Woohoo!! Success!!

It'll probably take too long to explain what exactly has worked but join along in this cheer alright? That goes double for anyone else that got something right on this normal working Thursday. If not, here is Mel at least to entertain and pressure you with the notion that you should cheer.

You know you want to. Even if you are cooped up in some office cubicle.

There are only so many things you can talk about in a personal blog that reflects your principles and philosophy before you realize that all you're doing is repeating yourself over and over. That's the thing about talking about yourself, short the events that make us for who we really are, the transparency of our mundane lives doesn't leave much to write about.

Even if you're good enough to turn every part of your life into a tale that entertains your readers, one day you're going to get tired, one day your readers are going to get tired. When that happens, you'll both realize that there is no point writing and listening to the same things over and over again. Regardless of how good a writer you have become, you still need something there, something new.

Maybe that's also why I've been sticking to commentaries and impersonal topics for the past few days. As it is, my life has been revolving solely around my work. A work that in its essence doesn't have much socializing to begin with. There isn't much to talk about in terms of the roller coaster of emotions I'm used to having around in my life. It isn't much fun as it used to be with dangerous liaisons and trips to places I've never been. It's not to say that life won't return. It just won't reappear anytime soon and I'm already bored with my own life let alone wonder if people are bored with my own writing.

But who knows? If there is anything I know about my life, it's that there is always something unexpected waiting to pop out of the corner. Nevermind the constant routine, I want my usual surprises to break this monotone. Then at least I can be entertained and you can be entertained. And then I don't have to rephrase my boring old life philosophies to you again and save you the pain of having read through it. Everybody wins when you give me something to go on about here.

So gimme! And gimme quick!

When I started blogging a little over 5 years ago, blogs were a relatively new concept in my part of the world. Most people didn't know what it was for, and to be honest, I didn't really know what I could do with it aside from turn it into a public journal for my own self gratification. It wasn't long until I discovered Project Petaling Street and little did I know then that it would be the platform that would launch the majority of Malaysian blogs into the world.

To those unfamiliar with it, Project Petaling Street or PPS as it's more commonly referred to by the people that use it is a local blog aggregation site for Malaysians and was launched on the 12th of June, 2003. In its heyday, it was the prime site to go to in order to open your blog up to the masses. It was open to the public and anyone could manually or automatically "ping" the site to inform others that they have updated. Back in the days when RSS feeds was a blip in very large world, PPS gave everyone something they needed. Something people could look up and read the latest postings from various local blogs.

Of course today, PPS is hopelessly outdated. It still uses a legacy trackback system on Movable Type as its backend. Needless to say that it's a system that can be exploited and has been. Compared to other platforms out there that use feed based aggregation system, PPS is light years behind.

At one point in time though, it was decided that PPS needed a revamp. While I mean no disrespect to the people that took the time and effort to redesign the site, but it was one of the ugliest, most impractical things I have ever seen. It was as if someone took a quick look at Google's original front page and went "Mmmm…this could work as a design for an aggregation site". But in its own defense, they tried to expand on what it could be with forums, RSS support, a directory, featured blogs and even a wiki. Unfortunately, that was also a short lived revamp as well. Relying on Movable Type 3.1 had its drawbacks and after being overloaded with spam, a little more than a month after the redesign, the site was shut down for awhile, and the layout reverted to a default Movable Type theme losing all the changes that was meant to be implemented.

Until today, PPS still sports the same layout and same features as it did all those years ago. Even the quality of the content has been called into question over the years due to the wildly fluctuating blogging phases (from popularity complexes to money making schemes) as a result of blogging becoming ever so popular with Malaysian locals. Regardless of that fact, it still remains one of the prime sites for Malaysian blog aggregation despite other local alternatives. Its popularity stemming from the fact that it still gives people exactly what they wanted ever since the beginning. A place for people to read and publicize their blogs.

To that end, even if I have a bigger blogging world in which I explore now, PPS would still be the first place to look to catch up with what goes on back home. It'll be the first place where I remember being introduced to the infinite world of blogging. A place where I first looked to home my ability to expand the words I now write. It'll be the place where I got to know the people who blog which eventually became my friends even after all these years. A place where there is always have local flavour and community that I love and hate, forget and miss, all at once.

After half a decade and still showing no signs of disappearing despite its aging architecture, I'd have to say that Project Petaling Street has become part of the Malaysian Blogging community through all the people that makes it so as it also is Aizuddin's brainchild. For that, short of the site actually going down the count, I have a feeling it'll stay with us for as long as there are Malaysian bloggers around. Hopefully it'll give an opportunity to open a whole new generation of bloggers to the infinite world of blogs, just like it did for me.

So here's to another 5 years of being constant aggregation. Come June 12th, Happy 5th Birthday Project Petaling Street.

It wasn't until yesterday that I realized I haven't had a decent verbal conversation in two weeks, not since the weekend spent watching back to back episodes of Doctor Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Connor Chronicles with a charming liaison; and that was a fortnight ago.

Since then, whatever conversation I have had falls solely within the realm of the net, relying instead on emails and instant messaging to convey important matters and those light hearted "how you doing" conversations. I can't help but think that while my unexpected isolation begets my imposed silence, so has technology found its way as the cruel ironic solution to my plight.

I can only imagine how a deaf mute must feel in this position, gaining the freedom of communication at the touch of their fingertips while living in a world of silence. Technology at least gives hope to those impaired by a twist of fate. Yet what of those of us that rely on it too much for our daily lives? Forfeiting the parts of living we take for granted because it can so easily be compensated by the marvels of our own time.

While technology was meant to make our lives easier, I doubt any one of us could have expected that it would take away or redefine parts of our life worth living for. It has become our indispensable companion, a partner we sleep with more than the human beings that we forget bring warmth to our lives in so many ways. I for one an guilty of this technological infatuation, proving it with the ability to cope without actual human contact in return for a digital representative.

It is sad though that in realizing this isolation, I choose not to do anything about. Partly because there is nothing I can do about it, partly because my contentment and curiosity for the situation far outweighs my desire to do something about it. But it's not like I've lost the appreciation for the company of someone who can ease my mind off things, its just that we all have our things to do and I'm using technology as an excuse to distract me otherwise. Until I realize I'm beginning to lose my ability to sing.

Now I am really in trouble.

After the steady streams of messages and the endless thoughts, opinions and ideas began to wane. One thing emerges clear from all this.

Maybe the constant weariness and finger pointing isn't the result of someone creating the problem. Maybe it just boils down to nobody finding the solution. At least not one that people can understand, let alone work. It's easier to cast the blame on something you don't admit being partly responsible for than working together to come up with a solution everyone can be happy about.

Until people on every side get a clue at least, the cycle will always repeat itself. Perpetuating a system that appears to have no beginning and no end. What's sad about this is, not even I know the solution beyond convincing people to stand up and act for what they believe in. Perhaps at least, I can only hope there is enough influence in the sphere to produce someone who can set things right.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need a nice long bath to scrub this residue off. Politics has a way of making you feel dirty. Sit in it long enough and you'll never be able to remove the stench of it clouding every matter.