Coming Home
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It's so liberating to come back to JB with my car. I arrived here last night, and I've already covered all the places I used to go to either by bus, taxi or in the passenger seat of friend's cars. I passed by my school, the seaside, downtown. Tonight I'm in Taman U. It's fabulous to drive around JB.
And I succeeded to achieve one of my goals of my JB trip. I managed to contact a long lost friend. It was easier than I thought actually. I called up his house with the intention to ask his family what's his new mobile number (He doesn't live at the family house), I ended up actually speaking to him. It was damn awkward. It's so weird when you haven't spoken to someone you haven't spoken to for a while, especially when he was once close to you.
We were childhood friends. Quite close. There was no sex involved, just a very close best friend when I was in primary school. We used to tease him a lot because at that time, he had just moved back from the U.S.
Of course it was all small talk. I didn't want to get into sensitive issues (at least not yet). We just chatted about work and family and going for a holiday in Haadyai.
More importantly I wanted to tell him that one of our close pal's brother had died. I knew that he might have not known.
That other friend is also another long-lost-contact case. Last I heard he was studying in Australia, But he had to come back because of his brother's mysterious death. The brother was found in a deserted area- dead. At least that's what I heard. I called immediately when I heard the news. It was the same awkwardness. You just don't know how to react when you don't talk to each other for years and years.
The reason i'm writing about these two friends of mine is that we used to be very close. We were in the same class in primary school. We went to each other's birthday parties. Our dads were members of the same country club. But after some time we just drifted apart.
I guess it was the fact that we were in separate classes in secondary school. And then I moved away for boarding school in Kelantan while they stayed in JB. One of them actually tried out borading school for several months, but ended up back in JB.
Not a day goes by that I always feel: "Wow, I wish I could talk to him about this.."
But then I realise that I don't even have their handphone numbers.
Well at least now I have one of them. Half a loaf is better than none. I'm quite unconfident with the other dude, though. Both of them are not really that interested in rekindling friendship. Ari's mother was more keen on rekindling our friendship.
I do realise that as we get older we evolve. We meet new people and make new friends. But for me, I've always had this desire to re-connect with these friends of mine. I don't know why. It means a lot to me to have our friendship continue.
While my other JB friends are keeping in touch with other people they deem are important, I would rather keep in touch with these two. I have this image in my head where I just want to smoke lots of cigarettes and get drunk with them. I don't know why. Just chillin' out, you know.
I suppose I'm just trying to hold on to whatever I have left from my childhood, the person I used to be. I believe the real me was when I was six years old. I was a Goddamn spoilt brat, but who gives a hoot? At that time, I never questioned myself, I was never fickle, I knew what I wanted- whether it was the latest Mask toy, or demanding that my family switch the TV channel so that I could watch Remington Steele ( or is it Steel?). I'd spend my time dreaming about this city I'd build from boxes and place all over the house- imagine this: my two-storey terrace was my country and the dining room would be the city and my living room the airport, and my kitchen would be the suburban area. Of course it never really materialised. I only managed to 'construct' a few building. I was always moving from one interest to another. At one time it was making puppets, another time it was doing comic strips, and another time it was doing my own top ten song lists. I even sold handicraft and set up this makeshift 'stall' outside my home. God, I'd do all kinds of shit back then. Now I'm only interested in getting laid, haaaaaa
What the fuck! I was such a child back then.
I just wonder who I am sometimes. And it's always nice to go back home and rediscover your roots. Imagine lah, I'm driving around JB in a KL-registered car and everybody's thinking I'm not local. This guy even asked me, "are you local? Oh, I live in Kempas, you know where that is?"
I just want to tell them: "Get out of my face, asshole. I'm Johorean!"
I just want to know who I was. I want to remember the type of person I was, where I'm coming from. Though I've seen so much and been to so many places since leaving JB, the town would always a hold a special place in my heart. Well it is my hometown whaat...
-----------
It's so liberating to come back to JB with my car. I arrived here last night, and I've already covered all the places I used to go to either by bus, taxi or in the passenger seat of friend's cars. I passed by my school, the seaside, downtown. Tonight I'm in Taman U. It's fabulous to drive around JB.
And I succeeded to achieve one of my goals of my JB trip. I managed to contact a long lost friend. It was easier than I thought actually. I called up his house with the intention to ask his family what's his new mobile number (He doesn't live at the family house), I ended up actually speaking to him. It was damn awkward. It's so weird when you haven't spoken to someone you haven't spoken to for a while, especially when he was once close to you.
We were childhood friends. Quite close. There was no sex involved, just a very close best friend when I was in primary school. We used to tease him a lot because at that time, he had just moved back from the U.S.
Of course it was all small talk. I didn't want to get into sensitive issues (at least not yet). We just chatted about work and family and going for a holiday in Haadyai.
More importantly I wanted to tell him that one of our close pal's brother had died. I knew that he might have not known.
That other friend is also another long-lost-contact case. Last I heard he was studying in Australia, But he had to come back because of his brother's mysterious death. The brother was found in a deserted area- dead. At least that's what I heard. I called immediately when I heard the news. It was the same awkwardness. You just don't know how to react when you don't talk to each other for years and years.
The reason i'm writing about these two friends of mine is that we used to be very close. We were in the same class in primary school. We went to each other's birthday parties. Our dads were members of the same country club. But after some time we just drifted apart.
I guess it was the fact that we were in separate classes in secondary school. And then I moved away for boarding school in Kelantan while they stayed in JB. One of them actually tried out borading school for several months, but ended up back in JB.
Not a day goes by that I always feel: "Wow, I wish I could talk to him about this.."
But then I realise that I don't even have their handphone numbers.
Well at least now I have one of them. Half a loaf is better than none. I'm quite unconfident with the other dude, though. Both of them are not really that interested in rekindling friendship. Ari's mother was more keen on rekindling our friendship.
I do realise that as we get older we evolve. We meet new people and make new friends. But for me, I've always had this desire to re-connect with these friends of mine. I don't know why. It means a lot to me to have our friendship continue.
While my other JB friends are keeping in touch with other people they deem are important, I would rather keep in touch with these two. I have this image in my head where I just want to smoke lots of cigarettes and get drunk with them. I don't know why. Just chillin' out, you know.
I suppose I'm just trying to hold on to whatever I have left from my childhood, the person I used to be. I believe the real me was when I was six years old. I was a Goddamn spoilt brat, but who gives a hoot? At that time, I never questioned myself, I was never fickle, I knew what I wanted- whether it was the latest Mask toy, or demanding that my family switch the TV channel so that I could watch Remington Steele ( or is it Steel?). I'd spend my time dreaming about this city I'd build from boxes and place all over the house- imagine this: my two-storey terrace was my country and the dining room would be the city and my living room the airport, and my kitchen would be the suburban area. Of course it never really materialised. I only managed to 'construct' a few building. I was always moving from one interest to another. At one time it was making puppets, another time it was doing comic strips, and another time it was doing my own top ten song lists. I even sold handicraft and set up this makeshift 'stall' outside my home. God, I'd do all kinds of shit back then. Now I'm only interested in getting laid, haaaaaa
What the fuck! I was such a child back then.
I just wonder who I am sometimes. And it's always nice to go back home and rediscover your roots. Imagine lah, I'm driving around JB in a KL-registered car and everybody's thinking I'm not local. This guy even asked me, "are you local? Oh, I live in Kempas, you know where that is?"
I just want to tell them: "Get out of my face, asshole. I'm Johorean!"
I just want to know who I was. I want to remember the type of person I was, where I'm coming from. Though I've seen so much and been to so many places since leaving JB, the town would always a hold a special place in my heart. Well it is my hometown whaat...
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