Saturday 11 June 2011

The joy of meeting friends from cyberspace

Some time back, in the early days of this 3-year old blog, I wrote the following :

I created this blog primarily as an avenue to sharpen my writing and story-telling skills. It's a very modest journal on personal experiences mostly. It also gives me the chance to meet other writers in blogosphere. Along the way, I get to be friends with readers, commenters and other fellow bloggers... and this is a good thing. Thanks to all of you for dropping by and having something to say about what I write. Most appreciated. I truly hope that we'll be able to meet in real life, one day.

During my young days in primary school, I loved writing. English composition was my favourite subject. Those days I wrote to a number of pen pals (wonder if such a hobby still exists today). I never got to meet any of my letter-writing friends. The interest in writing stopped for a while when I went for further studies. Thanks to this phenomenon of blogging, I re-discovered this old pastime.

In blogosphere, I came across other like-minded souls. I am glad to note that I have succeeded in meeting some of my blogger friends and regular commenters... and with that, I hope our friendship will continue to last.

The very first blogger-friend I met in person is Versedanggerik who lives in Kuantan. That was back in 2008. I met her again early this year when I was again in Kuantan and she graciously invited me for tea so that she could introduce me to her other half. As it turns out, Mr Ahan and I do have something in common.

One weekend in early May, I managed to meet up with Kak Teh and her hubby Awang Goneng for the latter's book promotion at MPH Mid-valley. The following week, I met Emila Yusof at Silverfish books in Bangsar. I met Emila again early this week when she handed over a watercolour painting of hers that I decided to buy.

An original Emila Yusof creation called Rose II
On the 4th of June, I attended the wedding of Zendra's son, where I got to meet Kak Zen and her husband Red Alfa. Finally, two days ago I met up with Pak Zawi at his daughter's house in Puchong, to hand over the autographed copy of Awang Goneng's `A Map of Trengganu'.

Pak Zawi with his adorable grandchildren

Putting them all as a list will look like this :-

1. Versedanggerik - Ahan in the afternoon
2. Kak Teh - Choc-a-bloc blog
3. Emila Yusof - Emila Yusof's Illustrations
4. Zendra Maria - Zendra's fascinations
5. Pak Zawi - Life as I see it

Really lovely people, all of them. I am glad to have met their acquaintance. There are many more of the wonderful friends on my blogroll whom I wish to meet. God willing, the time will come when our paths cross in real life.

24 comments:

Kama At-Tarawis said...

and we hv yet to meet... insyaallah..

Lili said...

...aduhai, don't count on me-lah, I'm that shy shy shy (see, tiga kali shy!)!

But we do have a lot in common esp about writing, English composition being our favourite subject, and letters to pen-pals! Hehehehe

Pat said...

I say 'ditto' to Kama's comment ;)

mamasita said...

And me too Oldstock!
Can't wait to meet you too..InsyaAllah.

Pak Zawi said...

Fathil, thnk you for your willingness to come over to meet me at my daughter's place at Amanputra Puchong. Thank you for the gift of the autographed AMoT. I will reserve my comment which will be made in full in my next post as I am now back in Pasir Mas, Kelantan. Only now will I be able to upload the pictures from my camera.
Have a good day with your family in JB.

Zendra-Maria said...

Salam Oldstock, It's been my experience time and time again that whenever I meet someone from my little blogdom for the first time on terra firma, the transition is absolutely seamless - like we have known each other for ages. It was the same with you and us, you are your writing persona (at least what we see / what you show lah.... hehehe).

But this I must say, you are a very good looking guy in the flesh *waah, dia sudah blush pulak :)*

little ain said...

and i would like to be one of them too :)

InsyaAllah.

Fadhil said...

Kak Kama dgn saya boleh kira macam almost meet... masa AG book signing tu. I'll wait for an invitation for the upcoming wedding ;-)

Fadhil said...

Lili, you'd be surprised yg shy-shy ni yg terjumpa dulu. Kalau you terjumpa I kat Din Ikan Bakar Kepala Batas, jgn segan nak tegur ye...

Fadhil said...

Ya lah Pat, when can meet you?

Fadhil said...

Kak Uda, nak jumpa you I kena pegi Kuantan. Tak tahu pulak bila agaknya...

Fadhil said...

Pak Zawi, the pleasure's mine. Glad to have finally met you.

Fadhil said...

Ehem Kak Zen.... tersedak kejap..

Fadhil said...

Little Ain, insyaallah boleh..

CS said...

Oldstock
Lili and I kembar tak siam. Sama2 shy2 cat. Kalau kita bertiga selebret bday sesama, rasanya mesti awesome ek? bbbbut .... errrk...

Wan Sharif said...

We might have met that day in Borders where AG signed Amot and Guit.. but then kita belum saling mengenali..
p.s. I searched for your face in photographs posted by Borders in their FB site.. tak jumpa ;)). gambar saya was in the background of one picture showing the famous Malay Writer - A Samad Said.. gambar tu pun terlalu kecil ha ha;)

Unknown said...

Yeayyyyy! I'm no. 1 on the list! (mode:budak tak matang!)

On a sober note, I am glad that the blogosphere made us friends! Semoga ukhuwah ini berpanjangan senantiasa!

Fadhil said...

Cik Som kembar siam dgn Lili? Jom kita selebret bestday sesama.... sure happening!

Fadhil said...

Ayoh Wang, I had a close look at the Borders pics too... wasn't in any of them. But I'm sure you recognise me now.... do say hello if we do cross paths somehow.

Fadhil said...

Verse, kirim salam pada Koka :-)

emilayusof said...

It was great meeting you, Abang Fadhil. The pleasure is mine.

Nurie said...

Such a heart warming post! Tho we first met in FB I think we become better blogger buddies kan! Thanks to you, I 'hook up'with other blogger frens like Andrea aka Cara, Pat and Lili. May our bloggership remains!Perhaps one day we shall meet in arabia :-)

Fadhil said...

Emila, great meeting you too. I have passed the drawing to the intended person as a birthday gift, which was yesterday 24.06.11, actually.

Fadhil said...

Noor,

Yes, we first met on FB. Insyaallah nanti kita meet in person, tak kisah la in arabia ke, malaysia ke.. Your other half and I are Liverpool supporters kan :-)