Stories Left in Me

Happy New Year 2025!

It's February but I feel like my year is just starting out. December and January went by in a blur of events, people and travels. Whilst I'm not complaining, it's nice to know the sparkles from the pop have finally settled down and I'm falling into a dull yet much needed routine in my life right now.

Last year was a great year. Every person I love has made it safely into 2025. No major dramas or health issues. I was in a flight ( it's the destination, not the journey) every two weeks all of last year. Paid more attention to my spirituality. Made things with my hands which brought me tremendous joy. Even managed to lower my body fat percentage despite the struggles of perimenopause. Finally, Christmas sleighed on without drama - my brother even accepted my gift. Now I don't know how 2024 will compare to any year moving forward but one can hope!

I'm thinking of doing some writing this year. Creatively. That side of my brain has been hibernating for far long now I don't even know how to revive it. Haven't been reading quality materials or engaging in thought-provoking conversations with anyone in recent times, and I think in at least three languages so these factors are not helping the cause either.

Today, I did something brave. I sat my arse down and signed up for a creative writing course with a local writing studio. I've been eyeing it for months now, but haven't found the courage to do it. Various reasons, social anxiety being one. Just thinking about it now, makes my blood vessels constrict.

But there are stories left in me. A couple of great ones too.

And I have to honour those.

Here's a book of essays containing one
of mine published in 2022
by Penguin.

Comments

Shit Happens

MAYBE it helps to appear confident and sure of yourself even if your mind is tangled up in a Cuban whore house sometimes. Or how else are you going to get away from being handcuffed and dragged shamefully into the security room when you've absent-mindedly walked out of a luxury boutique with a RM15,000 (about USD$ 5000) handbag on your arm, unpaid for! Silly me. It happened a couple of days ago at a Louis Vuitton boutique in town. I was with a friend, looking for a certain handbag ( Oh, RC . I don't usually do this : stopping by to check out an obscenely-priced handbag because I still rather go on a whimsical holiday to the land of exotica which for me is Africa :p ) Funny thing is when I walked out of the store, the well-dressed security officer, looked at us and the handbag, and let us go with a gay smile. "Thank you, maam, and have a good evening," he said, holding the door open for us. Now, I hope his mind was also tangled up in a Cuban whore house becaus...

Blame The Games

I'VE been quiet again, and this time, it's the Olympics. Thanks to the official Olympic Channel that has HD quality live streams and replays, I've been hooked the whole time. Been spending many hours, watching and following the games, and in just two more days, it'll all be over and I'll have to get back to routine and reality. So Malaysia's won two medals :) That's a great achievement for us, let's not get into detail because that would entail a long, sensitive debate on local sports management. Datuk Lee Chong Wei brought back a silver in badminton (men's single) in a stressful match against China last week, and yesterday I woke up to an unexpected bronze from our 19-year-old diver, Pandelela Rinong Pamg in the women's 10m event. It's a great feeling to see your national flag being raised against the Olympic rings after a competition. Pandelela is Malaysia's first female to win an Olympic medal and from a sport other than...

The Mean One

WHAT do I do without prompts during sluggish times like this. Thanks to Mama Kat's. I'd share something mean someone had said to me once, and why it has stuck with me after all these years. You know how some people are plain weird ? The type that others would avoid simply because it's the easy way out around them? I've always thought that some of these individuals are just lonely and they could do with company once in a while. That's how I ended up spending some tea breaks with Madam X because most people just avoided her. So yeah. I took pity. Madam X was a smart lady with just too many personal issues that sometimes screwed up her talents. Often in a dreamy state, she loved talking about the drama that went on in her life and I'd always just listened. She also frequently went off topic and lectured about randoms things like what's inside a computer or the circuit of an electrical device. Now that's clearly not my cup of tea but I'd alway...

Pickles n' Tickles by JJ

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