These past few days have turned to be the most wonderful days in my life ever; a series of non-stop uber-sweet moments full of loving surprises. I feel so blessed; and so loved.

The Reunion

I landed in Kuala Lumpur last Saturday and had a reunion with some good friends. It was a lovely one; as we had the chance to just chill out while sharing stories about our lives—something that we missed in several other journeys we’ve shared before. The moment reminded me (again), to embrace the opportunity to connect.

We’ll never know how much time is left, whether we’ll see the person we’re with at the moment ever again; thus, don’t waste your time to hold things back. Say the things you’d like to say, do the things you’d like to do, like what my best friend once said, “It’s better to live your life in whatever than in what-ifs.”

Malaysia Social Media Week 2012

On Monday, I was speaking at an awesome event, Malaysia’s Social Media Week 2012 at PWTC, sharing the panel on brand and storytelling with Dave Duarte, the Managing Director of Ogilvy South Africa (Dave, you’re the coolest and the best moderator, ever!), Ryan Hayward, the Asia Pacific Product Marketing Manager of Google+, and Willy Lim, the co-founder of NetProfitQuest.

That day, I shared about how the principles used in fairy tales can actually be adopted by brands/companies/organizations in designing their social media activities. Came to think about it, we all love fairy tales, right? It sticks with us until the longest time: the story, the names of the characters, the setting, the illustrations… dissecting fairy tales and learning about each elements inside it can actually help us (well, me) in designing a social media activity that—just like fairy tales, will stick. Something beautiful, simple, and memorable. Something you’d find entertaining to be retold, to be shared…

OK, enough, I’ll write more about this at the Raconteur‘s blog in a few days. At the moment, I’d just like to say thank you, thank you so much, for all the participants of Malaysia’s Social Media Week conference who came to me after the talk; especially those who told me that they have found the inspiration they need in the fairy tale analogy I shared, and gave me some big hugs! It felt awesome! I truly appreciated your appreciation and enthusiasm. I was humbled. Oh, and thank you to the MC, Terence, who was being so sweet in nicknaming me Fairytale Princess :”)

Valentine’s Day

More sweet surprises came over me on Valentine’s Day: from the lovely pink rose and fun karaoke session to Valentine dinner + movies with friends (that was full of laughter!) and some sugary-sweet gift-exchange moments with best friends: I got a dress and a cute owl necklace! *hoot*

Strings

The magnificent closing of these amazing days happened on Wednesday morning, as I reached Jakarta from Kuala Lumpur. My lovely friend, Sundus Rasheed, who worked in CityFM89 radio in Karachi, called me up to get me on-air, live, with Strings—a Pakistani rock band that I love! ^^

Hosted by the ever-friendly Khalid Malik (Khalid, yaar, we’ve never met before, but I owe you one!), I got the chance not only to talk to Bilal Maqsood (guitarist) and Faisal Kapadia (vocalist), but also, being the nicest person ever, Bilal generously offered an opportunity to do an on-air duet with me, to sing one of their most popular song, Mera Bichra Yaar (A Long Lost Friend)! :’O It was the sweetest moment I’ve experienced in my life, ever! *crying* And this is the snapshots of Khalid (the DJ), Bilal and Faisal inside the radio station, when Bilal and I were singing together, via phone :’)

So, today, I can only say thank you—and really, THANK YOU, for those of you who have made my day (and you know exactly who you are). I love you, and I’m so blessed to know you all :’)

– one morning in Jakarta, with a cup of hot coffee and some loving memories –