Just Flew To Malaysia to Have Lunch With A Steemian IRL (In Real Life)! (But Won't She Kidnap and Sell Me on the Black Market Like In The News?)
Here's me waiting for my date, hoping for a no-kidnapping-for-resale-on-the-black-market. Err... or more likely in this case the dark web.
Remember when I told you the story about the guy who flew from Australia to Canada to surprise me after us talking online for years? Well, since that all turned out alright in the end, I decided to give fate another test run.
A few weeks ago, I was truly overly ambitious around here, fluttering here, there and everywhere, getting involved in everything I could find. Part of that experience was falling into The Unmentionables Discord Chat.
Since I was prompted to get the Discord APP on my laptop back when @ma1neevent was recording me for an interview, I always have it logged in in the background, and often forget I am signed in as I work away.
One day, I remembered I hadn't checked in for a little while so I switch screens and sent out a quick message in the groups I'm in. It was then that I realized more people in the Unmentionables group were from my part of the ocean! What was even cooler than that, was that one of them was from "KL" (Kuala Lumpur), the city I visit almost monthly to get my visa extensions from!
I am extroverted in my writing but in person, I am shy and reserved. I think faster than I can talk and my mind is always floating around to more things than I can keep up with at any given time. Try adding in talking to other humans and it's high-powered overload.
(I know that's surprising to hear, especially if you've read my stories on here. Now our friendly alter-ego Kat, from my confessions of working for a drug runner in Dominican Republic is a different story, but she's been put to rest for a long time now...)
Since I have pretty much been a recluse following moving to Bali (I moved here to have some space to think, create and zone in on my intentions about what I wanted to do with my life...) I decided, I could step out of my comfort zone and maybe try the face to face with strangers thing.
When I first got my profile set up on here and began establishing myself as living in Bali, I had received some invitations to meet up here but since I was just new to the platform and really overwhelmed, I never did end up being able to find the courage or will to remove myself from my safe oasis and go out into the real world to meet the Steemians around here! Maybe I'll give that a try next...
I know I have told you this so many times by now but for those of you who are new and haven't met me yet, I am not a fan of flying. I have quite a push-pull relationship with travel. I love to love it but sometimes, I truly opposite of love it (I don't like the 'H' word but if I were to use it anywhere, here would be the place for it!)
One of the pitfalls of living in a tropical oasis of which I do not have a passport for, is that they kick me out every month.
I can stay longer if I want to pay the fees and give in to the rigmarole of it all but generally, I choose to just leave and come back to make it easier (plus that way I can get some of my smancy ingredients for my plant-based delicacies from the bigger city!)
At the time of this conversation in Discord, I knew I was visiting KL within the next 2 weeks so I told the group about my travel plans. I did this passively, instinctively, not sure where it would lead and honestly thinking it would be one of those things you just talk about that no one ends up following through with!
Being the busy-bee I am, I was flittering all over the place the week before my travel and meanwhile I was receiving messages on Discord asking me about my plans! Since I like my little bubble and am happy to keep myself inside of it, I wasn't paying much attention to my oncoming travels.
Luckily, my new friend @littlenewthings was persistent because she asked me when I was arriving in attempts to coordinate a meet up with the rest of the KL community. Needing to know when I was actually going to be there, it was important for her to know my travel dates.
When she asked me, I said "I'm arriving Thursday, leaving Saturday."
She informed me it was a public holiday Thursday/Friday and that meant unfortunately, most of the Steemians of the area would not be able to meet those days, leaving us with Saturday so she started organizing for then.
During the conversation, I realized I was leaving in the afternoon so I decided to check my ticket to make sure I would be able to make the lunch she was planning. GOOD THING I DID because I was actually arriving from Bali Wednesday, and leaving on Friday.
With those new dates, it meant I couldn't meet up with the rest of the gang there but @littlenewthings said she could still meet me on Thursday so we planned a vegan brunch for then!
The poor sweetheart then tried to get a hold of me while I was in transit but unfortunately I had the worst internet experience the whole way through and didn't get in touch with her until after I had landed with some rather unfortunate events having unfolded.
Feeling dampered by what I will HAVE to write another post about... I was lying in my hotel room and didn't want to go anywhere, especially to meet someone new for the first time, feeling more than under the weather.
Being the absolute wonderful human she is, @littlenewthings consoled me and encouraged me to come meet her anyway.
Knowing full well the dangers that are possible with this kind of situation, and even though my bravery is bigger than my body (I wouldn't be much of a threat if someone wanted to take me! Don't get any ideas!) I always have to think about my family, "what would they think if I ever got into trouble by being foolish and negligent?" so, I brought in a body guard, just in case.
Sitting at an organic cafe, in a very populated mall, I was texting a lady I had only know briefly from a chat room on Discord. Oh the world we live in, the possibilities abound!
She told me before she left her house that she'd be wearing an orange t-shirt and jeans. Well, guess what? After I got a text from her saying she was parking, quite soon after a man with that outfit came in, looking around for someone!
I was slinking into my chair... how could this be?
Luckily, the man in orange found who he was looking for and it wasn't me! Just in time for another text to come in from my friendly Steemian saying she was almost there.
Whenever she arrived, I knew her immediately, despite having seen any real pictures of her! She was exactly what I expected, greeting me with a huge smile and hug! My first Steemian meet up= success!
Since she knew I am vegan and have a very particular diet, she came to meet me at my favorite restaurant in KL, BMS Organics (I highly recommend BMS, it's not as good as eating at home, but they do a really fantastic job sourcing their ingredients and promoting healthy lifestyles!)
While we had told each other we weren't going to do this, we ended up having fun talking about the politics and underpinnings of Steemit. I love how we both agreed on making the platform something people want to see succeed. We both realize that if Steemit succeeds, we succeed and why wouldn't we want that?
After hacking through all of the nitty gritty bits of what goes on that is taking away value, we shared our ideas of how to engage people positively. @littlenewthings for example is managing Discord groups and Team Malaysia, encouraging Malaysians to write more and contribute quality content to the platform.
What I thought was really cool was her enthusiasm to get people to use their SBD instead of hoarding it. See, I convert almost all of mine into Steem and in that way, invest it back but she was telling me that many users are selling it for bitcoin and then hoarding it in wallets, outside of Steemit causing fluctuations all the time for SBD.
Being "all-in" myself, I never really thought of this. Do people not have faith in Steem? Why convert it all to bitcoin? Obviously some attention needs to be brought to this.
What if we could use SBD to support and pay for items/services? What if we could use our SBD to help others avoid bank transaction fees? What if, what if, what if? Steemit holds an infinite number of possibilities. All it takes is the right people coming together to create them.
While talking about this, @littlenewthings told me a story about whenever another Steemian friend of hers came to visit KL and got lost after having been mugged so was stuck there, lost, without any money. The Malay Steemit community came together with their SBD to help him out and just like that, his whole experience was turned around!
Talk about STEEM POWER!
That got us talking about the possibilities of SBD and crypto in general. She suggested that when people come see me in Bali, that they pay me in SBD and I pay for them in my local currency, avoiding transaction fees for them!
Sounds like a great idea! So long as I have the currency, I can help travelers avoid those nasty bank penalties on their cards!
@littlenewthings offered to pay for my meal and have me pay her back in SBD which would make it my first IRL transaction so I was super excited and we did it! After a whole lot of calculating, we figured out how much I owed her. She paid with her local account, therefore by-passing the foreign transaction fees, and I transfered her some SBD. How cool is that?
Feeling safe with this sweet woman who was saving me the outrageous fees on my cards, I decided to get in her car as she took me to the grocery store to get some organic luxury goodies. She dropped me off at an expat hangout (lol) but surely she was right, I got my organic chickpeas so you'll be seeing hummus in the near future my friends!
(Unlike me, she doesn't like her face in photos so I got creative 💙 haha)
I hope this encourages you to meet your friendly Steemians!
I would say, take precaution, obviously this is the internet and the world we live in isn't always rainbows and sunshine but at the same time, it's important not to let the news scare us of each other.
Everything is always so freaking negative on the news. They are always broadcasting the small percentile of things that go wrong and while I am not negating those events, I have had many experiences that according to scare tactics, should have left me dead in a gutter and now I have new, authentic friends instead.
This is just another case of Steemit coming into my life and providing me with value I didn't have before.
@littlenewthings, I know you're a private person and don't like to get as intimate as I do on here, so I hope you don't mind me sprinkling your user name all over the place! I hope more people come to visit you! You are an amazing woman and I am so happy I got up, out of bed and came to meet you! You came just in the nick of time to save me from the ordering crisis ;) I love my food! <3 I will absolutely be visiting you again next time I'm in the city but we'll have to get your garden up and running that time! Thanks for not kidnapping and selling me- you're the best!
To everyone else, @heart-to-heart signing off, sending you love today and everyday!
If you'd like to hear more of my antics, maybe have a hankering for some healthy, delicious food or want to be delighted by nature, stop on by @heart-to-heart, tell her I sent ya ;)
Would you go meet someone you met online? I'd love to hear your thoughts!
XO,
💙💜
ALL CONTENT/PICTURES ARE ORIGINAL (Thanks to my handy Smart-Phone!)
This post was connected to @steemitworldmap! Connecting our posts from all over the world on a viewable map! Cool right?
!steemitworldmap 3.150810 lat 101.614698 long Delicious Organic Food in KL D3SCR
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wow what anadventurous young lady!!! I am sure that you had a good time with @littlenewthings and this shows how steemit is beauiful plus the goodness in cryptocurrencies.
@littlenewthings is wonderful- I think everyone should fly to KL to meet her ;) It's true, if used for the power of good, crypto has amazing possibilities to offer the world! I personally really believe in Steem and hope to see it succeed <3
Good point, I agree
too bad i couldn't meetup with you together with @littlenewthings . Perhaps on your next trip down yea :)
Awwww well I am stopping in and out all of the time so next time would be so fun! =D
Hahahahaha... I love it!
Your story telling is amazing, swift and witty.
I guess when you are in a foreign land, it is totally normal to be a bit worried.
But hey, you have your bodyguard! You could easily turn the table and I became the victim instead.
(No funny plans everyone!)
But thank you so much for taking a plunge in faith and meet up with me. The moment when you told me that there was a guy in orange and jeans I literally wanted to faint in laughter.
Maybe it was the S.E.A games. The colour theme was orange for the Orange Tigers (Malaysian athletes theme) so most people would have loved to have orange around.
Besides, orange is the new black now.
I do hope that after reading this post of yours, more and more people will be able to see SBD in a more positive light, and with that, we can all make STEEM and SBD valuable in the crypto-world.
Steem on my friend! Take your time to visit KL again. It will be a long time before I could take my messy long grass patch with maintainable lawn.
Our Next Nursery Chronicles: Adopting Roadside Survivors and Our First Moss Terrarium
This was what I did 2 weeks back, and today I managed to salvage more stray shrubs into my path, hoping they will grow fast and spread out.
Unfortunately, the molds did not survive due to my negligence.
PS: Thanks to your bodyguard for not being paranoid all over me as well LOL
upvoted and resteemed
I like to be naive and positive but I have had some rather unpleasant experiences in my past haha so I hope you don't take it personally ;) It's funny how we always think that we are the one at risk, but like you said, I could have been the dangerous one! (I am dangerous when tequila is around haha)
I wanted to faint as well. I was so petrified that you were some internet creeper HAHAHA
I think all it takes is some discourse about it, we just need to get the thought provoked. It seems that from this and my follow up post, that by putting it out there, it's at least got people thinking about it and that's great for Steem <3
My garden looked like a whole new world when I got home even though I was only gone 4 days! Those pumpkin are on a mission! I'll have to bring you some of their seeds! Surely you can just let them run wild ;)
I'll help you get it going next time I come through =D
XO Thanks again for being wonderful!
Oh I would DEFINITELY look forward for the seeds. Going to see if I can grow them in recycle pots haha...
And also, get my parents some seeds so that they can have a pumpkin patch on their own. Pumpkins are excellent for alkaline and vit A properties for my mom's eyes.
I wonder how many pumpkins I can bring in my carry on :P Maybe I should just bring you some next time <3
Be careful but be yourself! You have no idea how many people miss out on opertunities be cause they lack bravery! Thank you for your story. I enjoyed this
Yes, absolutely! I know I missed out on a lot in my life out of fear... it's just a stick in the mud and gets in the way of the best experiences :)
Happy to share a success story with you! The world needs more of the good ones! <3 Have a wonderful weekend!
Lol... So you are an introvert? It's really difficult to know you are, because your activeness online shows the opposite.
As for that question, in my country it is not so safe to meet anyone you met online. There have been numerous sad stories about it, although I know there are most good people out there, but one has to be careful...You can only know you mind and not the mind of others. This is the case where we debate on the GOOD and BAD of social media. I'm not always alone meeting someone I don't know in person...
Anyway, you have written a nice article and this deserves my vote. Cheers!!!
Oh yes, a HUGE introvert. I didn't know I was because I try so hard to be extroverted but I read a whole book on it and passed the introvert test with flying colors, makes much more sense to me! I don't feel the same way online as I do in person so that's why you wouldn't have guessed =D
You're right! Like I said, I didn't go alone, met in a public place and I always take extra precaution just in case. I like to believe the best in people but sometimes things happen that aren't so happy.
I'm happy you enjoyed it! Hopefully you'll get the opportunity to meet your friendly Steemit community as well =D
Have a great week! Steem on!
What a great story. I'm thinking of moving to Penang or KL in a month or two after being in Thailand for a year and a half. I loved both places when I went there.
I love that you were able to use sbd to pay for your food. What a great idea. I think this type of usage might just explode and steemgigs and other places like that open up.
Your story gives me as lot of optimism for my upcoming trip.So glad you posted it!
Oh wow! I am not a fan of the city for long periods of time haha but in the few day visits, I love KL! =D
I wish you the best with your move if you do decide to do it, there is a growing community of Steemians there so they would likely welcome you with open arms right away! <3
I really hope it does become normal! It would be such a revolution in our currency system! I always love when I can trade value with people and this is a really convenient way ;)
<3 I hope it all goes well for you!
Hi Friend!!!!! Thank goodness you came back - LOL!!! The news will try and scare us all out of doing anything enjoyable anymore .. So wonderful that you were able to experience this .. and what an amazing person you are for visiting a fellow steemianj.. friends so close but yet so far away :) Do you take your own pictures with a tripod or do you have someone take them for you? They are always so beautiful!!!! Love you Friend .. SUNSHINE247
Haha I am very happy to report I landed back home safely ;)
The news is an interesting character in our lives. My parents are in constant fear over everything I do lol if I listened to them, I'd never have the nerve to do anything or go anywhere. I remember I was at my mom's house maybe 2 years ago and she had the news on which was talking about Thailand being so dangerous (that's where I was flying to haha) I almost let it get to me! My dad was convinced I'd never come home -_-
I hope one day we can visit each other <3
For my pictures, it depends! Most of them, I take myself with my always improving arm twisting techniques or my selfie stick ;) But for ones where they are farther away, like the ones from the beach of me the other day, those I had help with ;) I'm not a good photographer either haha so I am constantly learning ;)
Hope you had a wonderful weekend my dear Californian beauty =D XO
Sounds like a great idea for you to post on :) You should consider posting on this very topic of your parents fear .. Glad you are safe!!!! SUNSHINE247
You're right, and I can interview them back safe and sound in their homes in North America with the news playing loudly in the background haha ;) I think they would not be so pleased with this but you know, it might be fun <3
I look forward to to seeing this one :) Have a GREAT start to your week!!!!! Love ya :) SUNSHINE247
LOVE YA right back <3 I hope you have a lovely week as well! Stay warm, I know the cold is coming! XO
looks like a great adventure, be safe, but enjoy the ride, my friend
Hi @johnnyray, don't worry! I'm a little bit adventurous but I always keep things safe. My parents would never forgive me if I was running around getting into trouble being negligent... again :) Already did that a few too many times in my younger years! I appreciate it though, happy to share the story with you! Have a wonderful week =D
What´s the use of travel if you don´t let your guard down and do crazy things?
I have had the most wonderful experiences when I just followed some locals into the unknown beyond Lonely Planet approved territory.
I admit this is easier to do for a man, but even as a man I also had some experiences of sexual harassment from men, nothing I couldn´t handle though, and overall the good stuff far outweighs the bad.
I totally agree, though I will tell you, likely because I am a small female, despite my many attempts at not standing out, I often do and have had some truly awful, terrifying experiences traveling. I want to say most times I am alone, something sketchy comes up. I'm lucky to always keep friends around and that way, things go a lot better which is great because I love the unknown as well <3