Have you ever watch the movies in which the hero/heroine wandered into a secret room or underground chamber in search for hidden treasure? Luckily in my case, I do not have to crawl through old, dusty rooms or manoeuvre through treacherous trapdoors. The treasure chest I discovered a few days ago appeared out of the blue right in front of me!!
To be more specific, it was not even a treasure chest, and there is no gold, jewels or whatsoever riches or ‘blink blink’ inside. Instead, it was just an old cargo box...
Sorry to burst your bubbles. I know u’r gonna hate me. (Innocent smile) ^_^
Here’s the real story:
Having just moved into our new home several weeks ago, my family and I were just clearing the last few boxes of cargo until.... Lo and Behold!
There’s one cargo box with my name on it? I thought the box with my clothes in it was my last.
Overcame by curiosity and excitement, I hauled and dragged the heavy cargo up to the third floor where my room is. (Hard work, luckily nothing fragile is inside)
Cutting open the sealed box, I found many old stuffs inside that evoke old memories. Some of them I had long forgotten and never thought about them! So I sit back and relax (wait, that’s your job), and I embark on a journey into the past... (I’m a bit melodramatic so just play along)
My old Stamp albums
First pile of stuff out is a stack of my stamp albums. (They are responsible for half of the weight of the box.)
My stamp collecting hobby started long ago when I’m in primary school. There used to be a club for stamp collectors like me where we can share our albums and trade stamps. It was a great way to get those rare ones.
Other than that, I also get my stamps from various sources: my mailbox, relatives, and even bought them if they come in one set with limited editions. I love stamps that illustrate plants or animals.
Let’s do the math,
Hitherto, doing a quick count, I have a 4 completed albums amounting to a total of more than 1000 stamps. Just an average achiever compared to those stamp fanatics who have...I dunno...a bookshelf of albums?
On the other hand, they say that quality counts, not quantity. But I’m not sure how to judge the value of a stamp. Obviously, their age and origin matter. But the oldest stamp I have is dated back to 1998... @_@ Not that much of a value but still my favourite stamp anyway.
Sadly, time changes, computer games and net surfing take over the minds of the young generation (me included) in the digital era, and soon I gradually lost interest towards stamp collecting.
However, flipping through the time-worn albums right now bring back memories of when I was just a happy-go-lucky child that lead a carefree life with no responsibilities except school and homework. I had all the time in my life to scrutinize each stamp and try to extract the message within.
Perhaps the stamp is showing a great and powerful political figure? Or is it a memorial to peace-makers, scientists and other great heroes that had contributed significantly to the world? Perhaps it could be showing one’s country culture, races or famous landmarks. It could also be urging the world to protect Mother Nature by illustrating various rare species of floras and faunas that will go extinct, together with humankind if global warming continues to escalate. Each individual stamp is unique and tells its own story. Stowing the albums neatly away, I move on the next item.
The Neglected Coin Album (Don’t get me started....)
Next stuff out is a somewhat new and unused coin album. That’s right, a coin album. I’m beginning to sound like a collector that tried to collect everything, but in vain...
I was inspired by my grandpa’s dazzling collection of coins and old notes. He has it all: rare coins and notes before Malaysia’s Independence, the British country, and other neighbouring countries such as Thailand, Indonesia and China at different time eras. Each of them is related to each other like a huge jigsaw puzzle of time.
I couldn’t believe it, but hearing my grandpa’s stories and his difficult past really make my most detested subject, History, came alive again. How fortunate that in Malaysia, the present generation is able to live peacefully without war and turmoil.
Filled with burning passion, I soon got myself a coin album. Unfortunately, my coin-collecting hobby didn’t kick-start too well. I vowed to gain my collection without my grandpa’s help. But cruel reality shows me that it is easier said than done.
Until now I only had a few Malaysian coins plus a few game tokens from a game arcade. Perhaps the most precious stuff in my album is a brand new still shiny RM 1 coin. In the end, I emptied the album and all those coins are now warm and cosy in my wallet, ready to be spent, or in better words: ‘journey on’ to a new master, well, excluding the RM1. But something will never change: History is still my most detested subject.
Moving on..
The Memorable Photo Album
Ahh, another album! Do I need to have an album for every single thing?
I received this special photo album from my parents during my 2003’s birthday. The cheerful happy birthday note written with thick permanent marker with the date was still clearly intact and visible on the back cover.
Looking through it bring back bring me fond and bittersweet memories of the past. Some pictures I never know why I put them there. Remember those moral projects portfolio that we need to complete and we had to take a few pictures for each of our ‘kerja amali’? I still have some extra pictures of me and a few friends carrying out ‘gotong-royong’ in our SAL (Self-access learning) room. High school is definitely the good old times we had. But destiny is forever cruel to separate us from our comrades that we had cherished for 5 years.
Another few pictures reminded me of the time I participate in the Melaka student exchange programme. I still don’t recall why I had agreed to join in the first place since I’m the only Chinese there and History is not my thing. Nevertheless, I’m glad that that I had went because the trip really served as an eye-opener for me and the experience gained is priceless. I lived with my Malay foster parents and it was the first time I actually slept over at a stranger’s house. But I soon drop the term ‘stranger’.
The family was really kind-hearted people and I warmed up to them in no time. Unfortunately, I couldn’t stand the spicy food. A little spiciness is nice, but what I’m talking about here is the insane degree of spiciness that forces your tears to gush out in torrents and next you feel like a flamethrower spitting out fireballs.
Other than that, the rest of the trip is just fun. We visited lots of places, although frankly speaking those historical sites left little impact on me and I only remember them as vague memories of blank monuments and solid buildings. To me, it is the people I have met, their culture and customs that really matters the most.
Cards (I can build a house with it)
Yeap, the books and album frenzy finally came to an end. The rest are miscellaneous items.
Next stuff out: I pulled out a big heavy plastic bag (another major contributor of weight) an inside is an unimaginable amount of cards that can take me a whole day to count. I love strategy card games: Yu-Gi-Oh, Duel Master, Magic the Gathering and even Pokemon and Digimon has their trading card games.
Being more a Yu-Gi-Oh fan, I used to buy the cards in small packets and smart businessmen really know the trick to keep you buying. Inside a packet, say like 15 cards, there will only be about 3 to 5 cards that are worthy of value in a game. The rest can be considered ‘trash’ cards that a player will never dream of putting in their card deck. Not only that, in order to make a combo or synergy, a set of specific cards need to be collected so just imagine how many packets you must buy until you finally have a complete collection of the set of cards.
Now living in the 21st century, I realised there’s a cheaper alternative: computer games. No hassle, no worry, not a single cent spent as all the card u need is in the game. Of course, the ‘feel’ when holding a real card in hand is unsurpassed. But then again, the money spent....Arrghh!! I still felt like hitting my head in anguish over the money I had wasted having spent on all these cards, which now accumulate in a large pile to collect dust, a real white elephant indeed. I just wish there is a money converter which I can shove all my cards into and then money will spurt out at the other end.
But I can’t blame myself though. I really used to enjoy buying and collecting those cards. But now my perception changes and I see things differently. I realised that the money I carelessly spent can be put into far better use than this. But that is a past, and I can’t change it, only learn from it and look forward to a new day. (*Sigh*~)
P.S For those interested, let me explain the rules of Yu-Gi-Oh card game battle briefly.
Basically in a standard game, each player has 8000 Life Points (Lp) and your goal is to bring your opponents Lp to 0. Players do so by inflicting damage using their monster card to attack and this is aided by magic cards or traps cards to disable your opponent. Each player’s deck comprise of 40-60 cards and each player’s field consist of 5 monster zones (which mean a each player can only has a maximum of 5 monster on the field), 5 spell zones (magic/trap cards are set there), 1 field card zone and the a graveyard (where used cards or defeated monsters are placed). There are also special ways to winning a match. For example, a player is declared a winner if they successfully collect the five ‘Forbidden’ cards in their hand, (just like in a game of Big Daddy or Big2, a player automatically win if he/she has four ‘2’ cards in hand, am I rite here?) But it is never that easy because the chances are unlikely and the plan can be easily foiled by a card effect that discards a player’s hand. Yeah...and I think that’s all you need to know for now.
Last but not least, Trinkets for Thoughts
My job is almost done...
Most of the stuffs left are given to me by my friends and relatives, some given during their occasional visits and some given during my birthdays or when I attend their farewell parties.
I found a huge box of stationeries seemingly enough to last me the next semester, a big bunch of key chains collected over the years, a few pine cones that I had collected during our family trip to England, and a few decorative items given by my friends.
Finally, with the empty box, my job is done. Almost done...
It is time to clear up the mess and put everything to where they should belong. Then I vacuumed and mop the whole room. Finally, I’m proud to admit that after all that hard work, my room, which before this mostly vacant and empty, now looks brighter, cheerful and feel more like home to me with all my familiar belongings back. The hard work is worth it. I heaved a sigh of relief.
Mission accomplished.
~~Home Sweet Home~~
MY TREASURE CHEST OF MEMORIES
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