Inaugural August

Thirty-one days of August was one long month and I could not wait for it to come to an end. Its first day was dedicated to my late father, in commemoration of one year of his passing. We paid our respects at the Western Road cemetery, accompanied by his childhood friend from Australia. We miss him terribly and we remember him dearly.

August was a month of many repeats. I ate at Perut Rumah three times, staked out at Coffee Addict twice, met with my previous church pastors twice, did multiple grocery runs and gave many many books away in an attempt to shorten my to-read list. In the social world, I engaged in (gleeful!) high-school length phone conversations with two childhood friends, hung out with a friend from Germany and was invited to dinner at Sunnyville. 

August in Penang is the annual George Town Festival, and this year I’m so happy to say I finally am home long enough to attend its events. I went to a Peranakan life-sized kaleidoscope called OH! Terpelanjat, attended a talk by Marcus Langdon on the Northam Road Protestant Cemetery and watched a silent film called Nosferatu with live orchestra music by Tess Said So.

During the festival, I also did a reading of ‘You Will Be With Me in Paradise’ at Asia Cafe, as part of the Konsert Kopitiam series organised by Cecil Rajendra. That night, I got my caricature done by local artist Azmi Hussin!

In the working world, I did branding and copywriting for a client with a sports-coaching business aimed at children. I also attended a couple of interviews, but to no avail. In the reading world I was a little more productive. I read nine books throughout August; a mix of self-help and fiction, highlights which includes Dark Places by Gillian Flynn and Nutshell by Ian McEwan.

In the writing world I was a busy bee. I wrote an article on ‘Overcoming Grief’ for a hypnotherapy website, got paid for my short story ‘Nadia’ included in The Tudung Anthology by Matahari Books, and heard the good news of another two stories accepted for publication. They are ‘Tropical Eton Mess’ in Nutmag Volume II and ‘House of Malacca’ in The Principal Gal.

I also galley-proofed a short story to be published soon, wrote 6,000 words into a new novel, got a mention in Star2.com for my story in Remang Anthology, and finally, had my story ‘The Roof Walker’ published in Canada’s Ricepaper Magazine! What a great end to my month, I am ever so thankful and I’m counting my blessings. Onto September.