139. A wholesome day on the holiday of love
I would not consider this Valentine's Day date a huge momentous whirlwind of experiences with romantic undertones, but it has to be my favorite one I've had so far. As of late, I had a rough couple days in the romantic department of my life. I really wanted to clock-out and take a break- no paid vacation leave, no suggestions, no disappointment. I was also quite sick, as I have gotten the flu from some young uni students at the clubbing district last weekend... (I don't like going to the KL clubbing district because the usual clientele at these clubs is a just a bunch of young, dumb, stupid, and drunk kids with no spatial awareness whatsoever. Absolutely not my scene at all.)
A friend told me that he had to pick up a T-shirt order from a local artist friend he made. I asked if I could accompany him to the mall and we planned a day. Of course, this particular friend is the one who introduced me to the guy I vented about in this post. I met them both at the bar at the same time.
I was quite glad that I have a companion for the day, especially on a holiday like Valentine's Day (with the way things are unfolding for me socially and romantically). It's a bit annoying of me to wail on and on about these unlucky situations, but I think that I'm pretty optimistic about things1 and haven't slumped down to the "cynical about love" territory. I have a good head on my shoulders and I haven't really felt overwhelming sad or lamenting over these silly guys.
I was thinking that my friend's Australian humor and sardonic attitude towards life is the ultimate distraction from these weird experiences. Maybe the snarkiness and our shared banter of dark comedy and daily observations could lift me out of my silly love-sick girl phase. I sent him the address to this new Colombian coffee shop down the street. I had stumbled upon it when I was with my Dutch friend the other day. We were fascinated by their giant coffee machine in the back. The owner came up to me and made conversation with me. My nice coworking session ended up with me having a Spanish conversation partner.
At the cafe, I ordered two arepas (queso) and an ice latte, then worked on my computer for a bit until my friend showed up. I really wanted to get him to try arepas for the first time. He told me that he never had them in Melbourne.
"Alright, why didn't you get a chicken or beef one, you only got cheese?" I know he was just teasing me, but I shot him such a sour look when he made this comment. He explained to me that we could have tried a different flavor and split it with one another. Smart move. I just wanted him to try the original cheese.
I showed this photo to my Venezuelan friends and they laughed and told me, 'wow I can't believe they kawaii-fied the arepas'. They were really tasty and cute.
It was a good couple hours of arepa-eating, chatting, and typing away on our little computers until 3PM hit. We decided to take a walk towards the artist shopping mall because my friend had to pick up the T-shirt he ordered the week before. We were heading towards a community shopping mall that hosts all of these local artists' workshops and storefronts called GMBB. It was a pretty short walk filled with different observations during the stroll and a couple of travel stories here and there.
The mall was massive. So many cool artists and their work were displayed. Each floor had various paintings, sculptures, poems, everything creative. I was also trying to find some wall art that I could display in the apartment. I'm trying to appease my mother, so it has to be tasteful and not too brash or expensive.
I don't think my mother will approve of this one. I thought it was really cool to see the wood and the computer chips inside the sculpture.
We went up and down the escalators, taking in the different artwork and displays. One of my favorite things I've seen was a space filled with dioramas from a local artist, Eddie Putera. I can link his contact information below 2.
I love this so much
After retrieving the T-shirt, we had another task to complete for the day- but first, a mamak 3. I ordered my go-to quick meal of nasi goreng kampung. It was just the middle of the afternoon. We were sipping our teas and chattered away.
We had to swing by a giant mall and walk through a bookstore to get to the monogramming shop. The planned monogram design he wanted was BoJack Horseman quote on his notebook, "Every day it gets a little easier. But you gotta do it every day, that's the hard part. But it does get easier." Although it sounds pretty depressing, I think the quote holds a lot of significance in my life as well.
While walking through this giant labyrinth of a shopping center, my Australian friend noticed that he was wearing clothes that matched everything he was carrying- green shorts, green book, green bag. He was just a green boy today. A green boy green to the experiences in travel.
We entered the book store and took a stroll around the place. We noticed that the monogramming shop didn't have anyone manning the counter, so we assumed that the staff was on a break. We decided to meander around the book store and see what's in stock. These book shelves were separated by genre, but there was no alphabetical system in place. All of the books were categorized by color, with no name order at all- it annoyed the hell out of both of us.
"For this many books- why couldn't they put the titles or authors of these books in alphabetical order?" he said this as we both rolled our eyes.
"We walked through the non-fiction section and there's literally no organization, just colors, aesthetic, and vibes. Where's that damn Dewey decimal system when we need it?" I said as I motioned to the entire shelf of rainbow humor books.
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It was a good couple of minutes of walking and talking about different books that we've read before. I told him about the travel books I liked to peruse around and he was telling me about the book a friend recommended to him the other day.
"I think book titles would be so much more funny if they added a 'fucking' in the name, don't you think?" A vulgar challenge was presented to me and I scanned the various covers for the next big joke I was going to hit him with. We walked by different displays and laughed at the new names we've embellished. We were walking through the emotional poetic and self-help books section and I was on the floor by the time we reach the end of the shelf.
"Moments Of fucking Joy: The Poetry Of Sister Jina, Chan Dieu Nghiem" (link to the book)
"Find Your fucking Joy: A Powerful Self-Care Journal to Help You Thrive by Jennifer King Lindley" (link to the book)
"Emotional fucking Healing, by Harry Barry" (link to the book)
...fucking ask a woman; link to the book: If You Want Something Done: Leadership Lessons from Bold Women by Nikki R. Haley. This woman is the Former Governor of South Carolina
By the time the giggles subsided, we went back to the monogramming shop to see if anybody showed up while we were waiting around. We asked the kakak 4 in the coffee shop about the whereabouts of the employees. We were disappointed to find out that it was a day off for the staff (Wednesday). The sign clearly had different hours than we expected.
I had to cheer up this bummed out Australian guy - it was literally the one task we had to do when we got to the mall. We made our way to the food court in the basement and ordered mango smoothies from a Boost Juice stand (an Australian brand, of course). We sat and talked next to this Chinese family and watched them, not as creeps, but as careful observers of human behavior. We both related to this nice Asian family and it was funny to see the parents try to interact with their iPad kids. I was still sniffling from my sickness and borrowed some wet wipes from my companion.
It was nearly 7PM and we decided to go for dinner.
We went outside and walked along the long street filled with Japanese restaurants. I opted to go to a more cheaper place because I don't think our wallets could withstand a "shabu-shabu" punch today. We went to a cheap udon shop in the middle of the street. I had to order our Sapporo and Kirin Ichiban glass beers from a vending machine.
We had a wonderful chat about our previous Valentine's Days in the past. I had mentioned to him that the last Valentine's Day date I had was in 2022. Last year in 2023, I didn't participate, but it was such a good day for me anyway. The conversation shifted from deep conversations about love and relationships and films and how much we enjoyed the filmmaking process.
It was still too early to call it a night, so I invited him to watch Under The Tuscan Sun (2003) with me. I was happy to have a friend that appreciated movies as much as me. We took the train back and I was still feeling under the weather.
I had such a great time watching one of my favorite films with the added sarcastic commentary. I believe that Under The Tuscan Sun (2003) is a precursor to that "Eat Pray Love (2010)" phenomenon that pierced the hearts of adventure-hungry American women. It's essentially - Under The Tuscan Sun walked so that Eat Pray Love could run. Here's my silly little movie review about it.
It was quite late when the movie ended. Such a nice Valentine's Day. Very wholesome and filled with all the things I loved- enjoying a latte and briefly speaking Spanish with the owners of the coffee shop, appreciating various paintings and sculptures, perusing through the bookstore and humorously making fun of pretentious books, enjoying a mango smoothie, eating Japanese food and beer, watching one of my favorite movies of all time- all with a very good friend I made this year.
Secretly, there's a part of me that regretted that I picked the wrong guy at the bar that very night. Perhaps I've made a grave mistake. Unfortunately, there are too many factors in play. A lot of complication.
I think I have to let things cool off, rationalize, and just be content with the wholesome experience I had... But who knows these days? My life's just been really chaotic and I've just been trying to get my ducks in a line.
But I'm very happy. Truly and honestly, very satisfied with my life as of late and that's more than I can say for me in the past.
~ under the KL sun,
<3 K
🍄 https://exponixio.bearblog.dev/
For the most part, I think it's pretty funny that I write about it and that I have an outlet for me to share my thoughts about the certain situations I find myself in. I have a lot of stories that are reserved for me, though. I'm an open book, but I think that I overshare quite a bit. I was told that it was refreshing to be untethered and unbothered with the tall tales I live, but at some point, I think I must keep some things locked in a safe, just for my own peace of mind.↩
Instagram page: @eddieputera; YouTube channel: Eddie Putera↩
First explained in the A defunct mob spawn rate at the terrace bar post in Malay culture, a "mamak" typically refers to an Indian-Muslim or Tamil-Muslim food stall or restaurant. These establishments are commonly found in Malaysia, Singapore, and other parts of Southeast Asia. Mamak stalls are known for serving a variety of Malaysian Indian cuisine, such as roti canai (flaky flatbread), nasi kandar (rice with various curries and side dishes), murtabak (stuffed pancake), and more.↩
kakak means sister (like older sister/sibling) in Malay↩