: : After Breakfast with my two aunties : :
Potential Stand-up Comedians. Discussion on errand to do after breakfast.
Auntie I : I need to go to a photostating shop.
Auntie II : Why do you need to go to a photostating shop?
Auntie I : (Glaring over her reading specs) To copy lah!
While driving on the road.
Wena : Aiya! Slow drivers always drive on the right lane in Kuching. Grrr…
Auntie II : Slow drivers die young. True!!
Hahaha! I laughed so hard whenever I’m with the two of them.
: : Crappy Streamyx ~ Part II : :
The vendor dude came in the morning. Cheh! Thought he confirmed evening yesterday. Well, he didn’t deny it so what I heard is correct. Anyway, modem settings are alrite. Phew! Apparently it’s the line connection in the entire area I live in. He had 10 complaints so far. Doh!
Then again, it’s bloody well time Telekom started upgrading the telephone lines in Tabuan Jaya which is old. Very old.
Not to mention the power outages we get during the dry and hot hot season. With everyone turning on their aircon on at once, it shorts the substation. Adoi!
: : Crappy Streamyx : :
Right, I’m pissed. When people complained so much about Streamyx, there is more than an ounce of truth to it. More like a kilogram or at least a ton of truth in it. So, let’s do a chronology of it. Yes, I’m irritated.
Thursday
Got it installed. Came home to find a new modem connected and my uncle in joy. Didn’t know the vendor was going to install it then.
Friday, Saturday, Sunday
Could connect on with no problem.
Monday
Couldn’t log on at all. Afternoon and evening. Called Min Yen and she said hers was fine (lives a few lanes down the road).
Tuesday
Min Yen called to ask whether I managed to connect on after all. Told her no, because still couldn’t connect on. Found Streamyx helpline to call me back. Never did. Spoke to cousin who said that I should have left the modem. Maybe I jammed up the node. Okie then, to call Help line tomorrow.
Wednesday
Have concluded that the Streamyx helpline is just a message box and a way for Telekom to make money from telephone calls to the line as it makes you wait for about 3 min before you are able to leave a message. Left a message to phone me back. Never did. Spoke to the dude that installed the modem. He said that he only warranties for 2 weeks and it slipped my mind that he just installed it last week. Anyway, he said he will check for me. Fine.
Thursday
Spoke to IT sifu at the office. Said that I need to check if ADSL is connected. Came home at lunch to try it out but didn’t have the userid or password. Darn. However, managed to connect to streamyx but only for a short while. So, called the vendor dude again who said that he will come by after 7 p.m. to take a look at the settings. Never came. Too irritated to call him. Will call him tomorrow.
Now I have so many advice on how to connect to streamyx :
•Leave modem on but can leave computer powered off
•Leave both the modem on and the computer on with streamyx line connected
•Know how to set the settings on the ADSL
•Be around when the vendor is installing the modem else it’ll be difficult to troubleshoot problems afterwards
•The chances of the installation not being correct is extremely high according to many friends who are connected to streamyx. Doh!
So, I’m back to using my dial-up modem and on my Jaring account. It was definitely very fishy when another vendor called me up on Friday to ask to install in my connection. Will call the vendor tomorrow and give him an earful about not turning up.
On the other hand, the pictures of my sister’s wedding invitation card cheered me up a bit. Have a looksee here.
: : Meat : :
A meal complimented by delicious, scrumptious and definitely tasty roasted meat in the form of char siew @ sweetened roast pork, siao bak @ roasted belly pork, and roast duck. Courtesy of Felix’s mother who is a darling for taking the time and trouble to buy this for us during the weekend of Amah’s passing. We had it for dinner along with some other goodies.
Where did she buy it? Honestly, I don’t know. Got a bit dizzy running around tie-ing red string onto colour hankies, jotting down donations from visitors, passing out hankies and packet drinks to visitors, sneaking into the aircon room (wooppps!), snapping up pictures for Tua Ee and others who couldn’t make it, and catching up with my relatives on the latest news and old stories about Amah. Basically, helping out wherever I could which wasn’t much compared to having to organize the entire do. All of my cousins were runners whereas my aunts and uncles were chatting with the visitors and doing the tough bit of making sure all arrangements were carried out by Sunday.
One thing’s for sure, black pants and white shirts are on my shopping lists. Never know when it’ll come in handy.
: : GE 2004 : :
4:30 p.m. Sunday 21 March 2004. At late Granny’s house. The conversation is an abbreviated version.
2nd aunt : Aiya! Forgot that today have to go and vote! So late already!
Someone : Still got time lah! Can someone drive her down?
Someone else : Get Ah Wei to drive her lah!
Yet Someone else : He’s not here lah.
My Mum : Wena’s got a car. Can drive her down lah!
Wena : Yeah, Auntie. Can, I don’t mind.
Cousin : Me too.
Wena : Sure. No worries.
4:45 p.m. Outside the school. Speaking to a policeman.
Wena : Pakcik! Masih buka kah? (Uncle! Still open for voting?)
Policeman : Ya ya! Masih! (Yes yes! Still open!)
Wena : Auntie, you’re lucky. Still open.
Policeman : Oi! Buka pagar! Ada orang tua sini! (Oi! Open the gate! There’s an elderly person here!)
Cousin : Wah! Good good. No need to walk so far.
So, if one doesn’t want to walk the long walk to the polling station, do a good deed by bringing the elderly to vote. As for me, my polling station is in my hometown Miri as SPR did not recognize my current address but rather my address on my IC. Well, I’ve now applied for the new MyKad, have since changed my address to the current one, making it easier to vote in Kuching. Luckily the BN candidate also won the Parlimentary seat for Miri. Phew!
: : Generosity : :
During the weekend when the funeral arrangements were made and waiting for family members to arrive, cousins and other relatives were buying food for the family. Here is the midnite snack that we had.
We had chai kueh @ fried yam with egg, siao bee @ steam pork dumplings wrapped in wantan skin and char siew pao @ white buns with sweetened pork meat.
We all caught up with stories of Amah over the table and throughout the next three days. Stories that some of us have never heard or new ones from friends and relatives that happened over the years. Happy stories. Sad stories. Funny stories. Even now trying to remember everything is a bit hard. Must write it down one day.
The last picture I had with Amah was some time last year. This was taken in November 2003 when my Dad was in town and we went to visit her. Sad to say that I wasn’t so close to this grandmother, having grown up in a different town which was about 50 minutes after by airplane. I did managed to catch up with tales of Amah over the years and more recently, during the gathering of the family to remember her passing.