Years went by, and I could've easily stopped blogging. I don't know what kept me on it. But as the Malaysian blogsphere grew, it began to get exciting. There were more local blogs to read, more opportunities to get to know people's thoughts and opinions. It even started to get attention by the mainstream media. It was fun to watch the whole community grow. From the tiny clique I shared to a myriad of characters.

In my own little space, I watched. I kept to writing what I believed in, even if I was inept at garnering an audience. It takes a lot of skill to deal with people in this part of cyberspace. Yet, if you look at it in another way, the blogging world is not separate from what happens in real life (IRL).

When you read personal blogs, it's like getting to know a person. His/her dislikes, favourite food, hobbies... They share a part of themselves in their online diaries. And you could choose what you want to read. The same way you make friends IRL, I tend to choose reading blogs the way I choose friends with the same interest as I. Or sometimes the same opinions. Or something that would teach me something new. It has a whole lot of good, if you asked me. Your circle of friends is spread beyond where you live, and you get to read about diverse life experiences and ideas in a sort of uninhibited way.

But of course, you can't deny the negative things that can come from baring your heart and mind to all. I had to deal with losing acquaintances, having my employers finding my blog, then was given a pep-talk by the CEO who loved the idea of blogs but had to show he was talking to me about it because the PR manager complained (she had something personal against me, God knows what); and then having to live with my bosses reading my thoughts and knowing about my personal life even when I didn't tell them (and I think they still do). It's strange how that looks negative on the surface. When in actual fact, my opinions and thoughts had given me more good things than bad.

A few years ago, when I could still blog about my work at that particular company, I had written how a particular director was abusing those working under him. My employers read that and found the cause of a high turnover in the department. He was later asked to leave. Another time, I had expressed my frustration over a TV show I was working on and how it was a blatant waste of talent. That blog entry was found by one of the actors, and while I felt guilty for a whole three years for possibly offending him, mid-this year he tells me he hired me because I wasn't afraid to speak up. I wasn't an ass-kisser, was his particular reference.

Its things like these that's given me strength to hold steady to what I believe in. But even beyond blogs, I'd lost friends in real life because they didn't agree with what I said. That didn't stop me. I accepted that it was part of life. Not everyone will see things your way, and the least I could do was not to judge a person for his or her differing opinion. What surprises me though, is when some of those friends come back and apologise to me for not seeing it that way. I never expected things like that.

And I never expected to find love through my blog either. But Lee seemed to have found something genuine and honest in what I share. In his first ever email to me, he told me to never stop blogging or he'd be on the next plane from Sydney to kick my arse! Hahaha... He came to KL anyway. Not because I stopped blogging, though. But because we fell in love with each other and shared things in common beyond what our blogs could reveal. He's given me the strength to continue in doing what I believe in. He has the faith in me. He's worth everything to me, until I never imagined that I would be leaving KL and my life here to be with him.