It’s been a whirlwind, this holidays.

The 3 boys are really something to take care of.

My initial summary of the month of December: 4 Weddings, 3 Boys, 2 Feelings and 1 Funeral.

What a month indeed!

***

I admit.

I have a love-hate relationship with KL.

I love it when I’m not here, but I hate it when I am.

There are just too many idiotic drivers on the road these days. More than ever before, I think.

Today I saw a man deliberately ignore a no-entry sign and drove into the road, head-on towards the incoming cars.

And there was this driver in a black Proton Waja who just threw out a bunch (mind you, not one piece or two, but a WHOLE bunch) of tissues and scrap papers on the road. Come on la, the tong sampah can’t be THAT far away right?

The other day I was trying to turn out of the Gombak Petronas petrol station (the exit was big enough only for one car to pass through at a time, since there were many other cars parked AT the exit). I followed the exit which had the arrow pointing AWAY from the petrol station, and what do you know? Another car decided to come in using the EXIT way.

I tell you, KL drivers (both men AND women) are making me lose my patience, temper and hair.

So idiotic.

…

Yes, me included.

Thought I’d just share some thoughts I posted on Facebook recently.

“It’s weird how wonderful it sometimes is when you’re able to work in peace.” (November 18th, 3.32 pm)

“It’s times like these that you cannot help but ask (again), “Will it ever be my turn?” But then again, you also cannot help but be thankful for all that you have right now. Life is still good, in spite of all the other good things that AREN’T happening to me.” (November 19th, 5.08 pm)

“When it rains, and you’re alone, it feels really good to be cooped up in the house, under a warm blanket, eating great grandma’s fried potato and eggs, sipping a nice hot cup of Milo and watching “Hannibal.” Morbid betul!” (November 20th, 12.08 pm)

“Being invited to weddings = nice. Responding to the question, “One or two?” = NOT nice. :S” (November 29th, 8.59 pm)

“(Marcus Khoo) Hates that life goes on… and it’s hard to catch up with it.” (November 30th, 12.30 am)

“Why is it that the ones you love the most always tend to be the ones who also exasperate you the most?” (Novmber 30th, 11.16 am)

Off to Genting today till Wednesday. Then, more trips around KL and weddings to attend.

Cheers.

End of the year saw me busy again with all the work PLUS:

1. The school sports carnival

The number ONE tug of war girls team in the school. Haha!

2. End of year parties.

and to top it all…

3. In-house training at The Tang Dynasty Park Hotel in KK. Sounds grand, eh?

That’s why so busy la…

***

Today I said goodbye to a very special bunch of students.

These were the ones who came in together with me back in 2005, when I first started my teaching career in SMK Telaga.

Some of them, I was class teacher in Form 1 and then again in Form 4.

But all of them I saw grow up. Along with all the scoldings and tears, there was a whole lot of laughter and craziness.

And after everything that has happened over the past 5 years, I will admit to this: I love them to bits.

I thought it was hard to let Eklin go last year. This year, to let go a whole bunch of students, especially with all our history together, was worse.

Out of 60 or so students, about 50 of them were hostel students. Out of 50 of them, 15 of them were with me when they were in Form 4. And out of that 15, 11 of them were with me since Form 1.

Oh, how I will miss them!

I think of Siti Nurhaliza’s “Melawan Kesepian” each time I think of them:

Apa pun yang terjadi, berjalanlah tanpa henti

Air mata tertahan waktu untuk dijatuhkan

Nanti kita kan tahu betapa bijaknya hidup

Sepahit apa pun ini, pelajaran yang bererti

Semoga kepergianmu tak akan merubah apa pun

Semoga mampu ku lawan kesepianku…

*sigh*

***

This year, for my birthday, I organised two parties, one small and one medium scale.

Look at the fruit we had for the two parties:

The tarap party was the small party I had on the eve of my birthday. I called about 16 people to finish about 20 taraps. It was a fun gathering, although everything was gone in about 10 minutes. Haha!

But the real thing was about to happen the next day.

I arranged several long tables together to sit about 17 people, and on the night of my birthday, I invited the 16 people who were with me when they were in Form 4 to come for a dinner. It wasn’t just about my birthday, but more importantly, it was also a farewell dinner. MY way of saying goodbye to each of them.

Well, I would have liked to cook, but gosh, for 17 people? Not so ready yet la me… so I did the logical thing and catered the food for the dinner.

Of course, photo sessions were mandatory before the dinner began.

After the dinner was the second round: Durian party.

26 kilos of durians, mind you.

It was a lot, and it was seriously HOT after that

But I’ll never forget my 29^th birthday. It was celebrated in a very special way with a very special group of people for a very special occasion.

But you know what, unfortunately, that wasn’t the end of the birthday week I had.

***

The very next day, a series of disciplinary cases emerged in our school, one after another. The cases mostly involved the hostel students, and I lost my temper (again, at the end of the year, I do this!) in a very, very bad way: This time, my mouth went ahead of my head.

Of course, from time to time, hostel students do get an earful from me if there was something that needed to be said. But after it was all over, I would quickly revert back to my normal self (something which takes a lot of skill and long time to learn) and students would know that the “inner fire” in me has been put out, so I’m still approachable. This time however, even when I was blabbing away, I felt different. After everything was over, I felt sick in my stomach. I knew that I had gone too far, and said things that I should not have said in such a public arena. It got so bad, that it affected all the Form 5 students, and somehow that birthday weekend was ruined for me. I spent the entire weekend cooped up in my house, distancing myself away from everyone, replaying the entire incident over and over again in my head. And when I couldn’t take it anymore, I watched TV and movies just to distract me (I ended up watching “The Silence of the Lambs”, “Red Dragon” and “Hannibal Rising”. Talk about morbid!).

(I did hear, though, that some students thought I was not around in school, since no one seemed to have seen me. Haha! Maybe that was why hardly anyone came knocking on my door the entire weekend. It was really a first!)

Come Monday was no different. No one in class could even look me in the eye, and neither could I them. Teaching that day was fruitless. It was a horrible feeling. I knew I had to do some damage control, and thus I called a meeting with all the Form 5 hostel students and spoke calmly to them about what I had to do (as per the regulations of my responsibility) but also about what I should not have done at the “scolding fest”. At the end of it all, I asked for their forgiveness, something which I have been conditioned by my peers never to do, lest we lose the respect of our students. After I had finished, some of them were already in tears and almost all of them came up to me to shake my hand or hug me, even saying sorry.

I was moved by the outcome. Thus, this birthday held a very strong lesson for me. It was not just on the danger of a loose tongue and how much more growing I need to do, but more so on the wonderful freedom and liberation forgiveness brings. While it may be the hardest word, “SORRY” is also a very powerful one. And we all need to say it when necessary, even to our subordinates.

***

This holidays will see me with Adimant, Frindy and Jexson. This round seems more packed somehow, maybe because our first week has already been booked, first to PD then off to Genting. Plus, they’re also off to YA! Camp, and I’m also swamped with weddings to attend (I think!). All I know is that I REALLY hope this time I won’t “kena” something like the last time I brought Raffly, Renlly and Eklin over. Seriously la, appendicitis?

See you when I get back.

My birthday la, that is.

Yea, I know, with each passing year, I seem to be getting more and more shameless about it. Haha!

But, you know what? I would really, really like these:

1. “YOU: The Owner’s Manual” by Dr Mehmet Oz (I think Mon is getting this for me).
2. Brian McLaren’s “The Voice of Acts: The Dust of Their Feet”
3. The other 4 Jane Austen books that I don’t have, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, Emma and Mansfield Park.
4. All 7 McDonald’s Coca Cola Contour Glasses (I only have the Charcoal Grey and Royal Purple {er, sort of la…}).
5. F.R.I.E.N.D.S – all 10 seasons DVD.
6. And of course, all the stuff I mentioned in years past. They’re still valid.

But what I really need is more strength to get through this final month of school. Sigh…

Oh, by the way, Matt, I already got the bluetooth handsfree already. Haha!

Anyhow, this 29th birthday of mine, I’m doing something special. Watch out for the post!

I had resisted doing this for so long, but one fine afternoon, I decided to finally do it.

And man, it was really worth the wait.

I’m so glad that I finally did it.

It was REALLY good.

…

Just watched “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight”.

DK, especially was really, really good. No need la to analyse why, I think all the analysis and comments were done like last year.

Anyhow…

Forgive me for waiting so long…

But, it was worth the wait.