Jarod’s Den

2007

It’s about time I start posting again.

2007 is already here. For me the new year started without much celebration except for the family lunch on the New Year day itself. One of the reasons is because the Malaysian government does not encourage too loud a celebration due to the Muslim’s Hari Raya Haji which falls on January 31. Another reason being the insane traffic jams that surrounds the entire klang valley when people of all ages are out celebrating away from the city center (due to first reason mentioned).

Looking back, 2006 was pretty good for me. I’ve learnt quite a lot about life and reality that year. Here’s 5 things I’ve learnt:

1. Nothing is permanent. Joy can turn to sadness and celebrations can turn into a time of mourning. This is true vice versa. People whom you love and thought is going to be there forever will one day be no more. I’m happy for knowing her all these years and regret not cherishing the moments we had. I love you grandma.
2. Never depend on people. People will come, people will go. Some you can trust and some you just can’t. This holds true for acquaintances, friends and even people you call family. There is only 1 person you can trust; God.
3. Daily expenses will continue to go up. No matter how nicely worded the government statements are, the bottom line, all they are saying is “you hafta pay more now!”. Petrol (or gas) price has increased, toll has increased, electricity and water tariffs have increased but the vehicle road tax has decreased. For the retarded, this may seemed good. For the smarter ones (like me, ahem) you will noticed that what you have to pay daily has increased but what you pay annually has decreased. It don’t take a mathematic genius to figure out the overall savings.
4. Corruption is in every country. The question is how corrupt?
5. War is nothing more than a platform for some idiotic government to declare “I’m boss!”.

So what’s ahead in the new year 2007. If I can tell, I would be very rich today. No new year resolutions. I’m sick and tired of it. I’ve achieved more without making any resolutions. It all boils down to what you want to see yourself achieved when. You don’t have to wait for a new year to come to make that kind of goals.

But there’s a few things I would like to see in 2007:

1. Saddam (Hussein) is dead, send the soldiers home already!
2. Not all floods are Act of God. It’s because you did not design the drainage system properly! You know who you are.
3. Improve in service for (our sorry excuse of an ISP) TMNut TMNet.
4. Better pay. With the price incease in everything (yes it’s an exaggeration) at least increase the salary too.
5. More prudence in spending by the government. Sending people into space just so you can scream “Malaysia Boleh!” is not only retarded but also a total waste of tax payer’s money.

There’s plenty more from where that came from but I have to rush off to the umpteen wedding dinner I had to attend for the past 2 months. Sheesh… is everybody getting desperate or what…

Oh yes, before I forget… Happy New Year 2007!

Tags: 2007, celebration, new year

Mum’s Birthday

Yesterday, mum celebrated her 51st birthday.

The family, consisting of mum, myself, uncle and his wife, had a simple dinner at a Taiwanese steamboat restaurant. I’m not sure if it’s authentic Taiwanese steamboat but that’s what I was told.

It has been some time since the four of us got together to have dinner. So mum’s birthday was as good an excuse as any.

The Food.

That’s the food up there. Don’t be fooled by the size of the dishes. It’s actually a lot of cabbage at the bottom that made it look like a lot. The food is pretty decent though. Everything is fresh. I had the prawns set while uncle had the beef set. Since women tend to eat less, both ladies shared the fish set.
We had a great time eating and laughing. Unlike other steamboat, this one gives each customer their own pot to cook their own food. It was quite an experience seeing how each of us cook our own food. Of course the ladies excel in this area. We guys just dumped everything into the pot. Since I had prawns, pork meatballs, and the beef and fish stolen from the others, my soup was the best. At least in my opinion since the others all claimed theirs is the best.

The Guys.

Here’s the men. Don’t ask me who he’s feeding. I can assure you it’s not me. We finished up everything. At least I finished up everything. Uncle had some pieces here and there leftover. The ladies, however, struggled to finish their shared dish.

The Gals.

As you can see, we haven’t eaten much yet but the ladies seems to be stopping already. Is it really that much food? They eat so little and yet complain the most about getting fat. I eat so much but yet can never be any where near the ‘fat‘ category.

The Weirdo.

That’s the weird uncle every family has one. You don’t? Oh…

You sure?

Overall, we had a great time. Our tummy was satisfactorily filled. Since we had no birthday cake (by choice), we went for durians. We had very, very good durians (and ridiculously expensive too!). Then we all gulped down a can of 7-UP and had a burping contest to burp out the excellent (debatable) aroma.

Yup, it was fun.

Tags: birthday, celebration, dinner, family, mum