Today between 8.45AM to 10.15AM

Inevitably, I do age. We all do, but don't let me be the one to remind you.

But since I've gone ahead and done that, let me be the one to remind you that there are ways to keep young. Feel young. Whatever, but somehow you'll feel good inside la.

The grand 'stay young' tip goes like this: Find a way to instantly switch on your inner fresh-grad self.

(I mean c'mon, who really wants to be 16 again - I wana help you feel young, not young and ops sorry shtupid. I didn't say stupid cause generally you hardly find a stupid 16 year old but lately it is getting quite frequent that you see a 16 year old who is not yes wise in the ways of the world, but they act like a shmuck. So shtupid it is. Cause stupmuck is just way too confusing.)

Anyway let me tell you how I do it, this instant feel young switch.

Everytime I feel like getting in touch with my inner fresh grad self, I take the public transport and go through my going to my second job commute. My route back then starts at Cheras' STAR station, get off at Plaza Rakyat, a little walk through the scary parts behind Puduraya to the bus stop in front of Kotaraya, then long-wait-short-ride on the bus to Jalan Bangsar.

So this morning I managed to get myself to a STAR station - the moment I encountered the rude girl manning the ticket booth, little strings in my system started to stir.. And as she fumbled for my 20 sen change and the Sentul Timur bound train zoomed by... my inner fresh grad self woke up!

But waking up (my dear friends would tell you I'm bad at waking up in the morning) is not enough. You gotta do the dance.

So I put on a little music - Cinta Kita by Maman Teacher's Pet played on my little 2GB Sony Walkman. I waited for the next train.

It came sooner than I'd hoped, but I hopped on anyway. My inner fresh grad dance began to take over my system.

The dance goes like this. On a train, don't sit. Stand next to the door so that you can see the world goes by at 40kmph. I did just that.

Next, don't be a good girl. If you see anyone not giving up his or her seat to a more deserving passenger, give em a good icy cold glare. Better if you can make the folks on the entire row feel uneasy. I did get a chance to do this!

Once your stop arrives, don't get pantsy. Wait for the door to open and make those guys trying to get in before the folks inside disembark wait as well. If there are some of them trying to get in anyway, give em a good shove using your big bag. Just turn 45 degrees as the guy passes your side and walk out as if you were the thinnest model that would not dream of getting any stranger DNA rub on your expensive get up. Yep, I did this too.

As my dance ended, I walked through the scary Puduraya back route. Though it is less scary than before, to appease my inner fresh grad self I pretended that I was still the same young exec who carries a door-gift swiss knife with 256MB USB drive attached.

I was quite pleased to discover that a bunch of new stalls are in operation right outside Puduraya as well as next to Ancasa Hotel. Back then when I was a fresh grad, there are always exciting small stuff on sale at these bazaars, but I could not afford them. Again, to appease my inner fresh grad self, I didn't buy any knick knack.

As I approached the bus stop, I saw that the Pantai Dalam bound Metro bus had just left the station. That's alright - it's just like back then. I know what to do.

I continued walking towards CM, passed my old hound Yusoof & Zakhir Restaurant aka Lorong Katak. Tokyo Jihen's Killer Song accompanied me as I trot along.

Oh no, CM. How could I just walk by. I decided a stroll around the areas would take less than 10 minutes and went for it. After all, that's what my inner fresh-grad self would do.

As expected, I encountered the overzealous guards trying to shoo away the private college students loitering, the guy who says hello to everybody, the water-colour and acrylic artistes, the handsome pony-tailed 'braders' wearing Slayer t-shirt, the I-look-tough-with-black nail polish girls... Ah, it was year 2002 once again!

So what keeps you young? A game of Pong? An NKOTB song? Find out. I'm sure you got a switch in there somewhere.