La Vita e Bella

It was after hours. The traffic was intense as usual. I looked out of the window of my car. The sky was grey. It was sordid.

I finally arrived and parked my car. Slow steps. God, I was tired. Even my shirt is all wrinkled. I continued my walk to the entrance. The doorman held it for me. He gave a smile. I returned one with a slight nod, acknowledging his friendly gesture.

I stepped in. It was suddenly bright. I stood there in the middle. Closed my eyes and breathed in the cool pleasant air.

Up ahead was the reception counter. Behind it, displayed on the wall were the words ‘Sheraton Imperial’.

A snicker.
If only I could come home to this every day

I continued my way to Botanica Brasserie. Crowd was light. It was still early. I picked a quaint little spot by the corner. A beautiful waitress came up to me.

“Good evening, sir”

With you serving me I’m sure it is.

“Will you be having ala carte or the buffet? Our theme today is international cuisine and we have a special seafood offer on today”. She smiled persuasively.

As if you leave me with much of a choice.

As expected the food was more than fabulous. The fresh shrimps were no exception.
The mood was quaint. A soothing classical music playing in the background. Waiters and waitresses awaiting eagerly to satisfy my every silly requests with just a flick of my hand.

As I took a sip from my drink, I had to admit, life was good.

But that was back then…

Fast forward to the future and life is not as pretty as it once was. An apartment fit to fill 12 people comfortably but yet, I am all alone. With just Frank Sinatra’s singing voice to keep me company, things are quite sombre.

If things are so bad then why haven’t I gone home? That’s a pretty good question. The reason is because I can’t. As far as my ego goes, my car’s engine is being turned inside out yet again. So I guess that rules out driving back. How about a lift with someone I know? Well, it seems that the desktop computer ranks higher than me in terms of importance thus my application for the backseat was dully rejected. Not just once. I was rejected for a quite number of times. The latest was this evening. It’s not everyday you get beaten by a piece of electronic equipment.

“But I NEED my computer at home!”
Yes yes, I heard you the first time.

Last resort? Good ‘ol public transportation. It has been ages since I took one from Ipoh to KL. Last time was probably in late 2000. How will it go? Safe, I hope.

At least I’ll be returning to KL. Who knows, maybe I’ll give Sheraton Imperial a second visit.