Balloons, lanterns and fireworks.

I was only 17 when my father gave me the opportunity to organise my own event. And of course, i picked the theme that was then the closest to me: photography. But i knew i couldn't do it alone so i brought along my family, a bunch of strong-willed friends and teachers on the journey and we did it together. Exactly 6 years ago today, Grassroots' first photography competition was held and around 100 people competed. May be a small number to you but it was a good start for me. Tapi tu semua cerita lama. Camera tu pun dah kena curi.
Ps: It has been too long. Grassroots should make a comeback, don't you think so?
Date written: April 7th, 2018.

Today i received a phone call from a friend's mother.
In my world, this is normal. Quite frequently, some family members of my friends would ring me to advise their child/sibling. But for whatever reason, this phone call that i received today gave me that epiphany-- that being a friend isn't merely about being a companion.
Friends aren't just about being there to fill your loneliness or accompany you in times of despair. Being a friend carries its own weightage as well: responsibilities. Alhamdulillah, in my case, a satisfying number of friends' families trust me enough to take care of their child. Some of them can easily get permission to go out when my name is dropped. But when you look at it from a different perspective, this also means that i am being entrusted to take care of the well-being of their child.
When i received that phone call today, it got me thinking to myself. "Why would you pick me of all people to advise your child? What right or power do i h…

When Emma and I were planning our trip, she asked me "Do you wanna go anywhere else other than Paris? Do you want to go to Amsterdam?" and i went "Yeah sure. Of course."

So frankly, i wasn't that looking forward to coming to this country. So like i said in my previous post, we just snuggled up in the apartment most of the time. When we arrived in Amsterdam, the temperature was around 3 degrees and it was so windy. My face was numb!

After checking in at the airbnb, we settled down and we waited for dinner. For dinner, we went to this sushi place near our apartment, as recommended by our airbnb hostess. And the food was quite good, to be honest!


I can't remember what it's called; probably Ayumi Sushi or some sort. After having sushi abroad, i've finally valued and grateful for the cheap price of Japanese food back in Malaysia. After conversion, the price of sushi in Amsterdam is around triple the price of sushi in Malaysia. That is why they tell you n…

My much desired holiday was much longer than I expected. What I initially planned before leaving my previous company was to take about 3 months off, then travel to Europe then immediately start on my new job after a week of returning back to Malaysia.
I have to say, I was restless when I applied at so many agencies and companies and not getting a single call back. I have emailed them, applied on Jobstreet and even applied on Linkedin. On Linkedin, I could see a few companies viewing my profile, but they stopped there and did not even reach out to me. Whenever i saw got the notification "Company X viewed your application" I used to get so happy but after awhile... meh. After about two weeks of intensive job-hunting and not getting a single call back, I started panicking. I started doubting myself. “Is my resume not strong enough?” “What did I do wrong?” Deep down, I was quite disappointed at myself.

As someone who has secured my first job even before I finished my degree, go…

Leaving Paris was hard. I love that city. Paris is by far my favourite city and God knows, five days were not enough. If only we could stay there longer. If only.

Moving on.
To get to Amsterdam from Paris, we decided to take a midnight bus as well. As we had to check out of our Airbnb by 2pm and our bus to Amsterdam was at night, Emma found a place called Hôtel Jules César where we could store our luggage for a few hours. We were charged 5€ for each bag we stored. (Tip : There's this thing called Bagbnb. It's basically Airbnb, but for bags.)

Around 9.30pm, we collected our luggage. I can’t remember where our departure point was, but it was quite near to Gare De Lyon. So we waited at Gare De Lyon Station for a couple more hours before we took a cab to the departure point. I refused to take the cab at first but mind you, my luggage was sooooooo heavy, i couldn't drag it across the street any longer. That bag alone was around 28kg. Lol.

Alhamdulillah, our bus ride to Amsterd…