Finding Little Miss Jo

Just came back Melbourne a few days ago. Man, internet connection at home has been shaped to 64kbps, which renders me pretty much in-net-fective while at home. This is really frustating when I need to browse the internet for some urgent stuff. Such as finding people. A stranger, to be exact.

I was enjoying my RM9-McD burger when this petite girl, with trolley full of belongings, standing a few heads in front of me while queueing at LCC Terminal in KLIA to check into my Melbourne-bound flight, caught my attention when her friend (standing in front of the queue) yelled out to her.

I briefly saw her again while sitting on the departure hall waiting for boarding. She took a seat in the corner, grabbed a thick book out from her bag, and immerse herself in her own world.

I somehow lost my boarding pass right before boarding the plane. After a minute of cross-checking with the ground staff, the airplane staff let me get on the plane. Yet I saw her briefly, on the other isle, walking towards the back of the plane. I didn’t know and couldn’t be bothered to find out where she sat, because my seat was quite close to the cockpit. Afterall, she’s just a stranger that happened to board the same flight as me.

Then we came across each other again in the airport duty-free shop right before immigration counters. I tried a smile, but it was awkward.

She was nowhere to be seen afterwards. Not until around half an hour later.

Me and Yacek were in Skybus already, when she suddenly came out of the blue, hopped into the bus, with her more-than-average luggage. My heart skipped a beat when she smiled at me. That smile was one in a million. It was so refreshing. All of a sudden I had butterflies in my stomach. I was panicking for no apparent reason. This is stupid. How can a stranger cause me to panic? The adrenaline rush is worse than being suspended high in Giant Drop ride in  Goldcoast themepark. I felt like a metallic paperclip, broken into pieces while being drawn in towards her electromagnetic smile. She then settled on a seat close-enough-to-start-a-conversation to mine. Is this some sort of sign? We’ve had one encounter too many in less than 12 hours period.

I didn’t initiate the conversation with her until half way through the 20-minutes airport-city bus trip, which is a regret later on, because the remaining 10 minutes felt so short it’s gone in a blink of eye. I wished the bus had broken drown in the middle of the trip, and we were stranded on the side of the highway for hours, chatting to kill the time. But this kind of wishes are never meant to come true. And it’s good in a way, because more than 24 hours had passed since I left my hometown. Any extra seconds was draining my energy away. I wanted to get home a.s.a.p.

Anyways, I didn’t manage to get her contact number, or even an email address. which was the biggest regret of the day. Throughout the conversation, I can tell she’s quite a humble and welcoming person. With that killer smile! Ever since I left Southern Cross Station, my mind was like an imaginary robotic videotape, replaying all those encounters. All I have as contact details was her first name and her uni. Joanna. Commerce and Law. Melbourne University, final year undergraduate.

So here I am, writing my thought out. This blog entry is a public appeal to find that not-a-complete-stranger-anymore again. I’d like to make friends with you.

If you have an acquaintance matching those description, please let me know. If you don’t, and want to help, spread this blog onto your network of friends. If you are indeed Joanna, then you’ve found me, but I haven’t found you back. Drop me a line at ocpuso-at-gmail-dot-com! Or tell me how to contact you… 😉

If I don’t manage to find her back, or if for some reason, she doesn’t want to make friends, then let this unique encounters stay a page of memories in my life.