The Untold Story: My Current Life in KL

Fancy my new new blog title? I loved it the moment a lightbulb struck, into a cloud of bubbles - which decided it should land unto my very head.

How about the page layout? From the dynamic template, I searched through a list of 'simple view, awesome.inc view and finally came and found the 'travel view'.

'It is exactly what I am going through...'
'It is beautiful! '
'Blue Colour, perfect - my favourite!'

... Is what I thought of. What do you think about the new changes?

Today, I'm not going to continue on with part II of what I had written previously, at least not just yet. But I want to talk about something which had caught the attention of many who i had spoken to over the phone.

I told them I had moved to KL, for 3 days, free of my old house - but living by myself and learning how to be independent.

A lesson on 'having my own house to take care of.'

Living on top on this - Hotel Lobby. Now, exactly which floor, which room, would be a secret.. Hey, it's the internet! I'm not gonna share it here...

When I first told anyone about this. I would get from 'Shocked' 'Awed' 'Surprised' ''That's cool!' 'Finally we get to see each other more!! - 'We are neighbor now, sort of thing' or 'No reaction den 'WHAT? Are you sure you can survive there? I do not think you can even survive for a day there.'

Haha. Last one was pretty funny. But I made that up. I am not surprise if one were to tell me that one day. Probably one who once remembered me as a little boy, and as one who haven't grown up.

Suddenly I remembered that I am experiencing what many my age would had experienced. '

'They moved from high school into college life. 3 years gone by and they begin to enter university and have to study abroad.'

So in my case, it is no big deal, some would say. But to be honest, I would say it is different. Read the part on 'have to'. Think about it.

Many does so because they have to. Not because they want to.

Many times, just over a cup of 'teh tarik', my friends would tell me about their future and they would be doing something unrelated to what they had studied. I wondered why. Do you know the answer?

It is like; okay, during our college days (where we are much more naive then it is before we experience the real life out there) we would just follow what the world is doing out there. Some would follow what our parents would say. Some would follow what their friends does. Some would just do what they had heard is the best from an acquittance, relative, etc. My example: Nothing against doctors but from what I heard this before: 'Be a Doctor, they earn the biggest money!'.

We may be too young to think too deep at that time. It was within our limit back then, we simply didn't know any better.

But what about now? Are you going back to study one day, because you want to?

Simply look at it a little more deeply. And understand my point below. This is one of the reasons why I am against 'Simplistic thinking'/ Thinking Too Little (Maybe I could write about that someday)

My guess is that I could say many, (not just my friends) would do what I call the 'herd mentality'. In other words, here's a simple story from the book 'Road Less Travelled' by Scott Peck to illustrate this mentality.

I don't remember the exact story, but I will try to recall as much as I could:

'It started off with of a man who is curious and wanting to find out more of how human behave and how we behave. So one day, he decided to just stand outside a stall of the streets of New York. Half an hour later, two decided to join him. And two hours later, a line of about twenty people, was right behind. And they wondered: What on earth is is going on? 'Is there a sale? When is the stall going to open up?'

But in actual fact, nothing is going on! No sale! Nothing worth to be excited about!

It is just all a test. To put it simply: how one would start something, and the rest would just follow. Like this:

'Jumping into a bandwagon.' First picture i found when I googled.

Back to my point, I chose to stay in KL (Kuala Lumpur) not because I was forced to, asked to, given a million-bucks to do so, but because I want to.

And I want to not because for any reasons of bad intentions, but of good intentions.

Why I want to live in KL:
My reasons/ What I had learnt and realised:
1) To get out of comfort zone. Yes, freedom and 'less eyes' would leads me to a new-kind of comfort zone but that is more like an issue of 'self-discipline' than this.

2) I realised how grateful i should had been.
I guess this had to do with the first reason above. I start to look at how actually much works people have to do in order to keep their life in order. A order home = a more ordered lifestyle. That paid my respect on how much my maid/mother had to do - and I haven't even really started anything yet, but I could imagine how it is like. That is coming in an experience of just 3 days.

3) To experience something new. Doing this, is new in 23 years of my life
Yes, I know there is many ways to experience something new. But hey, I got to start somewhere right? Again - personal motto: 'You never try, you never know.'

4) To learn othernew principles/characters.
To be responsible of house safety/ taking care of myself without a use of a maid. Check. To make sure things are in order - orderliness. Check. To budget on my own food etc. (since usually everything is there/paid for)/ To learn to be thrifty. Check. etc. etc.

5) To acquire new skills.
Confession: I had never wash my own clothes before. End of Confession. Yet, I'm sure there's more to find out. Ouch and awww, and dear readers, more confessions are yet to come.

6) Treating a home like how it should be like.
I am treating KL like a place to explore, to learn about, to dig in - to make this a place to be familiar with.

7) New insights and perspective.
One fine example: Bread-and-Butter are really my bread and butter for the last few days. I hadn't appreciate bread, a jar of strawberry jam, tuna, mayonnaise as I did this afternoon. I took them for granted, before. But not from now on.

Another example: how effective the trains are in a crowded city like KL. Not only they could save you a lot of time in a peak hour, but it could be the best way to travel from one point to another. Read point #6, Making KL my home gives me a new perspective unto my life. Who know that could actually make me a guide of some sort around here one day.

Right, want a tour in KL? Call me!

Never knew I am an ostrich eh?

7 points. With a total of 3 days here that leads to a total of 7 points. What happened after a month? Is there more to come?

But one thing for sure, they are all worthwhile.

So my current back story would be that today, February 25 would be day number 4 in KL. It is now 12.52am, right as I am writing this. In a grocery store cum 'internet cafe', nearby where I live.

A flash back into the past:

I started my life here exactly 48 hours ago, which ended up with me unpacking my things. I had packed a box of books - for what I call a quiet time, a time to learn, and educate myself. An art block & books to write on - for drawing and writing (things I loved to do), a keyboard to play on - how music could actually drown me in and take me to another world. It the feeling of calmness and relaxation that just makes me forget about things that i should forget, DVDs - delving into the world of movies is the best part of them all. To me, it fulfills all the above activities could do. As a good movie do also come with a good soundtrack, a good lesson, and a new world to look into, explore and love.

Excitedly and happily, I know I am an in whole new world and a new purpose. Filled with layers of thoughts, ideas, and many things that I am set to do, first thing I decided to do is to relax myself. And so I did. I spent my next 90 minutes+ watching Tangled, which is also known as Rapunzel.

I am going to put down the very one scene that caught my attention the most.

And for those who haven't, it is personally one of my favourite disney cartoon ever. Go and watch it. It have lovable characters, a simple yet engaging storyline. It worked beautifully as an art too. I hope you don't mind a little spoiler ahead. It is just a short 1 minute scene.

This is the part right before the lantern scene where Rapunzel and Flynn had a conversation.

Rapunzel:I've been looking out of a window for eighteen years, dreaming about what I might feel like when those lights rise in the sky. What if it's not everything I dreamed it would be?
Flynn Rider: It will be.
Rapunzel: And what if it is? What do I do then?
Flynn Rider: Well,that's the good part I guess. You get to go find a new dream.

There you go.

I am exactly at that part where 'What do I do then?'. So if you ever wondered and ever questioned 'what's brings me over to stay in KL'?

That is your answer. From that point, I realised that I had loss sight of my goal, loss sight of who I am and of my grand purpose in life. I realised I need to reshape my whole life. I had also live, I learn, I experience much and many for the last 6 months. And during this time, i felt that what I had learn, have much more value than I ever did compared to the 22 years before.

In Subang Jaya, I took life for granted. I took a computer as 'I am bored-and-addicted to you'. I was complacent. I didn't understand many things compared to now. Money isn't an issue. I allowed others to take care of me.

In KL, I am taking life more seriously. A computer became more of a luxury than ever. In many ways now, I am living-out-of-comfort-zone. Now, Money had to calculated and have to be budgeted out. Now, I am allowing myself to take care of me.

It was difficult for me to know that I was in comfort zone. I guess all comfort zone is.

But now, I guess I would say: Out of comfort, into the real world. I took my stand and decide to change.

Think and ask yourself honestly: Are you in a your comfort zone? When is your change gonna take place?

I hoped you had gained something, once again and had learn and understood from another person view of turning over with a new life. What is it to be in that situation and especially if you haven't done it so, you should give it a try.

Good night, and

Peace out.

Part I: The little, and the big realisations of life

To begin, I ain't gonna keep the things that I learnt through the many things that had happened since my first post to this one. I want to help. I want to give it all.

Again, I am always hoping you would able to get something out of this.

From just being merely entertained, or just having a good read. Even if it is a unpleasant experience. It is from there, you will appreciate what it is that is good. Even you could criticise me for being a bad writer, etc., that too, would initially serve as something that brings hard feelings to me. But it is through that experience, I had gained something.

Also, understand this, I believe every, and I mean every, single thing in life is to be experienced to get a full learning experience. Yes, it is impossible to do so. But, we have a choice to try our very best.

I am learning. I am learning to write. I am learning to express myself better. I am learning to share. I am learning to stick to something to reach my goal. This is why I am writing this.

I hoped if one day, you ever felt you had stopped wanting to learn, or is learning enough, please; come back to this post. Taking an action to do one thing, is better than none. In this very post, I will be writing of simple things that we could learn from. Even of things that sometimes that come unexpectedly.

Enjoy the read.

This is my journal of the little and of the big things that opened my eyes for the last few days. A mentor of mine would call this a realisation.

a) I don't eat as much as I did a year ago. A single Ramly Burger is a lot for me these days, for example.

I don't know what to feel or think about this, but I guess it's a good thing. This could actually be a better trigger point to look after my health. Questions from now on, that I could be asking: What should I be eating? If i'm gonna share something (since I can't finish some of them anymore), that will lighten of the fats/unhealthiness i'm eating right?

I am really glad that I finally came into an awareness about this. This could bring even, who knows, 10 years to my life! Dear readers, question is: are you aware of your own well-being or health?

b) (For my fellow Malaysians) NKVE could be a better alternative to go to KL than the usual Federal Highway [Head to Seremban direction, take a left soon after the first toll - if i remembered correctly, then head towards Jln Sultan Ismail to finally reach Jln Bukit Bintang]

I actually learnt this from a taxi driver I spoken to last night. I guess if we are to tell ourselves 'Sharing is Caring' - even to the very conversations/ thoughts we are having, we could actually discover a thing or two we never thought we could. Federal Highway had always been just one way to KL, but never NKVE. But hey, one ride in a taxi, add in with a couple of simple chats, looks where it got me to.

c) I love some privacy for myself. And I wish others would keep some privacy to themselves too. Especially if that talk is meant to be private.

To illustrate an example:

Here it is: There is a very special kind of Japanese restaurant, which I really loved, that have a very special kind of seating for its customers. If you ever try to walk into one, you will discover unto a place of about 4-5 tables. And these are not just regular-sized tables, but they are huge. You would look and see that probably about a size of ten customers could be seated into one of these. The most exciting part of this particular table is that - you could actually see the chef cooking for you what you had just exactly ordered a minute ago.

Those who had been to Malaysia/grew up here might be familiar to the concept of a Teppanyaki restaurant. So that means, if the person next to you is telling something to his/her friend nearby, it is quite impossible not to hear everything that the person is saying! So yeah, you had now heard both the best part and the worst part of how I felt of that table! Cool, but noisy at times.

I hoped you enjoyed my illustration. At least, I did. I enjoted with the process of coming out with it and with the way I am doing it. But, that's not the point, the point is:

Again, another question to make do of yourself. Not just me, but many others who knows better will know the importance of being self-aware. What kind of person do you think of yourself? Do you really know yourself? And, how certain of you about that?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- End of Part 1 ------

That's the end of part one. It is getting late and it is time for me to get to bed.

I realised new things about myself, others, and life itself. Again, my mentor will say call that process a 'realisation'. You can call it 'New Perspective', 'Life-Changing Experience/Thoughts', 'That person shared with me something new, again!' (casually, perhaps). But I would say: 'With new realisation comes greater power' in tune with what Uncle Ben, of SpiderMan would say: 'With great power comes great responsibility.'

Before I close up, let me share with you my side of my story, I am going through a perspective change in my life. In other words, it is a state of confusion. It is difficult, I admit but it is always worth it. Yep, it isn't my first times I am going through such time, but one of my many times.

Therefore maybe through my unconscious thoughts, I wrote what I want to write, as you can see. My past is a person who is much more naive, who doesn't fully understand the freedom of choices, who had much more issues of not letting go of the past influences.

But that was me. I had once decided to be a lifelong learner. And it is because of that, I begin to open up myself to new things and experiences, I am willing to question my beliefs, my old thoughts, the way I am seeing things. I am where I am today, because of the choices I made yesterday.

Remember, sharing is caring. Leave your comments and I would really want to hear what you have to say. Many would appreciate that too.

Good Night, and Good Times.

To be continued...

To come out with a title, it is not important. To get my life going, it is.

In a split second of my mind, I knew coming out with a title isn't important at all. But - to start writing something is.

Hence, comes a pretty cool title, huh?

To begin writing something, I come right to this very spot, this very moment. This very place. In the name of blogger.com. It is the place for many people, and one of these many people are people who knew that you could write well, or could make the best in expressing themselves through writing.

I am one of them. I may not bring out the best in English in the form of grammar, etc. (I do not know what they are called, but I know my errors).

Tick-tock. It's 9.36pm now. Tick-tock. One minute had passed. 23 more minutes to go to bed, as least of what I think of a time I should be sleeping.

Question is: What should I write? To all who managed to find a way to read this, think about it and ask yourself: have you been in my situation? If yes, that makes me and you share one thing in common. If not, why not - I'm thinking probably you're a better planner than I am. . 'I don't live my life without a plan' - that's probably your 'motto' in your life.

Now - I just went out of my writing, and went straight into my kitchen. Talked a little with my sister, Jenny about George Clooney's latest movie - The Descendant and heard it is a good movie. Time to put a note about that. Moving from movies to health, this is how the conversation goes:

Leslie 'Thank God, I am not a diabetic patient'.

Sister '???' (She looks too tired to be too worried about me)
Leslie 'My blurred visions recently had to do with just dry eyes, nothing to do with diabetes. As blurred vision is one of the symptoms for diabetes, and I was pretty concerned about that before seeing the doctor this afternoon.'

Yep. It is when the doctor said: 'It is just dry eyes.', it is one of the better news I heard since the death of my beloved dog, a few days back. ' Fifteen minutes later, I told my Dad and being his once-in-a-while naughty/cheeky self, my Dad ask me to Cry More. (He is crouching right behind of me right now - searching for something - I wonder what is it that he is looking for.. Hmm.) Dad!! What kind of answer is that? That should put me into tears, for saying that, man.

Alritey. Enough of chatters. Back to topic. You see: I had heard and breathe to this very concept of 'The Law of Momentum'. (T.Harv's Enlightened Warrior Camp: I hope you don't have copyright, etc. for this. I will take this off, if you do. But, actually I believe you're not the first to start this. I had read it somewhere before, but I don't remember what is it. Many things in the world are sometimes just taking something and putting them into your own words, and Warrior Camp just decided to call it that - T. Harv, I believe you have the best of intentions in your camp and its participants. Also, you just want to help people. I trust that.)

Being a teacher right now, I had experienced a little about teaching people and I had from a source saying that a part of my personality should allows teaching to come pretty naturally. And, thankfully, I love to help people whenever I can.

Therefore to put these two points together, my dear reader, I guess and I hope that you could really appreciate what you would be reading, if not now - but the future, and at least pick up a thing from me. And the same for me to learn from each of everyone of you. A give and take, sort of thing.

Back to the Law of Momentum basically says that you JUST had to start something, to keep going and going. So yeah, without a grand purpose, I write.

And boy, how much I love to write.

So. It's half an hour pass what I initially planned to have my sleep. You know what? Maybe I should just name this 'post' - 'Let's just talk about time'. Three times I talked about that. But again, you know, it really doesn't matter.

What matter is I put a starting point in improving my life. I know this would help me in one point or another. At least I had tried. It would be an experience that may not just prove useful to my future self next time, but to other people.

A reminder to myself: Persisting, and continuing doing it, is another thing.

But:
I made my decision and act upon it. Had you done yours? If yes. Keep doing it. If no. Ask yourself: 'What do I do about this?'

Lesson learnt from writing this post:
1) While just wanting to improve myself, directly, by writing, I felt I could actually improve others.

2) Just by beginning something, many things will naturally come. And when problem comes, which they always do, just find a way around it. It is just that simple. A motto which I used quite frequent: 'If you never try, you will never know.'
3) I should continue writing/blogging. At this very end, I felt better. I think better.

4) Sometimes in life, just throw every single part of yourself in it, knowing that you sometimes can't have much of any goal - as the situation doesn't allows it. You could actually achieve something. As my brother always say: 'Expect the unexpected'. Of course, it doesn't mean of not having a goal at all. I know it is important. I don't exactly really have one right now, but I am working out on one.

That's it, folks.