My Five Special Objects

What describes me in five objects? A violin case, swimming trophy,  silver necklace, mermaid key-chain, and my bookshelf.

                                             

The violin case is one of the most important things that describe me. It’s one of those things that if you take it out of my past and current life, it’d leave lots of holes. I started learning the violin when I was five, and had several recitals, and orchestra performances during that time. Sometimes, I absolutely loathed to play the violin, and would have to force myself and play. It was frustrating to try to get every note in tune, and to play it flawlessly like my father or teacher might want me to. However, the violin is a way for me to relieve my stress. Some days, I’d pick up the violin, and just play to my heart’s content. I’d never notice the time pass by, and just keep on playing.

                                            

For me, my swimming trophies hold a lot of memories, starting from first grade summer to fifth grade summer. In those times piled up, a lot of memorable things happened. There were two swimming pools in the neighborhood, but often, we’d just use the pool called “Ellis Creek.” At the Ellis Creek Pool, there was a lake right behind with a river flowing towards another lake. My friends and I would always go to the river before play around before our practice or after.

One day, my friend, Kasey, and I went down to the creek. Every year, there would be some ducklings, with their mother to watch over them. And every year, we would be tempted to try and catch one. The year right before I moved to Malaysia, Kasey and I finally decided to try and touch one. Just seeing a duckling made me want to try and pet it. Let’s get this straight: it was tempting. The river water was clear and cold, and the sun was beating down on us. Even though stepping on the sharp, minuscule stones in the water would hurt, it beat standing on the sun-cooked concrete any day. Kasey and I quietly slipped into the water, approaching the ducks. Lucky for us, one of the ducklings went swimming away, back into the lake, and the momma duck chased after it. In that moment of time, Kasey and I ran towards the ducklings, making loud splashing noises. Not the smartest thing to do, but it worked for us. We managed to catch one, but the momma duck abandoned its chase for her duckling, and came flying towards us. I dropped the duckling on the water, while my friend was being pecked by the momma duck. I couldn’t stop laughing - it was honestly a ridiculous sight: a girl running around, screaming, with a duck flying behind her, pecking continuously. It’s one of those memories where I always smile when I think about it.

Of course, the trophies I got was later on, but in each trophy I’ve gotten each summer, they always contained special memories.

                                             

The silver necklace is one of those really important things to me. It’s one of those “best friends” necklace, broken in half a heart for two people. My friend, Megan, gave it to me. It’s important to me, because it marks our friendship. Admittedly, Megan and I weren’t friends at the beginning. She came around in second grade, and the first impression I got of her would be cocky. The way she acted, talked, walked just simply screamed “arrogant.” Most of my classmates agreed.

I was kind of reckless back in second grade-that was probably the year I got injured or something the most. I once bluntly told her, “You know, not many people in this class likes you.” Afterward, I felt horrible, but surprisingly, she didn’t mind. Megan simply shrugged and said, “I don’t really care.”
During recess one day, the boys and I were playing this game, and near the end of recess, I tripped and fell over a boy’s foot. He was one of my close friends, and he came and asked if I was alright. I told him to go ahead, and tell the guys that I went off to do something else-I was prideful back then, and was reluctant to say that I was winded from falling down. When the whistle blew, signalling the time to go in and eat lunch, everyone rushed past. Everyone but Megan. By then I was crying, because I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t stand up. She was the one that took me to the nurse, and not anyone else. After that, through a series of weeks, we became best friends. From second to fifth, we would always hang out, and even after I moved, she would still chat with me from time to time.

 

I have this mermaid key-chain that’s special to me. It’s made out of yarn, and the length’s about the length of my palm. I got it from my friend right before she left for California. However, a week or two before, we were fighting about something. I don’t remember what, but it seemed really trivial, unimportant. Fortunately, right before she left, we made up, which I’m really grateful for. As a reminder of her, she gave me the mermaid. It’s special to me because before our fight, we were the best of friends, and we also stuck together, like glue. After she moved, I never saw her again. We used to email, but slowly, we stopped, and pretty much lost contact. I hope I can see her again, but if I don’t, at least I have something to remind me of the time we spent together.

I know many people who dislike reading, because they think it’s boring, hard, or something like that. But I, on the other hand, absolutely love reading. For me, reading is a way for me to just have fun with the characters, and forget about reality. I love how authors can just spin some words into a wonderful tale of magic, love, or mystery. My bookshelf holds a variety of genres, and even some math books.

I don’t think there’s much history to the books I have for people to be interested in. But I can definitely say this: They’re worn out, and many of the bindings have broken at some point, which my father fixed it for me. I know some people think rereading books is a waste of time, but to me, I think it’s wonderful to travel to another world again.
The each and every book I have in my bookshelf are books that I’ll treasure forever.


Me in five objects: A violin case, a swimming trophy, a friendship necklace, mermaid key-chain and my bookshelf. All of those objects hold a million of tiny pieces of memories for me, and they're special to me.

What's in a Name?

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose,

By any other name would smell as sweet."

- Romeo & Juliet

Tiffany

Tiffany. It is a bold and elegant name, a name so unlike me. When heard, it paints a picture of a dark, stormy night, when lightning lights up the sky for all to see, glorious and daunting. Yet, it can always create an image of a ribbon flowing elegantly in the wind, dancing lightly. It means Manifestation of God - Divine Manifestation - yet I am neither religious nor special in any way. I’m just a girl on the street you walk past without giving a second thought. A name derived from the Ancient Greek Theophania, it is a name that does not represent me well. Yet, when people call my name, it sounds natural, it sounds like me.

When my name is written, I always thought it looked awkward, how the ‘i’ always looked crushed between the towering ‘T’ and ‘F.’ When someone whose mother language isn’t English says my name, they elongate the ‘I,’ which makes it sound like a ‘ee.’ When that happens, my name no longer sounds bold and elegant, but more like a beautiful note on a violin gone wrong.

When asked what color my name could be, I think of a dark, navy blue color tinged with silver is the color I imagine with my name. It is dark and mysterious, and is not easily spotted in a mass of colors, and mysterious like the gods. Though it may not seem so, the colors represent both my name and me. 

My name doesn’t have much of a history. My parents had simply picked up a name book, and chose between Stephanie, Sabrina, and Tiffany. But out of all those, my father chose Tiffany because of the jewelry Tiffany & Co. “I chose it because it was elegant and beautiful,” he had said. I used to wish I had another name, but when I think of the other names I could have gotten, like Sabrina or Stephanie, I am grateful that I had been chosen the name Tiffany. 

Though I may not be elegant nor bold, beautiful or special, I am still me, and no other name would fit me as perfectly as Tiffany.