Pelik Tapi Benar...

Jacob Ballas Children's Garden

Korang pernah pegi ke Jacob Ballas Children's Garden kat Botanic Garden tak?? ehehehe..

Ok nie ader satu citer mystery aku nak share ngan korang.

Jacob Ballas Children's Garden tu terletak kat Bukit Timah Road. I was involved during the construction of the project dari mula sampai lah project tu siap.

Korang tahu tak kawasan tu tapak aper?? Tu dulu tapak kubor cina! teeeheheeee!!

Betol aku tak bedek! Tu tapak kubor cina lama, sejak zaman perang jepon!

So sebelom project tu di lancarkan, NEA dah panggil waris-waris ahli keluarga si mati utk memindahkan saki baki mayat yg ader kat situ. In other words, kubor tu nak dikorek ahh...

Tapi tak sumer waris2 dpt di jejak. Hingga ke saat-saat akhir, masih ader 3 lagi kubor yg tak dpt digali pasal takde orang tuntut.

NParks (developer) pon pening kepala time tu. Oleh kerana masa tak mengizinkan, maka kiter tak korek ler kubor2 tersebut. Kiter tinggal kan bulat2 kat sana...

Sampai sekarang ler 3 kubor tu masih ader kat dalam kawasan taman tu...hehehe..

Kalo korang nak tahu katne, ianya terletak di kawasan letak kereta disitu. Ianya berada dibawah pokok yg besar dan ditutupi semak samun. Pasal tu ler kawasan letak kereta tu berbentuk bulat demi untuk mengelakkan 3 kubor lama yg berada disitu.

Kat dlm taman tersebut, ader satu kolam kecil. It was designed as a water feature to complement the surroundings.

Pada suatu hari...

Satu hari tu, aku nampak sorang apek kontraktor tgh terbongkok-bongkok kat tepi kolam tu.

"Oii..Mr Lim, u fishing or wat?? Nabeii.." aku memberi salam kat kontraktor tersebut.

"No lah...i only put fish inside the pond." Mr Lim menjelas kan akan tindak tanduk nya ketika itu.

"Wahhhh...u buy so many fish for wat? U siow ahh?!" aku heran kenapa dia gie beli ikan guppies banyak-banyak, pastu buang kat kolam tuh...

"Actually har..." Mr Lim mula membisik kat aku "...i kena 4D leii!"

"Wah seiii liao! kena 4D buy fish only har..cheebye!" aku beri salam lagik kat dia.

"This place very *ong! give me good luck." Mr Lim berkata dgn bersungguh-sungguh kat aku. (*Ong bermaksud 'untung nasib')

"That day, hor..i semayang and ask for 4D number. Cheebye, skali kena liao! So, i must pay back lor. I buy fish put here." Mr Lim sambung lagik.

Aku pon tak tanyer ler berapa banyak $$$ dia kena, tapi aku tak caya ler benda ngarut nih.

"You know right this place last time cemetery. If you are good people, the spirit will like you. You make their home now like a garden. They very happie, liao!" Mr Lim mula start buat citer merepek-repek kat aku.

Sebagai menghormati kepercayaan dia, aku hanguk-hanguk jer, step mcm paham. Tapi satu benda pon aku tak caya. So aku tak kuasa ler nak melayan apek tu lagi.

Then...

Seminggu kemudian, aku buat site visit again. Mr Lim terkejar-kejar biler nampak aku.

"Hey friend! Come here! See!..See!!" Mr Lim panggil aku sambil menunjukkan sotkabar cina kat aku.

"Fuck sia...ur car number plate came up starter prize! U neber buy the number ahh??" Mr Lim tunjuk angka 4D kat sotkabar tu..

"Eh, siol lahh..nomobr keter aku siak!" aku kehairanan sekejap...

"You see..i told u right! the spirit olso like you!" Mr Lim cuba menyakin kan aku pasal hantu momok yg suka kasi nombor kat situ.

"Ahhh..mungkin ianya satu kebetulan tak?" Aku berkater di hati kecil nie. "nie sumer tipu ah."

Oleh kerana project tu hampir siap, aku mula kerap kali membuat lawatan ke situ bagi memastikan project itu berjalan dgn lancar.

Kali nie, aku plak yg cari Mr Lim. Tapi dia dah tak jaga site tu lagi. Dia telah ditugaskan ke tapak project yg baru.

Setiap kali aku lalu kat kolam kecil tu, aku teringat cerita Mr Lim dulu pasal ader kuasa ghaib yg menginap dikawasan tu. Kuasa ghaib tu bole kasi ko nombor ekor!

Hari minggu tu, aku beli sotkabar Sunday Times. Kat dlm tu ader result nombor 4D utk hari Sabtu. Aku pon gie ler check tgk ader ke tidak nombor plate kereta aku....huhu.

Hari tu, nombor kereta aku kena consolation prize dahhh....

Aku terdiam kejap. Aku terdiam bukan aku kesal tak beli nombor, tapi aku tengah pikir kata-kata Mr Lim yg nampak mcm logik tu. Setiap kali aku bawak keter ke situ, musti nombor plate aku kena lottery!

Akhirnya, project Jacob Ballas Children's Garden tu pon dah siap. Kiter pon handed over taman rekreasi tu kepada Nparks untuk mereka menyelenggarakan nyer.

So, for the last time, aku membuat visit yg terakhir kesana. Aku kena check jika ader benda2 yg masih lagi outstanding sebelom aku buat final report.

Mcm biasa, aku park keter aku kat situ. Sebelom aku balik, aku pon berkata dlm hati kat 'penghuni' taman tu yg project aku buat nie dah tamat.

Aku pon tak tahu biler aku akan datang ke tempat tu lagi. So, aku harap 'penghuni-peghuni' dan segala hantu momok kat situ sumer happy ler...

Aku pon ucapkan selamat tinggal. Aku drive kluar dari taman tersebut.

Hari minggu tu, aku beli sotkabar Sunday Times lagi. Aku bukak sotkabar tu nak tgk kalo nombor kereta aku tu naik lagi ke tidak....hehehe. Nombor keter aku takde. So, memang mustahil ler citer Mr Lim tuh.

Hari Isnin esoknya, mcm biasa, aku gie beli sotkabar The Straits Times. Time aku baca sports section, aku ternampak 4D results utk hari minggu semalam.

Nombor plate kereta aku striked 3rd Prize dahhhh! Spirit tu betol suka kat aku agak nyer!

Kisah nie berlaku pada tahun 2006. Sehingga kini, aku tak jejak pon ke tempat tu lagik.

ps: dari segi logik, susah akal aku nak explain. Tapi, nak percaya atau tidak, memang nombor keter aku strike 3 kali sewaktu aku buat project tuh...

Soul: Nombor (Search)

MacRitchie Primary School - I miss you!

After all the sleepless nights, it finally paid off.

MacRitchie Primary School (defunct)

"I dedicate this video to everyone, who has stepped into this school and made a difference. To the educators and students, let us cherish all the memories that we once had." - Zue Rainey  How this video thingy began: A Walk Down Memory Lane (posted on 20 October 2009)

Why I am always proud to be a MacRitchiean...  It was an old neghbourhood school, located in the modest town of Toa Payoh. I could vaguely remember, it was situated besides an old wet market along Lorong 8, where the school main gate over looking Blk 225 Toa Payoh. Our arch enemy were students from Braddell Primary School, where we always had fights just because we have to share the same school field. Being just a simple neighbourhood school, MacRitchie too has her fair share producing quality students, whom today have achieved great success in life and contributed back to the society in someway or another. Many of those students whom we reunite on facebook, are now doctors, teachers, school principals, engineers, lecturers, sports stars, successful business people and some other well-known faces. I am very fortunate to have climbed my way from this humble school, which now has become a legend. Speaking of famous, you may not realised these talented people once came from this humble school.

Azmeer (Composer / Singer)

Rezal Hassan (Singapore National Team football player)

Djohan Abdul Rahman - Bobo (Artist/Scriptwriter/Producer)

Had Adnan - Rancour (Rock Artist)

The above are just to name a few. Don't be surprised, that one day, we shall be the 1st IN THE WORLD again to have our very own Hall Of Fame on Facebook! =) Visit our school facebook group: MacRitchie Primary School (MPS)  "Proud we will be of MacRitchie" - Our school song.  ps: The school may no longer exist, but the memories live on...

Soul: Din Din Wo (Little Child)

A Walk Down Memory Lane...

The last few days were extremely buzy. Never did enjoy my weekend..and I tot Monday was PH! LOL! - Crap!

In a midst of doing some personal project with a friend. It's voluntarily of course and it's going to be 'A School Project'...thou we have left the school long time =)

Barely, 6 months ago, Shahrul called for a meet up. We went out for a drink when he proposed his ideas of creating an exclusive video of our defunct school which is no more in existance.

"I'm trying to revive back those nostalgic memories we had during those years...", he showed me a basic 3-D virtual walk-thru model of our school he had created.

It was awesome! I've never tot to be able to walk into the same bulding again, but virtually!

Immediately, I agreed to it. I'm just excited to be involved in such a cause and we shared ideas to bring this childhood fantasy into a reality.

So, we met again last week. He showed the rough cut of the video. The virtual walk-thru was brilliantly done. It's the next closest thing we could asked for.

Then came my part for the final post production. This is where my ideas will come to play. I need to single out old cut-out photographs collated. Insert into the video of the very same spot, so that all those nostalgic moments can be reminisced and relived once again.

Here's an example:

The walk-thru virtual animation will come to a scene. A photograph showing the exact same spot, will ghostly fade in, to tell a nostalgic story.

Frame 1

Frame 2


Frame 3


Frame 4

The most tedious tasks of all, each seconds of the scenes have to be precised.

It took me 3 hours to syncronise a 5 second scene, so that the storyboard goes swiftly, uncut.

But it pays. Am truely satisfied.

Still not sure what audio background to use to enhance the mood. But I will try to come out with something melancholy, I'm sure! ;)

So, be ready everyone. This school will be the first to be re-born again virtually on facebook.

WE ARE THE FIRST IN THE WORLD!

Got it! Got it! Got it!

Aku pon tak sangka tiba-tiba dapat project nie...

Maka bermula lah kesibukan aku sekali lagi di tengah-tengah org sibuk nak beraya. Dulu 2 tahun lepas pon mcm nie. Stress siott!

ps: Make sure time aku buat project nie, PC aku tak buat hal lagi...

Soul: Suasana Hari Raya (Anuar & Elina)