it has been awhile. i know. because people have been constantly reminding me about it. i know. because i am no longer 'always' logged in into my blog account. and i know, because my previous entry was pretty damn half-hearted.

i have been preoccupied. and then it took me a while to gain back my momentum. and so, here i am.



over the past few months, i can honestly say that i got a thorough experience of getting back to my roots, my hometown. my family, my highschool friends, and just everything else that made me who i am. a small, 'sleepy' town called Ipoh.

during my four years of absence, i noticed the littlest difference in the buildings, the roads and the old coffeeshops that i frequently visit.
very well-preserved. would be a good excuse.
outdated, kampung, slow, and lazy would be the harsh description.

as i have always pointed out, no matter which hour of the day it is, you will be able to see the somewhat popular kopitiams and cinema here pretty much occupied. don't believe me? take a tour to the now infamous dim sum street, or the old town traditional authentic white coffee shops and you will know. and the irony? they are all locals. yep, born-n-bred in ipoh itself.

ipoh people love food. and they live for that purpose. the only thing ipoh-ians are good at? preserving a century/decades old recipe and make it big. think Oldtown White Coffee and its coffee chains. We are the originator of the Malaysian ' Starbucks'. We provide good quality food at an affordable price but perhaps not the best service.

Singaporeans and Malaysians alike think of 'nga choy gai' or beansprouts chicken with the ridiculously smooth hor fun, with just the mere mention of the name Ipoh. We are proud. very proud of that.

Fireflyz finally came to Ipoh to launch it's S'pore route after a sudden halt by Airasia due to low demand at about 3 years ago. We decided we love fireflyz.

And so, it was a reminiscence of how my world works just 4 years ago. 4 years later, all of my good friends left their hometown for the capital city or at another part of the world. and that is how things work here. we grow up in ipoh, work in kl for about 40 years and retire back to ipoh.

as much as i love my hometown, i realised, i can't settle. perhaps, i need to get a feel of the big, bad world out there - for a small town girl like me.

hm...... i guess i have not been writing much...

^^
will do so in future..


Cheers,
from the girl who '0wns' summer.
- quoted from Ms. Qianyi Ong, 4 sept 2009.

i just need to break over fence. and climb to the other visible yet intangible side. i haven't had the greatest support, nor have i faced the deepest setback just yet. i felt as if i am sitting on a swing, swaying backwards and forwards. am i just really staying at my comfort zone, refusing to bulge? how would one know? the road less taken. can sometimes feel so lonely...

i once did a personality test online. the result? entirely subjective. and i was in between an Individualistic Idealist and a Groundbreaking Thinker. the only difference? well, one is an introvert while the latter, a outgoing person. so i know what i have to fix. well, i knew since i was young. i was pressured. i was reminded. but i have never succeeded. in a comfortable manner anyway. so many "how's" but so little answers.........

and so, again, i am thrown into the subject of the "i need" and "i want". which matter most?

i think driving too much in ipoh causes severe high blood pressure. it gets me annoyed, irritated, moody and sometimes even the "yes, I'm so used to it by now" attitude when someone else comes ranting to me about it.

in a way, one's driving skills define their character in itself. and fo' sure, this place, named "Sleepy town" by The Star Publications lives up to its reputation. it is entirely different to KL drivers but dangerous all the same. or even worse.

i have encountered so many incidents that made me rolled my eyes, or muttered the words "oh, c'mon. are you kidding me?!"
take this incident for example, i was just driving obediently along the left lane under the overhead bridge and there was this white little Kancil driving just next to me. in equal speed. and then, out of a sudden, he swerved to my lane, which was impossible as i was just beside him, unless of course, he wanted some thrills or deeply missed the joy in bumper cars in Genting, or whatever fun fairs there are out there.

and so, when he was a little bit of an inch from me, i started jamming the horns like a mad woman. i had to. or else, i might end up as one.
after that, like a wake up call, when he realised that he was nuts, he decided to go back to his own lane.
as i turned to look back to the Kancil, i was shocked to find a passenger next to him. how blind can two pair of eyes be?! i turned to glare at them but they pretended as if nothing happened and refused to meet my eye. as the traffic light turned green, i sped off, still appalled by what had happened.

and by the way, they weren't the young reckless probational drivers nor were they of the elderly side. they were, i believed, my parents' age and "well-experienced".

my sister kept telling me to chill but honestly, i can do well without cursing for once when i drive. now, this is what i call a road rage.

a song triggered me to start taking notice on my poorly abandoned guitar.
it was one thing that i treasured most. it wasn't the most expensive guitar in the world, but it was the fruit of my earnings from one month of working at a salad bar. it wasn't a branded one. and it need not be. it was a spanish classical guitar by a name i'd forgotten. but makes effortless melody.

as i googled through the tabs for the song, i was amazed by the fact that the beautiful song was created by merely four simple chords. 'Falling Slowly'. i loved the complexity it brings out with such a simple song like that.

i smiled at the scent of the wood from my guitar. i smiled as i start getting smoother as i played. i smiled at how simple life is. by immersing myself into music.
it is funny how my fingers only start to hurt when i was done.

it reminded me so much of my days back in high school.... back when we perform for school functions... back when we would start strumming random (but limited) numbers in class when the teacher wasn't around.. back when we were still trying to look 'cool'.

to those who went for the pangkor trip; jmun, sweeleen, sneha, mel, bala, pris, zhi & eli, if you are reading this, it was an interesting get together after five years. *winks* things changed. preferences differed.. but i guess that's what made it so interesting.
i hope in the next five years... when we have another catching-up trip. we'd have more to share. more for me to reflect upon...
funny that i've known you guys for more than a decade now. some, even nearly 20 years in counting (sleen, bala. lol!). who says friendship can't last?

- XoXo.

i realised it has been ages since i visited a coffee chain, sipping off my latte, reading a book. mostly dull textbooks or lecture notes. or the occasional storybook.

it has also been some time since i finished a novel within 2 days. i flipped page by page, my book, "A Thousand Splendid Suns"... he was a great storyteller, the author.

i remembered just a little more than six months ago, i was sitting down in gloria jeans, my table filled with piles of notes and on top of them, my loyal green highlighter that i have been using it for the whole of my college & uni life. and of coz, sitting quietly at the corner of the table, my skinny hazelnut latte or sometimes, a skinny mocha.
i was never really fond of coffee, or the smell of it. and especially not the aftertaste. i'd always make sure that i have my mintbox with me before i ordered my dose of caffeine. it never worked for me though, the caffeine. it made me sleepier.... perhaps, there was never a cure to stay awake for Derivatives Securities.. now, i can't even recall the slightest detail of the subject. no matter. i am no longer a student.......

Thus, begins the new chapter of my life. a path chosen. a road taken. not the conventional glamorous option but definitely a challenging and rewarding one.
it was a ticket. out of comformity. i daresay that i took a small lion step to live out of the conventional way.
the people i met differed so greatly that it has been an eye-opening experience for me, each trip in itself. the (once) poor, the rich, the young and the wise... they gave reassuring nods as they heard that i'm a new one. 'it's the right decision', they'd say. i wouldn't know. not at this point of time. but what i know is that it was the best option.

i have so much more to learn. i'm amazed by how people can just speak up and be respected. it is a self development program for me. so much to absorb, so many opportunities to catch up on.. right now, it is as if i am thrown into a f1 car, unable to operate it. despite it all, i know i have the best tools to assist me with it. i will make it work. and i assure you, i want to be a living proof that it will.