A classmate gave me that nickname for being the girl with the backpack full of keychains. I had so many that I would be jingling wherever I went. I couldn’t even walk into the school library without disrupting my fellow classmates.

For reasons unknown (or forgotten) I have always enjoyed walking around jingling a little. Not from bells (although when I went to japan I got myself a charm that did have a small jingle bell) but from the metals of various keychains hitting each other.

And for a few years my sole souvenirs and mementos bought would be keychains to attach to my backpack.

But I decided that it was time to stop jingling around so much when I got to university. (It took me until about third year to quiet down when I got a new backpack that gasp! didn’t have any place for me to put keychains on!)

It was around these years when somebody had bought me some bangles. And perhaps it was for their jingling or just because I thought my wrists and arms were pretty, that I fell in love with the bangles. I don’t wear them that often (usually when I dress up); nor do I have any real reason to wear them; just that I like them and I think they are pretty.

It started with an X-teenth birthday when a friend got me some gold bangles (5). They were plain and shiny. Too shiny for me as a tomboy-ish X-teen year old girl. I thought they were too “mature” for my age and I never wore them out in public. In fact, I didn’t even like gold that much (I realised later on).

And over the years (much longer than my keychain collecting, I suppose) I have amassed a large collection of bangles. Some I bought for myself, and others as gifts from family. I tend to get the silver/grey coloured ones as I had always felt it complimented my (yellow) skin tone better than the (first set of) gold ones.

I have a set of heavier silver metal bangles - each one with its own unique pattern of squiggles and hearts (7). I have a small set of very thin but coloured bangles - where unfortunately the glued on sparkles have now rubbed away (4) and a very thin silver coloured one with notches and grooves cut into it. On whims I bought a set of (4) stars and (12) random patterns; both of which were low quality hollow pieces of metal which where probably bought for ten dollars a set.

Last year I bought a set of (varying thickness) black metal bangles where grooved patterns were cut into the metal, letting the contrasting silver underneath show through (5). I also recall that last year while dragging my heavily bangled arm through Hong Kong, one of the cheaper bangles (thank goodness) had snapped off… they are not being counted here as I don’t even remember which set it came from (I often mixed and matched sets depending on my mood).

But today while shopping at the forks with my mom we decided on a whim to step into the East Indian store and look for more of the costume jewellery that I tend to gravitate towards (I mean come on… I’m in my mid twenties now and I still don’t like the real silver and gold sparkly sparkly at the department stores?!?!?)

Yes, yes, I am wearing my iron ring and the one my sweetheart got for me. I also on occasion (whenever I remember) wear a curly leaf and my puzzle rings from Toronto; and quite recently, a lizard that my sister got for me as a gift. Like the cheap bangles that I sometimes get, I have also bought some rather cheap plastic rings coated in a silver paint of sorts. But my fingers seem to only like the rings with some real metal to them; and I haven’t actually been wearing those at all after removing the package. I digress.

My mom and I were looking at the silver rings as she was also looking for something cutesy to wear (????) so I was looking at the designs myself. Being rather picky and a quick scanner when it comes to jewellery, I didn’t take a long close look at any of the hundreds of designs. There were mood rings (like the one I wear) and silver bands, and even ones with the gigantic gemstones on. There were toe rings (which my mom suggested I get for those sandal wearing days) and other cutesy random fluffy cat faced ones.

Then for reasons unknown we gravitated over to the section with bangles. Bangles galore! Tiny ones (for babies and children I presume) and larger ones! Of many designs and gold and silver!

Today I had decided that I should maybe get (if any) something gold in colour. It probably had to do with the fact that I was wearing brown today and what better colour to compliment the brown than some yellow gold? We stood there for probably half an hour while my mom was picking up designs that she thought were pretty, me trying them on and checking for the size, and picking up all the ones that kept falling off the rack.

And so in the end I was a little poorer but I was also a few (5) bangles richer. I put them on and could already feel their weight as I slid my arm across the stair banisters. They were of varying styles and designs and colours; some were more yellow and some were more dull in colour.

But now I can say with confidence that this massive collection has grown to include 43 bangles now. Just seven more until I reach 50… yikes!

I never quite knew that I had so many. But now I should be less afraid to wear them around and let my arm jingle a bit. I wonder if I’m the only one in town with this jingly obsession?