Chose Life!

Things took an interesting turn when I decided to come back one and a half years back.. Pretty eerie now that I looked back to 2007 at the beginning of 2008.
I think my 1 1/2 years back in good old M’sia deserves a novel write-up. Say, anyone interested to purchase my autobiography if I get it published?

Just joking.. Why would you wanna pay money to read my life-story when you can read it free in this blog? Hahaha.. look what a good friend I am, telling you how to save moolah. =P

Anyways, 2008 just started and I was greeted in the face with some weird smses [Readers: What? Again?? This girl is a magnet for trouble].
Yep, that’s right… And I would say, what an interesting 2008 it would be for me!

Out of the blue a weird sms:
3rd Jan 2008 [8am] - @@@ pr*******e @@@ p***s @@@ hypocrite

@@@ - removed/edited for the sake of some young readers of this blog.

Age is catching up with my grandma.. She used to be the slim type, always climbing up and down the stairs of her 3 story home. When my grandpa died, I was 6 years old. Ever since I could remember, she has been clinging on to any of her sons that lives with her or nearby. She has been an emotional wreck. Unfortunately, this dependency has taken a toll on her relationship with her sons and their wives. No one wants her to stay with them.

She’s been living with us for 4 years. It’s sad to see her in her shrunken up state now. What’s even sadder is the mentality of my uncles. Each of them ran as far as possible from her so that they would not need to take care of her. End of last week, granny’s health took a turn to the worse. She has been having osteo-artritis for a few months now. Doctor says when she cant control her bowel movements, that’s when she’s really sick.

My years of St John Ambulance nursing skills were put to full use this week.. As I cleaned up my granny’s bottom after she soiled her pants, I wonder if any of my cousins would dare to lift their hands to touch her, let alone clean her butt. I wonder also, if my aunt, who’s a former nurse, would want to take care of granny… I guess not. Granny is not her mom. Sighh… Whatever happened to filial piety??!!

I’m a hypocrite! I think of myself too highly than I ought to do.

I dont know when, or how, I had turned into this monster that I often read about and wonder. I asked myself, how can these ppl be so blind as not to see how great Jesus is? Jesus came and offered them promises of eternal life and forgiveness of all the sins they had done, past, present and future.. How can they ignore this great promise and brush it off aside?!!

Had a taste of this realization last Sunday… When a survey result came out. I realized, of all the work that I had prided, done and cared for, it all amounts to nothing. I thought I was doing a good job in church, earning merit points in heaven. But God thought me a lesson. I wasnt earning anything! I didnt need to! All was already accomplished on the cross.

The pride I had in the work of the church had suddenly made me a Pharisee. I didnt mean too, I dont want to.. But I had taken security in earning my way up to heaven. Actually, I dont need to do that, Jesus died for all my sins - all wiped clean! So, what am I doing, earning my first class ticket to the clouds?

Then I thought again, well, God put me here for a purpose, even if I’m not His model kid. I dont need to do His work in church to earn any status or any man’s approval. I’ve been guilty on both counts.

Actually I need to keep a Godly perspective on church work. God’s work is not for the faint hearted. Need to keep my motives and intentions clean! Sorry Father… guilty of being a Pharisee..

To all who were questioning my lack of publications… Well, been busy lately.. きのの晩かえった。。ﾊﾞﾝｺｯｸ へいった。しごとうおしろ。

I’m gonna say smtg quite surprising… I’m scared of sharks fin. Had one too many last week… It was not good for the sharks either *sic*. Anyway, we MUST save them! Over fishing and inhuman slaughtering to get their fins is a threat to our children’s earth. Remember, we do not inherit the earth, but we borrow it from our children.

I also had the honor of eating a very delectable dish… This one not so environmentally damaging. Yup, u guessed it! Fried crickets and crunchy caterpillars! Hahha, I remember one time watching channel 11 and seeing ppl eat interesting food stuff on the roadside stalls and had always wanted to try it..

I drew the line on fried cockroaches but caterpillars was okay.. I guess.. Bought a pack on Sat eve and took a bite of the crunchy critters.. I would like to utter the classic response - "taste just like chicken! yum!" Erm, not quite - they taste more like Twisties - BBQ flavor? Hahhaha.. Wd have taken a pic if my hands were not soiled from all the pepper and seasoning the lady put into my purchase. I took 1 worm, 1 catterpillar and 1 small cricket. *couldnt stomach the huge ones*

All the time, my colleague was saying, "Aloy, aloy! Try it!" But one of each was quite enuff, thank you… =P Just wanted the privellage to add into my list of culinary tries the creepy crawlies. One more thing I had not tried - fried scorpions.. Hmm, wonder when I would be able to try them? The question really is, would I have the guts to try them?

Thurs nite was a prelim exercise before the big do. Suan Lum was pretty okay (think Petaling Street), good for those ppl who cant make it to the weekend bazaar. Their open air food court was HUGE. Lotsa dishes to try from. One word of advice though - Don’t let the friendly waitresses persuade you to any drink - no matter how delicious it looked. Always ask for the price first.

Why would I say that? Well, look at the NON ALCHOLIC drink here.. Looks yummy? Yep, it did taste yummy…

The name’s Crushed Virgin Strawberry Smoothie.

The price: RM29!!

会社の人が少し悪いとおもっています。みんなｽﾂﾘｯﾌﾟﾊﾞﾙへいった、僕がいっしょにつれてきます。僕の気持ちずっと悪かった、ですが、早くﾎﾃﾙおかえりました。残念、でしょ？

I could understand the primal need, but HELLO, what abt me? I do not have urges like tat! Totally inconsiderate not to ask for my opinion on where I want to go. Neither did they tell me clearly what they were up to until I was actually seated and the whole thing exploded into my face!

Another thing that angers me was the selfishness! While I could patiently watch over their precious belongings while they shopped, when it was my turn, they can actually leave my EXPENSIVE stuff unattended while I go shop for something!! Arghhh!!!

Last Friday, my bestie and I went over to the new starbucks in Metro Point.. After a long dragging day at work, which never seems to finish, we had a girl-to-girl dinner cum updating session. And after that to some coffee.. Or rather, hot choco..

After awhile, I showed my bestie some of the photos of my last trip to Ipoh, for a college pal’s wedding.. Since I brought along my lt, we also decided to use the establishment’s free internet connection… Something that neither of us dreamed of ever doing.. Oh well, what the heck..

We used to criticise ppl who used the internet connection in such drinking holes, as we think they were kinda show-offy.. Aw, come on.. U have the latest Sony Viao, why cant you afford Streamyx @ home?

Anyways, we sat for 1 hour staring at the screen which moves at snail pace. A few observations can be made:

1) The lounge was definately not meant for surfing. Our backs ached and our necks were craned towards the screen. Imagine little stars at our cute behinds when we rose from the seat.. (One down)

2) Snail pace connection.. Only 2 persons using other lts online (well that’s what we can see). We couldnt even log into friendsters. Finally, frustrated at the slow reception, we decided to forgo the whole friendster thing and just view blogs. Oh, and also stay on Msgr coz a few ppl were msg muah. (One down)

3) Free shows abundant.. One couple plonked themselves @ the settee in front of us and proceeded to get comfy… with each other. What the?? It’s starbucks for goodness sakes! Go find a room somewhere if u want to explore the contents of each other’s mouths! Such horror. (One down)

4) The staff were friendly peeps.. (One up)

5) Place is not so crowded.. Good for yumcha session wif close frens.. Just dont bring yr lt! Everyone will be twisted towards the tiny screen. (One up)

Okay, so in conclusion.. Bestie & I made ourselves little snobs on friday night. Though we enjoyed the company, I think we both agreed that surfing is better done in the confines of your comfortable room.

せんしゅ、私わ花ォもらった！おなじ人お私にあげった。。大しんせつな人とおもったん。

これ、花のしゃしん。。

見ってください。。。

きれいですね？Ahh.. 私とてもしあわせ！！

ね、私と花のシャシン。。でもね、花ォ貰ったの時，ちょっとはずかし。

りよう？Hahaha…貰ったの時間が、会社の人ゼンブ　見ったら、私のかおがあかいなりあました。

ありがとう！！

Pest

/pest; pest/ n 1 [C] (infml) annoying person or thing: That child is an absolute pest – he keeps ringing the doorbell and then running away!

How do you keep a pesky woman away? I got to give her credit because 2 nights ago, she actually mustered enough guts to call me at 11 plus at night. I was preparing to go to bed and this pest lullabied me with “bitch… bitch…. bitch… bitch” to my ear. Instantly, I looked at the telephone number flashing on my mobile screen. +6012-482643**… Okay, I know who you are… The voice sounded scary, like a broken gramophone on constant play. I asked her, who are you? But she just continued in Cantonese, “bitch… bitch… bitch…” Something wrong, I wondered? Maybe she forgot to eat her medication.

No use extracting information from a person who has gone bonkers. Hence, I terminated the call.

That CRAB – new nickname (penned by my best friend) – CRAzy Booger, actually had the cheek to call me 5 times throughout the wee hours!! Then, frustrated that I did not pick up the calls, she finally texted me;

“Since u started the fire, let’s play til d end!! All the copy n paste sms in email….. Haha….”

Does the above sms look sane to you? Hmm, I wonder, as I read it the morning after. Was I ever a threat to her? Maybe in her eyes… [MADNESS] To be continued..

CRAG = Crazy Gal

The nickname was penned by my churchmate. =P

Yep… U said it.. She did it again.. Some ppl just dont have common sense or common curtesy.

"Bit*h! What r u trying to do in email corresponding? Again! U r losser!! :D"

Erm, notice the various spelling and grammatical mistakes peppered in to make my busy Sunday evening. At first I thought it was a simple mis-sent sms. I texted back telling the person he/she got the wrong number. No reply..

Hmm, that’s kinda funny.. then i looked at the number, +6012-4826***. It looked a bit familliar.. Aiskk!! It was the CRAG! I do remember that number blinking on my mobile screen during what was supposed to be a wonderful holiday abroad (and btw, she spoilt my holiday by hounding me each time I switched on my mobile). That very same number that sent me obscene text messages.

My friend told me 2 months back at the height of the fiasco that he will explain to his fiancee that all’s well between them and my trip up to PPP was purely business. Sigh… so much for trust. How are they supposed to get married if they dont trust each other?? That’s a catastrophe waiting to happen.

And I thought I got rid of all these silliness 2 months back. It was certainly peaceful, quiet and serene during these two months. I wonder what kind of explaination he gave to pacify that insane woman for 2 months? Obviously it wasnt enough. She doesnt trust him… yet again. Wonder what happened between them? This time, she scouring through his emails? Sigh.. someone should tell that woman not to watch too many Hong Kong dramas.

I have a bad premonition that I will get blamed for everything from the kitchen sink to the front porch light for every tiny thing that does not go well in her "perfect" life/household. How convenient, I just became the scape goat.

I Got Flowers Today…

I got flowers today.
It wasn’t my birthday or any other special day.
…..

Hahah, if you think this is the poem abt domestic violence, think again!

I got flowers today.
It wasn’t my birthday or any other special day.
I was feeling down with a series of bad events..

These 2 months were horrible, I didnt know how I survived them, but God’s grace was with me all the time. PTL! He sent me His children to encourage me, and give me flowers… Actually, I got flowers today and last month… Thank you to _______ (the person choses to remain anonymous).

I attended 3 funerals lately, on top of that, my future plans to persue higher learning went to the shelves. If that’s not enough, my car broke down 4 times in 2 months, the bill amounting to half of what my car costs in the market now. To add salt to the injury, my vacation to a beautiful island with beautiful friends was marred by a psycho woman who accused me of "adultery" with her man in a coffee shop! The last bit, you would go, "eh? what gives?" Yeah, that was exactly my reaction…

Praise the Lord that He didnt allow me to fly off the handle or worse yet, start skipping gleefully in office. =P I would like to do that.. one day..

His grace is sufficient, and that is what I learnt these few horrible weeks. I learnt that everything has a purpose and reason. We only see what is in front of us, but God sees far into the future. What I wanted then, was not a good idea later.. Hence, God shelves my plan and lets me work His plan and purpose. People have this perception that being a Christian is tough because you follow rules, rules and more rules.

But no, God gives us guidelines, not rules to live by. He gives us the proper way to live, so that we may have worry, guilt and regret-free lives. Can you live a worry free life when you are cheating, lying or robbing? Believing in Jesus gets you a free life in eternity, but what you do here on Earth, the time that you are given, would determine how well you’ll do in Heaven and how proud God is of you.

We place our hope on what we cannot see. On a future which we do not know, but is also assured of the good outcome.

I often wonder why I had to go through what I go through. It’s neither too bad nor too good. But somehow, you just get tired of hoping. You know but you dont see… Humans are fickle creatures, we need to see it to believe it. That’s why most people lose steam after awhile of thrudging thru mud and not finding any gold. I can identify with them. In danger of losing hope.

Whatever maybe, I hope the outcome would still make me praise my Maker. Be it good or bad, the name of the Lord be praised. For He knows exactly where I should go, and where I should be… I rest all I am unto Him, and just maybe, I can stop hoping and start knowing.