Friday Morning

This was taken a few hours ago, at 10:25 p.m. yesterday, while I was trying to catch a ride at a downtown LRT station, to get home after slogging for 12 hours in the office.

It was one of the longest days I’ve ever had. A rather awful one at work, too. Sitting in the passenger coach, I imagined myself shaking off the repressed anger and frustration, and, after that, I stared into the middle distance. This row of people are jerking along with the commuter train, I thought to myself, feeling amused. Then, there was this brown-skinned guy, with a slightly messy-looking black hair, picking his nose and trying to rub off the unwanted goo stuck on his fingertips as a result of that. And I was seated next to him, screaming within, lord, please help me! (You know, I know, that picking nose in the public, including in the office, is one of worst favors you could do for yourself.)

The long ride concluded with a stench that blew my way, from the armpits of a sweat-sticky man. Thank goodness I didn’t pass out. To console myself, after having to go through all these, I had the music player in my car play The Wallflowers’s “One Headlight,” a classic and an all-time favorite of mine, and I cranked up the volume on the stereo, loud. Though it was for that brief five-minute drive home from the LRT station, it did cheer me up, and I drove with both the headlights on. I haven’t lost my sanity, fortunately.

The clock struck 11 when I, finally, reached home. Tired? Giddy already?

Not quite, yet. I suspect that I’ve been overstimulated. I’m feeling kind of high, if you may.

Not because of staring at the computer screen for 12 hours. Not because of the sugar rush from the cake. Neither is the late dose of caffeine having an effect on me(?). I think the stimulation comes mainly from the fact that my American best friends, Becky and Ryan, will be staying in Bangkok to teach English for 10 months, and during which we’re hoping for a reunion trip that will take us to a few parts of the Peninsular Malaysia and, if possible, Singapore.

I’ve been feeling a funny kind of euphoria since last morning, after we Skyped each other, and after I got to hear her voice again in months! I’m still psyched, that I can jump off my seat now and scream like a lady gone wild, but I ain’t going to do that. (Chill, Pei-Lin. Chill …)

Since then, my brain has been so busy that, besides worrying about the mundane routines of work, budget management, grocery shopping, cooking and baking, and writing, as well as the planning of my future, part of this gray matter is now devoted to mapping things out for our reunion trip.

Since 2007, when we first met, I’ve been giving countless promises to Becky and Ryan that, someday, it’ll be my turn, my honor, to host them and take them around my home country for that ultimate cultural experience, just like what I’d had in America, like what Becky and Ryan and their families had shared with me while I was there.

We graduated from college in mid-2009, and I last saw Becky in August that same year, before I left America for home. I still can vividly recall Becky’s promise of visiting me in Malaysia by 2012. It is coming true – sooner than what we’d imagined!

At the graduation party thrown by Becky's, Ryan's,  Wendy's  and Andrew's families. Becky and I are on the left while Ryan on the right, who spots a grayish-white sweater.

In less than two hours, Becky and Ryan are going to fly out from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, and are expected to touch down in Bangkok on Saturday morning. I’m thrilled, and at the same time, I hope they’ll have a safe journey across the Pacific. I’ll be here, patiently waiting for them while getting on with life.

Well, now that it’s 4 a.m., I better tuck myself in bed shortly, because, in a few hours, I’ve got a story to rush at work before it’s due at four in the afternoon! In all honesty, I have, in the meantime, started writing another blog post, but, alas, it has to be put on hold for the time being, until I’ve had the other deadline headache cleared and I feel relieved and calmer again.

I’d also like to let you know that my laptop has been revived! Hurrah! It feels so good to have my personal computer back. To you, my treasured reader, here’s a big thank-you for being there for me all along. You’re the strength that fuels and pushes me further.

Oops, I’d almost forgotten about the Mothers’ Day this weekend. Having said that, here’s to wish all you gorgeous moms out there, including mine (I have two moms, in fact), a happy Mother’s Day!

While I’m striving to meet the deadline at work, allow me to procrastinate a little on the deadline here. I’ll be back, I promise.


P.S. Coming to think about it, I must have lost my sanity. I stayed up for impulse writing!