Hello readers!

I'm sure just by reading this current topic, you will find yourself going down the memory lane…. When I was typing out this article, I couldn't help but smile at all the happy memories… and frown a bit at the bad ones… I personally think that… all the memories (no matter if they're good or bad) make me appreciate whatever stuff I have now… Memories are very important.. without them… our lives would definitely be incomplete.. Imagine waking up everyday… and not being able to remember what happened yesterday… You begin your new day afresh with zero memory of past events… Technically, bagus gak.. coz takder beban and all that.. tapi kalau fikir balik, I still think I wouldn't want to end up with zero memory.. I chose to keep all the memories (whether they're happy or sad) coz after all, all those memories are mine and no-one else.

Since this topic makes you go down the memory lane… it's only apt that we talk about our first __________ (can be anything…!). I will talk a bit about my firsts and please feel free to tell me about your firsts in the comments box ok!

Your First Job

Hahhahha! Sometimes, bila I pikir balik masa time I muda dulu… kadang-kadang boleh ketawa sendiri seh! I masih ingat lagik.. my parents never manjakan I… my parents never lavish me with luxuries and monies… I had a simple childhood… Too simple, I think… and penniless…

So, after my O's, my parents told me to work part-time so that I will know the true value of money… I was all set for it… There's a lot of money in the world… and some of them must be mine… LOL! Mt first job… Sales Assistant pat 7-11 lah.. Tu pon, my kawan yang recommend… My fren told me ader satu 7-11 branch tengah carik orang… so my fren suruh I gi try apply… Apa lagik… I went to the store.. met up with the boss and filled up the application form.. After 5 minutes of interview, I was recruited as a Sales Assistant (nama jer Sales Assistant… tapi my work duties included jaga cashier, atur maggi mee, instant noodles, top up barang, atur barang pat stor… ahhaha.. pendek cerita, semua pon kena buat!)… The manager told me to report for work on a Sunday.. I was put on the morning shift ( 7 am to 3 pm )… Dalam hati, not bad gak… lepas 3 pm , boleh lepak-lepak ngan members pat Orchard…

But, I then realized that I was an idiot to think about going to Orchard on my first day of work… Manakan tidak… nak bangun at 5 am on a Sunday… punyalah liaaattt… Nak report for work lagik… Macam orang tak betul seh. I showered at about 5 plus… while the whole of Singapore were snoring and making air liur basi… I got dressed.. Took the first bus.. and walked slowly and sleepily to the outlet). I reached that place at about 6.50 am (not bad! Early seh!) and was given a run-down of the job duties! Dapat baju merah and name-tag also.. LOL! I was a happy camper… People were great… customers were great… managers semua gerek nyer kaki!

Your First Piece of Clothing

Hang on! I'm not talking about your first jumpsuit, booties, mittens, and all those knitted and crocheted stuff that you wore when you were a baby.. I'm talking about the first piece of clothing that you bought with your own hard-earned money… Now, since I started working at 7-11, I was damn excited when I got my first paycheck.. For once, I can buy something without feeling guilty.. Selalunyer.. my parents will buy for me stuff.. at times, I felt serba-salah nak mintak for many things or expensive things coz I always felt guilty whenever they used their hard-earned money to pay for my stuff… I know parents are supposed to provide for their children financially… but I still felt guilty…

So, when I got my first pay, I was damn exuberant. I called up my frens… made plans to meet up at City Hall.. Instead of going to Orchard, I remembered I went to Peninsula … I bought a pair of Levis … I didn't go to the Levis boutique coz that time, kalau beli jeans pat boutique, mahal.. beli pat kedai at Peninsula , murah sket! LOL! Punyalah happy like a bird! Sampai to this day, I masih simpan that jeans.. kenangan beb!

Your First Bag

Hahhaha… I can't stop laughing when I'm typing down the details of my first bag! Ni mesti gelak nyer… Okay.. Now, I'm not talking about the first bag that you bought with your own hard-earned money (I actually bought a black Outdoor bag when I saved enuff moolah!)… I'm actually talking about the first bag you carried to Primary School… Try to remember… Kekekekk!! My first bag was a … blue Kaimara… Punyalah SQUARE !!! Dahlah square… ader banyak zips and compartments… I can put all my books, my lunchbox, my Tupperware tumbler and many other stuff in just one bag! Betul nyer selengerrrr lah! Nasib baik masa primary school… the students pon sama dua kali lima macam I… meaning semua pon nerrddyy!! (LOL! I dulu attend sekolah cina lah!) kalau tidak… confirm I dah kena bully one!

Your First Moment of Happiness

Okay.. maybe this might be a bit difficult for some AM readers… but I thought that since this is your first memory of happiness, you would have a slight inkling of the event… I might be wrong.. but try to remember anyway…

I masih ingat my first moment of happiness… Masa tu, I masih kecik lagik… about ten years old gitu… I remembered lying on my back on the carpet at my living room… The tv was on, my mom was talking about buying “tapai” to my dad… and I don't know why.. but I felt totally connected with my family… I felt that happiness should revolves around people that I love and being able to be nonchalant and totally comfortable about certain things.. By lying on my back at the middle of the living room, I felt on-top-of-the-world… plus, I was surrounded by my favourite people at that time… I know you might not be able to get my point.. but seriously, I find it very difficult to project that particular moment of happiness through words… Even now, I find the whole event ridiculous… but heck..! That was my first memory of being very happy and contented!

Your First Moment of Sadness

Now… kalau ader first moment of happiness… mesti ader first moment of sadness…Kalau u all masih ingat, I tak mewah duit masa time kecik… My parents believed in teaching me through the hard way…

Masa kindergarten… memanglah.. tak carry duit pasal masih kecik kan … But, after dah habis sekolah, usually parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles will pick up their little kiddos… Bila dorang pick up their kiddos, biasalah.. mesti belanja sakan pasal pat luar the kindergarten.. hari hari ader orang jualan… Macam macam seh…. Ader makcik jula epok-epok, goreng pisang, popiah and samosa, ader makcik jual fishballs and hotdogs yang bersalut ngan sambal pedas, ader apek basikal jual ais-cream potong… ader apek jual air kaler-kaler dalam tuib plastic, ader apek jual gula-gula yang pakai ketuk ketuk dalam dulang besar (ni nama aper ah… I terlupa nama gula-gula ni).. Pendek cerita.. macam funfair lah pat luar kindergarten…!

But since my arwah nenek never bring any money, I normally telan air liur jer when I see my friends eating epok-epok, kunyah fishball, jilat air-cream… I remembered feeling very sad when I know that I could not afford to buy any of those things… I know now that I wasn't poor.. but my parents were merely being very frugal with money…

Your First Outing with Family

I'm not surprised to hear “Big Splash!”….. Before I wrote this article, I chat up with my friends to find out about their first outings with the family members.. and guess what… almost 95% of them said “Big Splash!” Look in your old photo album… Mesti ader gambar you all pat Big Spalsh… Hot tau!!

Well, I'm a lil' different. I remembered my very first official outing with my parents… I wore my new robots tee, khaki pants yang keras macam nak mampos, white socks and fake leather shoes… all of us took a bus to the… Science Centre! Yup.. ahahhaha… my first outing with my parents was to the Science Centre… ! Even though I was still so young, I remembered that day as being very glorious… I had so much fun playing with all the gadgets and stuff that were on display there.. Of course lah.. later on along the way.. my parents subsequently brought me to the Big Splash and Zoo. Hihihihi!

Your First Shoes

Okay.. Now.. let's narrow it down… What's the first shoes you all belik? I masih ingat lagik… Since young, my parents yang belikan I kasut… so I tak pernah complain.. Apa dorang belik, I pakai jer.. tak cerewet.. coz I know it's not my money… plus masa kecik dulu, I tak pandai pilih pilih barang… So anything pon boleh lah! Hahaha… But, the first pair of shoes that I bought with my own money is… Converse Chuck Taylors.. warna merah you! That time… my favourite color was red… so naturally, I chose that color! My first pair of chuck tailors is long gone… (dah buang lah) but I make sure I always have a pair of red chucks at home… coz it's like reliving that moment when I first bought my first pair of chucks…hehehe.

Your First Date

Hahahha… Kalau pikir pikir balik… boleh ketawa seh… That time, I was in Primary 5… Like all normal people, instead of focusing on the coming PSLE, I had my eyes on a Japanese guy… Also Primary 5…

This guy… muka dier putih (ye lah.. orang Jepan kan putih!), mata dier kecik.. and bibir dier macam merah gitu… hahahah… We were not in the same class.. I dalam class 5(err… alphabet tak ingat lah…) and he's in 5A (the most pandai nyer class) So, every time, I nak go for my music lessons (ingat tak.. zaman dulu main recorder!! Yucks! Geli betul ngan this instrument!!!), I must walk with the rest of my classmates to the music room.. and this music room is located behind his class.. So I always look into his classroom, try to catch his eye each time I go for my music lesson.

Ni mamat pon ader minat gak.. Bukan selalu ader minah terpikat ngan Mat Jepun kan ??!! So, one day, my form teacher panggil I.. and gave me a photo.. I masih ingat lagik.. That photo was given by him to my form teacher.. In that photo, he was wearing a PE attire.. muka merah padam.. pasal panas… and he was standing in front of Haw Par Villa.. KAKAKAKAK! Pat belakang photo, he wrote:-

Hello.

I don't know your name.

Can we meet at the study corner later after school?

My very first date! Venue: Study Corner! Teruk lah ni mamat… My school ada 6 study corners… all located at the first floor of the school.. terperuk pat tepi staircases… We didn't actually meet up at the study corner.. I waited at one study corner at the left wing.. and he waited at another study corner located at the right wing… Then this mamat tak pegi check all he study corners.. Apa dah! Bila I got fed up of waiting, I went to the canteen.. nak mencekik lah… and minutes later, I saw him walking towards the canteen… so my first official date.. school canteen… I think I ordered nasi lemak and he ate fishball noodles… We got along so well that we started to see each frequently under the pretext of studying! I lost touch with him when the both of us got posted out for secondary school. I know he went to Dunman High… he got busy with school.. I got busy with trouble… so… I pon tak tahu ni budak Jepun dah pat mana… Dah kawin agaknyer.. ataupun dah jadik peniaga Ramen at Tokyo ! Heeheheh.

Your First Kiss!

Of courselah… my first kiss was from my mom… but let's think of the opposite sex… I know… most kids nowadays are more brazen and wild… but I wasn't… When I was in my teens, I had my own group of friends… I think we're the misfits… coz when everyone were chasing mats with motors… we lived within our own world.. we practiced music a lot, talked about classical musicians a lot, read a lot (we got our own private book club.. LOL!).. and dreamt about traveling around the world… I remembered borrowing lots of travel guides and charting my footsteps around the world… I wasn't really interested in boys coz the boys in my class semua macam not my taste gitu.. they are either too wild or too nerrrdyyy! I wasn't wild… but heck.. I wasn't nerrdyyy ohkayyy! LOL! So, naturally, my first kiss came quite late. I was Sec 3 when I was first kissed. A proper kiss. I still remembered his name: Paul. Paul's a Chinese guy who doesn't look like one… I can't remember how I ended up with him… Anyway, he must be one of my sweetest guys… I remembered his face.. always ader smile… his eyes macam dancing-dancing gitu.. and his hair was brown coz he love swimming. Ni mamat pon I dah lost contact… Entah entah dah jadik businessman.. jual computer games agaknyer. LOL!

Kalau nak ikutkan hati, this article can drag for more than 6 pages… but I don't want to be labeled a lor-sor writer… So, cukuplah setakat 4 pages… Now, can you remember your first times? Search that brain mass of yours.. and you'll be pleasantly surprised. :)