Step Two... And Done!

When we started the process of transferring Lik Jun's primary school from San Yuk to Khai Chee, we had already been informed that the process would take at least two months. Two months just to transfer your name from a school that you have yet to attend, to another one. We would expect the process to be even more complicated for Pey Gyn. But strangely, we were told that we could only begin the process in the last week of school.

So...if it takes two months for Lik Jun's case, how long would you expect it to take for Pey Gyn?

Surprise, surprise! Just a few minutes, literally.

We collected the transfer form from your current school last Friday and then passed it to your teacher to fill up some information, got it submitted to your school's office yesterday and a few hours later, a letter was issued, signed by the principal.

This morning, we went back to the Ministry of Education's Jabatan Pelajaran Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, met with an officer at the Unit Sekolah Rendah who vetted through the same letter and looking over the relevant documents, stamped and signed on it, and voila! The process is complete.

It must be the briefest time we had ever had to spend in a government office!

Until now, I cannot understand the reason why it took two months for Lik Jun's transfer process. But then again, as long as the biggest concern of our moving house is complete, I'm a happy person. It was just as easy when we approached Khai Chee with the signed letter. The assistant Principal just took down your particulars, assigned you a class and that's it. Now, all you need to do is just show up in school in the new academic year, show the letter and you can begin lessons.

So, the process of transferring your schools is now officially complete.

Are you going to miss your school and especially your friends?

Time Is Passing Too Fast!

Daddy and Mommy are on the verge of a big big fight over renovation works to our new house! Of course, we could have just moved in without any kind of work being done and save a lot more money for Chinese New Year preparations, but some repair works are simply necessary and can't be ignored.

And since we're on that topic, we thought, we might as well consider re-doing some parts which will be either impossible or too troublesome to do once we have moved in. Things like tiling and plaster ceilings.

Soon, we got carried away to other items. Mommy want an American Standard toilet while Daddy felt the existing ones are still usable. Daddy wants a counter top to double as our dining table but Mommy felt it's too much work and involves too much money.

It does look like we won't be able to move in before year's end.

But we have got to move before the new academic year starts next year! Argh...!!!

Working Without A Computer

Can you imagine working without a computer in the office nowadays? I bet you can't fathom how people could go to work at a table void of the industrial computer and a time of manual records.

Well, I can. In fact, I have worked in such an environment. Of course, this was back in the mid-1990s. In those days, we had only 2 computers to be shared among 30 staff. You might think we all depended on it and would queue to use it. But on the contrary, we didn't. We relied heavily on manual records and the typewriter. And yes, every secretary had a typewriter then!

Gradually, we moved on to having 2 computers to each department and soon, everyone got one each, including our despatch boy and receptionist.

Now, all of us depend totally on that machine, and we stare into it almost 80% of our time in the office.

Doing work, or...? Hmm...

If We Didn't Have Kids...

You know, every now and then, Daddy and Mommy like to imagine things and when we do, the sky is always the limit.

We often imagined how Uncle Daniel and Li-Zhim would communicate and come up with excuses of returning late, just because they dread spending time with their children and having to tend to their homework, etc.

We have even tried to forecast Ah-Mah's reaction when we were on the way home to surprise her with a gown she was eyeing on for Uncle Ken's wedding last year, which she had to politely turn down at the boutique a few days earlier.

What if we didn't have children after our marriage? Would we have saved enough for a cancun vacation instead of just settling for domestic holidays?

Anyway, Mommy might have the answer to that. And that is a "no". Mommy, for one, might have spent the money on that bottle of youth-promising essence, or perhaps sign up for a course with Marie France. As for Daddy? I know he would want a sportier car. Then he will be able to race with that Honda Accord 3.0 that sped past us, leaving us with a trail of exhause fumes.

I'd still say having children was a much wiser choice.

Gutsy Lady

Earlier today, Ah-Mah got a call from a stranger who later passed to line to Wa-thai-mah. Turned out that she was admitted to the hospital for observation on her persistent cough that began more than two weeks ago.

But what concerned everyone was the fact that this 85-year-old lady travelled all by herself from Petaling Jaya to the General Hospital in KL, not by taxi, but by LRT and bus. She must have taken a lot longer than it would take for a healthy and fit person to travel that distance, because she related her story to us when Daddy and Mommy visited her at the hospital later about how she broke her journey by taking short breathers when she was tired or out of breath.

She tried to inject humour of how concerned passers-by asked if she needed help when they saw her seated on the steps leading up the the train stations.

But it broke our heart knowing that she was just trying to be strong when the people around her would offer no help despite her obviously deteriorating cough.

She stays with a daughter (Yi-poh) and her family of 5, and two more sons. When she left the house in the late morning, they knew where she was headed. But they still allowed her to leave on her own.

What sort of child are they?? Where in their hearts do they find it forgiving to allow their mother to travel alone, walking out to the LRT station, climbing up the stairs, asking perfect strangers on the nearest station to alight plus lots more walking before arriving at the doctor's office to seek treatment? And mind you, we're talking about a government hospital and not some 5-star private hospital who will race to patients with wheelchairs and all, escorting them to the right department and attended to immediately.

Wa-thai-mah waited for hours to get her blood samples taken and X-Ray done before being warded finally in the late afternoon, all the while on an empty stomach. And this gutsy lady bravely asked a nurse for a cup of Milo. When we arrived at her hospital bed, she was having her dinner, clearly starving. Mommy love to see how her face always lights up when she sees me. She is always optimistic albeit all the hardships she faces, and for many reasons, Mommy love her just like my own grandmother.

Unfortunately, despite our repeated pleas, she refuses to come over to stay with Ah-Mah permanently. She prefers to stay in her own house. Because it's her house. And Ah-Mah's house is her grandchild's house and she will not die in a house that is not hers.

Whenever we talk about Wa-thai-mah, we never fail to talk about the treatment she gets from her children and grandchildren. And the most glaring question is always "Why can't they be nice to her?"

Parting Gift

As we know well, Pey Gyn is not a highly active person in school. Your name is virtually unknown when it comes to extra curricular activities, including sports. Mommy have always encouraged you to participate in such activities, but you would frown at my suggestions.

The only areas where we hear of you taking part will be in the academic area. Quizzes are your favourite, but unfortunately, you often missed the top few spots.

So you were understandably beaming with pride when you got a trophy from your school today. You even went to the extent of planning a surprise by hiding the trophy in Mommy's bag, waiting for me to discover. And according to Ah-Mah, you gave her a stern warning to keep it a secret.

Only 3 students from your class were awarded, and everyone clapped when your teacher presented them in a very simple ceremony in class today.

This would be a really nice parting gift from you school, wouldn't it?

Today...

5th November will always be my most unfavoured day of the year.

However Mommy try to ignore it, feelings of deja vu will come back to me, involuntarily reminding me of how dark this day was, a couple of years ago. Details are still vivid, no matter how far I try to push it to the back of my mind.

Why won't it go away?

Maybe I don't want it to go away...

I keep thinking, "What if...?" and "Why didn't...?" and "How was it that...?"

Is it true that, if you throw away something that was given to you, nature will find a way to take something back from you?

Is that karma?

Customer Service

At times when the economy is still in the red and barely surviving, it is amazing that one business is booming - the inbound call center providing independent and top quality customer service through the phone.

Malaysia's low cost carrier, Air Asia recently contracted out their customer service to such companies and response is really encouraging. That is because those people working there are trained professionals and they strive to provide the best service to their paymasters.

Mommy know of a friend who used to work in such a company and he used to tell me how much stress they work under in the office. Regular reports are required and their bosses will come after them if their paymasters receive the slightest complaint of bad service or slow response or failure to solve the callers' problems.

Bad for the call center staff, but good for the consumers. Hmm...

More Good News

One day after we got the keys to our new apartment (new as in, new to us, not the apartment itself), we got our first mail in our letterbox.

And it's a letter from the government.

Which carried good news that our application to admit Lik Jun to SJK(C) Khai Chee had been successful!

And we were to enrol you "dengan kadar segera"!

So today, we proudly walked into the school, carrying the necessary documents. Suddenly, it felt that we belonged there. Hang on, it shouldn't be a "feel". It is now a fact that we are part of the school!

You were placed at random and will report to school for orientation on 31st December.

Now that you have been successfully transferred to this school, Kah-cheh's application should be a breeze.