{"id":710,"date":"2016-01-05T21:13:40","date_gmt":"2016-01-06T03:13:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.limnetwork.net\/?p=710"},"modified":"2017-12-12T14:36:49","modified_gmt":"2017-12-12T20:36:49","slug":"adventures-with-my-father","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.limnetwork.net\/?p=710","title":{"rendered":"Adventures with My Father"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today would have been my father’s 79th birthday. \u00a0My father passed away on June 20, 2015, seven weeks before I could visit him. \u00a0I had planned to visit him right after my World Scout Jamboree adventure in Japan. \u00a0To celebrate his birthday, I dedicate this post in his memory by telling about my adventures with him.<\/p>\n

My first adventure with my father was when we first moved into our Melawati house in January 1977. \u00a0On one weekend morning, my father decided\u00a0to walk along the nearby pipes to find out where it would lead to. \u00a0I tagged along but did not have the stamina to continue far enough to find out if the pipe led to a\u00a0dam as\u00a0my father thought it would. \u00a0Little did I realize then that I would walk the same pipe six years later with Scouts from my Fridtjof Nansen patrol – this time with the intent to reach and\u00a0ascend Bukit Tabur.<\/p>\n

The pipeline trek imparted my father’s love for outdoor and adventure to me. \u00a0In that same year, I had the adventure of my life\u00a0when my father took the family with him to live in Oregon for two and a half years. \u00a0That experience broaden my view of the world and indirectly inspired me to unconsciously always seek\/create adventure. \u00a0It was the best gift I received from my father – it provided me the opportunity to learn\u00a0through real-world\u00a0experience. \u00a0My father, on the other hand, had mostly learned about American culture\u00a0through books and movies till he arrived in Oregon.<\/p>\n

My father\u00a0introduced me to Scouting two years later. \u00a0He told stories of his Scouting adventures as the patrol leader of his\u00a0Lion patrol. \u00a0He later became a troop leader and Scoutmaster. \u00a0He spoke of\u00a0a\u00a0fixed blade knife he had as a Scout. \u00a0He incorrectly called it\u00a0a\u00a0dagger – I guess it was because of his boyhood memories of\u00a0the Tarzan movies starring Johnny Weissmuller. \u00a0According to him, he and Scouts in Malaya at that time had fixed blade knives made in Sheffield, England that included a\u00a0leather sheath. \u00a0(I recently learned from a Scouter that the American Scouts had similar knives but made in Michigan, USA.)<\/p>\n

Over time my father acquired knives, namely,\u00a0Schrade, Buck, a knock-off Bowie, a Japanese fixed blade knife similar to the one he had in his youth, and Swiss Army pocket knives. \u00a0He gave me a couple of Victorinox pocket knives when I visited him\u00a0in 2000. \u00a0Since then I have cultivated an interest in knives, especially American-made ones, and have started a collection of my own that included Schrade, Buck, Victorinox, Ka-bar, Case, Bear and Son, and Remington. \u00a0Like my father, I believe\u00a0that I will probably use them for my next great outdoor adventures coming my way later in life.<\/p>\n

Another interest I shared with my father was the love of photography. \u00a0My father had a high regard for Pentax — probably because his peers had\u00a0it — and bought his first SLR camera (Pentax ME Super) in 1981. \u00a0As a result, my first SLR camera was also a Pentax (MEF). \u00a0My peers had Nikons (EM, FA and F3HP), whereas I was the only one using Pentax (LX). \u00a0As an adult, I\u00a0shifted my preference. \u00a0Not because my peers influenced me. \u00a0I just find\u00a0Nikons to be more useful and practical, especially from a photojournalistic perspective.<\/p>\n

My father’s liking for second-tier things extended to the performing arts. \u00a0This was apparent as he was a fan of neither Elvis Presley nor the Beatles. \u00a0Although Gene Autry was more popular and perhaps a more talented entertainer during my father’s youth, he liked Roy Rogers and his horse\u00a0Trigger. \u00a0In Oregon, he enjoyed\u00a0listening to a radio program called Country Crossroads that played Roy Rogers songs.<\/p>\n

My father introduced me to 1940s, 1950s and 1960s music. \u00a0I think of him whenever I listen to the oldies music performed by Johnny Horton, Vera Lynn, Guy Mitchell, Russ Hamilton, Roy Rogers with Dale Evans and the Sons of the Pioneers, Bing Crosby, Jim Reeves, Slim Whitman, Lennon Sisters, Andrews Sisters, Eydie Gorme, Rosemary Clooney, Dinah Shore, Skeeter Davis, Nat King Cole, Kitty Wells, Bobby Helms, Claude King, Hank Locklin, Conway Twitty, Frankie Lane, Marty Robbins, David Houston, The Platters, Lawrence Welk, Neil Sedaka, Paul Anka, Frankie Avalon and the Four Seasons, Everly Brothers, Ricky Nelson, Brian Hyland, Bobby Vinton, Bobby Vee, Jimmy Clanton, The Cascades, and Peter, Paul and Mary. \u00a0Notice that the Beatles and Elvis Presley are missing from the list….<\/p>\n

Part of the music adventure I had with my father was the love of folk, country and gospel music. \u00a0Songs included This Land is Your Land, Blowin’ in the Wind, Where Have All The Flowers Gone, If I Had a Hammer, Sounds of Silence, Puff the Magic Dragon,\u00a0Turn! Turn! Turn!, Happy Trails, Red River Valley, Don’t Fence Me In, South of the Border, High Noon, The Yellow Rose of Texas, Deep in the Heart of Texas, My Elusive Dreams, Church in the Wildwood, In the Sweet By and By, Will the Circle be Unbroken, I’ll Fly Away and I Saw the Light.<\/p>\n

Lessons from these shared\u00a0experiences\u00a0with my father included:<\/p>\n