Looking Back, Looking Forward

Came across this exercise that’s been going around a few people’s blogs. Meant to do it then but had no time. So I took opportunity of the festivities to finally do this.



20 years ago – 1985

I was beginning to wonder why all the boys from the neighbouring boys’ school were only interested in the popular girls in my school (I was a geek). Had good grades but it was getting difficult to sustain them; my interest in my studies beginning to wane as other extra curricular activities (wipe your brains, you sick people!) such as Girl Guides and Netball were starting to take top billing in my school life. I was old enough to start taking the public transportation on my own after my various activities at school but my mom would still come pick me up or drop me off if she could. Oh and of course, mugging started for Penilaian exams. I think I got maximum As, however many that is.


10 years ago – 1995
Suffered a major break-up (for the second time!) and this time it was for real. Enough was enough, I’d had enough of being either on an ecstatic high or a heart-wrenching low. Being in a relationship has got to be more than two ends of an extreme. So I gave up, but suffered the usual depression. Getting out of a relationship takes a lot out of a person.

After ending the rollercoaster relationship, I jumped almost right into another one. This was the total opposite of its predecessor. If the previous one was a rollercoaster, this was a cruise: even sailing all the way. Needless to say, the then boyfriend is now the hubby.

I was also thankfully in the US, finishing up on a business degree at Western Michigan, enjoying my Falls and Winters, getting ready to head over to Japan towards the last quarter of the year. For the few months before I left for home and Japan in July, I drove 45 minutes daily from Kalamazoo to Grand Rapids to a job which you see many older folk or younger people doing nowadays at supermarkets: handing out samples and freebies at the various nooks and corners or crossroads within the grocery store. A month or two of that and I graduated to stacking the cheese, yogurt and milk cartons at a hypermarket closer to where I lived. The locals and students would know it as Meijers. I spent whole 8 to 10-hour days working those shifts, all in the name of ‘practical experience’. I was pursuing a Food Marketing Degree. Being Malaysian and desperate didn’t leave me with much choices. My fellow Malaysians pursuing the same course as I was at that time also suffered the same fate. At least I didn’t end up in the fish counter like one of my roomates; it’s difficult to get the smell of fish off you after you’ve been surrounded in and by it for as many as 10 hours.

I also had the difficult choice of deciding whether to stay on in the US or to head home to family. It was my last year and tough decisions had to be made. I wasn’t too worried about getting a job, but I knew if I decided to stay on, it was highly likely I would not come back. Ever. So I made the decision.

Wrote my first (and last) kiddy book ever. It was to be an illustrated book. It was about a suffed cat who wanted to exchange his sewn on mouth for a real one. I don’t know what happened to it. I have it somewhere.



5 years ago - 2000
Had it up to here with the publishing world. I wasn’t getting anywhere as a writer with Malaysian Business. Too much of what was written got dropped onto the editing floor. So I did the next best thing: started working for my dad.

Was actively involved in kung fu, into my fourth year. Alex, my master had me handling the women’s lion dance team. I spent at least 2-3 days a week at kung fu. Played with weapons: double blades, single blades, daggers.

I think this was also the year where I first started salsa and as fate would have it, met up with a long-lost college friend, Sam, who also happened to be my salsa instructor. That’s when I also first met Chin Lai. And the rest, as they say, is history. My salsa leaves much to be desired, thanks to a wonky knee (from excessive lion dancing) and a lack of discipline.



3 years ago - 2002

Was proposed to on the eve of 2003 in Chin Lai’s TV den. Sam, his then girlfriend, Bernice, Chin Lai and his then girlfriend were happy witnesses. Was caught totally by surprise, a feat, considering hubby is not very good at surprises. I remember pummeling and kicking him for springing the surprise before saying yes.

I think I stopped kung  this year or the year before. Alex and I were getting on each others’ nerves. Also, my knee was starting to give me problems.

Last year – 2004

Went for our honeymoon at the beginning of the year – Bangkok. Had a gala time at Chatuchak and vowed to return again. We did, with sister in tow at the end of the year.

Moved into rented apartment. Took in three stray kitties who are now the light of my life.

Turned one third of a century old.

Started lomo-ing. Set up and started updating my site. Started blowing my bucks on developing film. Stumbled onto Blogger but was pretty much inactive because I had my lomo site. It’s the other way around now.

After a break from kung fu, had decided to do aikido. Well, I wasn’t into it for more than a year when injuries started cropping up again, so I stopped this year.

By this time had also stopped salsa for a bit. Started salsa again this year.

This year

Moved into our own house. It’s still messy and basic. It will be our work-in-progress for the few years to come.

Has been a trying year for me. It’s been challenging at work and I feel there’s so much more I have to learn and that I really have not been learning or doing the best that I could have in the years I’ve been with my dad.

Next year
I will be more dilligent in the workplace, hopefully be a better leader. Intend to develop the people I’m working with, mold them into leaders as well. Grow the business. It will be a work-orientated year.

Hopefully will step up salsa practice.

Try not to be so naggy and more supportive and understanding to hardworking hubby.



10 years from now - 2015
Grow old gracefully. I won’t be graceful, I’d be the same old loud-mouthed person that I am. Just not bitter or envious of others. Hopefully I’d be at that stage in life where I’m terribly comfortable with myself and my achievements and can step back and nod at the life that I’ve lived so far.

Oh, and of course, to continue learning, growing, living. And hope my kids or cats have not driven me up the wall by now. I hope my cats will still be alive.



So who else hasn’t done this? Good time to start.