Once in a while, I find things that I am passionate with. This is one of them. A group of women whom had worked for many, many years suddenly found they no longer have a job. No compensation, no compassion.

So, their frustrations are understandable. They were rather lost as their rep. doesn’t have a loud hailer. He told them to walk to Komtar while he went ahead first with his children in the car.

I noticed he was missing from the court’s compound. I phoned him and he realised the workers didn’t get his instruction to walk there.

I almost wanted to ask the women, ‘Jom kita pi Komtar’. Of course, I cannot do that because it is against my work ethics. Secondly, I can be hauled up by the SB for being the dalang of the peaceful walk. Everyone does know that it is considered illegal gathering if more than five people gathered together in that manner, right? But the police in Penang is gracious and allowed these big group of women to walk the streets of Georgetown.

So, I went ahead with my car. I stopped at the Assumption Church and waited for these ladies to walk by because I know they will do that. Then, I drove to Komtar to have a nice, cold, lemon tea while they walk. Life is unfair, huh? These ladies have to walk in the hot sun, just to ask for an appointment to see the CM. Meanwhile, all of us are bitching about everything in the cold comfort of our houses, offices, shopping malls and cars.

Retrenchment benefits for these Nikko employees are probably hard to come by because the company is filing for bankruptcy. So, according to my accountant hubby, the employees will be the last to get the money. Usually, the liquidation of assets or whatever will be used to pay creditors first. By then, there will be no money left.

I asked MTUC chairman, “Isn’t there a law to protect employees?” He said, “YES….” But then, if employers want to bail out and leave their poor employees in the lurch, the employees are helpless.

There is more to this video. But I shall deal with the other issue when the time is right. Now, all I want is for these women to know that they are not unseen and unheard. Someone in level 28 better make sure that the CM meets the workers’ rep. The last time, CM and DCM2’s staffs have not only delivered empty promises, they also disappointed these women at the last minute by cancelling the appointment after it was doubly confirmed.

You may or may not be able to help, but turning them away is inexcusable. (see what happened in the last attempt and compare to history) If these women get the same treatment again, I will make sure some arses get whacked. AGAIN.

Maybe I have become so Christian, I no longer fear an empty rice urn will cause me to go hungry for the rest of my life.

Or the fact that I don’t have red colour decorations around the house will cause good luck to skip over my house.

Or I don’t have kitchen god so I no longer need to send him back to heaven gossip on me, after I stuff his mouth with nien-gao.

Or my kids are so much more grown up, I cannot con them into enjoy Chinese New Year with me.

You know, you cannot force them to buy new clothes when they asked, “But why must we buy clothes? We only wear boxers at home!”

So, without only less than a week from Chinese New Year, I haven’t done a thing.

There is no point doing spring cleaning because I just moved into this rented home less then 3 months ago. Many of my boxes are still unpacked.

There is no point giving the house a new coat of paint or the bedsheets a fresh set because the paint is new and bedsheets are such a chore to change.

Last year, I made a lot of Chinese New Year cookies. This year, I am just trying to fit into the routine of fetching kid. So, I really have no energy left to bother with cookies. Anyway, we bake all the time, all year through so what’s so special about Chinese New Year cookies?

With a son who is almost 1/2 a cook, both of us can actually whip up any meals within short notice. So long as we have time to buy the ingredients, we can cook. So, it is no big deal to cook at all.

We have all the angpow packets. So that part is taken care off.

My hubby only started work last year so he doesn’t get a bonus yet this year. Moreover, UMNO companies are strangled and choking so he can forget about getting any fat bonuses until errm…maybe I should start being an UMNO cybertrooper?

Being a Christian actually left me with less stress. I no need to worry about the do and don’t of Chinese New Year. And I don’t worry about it because my Big Boss said, “Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?” (I like King James version of the Bible)

So, this Chinese New Year, I think I will arrange for a small gathering minus the outlaws (blek, not that I can avoid it) at my place. Date, type of foods, who are coming, not decided yet.

You know what I am more worried about? Ash Wednesday and then Lent for 40 days. That’s when I want to go on vegetarian fasting. I failed miserably last year. I want to make up for it this year. That’s what I am most excited about.

I am hoping to get out of Penang. But it is a bad idea because every place will be packed and prices increased. So, I guess I shall just rot at home for a whole week.

However, if you are not from Penang, you should make plans to come to our island. There are several events to be held over here. A state level Chinese New Year celebration will be held in Bukit Mertajam. Then, on the 7th day of the Chinese New Year (Yan Yatt), another one will be held in Georgetown heritage enclave. Finally, one more during Chap Goh Meh.

I went to the lighting of the red lanterns ceremony yesterday. Took this video and enjoyed my walk through the lanes. I went early to shoot and also take photos. Like one hour early.

Penang is really sprucing up for the Chinese New Year. If you go to Gurney Drive, Esplanade, Light Street and the heritage enclave of Armenian Street, Cannon Square, Pitt Street, Kampong Kolam and etc, you really feel all Chinese-y.

I can almost imagine myself, having my feet bounded like my great-grandmother when I saw a beaded shoe shop. When I was outside the Sun Yat Sen base, I imagine Mr. Sun as the strict great-grandfather. BTW, my sons’ middle name Yet came from that Yat Sen, I think. Thank God I am born many decades later or else I think I will die in those eras. The chauvinist era. BTW, our Education Minister does not even know how to pronounce the word chauvinist. I heard he said, CHOW-vi-nis when he was referring to Lim Guan Eng on TV3 news. It should pronounce as shaw-vi-nist. Come on lah, you are the Education Minister, malu kan? If don’t know how to even pronounce, don’t lah want to kutuk people using the word.

Those red lanterns remind me of the movie Raise the Red Lantern starring Gong Li. It was about the many wives of a man and how they fought to win the favour of the husband. He will select one to sleep and before nightfall, the servants will prep up that wife. They will light the red lantern outside the room of the woman to indicate the man is sleeping there that night.

One of the most valuable quote I remembered from the movie is ‘You must have the smiling face of Buddha but heart of the scorpion.’ Powerful quote, I tell you. I love being Chinese….So many valuable lessons to learn from our 5,000 roots.

Obviously, I am very busy. I am busy because the tomboy in me cannot resist running from place to place covering issues that actually do not concern me. But I am such a kepohchee, I just have to do it.

In the morning, I cover DAP.
Then, I went to Gerakan.
After that, at night, to PKR.

Now, I can call myself a tri-party person.

Forget about politics. I have seen re-run of Lim Guan Eng until I can memorise how many spots he has on his right cheek and left cheek. Doh… That’s the bleh of video editing. You got to watch the same video you shot over and over again during the process of editing. Cut, snip, glue, cut further, snip more, reduce the minutes, cut off all the unnecessary sentences etc.

Once complete, I still watch to sit through at least two viewing to make sure that there are no stray clips. Sometimes when I am lazy, I FF all the video. However, after I have uploaded to Youtube, I only notice I had one stray clip hidden in between clips. Or I added a title call ‘Add Text’.

The day when Lim Guan Eng stopped being a CM, they better vote someone much more handsome or at least laser mouth like him. I never say he is handsome, ok? I only like his laser mouth. Otherwise, if you all voted a CM like errm…Lim Kheng Yaik or Samy Vellu, I shall hang my video camera too, and myself.

So, folks, enjoy the video on Gurney Drive. I have come to a point where I practised self-censorship. Originally, I wanted to feature what a waste of good money on something as ugly as those benches. But then, I better don’t provoke the Fed Gov until they strangle Penang to death. So, I pile the blame to the public instead. But since you are my faithful blog readers, I tell you a secret lah. Those benches are soo ugly, IKEA looks divine.

I have both my ears plugged because I am doing video editing. My super expensive ear plugs are super good in cutting off the noise. Actually, the ear plug doesn’t belong to me. I wouldn’t spend so much on a miserable earphone. It’s my son’s. Some Sony noise cancelling ones that cost over RM100. Hubby’s idea. I have a RM25 one from TDK and it sounds just the same to me.

So, I was snipping off clips, joining audio and video, unlinking clips, listening to speeches, cutting off the unimportant part and etc. Full concentration. My boy has gone to sleep so no one is going to tap on my shoulder. Total focus.

And I heard some noises inspite of the noise cancelling function. I pulled off my ear plugs and yay! It is raining. Oh gosh, I have forgotten what raindrops outside my window sounds like.

I have the aircond on so I didn’t smell the rain falling on dry, hot cement ground. I love that smell. It is so earthy.

Oh boy, I am so happy it rains. If you are from Penang, you will understand why we Penangites are so happy. There has been no rain for a long time. There is haze. The sun is super hot. Trees are shedding leaves and over here, it is like autumn.

My #2 son has fallen sick with sorethroat. My little boy too developed some rashes around his mouth and just before bedtime, he told me he has sorethroat too. He asked to gargle with antiseptic mouth wash and wanted to suck on Strepsil.

So, let it rain. Let it rain heavily the whole night through and in the morning too. I guess if my boy wakes up with the same sorethroat, it is time for Dr. Lilian to declare MC for him. Oh boy, in that case, let it flood. Bring on the rain and flood.

Once again, I have written nothing because I am so sick of the things going on around us. Those are the things that I really want to bitch. But I guess people are watching so I better don’t say anything. *nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh, you got nothing to pick on*

I must go to sleep.
But my dear faithful readers sure come by to see if I have any updates.
Since I am such a nice person, I shall just embed the Thaipusam’s eve video I shoot the other day.

This video garnered 28K views on Malaysiakini and 2,700 views on my Youtube. So, overall, it is a good exposure. Over 30,000 people have watched it.

Wuah, I am so kerng. 30,000 people is not a little, you know? Never have I dreamed that I could one day produce video with a message which would be viewed by 30,000 people. Never. Not even in my dream.

Talking about dream, I must sleep. For the next two mornings, I must learn to wake up on my own, get two kids ready for school. Drop one in St. Xavier secondary and one in primary. I am not sure what time I can only reach primary. Sigh…must go flutter lashes at gurubesar so that he doesn’t whack my kid with the rotan for coming late. Sigh..aiyor….Mr. Chuah…veli soli hor….you see hor, I have to drive from Tanjung Bungah to Jalan Farquhar and then, I lost my way to Jalan Air Itam. Seriously, I have no idea how to get from Love Lane to Jalan Air Itam tomorrow morning. I sure ended up pusing-pusing in Jalan Chulia, Jalan Penang until bell ring. *runs to ask hubby* Nite!

My little boy’s vocab is big. Sometimes too big for a six years old kid.

He knows the word betray.
He knows the meaning of ’spending time’.

I forgot what I said. Something about not going to do something. He asked so sweetly, “Why? So that you can spend time with your baby?”

Just now, the three of us were in the car. Hubby, him and I. Hubby and I were talking about something. We passed by Gurney Drive and the vendors were blowing bubbles. So, from the back of the car he said he wanted to buy bubble. Hubby and I were still in the midst of conversation.

From the back, he says, “Mom….are you paying attention to me or not?”

Me : Of course I am. You say you want to buy bubble, right? See? I can hear and I can talk at the same time.

So, today we shared a little secret. I am not suppose to betray. BETRAY…

Here’s what I told hubby.

Today, someone was sitting down on the cement floor at the school porch. He was wiping tears with his hankerchief when the mother arrived. The mother was late by about 3 minutes. ONLY THREE minutes because the clock showed 12:38.

The mother was late because lorries were parked along the whole Western Road to clear the Thaipusam stalls. Then, efficient traffic police was doing roadblock outside Polo Ground school, slowing down each car and shooing bikes to the side.

So, the mother saw the poor kid but she is used to his drama king acting. She waved at him from outside the school compound and he tried to pretend he wasn’t crying.

She went to him and asked what’s wrong. He burst into tears. I lost my wallet and my water tumbler at the canteen….

She told him, don’t worry, never mind one. We can buy a new one.

He find another reason. I was sooo thirsty….I got no money to buy drinks.

The mother told him, Next time, you can always tell the auntie in the canteen to ‘write in book’ (credit) and eat and drink all you want.

Actually, the wallet was in the car. He dropped it. (now we bought the ‘cable spring’ to secure to his pants) The water tumbler is probably left in the canteen.

Drama king was happy after that because he found the wallet and bought a Wall’s Icecream from Caltex.

To end the story, the mother sat down with the kid and told him, “No matter how long you wait, you know mommy will come and fetch you. If not, Jeff ko-ko sure come. Sometimes, we get traffic jam, sometimes car broke down. See? Today Jeff ko-ko bike rosak and he has to ask mommy to fetch him. But whatever it is, we sure come and fetch you. Somemore, today you waited for only five minutes. That’s a very short time. Your classmates haven’t even finish their Mandarin class.”

Oh ya, also remember, Mr. Chuah (the gurubesar) is my friend. (bluff only, name dropping nia to console the kid) If you have a problem, go to his office. His office got aircond and Astro. You just tell him you are Lilian’s son. He sure afraid of mommy one. He sure take care of you nicely if not mommy make CJ video of him, how? Kekeke. When you are in school, got teachers and Mr. Chuah to take care of you. So, don’t worry, ok? Whenever you see Mr. Chuah in school, you must always wish him loud-loud, Good morning/afternoon, Sir! (see, I teach my kid from young on how to carry the right balls kekeke)

And then, he said, You cannot tell papa, ok? You cannot betray me.