I found this old woodcarving at my mom's when I took a trip to my hometown in June. I hadn't seen it for many years and was surprised to see it still intact. This woodcarving was a school art project I made in 1993 - that was 24 years ago! How time flies!

I was a spunky teenager in the early 90s. My generation was labeled as Generation-X or the MTV Generation. Teenagers of my generation were known to have cynical attitude and slackers. Do we? Probably. Our attitude were largely influenced by the music we listened to. It was the era of grunge and alternative rock so we were constantly drowning in our petty adolescent angst.

I attended a boarding school from 1990 till 1994 and probably the best years of my life. We didn't have a lot of entertainment so we made do with whatever things we had. Since we couldn't go out often we spent a lot of time listening to music. We didn't have CD players back then so we listened to music from cassette tapes all the time. Not everyone could afford the trendy Walkman, but we had boomboxes!

I remember the time I spent to made this woodcarving. I was an Art Stream student. What is Art Stream? Well in Malaysia, after a student completes her SRP/PMR (national exam for Form 3 students - 15 years old), she needs to decide whether to pursue the Science Stream or the Art Stream. As the names implied, those taking Science Stream would learn science subjects like Physics, Chemistry and all that. Whereas those in the Art Stream would learn other subjects that are not related to science such as art, economy, accounting and so on. But her decision would have to depend on her SRP/PMR results. If she scores A for maths, she would probably end up in the science stream unless she decides not to.

So since I was horrible at maths, I had no choice but to choose the Art Stream. I didn't mind it at all - I love arts!

My friends and I spent several weeks to complete this woodcarving project. I hated it though. I didn't know how to use the carving chisels very well and often cut myself. My carvings weren't smooth. You can see it was crooked.

What was the thing that bothered me the most during this time? Probably a stupid crush on someone not worthy of my time and attention...

...and while at it I was probably listening to this song...

I still listen to Nirvana but as one approaches middle age it may be a bit too noisy for my taste.

I scored 52 over 60 for this project. Not shabby at all.

It's 1:10 in the morning as I typed this and listening to Lithium. I am too tired to check for grammatical errors and I miss my adolescent years. I never attend any school reunion and still in touch with some school friends but we have all grown apart and lead our own separate lives. Each of us may forget the memories we shared during those years but other than old photos, we have other mementoes such as this to remind us of a carefree life when things were so much simpler.