Category: When Bloggers Meet

Reta had been slaving for the past weeks together with Jack to organise a flash mob. It would have been a meaningful one as they had planned to get participants to hold up placards with the words “I LOVE MOM” at KLCC Park in conjunction with Mother’s Day next week. The response was less than anticipated and she decided to call for a bloggers meet instead.

It has been a while since I attended a “real” bloggers meet. One of the pleasant things about such meets is that I was able to get to know the person behind the blog. I do not get to go out often. Events like these are precious opportunities for me to interact socially, rekindle friendships and forge new ones.

The meet will begin at Sunday, May 7, 2006, 2.00pm at Signatures Food Court, Level 2, KLCC Suria. Everyone is welcomed, be it bloggers or blog readers. This is a casual meet-up. If you do not know anyone, it does not matter. Strangers are friends that we have not met yet. As with other bloggers meets, digital cameras will be aplenty. If you are camera-shy or do not want your face to be plastered all over Malaysian blogosphere, please come with a mask or a bag over your head. See you there.

L-R: Reta, Suanie, Jack and me at Starbucks Mid Valley.

Trust that most bloggers will go out with a few other bloggers and then rush back to post an entry on that. And trust that they will post unflattering photos of others just for the heck of it. That was exactly what Reta did today in this entry.

Reta, Jack, Suanie, Wuan and I got together at Chopsticks Noodle House at Mid Valley Megamall just now. It seems that the circle of friends that I hang out with lately is mostly bloggers. I am not complaining though. They are some of the nicest and most sociable people I have ever known.

We met to discuss “some highly confidential matters” that we cannot reveal yet now. After we engorged ourselves full with rice and noodles and dessert, we adjourned to Starbucks for another round of discussion and camwhoring. What is a bloggers meet without some camera flashes going off?

After the meeting broke up, Wuan and I went shopping at Jusco. I needed a few more pairs of pants to replace those that I have been wearing since Mum got them tailored for me many years ago. I prefer ready-made pants for the variety of colours and wide selection available at department stores.

This is part of reclaiming my life back from what spinal cord injury had taken away from me. For many years, I had to wear baggy pants that was three sizes too large. It was to accommodate the urine bag that I carried with me wherever I went. Now that I have discarded them, I am able to wear more fitting clothes. It is regrettable that at a time when I am beginning to regain part of my life, I am also beginning to lose part of it to the ravages of my paralysis.

And hello to Juliana of Jaded. She came over and introduced herself when I was browsing in the pet shop at Level 3. It is always nice to meet a fellow blogger, especially one that I have chatted or corresponded with but have never met before.

What can a bloggers meet, breasts and banana smoothies have in common? A lot apparently if one is in the company of two pre-middle-aged women whose laughter could be heard above the cacophony of a food court full of hungry shoppers and another young woman whose bundle of energy could outlast the Energizer Bunny any day.

It was the bloggers meet initiated by Dee at Coffee Bean, Suria KLCC. Wuan and I were ninety minutes late. As soon as we got in I recognised Dee from her unmistakeable short hair. Desmo and Edrei were already there. CHiQ arrived a short while later.

Jomel and I had arranged to meet for lunch. She arrived a short while later too and she brought me presents for my trip to Japan – woolen cap and scarf. Thank you JoMel!!! Those definitely will come in useful. I thought it would be a good idea to see if SK was around the premises since he works there too. He was, and joined us. We chatted for while and decided to adjourn to the Signatures Food Court for lunch. Desmo and SK had to leave.

It all began with CHiQ talking about saggy breasts. Before long, Dee and JoMel chipped in by explaining how, in kampungs, such mammaries could be flipped over the shoulder to feed the child the woman was carrying on her back. My image of women and their breasts was forever shattered by the gross description by CHiQ, Dee and JoMel. Fortunately for Edrei, he was away buying lunch. Thank you you three, for permanently erasing the words perk, firm and voluptuous from my vocabulary. I shall not elaborate more. Here is the meet in photos:

Presents from JoMel for my Tokyo trip – a cap and scarf.

Group photo before we adjourned for lunch.

SK and me.

Thorn among roses – JoMel, me and Dee.

Edrei – modern day cannibal.

Shiseido-Memoirs of a Geisha contest finale at Suria KLCC Centre Court.

Another group photo – CHiQ, me, Edrei and Dee.