what are you looking for?
that was the question posed by one of my close friend before he went back to Malaysia upon finishing his study in England. We grew up in the same hometown. He loves the town, even more so as he ages. I asked ‘Why not stay in England and find a job instead? I’m sure the jobs there are better than what our crappy hometown can offer.’ His answer couldn’t be simpler. ‘Family and friends are all that matter to me. Being close to them is what makes me happy :)’. I can almost picture his grinning face when he typed that into his MSN chat window.
‘Are you going to come back to Malaysia soon? What are you looking for there?’ then he asked.
I couldn’t give him an honest answer back then because I didn’t have one.
As life in Toronto starts to settle in, I manage to pull some thoughts together and will try to give a less patronizing answer to that question.
I want to design user interface. That makes me happy. After that, I want to go home to my wife and make dinner for her and watch Heroes together and go to sleep. Maybe a little bit of sex before that.
I’m easy like that. I’m the guy who doesn’t know what the definition of horsepower is and is more than happy to let his gf chooses the car he will be driving. I’m the guy who doesn’t wear a watch and couldn’t care less about the latest gadgets (my workstation is not a gadget!). I’m the guy who likes piano but doesn’t know how to play one but will tell the girl he’s trying to impress that he knows how to play piano well enough to make her cries. I’m the guy who doesn’t get expressive abstract art but will buy that Picasso’s piece with half of his fortune if everyone around him says ‘yeah, this is indeed an amazing piece of work.’
Malaysia can give me that life, no doubt about that. But if I can’t get it here, I probably won’t get it anywhere else.
My goals in life are not something to go wow over. But life’s a bitch like that. The easy things are always the hardest to get. No wonder everyone wants world peace or talk to God instead. Obviously I’m still working on the wife part and I still have a lot to improve on in what I do for a living. But I know a person who already did it - my dad. Back in the days, he and my mom would watch ‘Wheel of fortune’ together while my sisters and I would take turns screaming every possible combinations of words for the puzzle, to their annoyance. He raised us well and enjoyed every minutes of it. He’s an honorable man.
I’m slightly more handsome than my dad, so it’s not entirely impossible.
