Sui Generis

It's been pretty hectic over the past few days, and now that I finally have some time to breathe , let me hand you some updates. Last Friday was my last day at work and boy did the girlies prepare a wholesome feast! Also I had a chance to try this yummeh thing: Beautiful cheese. Nanda Chicken, 11, Jalan Solaris 2, Solaris Mont Kiara, 50480 Kuala Lumpur, Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur Just a note, if you like spicy stuff, this is your place. I was dying with level 1 spice. So proceed with caution and don't think you won't shit fire, cuz you might. You can thank me later. Me when I see cheese on my food.  Two things make me an incredibly happy person like in the picture above: 1) Korean food 2) karaoke. There's this Korean place called  in PV128 at Wangsa Maju that serves unlimited supply  of Korean food for the price of either RM25, or RM30. Most of its patrons go for the more expensive option since it appears to be more worth of it...

      As the title states, it was a pretty hectic day today.  Much yukata. Many smiles. The group I was a part of that celebrates all-things-和服 (wafuku--or traditional Japanese clothing) had a gathering today. Months and weeks leading up to this event, I had contemplated ongoing, or not, because I wasn't quite sure of my schedule so far in advance. Turns out that it was a really lovely experience meeting people with similar interests, even though I've never met them before. Fancy lettering for a fancy place. Hearing the word いざかや (izakaya), I was immediately transported back to the time I visited one in Tokyo about a few years back. The place was cramped, reeked of alcohol and cigarette smoke, and best of all, noisy. It was where people went to unwind and rant about their bosses and hit on unsuspecting & potential dates (I'm just speculating. That's what people do when they get drunk, right?) One thing that's similar, was that food was ex...

"Hey everyone - if anyone actually still reads blogs, what with instant updates and all on social media. It's been almost a year being in working life, 7 months to be precise. It's strange to imagine that this time last year, I would've just got back from life in the UK, ending my chapter as a student and traversing into the unknown world of being a adult. Honestly speaking, it doesn't feel very different from my previous student life. I still eat like I used to back then (minimal meals ftw because, broke), I still have responsibilities, albeit involving more people now rather than just being responsible for myself. I sleep much earlier now since I have a fixed schedule so I guess that's a plus. My social life is kinda sad though. Not having a car doesn't help either." -- sometime late 2017. ---- So, that post up there? Yeah, it was, I think, from October last year. I never really got around to finishing it. Says a lot about my other interests, act...

It's been almost a whole year since my last update (2016) and time sure flies. I can bet that my 23-year-old self wouldn't have believed me if I told her that I would be updating this blog in the Philippines a year later. Now this is my first time here and I can tell you that the days that had led up to my departure from KLIA 2 were just buzzing with anxiety. Firstly, I was arriving in Manila at night, alone in a foreign country with no one to meet me there. I've been told stories of kidnappings, taxi scams and other frightening stuff. What's more, at the customs before my departure, I was stopped because my passport was blacklisted. Why? Because PTPTN staff were slacking. I was told to drop by this small, makeshift counter and I told the dude there that I just started paying my dues about a week ago. He looked at me funny and said that the center I paid at should've removed the ban by now. Long story short, the issue was dealt with and I was cleared to leave th...

Have you ever felt this intense urge in your heart, this longing in your soul to go somewhere --  to return to a place you don't physically call home? It's been more than a month since I went to Japan. Suffice to say, I felt what I mentioned above at Haneda airport while counting down the minutes to my departure back to England. New and old friends patiently waited with me as I queued up to checked-in, ate with me my last Japanese dinner bought at the convenience store, and took an abundance of digital memories. These things made it all the more difficult to let go and leave. I put on a smile, wide enough that even my own consciousness is fooled, laughed loudly, assuring myself and the others that I will be back the following year -- the same promise I made the previous year. But life is unexpected and plans are ephemeral. The inital aim of this post was to reflect on my time in Japan (which was no less exciting as the previous time), but I guess it ended up sounding a litt...

I realised something. Sitting in the departure hall of terminal two in Heathrow two hours early, I read a book -- Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto -- to kill time. Opposite me are a British (I think) couple, probably in their fifties, with eyes peering through their spectacles at the ipads held between their slightly stubby fingers. And here I am, reading a small, thin novella, 150 pages, with a glaringly pink cover. As my own tired eyes (five hours in the bus is no joke) and foggy mind struggled to comprehend the printed words, relaxing and unwinding, a thought, quiet as a passing whisper, struck me like a gong. I've always enjoyed reading physical books where I can touch, flip its pages and smell them, feel its weight in my hands. Electronic devices like tablets have been introducing new features with each new model; the feeling of flipping a page, the sound of flipping the page, all without the hassle of weight and with extra capacity. But, obviously the very experience of reading an...

I think God taught me something today -- that's not to say that he doesn't teach you something everyday, but today, for some reason, after getting my pay I was, in a way, placed in a couple of situations where I was forced to use that money (for reasons I won't state) instead of keeping it for my saving's account like I always do. The lesson only struck me as I sat down for a relatively cold dinner: money is not meant to be kept and never used. You don't earn money to hoard it all, admiring the numbers that increase each time you deposit your salary, but to spend it on the things you need. Money, if you think of it in this way, is essentially not yours. Sure you earned it, and have every right to claim your hard earned cash -- but it's not yours. If you think about it this way, it is God's money you're spending. Why? He's the one who provided you with the job. He's the one who gave you the means and chances to hone your skills to get that job. He...