Chapter 2 "Master Bai"

-- Saving money, collecting stamps, watching video games In the era of financial constraints, it is not easy for a poor kid to have his own hobbies.However, as far as I can, I always want to make myself a little different from my partners who only know how to play in mud and sand pits. The children of the poor headed home early.Since I had a deeper understanding of the family situation when I was young, I have a better understanding of saving. more specific emotions. When going to kindergarten and preschool, the school will distribute homework books.I will put the New Year's money and the pocket money I saved from my teeth in my homework book. I can save money and use it as a bookmark.When it is collected to a certain extent, I will ask my mother to replace it with a new one, such as a big unity of ten dollars.

Of course, my favorite is the piggy bank.When I was young, because I had no money to buy toys, the piggy bank bought by my mother was my beloved treasure. Every year, she would buy a piggy bank for me. This tradition continued until I represented the Shaanxi team in Beijing Sikuaiyu training period. I remember that after I owned a piggy bank for the first time, I lobbied my family: "Parents, try tossing a coin into it, and see what the sound is!" Zhizi Moruuomu, my mother saw through my tricks at a glance: "Throw Go in, and you won’t give it to us.” I explained bluntly, “I’m not spending money randomly, I’m just collecting change for you.” This is the truth, I have never spent money randomly, and I still do it until now.

Later, when I was training on behalf of Beijing, my mother bought me a super high-end electronic piggy bank.This little thing is very popular in the dormitory: as long as you put a coin in, a big red heart will appear in the background immediately, and then there will be two kissing villains, kissing three times in a row.I said to the onlookers: "You vote, you can watch the kiss!" The friends were very smart, and after watching enough excitement, they curled their lips and said, "We don't want to watch it." Then they dispersed. It seems that everything depends on self-reliance.I had to pour out all the coins in the piggy bank and throw them into the jar one by one.The good times don't last long, those beautiful patterns don't appear, and the villain doesn't move anymore, because the battery is exhausted.From a thrift point of view, I decided it was a bauble embroidered pillow, since I would have to buy batteries for it, which would undoubtedly cost me another investment.

I promised my family that I would never spend the money in the piggy bank.I did it!Although my money is often "stretched", I have never been reluctant to spend the money in it, even if it is a penny.Just save one cent, two cents, five cents, little by little.Every time I buy something to find money, I hope that others will give me coins; and if any child has coins, I will try my best to exchange them with banknotes.During the Chinese New Year, I pestered my mother to exchange the lucky money given to me into coins. After leaving the dorm at home, I usually wake up earlier in the morning than my teammates, so I stay in bed, while they are sleeping soundly, empty out the money in the piggy bank, and sort it in various ways, such as face value, year of issue , new and old versions, etc., counting over and over again.

But it's strange, the amount of money I counted is different every time. But at the moment when the coins were poured out with a "wow", I seemed to hear the most beautiful music in the world!Feel extra rich!It's a bit like in the cartoon "Avanti", the miser Bayi who always loves to count gold secretly at home, right? ! This is my own secret, and my teammates never realized it, that Tian Liang who was counting money on the bed early in the morning.Can you think of it?Apart from the arduous and monotonous training, counting coins used to be the only joy in my life.

Like collecting stamps is purely accidental.When I was young, my sister who was four years older than me had the greatest influence on me, and her hobbies, behaviors, and aesthetic standards all directly influenced me.I don't know when, my sister became a fan of stamp collecting.After school every day, she is most proud of playing with her stamp collection, showing me the origin of these stamps and the allusions behind them. In my mind, for the first time, there is the concept of stamps.I was so envious, so I made up my mind: I want to collect stamps too. However, the first resistance I encountered was money.At that time, the parents who worked hard for three meals a day would definitely not tolerate the hobbies of the two children in the family who had such a "wasting time and money".So, I pestered my mother for money again and again, but I couldn't stand it, so my mother came up with a compromise plan: collecting stamps is okay, but you have to use your own money to buy them.At that time, they gave me an allowance of 1 yuan a week, and my other income was all from the New Year's money given by adults during the Chinese New Year, and I was not willing to spend it at ordinary times.My mother thought that this would allow me to gradually change my interest.

However, she underestimated my willpower and financial skills.At that time, there was a philatelic market two or three minutes away from our school.Whenever I have free time, I compare booth by booth, and then establish a relatively complete concept of financial management by picking stamps: first, I will carefully use the pocket money of each week on the "knife edge"; Second, I will carefully consider how to spend this dollar, how to buy beautiful, cheap and large number of stamps. I usually buy a set of four or five stamps, or a set of two. Some stamps are very expensive, so I buy at most one.at that time

The monkey ticket (1980) among the Chinese zodiac signs is relatively expensive, and I can’t afford it at all, so I will buy the chicken ticket (1981) with a face value of 8 cents.When you have money, you can buy less expensive stamps such as dogs and pigs.Since then, I have developed a personality of pursuing perfection. I must buy what I yearn for. If the money is not enough for the time being, I will save money first, and then buy it back when I have enough. Of course, the stamps I bought back will basically not appear in the scope of my sister's stamp album.Because I was young at that time, I didn't know the saying of exchanging stamps with each other.In order to properly preserve these "treasures", I would pick up cigarette cases all over the street, carefully peel off the plastic skin, and use it to wrap stamps, which acts as a plastic wrap.The plastic skin of a cigarette case contains at most two postage stamps.Later, I gradually got my own stamp album, and when one was full, I filled the second.Unexpectedly, when I became obsessed with collecting stamps, my sister played other tricks.

My unremitting hobby touched my father.He later transferred his job to the "Contemporary Party Members" magazine, and joined the Association of Stamp Collectors, the purpose of which was to help me collect stamps.Unfortunately, after entering the national team, I no longer have the time and energy to collect stamps. But I will always remember my stamp collecting days.The fun it gives me is not the final result - the stamp collection, but the process of focusing on accumulating research and repeated comparisons. I am also a loyal follower of video game consoles, not personally participating, of course, but watching.The reason is - no money.

Whether it was the newly released "Thunder Dragon" refueling plane game, or the later popular "Nintendo" and "Three Kingdoms" games, I was very familiar with the program steps in it.For example, in the first "Thunder Dragon", I know where there will be stray bullets, bombs, where to refuel, etc. I know everything. At that time, there was a large wholesale market between the school and my home, and the game hall there attracted me like a magnet.Every time I go to the game hall, because I have no money and my introverted personality is a little "recognizable", I can only wait and watch quietly.When there is no one, I will persistently wait for the arrival of the next participant.

I often see some people who are not very good at game over immediately after putting in coins. I am very anxious, but I don’t like to talk and don’t want to make random moves.At that time, I always hope that there will be a master, so that I can find the joy and satisfaction of victory in other people's games. Don't look at me not playing in person, but I do everything with all my heart, even if I am watching the game.When I was in the first grade of elementary school, I woke up early every morning, bought noodles for my family, and after a hasty breakfast, I ran out quickly. Every day after school, I also ran quickly.There is only one goal: to watch the game. Running fast is because you are in a hurry!I had to buy as much time as possible to watch other people play games before going to school and coming home from school.Unexpectedly, my running skills were unmatched in the national team. Now it seems that my three childhood hobbies: saving money, collecting stamps, and watching other people play games are basically related to thrift.Although I no longer buy stamps or worry about it, I still carefully plan every penny, which should be spent and which should not be spent.Many people are making fun of me as a miser, "little Grandet".They haven't lived through the grind of poverty and don't know what a penny means to me.I don't know that these hobbies are entrusted with my life ideals.They won't know what it means to me behind those repetitive and single games.