29 June 2006

Delapan Kasih, Delapan Kisah, Bahagian Keempat

Eight things that give me the (good) goosebumps

Bookshops.
Not the big ones, like Borders but little bookshops where most of the lighting comes through the windows. I once went to the University of Malaya bookshop, which was like that. Before then, all of the bookshops I had been to were full of schoolbooks and revision texts. This shop was different. So very much that was different, so very much that was new to me, sat on every shelf. This was not the regimented blandness of exam preparation, nor was it the cheap, throwaway commercialism I found elsewhere. Everywhere I looked, there were books that invited concentration and thought. Books that wanted to be, in a sense, my friends.
Whenever I go into a little bookshop, I have this little epiphany all over again.

A certain smile.
Being smiled at is nice, but once upon a time, a certain someone smiled THAT smile to me and made my whole day. And my whole week.

McDonalds.
At the KLIA Sepang, next to the Eden Restaurant, is a McDonalds that is special. But not for the food that it serves. Travellers through the airport throng there after checking in, making dining there a very strange affair. Everyone is eating as slowly as they could wish and nobody is leaving any of the tables. Yet, there is always room for the customers who continue to arrive in droves. Most peculiar.
The goosebumps I get come from having eaten there many times before flying away to destinations near or far. Actually, they come from saying goodbye over meals there before flying. I’m awful with goodbyes, so the goosebumps could be so many unfinished farewells.

Getting comments.
I have caught myself getting a little blasé about comments on Delima Kasih, but still get a kick from reading them. I even re-read the old ones sometimes. Thank you all so much. *muaks*

Sunsets.
Sunsets by the seaside are very nice, but I get a special feeling from watching the sun set behind tall buildings. Where I grew up in PJ, when the sun set, it would set behind blocks of high-rise flats.

SRK Sri Petaling.
I don’t study at that primary school any more, but it seems like only yesterday when I began there. Curiously, it also seems like only yesterday that I stopped. I remember the little assembly hall, barely larger than a badminton court (which was actually marked out in white mosaic tile lines). I remember the family-run bookshop and the fact that their youngest son was in the class next to ours. Curiously, I remember the fishtank next to the staff room with the words like ‘jelawat,’ and ‘puyu’ stenciled neatly in a corner. Later, I was to learn that they were types of fish.

Methodist Kindergarten.
I have not set foot at my original kindy (and may’s and ka..t’s too, I hear) since I left. Even so, every time I pass by on the Federal Highway, I get goosebumps. I was not there very long and was removed to a kindergarten very close to my house, where I spent more time. I don’t remember very much about the time I spent there but I still get goosebumps. Speaking of which, I still go past the other kindergarten every so often. It is now someone’s home and looks completely different but I DO remember some of the times there. And I get goosebumps then too….

Does anyone else get good goosebumps?

17 Comments:

At 7:40 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I luv luv luv comments!!

and that smile...

and lovely offline messages / SMS-es...

and Methodist Kindergarten! *rushes to hug kindy-mate plinkydink and kat*

 
At 7:42 pm, Blogger rainbow angeles said...

Hmmm...good goosebumps?

Wat about... faking?

:P

The nxt time u going for McD's @ KLIA, call me? :)
I come gib u a BIGBIGBIGTIGHTTIGHTHUG, no goosebumps wan...

 
At 7:51 pm, Blogger L B said...

i always see the McD's at KLIA a lot! The last time was getting breakfast there with my sister while waiting to go to China... *goosebumps*

 
At 12:32 am, Blogger plink said...

may: plinkydink? Wah, getting more than eight nicknames already! Wakaka!
angel: Fake? Can! Good goosebumps can come from faking, Good anything can be faked also: look at Chi Chiong Kai (Petaling Street)....
B I G B I G T I G H T H U G
LB: Did you have a good trip, then?
SA: LOTR is a good goosebumps sort of movie, isn't it? Old books are nice too. Unpacking old books from years ago and blowing the dust off the covers gives that new-discovery-feeling all over again for free!

Comments! Yes, please.... :)

 
At 1:07 am, Blogger Fantasy "Sticky" Flier said...

I get goosebumps when I walk into a big, dark, deserted house in the middle of nowhere, with overgrown weeds and rats running around..oops that's the haunted mansion. The first time I walked into Disneyland in Anaheim...

 
At 5:40 am, Blogger Tan Yee Wei said...

Old books with dust that hangs in the sunbeam...



make me sneeze.

 
At 12:36 pm, Blogger plink said...

FF: Disneyland! Wah, who with? Do tell, do tell!

LC: Dust off books does fly, Shining with bright story-light,
Is this Second Sight?

 
At 6:01 pm, Blogger Tan Yee Wei said...

Vot?

 
At 6:39 pm, Blogger plink said...

LC: Oops, I thought you were writing haiku....

 
At 4:13 am, Blogger Tan Yee Wei said...

Haha sorry, I can't play haiku with you- I'm straight. :p

 
At 5:22 am, Blogger plink said...

?!

 
At 10:37 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oooohh..methodist and sri petaling...*gets goosebumps with plink-y* I remember little wee-sized toilet bowls in kindy and a lovely smiley teacher called Mrs Yoon who always wears cheongsams and drives a Mini in primary school.

Good goosebumps? When he holds me from behind and nuzzles my neck... when he looks at me THAT way...when they laugh and play together joyously...crashing waves on a deserted powdery beach...old loveletters...when he gave her a charm bracelet with things she holds dear and a heart on it..his heart...*gettin' all goosey-bumpy*

 
At 8:41 pm, Blogger Unknown said...

Nice post. Hi. I popped by from BkWorm's.

 
At 10:56 pm, Blogger plink said...

Hi marita and welcome!

*wavewave*

*looks around for elephants chasing mp*

 
At 4:42 am, Blogger plink said...

kat: Oops! *adjust spectacles* OMG Mrs. Yoon! And Puan Hajah Salbiah and jolly old Mr. Thang....

*gets goosebumpy all over again*

 
At 1:22 am, Anonymous Anonymous said...

OMG!!! Mr Thang!!!! Hahahaha....you can still remember!!! I guess you were there when En Hishammuddin was the Guru Besar..(I just love his signature...so looooong and stylo-mylo!!!)

 
At 3:26 am, Blogger plink said...

Yes, Mr. Thang... and En Hassanuddin Aziz or something, whose signature did read 'Hassanudisncxzcxzzzzxzcxcxzzx.' Eye-wateringly long signature.

And then there was the oh-so-garang, Mr. Peter Ong.

Remember being in one of the senior classes and watching assembly from the upstairs balcony? Remember En Hassanuddin yellling upstairs for us to keep quiet during assembly? And what about the silly prefects raising the flags?

Wakakaka!!! I've not felt so nostalgic and tickled at the same time for so long!

 

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