A Day Before School.

You know, I didn't really wanna blog about this first right after disappearing for an entire week for the Chinese New Year holidays. It wouldn't make much sense to me if I blogged about it after talking about my prosperous preparations. Plus, it made me feel like I'm breaching some kind of a blogging rule to be talking about this first before mentioning anything at all about my holidays. That was IF there was a blogging rule to start with in the first place. But anyways, to hell with the imaginary rules and priorities. I'm just gonna go ahead and talk about it. I'm sure most of the people who were there have probably bragged blogged about it by now, accompanied by all the pictures. If not, they probably have a lot of unwritten posts still wired in that thick skulls of theirs. Just like me.

Well, I attended the much-raved-about Penang Bloggers' Meet yesterday with Edward. Considering the fact that I merely have any social skills to even talk about, I wasn't fond of being there alone. Much to my disappointment, it didn't quite turn out like the way I imagined it to be - the camwhoring and the meeting of new people. Not that I'm a fan of camwhoring or that I'm able to be the live of the party as Cedric obviously was. I was still bummed, nonetheless. I guess I paid the price for being late. I probably missed out that headstart everyone got when they got to introduce themselves and their blog. Even if there wasn't an introduction session, I'm sure I missed the name-tag session. Everyone had stickers with their names (and nicknames) and their blog written over and pasted on their shirt or sleeve. I considered myself lucky to even make it in time for the group shot.

Everyone was taking pictures with one another - cameras flashing here and there that for a moment, it felt like I was like a deranged fan looking at celebrities strutting the red carpet, getting my eyes partially blind. Well, arriving late made me feel like I still needed more time to get along with the others. They seemed to have bonded over the hour that I missed as I was waiting for mom at the massage parlor. Especially the girls. My, they were hugging each other for the cameras by the time I got there, which was pretty cool, showing that bloggers are generally very open and sociable. Another thing was, the bloggers I saw there also proved that bloggers are pretty much ordinary beings with big hearts, big minds and a passion for blogging (duh!). Not everyone is perfect as I thought and it's a good thing that we as bloggers are still pretty much down to earth people and thankfully, not braggers!

You know, another factor that could've caused my sudden "system failure" then was the pure fact that I'm so overwhelmed by everyone there. I've probably checked out all the blogs that were listed on the PBM attendance list and due to my inevitable forgetfulness and my sheer incompetence when it comes to names, I could barely recognize anyone or remember any names when I was in the pool of psyched-up Penang bloggers. Which is kind of shameful (if not, embarrassing!) for a guy like me. Let's just say, I didn't behave the way I should, showing up in Nordstrom and a pair of Dockers. The fact is, I'm nowhere near confident and I have nothing else to say in my defence, except that I was from church which explains my fully-black attire. So in layman's terms, I was flabbergasted by the people there till I was unable to make a move. Besides, no one hardly knows my blog and it'd be totally weird for me to barge in on someone else's photoshoot to say that my blog's at It's A Durian Life. Furthermore, I had school the next day and that already pretty much dampen my spirits already.

Well, lame excuses and theories, I know. Those remain as my thoughts, though. At least it's something different than the usual "That was so fun!" or "Great meeting you guys, there!" kinda experience. On the bright side, I did manage to grab a couple (yes, only a couple!) of shots with only a couple of bloggers that I could still muster all the memory in me to remember who they are. I got a picture with Logic Yuan, the main organizer for the whole event, who've gained a little more than fame for himself since he started blogging with his signature bright orange blog and cool contents. I suppose having about 19, 936 since 2 years ago can be considered good enough to be called somewhat of a celeb famed blogger. Meeting Logic Yuan itself was already a good experience, seeing how friendly and warm of a person he happened to be. He was more busy tending to the multiple cameras for everyone rather than being able to sit down to chat.

I also timidly asked for a shot with Jolene (or better known as Jayelle) before she took off for the mall. That was about as far as I could go too. She was in a hurry and I couldn't even remember telling her who I was. In short, we didn't even have a decent introduction and all I asked for was a picture. Damn it. She's probably scratching her head in front of the monitor wondering who the hell I was. I guess I was prepared for that. What with the popularity of my blog, I'm not surprised that people don't even think I'm a blogger. I had someone who came up to me and asked me, "Where is your blog?". I was so dumbfounded that the only reply I could think of is, "Online?". Of course, I only mentioned the title of my blog and that got the person's imaginary question marks popping out like daisies around the person's head. I don't even have a decent amount of readers, come to think of it.

All in all, I did have a reasonably good time watching the other bloggers chit chat and most of the time, posing for the camera. One thing I do know is to get the best out of bad situations! I can tell the event was definitely a success with everyone looking like they were all having a good time and feedback. I met some other bloggers that I can remember as well like 5xmom and Timothy Tiah, both of whom I didn't got the chance to take pictures with too. 5xmom is a someone I know personally and I would feel awkward to be asking for my pictures to be taken with hers. I'm definitely looking forward to the next event as such and you can definitely expect me to be the early bird then! Looking forward for a chance to widen my miserably small circle of friends. Until then, this is definitely something totally different about a bloggers' meet.

P.S : For the full attendance list, go here and check them all out!