I was born on August 23rd, 1965 in Singapore into a family of 5 children - the omega brat.

Grandma lived with us in a tiny 2 bedroom flat on the 10th floor in Commonwealth Crescent.

My earliest childhood memories were swimming along Changi Beach with my family on weekends, boat cruises to Hong Kong, lunching at a Kelong (stilt house) restaurant where the singers would entrance me, my pet parrots, Pollen (our Pomeranian).

Kindie was at St Matthew's Kindergarten. Great fun, especially the chapel, where we put up pantomimes, and where I put on my first drag show as a Mother Cat :)

Life was simple then. We would watch a lot of movies, listen to music on our gramophone...

One of my earliest screen memories were "The 14 Amazons" - a movie about the Women Warriors of Yang starring Li Ching and Ling Po. The scene with the human bridge across a valley is eternally engraved in my memory. Strong memories also for the "Poseidon Adventure" - Shelly Winters, and "The Towering Inferno" both with Maureen McGovern.

As for television, I can vaguely recall "My 3 Sons", "Bewitched" and "I Love Lucy", and the Chinese Serial, "Sorrow of the Forbidden City".

When I was 7, we moved to a much flashier suburb (Siglap). Do remember the address clearly, 45 Elite Terrace - a 2 storey terrace house, 4 bedrooms, huge front and backyard (by our modest standards then) and facing us, a cemetery perched ontop a hill. Walking home at night were the scariest times of my life.

Siglap was the stage for growing up. Marital tensions abound with our parents' new perceived wealth, brothers and sisters were going through puberty, and had their own difficult ways of coping with it.

I was somehow caught in among all these, and being the youngest, I had to find a way of coping, and my answers came from the stories told at the movies, television and songs. Magazines also played a huge part in bringing the mythical ethics into my life - all the self-help and celebrity secrets I memorized....and friends....

I also started my primary school education at St. Anthony's Boy's School, right in the heart of town.

I sought company in friends, though I was handled with much more care because I travelled in a Merz and was living in a seemingly privileged estate.

Allan was my best friend since first grade. If I recalled correctly, we actually made friends at the lavatory (though he would challenge my recollection). We went everywhere and did everything together - even perming our hair at the ripe old age of 14 (hey it was the late 70s!!!).

Funny enough, in hindsight, the reason why we lasted so long was our nonchalance about our relationship. We don't ask each other personal questions and would share personal insights on a need to know basis. That gave us a lot of room to live our lives.

School was great fun. During our recess periods, we would organize fights in the courtyard, just alongside St Joseph's church right next to St. Anthony's Convent - just for fun. We all though we were the Six Million Dollar Man.

Another friend who had a profound influence in my life during the late 70s, early 80s, was a Eurasian boy who lived just a block away. Chen was 2 years older, a real heartbreaker, with his golden hair, green eyes and fluency in many languages. Hanging around Chen was great because he taught me all the boys stuff - MEN stuff, and learning early gave me a headstart in life. I was acting much older for my age.

I have a dent right in the middle of my forehead. My fault actually, but I don't know if my eldest brother actually forgave me for it. I insisted on riding my bike down a 45 degree slope. I ended sliding frontwise down the hill, and scrapping all limbs and head. When they took me to the hospital, the literally couldn't see my face because I was bleeding furiously. Anyway, I was wheelchaired into a room where I saw a nurse heating the needle of a syringe until it was red hot and she turned towards me to give me a tetanus shot. I freaked - I got off that wheelchair with newfound strength and ran straight past everyone. The rest was a blur, but I was later told that 4 policement couldn't hold me and I ripped my father's shirt off his body. My poor parents had to sign a statement clearing the hospital of all responsibilities because I refused treatment.

My eldest sister Pat, bought her first Osmond LP, "One Bad Apple", in 1972. I was hooked. Though Pat has moved on, I remained ever faithful and bought every LP, 45, CD cassette I could get my hands on. The Donny & Marie show was a bonus - every Saturday nights at 7:45 pm, RTS 5

I would watch their cartoons, even guest appearances such as the "Here's Lucy" episode where Donny sang "Too young" to Eve Plumb and "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" with Lucy Arnez.

At the same time, other musicians competed for my listening attention:

Tracy Huang with her "Feelings", "Mississippi" and "I Don't Want to Talk about It" LPs,

Anita Sarawak, was my Singaporean Queen of Pop - STILL IS! I hope EMI Singapore will rerelease her early works on CD soon! Anita's latest recording with Dave Koz "Antara Yang Manis" is my all time favourite Malay tune.

Teresa Teng. Forever...Taiwanese superstar who captured the attention of everyone - including the Japanese.

Helen Reddy. Never forgave my family for laughing when I sang "I Am Woman" in the bath.

My blind adulation for the Osmond Family had it's social advantages. I would read about the Osmond Family values and adopted them wholesale. With them, I grew up. I went through Marie's problems with her first marriage, celebrated Donny's union with Debbie. My musical taste widened with their forays into Country, Pop, Broadway and even Rock (ever heard Donny's heavy metal interpretation of "Staying Alive?")

Charlie's Angels came with a bang. Farrah Fawcett, Kate Jackson, Jacklyn Smith and then later Cheryl Ladd rated high on my list. I remembered buying the Farrah Fawcett shampoo by Faberge. That heavenly scent still lingers in my mind. I actually liked Cheryl Ladd as a singer (okay stop giggling). "Dance Forever" occasionally still colonizes my mind.

Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman was a perfect Thursday night adventure. Funny enough, I liked Lynda most when she sang "Toto" on her television show.

Who can forget Laverne and Shirley - Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams? Happy Days with Henry Wrinkler and Ron Howard? Mary Tyler Moore, Rhoda, That Girl?

On the big screen, the most influential movies then were "Saturday Night Fever" and "Grease". John Travolta was God and Olivia, the Goddess of Pop.

Olivia Newton John hit the right cord in me with "Grease", then "Totally Hot", "Physical". Her latest venture, "Gaia" is still one of my personal favourites.

Remember the Terry cloth headbands, aerobic attire, body glitter, leg warmers?

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