Friday, March 20, 2009

If I Had Never Left London

Slightly less than 3 years ago, I graduated from University College London. It was a time of celebration! I was done with my Economics course that had me see the most math I had ever seen before in my life.

Seriously... I did so much math at university I graduated only to learn one thing: that is Mathematicians can come up with formulas to represent ANYTHING IN LIFE.

English ---->  "I am a pothole"
Math ----> "ϕ[ X , Y ] = [ϕ( X ), ϕ(Y )]"

English ----> " I stood up to pee in the wind"
Math ----> "A = A0 A1 ⊇ · · · ⊇ An ⊇ · · ·"

English ---> "I like peeing in the wind but I find it very inconvenient when my pee flies back at me so since then I have stopped peeing in the wind and started shitting in the wind instead. Shit's heavier"

Math ----> "Ro ∼= 􏰅 i =1 HomR (ni Vi , ni Vi ) = 􏰅 i =1 End R (ni Vi ) ∼= , 􏰅 i =1 Mn i (End R (Vi )) by Corollary 10.13  ∼= r 􏰅 Mn ( Do  ) by definition of Do i . 

Well ok I'm exaggerating but you get my drift.

Anyway, after graduation I was posed the question that many of my Malaysian friends there too had to answer.

"To stay in London to work... or to go back home to Malaysia".

I was one among the minority of Malaysian students graduating in my year who willingly chose to come home. Everyone else wanted to stay... by hook or by crook. 

3 years doesn't sound like a long time, but it feels as if so much time has passed since I left London and just today I started wondering what my life would be if I had stayed.

I mean there are good parts that I like to living in London and back in Malaysia... like how I don't see how I could ever do without my weekly Klang Bak Kut Teh now.

But how I often still crave for my Four Seasons Bayswater duck so much that I sometimes accidentally curse the word "DUCK" when I actually meant to say "FUCK" on MSN.

and how I miss my waiter friend at the Four Seasons who would only need to ask me one question to take my order when I walk into the restaurant: "How many ducks this time?"

If I stayed in London I would probably have gone to work in an investment bank like a lot of my other friends there. 

But this year I would probably be on the streets flipping burgers fresh out of being retrenched from those banks that all of us used to worship.

I probably wouldn't have a company of my own with the most vibrant young team

but I would probably have a lot of Great Britain Pounds in my bank that when converted to Ringgit would buy me enough Tesco toilet paper to wipe the asses of 3,281 elephants and 1 Barney.

I probably would spend a lot less money on my XBOX and its games.


But a lot more money on other useless toys like my BB-Guns that I had when I was there.


And that would probably go on till I eventually would have to one day decide that I needed to cut up my credit card.


I probably wouldn't have lost touch with some of my best friends there.


But I wouldn't have made the new good ones that I have here too.


I probably would've been able to see celebrities when I walk into a movie set.

But I probably wouldn't be able to have coffee with them like I sometimes get to do with the humble Desmond Kiu here, one of the Top 20 bloggers in Malaysia.


I would probably have to walk or take public transport wherever we go.

But I probably won't have to be stuck in the massive jams that I see every day after work.

I would probably have less family commitments and more alone time to make trips to Regent's Park just to read a book all day.

But I probably wouldn't be as close to my family as I like.

I probably would have a non-Malaysian girlfriend. Maybe a British, French, Korean or Japanese.

But she probably wouldn't be my soulmate (because there's only one and she's right here in KL).

Most importantly, I probably wouldn't have to think back about what my life would be if I stayed in London since I would be there.

But I also wouldn't be as happy as I am today.

Project 365: Day 32, 18th March 2009

I'm glad I came home... 

I sometimes wonder "What if?".... but I never ask "Why didn't I?"

32 comments:

Jeffro said...

O_O Barney? Why barney?? O_O
Ooo.. bb gun~! It's been SO LONG since I laid my hands on one.. =D

oh well the questions always run around in ppl's mind.. and i find that quite interesting.. ^_^

fourfeetnine said...

well if you didn't come home there wouldn't be any genius collaboration between UCL and Mount Holyoke College ok!

Anonymous said...

LOL at fourfeetnine's comment. HAHAHAHA

ShaolinTiger said...

I don't see any good points of being in London apart from the nightlife (KL is good for that too though) the concerts, bayswater duck and Chinatown Dim Sum.

Everything else about London sucks!

Plus with the GBP plummeting, your masses of cash wouldn't be worth crap (remember the extortionate house prices in London) you'd probably be living a dingy 1 bedroom flat in Zone 4.

Mellissa said...

London is so depressing, I hate the weather :( :( I wouldn't wanna live there.

The last photo is SO TOTALLY CAMWHOREEEE :P

Terrence Cheang said...

Very very nice post.

I always wanted to write a post about why I want to go back to Malaysia and you have written it very well here. :).

Well done and I know .... many people that came to overseas never wanted to go back. I always ask, what is so wrong with Malaysia? :).

Malaysia is so much better in many ways ! :).

Donna Bong said...

LOL. good comparisons! maybe I should ask myself the same questions 6 more years to come. LOL.

glad you chose malaysia.. now you're a BOSS =)

ayandy said...

hey it's ah fai! the waiter from 4 seasons! or is his name ah fei... i know it's an f...

man, i miss bak kut teh, i can't think of anything great about being in london other than "at least i still have a job".

maybe in 3 years i'll be back in kl thinking why did i waste my time in london...

Jessie TANG said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

sometimes you just don't know which is the right path, and there's no right or wrong path. Just glad that you ended up well where you are now! Life + luck? :)

Shannon said...

well, if u did, the post would then be "If I Had Went Home" instead...

R said...

all hail desmond the top 20 bloggers in malaysia.

but wise words, tim.

never ask why didn't i. :)

Boss Stewie said...

jeffro: hhahahaha yeah I miss it... I couldn't bring it back because it's illegal to have anything that so closely resembles a real gun here in Malaysia.

four: hahaha yes baby! *nods

miss: yes she cracks me up every now and then

shaolin: BAYSWATER DUCK *YUM*!... i guess possibly the weather too. i don't like the wet and gloomy part but I like the cold part .. as opposed to hot here.

mellissa: hahaha well coming from someone who lives in Melbourne, I'm not surprised

chu king: i think there's more opportunity for us here in Malaysia.. though it's probably a slower start at first

donna: hahahahah well i guess in hindsight.. i have no regrets so far

ayandy: YAH! it's ah fai!!! you know him too? hahaha i used to talk cock with him so much.. now i think he might've forgotten me =(

christy: yeah... no right no wrong.. and i guess i'll never know now where the other path would take me... just happy with my life the way it is now

shannon: hahaha yeah it prob would

robb: hahaha thanks robb

jess~ said...

wah... u make if sound so complicated... but then again there's no place like home rite? as long as ur happy with the ppl u love most. that's all that matters! =)

Jeffro said...

yeah... that's the international rules.. btw.. *whispers* we can get bb guns locally too.. *grins*

Boss Stewie said...

jess: hehehe yeah i'm truly happy with where I am now :)

jeffro: hahaha yeah i heard... but not worth breakign the law for it right?

Unknown said...

how come i don find anything special with bayswater duck? lol..

Boss Stewie said...

em: WHAT?!?!? WHAT%?!?!?!?! *#$(&*$#(&*$(&*#$(&*#$*#$*&(#(&*$# HOW COULD U SAY THAT EM!!!!!!!!

are you sure you were eating the right duck?

electronicfly said...

If you didn't come home,

There would have been more donuts around.

And Cheezels.

And less ducks.


But since you did,

There are more jobs available.

Nuffies were born/created/insert a more appropriate word here.

Bloggers are richer.

I got to meet up with you.



Thank you for coming back. :D

And thank you Audrey for making Tim diet so there are more donuts for us. XDD

Pam Song said...

I really like the ending to your post. That last line. Makes me think. Your borderline emo posts always do that to me.

cLiu said...

life...nobody know what if you didn't do so, what you will be tml.

that's why we should always hope for the best for tml.

UK or MY as long as enjoy the life you have.

cLiu.

Genova said...

living in london means MORE ducks..haha

Boss Stewie said...

electronic: hahaahha well I guess that was a good thing right? :)

pamsong: hahahaaah thank you.. i like the way you describe.. "borderline emo".. lol

forbidden: hahaha yeah.. live life with no regrets :)

genova: HAAAAAA!!!!!!!!! now i feel like going back

Pam Song said...

HAHA. Cos it's just... thoughtful. Not I-want-to-end-my-life-nobody-loves-me-please-stab-me-to-relieve-me-of-my-pain-and-misery kind of emo ma. Haha.

This kind is good emo lah. I think it's time I do some thinking, too. You ahhhh. I'm already sleep deprived as it is. Now need to do extra thinking pula! Tsk tsk.

electronicfly said...

Is good. belly belly good.

kh diDi said...

haha! boss this is so leng(mou) written!

Boss Stewie said...

pamsong: aww that's the kind of emo i could live with :)

e-fei: haha tell that to princess

kh: really? princess said that too

Unknown said...

yea.. roast duck at bayswater four seasons.. hahaha.. my friend asked me the same thing.. and asked me which four seasons i went to and i said bayswater.. he din have anything to say after that.. lol..

well... it really is nothing great :X...

Chocoanut said...

hahaha.... this topic come at the right time for me now... because i am planning to go back to kuching from singapore soon. been thinking so much and missing home so badly...Never has that feeling before....but i am glad can go home soon...don know whether there is any jobs for me there or not.... but don care d....home is still the best...

carol said...

in one year or more i'm going to have to decide! =_______=

Starrynite said...

Klang bahkut teh =0.. drooling~* 永香shop is nice

xinying said...

oh my... is that what I'm seeing? Real Analysis...