i've lost nearly all motivation to keep this blog up and running. the supposedly hectic schedule isn't to blame, mind you. it is simply because for once in my life, i have not much to say.

but going back to when i started this blog, i was reminded of a promise i made to post an entry until i graduate, should that day ever come. and being a sucker for keeping promises, i thought... what the heck.

since we've been back, much has happened. or very little. depending on how you look at it.

this feels strange to put into words, but i feel old. old-er. not something i quite like. but it is something i am willing (for lack of a better word) to embrace. i am at a point in my life where i know where i'm going. and yet i refuse to take a step further. fear, perhaps? call it how you see it.

december was a blur. something i never expected to happen to me, did... and i quite liked it. then there was a brief brush with the law. hilarious now, but scary when it happened. suffice to say, i have learned a very important lesson- check thy visa and never overstay. not for a day, and definitely, sure as hell not for six months. oh... here's another thing - or two, to rant about. the polis diraja malaysia and the jabatan imigresen.

despite the fact that we are nearing 2020 and as such edging closer to whatever deluded 'vision' that is often associated with that number, many of the gaffers at the various jabatans are still first-class technophobes. the immigration department for example, has yet to go online. there lay problem number one.

this major flaw in their very efficient system meant that i needed to go to penang, my port of entry when i first came and settled into malaysia, every time i needed to renew my visa. go to the offices in shah alam or putrajaya, and they tell you 'oh no no. your records are not with us.' go to penang and they look at you as though you're a complete moron for coming all this way when 'you can just do it at shah alam or putrajaya!'. what lousy operation they're running, i simply do not know. that was problem number two.

i have wonderful parents. who were blissfully unaware of the fact that malaysian borneo and peninsula malaysia might as well be two separate countries. things which work in sarawak's immigration department apparently dont, over here. to cut a long story short, my visa was to last half the length it normally does. there, problem number three.

so, imagine me being stuck at the jabatan imigresen in penang for an entire day, treated more or less like an illegal immigrant, with one officer after another giving the term redundant its most perfect meaning. not suprisingly, 99.9% of the staff were malay. and even less surprising was the fact that they lacked manners. and courtesy. and professionalism. the entire time i was being questioned and my statement taken, my passport was distributed all around the office, through the herd of jakun-ese who had never seen a singapore passport before. the most frustrating bit of it all was how i was not informed of my rights... if ever there were any. because there this idiot was, asking me a question at which i was stumped: