Diary of Childhood Memories (October 7- 11, 2019)

Monday, October 7, 2019

My most precious childhood possession 

My little sister wearing the sunglasses.

I can't remember having a possession that was so precious at that time. I remember I had a lot of little stuffs. I remember coming to a friend's house next door with a red rucksack full of tiny things which I meant to bring to our kindergarten. But I ended up going back home, emptying my bag, and then I only brought things that were necessary (I don't really remember the rest nor what they were).

A thing from the past which popped in my head recently was a little sunglasses with green frame and Batman logo shape. Gosh, I wish I knew where the sunglasses is! I think I've never seen such sunglasses belong to any other people I know.

Another thing was Kesatria Baja Hitam cassette. I don't remember myself as a big fan of Kesatria Baja Hitam or Kamen Rider RX, so I don't know why my parents bought it. Probably because it was just a hype for a kid my age. One memory I can remember about that cassette is that I didn't listen to much of it, even I might only play it for once. The cassettes didn't just contain music, but also dialogues from the series. I was scared to hear the random male voice.

I've just realized as an adult how cool the opening was!

Here comes another thing in mind: a Sailor Mars barbie doll from Japan. My uncle spent some time in Japan back then--seemingly for study. When he came back to Indonesia, he bought me and my cousin some Sailor Moon merchandises. One of them was the Sailor Mars barbie doll. I didn't know that it could speak. When I held the doll, suddenly came a voice from it. I was surprised and threw the doll. Since then, it never spoke any more. I guess I broke something inside when I threw it. But, the doll remained to be one of my imaginary friends until some years later. Some of her hair was gone during the years. Now I don't know where it is.

Tuesday, October 8, 2019

My favorite childhood shows and characters

When I was a kid, I watched a lot of cartoon shows on TV--especially Japanese cartoons. Not only on Sunday mornings, but also on weekdays afternoons: Doraemon, Sailor Moon, Minky Momo, Mojacko, Akko-chan, Ninja Boy etc. My favorite character of all those Japanese cartoons was Doraemon to the point that I collected a lot of its comic books and some merchandises as well, and also tried to be able to drawing the characters from the series--with awful results.

I wished to have a cat robot with useful tools in its pocket like Doraemon, who would both give me fun and solve my problems. It also inspired me, while I was in the first grade of middle school, to be an inventor--you know, that kind of eccentric scientist in the Back to the Future trilogy who makes fantastic things. I drew some awesome tools that I wanted to create had I become one, and forgot it once I learn upt that I am bad at Physics.

Diego Gonzales Boneta from Alegrijes y Rebujos 
Picture is taken from Pinterest.

I also liked watching Mexican telenovelas--for kids. Since Amigos X Siempre (SCTV), I kept up with almost each of its successors. My favorites were Alegrijes y Rebujos (RCTI) and ¡Vivan Los Niños! (SCTV) because I found some cute characters there which inspired me to make my own story--kind of imagining Aliando and Prilly Latuconsina playing your characters, just as today's teenage girls who aspire-to-be-authors-on-W*ttp*d do. (Yeah, I was that kind of girl back then, who's not? It's just a normal teenage girls' thing!)

My treasure: a ¡Vivan Los Niños! postcard--bonus from Tabloid Bintang.
My favorite character was Santiago, the boy with glasses on the left side.

Wednesday, October 9, 2019

Things I created when I was a child

I remember that as a child I had already loved to make up characters, stories, writings, even a song. I showed some of them to my cousins and my friends.

I was inspired to create by looking around me. For example, after reading a lot of Fujiko F. Fujio comic books, in my mind I developed characters that were similar to those Japanese mangaka had created. Another example, when I saw a friend wrote stories in a notebook, I followed her way by making my own collection.

Of all the things that I had tried to create, mostly were about characters and stories. That's why growing up I thought that I was to be an author. 

Too bad that I lost my first writings: my first diary which is a gift from my cousin, my collection of essays in a notebook, and my collection of stories in another notebook. Those were from primary school years; not much left, only some latter diaries. I started to become aware of keeping my scribbles since middle school. 

Some people told me that they just burnt what they had created: stories, sketches. But I don't know why I feel such importance to keep such things, as if they're the only legacy I could give for my kins.

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Places I remember fondly from childhood

When I was a kid, my father loved to take our family to go on vacations--from company trips to visiting our extended-families in other regions. The places were various: beaches, swimming pools, temples, tourist parks, zoos, malls, etc.

He was really generous. He didn't only bring his nuclear family (: me, my siblings, and our helpers), but also his siblings, nephews, nieces, and so on. Sometimes it took more than a Kijang-sized car to bring the whole family. 

Pantai Baron as I remember it.
Picture is taken from Garasi Jogja.

There were some fun experiences that I still remember, like when my father tried to help my cousin out of a swimming pool (which I forget the name of the place) but then he slipped into the water, and also when my other cousin held me like a plane over the transition between fresh water and salt water in Pantai Baron.

I assume that my father just brought us to any place that was hype in those days, like today people would say some places are Instagramable, though we didn't go there just to put some new pictures on a social media (which even did not exist yet). 

I think such experiences had developed my sense of adventure. I dreamed of being a tradventuller--traveller-adventurer (yeah, I know that's weird), just like Dora the Explorer (even though that time Dora wasn't born yet, I guess) with a talking animal as a sidekick.

Friday, October 11, 2019

My favorite picture books when I was little

This book above is not my favorite picture book. Actually I don't remember which. I might have some other picture books before this one, which I don't remember well. This is the only picture book that is still intact. When the question "What were your favorite picture books when you were little?" came up, this one just popped in my mind. This is the latest picture book I had before I developed interest in comic books like Doraemon.

Picture is taken from Tokopedia.

As I write this, I remember that I did like reading 31 Cerita Bada Isya pretty much and I have several of its books. The series are also a picture book kind, right? (Just two days ago I googled to find out what exactly a picture book is, and how it is different from illustrated book.)

I don't think I was fond of picture books very much. Once I got to know comic books, I just read that kind of book on and on. And I also loved reading books--thin or thick--without much illustrations. And once I read more and more walls of texts, I left comic books behind. Until now. Sometimes I read books with pictures and sometimes I find that the pictures are distracting. (I don't know which I should concentrate on first: the text or the picture?)



These are prompts from 500 Prompts for Narrative and Personal Writing. Tip: do one prompt each day to practice writing in English FOR 15 MINUTES ONLY.