Funny how it was perfectly acceptable for 10-year-old boys to play hopscotch, but if you saw a group of men in their 20s or 30s having an epic match of hopscotch you'd think they need to get a life.

If only it were so simple, to go back to enjoying the simpler things in life. Here are 10 things we hope you can rediscover the joy in:

1. Having friends sign our autograph books

Source: The Little Drom Store

Before there was Facebook or Instagram, autograph books were the best social experiences ever. Plucking up courage to ask your crush to write in your autograph book was a defining moment in your childhood. These books also encouraged creative poetry and colouring as well!

2. Riding your bicycle around the neighbourhood

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Zooming around the estate gave us a sheer sense of freedom, even though we were strictly told to stay within the estate. It was an adventure cycling to the edge of the estate anyway!

3. Getting stickers when our teachers marked our homework

Gold stars were only the beginning. You know things got serious when your teacher offered cartoon character stickers for full marks.

4. Having your parents read you bedtime stories

You know how even though the story has been read to you a hundred times, you would still want your parents to read the same book, page for page, word for word.

You can ask your parents to read you a bedtime story now, but I think they will probably pepper it with questions like 'When are you going to get married ah?' 'How come you Friday night you never go out with your friends?'.

5. Playing with your friends outside

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Hopscotch, catching, zeropoint, pepsi-cola, ice and melt. All awesome games that don't involve your fingers prodding a screen.

6. Talk to your friend on the phone for hours on end

The art of conversation has been lost now that we have WhatsApp and Facebook messenger. But it was awesome back then to talk to your friends on the phone every night, even though you just spent 8 hours in school with them and will see them in class the next day.

7. Eagerly anticipate your favourite song to be played on the radio

Remember how you would camp by your radio all night just so you can listen to your favourite hits? Some of us even have a Walkman on standby to record the songs. Our best friends may even call us to alert us when our favourites were playing.

8. Get so excited about your birthday you can't fall asleep the night before

We couldn't sleep because we will be thinking of opening all the presents the next day, or having a super fun time at our birthday party.

Nowadays as an adult, we get an SMS from Mindef wishing us a happy birthday and reminding us to do our IPPT. Some people will become sad when less than half of their Facebook friends wish them happy birthday.

9. Singing awesome NDP songs at school on the eve of National Day

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The old NDP songs were awesome because it was actually singalong-able for people without iron lungs. The lyrics were simple and easy to remember and the pace of the songs were much more forgiving. Not all of us can be like Kit, Stefanie, Tanya, Corrinne, or Olivia.

10. When having $50 meant that we were the richest kid in the world

$50 meant the world to us. Probably a month's worth of allowance or more. Those were the days of $5 movie tickets and $4.50 Extra Value Meals. These days, an afternoon in Orchard would eat into more than just one of these blue notes. Le sigh...

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