[this is a special post. it is also a rebellious post, because i'd conjured this blog as a pedantic project to understand and explore beyond the initial image (which is sposed to be nicely framed header). the initial image here is only in my head. try to imagine with me.]
- exploring nostalgia -RC: What are some artefacts or aspects of your childhood days that you feel nostalgic for and why? (it could be some food that you used to eat as a child but no longer do, games, personal items...)
bring proper playgrounds back!!! i want real swings that actually can swing; i want high tall metal slides. i want scary see-saws that do not have the pathetic small axis of pivot that today's short springy stump pass off as see-saws. i want sand.
playgrounds built after 2000 (?) are pathetic. the plastic sponge mat they use stink in the heat. its painful to fall on. the sets are creepy cupcake versions: small, and completely unfun, totally unthrilling.
when i was younger, i'd visit the old-school playground at my aunts place. it (still) has an amazing network of monkey-bar-things. i could actually admire my cousin who'd negotiate it, and wonder about the day when i'd be big(ger) and brave(r) to monkey my way up so high. when he banged his head against a bar, the entire structure 'khlonngged'. it also had two slides - the taller was properly seven metres up; if your shorts slide up, youd have butt burn sliding down. it had two swings, on monster chains that my 20year old cousin could sit on without me fearing it would break. i'd scream at my cousin cos he'd see-saw me too high, too rough.
my own neighbourhood playground had a huge chain bridge, which i'd fallen off while clambering along the outside. my tailbone hurt like shite, but ive yet to hear stories of people who'd died while on those playgrounds. it was torn down during some en-bloc upgrading thing.
even better, i actually sweated and panted playing all those things. seriously, today's playgrounds are more coloured up, but are reduced to a third of the size, and even less of the fun. everything's scaled down, sanitised, and made 'more manageable'. they're like some little artist's daydream of multi-coloured la la land, who'd forgotten that kids like, and need, proper play, not prissy play. growing bones, you know?
i also liked those pigs-in-a-basket biscuits. they used to be only 40 cents each. and found everywhere.
[ . from http://eatzybitzy.blogspot.com ]
.. except, those are the more fancily packaged ones. they actually look like this:
[ zhu zai bing. from lemonshortbread ]
