Through the Thila Filter
My recent trip back home has shone some light through my eyes. I have realized that I see things in a different light and I like to call it the 'Thila Filter'. The Thila Filter works like Instagram filters, sometimes we use them to beautify an image, to emphasize colours, to sprinkle a little vintage slash rustic feel to what we capture through our lenses.
A little introduction to the Thila Filter. The things I see through my eyes are overly romanticized. Almost like a John Green book but live. As a Cancerian (I'm using my zodiac sign as an excuse) I feel stuff 10x more than a regular person. I pay attention to detail like emoji's in our conversations or punctuation marks that you don't usually use but use when you're mad. I do admit, I add the psycho in psychoanalize.
All my life, I have always questioned myself. Why can't I find someone who has the same heart as I do? Simple. There is nobody like me. That applies to everyone, 7 billion individuals and counting are their own person, not even twins are the same despite the color coordination in their outfits which their parents thought would be cute.
I have SO much to tell you about my journey back home. I was so excited to come back home after being in the States for a year and a half. I had made so many plans with so many people (most of which I have to apologize for because I couldn't fit into my schedule). They keyword throughout this whole trip was travel. No, it wasn't just the 22-hour trip from JFK to KLIA with a layover in London, Heathrow. It was the mini trips to Malacca, Ipoh, Singapore and Subang Jaya, ah yes, a whole lot of Subang Jaya.
I arrived KLIA on the 28th of July and was welcomed by my entourage and my Papa. It felt so lively to have all my best friends waiting for me at the airport and it was a perfect homecoming to see my father. The ride back to Klang was a long one but the girls and I had a lot to catch up on. The ush. We made fun of each other, laid the dish on the current gossip and boy talk. It felt like high school all over again. We finally reached Klang around noon and the first thing I had to do was go to the mamak because that's how I roll.
Like I'm not even high maintenanced, be my boo thang and take me to the mamak and feed me and I'm yours to keep.
I had my first roti canai and teh ais and I can tell you, the satisfaction was incomparable. Little did I know, my diet here in the US has completely detoxified all the chili consumption and constipation I've had throughout the years living in Malaysia! My papa used to (still does) feed me papaya constantly but papa let me tell you this, the papaya doesn't work! Everytime I ate something with chili in it, I would run to the loo 2 seconds later. After 2 weeks, I recovered and got slightly immune, constipated, but immune.
I just realized that this post is going to have extensions because there is no way in heaven or hell am I going to summarize a month's worth of traveling into one post. I could but it would bore you to death and your life matters to me.
After isolation for a year and a half, I feel like I threw myself into a pool of people. Some with pure intentions and others with murky intentions. I have learnt so much about my country. I am Malaysian at heart and I have never given enough appreciation to Tanah Melayu. There are 2 factors that have contributed to the deep appreciation I have for home and that is
thilamisu
A little introduction to the Thila Filter. The things I see through my eyes are overly romanticized. Almost like a John Green book but live. As a Cancerian (I'm using my zodiac sign as an excuse) I feel stuff 10x more than a regular person. I pay attention to detail like emoji's in our conversations or punctuation marks that you don't usually use but use when you're mad. I do admit, I add the psycho in psychoanalize.
All my life, I have always questioned myself. Why can't I find someone who has the same heart as I do? Simple. There is nobody like me. That applies to everyone, 7 billion individuals and counting are their own person, not even twins are the same despite the color coordination in their outfits which their parents thought would be cute.
I have SO much to tell you about my journey back home. I was so excited to come back home after being in the States for a year and a half. I had made so many plans with so many people (most of which I have to apologize for because I couldn't fit into my schedule). They keyword throughout this whole trip was travel. No, it wasn't just the 22-hour trip from JFK to KLIA with a layover in London, Heathrow. It was the mini trips to Malacca, Ipoh, Singapore and Subang Jaya, ah yes, a whole lot of Subang Jaya.
I arrived KLIA on the 28th of July and was welcomed by my entourage and my Papa. It felt so lively to have all my best friends waiting for me at the airport and it was a perfect homecoming to see my father. The ride back to Klang was a long one but the girls and I had a lot to catch up on. The ush. We made fun of each other, laid the dish on the current gossip and boy talk. It felt like high school all over again. We finally reached Klang around noon and the first thing I had to do was go to the mamak because that's how I roll.
Like I'm not even high maintenanced, be my boo thang and take me to the mamak and feed me and I'm yours to keep.
I had my first roti canai and teh ais and I can tell you, the satisfaction was incomparable. Little did I know, my diet here in the US has completely detoxified all the chili consumption and constipation I've had throughout the years living in Malaysia! My papa used to (still does) feed me papaya constantly but papa let me tell you this, the papaya doesn't work! Everytime I ate something with chili in it, I would run to the loo 2 seconds later. After 2 weeks, I recovered and got slightly immune, constipated, but immune.
I just realized that this post is going to have extensions because there is no way in heaven or hell am I going to summarize a month's worth of traveling into one post. I could but it would bore you to death and your life matters to me.
After isolation for a year and a half, I feel like I threw myself into a pool of people. Some with pure intentions and others with murky intentions. I have learnt so much about my country. I am Malaysian at heart and I have never given enough appreciation to Tanah Melayu. There are 2 factors that have contributed to the deep appreciation I have for home and that is
- Being so far away and adapting to the Western/New culture.
- Hating the History subject in school.
It's so different digesting what textbooks reveal to you, lies mostly. They act as a sleeping aid for the insomniacs. However, when you actually walk the floors of post-war remains, this feeling stirs up inside of you.
To me, when I went to Melacca I pictured myself dating back wearing a Nyonya Kebaya walking the streets of Jonker, or at least what it was before it was Jonker. All the old buildings lined up in a terrace and old kopitiams where aunties and uncles would sit and chill. It all seemed perfect, too perfect.
But then again, that's me. This resorts back to the Thila Filter. It feels like a gift, it almost feels like God gave me the ability to see an extra colour in life. I can't really find the words to string up the description of how I interpret my surroundings but it's beautiful. I get weird looks when I describe something to someone because they think I over-exaggerate shit. In all honesty dear readers, the way I story tell, is the way I experience life with my own 2 eyes.
This has helped so much with self-discovery. I've learnt how to describe myself to a person, I've learnt that my genre of music is R&B, I've learnt that blush pink is my favorite colour, I've learnt that I do not like to indulge in the superficiality portion that life has to offer, I've learnt that I hate alcohol and hangovers and would choose apple cider over beer any day!, I've learnt that the music industry are just selfish people getting along with selfish people, I've learnt that virtual communication has messed up human communication, I've learnt that if you fall in love, you have to acknowledege it.
Believe it or not you guys, this is just the introduction to my journey back home. I want you to experience, what I have experienced. So picture this, I am your usher at a movie theater handing out 3D glasses labeled 'Thila Filters', put them on and see things from my perspective.
Stay tuned for my next post!
Also, I have discovered some prompts on thought catalog and I am dead serious of taking the challenge on just to play around with my written work through the Thila Filter. I suggest for those who are writing, should consider this too. It'll be fun, I pinky promise.
thilamisu
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