2016 - Looking Back

In a few minutes what we commonly define as a year will end, and give way to a new one. After a string of more upbeat years prior, 2016 began under grey clouds.

Volcanic clouds of Mt. Merapi, Indonesia

It wasn't long before the sun began to eke its way past the clouds, and shower us with glimpses of light.

Batu Caves on Thaipusam. A monkey sits perched upon a street lamp as it watches the sunset. 

As the dire days continued, it was perhaps a good idea to spare a thought for the less fortunate and remind ourselves that we truly are blessed, and things could be far worse.

My first street-feeding experience with Street Feeders KL

Slowly the year began to build a rhythm of its own, as it March-ed past condensed moments of joy.

My home-made birthday cake courtesy of my cousin Yamuna

Some of my own simple resolutions made at the beginning of the year began to come to fruition, as I picked myself up and set about getting a better grasp of my own fate.

Blast from the past: Meetup with Joe & Michelle after long.

Blast from the past part deux: Caught up with the elusive Guruparan. Also managed to schedule a meetup with Khairun (who I hadn't seen since 2004.. that's VI days!) 

There was also the effort to not lose sight of all that is green. The trails we traversed this year were wetter than before, yet less strenuous on our ailing knees.

Hike with Ison's church mates to a waterfall at Hulu Langat

Spotted a swarm of Rajah Brooke's birdswings by the river at Selangor State Park

The main goal though was to move on to different pastures, and pray that they'll be greener (for I lost all hope that there would ever be any semblance of grass where I was). As the country celebrated the anniversary of its independence (albeit rather muted in nature), I scored a little triumph of my own as I managed to exonerate myself of the painful chores at Aker Solutions..

My new second home

While the joys of the year began to grow, so did the bottled spirits in my collection, and their subsequent potation. This year I finally managed to build on my collection to the point where I'm comfortable hosting cocktail nights - and host I did, some of those wonderful people I met during my time at Aker Solutions a week after Deepavali.

Drink cards for the cocktails I prepared that evening

The PSV (Pimms, Sugar, Vodka)

A few other events worth mentioning: Ran a half-marathon at the KL Marathon this year; Attended Cheng Khang's wedding in October, Samantha & Jason's wedding in December; Took a trip with Alvin to Singapore to meet Kwong Hann in during my short break between the jobs. There weren't much, but I truly cherished those little moments of joy in 2016. 2017 does sound a lot more exciting though, and I guess it's nice to start on that upbeat note. :)

Goodbye 2016. Hello 2017!

2012: Life Cherished

The curtain falls. The end is here.

Though there were flaws. The joy was sheer.

Time will not pause. Here comes a new year.

I began the year with various goals. Some were made, and others failed. Yet I'm certain this year would not have been as wonderful had I constrained myself to those very goals. Flexibility, adaptability. Perhaps the most overlooked ingredients in the recipe for happiness.

No I did not find love (as many a friend suspected). I simply found happiness in the simple pleasures of life that surround me.

As I reminisce the highlights of this year - too many come to mind.

There was the 'Tiger Train Trip' with Ben, Sui Jon and a group of Mensans (befittingly immortalised in a photo travelogue and 'Triple M' article after the trip). There was the homecoming of Julian Tan and all the shenanigans that stretched across and between the island cities of Penang and Singapore. Come to think of it there were quite a few friends who came home this year, some for a break and some for good. Later in the year I even took a trip to Langkawi with Kwong Hann.

There were also a whole host of activities I joined my colleagues in. So many that I figured they deserved a post of their own.

Then there were those nights at Ben's or Kishan's place, where we'd simply sit around sipping cocktails, chatting all night long about anything and everything. The many dinner and lunch meetups we had for all kinds of occasions. Bliss! And who could forget my cameo-like return to the Scrabble scene at the Mensa Tournament this year in Tropicana City Mall. Things were simply quite splendid.

I'm sure there have been many more highlights throughout this fantastic year, and I could go on forever if I had to list each and every one of them. So here I'll end this string of reminiscence; and look forward to what I foresee to be another splendid year!

February - Of Acquaintance & Reacquaintance

A beautiful month it was. I woke up every morning eagerly looking forward to the rest of the day. There was much to do, yet there never is enough days in February despite this being a leap year. Now that the dust has finally settled, I am left with the lingering sense of nostalgia.. Happiness encapsulated within the memories, of the days of February.

There was the trip to Penang with Julian, Kwong Hann and Alvin - my immediate reminiscence of which kick-started the month for me. The first weekend of the month had me tripping to the south of the peninsular on a rather unorthodox trip with a primarily-Mensan group. I experienced Singapore in a way like never before, before we spent a night at Tanjong Piai - continental Asia's southern-most tip. There really is no way to properly describe this amazing trip in words, let alone photos so I shall not even bother trying. If you really want to know more about this trip I suggest you simply ask me in person anytime because I doubt I'll forget the experience down the years. There is however a niche collection of photos from the first day courtesy of Patrick Khoo: https://plus.google.com/photos/107212895984411636275/albums/5705301294624697313?banner=pwa

After returning to KL for a short celebration of Thaipusam and a few more hours at work, I revisited Singapore the following weekend with Julian. This time I took the opportunity to pay a few friends and relatives a quick visit. I put up at Kishan's place on both the nights I was there, as I spent the days traveling the island on foot and the MRT.

After returning back to KL via the Aeroline bus with Julian, the next couple of weeks were full of plans with Julian, Kwong Hann, Alvin and Ziyu as we looked to make the most of Julian's time in Malaysia before we finally saw him off at the airport on the 19th. In between there was the Mensa Heritage post-trip reunion at The Curve. The next weekend I caught the Great Baritone Arias by the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra with my colleagues at KLCC. If that wasn't enough, the last night of this February was brought to a close with a night at Alexis where I was serenaded by the wonderful vocals of the a capella group from Down Under, The Idea of North.

I really cannot say enough about each and every experience I've listed above.. and then there are those that I haven't even mentioned. To top it all off - I didn't even need a special Valentine's experience to make this month a special and memorable one. What an incredible month it was.. and I have my 25th birthday to look forward to in a few days. Bliss!

The Random Trip To Singapore

There was this crazy plan that I schemed up a few months back. Basically, my colleague who sits right next to me - Raja Farah - was getting married in Johor Bahru and invited me for the wedding. I figured since the wedding was to be on a Sunday afternoon and it was a longer weekend thanks to the king's birthday, I might as well take a trip to Singapore for the weekend and meet up with some faces that I hadn't met for quite some time.

As much as I'd love to have planned the trip better, it just so happened that I didn't. Anyway, I ended up calling Nita Aunty a day before my trip to inform her that I'm coming down. Pretty crazy, but the amazing part is how they readily accommodated me on such short notice. After a drive down to JB with Dad (he was attending another wedding that evening but wasn't intent on entering Singapore), I walked by the checkpoints and took the bus to Kranji MRT where Selvam Uncle picked me up.

The sun was way below the horizon by the time I got to their Woodlands home where I spent the night. Dinner was great, especially in the company of some familiar faces that I hadn't seen for a long, looong time like Devi Aunty and Sentha Aunty. After dinner we picked up Hamesh who's currently serving his compulsory National Service, and we had a chance to catch up on lots of things that night.

Funny thing is come the next morning, the rain was so heavy that I had to call off my plans to attend Farah's wedding in JB - which oddly enough was the primary reason I took the long trip down for the weekend. Hah. My sudden plans coupled with my short time there meant there wasn't too much activities planned out, but I it truly is amazing how Selvam Uncle went out of his way to make my trip memorable. He drove me out to the Marina Bay Sands, Singapore's latest addition to its list of urban attractions. The rain was a bit of a bother as my adventures were limited to the indoors, but I still managed to explore the mall. It truly was a pretty high-end place, and at least for now (considering my meager income and this annoyingly strong sense of responsibility) I had to be limited to window shopping alone. The casino looks neat, though it doesn't compare to the likes of Venetian and Wynn in Vegas. Oh, and I guess it is pretty unfortunate how Asian casinos don't serve up free drinks to patrons, which is pretty much the main reason why I'd always rank the Vegas experience higher.. Ahhhh. Those amazing strawberry daiquiris!

After that Uncle picked me up for lunch at Chinatown. Dinner, breakfast, lunch - I was pretty much stuffed to the ribs despite only being there for a few hours. What's even more amazing - my wonderful hosts did not even let me spend a single cent. I truly cannot be more grateful for having come across such incredible people in this life. A recurring topic during our chats while I was there was those nostalgic moments during our family trips in Singapore and Malaysia more than half-a-decade ago. I can only hope we could plan another trip like that again - would be far more difficult though with everyone's busy schedules these days.. Hmmm.