Then and Now

When I was a child, I always wanted to be a teacher. I put “Cikgu” or “Guru” as my first choice of ambition. We were asked this by the school, and would be remarked in our assessment file for record. For three years in a row, I wanted to be a teacher. Haha. Somehow, a twist of fate, I somehow ended as a measly paid secretary in some Chinaman company. I think I should not complain. Life could be worse.. as a teacher. I had a conversation with the boys at home just now over lunch.

Lok Lok: The boy in my school is very naughty. He always kena whacked. So once, he was called to the front of an assembly and go up the stage. Then, he still remained so cheeky and couldn’t stop laughing and muttering to himself. So the principal asked him to keep quiet. He then, made squeaking noises like a mouse. The principal was really angry with him so, she announced to the assembly that she will cane him in public as a warning to all. The boy then shouted, “Please give round of applause to this OLD GRANDMOTHER! This is her show! Clap clap please!”

Me: Hahaha!!

Mom: Aiyoh.. so naughty. Wah.. I listen also, I want to whack the naughty boy!

Lok Lok: There’s another boy in my class. His name is Huang Ping Kuan but we all call him Huang Ping Kan (Biscuit). He’s also very naughty. When the class teacher said, if your parents smoke… then he shouted, “YOU WILL DIE!!” The teacher ignored him and said, so boys and girls, Smoking is not good for you. If you smoke…… the boy shouted again, “YOU WILL BE CRIPPLED!”

Mom: You see lah.. don’t whack also cannot!

Lok Lok: So one day, the teacher wanted to whack him because he’s disruptive in class. So took out the cane. Then the boy just put out his hand to be whacked. Normally, the teacher will whack his backside. The boy said, “My daddy said cannot whack backside. Have to whack hand only and only this hand. Not the other hand!” But all of us in class remember his dad that day. Just a few months ago, he came to school to collect the RM100 cash aid, so he told the class teacher, she can whack his son – don’t care where and don’t care how many times!! And don’t care where! Just whack! Then, the teacher said, “Since you tell lies, I will whack you 20x!” The boy turned blue and said, “20x?? Then my ass will become blooming flower lor??”. The teacher whacked him good on the backside. He was running all over the place, hiding under the table while the teacher chased him around.

Luckily, I am not a teacher in this era. I will vomit blood man!

Me: Wah.. terrible lah children these days. Quan Quan! You better not behave like that ah! Don’t embarrass yourself and your parents in school! If you do this, I will pusing your ears till they come off!

Me: When I was a child in school, I scored 100% for a test. I should be happy, right? But I was not…. because the thing is, we cannot fall from our grades. So in the next test, we must score 100% or we get whacked. So in the next exam, I got 98% and I got whacked!

Sasha: Your teacher crazy ah???? Get 98% also whack???

Me: Already said mah… can improve but cannot backslide!

Mom: Why didn’t you tell me when you were a kid? I could have gone to school to ask your teacher why?

Me: That’s the difference between children now and children then. When we were children, teachers are THE LAW!

Wow.. Come to think of it, I didn’t tell mom a lot of things in school so she didn’t have to worry about me.. I was such a good kid!

Evil Spirits

I do not particularly believe in evil spirits but, I guess the past two months’ events had sort of shed some light or darkness, if you prefer, into my perspective.

A friend was renting out her apartment to two ladies for over 2.5 years and they had been great tenants. Paying rental on time, and there was not much issues in dealing with them till this year’s Chinese new year. Her maintenance office called her to inform her that, her two tenants who just came back from CNY holidays suddenly behaved strangely. There was a huge commotion in the house and suddenly, one of the girls ran out from the house and almost got hit by a passing van! Luckily the neighbours managed to save them and keep them safe till the police came. They sent one of them to the hospital – the one that almost got hit by a van. The other girl, has bruises all over her body but she could not recollect what happened to her. A grocer who operates a grocery shop opposite her unit told my friend that, the two girls went berserk and shouting at each other. They looked possessed.

Then, yesterday, the two boys my mom baby sat previously, came crying to our house. Their dad called my mom to ask for permission to send the two to our house. He didn’t sound too good either. We thought it was the normal domestic spat again. But this time, it was even more serious. The two boys bursting into tears and told us, their mom couldn’t recognize them anymore. Apparently, the mom was found hiding under the table in the morning and their dad went to get her out. She didn’t want to come out so the father dragged her out. She was tossing and screaming away. When the two boys approached her to calm her down, she couldn’t recognize them. And asked them, “WHO ARE YOU?” It’s obvious she had been possessed.

In the rainy afternoon yesterday, with dark and gloomy skies, they hired a medium to exorcise the spirit. They found out that it was a spirit of a beheaded woman. She refused to let go of the boys’ mother. I think somehow perseverance paid off. After a few hours of praying, the evil spirit left. The mom regained herself but she couldn’t remember what happened.

This gave me sleepless night. I will definitely say a prayer for her and the boys. Dealing with evil spirits is not a joke. I guess they do exist and we should not take them lightly.

Birthday Wishes

Today marked my 37th birthday. Fuah! So old! Can feel it in my bones, the aging. I have a sudden back pain the past few days. Maybe because I was taking out the curtains and washing them before CNY. Ah… all the complications that come with age. Not too happy about it.

On the bright side.. if there’s one, well, am just going to list my birthday wishes, so that the divine in the universe would help me achieve it.

1. Hope Ern Ern grows up to be good and kind.
2. Pray that everybody who is suffering from any forms of diseases be healed completely!
3. Safety and pleasantness whenever and wherever my family and friends go.
4. Meeting more wonderful people along this life.
5. Ability to solve any problems effectively and with calmness.
6. Love renews for every couple I know! May your love continues to grow each day, everyday.
7. Good health for everybody!
8. When going gets tough, there will always be a helping hand nearby within reach.
9. Old and new friendships continue to forge on.
10. More love and care for stray animals.

I guess the 10 wishes above would be in my prayers regularly from today onwards.

Wishing you people, Happy Valentine’s Day!

Note: It was a wet Thursday.. sunny in the morning, with sudden gloom in the afternoon and heavy rains towards the evening. Just my kind of perfect weather.

Spring Will Come

I was looking at the photos of a friend who just visited Beijing in winter. After so many photos of white snow covering temples, pavement, people, snow men, etc, he put up photos of dead plants – trees, potted flowers, reed, dried leaves and so forth. Everything seemed grey and bleak. The plants were all dried up, brown in color, almost turning grey.. colours of death.

Do you sometimes feel the winter is never ending in your life? What are the feelings of winter, you might ask? Feeling of restlessness, hopelessness or despair. How the coldness of winter being unmerciful to you, penetrate your bones and chill every cells in your body. Slowly, like the plants, you will turn brown or grey, your soul is leaving you and let your body harden against the cold harsh wind of winter. And you die a painful death.

Then the light switch in my brain suddenly flickered and turned on.

After winter, there’s definitely spring. That’s when the buds of new baby plants will emerged from the soil to replace the dead. Don’t you think it’s a miracle? After so much hopelessness and death, they just spring back to life at the turn of another season. Like a clockwork. Almost definite.

It makes me think, if God could take care of plants when they couldn’t take care of themselves in winter, how much more worth are you, a human being to Him?

That settles my restlessness.

Tragic Deaths

Not even a week after year 2013, I’ve heard of tragic deaths of friends’ relatives or close relations. It is indeed very sad. My sister’s friend’s dad was an active person. He enjoyed fishing very much and usually would go to the jungles in Rasah himself and go fishing alone. Sometime last year, he suddenly suffered breathlessness when going out marketing with his wife in the morning. Since the wife was with him, she slapped and rubbed his back hard enough, to help him aid his breathing. It helped. After much patting and rubbing on the back, he miraculously recovered.

Then, he went to the doctor’s to find out what went wrong with him but they couldn’t find anything. So, he went back home. He still enjoys fishing so he would still go to the woods all by himself despite family’s objection. So, the recent one, which was a few days back ended up in tragedy. Usually, he would go to the jungle around 3 pm and be home by midnight or latest by tomorrow afternoon. So the family didn’t suspect anything was amiss till a friend called up the family and told them that, they saw his car parking at the road side entering the jungle and it has been there since yesterday. It’s been more than 30 hours already that he went missing.

The family went to lodge a police report and all of them – friends and families conducting search as soon as possible where he last left his car. They went inside the jungle. It was the son who found his father. The father was seen hunching – in a standing position over something, nearby a bamboo bush. The moment the son saw the father, he shouted “Papa!” Then, blood suddenly oozed out from all pores of the blackened and bloated body.

They found out that, he was leaning against the parang he held as support, after he cut down a bamboo shoot. He probably suffered a heart attack and died on the spot.. in hunching position over the parang he used as support.

Sister and friend went to the uncle’s funeral and was shocked to see the bloated and blackened body. She was surprised that how come they don’t have a closed casket, given the deteriorating condition of the body.

I was thinking, it’s no joke to be chopping off bamboo in the jungle due to the stories on wandering spirits and what-not. I guess it’s just his time is up.

Another friend’s elder brother just passed away yesterday. Probably a heart attack. My heart goes all out to her, she just lost her mom in August last year and now, not even five months down the road, this shit happened. I pray that God would give her peace in her heart and strength to shoulder on.

These incidents shocked me tremendously and set me back. I guess if it’s time to go, there’s no stopping death. It’s best if we could just get our affairs straight and stop procrastinating, as we might not know what tomorrow brings. If you owe a person an apology, please go and say sorry today. If you plan to visit an orphanage and give freely, go now. If you always wanted to try that adventure, go now, don’t wait. If you want to visit the country for some time already, don’t let your laziness stop you.. go now! If you are appreciative of what a friend has done for you – go thank him or her now for their kindness! Live today as if you are going to die tomorrow, that will definitely ensure you live life fullest.