Hari Raya Part 2

We arrived in Padang Rengas quite late, just a few hours before berbuka. It was raining heavily throughout the journey and my wife was sleeping most of the way. I even had to stop to sleep for 1/2 hour near Bukit Merah. We missed the preparation for Raya. Earlier in the day, other family members prepared lemang and rendang. I was later told that this is the first time they bakar lemang in 20 years! Food for buka was abundant...lemang, rendang, udang, limas. I was spoilt for choice. But being the new one in the family I was abit malu...makan sikit2 je. Maybe next year I will makan puas2.

After Maghrib and Isya', the whole family got together. I lost count of how many people were in the living room. There must be more then 15 people. The first session was Takbir Aidilfitri. All the uncles took turn to recite Takbir. After that, it was time for speeches. Since I was the new one in the family I was given the opportunity to talk after my dad in law. I was caught by surprise. I was not informed of this. Being my 'cheesy' self, this came out of my mouth

"Assalamualaikum. Pertama sekali saya ucapkan Selamat Hari Raya dan terima kasih kerana menerima saya dalam keluarga ini. Saya juga ucapkan terima kasih kepada ahli keluarga yang telah membantu dalam persiapan perkahwinan saya dan Akmar 4 bulan lepas."

It was lame,but that was all I can think of. The speeches lasted for 3 hours. With Atok giving the final talk that lasted for 1 hour. It was inspirational. It was mainly on how hard it was to raise children during the old days. I was told that this family started as the poorest family in the village but ended to be the most successful.

After all that talk, me and Akmar had to make our way to Ipoh. Our plan was to spend 1st Raya in Ipoh and 2nd Raya in Kuala Kangsar. We had to cram everything in 4 days as on 4th Raya Akmar has to get to work.

Hari Raya Part 1

This Syawal is very special to my wife and I. It is our first Raya together as husband and wife (our 1st raya as friends was 2 years ago!). We managed to cram as much activities together as my wife only has 4 days off.

Our great escape started on the 2nd last day of Ramadhan (Friday). After her postcall at 6 p.m., I fetched her from Taiping and we spontaneously decided to go to Penang. We decided there and then to go through any traffic jams and gamble with our accomodation. We set off with half a tank of fuel, some Tesco chips and RM20 of Touch n Go. Halfway along the journey we 'berbuka' with our packet of chips. Surprisingly, half a pack was already enough for us. I was already full with the sight of my beautiful wife :) The wheather wasn't good at all. It was raining cats and dogs...maybe lions and hyenas! But the traffic was smooth. Heavy but smooth. Due to the rain, we decided to take the Penang bridge instead of the ferry.

Our first destination in Penang is Tune Hotel, located somewhere near Komtar (Jalan Bhurma). For RM79.50 we got ourselves a decent room. However this is a BUDGET hotel ala Air Asia, so no TV, no toiletries, no room service, NO PARKING etc. (toiletries are an option). It would be RM12 cheaper if we unticked the 12 hours air con option. It might sound horrible but the room was very chic and modern. We were impressed by the design of the room. We highly recommend this hotel for budget concious travellers WITHOUT CHILDREN (you might have to stuff kids in the bathroom!)

After solat we decided to take a drive around Penang and get some real food. It was still raining heavily and Penang was hell to drive in. The roads and junctions were a whole lot of crap. The signs heading to major tourist spots were disastrous. However the lights and buildings, especially around the heritage site were a sight to behold. The old buildings look marvellous. The E&O hotel looked majestic at night. As for the food, we picked the wrong night to be looking for great food. We went to Padang Kota Lama to get a taste of Pasembur but there were only a few stalls open. The Pasembur we had was 'OK je'. Nothing special. We decided we have to come to Penang another day.

The next day, we checked out just before 10 a.m. (Tune Hotels check out time is at 10 a.m. for some reason). My wife wanted to do abit of shopping and we decided to go to Queensbay Mall, on the way to Bayan Lepas. It's a huge shopping complex facing Jerejak Island. Although it was drizzling the beach side view was still amazing. We could see the Penang bridge, Komtar and Jerejak Island in the distance. We spent ONLY a couple of hours at Queensbay to avoid the expected weekend crowd...for those who know my wife, 2 hours is KEJAP JE by her standards :P But she still managed to get a Momoe bag and a Scholl sandal. I didn't get anything materialistic...what I did get was a wonderful time with my wife, something that is hard to come by. After all that, we rushed back to Kuala Kangsar for the last buka puasa with my wife's family via ferry (after 1/2 hour lost in Penang).

11 weeks

I have 11 weeks to go to my next professional exam. How do I feel about it?....NOTHING. Right now I don't feel a damn thing. I'm becoming numb...I woke up at 9.30 this morning and went back to sleep. I woke up again at 1 p.m. I just don't feel like doing anything. It feels so empty. I've been feeling like this for a few days now. Ever since my wife went back to Taiping. The sleep isn't good too. I've been having flashbacks of the exams and been thinking of the ifs.

How would it be like if I had gotten a second chance...not a 2nd chance 7 months later but 're-exam'. Would I have done better? MAYBE...but I didn't get any chances then. Looking back at things I just feel bad. I always thought that I'm a helpful chap. I did all I can in MSC. Did some things for the batch. Help a cat deliver kittens...but that didn't really count. I've written about this once and it has come to haunt me again. GOOD GUYS NEVER WIN.

It doesn't matter what you have done in the past. What good you did. It all comes down to what you can do for yourself. There are other people out there who couldn't care about others but they get the good life. This is one of the rare moments when I don't have a positive outlook in life. I just ran out of positives. I'll just have to wait for my enthusiasm to come back up. I don't know when that day will come. In the meantime. I'll just wonder around this world and find a purpose....life is a routine. Wake up, sahur, solat, sleep, solat, read abit, solat, buka, solat, read abit, sleep....