From Sharing Seats to Sharing Stories

I remember when I was young in the 1970s, Capitol Theatre was one of the top few cinemas in Singapore showing 'first-rate' movies, or movies that were the earliest to be screened.

My father used to buy 'kacheng puteh' (peanuts) for us to share. But we also shared seats.

As we were poor, our family of 8 have to share 5 seats. Being the second youngest, I shared seat with my 2nd sister, who was 7 years older than me. My youngest brother had to sit on the lap of my mum. My elder brother would share with my third sister, and until today, both of them are still quite close. Only my eldest sister and my dad would sit alone.

Our favourite movies at that time were the Shaw Brothers Chinese sword fighting movies.

In the 1980s, I started to watch Hollywood movies at Capitol, and my favourite movie was "Ghostbusters'. But this time round I didn't share seats with anyone. I shared the stories and joy with my friends.

I continued to patronize Capital cinema until mid 1990s. I was not aware that the theatre was closed in 1998, if not, I would have made a last trip there.

In short, Capital Theatre was my cinema where our family of 8 would sit on 5 chairs. And that warmth and close feeling are still lingering in my heads even as I write this article.

Regards,
Andy Ng, Chief Business Coach and Trainer
For list of courses, visit http://www.asiatrainers.com

Comments

The Secret Under the Mattress: Why would a 79-year Man Bet So Big on 4D?

It was 2007 when we discovered his secret. While moving my father’s mattress, we found them: heaps and heaps of Singapore Pools 4D tickets. They were stacked in layers, a paper trail of lost hopes. What shocked us most wasn’t just the volume, but the stakes. He wasn’t betting a few dollars for fun. He was punting hundreds of dollars per draw—nearly ten times a month. At the time, my siblings and I were furious. Our father was a 79-year-old retiree. We wondered, with a mix of anger and confusion, why a man at his stage of life would need to win such "big money." What was he going to do with the money? We saw it as a reckless habit, a sign of poor judgment in his final years. Some of us would say, "If I were to give him money to buy 4D, why don't I use the money and buy 4D myself? At least I have better discipline". It has taken me two decades, and the experience of raising my own three grown-up children, to finally see the truth that was hidden under that matt...

Have You Found Your Sun Yi and Teresa Teng?

I n the long, unfolding history of the Chinese-language music scene, "The Moon Represents My Heart" 月亮代表我的心 stands as an unsurpassable milestone. Yet, the journey of this globally renowned masterpiece, a song that would eventually captivate the world, was fraught with setbacks: it was once dismissed as "trash" by its own creator and tossed into a wastebasket, later suppressed by official policy as a "banned song ," and initially failed to gain any traction when performed by two different singers. The dramatic turnaround in this song’s fate is not merely a musical legend; it offers a profound life lesson: the greatest stroke of luck in life is not about how perfect you are, but about encountering the "right people", those who truly understand you, support you, and help you realize your potential, at exactly the right moment. I. The First "Right Person": A "Talent Scout" Who Recognizes Your Worth In the early 1970s, composer T...

How to Use Zoom Cloud Meetings Effectively

(Read also How to Secure Your Zoom meeting ) Other than Zoom Cloud Meeting, you can use other video conferencing platforms like Google Hangouts, Skype and WeChat Video Conference. Zoom is the most popular because it is free and is easy to use, especially on the phone . Here's how you can use Zoom effectively: Use a laptop, not your phone or tablet, especially when you are hosting a meeting. On a laptop, you can see everything: the PowerPoint screen that you are sharing, video of all participants and the group chats. You can easily type on a laptop and this is useful when you are translating or doing detailed explanations. The host of the zoom meeting should mute everyone at the settings and only unmute them when they speak. Participants can indicate that they want to speak by raising their hands before speaking Use earpiece or headsets or wireless earbuds so that you have a better concentration of the voices in the meeting and not be d...

Business and Money Tips

Search This Blog