something i just recalled

I'm actually writing this while watching Hanna .. online of course (ahem). Erik Bana is great, but that blonde girl is taking over all the scenes! I think I'll multitask a bit and write something until Bana shows up again.

Recently I have been reading a lot of childhood memoirs. And while on a stroll today, I suddenly recalled some of my own childhood experiences in Taiwan.

I spent around three years in the kindergarten school in Taipei. I would be off around mid-afternoon. The school bus would drop me off at my parent's office, that's where I'll jump out from the bus into my dad's arms (I think I was too heavy to be caught by mum).

Sometimes dad would take me to the 義美 convenience store across the street to buy boiled eggs and yogourt. Then we take the elevator up to the office to have lunch. My parents and their colleagues would gather around the big table covered with lots of take out's. The television would be turned to the news channel.

Then the adults would get back to work.

Since Chris and Steve were already in highschool, they rarely visit the office. Besides, they were too old to play with me. So I was on my own in that small office floor for the rest of the day, making my own fun activities. I had the television of course, but my video collection was only limited to the Jungle Book, three Winnie the Pooh's, and Pocahontas. (I remember once mum insisted that I leave the news on, because Princess Diana got into the car crash).

Sometimes I'd have my own fun. What I enjoyed doing the most was cleaning the bathroom sink. I am a virgo after all, and I have been very particular about hygiene at a young age. I enjoyed scrubbing the bathroom sink with soap and paper towel, then finally wiping it dry so that it would shine. And I can get really upset if someone used it after five minutes because it would be wet again.

Sometimes I'd go into the stationary drawers to sneak out the neat erasers and some rubber bands, and I'd shoot the erasers all over the office, drove my mum mad. Or I'd take the pencils and all those fancy rulers they use to draw floor plans to build my own castles.

And oh boy did I love to bother the interns. I forgot how many there were, but my favourite one was a young lady who always made friendly conversations with me and shared her crackers with me. She was also the person who taught me to write the character 樂 while I was struggling to complete my handwriting worksheet.

Other times, I'd climb up to this bookshelf where I can be near the windows. Then I'd use my dad's old binoculars to spy on the pedestrians on ground level. I could do this for hours and hours. It was especially pleasant to know that you can see other people, but they don't even know your presence. I liked being this kind of observer. I was there, but to them, I did not exist!

Flintstones can have such bad influence on children. I was a victim. Now this can be a bit gross, but I remember seeing how the characters would make bones into useful tools. I wanted to try it too. So I secretly snuck out a few of the bones from the drumsticks I had during lunch, washed them, dried them. I was thinking about what to do with them, but couldn't come up with any facinating inventions. Discouraged, I stored them in a random drawer in the office, which happened to belong to an intern. Apparently I kind of scared the crap out of her the next morning.