2024.01.14 Dad Joke

The Internet is full of Dad Jokes if you want to look for them. Well, since I'm a Dad, why not?

Finally, I got the (second) chance to reply to this.

Left, Right, Left, Right...

How I started to walk

After reading this story, I started to recall when I was just a kid, I tend to walk quite a lot. From taking the Bus to the Tuition Centre, to the other Tuition Centre, to some shopping malls and even walked back home. On some Fridays, when the earlier school bus dropped me off at the school, I would start walking to either Ampang Park or Sungei Wang. And this was also the time where I discovered that Airfix and Matchbox were not the only model kit brands.

During that time, I was also longing for a Walkman which seemed to make the walking more bearable. But later on in Life, I realised that they were too distracting. I had to worry about the headphone cables snagging and causing that painful headphone pull. Then there is also the issue of constant fiddling with the Volume or Equalizer when the favourite song came on, followed by lots of rewinds. Worst of all, when the battery starts to run down. So, Walkmans are nice but they would not alert me traffic or people walking around me on the streets. In the end, the best time to enjoy them was lying down in a slightly darkened room, maybe lit by a dim light shining up to the ceiling in a corner.

Why I started to Walk

As I was growing up, I realised that Walking is not a boring chore of trudging from A to B but a journey of discovery. It is not just an exercise but more of an opportunity to day-dream, imagine stuff and well, think of things. I know, I know, those led me to depressions and over-thinking in later years but once I realised what was happenning, the Demons kinda hid themselves in the shadows.

Along the way, there were a lot of photo opportunities. Walking takes you to routes or short-cuts which opens up wonders. It's like discovering new secret passages and sometimes, allows me to reach the destination faster when I came across the route again.

The more I think about it, I cannot deny the fact that sometimes, I need to be alone but at my own terms. Maybe this is one of the traits of being an introvert (sigh), a term which I am becoming to accept since there were many proven signs.

Reaching the destination

OK, once I have reached the destination, it was not the end of the World but more of a Bonus. Sure I reached the place I wanted to go in the first place but the feeling of Joy when your eyes sets on the building is priceless. It makes all kinds of pain disappear. Unless it is locked.

The Joy is for me alone

Once again, as I have said before, I like to walk alone. Walking and talking to another person is actually quite taxing. I have to time my breathing and also, maybe even shout a little to make myself heard. Sometimes, I have to wait for the other person to catch up and vice versa which kills the tempo of the walk. More often than not, I have to make way for detours, going to places the other person likes, which means I have less time for mine.

But there were times which I wished there was another friend with me. Especially on a dark or lonely path, a night market, an abandoned place, some nice but errily quiet garden, a beautiful house, etc. After that, then I wished they would disappear. Ha ha.