5/01/2005

Father.

I should apologize for not blogging for a while(eh.hem... tim) , but I believe that the absence of entries is an entry on its own. Oh screw the philosophies, I'm back.


Its 5 o'clock on a May Day. I just woke up from an undeserving afternoon slumber and my dad just went out to Sim Lim... to buy an external DVD writer (most probably a self-treated Birthday gift). He's the real ever-queer. Anyhoo, I dedicate this entry to him, my dear father.

It was just after Satay night, when I came back just to find myself home alone with my Dad. My mom was having a great time in Tibet (she's coming back in 2 hours) and my sister was probably partying 'way somewhere. So, out of boredom, I watched " Underworld" with him.
It was sOO AMUSING to see how frustrated my father was over the small illogical loopholes in the goth-thriller. **think the scene where the Lycans (werewolves) opened fire on the Vampires, killing one of them with a UV-containnig bullet**

"This doesn't make sense. How could vampires die when they are immortals?"
"The train is still moving? Shouldn't the control station have stopped all traffic if there was a shoot-out in the station??"
"Why is the vampire battling the werewolf with the whip? Wouldn't it be more effective if they just shoot each other?"

Haha, I love my dad.
Today is his birthday, 1st of May 1951. It is sometimes so ironic that a staunch-believer in the effort of hard-work was born on a public holiday commemorate to a day of rest. However, he was not always this fervent in his beliefs.
Being born into a wealthy Cantonese Family in Hong Kong, my grandfather took great care of my father. He lived in a life of luxury and comfort, sheltered by my grandfather's enormous income through properties. (in fact, according to my mom, my father was so rich that he used to keep a freshwater dogfish (very small shark) when he was young. He was carefree and cared not a bit for his studies and responsibilites. But soon, Tragedy struck, shattering his comforted life apart.
When he was around 10 years old, Grandfather was terminally ill. His last wish was for our grandmother to sell off ALL the properties and bonds, to prevent expoiltations from other tycoons and bussinessmen. She refused.
Within a year after the death, 90% of the family's weath was gone. Snatched and sucked away rapidly. It was then when my father realised he could depend on noone but himself. The only future he could live in was one that he builds with his own hands. He had noone to look up to, noone to ask for help. My dad never liked to describing his childhood in detail, but this is what I have gathered past these 18 years of lecture.
Soon, my dad's grades went for a complete turn-around. He was soon topping the school and he became one of the only 2 people in his school to make it to the top secondary school in HK. This continued for even more years and soon he made it to King's College. one of the 2 Universities in HK. Sadly, The wealth that slipped away never came back (until many many years later). He HAD to remain in scholarship (aka topping the school) in order to pay for his school fees. While other boys spent their money and time partying and fishing, my father spent his free time giving tuition to rich kids, often making his own way to their houses. Futhermore, he was so effective that he often gave tuition to the entire family. And after that... with the extra money he had, he bought.... radio parts. Slowly, he would piece, weld, join transistors and wires together, slowly forming a radio. Ever-queer but cool. Soon, he joined a mechanic society and there he met my late uncle.
In whatever free time he had left, he went swimming. As entry fee costs an entire $1, He would swim for 3-4 hours at a time, easilly accomplishing 60 laps at one go. wooo
In university, he kept a very low profile until one fateful afternoon. It was the college's swim meet. The crowd was rowdy and the atmosphere was hot. The P.A announced for the swimmers to essemble on the starting platform. One by one, the jocks and swimmers lined up confidently, the tension was high. Suddenly, a nerdy-looking guy (my dad) walked up amongst the bulky the swimmers, invoking and instant laugh from the crowd.
But when the whistle was blown, the nerd easilly over-took all the swimmers to come in first. Everyone was shocked. Needless to say, my father's silent ways soon gained much respect and he was elected as the house captain. He had a new approach. He believed in obatining points though mass participation. As his forte was swimming, he offered to give free swimming tuition to anyone from his house, telling them the most effective forms of freestyle. His house won. ?
-- This would be all that I would blog today--

To clear up some confusion among certain people, should they think I am a schitzo who complains about his father at one point and praising him in another:
I Love my father. He is the best father God could ever give anyone. He is loyal, stable and caring. But yet, his personality is on the opposite side of the spectrum from me. He marvel in the glory of maths, he loves rules and conformity and mostly, he believe religiously in meritocracy in life. He is also a religious free-thinker ,abstaining from religions. His form of support is that to mould me into a successful person, into himself. So in conclusion, I hate my father many times as a person, but I still very very very much love him as a father.

Now as I hurry to prepare the candle-light suprise dinner for my father I just want to say one more thing:

Happy Birthday Daddy!!! :-)