Monday, January 29, 2007

Tadika time

To kak teh, here is the tadika story i owe u earlier.

I had a fun-tastic Kindergarten year. If i really close my eyes and think about it, i can actually see myself back in that tadika. It was those years in the age of innocence.



U get to feel like Axel Frog doing silly things in tadika...





Everything seemed like so uncomplicated. We learnt many nursery rhymes, singing together, playing together, and it was my 1st ever formal education. We were taught on ABC, huruf jawi, muqaddam, simple english, and basic numbers. At 6 yrs old, i can read and write. It's not that big deal really, certainly not in the genius kid group either. But at least, it made my darjah satu year a lot easy.

Earlier today, one of my tadika (kindergarten) songs came into my mind. Probably i wasnt in a really good mood or something....u know la those time of the month plus this stupid issue on insurance car settlement. Bengang giler dgn diorg nih....i call this person citer lain, and then bila call another 1 of the same company citer lain gak....hangin betul!!!!!! so i tried to pull meself together to remain cool, calm and collected as much as possible. Lagu tadika ni we sang before we leave home and it goes something like this:

Terima kasih, terima kasih,

kepada cikgu dan juga rakan,

Saya dah penat,

Say dah penat,

Saya mahu lah pulang....

*******************************************************************************

I used to follow University Challenge, a quiz program mainly for undergraduates and postgraduates university students in the UK and is shown on BBC 2 every Tuesday night at 8.30pm during each university term. Back in 1997 during my undergraduate years, i lived with 4 other malay students in a 5 bedroom house. We all shared one tv set and so i dont get to watch this program every week unless i was alone in the house or if the rest of the housemates had other things to do in their own room.

However, during my PhD years (i skipped masters, only did PhD and bachelor degree), I lived on my own, with my own tv, hence i got to choose my own programs! Yea for the love of god, finally i can have things my way including which tv channel i wanna watch and so on. Nevertheless, i still had fun living in a shared house though we had to compromise and share many things together.

OK back to my PhD years. I have been religiously watching University Challenge almost every Tuesday. But the season i remembered the most was autumn 2004-summer 2005 season.

That pic below shows Jeremy Paxman, the show host, standing in the middle of 4 Corpus Christi lads who won in that aforementioned season. The guy, Mariani, sitting second from the left was chosen as the best contestant, having answered the most questions right. I still dunno what is his origin, but he does look oriental (far east) to me. It was fun watching those nerds helping each other during the bonus questions, which are the extra point set of questions each group will get when one of them buzzed and answered each of the main questions correctly. Jeremy Paxman, a well known BBC TV personality, is known for his acid tongue and annoying questions he wud normally ask during "an interrogation" session with some politicians or certain well-known figures. However, he did make me laugh on many occassions. People say he is scary and in your face but i think that has made him a household name for quite a number of years since he began his tv appearance.

You almost certain will not find a goodlooking contestant in this program, but i am impressed at many of them who managed to answer some mindboggling questions. They have to be quick and precise and must listen very carefully to every Paxman's fast-paced questions.



I can still remember its theme tune.

10 comments:

The Pisces Man said...

Ha ha, can't imagine you with that helmet and goggles.

ManaL said...

Lerrrr... Abdun, not exactly that frog's attire laaa...it's the carefree and finding whatever things around u fun, even playing with pasir can be fun tau masa tu....

pugly said...

My kindy years were the best! Lukis, makan, tido, nyanyi, makan lagi! Why can't we do that anymore ... ? *sniffs*

ManaL said...

Ye la pugly...i forgot that melukis and kaler2 thingies...
We even walked in pairs everytime cikgu took us for some outings. And we like running around too, climbing and sometimes we fell on our knees and elbows and cikgu will clean those bruises,patched them up with plasters and we continued playing as usual....sigh......hakuna matata.

Lollies said...

oohh salam

saya tidak merasa pula ke kindergarten. alangkah ruginya

~ GAB ~ said...

My kindy year? I never had one. All I remember, I had to follow my grandma and grandpa tapping rubber trees whilst no one to take care of me at home. I'd walk right behind them before sunrise. And I enjoyed seeing the yellowish of light coming out amidst the rubber trees.

ManaL said...

lollies,

salam...but i'm sure u had had ur own fun-tastic pre-primary years...for me, tadika was one of the "proper" way of meeting more kids in the neighbourhood.

Gab,

Sir, what u had was probably much worth the experience than us mere city/urban kids. A good morning exercise too besides those bonding moments with ur grandparents :-)

~ GAB ~ said...

It has been a while since last updated for your blog. I do come here often checking.

ManaL said...

Sir, thanks for the concern. I was thinking of writing something today to secure the feb's entry. Wasnt in the mood of sharing stuff this month. Arguments in family and so on. But i am fine, thx so much for your kind thoughts.

Unknown said...

I have to disagree with you there: Mariani was (and is - I've seen him around London lately) very beautiful in person, as was Ivan Polancec, his counterpart on the UCL team that went up against CCO in the final. Pete Hinstridge, the UCL team captain, was extremely handsome, and if you like fey types, Nick sharp made an impression. The remaining guys in both teams weren't bad either (with the exception of CCO captain Oakley). I have very fond memories of that year's competition.