Bata Slippers

For most of my childhood in Malaysia, my main casual footwear were Bata slippers. I wore them everywhere, from riding my bike, to the pools, and even as evening wear. I wore them for years too, until I was probably in my mid-teens. They were comfortable, easy to slip on and provide great airflow, which is a great feature in a hot and humid country.

At least my feet were comfortable.

There are a couple of stories about my slippers that I remember. One was an urban myth from my cousin Kris who stated that my extended use of slippers would cause your 2nd toe to extend way beyond your big toe. I can tell you now that if that were true, my feet would look like ET's hands.

Nothing wrong with my toes at all.

The other story revolves around a time when I was supposed to go out to dinner with my extended family. Of course the only thing to wear for such an occasion were my blue & whites. Apparently this wasn't up to the dress code for the restaurant (I can't remember which restaurant it was) at Lake Club, so my grandfather dragged my ass off to the shoe shop at the club, all the while giving me a lecture about my slippers. All I can remember about those shoes were that they weren't terribly comfortable, but they did get me into the restaurant.

To me, the slippers were a symbol  of my laid back attitude in life, that life shouldn't be taken so seriously. Fashion should always be comfortable and reflects who you are, and never conformist. Looking back at it now, I still never understood why a kid couldn't just wear slippers into a restaurant. Was it an industrial zone with big blocks of lead falling on people's toes? No. Are my feet so mangled that the mere sight of them caused one to puke? No. Which probably explains why I don't wear a suit to work too. I work better when I'm comfortable and I'm happier when I'm comfortable.

The sad thing is, I can't get them anymore. I've had friends and family scour the various Bata shops in Malaysia to no avail. Apparently they used to be pretty big in India too, sold as Bata Hawaii Chappals, but they've since stop making them there too. I was hoping to pick up a pair for myself, and a set for my kids, so that they too get to train their toes to be able to pick up dropped keys, write letters and peel bananas. There is some hope though. I've been searching the internet for awhile now, and it looks like Bata Kenya still sells them under their Patapata brand. It might take me awhile before I head out that way, so in the mean time, I'll have to make do with whatever I can find.

The Bata Patapata slipper. The only thing missing is the blue Bata logo.

Zeitgeist

My kids will never get to enjoy Star Wars (later renamed Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope) the way I enjoyed the movie as a kid. The same could be said with regards to Star Trek: The Next Generation, Tron, Ultima 4, Bard's Tale, Dragonlance, Groo The Wanderer and everything else that I enjoyed as a kid. While it is entirely possible to watch every movie I've watched, read every book I've read, and play every game I played, the moment when it meant something during that time is way past.

Where I learnt the meaning of virtue, mantras and avatar.
Would've been easier to pick up a dictionary, but less fun.
Image Source: Wikipedia

I remember talking to friends during our lunch breaks about the Empire Strikes back, and the surprising news that (SPOILER ALERT) Darth Vader was Luke's father. We had endless discussions about the new toys released, we re-enacted lightsaber battles and generally lived the Star Wars experience. My brother, sister and I would collect a Wookie's Bandolier of Star Wars figurines, vehicles, and plush toys. I'd go over to a friend's place and admire his diecast Millennium Falcon, or spend a weekend with my brother destroying our lightsabers.

Man, those lightsabers would've been worth a mint if we hadn't destroyed them.

However, 30 years, 6 movies, endless cartoons, hundreds of books and (SPOILER ALERT) the death of Chewbacca later, Star Wars seems to have lost its appeal to me, and probably kids in general. Sure, I still sit back and watch it once in awhile, but I don't spend hours discussing it like I did when I was a kid (except to try to convince my brother that Lucas didn't have a clue about the whole Star Wars Mythology back in 1977 - *cough* Darth Vader built C3P0 *cough*), and neither will my kids. Sure, they may watch Empire one day, but when Vader tells Luke about being his father, they'll know because that came about in Revenge of the Sith. Actually, they won't know it as I'll never let my kids watch Episodes I-III.

Trade Federation, blockade, taxation, trade routes, blah blah blah...

The same thing goes for watching Tron and The Last Starfighter. Imagine watching Tron before there was CG, that was how mind blowing it was for me. Lightcycles, arcade games, frisbee battles, how awesome was that? The Last Starfighter had some of the best CG space battles ever, like the Death Blossom scene. You look back at those movies now, and it looks like they were rendered with MS Paint. The thing was, they were great movies for me at the time.

Looks like you're watching someone play a computer game on the big screen.

Once upon a time, I played Zork: The Great Underground Empire on my Apple II. I stood outside a White House, I went down dungeons with my lantern (I'm afraid of Grues), and got lost in a game that consisted of a black screen with some words and a prompt. Zork spawned multiple sequels, The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy, and many others by Infocom. The games were marketed as Interactive Fiction, claiming that no graphics processor could beat the human imagination, and comparing them to the graphical games in the 80s, that wasn't a huge claim. By today's standards, I'd think that you'd be hard pressed to convince kids to play them.

Unfortunately for them, it's hard to sell games using your imagination...

compared to a game that leaves nothing to the imagination

The thing is, games get better all the time, have huge development teams, better graphics, online forums, create 2nd lives for people, and have legions of followers. Unfortunately for me, I don't have the time nor the patience to really get stuck into a game for more than a couple of weeks, which is a sad thing.

You're probably saying to yourself now that I must be a sad bastard to lament not having enough time to play games, but you'd be wrong. I'm not lamenting the fact that I don't get to play enough games, I'm lamenting the fact that I won't get to spend as much time playing games with my kids as I would like to. This means that I won't "get" what my kids are going on about, what movies that they're all talking about at school, what's the next big thing that's coming out for Christmas. In short, I'm lamenting about the generation gap that will occur between me and my kids. They will get to experience their own zeitgeist, have their own interests, be moved by other movies, move out and have their own kids. In short, I lament not being able to grow up with them, and that isn't all of it.

The thing is, the older we get, the more we drift apart. Brothers, sisters, parents, cousins and friends, we all slowly drift further apart as our interests and social circles change through the years. Once upon a time, we'd all be watching the same cartoons, hanging out at the same pool, playing with the same toys, going to the same beaches, but now, my family is spread across 5 countries, we all work in completely different fields, we are immersed in a sea of media streams, and it isn't surprising that half the time we haven't a clue what each other's interests are, and end up moaning about work clients, as that's something we can all relate to. Of course, the odd blog helps, but at the end of the day, that lack of real social interaction like talking about any old rubbish, chatting about the inane, and just hanging out on a daily basis means that we'll inevitably drift apart. While that means my kids will never get to grow up with me, while I still can, I'll try my hardest to grow up with them, even if it means having to watch Cricket with them (and I'll be sure that they'll also watch Star Wars with me).

Hopefully by then, they'll have invented Lightsaber Cricket.