Sky High

So i'm home.Now rewind couple hours back.The morning before the flight was productively spent packing,after a whole year of trying to make the room feel homely by putting up pictures,posters and arranging things in ways that reminded me of home,it finally came the time to reverse these time-consuming efforts and once again make the room naked and cold-one last walk around the room before leaving for the airport,i was reminded of the many memories associated to this place-all those hilarious,sad,both memorable times taken place in this small confinement.Once Sha and I boarded the taxi my heart started beating fastly,anxious for the many things that could go wrong-and if they did,our parents or friends weren't there to turn to-so many things could've gone wrong:the cabman could've been another rude middle-eastern oldie who shouted verbal abuse or overcharged us,the person at the baggage counter could've been another local racist who's prejudice reflected his intolerance for a few grams of baggage overweight,and the many other frightening possibilities of things that could happen on the 7-hour flight.But thankfully none of these things happen and the closest i got to danger was when a 10/11-year old 'special' boy stared at me endlessly throughout the 30minute wait for the check-in counters to open-i just felt very uncomfortable,but of course somehow knew this tiny boy meant no harm.And i knew the long journey home,from the cabride to the airport to reaching klia would make me nervous so i prepared two playlists-'ride' & 'flight'-the former specifically built for the taxi ride home and predominantly occupied with Scott Matthews & Fleetwood Mac tracks that would keep me too distracted in retrospect to feel nervous,the latter mostly filled with Foo Fighters & The Shins.There were some good new movies playing on the flight,watched three movies-the first i can't recall,then Click,and finally Lost In Translation.I think it's about the 6th time i've watched this Sofia Coppola film,and still it manages to leave a mark-it's just so profound and moving,the thought of two strangers who become alienated and lonely in a foreign land and massive world to find comfort in each other,only to know this mutual feeling cannot last for both their lives demand more of them.Oops,sorry for the digression.

Fast forward,reached the airport and quickly went over to Sha's house to finally meet Sushi-Chichi's newly-born (few months old) kitten who turned out to be cute but quite the menace.Now i'm home,well,home's being renovated so i'm in an apartment somewhere in Damansara Perdana-and next to the keyboard is a small tank containing two of Ivana's pet crabs-Ivana who in the world has crabs for pets ha?I think watching too much Spongebob has something to do with this.I watched for afar as Ivana played with the crabs,letting them crawl on her palm and onto the table-i held it once and suddenly it brought out its sharp,murderous claws and i screamed like a 2 year old girl and accidentally smashed that crab onto the table-miraculously it's still alive.Damnit.Had laksa for din and chatted at the dinner table with ma and Ivana,ma telling stories about her eventful life (like her encounter with the Datuk Bandar,whom she offered 3 of her koi fishes to-but the man took nine instead,saying he had to because it was his lucky number) and Ivana was busy preparing slices of cherry tomato to feed the crabs.My room in this apartment isn't that bad-except when i saw Ivana's room,which was about three times bigger,i was a bit,pissed.I blame the crabs somehow.

Psst,blogger's spacing problem is back.Don't know why i'm saying this,but yeah,it's back.

The maid,that woman i sympathised with for having to leave her grandchildren faraway to do petty household chores in a foreign land,had been returned home couple months back so now we all have t do our own laundry and cleaning,but the apartment's quite small so i suspect maintenance won't be a tough task.I've yet to properly settle into home,a slight feeling of numbness still plagues me but i'm nonetheless excited at the prospect of staying here of the next two months-and i wait in anxiety and wonder,as i watch the many surprising events to come,unfold.