Turning 2.0 Season 2: Chapter 5 New Day (Shapeshifters)

Previously
I found out that I have this new father that I never knew existed before. And then I anticipated my university result..

“The truth can become a lie in a matter of seconds. When that happens and your whole world comes crashing down, what do you do? Do you accept the new truth and try and adjust your life to the new information that you just found out? Or do you simply discard the new piece of information and pretend like nothing ever happened? Either way, life will never be the same again”

26th of July 2007, Hiyoshi, Japan

University life started two months ago. To be honest with you, things have not been working out fine for me. After finding out about my biological father, I didn’t have much time to think about him. The day after that phone conversation with my mum, the university result came out and I was accepted into Keio University, what was supposed to be the best private university in Japan. Despite the magnitude of the event, I wasn’t all that happy with it. In spite of recent events, I guessed the happiness was balanced by the sadness. Hence, I feel nothing. But yeah, after the result came out, I started to tutor English to earn some extra cash. So two months before entering university, I kept myself busy by watching TV shows and tutoring English as well as with the university entrance procedures.
Even when I have time to think about my father, I came to the conclusion that it was a good thing. Now, instead of having to explain what my second father has been up to since the divorce, I can just say that my father died when I was three and my mum remarried to a Muslim. Hence, the name is Nazaruddin Abdullah. I also successfully manage to make full use of the story and used it as a material for a speech competition which I came in second place. So everything seemed great. Note the word seemed.

The problem that I thought was solved was merely neglected. And it came back to haunt me during the first few months of university. Being frustrated with the language barrier and stuff, I began to lose all interest in going to class. Instead I chose to stay home and feel sorry for myself all day. Every day I wake up promising myself that today was the day I was going to change but by the time the day came to an end, I was back to my old self. I even took a week off in May, which wasn’t recognized by the school, thus it meant that I skipped classes and would be penalized for it. I took the week off in hopes of finding a way to end this Great Depression but it didn’t work. Instead, it caused me to drown even more. 　So much for trying to apply the Keynes theory into my private life.

Surprisingly enough, once again friends came to the rescue. And this time, they were all new friends. There were these girls that are from China (as it turned out some of them are human droids but with hearts and compassion) that were so nice to me. They would talk to me and befriend me and in return, I helped one of them out with English. And then there were these Japanese friends who were different from the normal Japanese. They were able to think outside the wavelength of normal Japanese. Days passed by and I was slowly enjoying myself. Soon, I was back to my old self again. I look forward to going to classes.

But no actions come unpunished. Because of my absence from a few classes, I needed to explain to the teachers why I couldn’t turn up to class. That was when I scratched my head and came up with the idea of seeing the school shrink. Perhaps if I were to tell her my problems, she would kindly tell my teachers that I have some illness. Laugh out loud. I went to see her because of two reasons. First, I needed an excuse and second, the school fee covered these expenses as well. But never have I thought that seeing her would have actually helped me in any way. And it did.

I began to tell her about my situation and she listened. The one dilemma that I have left was whether or not I should rekindle with my biological father’s family or not. It was the dilemma of simply living the live I have now or trying to revive a life that I never had. The one advice that she offered me was when I go to Malaysia for the summer vacation which would start in less than three weeks time, I should just go and see them. She said it best when she said that it is better to see them and have no regrets, rather then returning to Japan after the summer vacation wishing that I have went to see them. I decided to take her advice.

So like always, things took a turn for the better. After six months of a rollercoaster ride, the rollercoaster finally stop and I could finally go and fetch myself an ice cream that I have been longing to eat by the beach. But there are still three weeks before the holiday. Anything could happen between now and then.

Coming Up Next Month
Oh my god, can you believe it? It's already November and soon this year will come to an end. Time does fly. To come to think of it, it's been a rollercoaster journey for me this year. Upon turning 20 this year's March, I started writing Turning 2.0 which was initially supposed to be one time gig only with season 1. But after 4 chapters in Season 1, I realized 4 chapters ain't enough to sum up my life. Thus I came back with Season 2 which had five chapters including this one which is the season finale. And....it's still not enough to sum up my colorful (perhaps too colorful) life.

And so...we're going to have Season 3. Which have two parts...part I and part II. Part 1 will deal with my trip back to Malaysia in August and all that happened then...while Part 2 will conclude Turning 2.0 with a glance at what happened when I returned to Japan at the end of September and how things may work out from here and now. Season 3 will have about 9 chapters with the first blog to be posted around early December and the last post right before my return to Kuching next year. Can't wait to kick off Season 3. In the meantime, I will be posting about my daily life as a university student.