Unpacking My Mind Takes Longer Than Unpacking My Junk

Back in the Gong and I've spent the last 3 days unpacking- both literally and figuratively speaking. Mostly just clearing out old junk in my room to make room for the new junk accrued from our adventures abroad.

Clearing through old stuff is always an interesting experience. The memories attached to specific items are what make us who we are really. An old birthday card, a newspaper cutting, a drawing of a pokemon...all are tied to moments in my life that one simply cannot reject. I have this sort of inherited sentimental streak in me, which means i have a lot of such junk from my childhood and onwards simply lying around my room acting as dust-collectors.

I try to disconnect myself from the process and discard objects mercilessly, but funnily enough mum requests a second check before i throw anything out. There's that inherited sentimental streak I mentioned!

So it took me about 3 days to complete it, but here are the before and after shots! All that junk on the floor is simply paper i pulled out from my desk. There was a lot more to come trust me. Also did some reorganising of my corkboard and my walls, which i take some pride in. It's something of a hobby I guess. Phye Beng collects Transformers, I collect random pictures and gifts and post them on my corkboard and walls.

This table did not look like this beforehand. The fan was a nice touch i thought. From a water puppet show in hanoi, vietnam we caught in 2005. I'd like to thank whoever provided me with the Q.Q.Bee Sweet Family photo frame in the secret Santa. It serves well.

My corkboard you may or may not recognise from last year. Now with included SOUNDWAVE timetable! Various Christmas knick knacks and movie tickets also included. Photos haven't been updated in a while though.

And here's my wall of black and white pictures I find in magazines and newspapers. It's almost complete! Spot Thom Yorke. New additions include: Transformers Animated Lockdown, Rubik's cube(s), Dark Knight pin-up, and a Riddler Pez dispenser.
......

The figurative unpacking may take a while longer yet...I'm still adjusting to the abrupt culture shock of life in Wollongong but it will all settle in time. Just happy to spend some quiet time alone, and not alone for now. Hence the unpacking business...

I'm simply very grateful for the time we had in Malaysia. again.

But now we face normal. real. routine. again.

Spare a thought for Sara though who is stuck at school!
I'm also very grateful that i still have
a month off before uni starts proper. :)

Cheerio. Kloo

Carpe Diem Coram Deo

We all know what carpe diem means. It's the coram deo that has stuck to my mind this past week. It means in the presence of God and is no small task by any means. To live every moment and seize every opportunity is a popular notion, but to constantly do so with the awareness of God's presence is something else altogether. 

The 27th to 30th of Dec. were spent in a small property 2 hours north of KL with 60 other youths from the church we're involved with here. It was a jampacked schedule and an incredible amount of fun was had. While there was little time to actually sit down and hold one of my much-loved dnm conversations (as seems to be all too common these days) I felt a strong sense of joy pervaded the entire camp and we were all enriched by the passion sessions.  

I guess this is something of the presence of God. 

Some of the many many highlights:

• Using the 'Just-Whack-Only' philosophy to full effect in our Zeal group to win most if not all the challenges. Somehow we didn't win the whole camp though.
• Rachel Tan's killer line in talent time: 'Now your training is a success, go out and kick some ass!' followed by David Ho's not-so-killer-line 'What do we have here, a little boy do we have here'. His vocab ain't so big i guess... 
• Making JV laugh and finding PJ's secret talents which made us laugh a lot harder than Jason did. Also included: KQuah's toybox routine and Matt's snake dance
• World War YF which made less sense than Eugene's morning exercises sometimes but was fun nonetheless
• Caving yet again
• Getting to know many new people; especially seeing the younger ones and helping them come into their own

The point of the matter is that the camp was an incredibly enjoyable and meaningful time and only confirmed itself as a highlight of our Almost-Annual Malaysia vacation. Too bad there wasn't more time to it. i.e., forever perhaps? Wishful thinking. :)

So with this we welcome 2009. Seems fitting to renew our zeal for life with such a camp. New year's was spent at church watchnight service (refer to last year's blog on my facebook if you're interested haha) and a quick mamak after. A slightly sobering start to the 2nd decade of my life. 

Just the way I like it. 

I was going to upload some more  photos but it was taking too long (this also explains why i may be quite slow in replying to things if i can bother at all. The net is a lot slower than i remember it to be). So check out my facebook for photos or my sister's yeah? 

not much of a blog but just letting you all know that all is very much well and we are still eating a heck of a lot. happy new year all! And many grats to Erin and Jarryd. May the loving continue on far into the future! 

:) 

Final Days In The Gong

Hi hi hi. The Loos are leaving Wollongong forever on Thursday...until February 1st. I feel like I should be doing something like packing but I just don't know what. I packed my clothes already and that's about it as far as I can tell. Mum is lamenting the fact that I am taking my white shorts right now actually.

For the past few weeks I've been living out as much of the Aussie summer as possible. Beach days, Sydney trips, Xbox parties...these are the things I will miss when in Malaysia. Right on the verge of departure I feel like staying longer and enjoying Wollongong more. But I know that when I leave, Malaysia will feel like home as always. The same will happen come February. I will want to stay longer there but Wollongong will prove just as homely as the other. The duality is fascinating to say the least...

What final preparations need to be made? I don't even know myself. There are too many little details to think about. So much so that I decided to not bother with any of it. And that's why I'm writing a blog right now. Clothes took a lot quicker to pack than I anticipated. My wardrobe consists of a lot of black I just discovered.

One thing I had to do was organise uni for next year. I finalised my honours project today. Anatoly was not around at 12pm so I went for a fun shopping day with Josh and Kade that involved heroin koalas, short shorts and Jesus-faced Buddhas (Kade is a strange strange child but we love him). I met Anatoly at 2:30 and we discussed physics. Looks like I'll be working on eye tumours. I could go into detail, but i'll save that for another blog.

It's funny but I do miss talking about the physics we were so sick of only 3 weeks ago.

The only other preparation i need to finalise is last hangings out with mates. Gonna miss you crazy cats from all circles. But it has been a while since I've seen my Malaysian monkeys too. Now I'm going to go and figure out what else I have left to do. I don't even know where to start any more.

No drawing today! (:

Aside: Sara graduated from year 10 tonight. I was 14 when that happened. I walked around the school in the rainy dusk and found the buildings foreign and cold. Literally speaking, the rooms are all switched and there are new buildings around. On a figurative note, i guess this is just life and time passing too quickly(where did 2008 go by the way?). Mrs Wade said to me, 'Every time I see you you look older!' and I half-jokingly, half- pensively said 'It's because we are getting older Mrs Wade'. The sadness in this statement only struck me later.

Stupid Grin

‘Going into town’. This is all we ever do. The clubs and pubs call us out and we fill the void of our youth with their spirits. It makes me long for the days when a good night out meant hanging out at the beach with ice cream, maybe a guitar and a song or two. When someone’s house didn’t merely serve as a pre-drinks waterhole and quality conversation was the stimulant of the evening. Where the music makes your soul dance as well as your feet.

I long to sit and talk just for a bit. Talk about your hopes. Your dreams. Your BELIEFS. Where do you stand on the issue of abortion? What was the last CD you bought? How was your week? Did you like the last movie you saw? Where did you get those shoes? Where can a guy get a drink around here?...if conversation is an art then we are dada. We present meaningless nothings on the pretence of greatness and depth. Shallow like urinals.

We stumble through the awkward small talk, like toddlers unsure of how to stand on our two legs. All we can do is smile embarrassed as someone passes the bottle around.

But I speak too quickly and harshly. I enjoy a good night out as much as the next person and embrace the night without hesitation. Give me balloons and sparklers, champagne and cake, a voice as sore as my feet and feet as quick as my wit, clocks that never die, without reminder of how young we are and what little time we have left…these are but fragments of a quality night out. The moments we share in crisp vision and thought that stay with us for a lifetime.

I’m scared to admit it, but it does come to this:

My only regret is that after years of ‘hanging out’, I barely even know who you are.


Note: I wrote this in a slightly more cynical mood. Sometimes it just feels like even an entire lifetime is not enough to get to know a person.