Merdeka

Yesterday we had our weekly school assembly. The Headmaster gave his speech and announcements as usual. Nothing interesting as usual, of course! But there was this one moment, when he said, I quote:

"Tahun ini, Hari Kemerdekaan jatuh pada 31 Ogos."

You didn't get it? Here's the subtitle:

This year, the National Day falls on 31st August.

So, it means that, next year, Merdeka day would probably be in September or something. I don't know if you find it funny or not. But me and 2 of my fellow trainees, Hasliza and Yvonne had a good laugh about it. It as I looked at the others, it seemed that the 3 of us were probably the only ones who noticed. But then we were seating at the far end, away from the eyes of the students, so we could joke and laugh about it.

The things we do sometimes

You're at a mall or hotel. You want to go up. You arrive at the lifts. You press the button. You wait. Lifts aren't down yet. You press the button again. You wait. You see the lit up button. You press it again. You press it again. And again and again and.......

Have you ever done something that you know wouldn't work, but you still do it? Of course you do, you idiot! What the heck, I do it too! My handphone freezes or is taking a long time to switch applications etc. What do I do? I knock its sides gently. On the extreme side, I shake it.

There are alot of instances where we do dumb things such as the above.

But there is one case where a whack does come good. My old computer's monitor. It sometimes turn greenish or pinkish by itself. So in order to get the united colors of benetton back, I simply slap its side. Though sometimes it takes more than one slap.

Spit

Have you ever been in a conversation with someone. Someone who isn't close to you like a friend that is.
So when you talk, your spit comes out and lands on the other person. Have you ever noticed that? And you don't say anything. I mean, you saw what happened, but you don't say anything. Why? Because you're embarrassed! Why didn't that person say anything then, you ask.

So now think back of a time you were in a similar conversation but this time, the other person's spit lands on you. You definitely saw and felt it. And you better bet he/she knows it as well. But no one says anything about it...again. I bet you have never mentioned it to him/her. I've been there. Funny thing. I mean, he/she spits on me, and I'm worried about his/her feelings if I say anything about it.

Is there a new government policy to 'domesticate' institutions or religious bodies going on that I do not know?

Apparently the Catholic Church here in Malaysia need not refer to the Vatican anymore. Now they can do that at our very own Home Ministry. So instead of Pope Benedict, they'll have ....... :p

UiTM rocks

It must be cool being a Uitm student these days. You could skip lectures, go out protest and join demonstrations against someone's mere suggestion. If I was a student there, what I'd do is a daily protest. I won't get into trouble for missing classes, nor will I get arrested for illegal assembly. BUT, fortunately I'm not. First of all, I'm not a Bumiputera, even though the majority stakeholders of my ethnicity is Bumiputera (Lun Bawang, Bisaya, Malay), but the Government says I'm not. Second, even if I was a student at Uitm, even if I'm not A-student material, I do not have sh*t-as$ brains. I would not display my stupidity, unlike what those students did.

It is also cool to have a VC that talks like he's a gangster. So when people want to mess around with you, you just tell them you're from Uitm and you have the VC on your speed-dial.

PS: Another reason I feel less Malaysian by the day.

I’ll probably always remember the 2^nd day of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Not because of the Games itself, but for something that happened to me personally.

It was something that I can say has shaken me, mentally.

On 09.08.08, I, Benjamin Yeo Ee Seng, had been involved in my first ever accident as a licensed driver. For the record my driving license is still valid until November 23^rd of this year.

I, Benjamin Y.E.S., at around 8 pm, the night when the whole Miri had a blackout, knocked a Ford Ranger from behind with my mother’s Kancil. I guess you should have a good guess of the outcome.

The damage was not that bad though. The guy had a dented bumper and I had my front area half-f*cked. I’m thankful I made it safely to dinner. The guy was cool, so we settled it there and then that no payments or compensation were needed.

While I am thankful that nothing happened to me seriously or no serious damaged happened, I was still asking God why that happened.

Today we had replacement classes for Raya, so I went to school on a Saturday morning. But I went extra early, around 5.50am. I have never ever driven off from home/work or wherever that early. I was early because I was doing a favour to drive Nancy and a fellow trainee to SK Senadin.

At school, I had no lessons to teach because my class was involved with a health talk. After that I was on duty to watch the students as they go about having fun at the simple demo by the Police, Fire Dept and Army. I even went on after my ‘shift’.

I also did something, something that I myself would not expect of myself. I finally talked to the pretty young teacher.

When school was over, I helped a teacher reversed her car from a difficult position.

I went off to have lunch, without breaking any traffic rules, and paid every single cent required of me.

I went back to my hostel, and knocked myself off to sleep.

I woke up and the electricity was out, so I thought I’d get out of that. But soon found out it was the whole city in darkness.

I can’t recall doing any wrong actions etc. So I asked God, why, at a time when I’m borrowing money from my parents as our August allowance is held up, when I am going through a physically and mentally tiring period, did He allowed the accident to happen.

But I then realised, everything could easily been very different. It could be some Ah Bengs in an outrageously pimped car with heavily tinted windows that had I knocked. And you know Ah Bengs don’t take shit from people who are not Ah Bengs. So it could have been a violent scene that followed the accident. Yeah, those punks would have ended up in the hospital.

Or worse, it might have been a fatal accident where this post would not have been written.

So God, I am grateful everything’s alright. Come to think of it, my knocked up wallet is already that bad. I mean, my finances are already on a deficit. The only hurt I have is a bruised ego. I now have an accident on my personal driving ‘record’.