Pu Niao @ Friendster

Grandfather @ Home

Grandfather: Wait, we have to take a photo first.

Pu Niao: Urgh! I want to grab the cake…

Grandfather: We are taking the photo now.

Pu Niao: Umph!! One… more… step…

Grandfather @ Home

Yes, I know. And like what photographer out there, professional or not, will tell you. Keeping a baby out of the picture is easy, but keeping the baby away from food isn’t. Take it from me, I look psyched to get a handful of that cake in front of me.

Grandfather @ Home

If memory served me right, I’m positively sure that this photo is taken either during CNY season or during house visits to one of our relatives. As for the decor and arrangement of the furniture, I would dare deduce that I don’t like this particular relative. Why? Everytime we go to her house during CNY (way after we moved out of my Grandfather’s flat), she would say her grandkids always comes in 1st, 2nd or 3rd in class every year. Almost hinting that her grandkids are so damn clever and that me and my brother are so dumb and stupid for not making into the top 3 in class every year during exams or tests. Yeah right! So many famous people got rich and famous and they didn’t even complete high school. Some didn’t even got the chance to go to school at all. Duh!!

But in this photo, you can see that my grandfather still looked quite young too. Note that his hair isn’t totally white yet.

Grandfather @ Home

I dare assure you all, before there were 3 Musketeers, 5 Muskeeters and a toddler had already existed in Singapore. A recap on who’s who once again, with new characters to boot. At the back row, from left to right is my mother (with short cropped hair) followed by one of my aunties (my grandfather’s youngest daughter). Next is one of my relatives who’s living overseas now (also one of my aunties, but I don’t know from who’s side though). And finally, me sitting on my grandfather’s lap.

Grandfather @ Birthday Celebration

This was taken just before my grandfather turned 70, if I’m not wrong. I’m on the left and the other little baby toddler is one of my uncle’s daughter. We were born in the same year but months apart though. I know I looked a little blur in expression but still nonetheless cute still. This photo should have been taken just before I turned 3 years old as I have no recollection of this photo at all. (No one can remembered what they did as a child when they were younger than 3 years old, and scientific explanations can’t prove anything out of it either too.)

Grandfather Smiling

From a young age, I was already “fashion-conscious”. Pretty dress? Check. Umbrella for protection from the weather? Check. Pink shoes for a lady? Check. Beautiful pose? Check. My grandfather smiling in the background? Check. That’s why I’m telling you all, I’m a trend-setter from young. This is honed through dressing up prettily and seeing my grandfather smiling happily.

Grandfather @ Home

Nuff said. Regular readers should know them by the 7th post of Memories of my Grandfather. My grandfather is on the left and my mother is standing on the right. I believe this isn’t a posed photo as it doesn’t give me that kind of feeling. But somehow, I find this photo very good, almost artistic from another point of view. Like pondering for your thoughts and having your photo taken while thinking.

Grandfather @ Birthday Celebration

A quick intro to who’s who (the important ones) in the photo. On the front row (of squatting kids), I’m on the extreme left, the small little girl and on the other side, the extreme right is my eldest cousin. And at the back row (of standing adults), on the extreme left is my father, my mother is 4th from the left and my grandfather is all the way on the right. There’s no way you can miss my grandfather, he’s the only one with white hair. This was taken when the whole family went to Malacca for a short holiday, way before I started kindergarten classes. The most memorable part of this holiday was the fact that we went there in this big, black beautiful train. The type you see in old coffee brand or scenery commercials. Really classic. The other thing I remembered vividly is my father (as usual) smoking in the hotel room in bed while we were sleeping. Well, cigarette smoke is easy to recognize, especially in an air-conditioned hotel room.

Grandfather @ Birthday Celebration

Yes, we were being cajoled into singing a birthday song. And no, I was only clapping along to the birthday song sang by my uncle (grandfather’s eldest son who is seen clapping his hands here). He was like, “Sing Happy Birthdy”, and I started to clap along. And as he carried on singing, the three of us pretended that we didn’t know how to sing Happy Birthday and just simply clapped while he sang. Hilarious! Anyway, you can see that my grandfather is looking on, waiting eagerly for 3 little angels to sing him a birthday song.

The whole family posing for a birthday photo

This picture was taken just before we cut the birthday cake. The baby that my grandfather was holding? That’s my younger brother and apparently, it looked like he was more amused by my cousin instead of the camera. This was quite a difficult shot as my brother kept fidgeting and making so much noise and you can see clearly that his head was turned towards my cousin (in yellow) when the photo was taken. On the right are two women in red, the 2nd woman from the right (without spectacles) is my mother. She does look a little plump as she just gave birth to my brother not long ago. And as usual, I was delegated to one corner and although my face is turned, I knew I was pouting all the time.