the picture was of his "Number 8 Drinks Stall" in the Coleman Street Campus.
Now there stands a canteen where purchases are made with EZ-Link Cards. Architecture that is defnitely more futuristic than I would expect a school to have. Every inch of space has been maximised. The Clocktower feels just "too new" and its weird that the hands actually move to display the time correctly. The hall is a far cry from the dusty, sandy and loamy floor that I sat upon a decade ago in the former campus. There is even a water fountain somewhere at the equidistant intersection of three buildings in the center of the school. Yet some things never change: The primary school kids playing badminton. And getting freaked out when I point my camera in their direction. The school is a maze of staircases that go from one place to another seamlessly. The so called "haunted-house" of the Black and White variety has been demolished and annexed for more land space. The Clocktower is still build in the architecture similar to the old one. But the doors are all in the wrong places. The Spiral Staircase is now readily accesible. And one can go to the higher levels of the Clocktower.
I've only been into the Clocktower mainframe mechanism twice. Once in Secondary 1 and another time in Secondary 4. I sneaked up to the clocktower mainframe in secondary one. As I heard that from my brother that "my classmate's dad who owns/runs a watch shop is fixing the clocktower and you can go up there and see". True enough, the company fixing the mechanism was something along the lines of "The Hour Glass". And I thought, "How apt! A watch company with an outdated name fixing an outdated clock". I can now eat my words when I realise that Breguet watches are sold by them... And for the 2nd time, was just before the whole clocktower was demolished and the place was in a bad state of disrepair. Today the heart of that clockwork mechanism hangs as an emblem tribute to the past in public display to all.
I have far too many memories about my 10 years there to blog about. Maybe I'll go out and do what I can to recollect all these memories into a personal book of sorts. Or maybe somehow, I could rally a good number of school mates to each contribute a few of their most memorable stories and we could all join the printing machinese of the Vanity Press. Perhaps as another "Fundraising Venture?". Then again, I'll just describe a an incident that only goes to show, that the world around us is closer than we think it really is. That six degrees of separation might be applicable globally. At the same time, one or two degrees is enough locally. Just look at your friendster account.
I remember fondly after I got posted to Barker in secondary one. I had the usual introduction of teachers that ranged from English to Geography, Science to Mathematics. And Design and Technology plus "Home Economics" was to be taught at Thomson Secondary School (But that's a whole different story altogther!). I had been assigned a maths teacher called "Mr. Yip". Ok. He came into class on the first day, introduced himself as an ACS Boy. As well as saying that we can find him in the Shaw Pool as he'll be there most of the time. Most of his classes at first were pretty easy. Primary Six material. And he was a teacher we could all casually joke around as well as laugh at on a constant basis. I still remember getting like 45/50 for the very first test that he had set. It was laugably easy as the whole class all scored 42 marks and above for it. Then as the year drew on. He kinda "changed".
I remember him coming into class, with really short pants. And the guy who sat next to me in class once said. "I think Mr Yip wears ACS Pants. Got one time I saw the words 'ACS' sewed at the back of his shorts". I wondered if it was right. Only to be positively convinced when on that particular day, Mr. Yip walked into class with really short ACS Barker Road Secondary School shorts. Another guy in class, who wore really short shorts too laughed at him, saying, "Eh Sir! You trying to act gay is it?". And he was promptly sent out of class first. Not before doing like 20 push ups with a delayed "yes" to the question "Permission to Recover, Sir?". Mr. Yip, you see, was actually a teacher in charge of the NCC(Sea). And usually every now and then during assembly, we would hearing an announcement by him along the lines of:
"Will all the N-C-C-C boyz please assemble at the bleaches during recess today..." I couldnt' distinguished between the way he pronounced the letter "C" and the word "Sea". Another time, I remember he shouted into the microphone about our lackadasical standard of discipline with regards to our care of school facilities, notably with regards to the Shaw Pool.
"Cannot even take care of what the school gives you! Chicken Bones in the Shaw Pool somemore!". To this, my class found it utterly hilarious and laughed and laughed. I am guilty of throwing ice by the bucketful into the Shaw Pool. From the 2nd floor of the badminton court balcony as well. But Chicken Bones? The pepetrator must have had a good sense of nonsensical humour. Ok, this basically happened because there was to be a massive swimming pool clean up at that time and if I am not wrong, it was because St. Margaret's Secondary School wanted to use our swimming facilities a few days thereafter for their swimming meet. And I guess the Shaw Pool Administration (With Mr. Yip as one of the members) was horrified at the nonsense we were dumping into the pool.
I remember someone suggesting on the day St. Margaret's had their swimming carnival at the Shaw Pool. Some joker in class suggested during Mr. Yip's Maths class that "Eh Sir, we skip your lesson go to Shaw Pool and see see lah". To this he smiled at us and laughed for a while. Before barking an order asking the poor soul to do like somewhere along the lines of 50 push ups or so. And the rest of the class laughed. I believe that Mr. Yip was the one to suggested to locking up the gates that linked the Shaw Pool to the Shaw Block on the ACS Side to keep us out of the place. From the Shaw Block, this small gate would be a shortcut to enter the Shaw Pool, otherwise, one would have to walk out of school, walk down Barker Road to the main entrace to the Shaw Pool. On that day itself, It saw me climbing over the gate (no spikes) along with a few other like-minded ACS Boys, so that we could go to the lifeguard's office to "look at girls". Mr Yip was often found in the Lifeguard's Office, for some reason or other. And I often saw him eating at the Shaw Pool Canteen instead of the school canteen. And the Shaw Pool Canteen Auntie often tried to rip us off by returning us a few cents less than our actual change. With the closure of the old Barker Road campus, it saw two of the Uncles in the Shaw Pool who would do quite a good deal of the cooking, migrating over to ACJC in one of the canteen stalls which is the holder of the "least ridiculous name" of them all.
Mr. Yip was a very interesting Maths Teacher. To be honest, he didn't really do much teaching. I think he safely banked on the fact that most of the stuff in secondary one is just a rehash of the primary six syllabus at that time. Later in the year, his classes would let say start at about 10.30. And in those days, one period was half an hour. Mr. Yip would ALWAYS come at least 5-15 minutes late. Without fail. I think the mean was like 10 minutes of being "delayed". So usually we took this time to copy any homework from each other that was due to be passed up. Not that he cared anyway.
And usually when he came into class. We would stand up to give him his monotonous greeting, "Goooooo. Moooooorning.... Sir!". And then before we could sit down. He would start shouting. "Why is the classroom so dirty! Monitor! Who is on duty to clean up the classroom today?". After a bit of fumbling on the part of the monitor who would point out the guilty parties who had not swept the classroom during recess. The guilty parties would usually rush to one corner of the class to retrieve brooms and to start doing their work. HOWEVER. Most of the time before this could happen, Mr Yip would tell everyone, "Ok everyone! Push Up position Down!". Well, when he's in charge of NCC. I guess the Stupidity, Senselessness and Sadism of the "21st Century Army" somehow gets into his brain to think that we are all a bunch of 13 year old recruits in the Island of Doom who are about to undergo Obedience Training. And it would happen almost every lesson! I think we did so many push ups that year during maths class that some of my classmates in the NCC boasted that for every regular push up we guys could do. They could do one Diamond Push Up. So sado-masochistic.
I thought "What's the big deal with a diamond push up?". So I got into the position. Went down. And didn't come up after my nose smashed into the floor. (Hahahaha!)
Mondays would be especially funny. On Mondays, we had to wear our ties for Chapel. And leave it on until recess time. And Mr. Yip's class would be just before recess. So on mondays, the sight of having's one's tie scrape the classroom floor was quite a common sight indeed. And often, Mr. Yip would "pump us at least 20". Over a time of about 10 minutes. So he'd say, "DOWN!" and we'll count "ONE!" or maybe "THIRTEEEEEEN!". And then it would be repeated about 30 seconds later. Its not too hard to do 20 regular push ups at that time I guess. What made it difficult would be that the upper arm joints would cramp or else just have this gradual build up of pain in the shoulders that made it difficult for us to "keep our butts in the air". There was much laughter in between the push ups even as we were "tormented" by our Maths Teacher from "Mindless Oblivion". And the fact that Mr. Yip's back was sometimes facing us as he was writing something on the whiteboard and said "DOWN!". No one in class would go down, but all of us would count as if we had done the push up. Only to finish up with much more laughter. Sometimes, those who sat in the corner of the class was spared doing any push ups because by virtue of the placement of the desks, they were effectively camouflaged and well-hidden from the prying eyes of the Mathematical Drill Instructor.
Usually before class ended each time. Mr. Yip would assign us some work to do from our Maths textbook. He'd write something like "TB Page 27-29, Ex 7a and 8b Exercise Book". And then walk out of class. This was to be done in our Maths exercise books and handed up to him the next day. Supposedly. But he hardly ever collected any work from us, prefering that "we mark among ourselves". The best thing is that since the answers for the questions can be found at the back of the Textbook. I'd just take note of what the final answers were. Nod my head thorought class and act like I did my work well. And usually, because we did so many push ups over the span of 10 to 15 minutes. Plus that fact that Mr. Yip always comes late for class by an average of 10 minutes. Our 30 minute period has effectively lost 25 minutes of time doing mindless things like sweeping the classroom floor as well as "work practise" with push ups on the classroom floor.
The remaining Five Minutes? Oh well, Mr. Yip have us all sit down and settle down. And then ask the monitor, "What work I assign you to do yesterday ah?". And then after that, he would flip to the BACK OF THE TEXTBOOK, look forthe answers for say "Exercise 7a and 8b" and copy them down on the whiteboard. Turning around, he would proclaim, "There, here's your answers for yesterday's questions. Mark among youselves. No questions right?". And then he'd scoot out of class! Usually we didn't mind since he was a welcome reprieve from the drudgery of Chinese Lessons later in the day. And I guess everyone's mum and dad was happy with the son bringing home scores of 45/50 for every maths test they took.
My first so-called face to face meeting with Mr. Yip, outside the context of the classroom was actually on the day of my Mid-Year mathematics examination. Not that we were worried. But a few of my more adventurous classmates and I decided to tackle some of the supposedly more "challenging questions" in the Maths Textbook. And when we could not solve them, we panicked and decided to look for Mr. Yip. Guess where we found him? At the Shaw Pool eating his lunch facing the swimming pool. So we descended upon his table like a flock of crows and asked him. "Eh Sir! How to solve this question". He looked at the question in our textbook, tried to solve it on a few scraps of rough paper he had from his Shaw Pool Administration and then when he could not. He mumbled to us in-between chewing down his lunch,
"I don't know how to solve it. But I know that my daughter can...."
And then one of my classmates said. "Woah Sir! You got daughter ah! How old ah?!"
"Same as you, Sec One..."
"Then from what school one ah?"
"MGS"
Ok, once again, you must be reminded that MGS is the "Preferred Girls' School" from my batch. And that's at least the way I experienced it. Hey its kinda true when her, her and her are all from MGS. And since I guess most of us had this high esteem of MGS girls. I too was like, "Woah! MGS girl!". If you compare the contrast in average intelligence by the Law of Averages with MGS girls and ACS (Barker) Boys. Its like having an Unsharp Mask running at 500% with a radii of 2.1 and a threshold of 8. So, our conversation on "Mr. Yip's Daughter's" continued for a while, for which I've only chosen to extract this part of the conversation. With many more jokes. I was thinking to myself that if Mr. Yip cannot solve this question, and that his daughter can solve it (since Mr. Yip recognised the question and claimed that his daughter had solved it for him once before). I came to the conclusion that: (1) MGS Girls are damn smart. (2) Mr. Yip's daughter must be damn smart. And to be honest, I've only had excellent impressions of MGS girls, even till this date.
This was the time of the tamagotchi craze. Even in class after this. Mr. Yip would very occasionally crack jokes about "Who wants to be my Son-In-Law?" To which I guess the general consensus was "Um......No one?... Hahahahaha!". And before the year was out, I believe that Mr. Yip was transferred out of ACS to teach somewhere else. And then my memory of him fades into oblivion somewhere around here. So we skip the track of time a few year forward. To the time of the Most Nonsense College In The Country. My first class so-called party-cum-gathering. To bid a fellow classmate goodbye as she would be leaving to further her studies abroad. And it was like, the first successful class gathering after a few failed attempts in the first 5 months prior to that. My class didn't really gel well or bond together until our 2nd year. So in a sense, this former classmate of mine did start off the spark to fire off the binding energy process that is now seen in class gatherings as and when we can meet up altogether again.
I had the chance to meet a very nice girl called Cherie at this particular class party. A very good friend of my former classmate. And indeed, Cherie's a very pleasant person and I learn that she was from ONE SCONE. The Premier Triple-Science Class. The so-called pyramid tip of the Upper Echelon Classes in ACJC, only rivaled by the SAI class (1SA1 - Double Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics) and the SBONES (1SB1 - Double Science with Economics). One fine day along the corridors of ACJC. One of my F-Maths tutors laughed loudly in the corridor when he had his own form of Nirvana proclaiming "SG1 is the class of the Super Gundoos!" (SG - 3 Subject Combi). I also learn that she was from the Student's Council. A very nice person. And I think that Flowers In The Window by Travis is such a nice song. No less recommended to me by the person who proclaimed, "Cherie's from ONE SCONE Leh! And in student council somemore". And I didn't think much of it at that time, just giving her a casual wave every now and then that I had the chance to pass her by in school. And see her in CF once in a while whilst I was in JC2. The SCONE class is a great class in terms of Christian Spiritual support. And I respect them, despite what their many detractors in school keep harping about.
And maybe in life, the only way we can be fair to everyone. Is to be unfair to some.
Time flies very fast. This was so many years ago. And I could only join the dots recently when I realised that Cherie was my mei's OGL in ACJC. And one fine day, when somehow I surfed onto her blog. I found a picture of her family. And guess who is the Man of the House?
Mr. Yip.
I jaw fell as all those memories just joined together instantaneously and my thoughts were suddenly straightened out and a realisation just struck me. That this world is really smaller than we think. And its really by pure serendipity that I have the chance to know Mr. Yip in the capacity of a nonsense secondary school maths teacher at Barker and Cherie as a really nice person who has always given me an excellent impression of herself as far as I know her. Its strange that I know realise that the "mysterious Mr. Yip's daugther", has been a person I give a smile and a wave to every now and then in school. Amazing. The world is smaller than I think. And suprisingly more connected than I expect. I think this happens all the time, just that, well, maybe its because its all the more memorable in the context of a nonsense mathematics teacher having a daughter who can solve a question he couldn't.
The last time I saw Mr. Yip was quite a long time ago, maybe 8 months or so. Near the Singapore Dragonboat Federation? He still wore short shorts...So... Sigh. I guess some things never change.
In closing, maybe this isn't such a good post. Then again, I find it somewhat midly amusing in a personal sense. And thought that I'd just share it. Besides, I did promise to write something dedicated to Cherie quite a while back. In any case, definitely a unique memory that traversed two schools, an internet revolution, personal memories as well as experiences. In any case, Cherie, when you read this. God bless you and your family. And all the best for your studies.
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