On This Island

Three things happened to me in September this year. All of which I could never imagine as even remotely possible.

One, I quit practice. This may seem to be mundane news (especially when one considers lawyers as football players, always changing clubs when the transfer window opens) but it's a big thing for me. I've never worked as anything but a litigation lawyer (those few months as a stringer with a local newspaper back when I was a pre-university student doesn't count. The satisfaction of seeing the bylines did not translate that much for my expenditures). And even when I graduated with a law degree from a local university and tempted by so many career options, I still ended up dressed in black & white for most days and going into Courts to be harassed by clients, opposing counsels and trodden by those few Judges who must have come from a part of Hell which even the Devil runs away from. Anyway, I was in my 6th year of practice, just a few months short of having the right to have pupils of my own (or as some would put it, fresh blood or latest victims doomed to stay in the same part of Hell referred to earlier!).

Two,  a consequential effect of the above naturally meant me leaving my employer firm. Again, this would sound nothing extraordinary if not for the fact that I've been with this firm from day 1 of my pupillage. In a blink of an eye, my former pupil master became my boss and having stayed with the firm for 6 years or so, I was somewhat accepted as the one that would never leave. Over the years, I saw new faces joining the firm and just as we become colleagues and friends, they leave for greener pastures. While the sea of humans moved in countless directions, I became the shoreline, moving ever so slightly depending on the waves but unrelenting in etching a line in the sand. But the sand too must have been washed away for I found myself at crossroads. A professional life that was marked by personal questions of 'Is this what I want to do for the rest of my life?' and doubts of whether I can find a better pursuit for a more balanced approach to life. In the end, I decided it was time for a change and that resolution led to me handing over to my former boss, that piece of white envelope with a solemn typed note.

Honestly, I do not know if I'm headed to greener pastures or merely finding my way to a green swamp that swallows everything in its path. Whatever the outcome, I think I'll regret it less than not taking the step at all. That step also meant me moving to the island, Penang to still do something legal-related but in a different dimension and with different perspective. I shall not elaborate more on my job (it's going to bore your ears off. Legal stuff does that to almost everybody I know). I will however, write more on my move to Penang. Coming from a girl who has stayed with her parents for 3 decades (save for the periods when I travelled or those 6 horrendous days which I'll always remember as the University's orientation week), this move was scary. For the first time, I've to do everything on my own. While I've cooked (yes, that's why the word 'miracle' was invented in the first place), washed my own clothes and cleaned my house before, everything was done with the knowledge and comfort that my parents were just steps or a shout away. Now, it becomes something totally different. If I don't cook and too lazy to drive out, it means I've to starve for the night. If I'm tired to wash my clothes, I either have to spend money to hit the laundry centre or have to wear dirty clothes. And for the first time in my life, I discovered this morning how scary it is to get locked out of your own toilet without having the spare keys! It was not a pleasant experience to rush to the toilet after the stomach decided on a grand impromptu performance and finding that the door had accidentally locked itself. Well, it was my fault (since no one was in the house except me) but at least, I've learned how to unlock the plastic foldable door. With a loose latch that easily locks the door from the inside, I've to remind myself to always ensure that the latch remains upwards before I shut the door. Either that or I've to yank and bang on the door, to be simultaneously done with a prayer that the door doesn't completely fall off!

I hope I'll love my time on this island with much to do and explore. I'm not exactly a foodie (and God knows, one just can't have too many Nasi Kandars without expanded waistlines) but I do enjoy the quaint heritage gems strewn about on this island I'm calling as home. In the meantime, I'll get the basic Hokkien phrase book, just so I don't disappoint the many Hokkien speaking locals here!