Saturday, December 12, 2020
Well, it's finally the end of the year. 2020 has been... dramatic. I've always liked the Cyanide and Happiness comic about no guarantees for the new year, but to survive a new year. Eh, some how those words seem applicable this year more than most.
Things have mostly been routine. Go to work, come back, play with Toshi, spend time with the waifu, sleep and repeat. I mean, there's not much else to do with the second lockdown in Toronto (and on Monday, York). Even if I wanted to irresponsible, we can't!
It's Debbie's birthday today, so Koh Wee and I wished her on WhatsApp. God, it's been 18 years since I've known her. Damn, lol, she's got a kid now while Onion and I have gotten a cat instead, lmao.
Oh, I'm in the midst of the virtual iBridge camp. iBridge is a camp for youths and young adults organized by the Graduates Christian Fellowship in Malaysia. The first time I was invited was by Alexandrea (Lina) in 2015. Now, Lina is a very devout Christian, and back then we butted heads over how to interpret the Bible, basic theology and science. Of course, I disagreed on her on practically everything and said she was wrong on the majority of her beliefs. But she's still nice, and asked if I wanted to go for this iBridge camp. I was a bit hesitant, because I was like, is everyone there going to be like you? If I were to be in a 3 day camp with a bunch of fanatical Christian fundamentalists... ugh. But I thought why not. It'd be good to experience a Christian camp for the first time in like 10 years, and I was curious to see how they'd react to a Christian who dresses up like a Satanist.
I ended up enjoying it. They were welcoming and friendly, and while there were several individuals I clashed heavily with regarding evolution, theology and some other minor beliefs, the vast majority were friendly and chill. I enjoyed it enough that I went from 2015-2017, meeting more people on the way. The second year is when I was introduced to the majority of the board games group that Onion and I hung out with for quite a bit in our last few years in Malaysia, playing at board game cafes and at Albert's house. So due to COVID-19, obviously the camp was placed on hold, but they decided to have a virtual one instead. I thought I might as well join since it had been a while since I met any of them, and I was curious to see how it'd end up digitally. So far, it's Zoom sessions with talks, games and just general free time to chill and talk. My group leader is Jared Chan, apparently one of the topic speakers back in 2015 in my first iBridge, but I don't remember him, lol. To be fair, I didn't remember a lot of people from the first camp simply because it was overwhelming meeting like over a hundred people over the course of 3 days. The years after were a lot more comfortable and I got to establish more friendships along the way. Those bonds have still lasted till today over the virtual iBridge camp!
Oh, and to end with some downer news... *sigh* another friend died.
This time it's Ai Li. Yeah, the girl who joined us in Genting with Fei Yan and Shana about 10 years ago. Her account suddenly had an RIP post with news about her funeral. It really caught me off guard 'cause she's only a year younger than me. She died from a heart attack related to her thalassemia. Aye, I've known about thalassemia sufferers dying early because of their conditions. Since Miki also suffers from it, she's told me a lot about it. In fact, because the number of thalassemia sufferers is pretty low in Kuala Lumpur, they have some sort of support system there where all the people with thalassemia come together, almost like an Alcoholics Anonymous. Miki knew Ai Li from there, and they've not liked each other since, lol. Anyway, Miki's always had a fear of dying early from her condition, because every few years (she's updated on her fellows from the support system) there's a person from that group dying. I once accompanied Miki to her friend's grave (he died related to thalassemia as well), and learned more about it. I guess Ai Li was just next in line. And it happened to be someone I knew, and was really close with some time ago. Aye, sucks. I hadn't chatted with Ai Li in about 6 years or so, the last was probably us trying to organize an extremely last minute and impromptu New Years eve meet up and countdown, but it didn't happen due to the crazy inconvenience and expected crowds. The few years that I met her up regularly were nice, and I got to know that group of friends pretty well and deeply. They were fond memories.
Chronicled
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