Mixed Feelings

Most of the time, during the night, before Edrik and I go to bed, we have to have a round of game.

Simple games like tickling one another or telling stories or jokes. Sometimes we end up arguing. At times it can get quite bad.

One night Edrik started tickling me. In the midst of tickling, he got angry. I didn't know why. Then he started to sulk and took his bolster and slept on the floor. Crazy boy. I told him to come back up but he refused so I got angry because he was sulking. Then I said fine...don't come back up the bed and effective the next day, please sleep in your own room.

Guess what I found the next day when i got home after work
Well..."You Asked For It".

I was angry the night before and couldn't help laughing when I read this.

I Miss Him

Today is the 2nd day without Edrik at home. He has left for his drama camp - a 4D 3N program.

The entire household is unusually quiet without him. When I got back from work last night, my aunt said, "it's so boring without Edrik around. We have no one to nag at. We have no one to mess up the place". Oh well...that is Edrik alright, messy and noisy.

Yesterday while at work, I came across a message which read like this:

A simple message that really melted my heart. I guess he was trying to tell me not to worry about him because I was reminding him about taking good care of himself.

Today to kill the loneliness, I went on a shopping spree. Somehow no matter how hard I try to keep myself occupied, I still think of him.

Oh..the little devil......I can't wait to see him on Sunday. I just got to tell him how much I missed him.

Lost & Found

Life is filled with colours again. How wonderful........

Just within this week, I finally reconnected with some old friends. From primary school to secondary school to ex-colleagues. I cannot believe this but yes, it is for real. I reconnect with not just one but a few.

Suddenly life is happening again. I spoke to a few of them, catching up with updates. For the umpteenth time I repeated my part. It's all being told like a script by now coz I have been answering the same questions and telling the same old uninteresting life of mine.

It is so strange how life revolve around us. At one point of time, I told myself I would never see this person again. Never thought we would someday touch base. But hey, thanks to the advance technology that we have, we are all finally reconnected.

We have all grown older and wiser, I supposed. Not to mention some has grown sideways while some still remain the same. I find myself more comfortable and chatty with all my long lost friends. Could it be because I am now more mature, more forgiving and have better PR skills?

I am still searching for some more old friends....just like searching for my lost soul. Once I find them I will categorise them under "Lost & Found".

It just fits perfectly well.

Down, down and down

Life has not been good to me lately.

I hate going home. I hate stepping into the kitchen especially. Everyday I see the incomplete kitchen, I get so mad. So frustrating I just didn't know what to do. It does look like the contractor is never going to finish the job despite having taken the money.

Who would want to finish the work now that the money has been paid. Only a fool would pay up before the job is completed and that fool is none other than ME.

I blamed myself for listening to my mother. My mother kept telling me the old man will not cheat us. So I trusted her and I paid. And look at the mess I got myself into.

Already stressed with the contractors, suddenly business picked up and I am overloaded with assignments. So many until I began to have sleepless nights. I think and think of where to find "heads". Been working late daily as well.

With all the worry and stress, I am now rewarded with gastritis. It was bearable until a few days ago, I had to take sick leave. I puked. I felt my stomach filled with gas and acid. Then the pain. Then the bloatedness. Then the hunger pang but after eating 2 mouthful, I felt so full but then an hour later I am hungry again but I could only take another 2 mouthful. And for the past 2 days, my stomach has been churning.

Oh...not to forget during my sick leave I was working from home. Not that I liked to do it. Boss was on the phone with me talking about work and I had to get things done.

I am not happy at all. I'm still having gastritis. Medication has not been of much help. How can I get the contractors to finish the job? I paid him out of sympathy. He has a sick wife whom I have met. His eldest son is utterly useless. He is an old man in his 60s. I feel for him when I see him climb the ladder to nail the wood and so on. I wished he didn't have to work so hard anymore at his age. For these facts, I am being taken advantage of.

It is an expensive lesson. Never be kind anymore. Never have a soft heart anymore. Never trust anyone, not even your own mother.

Life sucks.

Contractors

Has anyone has any pleasant encounter with house contractors? I'd like to hear your good stories.

Let me tell you about my experience with contractors.

My house is undergoing renovation. Not a very extensive one but it is to extend the kitchen, shift the toilet to the back and build the wall fence in front. Renovation started somewhere in end July. I was told it takes 3 weeks to complete. Hmm...3 weeks is not that long. I could live with the mess for 3 weeks, I told myself.

As usual, I don't quite trust these people. So I told myself...ok...give them 5 weeks. Should be sufficient to get everything done. Guess what? It's not completed until now!

The problem? This old man kept telling my mom he has no money to buy materials. So mom pitied him and gave him some money. And yes, he did buy the material. But it was not enough for the entire works. Now he has taken almost all the payment and he has yet to complete the reno. Despite calling him to come over and get it done, he still said he has no money to buy material.

Honestly, my patience has run dry. I have exploded right in front of them. Still no movement. During times like this I wished I have a "taiko" who can help me to talk to them.

Not much work left actually. Just a little bit of tiles to replace because they ran short of it. And then the painting and fix up the kitchen cabinet. That is all that was left to be done. I have gone for months without electricity for the kitchen, no fridge to use and poorEdrik had to make do with bread everyday as his lunch pack. I couldn't make him egg sandwich because I was not able to cook in the dark. The pipes weren't ready and I had no water to use in the kitchen.

Now I have water and electricity, but I have no cabinets to store my things. The whole house is in such a mess and thick layers of dust can be seen all over the place.

Today I cleaned the new kitchen until my fingers ached. You know the new windows which they put up? There were cement splattered all over it. At the sill and on the glass. And then the door frame also had the same problem. Had to wipe hard and use scrapers to scrape off the cement. My nails all turned ugly because of the harsh work. We even decided to paint the place on our own now. What to do? We cannot sit and wait. It has taken too long. We have to go and get our own paint now. Means, more money needed to pump in again. It was so much of hard work and I began to curse and swear them in my heart.

Finally, tonight I told my mom this. "So suey to have given the job to them. Please tell this to the contractor.They have been fortunate to meet us but we have been unfortunate to meet them"

Moral of the story : Never ever trust contractors. Never ever have a soft spot for them, regardless if the contractor is an old man who comes to you with very, very sad story. You just have to shut your ears and conscience when you deal with contractors.

While you may pity them, once they put your house in a mess and you have no water to wash, no electricity to use, you can't cook and you plead with them to quickly get it done..they will still turn a deaf ear on you. You will not get any sympathy from them.

My feelings about them at this very moment : I wish I could get my hands on them and wring their necks till their heads drop. That would give me some satisfaction.

Closed Chapter

Okay, I know I have bragged and bad mouthed my neighbour by putting up the photos accompanied with a write-up.

But who to blame for all these? Had you all been in my shoes, you would know how I feel.

Anyway, their contractors came and rectified the gutter and the pipe at the back of the house. Whether there will be more problems or not, we have yet to find out. Will only know when there is heavy downpour.

As for the "jaguar" and the plants, nothing has been done. Honking still carries on whenever they come back. Like a handicap person who got no hands to open the gate. I will stop here before I begin bad mouthing again.

This chapter about my "beloved" neighbour is closed for now until I detect more problems of which I hope not to.

My "Beloved" Neighbour

Today I am going to tell you about my neighbour.

This picture was taken right at my gate. Each morning when I wake up I am greeted by this rotten "jaguar". The "jaguar belongs to my "beloved neighbour. As you can see, the "jaguar" is already in a bad shape. The body has got holes caused by the rust. The car has not been in used for more than a year. Someone came and stole the car battery one day and the "smart" owner went and replaced another one which got stolen again within the next few weeks. As you can see, someone broke the window too and now it's being covered by garbage bag. Such an eye sore!

Now..behind this car, there are some trees and plants. When the neighbour first moved in, they started planting all sorts of trees and plants, Not just this amount that you are seeing, there were more! It was like a mini jungle. Despite telling them not to plant, they still did. The second son said this is a public area, so it's not up to us to sound him. The last straw came when my mom saw them planting sugar canes. You know how messy sugar canes can be? Well, mom was adamant about them removing the sugar cane. They had no choice and relented.

You see, some time ago before they moved in, one night some robbers hid on top of a tree near where their plants are now, waiting for their victims. The victims could be any of us that were getting down from the car to open the gate. My mom spotted and alerted the neighbours. Despite telling them these story, they were still very stubborn. Maklumlah.....the one hidding on top of the tree happened to be the same skin colour as them. Very difficult to be noticed at night unless they start to grin and you will notice the two rows of teeth.

This neighbour always makes trips to India and each time when he returns he has some new faces in his house. These people will act like his servants ie opening the gate, washing the cars and gardening. Lately, there hasn't been any servants around. So no one to tend to their plants. Some of his kacang plants or what..I don't knowla has grown too tall, I think and fallen. But no one is chopping it off or at least clean up the mess. It's just left there.

This is not the end of the story. There are more. here is a picture of his house. Notice the 2 red arrows? You see when they painted the house, both his neighbours share of walls also he painted his house's colour, making his house looked complete. The part which I have circled, I believe there has been some leakage into his house, hence his contractor greased the roof. Well, I don't mind if he greased only his roof, he actually greased my wall too. Look at the black patch.

*Note : This pic was taken before I put up a wall fence.

To get a clearer view on the grease.

If you also notice, there is a lighter shade of peach sticking to their wall. It is actually a thin piece of metal painted in peach and stuck that for reasons which I believed is to cover up some holes to prevent the house from leaking. And because of that when there is heavy rain, the water just flowed over to my house, like rain taking a trip down the water slide. Not that the water get into my house but it actually landed on my porch roof. And I am pissed.

I have told them to remove their gutter several times as they have exceeded and invaded my territory. This picture is so obvious. Even a blind person can tellthat they have "makan" my house.

But...guess what? Their contractor came yesterday and insisted that no, they have not exceeded what is allowed. The contractor claimed that it is ngam-ngam at the border of their house. Mata setok, I tell you. I thought he has cock eye but when I looked at him, he has perfectly normal eyes.

Last week, my family decided to build the wall fence. And so we did. After plastering the wall, the workers wanted to go over to their place to plaster the other side of the wall. But my "kind" neighbours refused to let them in. So we had no choice but to leave it unplastered.

A few days ago, I saw these 2 tiny dried up cement which look like pebbles on the wall.

Then I found out that these 2 cement piece were actually from their side. You see, when we put up the bricks on layers of cement, there are bound to be some cement droppings. These 2 were the result of that and the "kind" neighbour has decided to let us know by picking it up and place it on our wall.

Oh not just that, they even had the cheek to question me if I am going to plaster the other side of the wall. When I told them that someone in their house has refuseed to let the workers in, the elder son simply shook his head and deny it.

Their gutter has been leaking again. The last time it leaked we told them to get it repaired because the water actually flowed into my car porch. If, like what his contractor had claimed, ngam-ngam at the border, how can the water flow into my porch? Anyway, they didn't repair the leakage. After months later I couldn't take it anymore. I hung a canvas over my fence, below the gutter so that when water flows, it goes straight back into their house. Don't blame me...they forced me to do it.

This round it leaked again. 2 spots. You can see it from this picture.

And the result :

Nice patch, huh?

Let's move on to the back of the house. Looked clean, ain't it?

My "kind" neighbour is so generous. The wife always throw the leftover to feed the birds. I find it so dirty. Not only that. The pigeons and crows come for it. We all know how toxic their droppings are. Shouldn't some people need to be considerate here?

The garbage bin which they got their contractor to do for them has no lid. There was one day I took a peep in it and saw so many flies...the big and shiny ones. This pic which I took is considerably ok comparing to the one I saw last week.

You know this pipe is supposed to be like their front gutter, meant for water to flow. Its facing towards my house again. Unfortunately there has not been heavy rain during this weekend. Otherwise I would have another lovely picture to show. when it rains heavily, the water gushes out from this pipe. if I happened to be opening my back door during that time, the water from this pipe will be cleaning my door from me. Seriously, it gushes out like waterfall . You see, I cannot understand. Why need to put that elbow? Just allow the water to gush straight into the drain will do whatttttt!!!
Last week, when I saw it with my own eyes, I couldn't take the nonsense anymore. Under the heavy rain, with an umbrella, I banged their back door. Bang, bang, bang until they came. I showed it to them. To the elder son, actually who happens to be a lecturer at a university. See....we have educated people in that house but do not have civilised minds. He said he will get the contractor to rectify it but a week has gone. Gutter not removed, this pipe also not rectified yet. Sighhhhhh.

Lastly, look at this.

Remember their back lane looks clean? Well, yea, of course it looked clean because they don't throw the unwanted stuffs at their area. Instead they threw it right across the backlane near another neighbour's house. Both our backs are facing the side of this neighbour (try to imagine, k? I don't know how else to explain). One look and people will think it is this house owner which threw the stuffs out without realising it is the doing of my exact neighbour.

Cool neighbour, eh?

Continuation - Bali Trip

After the Monkey Sanctuary, we moved on to Kintamani Volcanoe. Apart from the breezy wind, it drizzled a little when we arrived. As we got down from our van, we were approached by many sellers selling t-shirts and souvenirs. All of us were hungry. We ignored them and proceeded to the restaurant. I have to say that was a smart move.

Kintamani Volcano

However after lunch and a few snapshots, we decided to leave. It was raining again and while waiting for the van to pick us up, big mistake.......my family decided to open their mouth and asked how much were the souvenirs. In no time they were swarmed by the sellers.

Next stop - Tirta Empul in Tampak Siring.

Before we are allowed to enter the temple, we had to wear sarongs. One pakcik decided to help me tie the sarong. Don't know if he was sincere in helping (because I didn't ask for help) or he was trying to "menggatal". My mom asked for his help to tie the sarong and he turned her down.

First..like this.

Then...like this.

The outcome...tadaaa

After donning on the sarong, we were taken to this place. It was filled with people and all were queuing up for their turns to bathe in this holy water. It is believed that the holy water is able to cleanse away the bad luck and also to cure illnesses.


And where did the holy water come from? It came from this spring. If you noticed the black spots, those are actually the water sprouting out from the underground. This is not a man made spring. It is from a natural source and it has not dried up since it was first discovered.
Next we visited other areas and saw prayers taking place. The Balinese here usually prayed for peace and safety.
From the spot where the prayers was taking place, we saw a big house seated at the tip of a hill. Our tour guide said this house belongs to one of the Indonesia's president. I cannot recall his name though. And that hilltop is actually a breast of a woman, if seen from a top view and that house is actually built right on the woman's breast.From this view, you will see both the breasts. A bridge was built to cross from one breast to another. Amazing..if this was during Gulliver's time, his wife's breasts would need to have a bridge in between so that those tiny people would be able to cross over.

Another death

I guess I should stop grieving. Just when I was to think I should stop grieving, I heard of another death. Teo Beng Hock, whom I do not even know, one who is not even related to me. But I feel for his family. He died while under MACC's custody and his death has been unexplainable.

While I want him to rest in peace, I also wished he would appear into somebody's dream and relate what transpired during his last hours.

His fiancee's words to him on his funeral was enough to move everyone to tears. His sson-to-be mother-in-law was crying uncontrollably. So were his own parents.

I think I have blogged enough about death. Otherwise in time to come, my blog might be turned into an orbituary session.

Pray that justice will be served.

Update on bad news

Well...he didn't wake up. I was told he passed away this morning and the family is donating some of his organs.

Yesterday around 1:30pm I received a call. The doctor had declared him brain dead and moving him out from the ICU. And the family had to decide whether to remove him from the machine. I said to my friend, "miracles do happen, right?"..."Maybe he will wake up."

I had intended to visit him after work that day. But with such news, I wasn't sure if I should wait. I asked permission from my boss to visit him. I needed to bring a colleague with me. I somehow wasn't sure I could do this alone. Thank God..boss understood and agreed. I left office at 2:30pm. So many things crossed my mind while I was driving.

Steven is not a very close friend of mind. And yet to say that we aren't close at all is also not true. We would stay out of touch for months at times. We hardly meet. But each time when he calls, he would tease me and make me burst into laughters.

I remembered when my dad was so sick and admitted to Selayang Hospital. I was there to look after my dad. He came and gave me moral support. He accompanied me to lunch. When he left, the specialist broke the family some bad news. The doctor had told us to bring my dad home. I was completely broken. And I called him. He was the one who advised me on what to do next. He was the one who gave me the moral support.

Yesterday, I would say was one of the worst days in my entire life. I got to the hospital and saw him surrounded by his family members. They were all crying. His ex-partner who was there told me that the family has decided to remove him from the machine but he was reluctant to go. I was dumbstruck....."You mean Steven said he refuse to go?" The guy said no. Steven is brain dead. He is communicating through a medium. Then only I realised there was a medium seated next to him.

His sisters and mother were all crying. Even my colleague who went with me, who knew not of this man also could not contain her tears. Her sister asked if he is willing to donate his organs to which he agreed. And the family kept persuading him to let go.....they assured him that all will be well taken care. The siblings said they will look after their mom.

Steven is not married but has 2 daughters aged 8 & 4 with a woman. The "wife" was there. She promised to look after their children. She said.."I know these are the 2 whom you loved the most. Don't worry I will take good care of them". With that the "wife" went out to the waiting area and brought the 2 girls. She told them to hug Daddy and to call Daddy.

Then she served tea to his motherwhich usually in a Chinese tradition, it means accepting the person into the family. In this case it is considered she has been accepted as a daughter in-law by the family. Her sister was telling him what has just taken place.

Then the medium speaks again. The medium said not everyone is here. There are a few more people which he wanted to see and he named them. I waited for a while more and then I walked to him and spoke a few word to him. I stroke his arm and it still felt warm. Then I left.

It was and still is very devastating to me. I wished I had stayed longer. I wished I had said more things to him. I just cannot believe he is gone.

Rest In Peace, Steven. May God bless your soul. Amitabha.

Bad news!

I wanted to continue to blog about my Bali trip today but I couldn't. Just a few minutes ago, I received a call. The caller said, "Susan, I have bad news for you". I held my breath, not daring to breathe.

I have been receiving nothing but bad news lately.

Exactly 3 weeks ago, my colleague, a bachelor who lived alone died in the wee hours of the morning from a heart attack. What a shock that was. I woke up at 6:45am only to receive an sms from another colleague at 6:50am informing of his death. He called this colleague of mine at 4am asking for prayers as he said he had chest pain. A few minutes into praying, he was gasping for breath and shrieking in pain. Next was silence. My colleague rushed to his house. Shouting aloud his name when he got there, the whole neighbourhood actually woke up. He used the neighbour's balcony and climbed into his house, only to find the house in darkness. When he got to the bedroom and turned on the lights, he was already gone.

2 weeks later which was actually just a week ago, MJ died. When a friend called me at 7am that morning to break the news, I was neutral. I didn't feel anything. Then slowly when I drove myself to work, I cried. Geez...MJ is gone...forever. He was looking forward to his comeback. Even the title of his tour explains. "This Is It Tour". Adding salt to the wound, the radio stations were paying tribute to him, airing all his numbers. It made me more sad when I listened to You Are Not Alone, my fav number. Till today, I still cried when I read about him. All the news that were slashed on to him were meant to tarnished his image and these culprits certainly did a good job.

2 days ago, my aunt came down from Kelantan. She had not been well and went for a check. The hospital found a "growth" the size of about 5cm on her liver and told her they do not know what it is and said to come back again 3 months later for another check to determine if the "growth" has differ in size. Hate to say this...but heck...WTF...?? Anything can happen in 3 months! Do we wait and go back 3 months later and then to be told that this is end stage cancer? What is this doctor saying?? It's a human life here....geez.....Anyway, she is here for another check and will be getting her report tomorrow. From the look of the scan, it doesn't seem good. Pray that there is cure to her problem. Pray that a miracle will happen.

Back to the call which I received a short while ago. A friend called to inform that our friend collapsed during a meeting at his office today and is now in a coma. It seems chances of survival is very slim. There is blood clot in his brain. He is in ICU now. I must make a visit to him tomorrow. Pray that he will wake up.

Just about a month ago, my neighbour passed away. Every morning I will pick up his daughter and send her to school together with my son. They are both the same age. I can see all his 3 children have very good relationship with him. If he is not working outstation, he will take his children to the market, and fetch them back from school. He died of a heart attack in outstation. When I received the call at 2:30pm on that faithful day, I told my mom...no..it can't be true. Maybe my son had heard wrongly. I said pray that it was a mistake. When I got home that evening, I saw canopies already been set up outside his house. What more could that mean? He has 3 young children. The oldest aged 10 followed by 9 and 7.

God.....why is this happening? It feels like some kind of punishment to me. Will I have to be here to watch my friends slowly depleting one after another? Please...I don't think I can take anymore of these.

Bali Tour - Part 4

Still on Day 1, from the wood carving factory, we went to Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary in Ubud.

As usual, we were warned about what the monkeys can do. We had to be very careful with our bags and cameras. These creatures are known to snatch them away. To be honest, we weren't very keen when we heard we need to purchase tickets to get in. (Ticket costs Rp15,000 for adult and Rp7,500 for a child). I mean, after all, it is only monkeys.

But on the other hand, this place is one of the tourism spots. Since we were already there, might as well take a look and see how Bali monkeys look like.

At the entrance, a lady was selling bananas, costs about Rp6,500. Supposedly for feeding the monkeys. As she waited for business, she fell asleep. She must have realised that we were snapping her picture and she woke up. Kind of pity her. She must be tired. Pregnant and needed to sit there throughout the day just to make a living.

Standard of living in Bali is very low.

As we walked in, the monkeys came to us. They were big monkeys. Some kind of like sneaked behind us. My cousin got so scared, she hugged her bag and froze each time she sees a monkey walking towards her. She even refused to hold any of the bananas. 1 monkey just came forward and snatch a banana from Edrik. No joke..I was getting pretty nervous too. I started asking myself if this was a good idea after all.

As we walked further in, we noticed some of them play in groups. Our tour guide explained that they have their own gang and territory. Suddenly, we heard some shrieks. We turned and saw a few foreigners running away from some monkeys. The monkeys were fighting. One must have crossed over to the other's territory. Very gungho...I tell you.

Unorganic bin. Hehe....pretty interesting.
Monkey Forest is very big. Along 1 side of it is a cemetery.Also in the forest, is a temple. The gate was locked. Apparently females are not allowed to enter this temple.

As were leaving the forest, we saw some monkeys about to take their bath.

Bali - Part 3 - Official tour now begins

Our first stop was to the batik factory. I wasn't impressed with the end products simply because they are being sold in USD and it is very expensive. So I decided to walk out of the selling area and went over to a group of people who were working on the batiks.

The wax which is always kept hot with low fire so that it remains liquidified.

A woman waxing the batik. This process is done so that in the later part when ink is applied onto the material, the wax will prevent the ink from smearing unnecessarily to other parts of the cloth.

Hand painting the batik once waxing process is completed.

Halfway waxing, this lady stopped and did something else. She was kind of weaving the coconut leave.
And the outcome is this. I soon found out that this is like a bowl for offerings to their gods. They would usually place flowers, tiny biscuits, some fine leaves and then a joss stick. They would pray at the entrance of their houses or shops. After that they place it on the floor. Practically everywhere I went, I see these. Some has got more simple design. This is the best design I have seen so far.

Next, to the silver factory. Almost all the places has statues like this at the door front. It is also some kind of dewa which they pray to. In Bali everyone is fond of using flowers.

Even the dewas...the Balinese placed fresh flowers on them. And a lot of these dewas has a cloth wrapped around them. Like a sarong. But what does it symbolise...I do not know.

A woman at the silver factory working on a pendant. I must admit it is a very, very tedious job. You sit long hours and uses much of your eyesight. Mind you, no machines seen at the factory, not even a single one. We were told the accessories or jewelleries sold are all handmade.

I saw some nice earrings but it was too expensive. After that we moved on to the art gallery.

Before a painting is being put up for sale, it is initially sketched like this.

Followed by painting.
We left the gallery and headed for the wood carving factory. Along the way, we saw some shops selling wood products by the road side and requested for the driver to stop.

Upon visiting one of the shops, I was caught by surprised. Huh...?? Ku-ku bird for sale? I was really, really curious on why they needed to carve this. for DIY purposes? Curious but didn't have the guts to ask.

Our next stop at the wood carving factory. This man carving a sculpture. All are hand carved.

Do you think the mermaid managed to achieve orgasm through our massage?