This blog post reflects on the author’s return to blogging after a hiatus, exploring personal motivations, identity and digital legacy. It weaves in memory of a lost sibling, the origin of the blog’s name (zort_narf) and cultural resonance with Linda Wong’s song 別問我是誰. The post emphasizes creative expression, remembrance and guidance for future readers.
Disclaimer While themes of blogging as personal expression and legacy are common, the narrative, experiences and cultural references in this post are original to the author. Any resemblance to other online content is coincidental.
Why I Returned to Blogging in Earnest ✍️
For a while, my words lived quietly in notebooks, scraps of paper or in my head. Life has its way of pausing certain parts of us, and for me, blogging was one of those parts. But somewhere between surviving, stumbling, recovering and rediscovering, I found myself pulled back to writing in earnest.
🌱 The How & What
Blogging is more than just “putting thoughts online.” For me, it’s how I process life. It’s how I preserve fleeting moments and transform them into stories worth keeping. Sometimes, I write to remember. Sometimes, I write to release. And sometimes, I write simply to laugh at the absurdity of it all (like cats who insist 3 a.m. is the perfect time for karaoke 🐈🎶).
🗺️ The Where
Not so much about geography, though Brunei cafés and kopitiams often inspire me. The “where” of this blog is a space — a digital living room where my voice, humour, reflections and memories live side by side. Open to anyone who happens to wander in. ☕🍰
💡 The Why
Why return now?
- Because writing brings clarity.
- Because it’s a creative outlet as natural to me as scrapbooking, crafting or origami.
- Because this blog is also my living will.
👉 If one day I leave without clear instructions of my wishes, these words will hold the answers. They are my values, my truths, my humour and my way of seeing the world — left not to control the future, but to comfort, guide or simply let others know how I lived.
And at its heart, this blog began as remembrance. I started in 2010, the year I lost my brother. Writing then was my way of keeping his memory alive. The name of this space, zort_narf, was his online handle — a quiet tribute woven into every word since.
🎵 Sometimes, a song captures what words alone cannot. 別問我是誰 (Don’t Ask Me Who I Am) by Linda Wong (王馨平) resonates deeply with me — the quiet struggle of identity, the unspoken truths we carry and the way we long to be understood without having to explain everything.
Blogging, in many ways, serves a similar purpose. It allows me to leave my thoughts, memories and values behind — a voice that stands even when I’m not there to clarify or answer questions. Like Linda Wong’s song, it’s a reminder that sometimes it’s okay to simply exist in your truth and let the record speak for itself.
🎧 Listen here: 別問我是誰 – Linda Wong
👥 The Who
Who do I write for?
- For strangers who stumble in and recognise a piece of themselves here.
- For Bruneians and diaspora peers who share some of this context.
- For kindred spirits who enjoy dry humour and honest reflections.
- For future generations, who may one day want to know not just dates and facts, but the voice behind them.
And, always, for myself. Because some stories are worth keeping.
⏳ The When
Blogging began as memory-keeping in 2010, but it became quiet after life pulled me in other directions. By 2022–2023, challenges made me doubt myself more than I ever had before. 2024 brought slow recovery, and by 2025, I felt ready to reclaim my rhythm.
So here I am — back, writing in earnest again.
🌟 Conclusion
Why did I restart blogging?
Because words are home.
Because they are my legacy.
Because they keep memories alive — of my brother, of myself and of moments that matter.
This blog is not just stories. It’s remembrance. It’s resilience. It’s a map of where I’ve been and a guide for those who may one day look for answers when I’m no longer here to explain them.
And if nothing else, it’s proof that even after pauses, detours and storms — we can always return to what feels true. ✨
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