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This section contains articles submitted by classmates of 1964
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Lees really having a ball! (By Greg Yanda, The Senior, September 2012)
Mosman husband and wife Philip and Magdalen Lee (class of 1964) had high hopes of showcasing ballroom dance and the fact that seniors 'still have it' on our television screens this month.
The couple had been chosen to appear on the new Channel 10 show Everybody Dance Now, and to say they were excited would be an understatement. So news late in September of the show's cancellation was devastating.
The Lees began dancing 13 years ago. They came across ballroom dancing quite by accident and were intrigued by how it challenges the dancers both physically and emotionally.
Soon after joining a dance class, and by chance, they participated in dance group training for the Sydney Olympic Closing Ceremony and were seen by millions of people around the world.
Danny visited Vancouver lately and here is what he had to say:
"The photo was taken on 23 July during my visit to Vancouver. Back row left to right-Cecil Li, Daniel Ngan, Tommy Lam, Lawrence Chan. Front seated left to right-Yu Tat, Mary Li, Gisella Ngan, Anita Chan. We had a great time together and many jokes. I like the GHOST joke from Yu Tat the most!"
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Remember Joseph Woo Wun Fai
He who came back from heaven is well and alive in Chicago. 有相為証 and Joe Pao can witness it too |
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After winning a series of dancing competitions and the last Australian National Dancing Championship (see stories in Magdalen and Philip Did It Again and A Memorable Win), our own ’64 classmate Philip Lee and his better half Magdalen were chosen to appear on the Australian National TV show – ‘Ever Body Dance Now’ (similar to our ‘So You Think You Can Dance’). Their dance show will be aired on National TV Channel 10 August 26 http://ten.com.au/everybodydancenow.htm
Here is the story of how a Wahyanite pushing himself against all odds to become a dancing sensation. Wah Yan spirit won again!
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Fortune in life rarely happens accidentally and opportunities knock only when one is ready to receive it. As immigrants building our lives in Australia, Magdalen and I have been very conscious of time use and how we could get the maximum benefits out of it. After we got married we took part-time jobs on top of our full-time occupations in order to accumulate wealth in a hurry. We managed the birth of our children in consecutive years so that child-rearing could be less drawn-out to allow us to move onto other things in life. We put in all our spare time into educating our three children so that they could get into selective schools and into university. Concurrently we had been diligent and productive, advancing in our careers with distinction. Everything seemed to have fit into place happily.
今次两月一次嘅聚餐由鄒秉漢同學主持，六月廿七日响煐煌御宴舉行。有七个同學同老婆出席，只有廖柱文帶長期拍乸來，難怪大家都追問佢地幾時會升呢？一如既往，肥鄺大晒六个趣緻外孫遊船河嘅相，成个幸福公公嘅樣，睇嚟其他嘅人都幾難追。當晚大家高談闊論，十分開心。
The Class of '64 2012 reunion is to be held in Toronto Oct 1 - Oct 3.
The organizing committee for our '64 class reunion in 2012 is happy to announce the following programs.
流著淚看完這篇網文，為自己曾經的無知，為那些被曲意踐踏的英靈！
- 作為一個中國人, 第一次看到了日本投降書，我不知是該感到慶賀還是該感到悲哀；
- 作為一個中國人, 第一次知道國軍在抗戰中是如此英勇無畏, 我不知是該感到自豪，還是該感到羞辱；
- 我曾經那麼恨的“國民黨反動派”, 我曾經那麼恨的張靈甫原來都是抗戰英雄……
歷史如此不堪入目:我們卻依然活在欺騙中. 原來我們和日本人一樣都在篡改著歷史。 (崔永元說: 你可以不說, 但是你不能撒謊!）現在看來, 不能拿聖人的標準去衡量政客了。政治是無情的, 甚至是殘酷的；喉舌是機械的，甚至是麻木的，有時毫無公允和客觀可言。
6 weeks away from training together with a nagging cough which started in the 2nd week of our North American vacation has put a damper on the possibility of a good result in the second most prestigious championship of the year: the National Capital Dancesport Championship. My GP gave me a couple of asthma sprays to clear my bronchitis and even ordered complete rest on dancing training as the best cure for my bronchitis. When I tried to ignore his advice, I found out that he was correct in his prescription because I had lost but all my stamina and couldn’t finish one and a half minutes of Quickstep without coughing. And all the cough mixtures and Chinese tonic didn’t work for me.
Another week passed and I started to worry as my conditions had not improved. I went to see another GP whom I had acquainted in the dance studio. He understands how important it is for me to go to Canberra for this championship, so he ordered a number of tests: the X-ray came back with my lungs cleared but the blood test for whooping cough was borderline. As a last resort, he prescribed some codeine cough mixture which gradually stopped the cough but had the worrying side effect of constipation.
The sights over Seattle were beautiful with islands and lakes everywhere. The city itself was not spectacular, I thought. However, we would love to re-visit Seattle one day to find out more. When the plane approached San Jose, the view from the plane's window seat was awesome as we had to fly over San Francisco Bay to get there. The lush green terrain with low mountains is very different from the Australian mainland as the wetlands and lagoons are joined by bridges. There was quite a fair bit of human activities judging from above the ground although it seemed not to be overdeveloped, thanks to the environmentalists. It was amazingly beautiful and fertile with rivers and lakes intertwined the landscape and low hills were green with vegetation.
This impression was largely confirmed from the ground. I saw the plains worked by machines to its best efficiency, irrigation systems and even aerial spraying using small planes. Agri-business is big in America and I guess Southern California has provided us with good examples. Land-holding are in smaller blocks as I can see mostly Mexicans working on the land. Apart from almonds and walnuts trees that I saw, there must be hundreds of acres reserved for wine-making and other crops. And you should see the soil they use to grow grapes. Australian farmers would use a poorer soil for grapes but good soil are so plentiful in California that the Americans could be forgiven for using good soil for its cultivation. Gary later told me that there is pollution problem in Fresno as it rests on a valley and the methane from the cattle actually posts a problem to people's health. Such is the richness of California farmers. Gary told me that the Government turns a blind eye to illegal Mexicans working in farms because the landowners need farm-workers.
They say that Australian share common values with Canadians and Americans. This is true only to a certain extent because in the land of plenty that is Canada and the US, you can be over generous with food and beverages. Things are much more expensive in Australia, thus Aussies are meaner and leaner. For example, we pay AUD18.95 for a packet of 20 cigarettes. In the US, I noticed that the general price was less than a third at USD5.95. No wonder that people of all ages and across gender smoke when cigarettes are so cheap! Maybe it was a dirty plot to keep prices down to lure people into smoking. Who knows?
Clothing was about the same ratio in terms of price, may even be more than half. In Australia, we must have paid more than double than you guys in North America. Richmond is already inexpensive to shop but Tommy was telling me that sometimes he goes on shopping trips across the border to Portland in Oregon where they don't pay any sales tax. We noticed the prices in Las Vegas where they sold top quality clothes and cosmetics for much less than people pay in Australia. In fact, I saw some shopping outlets on the Canadian border near Seattle advertising to their customers that their goods are just as inexpensive as in the US. So why shop in the US?