23 going on 30.

oh how time flies.

i have this weird habit. something i've been doing for about 6 years now.
i keep a calendar on my desk, i regularly refer to it, and i use it to record important dates, like birthdays, exams, meet-ups, break-ups, holidays, dates, special days, anything under the sun really...
okay i guess that bit's not really that unusual.

but what i do at the end of each year is a little on the weird side.
when the new year comes around, i
1) scavenge around the house for one of them free calendars from the town club/bank/restaurant/hotel/mum or dad's office

2) "install" the abovementioned calendar at my desk

3) flip through the old calendar in some tantric, nostalgic manner...reliving all the important dates and days of the past year

4) proceed to stash old calendar into cupboard, along with the other "old" calendars from the last 6 years


...

every once in a while, i do take these calendars out and relive my past. both the good and bad things.
i like recording things down, and i guess, this blog is an example of it
i have another, much older blog, dated back to 2002...when i was 15. all the way up to the beginning of last year.
then my life changed almost entirely, and i locked the old blog away (deleted it a couple of times but couldn't bear to let it go entirely) and started this one instead.

i also keep birthday cards, notebooks, organisers and various other relics of my past. i could've been a scribe in the ancient times with this habit of mine.

but yes, i like to keep calendars.

the current one i have is a free calendar from raffles town club.
last year's was a UOB calendar, given to my mum by her stockbroker! (heh) and then passed over to me.

i also like keeping clothing tags.
you know the stuff with the price and size on it? the one you have to cut off with a pair of scissors before you wear your blouse/jeans/shirt or people would think you stole it off the rack at the store? yeah, i keep my clothing tags in a jar! it's a habit that started out of necessity really.
i started keeping clothing tags when they started attaching extra buttons/sequins in plastic packets on these tags in case, you know, the button on your blouse falls out and you need a spare one to fix it up with? so, being the extra-paranoid and super-insecure person that i am, i started keeping these tags. eventually however, it became so habitual, that everytime i cut off a tag from a new piece, i'd just put it into the "tag jar"...and then it came to a point where i'd put even the tags from new bags or accessories...the ones that clearly didn't have spare buttons/sequins/etc. attached to them!

............

*RANDOM ALERT*
i went out yesterday and came back with a bruised upper left inner thigh. it is big and red in some areas, and blue-black in others. i don't remember injuring myself. i don't even remember being in pain at all! this is indeed scary. and rather normal for me, i suppose.

............

calendars make me feel old.
because they remind me of how quickly time has flown. they also remind me of what i've been through, so much more than what i can remember on my own. they remind me of some of the happiest times of my life, and then, some of the most painful.
they show me how far i've come in life, and how much further i have to go.
the dreams that materialised, and the ones that never quite made it to reality.
the panic-filled days, and the easy vacations.
the listless summer holidays and the crazy school terms, the exams, the deadlines.
the birthdays of people forgotten and gone, the key milestones in life, the hallmarks of the past.

..........

oh and btw, did i tell you how much i adore bradley? he always makes me feel so pretty! ;)