I miss you...

 It has been quite some time since I last posted on this sad dusty blog. Well, I say sad and dusty but really, everything seems brand new to me. I used to write here when I was 13 years old where I played with HTML codes to make my blog fit some of my aesthetics - or at least my intended aesthetics - and now it's just given to you. Linking, picking out background images, all the nitty-gritty that used to take about ten extra steps now at the click of a button. What a world we have come to, my younger self would say while trying to sound mature. That is one thing I do not miss.

What I do miss is blogging. In the past, blogging was a hobby of mine. I found out about it through friends and it was a sort of means to communicate. Like most young bloggers of the 2000s, I treated the blog akin to a diary. I write my thoughts, my daily life and about the things I'm into. The fun was doubled when my friends interact with me over the silly posts I wrote or on their posts. That feeling was incredible. That was how I fell in love with blogging: It helped me make friends.

Another thing about blogging that I look back at fondly is that (despite my not realizing it before) it was one of the key reasons why I like writing. I didn't start a blog to generate income - I didn't even know that was a thing back then. Back then, my diaries were in my mother tongue: Malay. I wrote stories in Malay but my online friends communicated in English. So, I made it a point to write in Engish and it cemented my want to write in the language. Of course, by this time, I am aware that my English is significantly better than my Malay so it felt natural to be blogging in my second language. Although, back then, my vocabulary was smaller and my story-telling skills were much...simpler so to speak. However, it became a turning point in my life I was not aware of until much much later.

Blogging has also helped me in academic ways (well, I might be exaggerating a bit but it did help me). Research is too big of a word to associate with teenagers but I learned how to look up information to write about. I was not very aware of plagiarism or that Wikipedia is probably not the only source of information back then but hey, I did learn about it eventually. I would have learned the right way to look up information somewhere during the course of my school life but I owe some of the credit to blogging.

As seen on this blog, I deleted so many of my old posts because I was ashamed of it and I know I shouldn't have. I just threw away a chance for me to look at my progress since then. That is my one big regret.

For teenager me, blogging has connected me with friends, inspired me to find my passion and exposed me to information gathering. Some days I look at my laptop and visit this poor blog, thinking I should add something of value to this site. Most of the time, I'm obstructed by schedule.

Today, I thought, 'No, procrastination is not the right answer. Waiting for inspiration is cowardice.' Therefore, I will revive this blog and commit to it as much as possible.

This is my vow and every time I look at my computer I will remember it.

Nami