The Old Times - Gaming

I suddenly thot of bloggin tis, no idea y... Suddenly my mind is flooded wif memories of e old days...

I was born into a rich family, almost wif a gold spoon, but unfortunately, the good times ended be4 i even started to remember anything... So the times i started making memories, my family had already broken up, the richness was history...

My small little family (all females) was a slightly above average income family... But due to the breakup, we moved from one of e richest district in sg then, Katong, which i believe many of u duno tt place except the katong laksa... Lol... Funny leh, i tell u hor, e laksa then at tt district wasnt famous one lor... & moved to a relatively poor but quiet and peaceful neighbourhood, Yishun...

Most part of it was still like pulau ubin... Wif small fishing ponds n huts... I am not kidding!!! The channel 8 program, Good Morning Teacher (e famous Chen Liping (ai yoyo) and Li Nan Xing drama) was shot there...

And u noe wat, tt place was owned by my sis's fren's family... They then later on sold their land to e government and we said bye bye to tt place forever... I used to sneak in there to play... *wipes tears*

At tt time, there was no sembawang, woodlands, or watever... Sg just seemed to stop there... Then i am surrounded by forests one u noe... When i just moved there, there wasnt as many HBDs as now obviously... No such thing as condos unlike now... The district was still underdeveloped... No Northpt shopping centres, no golden village... Only buses, no MRT yet...

The nearest hang out is at AMK... Coz u noe AMK under who lah, so AMK was developed earlier...

Becoz of e move, my sis transfered fr a SAP pri sch to a neighbourhood one... The second best pri sch in Yishun then, e best there was Chong Fu (i think), but we couldnt get in... Well, coz we werent rich anymore and thereby not influencial enuff to get in... So we settled in Yishun Pri... She went 1st, i went kindergarden (no gd memories, only bad ones) coz we were 4 yrs apart...

I duno u remember or not, during my time, water guns were in trend suddenly... And the best one was like $50+, those giant ones tt u pump one time can shoot far far... The cheaper ones u got to pump like siao to shoot near near... Lol... The money is smaller then in case u dun remember...

I got the big big one... Hehehehe... And i put watercolor (often black) inside and sabo the kids in my neighbourhood... Muahahaha... I was a spoilt and evil kid then... I always bully ppl one... So now retribution lor, ppl bully me...

I grew up there much like a kampong kid... I play wif mud, spiders, insects, water, drains, go explore forests, new places, kill animals (sigh)... Aiyah, all those dirty dirty things wif e kids of e whole neighbourhood...

Very dangerous though, i anyhow eat fruits somemore... Lucky never die... Not to mention obviously we did many crazy things like jumping off e blk from e 3rd level... Now u ask me i also dun dare liao... Tis is one of e reasons y my body is actually covered in scars... Haha...

So next time dun let ur kids lidat... But then now they also no chance do these things liao lah... Where to find quick sand, quick mud now... I almost drowned in orange mud up to my neck... And had to go big drain wash myself... Then e boys all take off their clothes one... Lol... Then i wanted to sabo and took their clothes to hide... But gave them back in e end...

Sounds so much like e old movies...

Though e time was not long, but i was genuinely happy then... Though i got injured almost every other day, but i was happy... After a short 2 yrs, sg started to develop and Yishun too... Mrt came though stopped at our district coz they haven develop e rest of the line... Shoppin centre, cinema, etc... Reservoir was built, forests were cut down, big drains removed...

So it came to a pt tt kampong play days ended, and we could only roam about hdb buildings... Then i moved house again (i moved 4 times in yishun actually), then started to lead more similar lives as to u guys in pri sch... My pri 3 life onwards became normal hdb kid's life...

I still go catch spiders n all lah, jus tt not many places to explore liao... Oh, but i dun catch though, i merely follow e guys there... Then we go play somewhere else... But becoz of my old kampong nature, i would bring my grp go do dangerous but fun stuffs... I was a bad influence... Their parents always call my house ask where their children were one... Lol... But then i only wanted to share e fun mah...

Then daily games upgraded into digital gaming... At tt time hor, sg not many arcades, e nearest was again AMK... But for a 7 yr old to travel so far i dun get to do it very often, but sometimes got ppl bring me there... Also at tt time, only gangsters go arcades... Unless u wan to hook ah bengs, but i was too young, so i always kena ordered ard only... Lol...

But then hor, got money one leh... U help them hor (not do bad things lah, run errands like carry their things or convey message coz too noisy liao), sometimes i get $50 leh!!! Then i take cab go home then e gangsters would go somewhere else wif e girls... Duno they go where, i wonder now... Haha... They usually would give me money to go home coz its a burden to bring small kids ard... Then those gangsters rode motobikes in black leather outfits wif black sunglasses one leh... Very stylo then, but obiang now lah...

Those were e days... Now come to think about it so scary... Lucky they never sell me away... Haha...

So if u cannot or no money go arcade at tt pt, there is only 2 kinds of gaming systems at home... Not playstation or xbox, but sega and nintendo... But hor, they r so ex...

I was lucky to own Sega then... The 1st generation, big black box one... Then u slot e tape vertically... Then sometimes cannot detect u take e tape n blow at e chip, hit e machine a few times then can work... Haha...

But its not worth it at all... No such thing as memory card then... So i never managed to complete any of my games except one (which my guy fren n i completed after many of hrs in my place)... Then one tape is like between 60-90 bucks... Currency different then wor if u dun remember...

1 packet of food = $1.50, soft drinks = $0.60, yakult = $0.25, $1 ice cream = $0.60, normal ice cream = $0.30, MacDonalds one meal = $4, etc... So anything more than $50 is like so crazy...

I remembered i got alot of Sonic, 1, 2, 3, and duno wat versions they haf... But hor, Sonic play no ending one leh, i dun even noe got how many levels... Got one sonic hor, it gave me 99 lives... 99 leh!!! So confirm got many levels mah... So i wanted to find out and play for 18 hrs, but still wun finish one...

In e end, i gave up... Coz cannot save one... Then cannot pause e game forever mah, my mum dun allow... Even though sometimes i use Tails instead of Sonic and fly thru e whole game but still cannot finish... Damn it!!!

Then Street Fighters 1st gen came out... Then alot of guys crazy over it... Although i dun play, but my frenz come my house to play games everyday after sch, so i bought for them to play... See, i so nice hor... Haha...

Very sian one lor, u play one game till far far liao, then coz cannot save got to start all over again...

Then nintendo came up wif e memory card thingy and launched e cd rom kind... I didnt ugrade le coz my games cannot waste mah... Besides i play games everyday till i wan to puke liao... In e end my games i never touch, let my frenz use only... I started to go into collecting movies... Haha... If i sian i play wif e 1st gen Game Boy... E black n white thick thick one...

U noe hor, if u continuosly play gameboy for long hrs, e batteries would explode inside e Gameboy and crack e cover... Happened to my fren then... I not so hardcore then coz same thing cannot save one 1st gen... Scary... It hurt his fingers then...

Then got adapter to connect 2 players together, but nobody owned Gameboy then, in my neighbourhood... I think those rich kids all cannot go out one, tts y i duno them... Haha... Also i think they r all in EM1, i was from EM2, no rich kids one leh...

Then when home gaming became common n cheap, i already got so sick of it and moved on wif my life liao... There ends my gaming life, my primary sch days... Unless u count my occasional playing of Gameboy Color... Becoz tts e only old gaming device tt i still keep... Not my one somemore, belonged to one of my ex bfs... He never take back...

But also spoil liao lah, cannot save anymore...

If u r ard same age as me, and u duno wat e hell i was toking about... Either u never go out when young or you must be living in big houses (Urrgh)... I duno which part of sg u stayed, but i remembered every single thing tt happened then...

I had a wonderful childhood coz i go out everyday, and i made frenz wif everybody... Although my experiences would maybe scare many of the city kids away... But i seriously thot everybody shd go thru tt kampong childhood period... Learn alot one leh...

I totally changed also becoz of the things tt happened during my childhood... Maybe i would share more when i got e "feel" to blog about it... Got many many stories one u noe... Heh...

Sigh, but now every changed liao... Sobz...