It was the time when Michael Jackson shot to no.1 with the thriller album and showed his moonwalking during an award ceremony. After that everybody just went crazy. His video music with the dead coming out of the ground and that red&black leather jacket was shown every where during that summer. It has been a while I guess;now MJ has gone from a black kid to a skinny white man. Lionel Ritchie was out with Hello and Sting was still with the police. Johnny Depp was still unknown at that time doing teen summer movies showing his ass and all. ET was also prime that summer. We came out of the cinema with tears all over.Stallone was out with that vietnam war movies.Also out was The Porkys I,II and III, the breakfast club, ……John Ritter was in three’s company, a sitcom that we had never missed, it was on every day.John died last year. David letterman was on late night and the show is still running till today. Dave had more hair back then but the jokes are cracking funny as always. Jay Leno was only a guest on Monday night show with Johny Carson….Jay now has replaced Johny but the jokes are a bit lame compared to Johny. Days of our lives was a must-see soap. Ron Jeremy was in every xxx-movies. He's due to speak at Oxford …wonder what is he gonna talk about….Lana the pussycat !
Kareem abdul Jabbar ,Magic Johnson were playing Lakers; Jordan with the Bulls and Dr with the Sixers. Everyone in America loves sport and they’ve got all kind of sport on TV….except soccer,it was not that popular over there. I started playing basketball and american football with other malaysian students of course. There were so many of us that we could have 3-4 basketball teams and a couple of American football teams playing everyday especially during the summer. Summer was long and hot. MostAamericans will spend summer at their summer vacation camps; where they bring everyone in the family to this place living in caravans and mobile homes for the whole summer….playing, fishing,just enjoying the sun.Schools are closed in the summer. But we , malaysians, would spend the time taking summer classes, the chance to upgrade the cgpa. There would be a couple of weeks at the end of the summer semester that we could use to travel around america. The thing about living in america is that you could really enjoy the freedom. Everyone respect your privacy and your rights. It was the chance for me to really grow up and be myself. I learnt to drive a 400-dollar-mazda-rx and finally found a girl to learn about love and all. No one called me names anymore or told me to do stuff that I don’t like . It was really the time that God gave my life back to me and let me live it the way I wanted to live. At the university, the undergraduate classes was tough… I mean with english and all…..i was not making the grades . English subject was a university requirement, meaning that you have to pass it or you are not going in. I was on my third and final chance to pass the subject, when this lecturer came along. He was a man in mid 30s, long hair and tatooes all over his arms and neck…the rocker type. But I respect him till this day because he was the one that inspired me and made me like to learn english. I am still wondering how he turned me around as I was about to give up. One thing that I remember about him is that he never scolded or put us down although our english (the whole class) was bad. He encouraged us a lot and made us do assignment that needs researching and finding materials in the library. He told us to find out about love, sex, beautiful places, ladies, our bodies etc….things that we could relate to and enlighten us all at that time. So being a good teacher is not about teaching the subject alone but knowing what matters to the students and stimulate their minds. Unfortunately,I forget his name!
……and it was also the time they discovered AIDS.
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