Reminiscence

It was just another regular trip to Queensbay Mall for dinner with Mom. We chose to dine in Kim Gary because I was craving for the French Toast. Yum! Scratch that. We met up with my mom's old friend, and alongside her, was her granddaughter.

The little girl reminded me so much of my childhood - horrifying milk teeth experiences, Primary school days, extremely strict class teachers. But the real reminiscent began when I walked into Toys R Us. I remembered very well my first trip to Toys r Us. There was only one outlet in Penang at that time, and that was in Bukit Jambul complex. I could still recall how I pestered my parents to buy me Oscar, the purple alien from Tommy and Oscar. I'm still able to feel the dejection I felt that time when I was refused a board game, reason being I had no one to play with. I was just a normal girl longing to own nice toys.

As I was walking along the aisles, I could see that toys are constantly revamped and improvised. The wonders of technology. Perhaps kids nowadays are more intelligent. I arrived at the dolls section where different versions of Barbie are displayed. Barbie, it used to be every girl's dream to own at least a collection of it. Her clothes, shoes, accessories... Of course, the price has definitely skyrocketed, costing more than a hundred to own a reasonably nice collection.

Then I moved on to the plush toys. As I was running my fingers on those furry, cute animals, the tender touch I felt beneath my fingertips remind me, yet again, my fetish for soft toys. I used to have a lot of soft toys sitting nicely in the cupboard next to my bed. But they are all given away. I can't say I had fancy toys, for my parents rather spend their money on education, especially music. Buying toys, to them, was just a waste of money. I agree with them now.

Finally, the Board Games section. One of my favourites. To date, I still long to own a Monopoly set, just for sake of having one. :D hint: My birthday is on the 15th of June. Nahh, scratch that. Back in 2003, after the gruelling UPSR examination, I had my first brush of absolute freedom, for serious studying only will begin the next year. So my friends and I brought different games to school to kill time. We played Monopoly, Scrabble, Upwords, Jenga, Pictionary and the most common one, UNO. I guess that year was when we played so many games that we were sick of them! Since then, absolute freedom never recurred. (:

We made a stop at Baskin Robbins. Yet again, ice-creams have their own evolution! From the basic Chocolate, Strawberry and Vanilla, we now have ice-creams that come in rainbow colours, unique combinations of flavours which of course, cost more than the 30 cent ones we used to buy from the school canteen. 20 times more, in fact.

That was one meaningful trip to Queensbay, I have to say. Very different, indeed. Well, I hope this feeling will reoccur someday, just so my sunken memory of my childhood will resurface...