From the past, to the present

There is always a rainbow after the storm.

Well, not always, but yesterday was an end to the whole 2 months of dry season. I had an enjoyable visit to the SAM with Cheryl and her man, met up with YX and EW for dinner and we ended up eating fast food and enjoying a cuppa java/chocolate. Came back and checked my mail ( checking mail had always been a joy because it holds surprises, but lately, I've been avoiding the mail a lot) and had wonderful news. Then my hotmail said I had a message in Friendster ( which I've not touched in ages thanks to facebook), and to my surprise, my old classmate had msg me, saying she's now working in Singapore! I still carry around the petal note she gave me in Form 2. We were basketball buddies then and she played vball for awhile too.

Anyway, since I'm doing a flashback post, I'll rummage through my purse to show what treasures I store in there. I'm pretty much a sentimental person, so anyone who gives me anything that fits into my purse, in it goes (now you know why my purse is so fat! It's never the cash!)

Even I'm sentimental about my purse. I had it since Form 5. That would make it... 8 years old!
Anyway, the petal is in the display. With it are neo prints with some really close JC friends, the star sticker from the first coffee bean card my sis gave me, and the cat pic behind is from Chao (if you remember... )!! Oh, and an ABRSM 50th Aniversary sticker when I took my Grade 7(or 6) piano exams.

Sentiment is the poetry of the imagination.
~Alphonse de Lamartine~

Well, the list is as such:
1. stamps from ntuc, I think
2. the insurance I received when I first came to Singapore 6 years ago
3. band-aids, my signature item
4. a card from a JC senior. She was like a mentor to me and helped me through the rough years
5. Year of the Pig stamps, yep, it's 2 full cycles already
6. British signature stamps
7. From the Koala chocolate/strawberry biscuit. I sent this to my sis when she was in uni in 1999 and she sent it back to me. I thought it was quite funny. I used to send her loads of rubbish in my snail mails.
8. My Pengawas (prefect) badge. Really love my fellow prefects
9. Beatles stamp, released Jan this year in the UK.
10. My first Valentine's Day card from Von, 1998. She gave it to a few of us. I miss her loads.

My purse carries my personal history, of people I've met, people of whom parts of them I carry with me, be it a picture or momento, people whom I hold dear to in the past and I still remember in the present. People who have brought me much joy during the growing years and through the darkest hours. Those little notes and cards still mean a lot, but of course, I would have carried around more if not for the size of my purse. I love stamps too, hence I carry some around, and of course, bits and pieces of my history that I treasure most. Most of it are things of the past that I want to remember, things I loved doing. Some of it represents my transition to adulthood and my diaspora away from home. I think it's time I buy a longer and bigger purse.