2009 - The years' before

1969

(1) Man landed on the moon
(2) Maiden flight for Boeing 747
(3) The year of the Woodstock festival
(4) Richard Nixon becomes President of the United States

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Brain - Baby Brain nicknamed Mr Magoo (as coined by some relatives!) was born in this fateful year. May 13 was a difficult period in Malaysian history, but Baby Brain was safely tucked away in peaceful Taiping

Pinky - Non existent yet (hehe)











1979

(1) Iran hostage crisis
(2) Star Trek is launched
(3) Invasion of Afganistan by USSR
(4) Visicalc - World's first spreadsheet program (oh yes, I remember this one !)
(5) Brain - Standard 4 trying to adapt to the new school in Johor Bahru
(6) Pinky - Kindergarden

Brain - My family started our life in Johor Bahru where my papa was transferred while he was with Inland Revenue then. It was quite different in lifestyle as JB was relatively much smaller then Penang. The place was vast but very few buildings. Somehow, mosquitoes were more prevalent then the little island in the northwest of Malaysia. In addition, I have to go school on Sunday as the state weekend fell on Fridays and Saturdays! Having said that, JB had a major attraction in the form of Singapore. Given that the exchange rate was RM1.02 to SGD1.00, weekly trips to Singapore has become a norm. But due to unfamiliarity with roads (No GPS then) in Singapore, our movements were restricted to Woodlands, Bukit Timah, Lucky Plaza and Plaza Singapura in Orchard Road. It was only on 1 May 1979, we actually bought a map and went around the island the whole day resulting in 'extension' to our destination choices like Katong and Toa Payoh.

1989

(1) Tiananmen protest in China
(2) End of Cold War
(3) George Bush succeed the US Presidency
(4) I M Pei's pyramidal entrance to the Louvre opens in Paris France
(5) Billy Joel has a new hit - We Didn't Start The Fire (The song kept on ringing in my ears as I was preparing for my History paper A level exams !)
(6) Brain - Struggling with the impending A-Level examinations
(7) Pinky - Counting how many As she is going to get in the then SRP exams

Brain - Much as I was stressed out to perform so as to get the university of choice, life at the junior college in Singapore was indeed memorable. A-levels was the time I took subjects that I loved rather than being succumbed to peer and 'social' pressure. Humanities subjects like Economics, History and English Literature were such 'refreshing' topics as compared to 'stuffy' Physics, Biology and Chemistry.

1999

(1) Opening of Mid Valley Megamall and Petronas Twin Towers
(2) World population hits 6 billion people
(3) Anwar arrested
(4) Lance Armstrong won his first Tour de France
(5) Brain working like a dog as a manager in the accounting firm
(6) Pinky considering career change

Brain - 1999 was a period of economic and political uncertainty in Malaysia. Likewise for me careerwise - was toying between career move to a bank or continue with CPA firm with a secondment to Sydney office. Alas, both never happened ! In any case, Pinky and I did heaps of local road travelling ranging from Cherating to Singapore together.

2009

Hmmm......whats ahead.....seems like deja vu as we move into the downward slope of the economic curve again. Anyway, I hope I can spend enough time with my family. Jeremy has grown so fast and with a blink of an eye, he is already 2 1/2 years old. Certainly, I hope I can be as engaging as a father should be to ensure he has a memorable childhood !