Many people say that love takes time and ‘absence make heart grows fonder’. Initially (which was quite a long time ago); I never believe in such a thing. Now, I can't deny that it is partly true - though not in the romanticised way the notion has always been presented. What you are going to read afterwards may not have any connection with you, but sooner or later, as you go along....you might find that if you take things in your stride and give it some time to rest with you, you will find you can turn the things you hate most into something so important in your life!

After almost 7 years, as I sit alone in this cramped room, I feel that there is something important missing, so important that my life seems to be incomplete without it. Somehow I wonder why am I having this sort of peculiar feeling - anxiety, loneliness, lost! For a typical overseas student at *@\"?:* University like me, everything in the room should provide all that I ever needed. I got a brand new stereo...with a pile of the latest CDs, I have a 22-inches television, I got a phone, fully equipped with an answering machine wired straight to my room. I even have my own toilet and shower in my room (which can be considered as luxurious to some people!). What else is missing? What is so inadequate that I must feel this way?

Every time I feel like this, my thought would inadvertently focus on a small magazine and a stack of photo albums on my desk. And every time I fiddle through them, most of the time I would sporadically smile. This is my first year living alone far away from my 'childhood' friends , who have stood behind me for almost 6 years. I miss those people from the Malay College of Kuala Kangsar, my alma mater....without whom I would never have reached this point in my life.