Dear Odie2

It breaks my heart to see you all broken like this.

Even more so to hear the news that we have to change your chassis.

I have barely gotten any mileage with you and your first accident had to be such a major one. 

Thank you... 

For the convenience going through tolls with your build-in TnG tag.

For the few naps I have had in you. 

For the 6am drives to the wet market during the years in lockdown. 

For the random road trips by the river and through the paddy fields. 

For the long distances you cover to Robina beach. 

For the trips up to Batu Ferringhi's Starbucks, Hard Rock and Rasa Sayang.

I grew confident and bold in my driving because of you. 

The speed we got up to was only possible because it was you. 

And it was your strong body that is what saved me from what might have been a worse scenario.

I look forward to the new you.

The new chassis that we will go road trips outstation with. 

Every bit of you will still be an original part from your manufacturer's. 

And in the meantime, you are dearly missed. 

I know you are in good hands, Odie2. 

In God we trust. 

1st Major Damage to Odie2

'God is holding you' 

No words can describe the feeling of knowing that to its fullness in a situation like that.

I got away with a bump on the head, some bruises and a scratch.

It is significant to know all the people that are there for you in a moment like this. 

Even more so a God that protected you. 

You never stop learning....

Trying my best to be a good mentor, and at the final leg of this small project....

What else can go wrong?

Laughable moment in service

Vroom vroom vroom!

Someday I hope to look back and still be very amused by how I sound like a Lamborghini on a 60km per hour road here. A runaway racing horse taking some dainty folks in a carriage for a ride. 

May I always burn with such vigor for You. 

Scissors that matters

It's been many years since I took this out. 

One of my oldest memories involved nipping my mother's finger with this. 

I don't remember how it happened, but I remember all of a sudden there was a good amount of blood all over the floor, the cloth and even on this scissors. 

It happened late in the night as I also remember the hushed tones in the chaos because my father was already asleep. 

I had some polka-dot pajamas bottoms in those days that I'm sure were formed from cloth with these. 

Dark blue with white dots. 

I wore them at the wake.

There was not many other pieces of clothing that did not have any red or bright colors on it. 

That sticky brown part at the tip looks abit like it has dried blood on it.

It is probably only my imagination.... fueled by a what if, a longing, a missing of someone I don't even remember what it felt like to have had anymore. 

But I can't bear to clean it properly. Just in case. 

2ee had her own pair of black scissors that looked even more menacing than this one. 

She was also always making me stuff from scratch in the good old days. 

I hope it is still around somewhere for me to claim ownership on. 

Lost and found

I am always misplacing or losing small things. 

This time it is the back piece to my stub earring. 

And for as long as I have been a Christian, I have somehow always found back the little things that mattered to me.

It takes a while. A pause that I have to take. Sit still and be attentive to that gentle nudge inside.

Last night it told me to fluff my blanket, which I did. And I heard the sound of something small bouncing off my bed and a few more times on the floor. I just knew it was the piece.

But I couldn't tell or see where it went even though I looked all around my bed.

So I waited. And trusted.

I was vaccuuming the edges and corners in my room. 

I somehow knew I had to be extra careful, just in case it turned up.

And it did. This tiny piece in a corner semi hidden in the shadows. 

God is faithful in the small things.

It's just an earring piece. So tiny that it could have gone down the toilet or the sink. And yet here it is. It turns up. 

Every. Single. Time. 

Reminiscence from bottles

A collection of bottles that have been laying around because I was a bit attached to them. 

I'm ready to say my last farewell now. Making the effort to keep them on a photo because a picture is worth a thousand words. 

I had really loved that they were each unique and they reminded me of where I have been and what I have done to have owned them. Some of these have even been full or half left when they got back here in Penang after flying or been across many miles from their origin. 

Starting from the left (front row), Fuze tea was from my business trip to Chihuahua, Mexico in 2016. It had all the ingredients, descriptions and details on it in Spanish. I  learned some Spanish from Duolingo that same year after the trip so it was fun to understand more words than just Tea after I had those lessons. Revisiting my fond memories are making me hesitate to throw this one away. Maybe I will keep just this one. Haha!

Next, Sama was a natural mineral water bottle from Amman, Jordan (from the Israel trip in 2018). Most likely given out on one of the buses on that trip. The website written on it is www.sama-jo.com; jo short for Jordan which I find interesting. It was also the first bottle I ever really noticed had a website and email (info@sama-jo.com) written on it.

Peach Bomb was from my Oct 2021 staycation at Katana; there was a mart below that had all sorts of imported food and drinks. It's sugar free, which is a rarity from the peach drinks I commonly see in the market. 

The C.C lemon is a Japan imported RM9.90 (super expensive!!) lemon drink from FamilyMart, bought on a random night after eating the buffet at Rasa Sayang's Spice Market Cafe in Batu Ferringhi in the same year. It was really too sour for me until I had to diluted it 5 times over. But it also ironically got me hooked on (diluted!!) lemon drinks until now. 

On the second row, we have Minere; another natural mineral water bottle from one of the short trips to Thailand years back. Then Pocari Sweat as well as Chilsung Cider were probably random purchases in Penang. Loved that they are considered the common stuff in Japan and Korea. 

There's been many others like them. 

Especially if they were not from Penang.

I somehow just have memories attached to the bottles I keep a little longer. 

There was a Sprite bottle from Egypt; it was bought from a petrol or diesel station stop, which was paid for in a foreign currency that I cannot remember now. The place was crowded and loud with teenagers in uniforms that looked like they just finished school. 

There's a Pepsi bottle with ginseng written on it that was also from Chihuahua; something we would never find here. At the time, I was amused to find the word 'ginseng' on a Pepsi bottle where everything else is written in Spanish! I'm not letting that one go just yet. 

There was a few mineral or spring water bottles from my Aussie trips that I had got rid of last year or so; memorable as they were tough and lasted at least since 2014. One of them, a blue one with pink cap might even have been from 2009!

The collection of everything orange

It's the first time my dad and I are both spending time together, taking photos of this arrangement.

A rare moment I am grateful for.