I’m pretty sure I left home four months ago today. I’m also pretty sure I’ve traveled at least four months of each year for the past 25 years with an average of six months a year. That’s pretty amazing, if you weren’t sure. In fact, I challenge you to think of anyone who has ever done that—while backpacking, I should add. Anyone. Go ahead, take your time.
     If you do know someone, I don’t want to meet them. They’re probably unsmiling, insular freaks messed up in the head while I am still an outgoing, vital, genuinely nice guy. I’m not one of these ossified dudes I see molding away on Penang’s backstreets I mentioned a few posts ago. And I’m out there doing stuff while all the young punks are still on their third McFlurry. (Oh, I’m in a mood today, all right.)
     I’m not convinced that you’re convinced that I’m a nice guy. If I see someone looking at a map, I go up to them and ask if they need help finding something. (Yes, I am that annoying guy.) I’m the kind of person who never throws away maps because other travelers might be able to use them. I once walked back to a hostel fifty meters in the rain to tell a guy that the soccer game he wanted to watch was on.
     Know what I did Christmas Eve? I sat for half an hour and tried to help a guy get back his hijacked email account. Then I helped an Iranian woman by proofreading her CV and cover letter for a job application.
     I’m still not 100% sure everyone realizes that I’m a nice boy from a nice country, but I’ll let it rest.
     Anyway, back to the original point: if it’s such a good idea to travel so much for so long, why isn’t anybody doing it?

     I couldn’t pass up the chance to house-sit for a couple of days, so I went back to Kuala Lumpur to Melissa and Manvir. If anyone out there needs a house-sitter, keep me in mind. I may be able to fit it into my very, very busy schedule.
     Melissa really brings home the bacon when it comes to getting her friends to check out my site and “like” me on Facebook. I got six or seven likes in one night. Why do I care about Facebook likes? Because I am thinking of doing something with this site, either to use it as a platform for something else or to get advertisers. I haven’t thought it all through, but in either case it’s good to have certifiable eyeballs. If it all goes for naught, I may just turn it into a snuff film site, my true passion.
     2012 isn’t starting well. It looks like my laptop has died. The beast wasn’t yet two years old, but it appears that the motherboard is toast. It’s more crushing than I would have guessed; I feel unproductive without it. It also grinds me that it is too costly to repair. In Malaysia you see greasy repair shops all the time filled with old fans or toasters or TVs. Everything can be repaired, but my laptop has to be sent somewhere and they’ll get back to me in a week, $150 minimum.
     I won’t be a prolific blogger for a while. I fear mass suicides. (Excellent material for a snuff film, but not my first choice.) Stay strong, people!

     Remember Irish Philip from the last post? 2012 is starting worse for him. He went back up to Penang to his friends and spent the first few minutes of the new year keeled over from food poisoning, the worst he has ever felt, he said. Three nights in the hospital, five IV drips, and a solid New Year’s Eve memory of Malaysia that will be hard to shake, as will the 600 euro bill.