Ariel

This randomly popped to mind as I was writing some points down for my Brand Management essay.

When I was an adolescent (6? 7?), I used to have a friend cum neighbour whom I used to spend my evenings with. Her name was Lee Ping. Or at least that's what I used to call her. She's the daughter of Dr Chan. Or was it Chong. My memory is really rusty when it comes to people's names. Anyway, as a child, my cousins and I used to have this ridiculous obsession with 'The Little Mermaid". Yes, the Disney cartoon. As expected, my favorite character was Ariel. I used to buy coloring books and story books on the Little Mermaid. We (cousins and I) used to rewind and play the starting of the movie where she sang (aaaahhhh aahhhhh...) and sang along with her. Of course, everyone wanted to be Ariel at that time. Even my guy cousin. All competed on who had the nicest voice. The obsession doesn't stop there. We used to watch the movie ALL THE TIME. I swear if I had a penny for everytime we played that cartoon, I could've bought myself a car. A toy car. Ok lame.

So back to Lee Ping. She would come to my house everyday at 6pm, or we'd go and play in the park. One particular day, we decided to stay indoors and just draw some 'art'. As per usual, I'd suggest we draw Ariel and color her in. Though to be creative, we'd have to draw her without looking at her pictures to copy from. Also, to make it more interesting, we'd make it a competition and ask my mum to judge on who has the better Ariel. So I drew my Ariel. She had long flowy hair, big eyes and all the works. I don't remember it being that good but at that time, I was pretty smug with myself.

And so came the time for both of us to reveal our artwork. You can just imagine how ridiculously annoyed and angry I was when Lee Ping drew Ariel with SHORT hair, and insisted that she still looked pretty. I argued saying Ariel HAD to have long hair. So in the end, as planned, we went to my mum to judge our drawings. Lee Ping and I both had on a pretty sour face already. So, my mum being the sweet person that she is, obviously chose Lee Ping's drawing and said that it is up to Lee Ping if her imagination of Ariel included her having short hair.

I was so MAD. So we argued and argued about a stupid drawing until she finally gave up and went back home. Honestly speaking, I can't remember the next time I had her over. The next time we met was when both of us were teenagers again, as they moved away and moved back to the area after a few years. So in a way, we fought and drifted apart and neither one of us cared, because we were so young and probably didn't understand the whole concept of fighting. I do however still remember the day she stomped of my back gate to enter her own back gate. She was wearing a yellow tshirt and khaki colored shorts. Oh, and she brought her drawing with her. I remember thinking how dumb she was to argue with me about Ariel's hair. Hello? I was the one watching it repetitively and you suka suka je nak tukar rambut dia. Yes, that was what's in my head when I was 7. Not now, btw.

Come to think of it, I can be so difficult as a kid sometimes. It's a wonder I had any friends at all. My aunts and uncles keep reminding me of how they will purposely recite the ABCs in a nonsensical order, just to get me all fired up and recite the ABCs in the correct order to them. I was 3.

Honestly, I can't remember when I started becoming more tolerable and adaptive. I'm guessing boarding school taught me a lot. I know I'm still stubborn and hot headed at times, but I guess I'm more receptive as compared to when I was younger. Here's to growing up and InsyaAllah, a whole lot more of growing up to come =)