Hello, is anyone there? Yes, yes you are. I can see the visitor counts in the dashboard and you've been coming back, it's me who's been astray.
I think that I have officially moved into the slow blogging category where instead of sticking to a set schedule and forcing myself to blog even when I don't feel like it, I'm focusing on my offline offblog life, enjoying it, and taking care of business without guilt. I still constantly think of things that I'd like to share and photos I'd like to take but I'm going to use my month of transition as the excuse for absence. Since we moved back to LA and it's been busy and by busy I mean happy. Happily working, happily hanging with friends and family, and happily wearing cozy layers in crisp 50 degrees weather.
Now that we've been here for a solid month I'm starting to get asked how it feels to be back, if it's strange, or if I miss anything. The answer to the latter two is yes. It feels strange to sometimes view things and people through foreign eyes and notice subtleties that I never would have had I never left. I've had moments where I felt like an outsider with deja vu - places and people are familiar but something has changed and it's not the same. I know I've changed so even if the city or familiar faces haven't, the fact that I have changes everything.
Brief moments of reverse culture shock have been the main 'strange' things though. Like going to a college football game and seeing how intense the tailgating scene gets (custom branded trailers anyone?), preferring to eat with chopsticks instead of a fork, catching the smell of curry from an Indian restaurant and feeling like 'home', or even just being around Asians and feeling more at 'home'! It's the little things that have made me pause and recognize the re-adjustment I'm actually going through. I was driving with a friend yesterday and she said "you drive like a Malaysian" which really means "you're a shit driver". And she should know - her family is from Malaysia. I laughed so hard when she said that because even though I never drove there, it somehow rubbed off on me. And in a twisted way, I took it as a compliment.
Yes I miss Malaysia but besides missing the food and nearby travel destinations like crazy, I'm doing great back in LA. I'm getting a ton of work done, exercising and eating well, using public transportation and loving it (though I do rent a car as needed for meetings), and my hair is as calm as it's been in over one year. I'm sure you ladies can commiserate with equating a small amount of happiness to the volume and frizz in your hair ;)
So yeah, all is well. I may not be blogging like a blogger should but that's okay. This should be a fun space for me (and you) to come to, to share adventures and creative nuggets, not something that is forced just for the sake of feeling current. I do Instagram and Pinterest often so if I'm not here, I'm there. And to you who are still here, still reading this, I'm thankful for you. You make this whole blogging thing so much more than an online journal. Gracias amigos.
photo: LA street c'est chic, snapped in Arts District Downtown LA