Just
finished watching the Taiwanese movie “Our Times” (“我的少女時代”) and thought about old school crushes and past
loves. Although this movie is not screening in Canada, I managed to find a
direct link from Chinese forums to watch it online (http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3d0y0v_我的少女時代-our-times-part3_shortfilms).
While “You
Are the Apple of My Eye” (“那些年，我們一起追的女孩”) projected the romance-comedy perspective from a guy (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fr3PaVfGyE),
“Our Times” is narrated by the girl – an ordinary one. As the Director said, for
every Shen Jia Yi (沈佳宜), there are 99 Lin Zhen Xin (林真心).
Being in the thirties, the teenage years was half a lifetime ago! Thinking back now, I feel grateful to all the guys I had liked. “Because of ‘him’, I am who I am now.” (“因为他, 我才是今天的我.”) Once upon a time, I hoped there would only be one guy, but looking back now, there are actually a few.
Thank you D for being a wonderful boyfriend. I felt happy almost every day during our 2 years together. At this point, thinking of you still makes me a little teary. Even if I never meet anyone else, I am very glad to love and be loved by you. For now, you are remembered as my Mr Forex Trader, my 郭靖 and my 耶律齐.
Thank you K for being a fantastic first love. You will always be my Mr First Love, my 柯景騰 and my 徐太宇. While I was not an extreme goody-two-shoes nerdy bookworm, I will not be as courageous and street-smart today if not for you. You are lovingly archived at the bottom of my heart in the teenage memories section.
Thank you J for appearing in the same Poly course. You were the eye candy like 歐陽非凡 and 道明寺 that made lectures so much more interesting just because you were there. Think I dreamt or daydreamed of you so much back then until I can’t remember if the memories of you are real or not.
Thank you S for the lovely dates and chats in Uni. You made the challenging uni days so much more fun and interesting by being the charming listener and intelligent advisor. In my memory, you look like or even better than Wentworth Miller and that’s why I was infatuated.
Thank you YK for being the first guy I admired coz you are older and introduced me to post-Sec school and pre-Poly life. If you had asked me to be your GF, the 17-year-old me would have said yes. Till now, you are still the record-holder for most memorable first date on CNY eve even though I can’t recognise you anymore.
Thank you JR for looking like my real-life James Potter. Out of my 4 internships, the one with you was my fave and inspired me to wake up at 5am every day for 10 weeks. I still remember the joke on my last day of work and hope you will remember that funny memory as much as I do.
Thank you B for being the Secondary School eye candy who played basketball. Not sure if I liked you or because my friends talked about you, but you looked good in the basketball court for sure. The memories of you are so vague that I forgot about you until we met again at someone’s wedding a decade later.
There are a few minor crushes who I thought are cute and/or good looking, but did not have a memorable impression as they did not last more than 6 months. Most girls just want 1 good partner for life - I hope to be the 黄蓉 of my 郭靖. Where are you?(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1UuVFhu5bQ)
While I
enjoyed both movies, the Taiwanese movie I resonate most with is “Taipei
Exchanges” (“第36個故事”), maybe because the
lead character is named Doris and in the end she went on a round-the-world trip
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi010yX8Yl4). It didn’t end with a love story,
but it was a happy ending for herself. Because of this movie, I visited
Daughter’s Café (朵兒咖啡館) at No. 393 Fujin Street when I went Taiwan
in January 2013. I didn’t notice before, but my current hairstyle might have
been inspired by her.
