It’s been raining every day lately, cold and wet winter days, makes me want to snuggle in my warm bed and do nothing all day. I always feel nostalgic in gloomy weather, thinking of the sound of heavy rain drops on the roof when I was a kid. Sweet memories.
In a nostalgic mood lately. I was chatting with Davin (who writes about his new life in Canada, with lots of interesting photos) over MSN and we started talking about our childhood and the things we used to collect in those years. Why someone so young is so nostalgic, I wonder? Maybe he has an old soul? Just joking Davin. (Eh, did I just imply that I’m old? NO! I’m youthful, I’m full of youth!)
Anyway, I digressed. As a young teenager, I used to collect a lot of things. From the usual stamps, first day covers, erasers, stickers to the unusual tissue paper wrapper. Major head-scratching moment on the last one. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, it’s those wrappers from small individual packaged tissue paper packs. Haha, lidat also want to collect. But you’d be amazed the various designs they used to produced back then. Not sure whether they still do, haven’t used those tissue packs for a long time. My collection was up to the hundred mark I think. I collected them from my friends and family, then flatten them in between pages of heavy books. It was quite a ‘in’ thing to do amongst the girls then.
Of course, let’s not forget about the ever-so-popular stamps and first day covers. I spent many years in my childhood collecting them. Well, I’m sure many have. Though towards the end it was not so much of me collecting but my mom. Heh. All these collections are neatly kept in stamp books and first day cover holders, and kept in a big box back at home now. I call it a box of memories. Along with the stamps and first day covers, are books of stickers, diary(heh, girly talks), some souvenirs, yearbooks, old address books, photos, letters and postcards. Every time I go back, I would open the box and look through its contents for hours, reminiscing the old days. Every single item in there represents a feeling, a momentous, a story, a part of me. They remind me the different facets of my life that I’ve been through.
Ever since I come to New Zealand, I’ve been keeping a box too. Inside, there are letters, postcards, dried leaves(yes, I collected those), dairy, photos and more letters. I used to write a lot when I first came here, when I was a lonely student with some language barrier. Not anymore, since I made new friends and abandoned those back home. Haha, joking! Everybody just became lazy and stopped writing eventually. Well, we still do every now and then. Just not the mountainous volume that was back then.
I treasure these boxes of memories dearly. For I imagine to pass them to my children one day, maybe many years down the road, when I have become an old lady. To let them know of my days and thoughts. To serve as some sort of memoir, a mark of my existence.
Memories, good and bad, all be treasured, all be buried in the deepest of my heart.
July 8th, 2007 at 5:45 am
cc,
Like you, I do collect lots of stuff. I still collect phone cards and stamps. I have two full albums of phone cards at home. Not to forget, I also have one full album of stamps at home.
Collecting stuff actually bring some benefits to me. For instance, last few months, I got a textbook from somewhere in the uni. You know, those books in a box written “free”. I took it back home, print out and advertisement for that book, posted it on the uni bulletin board and sold it! I earned Aud$60. Not bad right?
And also, like you, I did write diary during my first and second year in Perth. Again, like you, I was quite lonely that time. So, diary seems to be my best friend. But after some time when I had my blog, I started to abandon my diary. I think my blog has become my e-diary now.
CC: Oh phone cards, I used to keep some for a friend who’s a collector..
Good money for a free book! Way to go wei!
July 8th, 2007 at 11:16 am
I used to collect stamps but it did not last long. Still collecting coins and notes though as I have one large collection back home and some British coins with different designs here (just like those in Australia - different designs of coins). And lately, I seemed to be very keen on keychains, metal keychains to be exact form different parts of the world that I had been to.
CC: That’s great! A friend used to collect coins from around the world but her whole collection was stolen few years back. Have to keep it safe.
Thanks for dropping by!
July 8th, 2007 at 1:17 pm
hey cc,
thanks for dropping by.
You have a great blog here.
CC: Thank you for dropping by!
July 8th, 2007 at 1:28 pm
I am never good at collecting anything, as I move from place to place so frequently. But my wife … a different story
CC: I only collect those worth collecting, Mr K, he’s a different story. If I let him keep everything, we won’t have any storage place left. Haha.
July 9th, 2007 at 1:35 am
Hiya cc thank you for visiting my blog today truly appreciate that.
I have lost count of the no. of items I collected when I was young..let’s see, sweet wrappers, stamps, first day cover, bus tickets, books marks…..er let’s see bottle caps for ‘fighting’ with neighbourhood etc.
Hahah…thanks for the memory too
CC: You’re very welcome. I love your blog title so much! So shiok! haha.
Oh bookmarks, I collected those too! Haha.
July 9th, 2007 at 1:35 am
Not a bad idea for putting everything into a luggage. I used to have many collections, somewhat like yours too. but as my age grows older, I tend to pay more attentions to memorial things such as gift items, love letters, poems and so on. Gosh…I did not realized I could be so romantic and sentimental after all.
The best collectibles would still be my brain as it has followed me for so many years and served as my life’s storage media. Unfortunately, those sweet or bitter memories could not be materialized into black and white for my future generations. How I wished it could be converted into DVD…haha
CC: It’s not a luggage, just a box that modeled like one. Heh.
I don’t collect those things anymore, like you, I’m not collecting stuff that’s of sentimental value. I guess as we grow older, we become more sentimental. You’re right, the best collectibles are those stored in our minds.
July 9th, 2007 at 11:14 pm
ha ha….i’m a closet stamp-collector.
everywhere i go, i’ll go to the p.o. and buy any stamp. Doesn’t need to be first day covers. Just tells me about the place I’ve been.
my favourite collections are the xmas ones. they’re always so nice!
CC: That’s a really good way to keep track of where you’ve been to!
I love the christmas stamps too! Always get some to keep.