28 November 2023

Wow! I did not expect anyone to still be reading this old thing. I myself are only using it out of desperation. Its been a long while. Its an outlet for a temporary weakness in my adult life.  Haha.Who am I kidding? I never felt like an adult a day in my life. 

I realised that I am an complete idiot because I have no way of "getting back to" anyone that comment here. Thanks for still checking out my crusty old blog. I hope I am right about who you are and have caught up with you now. If I have not reached out via other means, can you somehow email me or something like that?

Thanks for your support. I hope you will still be around, I will try to share my life adventure through this vintage (as Gen Z) platform are calling it these days. Wishing you the very best and I hope your days are better than the last. 

Best,

Melissa

LOST and Finding

I am looking for a friend that I would like to reconnect with, if you think you might be the friend or you might know that person (chances are very slim, we do not have mutual friends), read on and please comment, I'll get back to you. Thank you very very much and may your joy lives in eternity's sunrise.

Forever a Foreigner

I've never see the word "Foreigner / der Ausländer" as derogatory. It is a noun used to describe a person from a foreign land; expatriate, immigrant, emigrant, you name it. I am a Foreigner to all but 1 country - Malaysia. 

For my German class, I was tasked to write "Was denken Sie über die deutsche Sprache?", the word schwierig (difficult) came to mind. It makes learning French a walk in the park and I've never appreciated my mother tongue more. Oh! Life before articles are simply, simple. Now I am constantly plague with "Is this der, die oder das? Wait, is this Akkusativ or Dativ?" Usually, a good 3 mins will pass before I can churn out a vaguely ok sentence in German. And not to mentioned the constant complaint that accompanies daily revision - "Why can't you be English, American, Australian, Canadian? Anyone that speaks English as their mother tongue? I've mastered English for this purpose." Poor thing, I knew that he sometimes wishes his mother tongue would be easier. So, after a lifetime of drowning and mastering (self-proclaimed) in multi-lingual culture, I have another language to conquer. 

Whilst researching on how do foreigners think about the German language, the article "Deutsch als Fremdsprache: Für immer fremd" came to my attention, in German of course. (If you are interested, I have the links to article below - available in German and English). I nodded while reading and kept agreeing with the Author, an young American woman who has been living in Berlin for the past 5 years, but at the same time can't help but wonder " If she, someone who is a wordsmith, is struggling with this language after 5 years, how long will it take me to be comfortable in this language?" and then the last of her words hit me, she was describing a refugee woman but I failed to see the difference between that woman and me:

I wonder whether she will ever manage to perfectly master the Dativ case. And if she does, I wonder whether anyone will listen to what she’s saying, or whether the word Foreigner will be the only thing they can hear when she opens her mouth.

Being a person that would love to soak in all cultures that will accept me with open arms, I am incredibly grateful to have the opportunity to be born in one culture that is a mixture of 3 cultures, grew up in another and grew old in completely different one. Languages could be my ticket into these cultures, but as with all things good, there is a downside; this particular one, the more I get to know it, the more it feels like a tool to single me out as - you know it - Foreigner.

English: http://www.zeit.de/kultur/2015-12/german-language-problems-berlin-refugees-10nach8/komplettansicht

German: http://www.zeit.de/kultur/2015-12/deutsch-sprache-lernen-fremdenfeindlichkeit-ausgrenzung/komplettansicht

Adulting

It has been 1 & a half year. I've abandoned the project that was born out of the intention to update my friends back home and progressively intensify whilst I was job hunting.

Then came the job and saying goodbye to all free time...

Besides holding a demanding "9-5" job that took on average 10 - 15 hours a day, I took the liberty to learn 2 new languages; during weekends or weekdays evening. In addition to that, I got addicted to learning how to stand on my 2 hands. Then came the weekend projects - meal prepping for the next 5 days.

I lost contact with the friends that I created this blog post for. I lost all time to even update. I utilise those free time by staying in bed a little longer. Weekends swoosh by, days, weeks, months, years. I took on a job to afford my lifestyle but my lifestyle that I so desperately wanted to cling on to is constantly threaten by work.

I've not gotten far to where I want to go in life; work was fulfilling until a certain extend before turning into under appreciated dreadfulness. I had been toying with the idea to make a come back in this blog. Minus the pretty pictures, adding all these adult realness sprinkled with some psychological hurdles.

I am still clawing my way out from the hole I fell into....

Planning is in progress.... Loading...

They called us Crazy Youngsters!

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpRpzbY9QU8

Humans. Good or Evil?

人性善

There's a saying in Chinese - Humans are born kind, education, social influence are to blame for wrong doings. I plead the opposite, arguably because I am not a nice person.

Humans are born evil. Education & Social Influence taught us to be kind to each other. 

Assuming every human being are born neutral - a blank piece of paper. Everything written on it are absorbed from the moment this human was born. It's easily arguable that society are responsible for all those misdeeds, wrong-doings, bad stuff. Our society aren't exactly model society (which is something i like about) so its hard not to place all the blames on it.

There are all kinds of people, events - fortunate or unfortunate, to affect at least one individual on the second basis. How many times do you wished for a better world every time you switch on tv to watch the news? How about reading what's latest on twitter? Facebook? In this era of information overload, society is very vulnerable to all the blames that happen to it.

However, there are good people in the society as well. I've witnessed enough noble & selfless acts to be convinced that there are good on earth. But not enough to be convinced that Humans are wired to be kind. We are all wired to survive, even if that is to sacrifice another human being to ensure our own survival.

What breaks my heart even further is we are now no longer doing disgusting acts not in the name of survival. Perhaps I am too much of a pessimistic. But I will never gave up looking for kindness in this huge mess of a world. I believe there's good for every evil.

Be grateful. Say Thank You.

This month seen more death than usual. Whether its people that I am close with or not, I'm deeply sadden. Suddenly my problems don't seem to matter anymore. Suddenly I have the urge to just say what I've held back. If I've wronged you in any way, I am deeply sorry. If I've love you, I can't say "I love you" enough. So here it is.

LIFE IS SHORT. APPRECIATE.