Hospital Virgin - Near Death Experience

I'd never been admitted to the hospital. Well, twice, if you counted my birth and the day I had infant epilepsy/seizure (when I was 9 mth, according to my mum). Growing up I had a few accidents which requires several trips to the clinic. Some of those:

The day I fell from the window chin first.
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Well, I was 6 and was very naughty.  As a punishment, my uncle locked me on the room on the first floor of my grandpa house (on mum's side).  The room had a window similar to this.  

So there I was, bored to death, feeling caged, but nothing much I could do because its too dangerous to jump because of the rocks-pebbles down there... So I was just hanging by the window.. like literally.. Hanging from the curtain like a monkey while singing a song my sister just learned from school ... "aku burung, di dalam sangkar, hidup terkurung, hati ku susah".. Sangat tak kena okay, lagu sedih tapi berperangai ungka.

and before I knew it, the razor thin wire snapped, and I flung down on the ground.  Not feeling a thing, I went to the kitchen.. and my uncle was like I thought youre upstairs...

Then my aunt saw my face... and she looked terrified (I didnt cry or anything as I didnt feel any pain)... then I felt my chin was wet... and i tried to brush off the liquid and it was blood!

So my uncle rushed me to the nearby clinic and I was given a candy!!!! and an antiseptic thingy.. The cut was not deep but its long... and I still have the scar of it.

Chin pain, take two
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Few months down the road, because I was so naughty my aunts and grandma no longer want to take care of me, so i was given back to my mum in Taiping.  She enrolled me to the kindergarten inside the army camp nearby, but as far as I remember, I only went there for less than 10 days (in a YEAR!).

The only thing I remembered abt the kindergarten was I had a homework where we had to draw chicken, so I outsourced it to the neighbor next door. She drew it beautifully, well she was 10 and I was 6, I assumed it was beautiful.. asal ada bentuk.. FYI my sisters (elder) and brother were still with my grandma in Penang.  So there was only me and my newborn sister.

And ooh I also remembered the canteen with candies! 5 cents and you get 2 hacks/halls. and 10 cents you got 5 candies.

Anyway, the rest of the times I skipped school, in my uniform.  I either went to the hills/forest at the back of our house.. Or went to the cemetery talking to the old men there.  He was the jaga for kubur keramat tok bidan. I was so small he thought i was 4, so he didnt suspect me for skipping school.

Or I went to the river nearby for berak, but there was one time while i was defecated, I saw a leech trying to get up my leg... that  was disgusting and scary and from then onwards I became civilized a bit. Hihihihi.

But sometimes I just hide inside the box or the cupboards till I got busted and get the cane, or the water hose! So I decided to just stayed inside the monsoon drain (dried most of the times) somewhere near our house. Something like this but slightly deeper where petite 6 year old could hide.

I would stayed there till the coast is clear (mum was nowhere at sight). Then I would emerge and celebrated my freedom.  But one day, while I tried to climb up the drain, i fell chin down and hit the same spot as before... and it was a bloody mess! and this time I felt it (its deeper). So yeah I had to go back and after she was through with me (with lidi), I was sent to the military hospital nearby.  I had to get the stitches and got another candy.. but yuck it was cherry flavored.

You might asked where's my dad? Well, he was in Sabah.  So, there were only my mum, my baby sister and myself.. well sometimes our granny from my dad's side would come over. I had a love-hate relationships with her.  Because I was so naughty, I always got pinched by her, so I hate her for that.. Also she smelled funny and talked funny (she's pure mami penang)...

But when she visited us, because she will come by train, and always with the danish biscuits, whereas mum only bought Jacobs cracker for our consumptions.. like seriously?  The only time I would eat the crackers was when dad was home and brought back the army rations (pineapple jams).

Plus, granny was a good friend with this Chinese auntie fruit vendor.  When this vendor came, she'd be calling like camilak lai la (cempedak coming or selling depending on how you pronounce lai in hokkien)! Granny would came out and bought us cempedak and the two would talk for hours whereas I would sit there eating the raw cempedak and saved some for frying and to be eaten at tea time. Yum yum...

Sadly she passed away when i was 8...

The abominable hornet
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This time i I was 7 and my other sister was back with us (she was 9).  Just like kindergarten, mum would only send us to school on the first day and expected us to remember which transportation to take the next day.  So the day after, here I was with my sister waiting for our transportation at the main road.  There were two type of military trucks that would pick us up, the yellow top or the green top.. something like this:

So when the truck came, we just sat there looking and the rest of the children already alighted. And the military guy was like "are you coming?" i looked at my sister and we both shook our head.. and the truck left us. Like duh... So we sat there waiting for another truck but there was no more. After like an hour, we decided to go back.  Mum was out to the camp to collect half of dad's salary (yeah back then, the army paid half to the husband, and half to the wife).

Skipped school like hurray! And sis was like "hey we have 20 cents pocket money each".. and off we went to the Naafi (Pernama) and bought an ice cream.  When mum came back she wasnt amused with our antique, so naturally we got several lashes....

So dengan perasaan hiba, I ran away to the jackfruit tree nearby, and just sat there for like 5 min until I got restless..I decided to get back and play with my sister... on the way back I saw a dead hornet, so being evil I decided to trample it.. Along the process, somehow my slipper got slipped and I trampled on it barefooted! And the sting got directly into my foot! Served me right... I was out of school for days!

From then onwards I didnt have major/minor accident anymore. Near miss aplenty, but none serious.  There's a time where I brought back eggs I found under the bush, thinking it was birds eggs, and kept them under my bed... but turned out to be snake eggs! Bodoh!

And a time during deepavali where I visited my friend who live next to the train track (his dad manned the gate).  So, there was a scheduled train that would pass in 10 minutes so we decided to put some very hard cookies (round and made from chickpeas flour) on the train tracks, hoping to derail the train..but alas the cookie bounced back to our directions.

And then puberty strike and i turned 180 degree and became domesticated and demure... hihihihi

Fast forward 30 years...

Chinese New Year, long leaves.. I decided to stay at home and not go anywhere.  Need to spring clean the whole house and  started a new diet (SD II diet). On Saturday I started to drink that nasty "milk" and on my way to achieve my goal of 60 kg (10 kg to loose)... But on Sunday I became so sick and ill I stopped the program.

I had a fever which wont go away... and it became worst at night.. I started shivering and hallucinated.   I thought it was a regular fever, so I just took paracetamol..  The clinics were closed for CNY, so I went to guardian and bought the fever pad and more paracetamol. Sunday, Monday Tuesday... still feverish, though by then I had strength to move around better.  Its only at night I couldnt sleep and would have nightmares/hallucinate. On Tuesday morning I went to the clinic but I wasnt that feverish and the doctor said probably chicken pox but had to wait for the red spots to grow.

I was so pissed because its a long holiday and I was sick!  So came Wednesday I went to work.  Promised Rizana to meet her for lunch, but by 11 I was so weak.  Chatted with Rizana and she asked me abt the symptoms...and she brought the bad news... Never in my wildest dream I thought I would get it...

So we decided to do the check up. Took the form, she drove me to the nearest hospital and went to the immediate checkup unit. After like 10 minutes I was ushered to meet the doctor and he asked me to do the blood test.  My temp was like 41 degree by then...

So by 11.30 the blood was taken to the lab.  I had to wait for the result, and its gonna be like 2 -3 hours.  This is the intermediate where I had to wait anxiously for the result.  The thing was I just lost my best friend back in January this year and the hospital memories just come back to me..

By 2.30 the result was out and confirmed I had it.. DENGUE! Like wth! My platelet count was 120 (normal 150-450) , so the admission process begun and it went smoothly. I got a room on the 3rd fl and thank god it wasnt facing the office.  (Gambar di atas sekadar gambar hiasan).

Informed the office and updated my FB :p

And then my brother called saying that mum and dad were coming over to stay at my place.. I said hell no! and told them about me.  So they came and visited me.

First night was hell. I only had office shirt and were given the hospital gown. Because of my increasing temp they had to jab me twice.  I couldnt sleep at all and as usual hallucinated throughout the night....

 

but nothing could prepare me for the blood withdrawal and the drip.. not sure because I was too fat or too scared, they couldn't find my vein... and some of the nurses missed the vein and poked the wrong part and it was HORRENDOUS...

Breakfast.. didnt eat much as I got no appetite..

Thank god mum brought over fresh clothes and toiletries.  Though I was kinda pissed because they risked their life by staying at my place. Wanted to send them to the hotel but I was the only one with the credit card and they couldnt find the emergency card I kept at home for withdrawal.

Anyway I had several friends visited.. And the 'thing' start flowing.  100Plus and Crab soup.... even as I wrote this I felt like vomiting... and it was 4 months ago..


I had like 20 bottles of 100plus, I'm sure by the time I got better I'm gonna be diabetic. as as for the crab soup..its enough to make me hate crab soup for life!  I couldnt even smell it anymore without feeling nauseated.

The better view from my room...

My platelet count kept on dropping to 98, 82, 69 , 68.
Only by Friday afternoon it started to go back up. So basically I was out of danger.

By Friday my hand had swollen

it was so tight and uncomfortable. Mode badak...

The food was awesome and the room too, but it was too brief.

On Friday night I felt so much better and sneaked out of the hospital and went to the pavilion with Steve.I had the KFC and of course everyone stared at my hand... but I couldnt be bothered.

By 10 pm we sneaked back in...

Oleh oleh. finally non 100plus nor crab soup.  By Saturday doctor said I could get out already since I have no fever.

You can go back to work on monday! He dropped the bomb! I was like whatttt? Im so tired need to catch up with my sleep and I would be so stressful at work dealing with the people there.

Sentap betul org lain kena denggi 2-3 minggu aku kena tak sampai seminggu. *mode tak bersyukur*

Though I might be out of the danger I dont think my plat count went back to normal .. ISo I had to begged for at least 3 days of MC (I got two) and swore I'd never come to this hospital again... hihihihi

Phew back to normal size by Sunday. 

On Monday I made a report to our mgmt office and found out that they had 8 cases of dengue that months (in this building)... urghhhhh...

So yeah I was back to work on Wednesday and already on call for that week...FML

Ahmad la sangat kan!

Does he really look like Ahmad?

Renungan: Jangan jadikan hatimu itu seperti gelas

Suatu ketika hiduplah seorang tua yang bijak. Pada suatu pagi, datanglah seorang anak muda yang sedang dirundung banyak masalah. Langkahnya gontai dan raut mukanya ruwet. Tamu itu memang tampak seperti orang yang tidak berbahagia.

Tanpa membuang waktu orang itu menceritakan semua masalahnya. Pak Tua yang bijak itu hanya mendengarkan dengan seksama. Ia lalu mengambil segenggam garam dan meminta tamu itu untuk mengambil segelas air. Ditaburkannya garam itu kedalam gelas, lalu diaduknya perlahan. “Coba minum ini dan katakana bagaimana rasanya”, ujar Pak Tua itu.

“Pahit.., pahit sekali rasanya…”, jawab tamu itu sambil meludah kesamping.

Pak Tua sedikit tersenyum. Lalu ia mengajak tamunya berjalan ke tepi telaga didalam hutan didekat tempat tinggalnya. Kedua orang itu berjalan berdampingan dan akhirnya sampailah mereka ketepi telaga yang tenang itu.

Pak Tua itu kembali menaburkan segenggam garam ke dalam telaga. Dengan sepotong kayu dibuatnya gelombang-gelombang dari adukan-adukan itu yang menciptakan riak-riak air. “Coba ambil air dari telaga ini dan minumlah”, perintah Pak Tua. Saat tamu itu selesai meneguk air itu, Pak Tua kembali bertanya, “Bagaimana rasanya?”

“Segar”, sahut tamunya. “Apakah kamu merasakan garam didalam air itu?”, Tanya Pak Tua lagi. “Tidak”, jawab si anak muda.

Dengan kebapakan Pak Tua menepuk-nepuk punggung anak muda itu. Ia lalu mengajaknya duduk berhadapan, bersimpuh disamping telaga itu. “Anak muda, dengarlah. Pahitnya kehidupan itu adalah layaknya segenggam garam, tidak lebih dan tidak kurang. Jumlah dan rasa pahit itu adalah sama. Dan memang akan tetap selalu sama.”

“Tapi, kepahitan yang kita rasakan akan sangat tergantung dari wadah yang kita miliki. Kepahitan itu akan didasarkan dari perasaan tempat kita meletakkan segalanya. Itu semua akan tergantung pada hati kita. Jadi saat kamu merasakan kepahitan dan kegagalan dalam hidup, hanya ada satu hal yang bisa kamu lakukan. Lapangkanlah dadamu menerima semuanya. Luaskanlah hatimu untuk menampung setiap kepahitan itu.”

Pak Tua itu kembali memberi nasehat ;

“Hatimu, adalah wadah itu. Perasaanmu adalah tempat itu. Kalbumu, adalah tempat kamu menampung sgalanya. Jadi, jangan jadikan hatimu itu seperti gelas. Buatlah laksana telaga yang mampu meredam setiap kepahitan dan merubahnya menjadi kesegaran dan kebahagiaan.”

Keduanya lalu beranjak pulang. Mereka sama-sama belajar hari itu. Dan Pak Tua, ‘sang orang bijak’, kembali menyimpan ‘segenggam garam’ untuk anak muda lain yang sering datang kepadanya membawa keresahan jiwa…

I Just Found Out

.... that the position I left 5 years ago, has been upgraded to the Vice President positon:

Five years ago:
Famil Sulaiman
Head, Banking System Development

Today, it would have been :
Famil Sulaiman
VP, Banking System Development

A missed opportunity? I dont know.. somehow managing people is not my forte. I always want to be their friend rather than their boss, therein lies the problem.. I'm too nice... hehehehehehe

Plus, kalau aku kat sana idok ler boleh bersosial.. muakakakaka..

============================
Correction;

Its AVP,
Technology Solutions

Aspalela abdullah...

Hah ngko, 2 bulan bersawang...

Busy ya rabbi.. Right now Im the only one in my team doing the application in AP and europe region. Therefore, I seldom have time to even take a break, let alone blogging. Reached home already too lethargic and drained to write...

As early as 8am, the would be users in Australia asking for assistance, then Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia.. Break for lunch. By 2 Technical contact in Hungary already logged on. Then Checz and UK. If im lucky enough to stay back, I could catch the counterpart in Argentina to handover today's workload...

Good news though.. for the past 3 months I haven't pay a dime for electricity... I wish I am in Selangor so that my water would also be free... but heck with only RM6 for water bill, Im not complaining :p



The bliss of not having to cook and internet...

A sudden surge in traffic...

... left me bewildered.

So naturally I checked the traffic report and voila!

No wonder.. all those horny bastards were looking for the Teluk Cempedak's pictures/videos. Pathetic malaysians... or so I thought,


until I clicked on one of the details... Horny Vietnamese!!!

Oh well, since there looking for 'interesting' picture, here are some:



Chup! Coca cola....

INTERESTING huh!

It's called Mindset!!

As my friend was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime, break away from the ropes they were tied to but for some reason, they did not. My friend saw a trainer nearby and asked why these beautiful, magnificent animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away.

"Well," he said, "when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it's enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free." My friend was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn't, they were stuck right where they were.

Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, simply because we failed at it once before? So make an attempt to grow further.... Why shouldn't we try it again?

"YOUR ATTEMPT MAY FAIL, BUT NEVER FAIL TO MAKE AN ATTEMPT."

Earth Hour came a little bit early yesterday

Power trip on one of the PE station over Bdr Baru Sentul:


Give me a little sense on how its going to look like tonight!

cixelsyd ton ma I

As usual when I was inside the LRT, I would put my MP3 on and would do my Sudoku puzzles.

So today from the KLCC station to the Majid Jamek, standing at my usual spot (between two coaches), deep into my puzzle, I could feel 'the stare' (You know, the feeling that someone was looking/sneaking at you)..

So I tuned to my left, and saw this Malay Kakak in tudung (must be Petronas' staff) giving me a pity look.

"Okay, that was weird..." .. I thought.

but continued with my Sudoku.

After like what I felt like eternity (2 minutes actually), I turned again, and she still gave me that look!

"Must be my blog reader" .. So I smiled half heartedly.

"Adik akak pun macam ni, tapi dia pandai tau! Sekarang jadi juruteknik" (You know, my brother also like you, he is a genius though, and now he's a technician)

Now I'm totally lost.

"Pegi la jumpa pakar.. diorang boleh ubat, kesian muka lawa jadi camni" (Go visit the specialist, they could cure this, what a pity for such a lovely creature -muahahaha, translate suker hati)

"Tak paham!" (I dont think I get you!)

"awak dyslexia kan?" (Are you dyslexic?)

Ohhhhh.. you mean this?

I didnt had a chance to explain the situation though because the train had reached Masjid Jamek. I just smiled and whisk away.


The thing is, I already got bored solving sudoku in a regular way, so to increase the challenge up a notch (konon), i frequently changed the way I solved it.


Sometimes I use the Roman characters (I, II, III, IV ...), and sometimes I use Arabic.


And when I got bored with them, I change to Kanji (Yeah I know number 9 is not accurate).

So now I'm in a mood of Mirror Writing style.

And kakak, if you happen to read this, the last time I check, cixelsyd ton ma I (I am not dyslexic).

Thanks anyway, it must be hard to gather the courage to tell me, a total stranger, that. =)

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Post ed:
I need to add. There's nothing wrong being dyslexic. So what if youre different from others. We should just accept human being as it is. (wah macam cakap tak serupa bikin)

Why Why Tell Me Why

Why there are chocolate, teas and juices being sold in Starbuck's COFFEE.


Why called it 24hrs convenience store,


when you already lock it up at 11pm.

Kami Tengah Keciwi* Dengan Kamera Baru

Pesta sebelum ramadhan minus the pertunjukan bunga api. Tidak pasti sebab musabab. Mungkin tiada peruntukan atau mungkin kerana menghormati kehadiran ramadhan (like duh).


Lunch- appetizer.


Lunch - Main course.

Pesal yek, gambar dalam bangunan nampak gelap? Kena buka manual ni baca...


Gambar yg sesuai untuk Kempen AI as your PM. "Watch your back!" (Literally). Atau untuk kempen rekruit bebudak M*KK "We got your back!".


Sentul dan pasar malamnya.


Bukan Sentul.

Keciwi = bahasa Perlis yg membawa maksud ghairah barang (ghairah benda lain = birah). Sumber dari minah perlis. Sedikit fakta mengenai perlis. Sebuah negeri yg tiada airport dan tiada sumber alam dan sumber ekonomi kecuali gula chuping dan simen bukit keteri. untuk pulang ke kg halaman berhari raya anda terpaksa mendarat di pekan los staq.

New Price Starting Now

This is what happened when speculators went overboard. Not enough supply to meet the demand? Seriously?

If its really so, there wont be enough petrol in every stations throughout the world. how is it so that all these stations have enough supply?

Ponder on that.
==============================================

Talking about oil price, we did received several calls (wrong number actually, got that alot because my number is 262x whereas the customer service number is 292x) from irate customers claiming that petrol stations x put an 'out of service' notification on it's pumps. They suspected the owner just being greedy. Waiting for the clock to strike 12 midnight and thus, start charging a new price.

You see, the stock they had was delivered yesterday or a day before. Let say, the cost price is at $1.60 per liter. Yesterday's retail price was $1.92 and today it's $2.70.

Therefore, holding on to the stock would make a hefty profit of $1.10 per liter. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. By today the cost price would be somewhere $2.50 per liter. The temptations was too great for some to hold.

And oh with that, the electricity price is going up 18% and the diesel for fishermen also went up 58cent.

And the gomen give a stern warning for traders not to increase price.

Ada akai ka? (Got brain or not?)

My New Obsession

So hooked with this game:

Im working hard to improve my global rank. At least for this one, I could control my rank and the exact number is shown..

Unlike in real liek "you're in the middle tier, work harder, or rsik being stuck with this team forever, because no other groups would like to have a mediocre..."

Enjit Enjit Semut

My housemate was reading bilikmakencik blog when somethings tickled him about the 'enjit enjit semut' (ant bite - children rhyme)and the newly wed esp the 'siapa sakit naik atas' (whose tired switch to top) part.

Anyway, talking about Malay rhyme game, this is the only rhyme that I dont really get the rule and the moral behind the 'song'.

Like, till when do we play it, and what's the outcome we're expecting from it?

Well, at least with Tom Tom Bak, we do get to that Rumah Nenek Nak Reban part, but not with enjit enjit semut.

Any thought?

Valentine Dream

Yesterday, I dreamt I got 5 comments, and this morning when I log on, I saw this:

This is the third time I dreamt the same thing.

I think I should stop bloggin lah.. Need to get a life. :p

I Had A Dream

Today was the last day for the SPM exam.

I told to myself.. Hurrah, no need to go to school tomorrow.

Then I woke up, and it was Monday, and I had to go to work....

Bummer....(Well, the exact word was crass)

To quote hj esah:
"I discovered that I was upset because I feel that after all the work that I have done, she still think very less of my capability and all made worst by showing me up to the bosses ..."

Exactly what im feeling right now...

When you actually became a minority

Never thought I would feel isolated and minor in my own country.

Yesterday dinner proved it could happen. Was in a dinner where 95 percent of the customers were Iran*an. Not to mention the owner, cashier, cook and waiter too..


I was pretty intimidated to say the least.


Even a child gave 'THE STARE' to 'STRANGERS'


It didnt help, the food came in HUGE portion. I was so scared if I couldnt finished the food, the owner might get offended and bitter consequences might ensued. So I forced myself to eat (ini baru betul kes polok). Plus, you need an acquired taste to get used to the food.

Well, why do I have to go thru these:

because of this going on in that area.

Therefore, it's only natural that all malaysian based eateries within vicinity were packed with THE DELEGATES.

When Majority Does Not Equate To Always Right

"I’d rather spend my time to do things that are constructive; that go down directly to the people who are really in need of the help of the government. Our bloggers are really not up to standard. When they put up something, it’s not something that they want to discuss in a very intellectual way. It’s more because of their anger - the language they use. Why should I read all this rubbish? When the standard of our bloggers is upgraded, then probably I will look at what is written. But anyway, they are a minority. My concern is for the majority."

Nazri Aziz, The DeFacto Law Minister
======================================

Some analogy for him to ponder, perhaps:

A group of children were playing near two railway tracks, one still in use while the other disused. Only one child played on the disused track, the rest on the operational track. The train came, and you were just beside the track interchange. You could make the train change its course to the disused track and saved most of the kids.However, that would also mean the lone child playing by the disused track would be sacrificed. Or would you rather let the train go its way?

Let’s take a pause to think what kind of decision we could make...... Analyse the situation......

Think and reflect...... Decided your answer!!!!

Now … go ahead

Most people might choose to divert the course of the train, and sacrifice only one child. To save most of the children at the expense of only one child was rational decision most people would make, morally and emotionally. But, have you ever thought that the child choosing to play on the disused track had in fact made the right decision to play at a safe place? Nevertheless, he had to be sacrificed because of his ignorant friends who chose to play where the danger was.

This kind of dilemma happens around us everyday. In the office, community, in politics and especially in a democratic society, the minority is often sacrificed for the interest of the majority, no matter how foolish or ignorant the majority are, and how farsighted and knowledgeable the minority are.

The child who chose not to play with the rest on the operational track was sidelined. And in the case he was sacrificed, no one would shed a tear for him.

To make the proper decision is not try to change the course of the train because the kids playing on the operational track should have known very well that track was still in use, and that they should have run away if they heard the train’s sirens. If the train was diverted, that lone child would definitely die because he never thought the train could come over to that track! Moreover, that track was not in use probably because it was not safe. If the train was diverted to the track, we could put the lives of all passengers on board at stake! And in your attempt to save a few kids by sacrificing one child, you might end up sacrificing hundreds of people to save these few kids.

While we are all aware that life is full of tough decisions that need to be made, we may not realize that hasty decisions may not always be the right one. “Remember that what’s right isn’t always popular… and what’s popular isn’t always right.”

Everybody makes mistakes; that’s why they put erasers on pencils

People Unclear About the Concept of Lucky Draw

The season is back. It's the season where most of us would get those sweaty palms, an unexplainable thumping heart, a cold shivering hands and to the extreme, a total nervous meltdown!

Yeah, it's that dreadful, not so looking forward culture that we simply know as the 'ang pow time' (pocket money).

Unlike our Chinese counterpart, where only married couples could give away ang-pows, we, the Malays, had adapted and modified this traditions to the extent that no working-aged individuals would be spared. Yes sir, of all the traditions that we assimilate, we had to do this better! *eyes rolled*

Moreover, the practice had it that the glamorous job one's hold, the more moolah one's is expected to 'donate'. Ignoring the fact that glamorous job doesn’t always equate better pay. If a person works in, say Petronas, he/she is automatically has a burden of meeting the expectation. Failing to do so would resulted in vicious, acid tongue, slap in your face criticism from one's relatives. For days sometimes.

As the time goes by, the value of donation also increases exponentially. Gone is the day where 50cent suffices to satiate the 7 year-old. Nowadays, shall you dare giving them 50 cent, they would sassed; "Uncle, why so cheapskate?"


Or worse, if you're the home-owner who gave 50 cents to children, come next year, expect this scenario:
"Rumah ni kasi lime posen jer la tahun lepas, tak payah pergi." (The owner gave 50cent only. Let's skip this house).

To add the salt, most of those kids usually just knock your door -ala- trick or treat. And when you opened the door, they would usually mutter half heartedly "Kami dah kenyang, kasi duit raya saja cukup!" (We're full, just give us the money). Wah lau wehh..

Back in the era where Sugus was a staple food for school kids, the correct etiquette was for you to enter the house and stuffed yourself with those delicious home made cookies; get to know the owner, and menjarum langsir / sofa / perabot baru (nosingS around). Getting ang-pow was not a priority, its nice to get one though. The major offense we engaged was perhaps a little glutton. "Rumah ni ada ayaq sarsi/oren, jom serbu?" (This house served carbonated drinks, let's get in).

It's a material world indeed. When did it begin? Nobody knows. It is debatable that it all began when households' no longer made their own cookies at home i.e. owner would just bought the same-batch-bland-taste-different-shapes-and-colors-though cookies from the night/super market. When the culture of kuih tunjuk started to show its ugly side, so does these materials kids. Who are we to fret?

Having said that, being me, as usual, I would never conform into this practice. Sure, I would give ang-pow money to all my nephews, nieces, cousins and others ankle biters, but that would be on my own terms. Hey, if you could not beat the system, have fun at least.

What I would usually do is to randomly put RM1 - RM25 notes into the money packets. Comes the time where those hellish spawns histerically running for me for the ang pow, I would presented onto them at least 10 packets. Here the best part. I would then ask them to choose one.

Depending on their luck (mostly lack thereof), they could end up rich or be disappointed. Very. Shall the kids are too small to choose; I would ask the parent to draw. Well, actually I let the parent draw because you just could not get any reaction from babies, could you? Imagine seeing parent opening the packet and discovers it's only RM1.


Who'se the unlucky one this year?

They couldn’t blame me for being cheapskate though. It's them who have lousy luck to begin with. Hey, they have equal chance to get that RM25. To quote the Reader's Digest: "You might already won $1,000.000.00. All you have to do is….. bla bla bla". Same concept being applied here, duh!

But of course, who could beat the pleasure of watching my 7yr old cousin got away with RM20 while her 11 yr-old sister managed to draw a measly RM2. The quarrel ensued is what makes raya, a raya.

Priceless, no?

Anyhow, I would be away for a week. Therefore, I would like to sign of by wishing Selamat Hari Raya to all My Fellow Readers. HAve a safe journey home.

Ta!