Friday, January 02, 2004

New beginnings

The new things 2004 have ushered in or have in store for me, so far:

1. New family member
My first, and also my only in-law that I'd ever have, I suppose, unless Bro marries another, heh heh, considering that there's only the two of us. The wedding reception on our side was yesterday. Made a public invitation on this blog too, but nobody came looking for me saying something like "Hi Ted, thanks for inviting me through your blog". Oh well. Maybe they (the four or so people who stumbled upon this blog that day) didn't notice the invitation at the tag-board. Maybe I should've put up a post with extra-big letters, all caps and ping it to the Project Petaling Street page. Hmm.. anyway to those who missed it (yes, all four of you), get your grubby hands on a copy of today's Utusan Malaysia (the paper version) if you wish to see the happy couple's picture in page 15. VillagePhotos still not letting us free-riders to do our usual remote linking.

This time around, I wasn't on bunga telur duty for a change. No, sir. I'm the groom's sister, the host family, therefore I had to stand guard at the welcoming area and ensure that guests were:
a. Correctly directed to the designated kenduri area (instead of straying away to the fruit orchard and wondering "Where is the kenduri?");
b. They got to salam (shake hands) with the parental units and in the process allow those with the noble intentions of giving money packets get their chance to do so - it is a custom in Malaysia for wedding guests to include some money when they shake hands with the groom's parents. Great custom, eh?

I never knew simply walking around shaking hands with people and saying "Thanks for coming, my parents are over there" could be sooo tiring. Yeap, that's exactly what I did from noon to about 4 p.m. on the first day of 2004. Oh, and add facing the tirade of "When will it be your turn?" (some did it complete with the optional dig at the sides) to which my stock answer this time was "Bagilah Mama dengan Abah bernafas dulu" (I'm giving Mom and Dad some room to breathe first).

I'm undecided on how to address my sister-in-law; she's younger than me by 5 months. I've been calling her by name all these while, but now that it's official, some people (especially the elders) view that as a bit, well, not sesuwai la... Feels a bit weird to call her kakak (older sister), which by right is what it should be (according to the usual Malay custom). At the moment resorted to Kakak Ipar (really!), which literally means Sister-In-Law.

2. Workwise : New unit, new boss, new responsibilities, new desk
Have yet to receive the black and white, but future boss had already called on me to report for duty and even assigned a few matters for my immediate attention – right on the day before the start of my long leave (for Bro’s wedding). Will only be back this Monday though to find out about it all. Mixed feelings over this new placement – glad I won’t have to pack and go to a remote station elsewhere, and anxious since I still have only a slight idea of what would be my new responsibilities.

3. My first election! - when aa??
Excited at this prospect. Feel very much like an adult thinking about this. That little ‘X’ on the government-issued piece of paper that I put down will help to determine who gets to represent our area / town / whatever-you-call-it and (gasp!) maybe even chart the path for the next (or after the next or after after the next) Prime Minister. Hm.. better start practising doing perfect ‘X’s soon. Wouldn’t want to chance for an undi rosak now, would we?

4. New DPM
Please, Pak Lah. End the wait. To quote a very famous phrase, “Dah lama dah…..”

5. Komuter station at Midvalley
If it really will be within walking distance to the mall, that is.

6. Channel 8
Long live terrestrial TV! More free channels, more! Any possibility of the emergence of Channels 4, 5, 6 (wonder why were these channel numbers skipped) or 10 in the near future?

7. Cheaper imported cars
Dare we hope for this one?
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I’m glad you’re here, 2004!
Happy new year to all.


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