twenty years ago

1997

I was 7 years old. A few weeks into my primary one in a Chinese school. For a primary one, I was considered quite tall. Naturally, I would be seated at the back. I had no qualms about it until…

“inilah hor incik jainal…saya rasa hor, anak you hor…siti hor…ada masalah sikit lor…dia hor…selalu salah hor tulis…saya rasa hor…dia tarak nampak itu papan hitam…emak dia ada pakai cermin mata ka? Mungkin la mungkin dia ni hor labun jugak lor…”

off I went after school to kedai cermin mata.

antara spek spek pertama ai...ai dah lama dah pakai ala-ala wayfarer...

Since then, countless frames have decorated my face…besar, kcik…rectangle, square…yang plastik yang besi…And since then, countless frames have been stepped on…sat on…hahahahaha…

“Yah…cermin mata patah…”

“Laa patah lagi??? Ala…cian anak ayah tak nampak…jom jom kita gi buat baru…”

sangat rasa disayangi...

do not approach the other person…

“Ma…cermin mata patah…”

“Patah laaaaaaaagi??? Setahun ko nak tukar berapa kali spek ko ni dik…aku heranlah spek yang patut diletak kat muka tu, ko letak merata merata tempat buat ape? Tak sampai setahun pakai dah patah dah bengkok dah pecah…spek aku ni ha…takdelah bertukar tukar, dah bertahun tahun dah…tu yang aku heran…macam mana ko pakai spek ko tu…elok diikat je kat muka ko tu…kalau dikumpullah spek spek ko sebelum ni…boleh bukak kedai spek dah satu…ni spek baru ni kang, tah berapa lama lah tahan…*dengus* tak faham aku…”

sungguh rasa disayangi…

-__-

As I grew older…friends started to nag me to put on contact lenses instead…I tried…then I abandoned the idea for two very-simple-but-my-friends-cannot-accept-it reasons:

1. ai tak rasa cantik kalau ai tak pakai spec.

2. ai malas dan rimas dengan ritual ritual nak buka and pakai and store kanta lekap itu.