Happy Earth Day! April 22nd, 2011!

This year, Earth Day falls on a Friday, and it is also Good Friday for the Catholics as well as my darling second girl's 8th birthday!

Turning 8 is always very exciting, I think it's more exciting for Chinese due to the emphasis we place on 8, 8 and more 8, because it sounds so much alike to luck and prosperity.

When I say my darling second girl, it is my goddaughter, Genevie's birthday. Her mama, Odri is my distant cousin and childhood friend that I love just as much too! As their godmother, I become their Mummy and their mother is their Mama as they call their father Papa.. so mama and papa matches. If it's Mummy then it's Daddy, well, some people mix it up but for these kids, it just matches!

Have I mentioned before that I have two god daughters and I love them to bits? They are both sisters, Genevie the birthday girl is the younger one and they are two years apart. Both of them of course, belong to Odri, mentioned in the paragraph above, I'm stating the obvious here, of course if they are both sisters, they belong to the same mother, I didn't add any other adjectives or terms to sisters, didn't I? Just reiterating myself! haha.

Her elder sis, Rachel, just turned 9 last year and this year, on 11.11.11, she's gonna turn 10! Yup, she was born on 11th November 2001, 10 years ago, she's my eldest girl, I consider them my girls as I've been their godmum for as long as they could remember!

It seems like just yesterday when I was still holding them in my arms. How fast time flies!

My only hope is for my two girls to be happy and grow up well! Happy Birthday, Tita (Genevie's nickname)! Mummy loves you!

Hump Day is Wednesday, no?

They say Mondays give you the blues as you find yourself having to wake up early (after two mornings of lazing around at home for most of us) and drag your sorry feet to work/school/become the mother for the family, etc).

And Fridays are so wonderful we even have a food chain that is named Thank God It's Friday (TGIF), cos the weekend's here.

My question is.. how about Hump Day? This is a lesser known day compared to Sunday/Friday and Monday or even Saturday night where people are supposed to be partying. Wednesday is supposed to be Hump Day as it is the middle of the week. So then that is true if the week starts on a Sunday.. but for half of the world (a generalisation) we learn that Monday is the first day of the week! So Thursday is another Hump Day for some as well?

I remember a very old rhyme (obviously localised or borrowed from the old British school system) back when I was 7 or 8 in school (I only remember the first line and last line vividly and the rest are kinda blurry but the meaning is there):

Sulaiman Effendi was born on Monday (see, this is the first day of the rhyme!)
went to school on Tuesday
first worked on Wednesday
married on Thursday
became a father on Friday
has a grandchild on Saturday
Died on Sunday.
This is the story of Sulaiman Effendi.

My English teacher was Mr Abu Bakar (his youngest son, Saiful was my classmate for 6 years in primary school and we reconnected through FB).

We would greet him in a sing-song voice in unison - 'Good Morning Mister Abu Bakar'.. and he would look so polished with well-combed wavy hair and walk in. He used to have this whole brown paper (parchment paper, I think), tied up with a wooden 'clip' that he would flip so to the song/rhyme of the day so that he can save up on chalk and writing energy on the blackboard, back when 'computer' was a luxury.. heck, I only literally 'touched' a computer for a month in 1992 when I was completing primary school! It was about RM25 just for the 'computer lessons' where whatever I learned are mostly obsolete now.. there wasn't any mouse back then! lol

My hubby has no recollection of the poems and rhymes I learned back in primary school and almost all of the songs I learned back in school, except for the common one - our Malaysian national anthem - Negaraku.. lol.

Maybe it's the different school systems hubby and I were in. He was in a vernacular school with Chinese as the main medium, English and Bahasa Malaysia (Malay language) are secondary - for me - it was a government-aided Catholic mission school with English and Malay being given equal emphasis, thanks to the Franciscan sister who was the headmistress back then, Sis. Odelia Ngui.

I remember Wednesday was English day for most of my primary school life and we had to be fined RM0.20 (which was big money back then for us school kids!) if we are caught speaking Malay on that particular day as it was English day!

So my only grievance which is my biggest loss is I'm half-Chinese-illiterate, I can speak it with no problem, but I painstakingly had to memorise the characters as I had no formal education in Chinese except for the occasional on-and-off-tuition classes now and then. It was very useful when I entered the job market and I felt crippled by my lack of Chinese education. :(


So for parents out there, especially if you're Chinese out of China, send your kids to at least SIX years of Chinese education (primary school)! One extra language is definitely worth it! The same goes to other additional languages as well!

How do you say Hump Day in Mandarin/Chinese? I have no idea?!?

Just a random thought! :)

It Does Not Help to Discount Others' Feelings

Every human being wants to have his/her feelings recognised and acknowledged. Somehow we have this innate urge to be the 'most' in everything, like the happiest, saddest, proudest, worst, most terrible, most painful, etc.

If one person says oh, the surgery hurt, and you said mine did too, the doc cut me 3 more inches deeper than yours, or my job is bad, you'll say - no, your job isn't that bad, my job is the worst!

Example: I feel so bad, my job is okay, but I find myself dragging my feet to work every morning, I wish I can enjoy my work but I hate my current job.
It doesn't make that person feel better by saying: "You are ungrateful/should count your blessing/do you know how many unemployed people are out there in this economic uncertainty".. and you launch into a lecture or worse, a personal attack on the already stressed out individual.

Yeah, you have many more 'worse' stories but just because you are comparing does not mean that individual will feel any less worse or even feel better about his/her current job!

Acknowledge the feelings first, give that reassurance that you are recognising the feelings, and then slowly, see if you can offer some help or advice, usually people take the short cut and force-feed such individuals that caused them to feel worse about themselves or even worse, shut down altogether and will not attempt to reach out to anyone anymore. This is very sad, especially in cases where a simply word of concern can make one feel better. This is where we get : 'No one understands me' phrases cos too often, humans jump the line and offer their 'better or worse stories' and give a piece of their mind that shut the individual up and retreat into his/her own cave.

Yeah, I understand the need for comparison for a certain level of motivation to improve and for the advancement of 'humankind', that kinda idealism. Despite that, we should remember that our quest to feel the 'most' does not mean we could discount others' feelings too.

When people are sharing their negative feelings, it simply means they are ranting/complaining/need reassurance - Since they need acknowledgment of their feelings, give it to them and keep your advice or 'greater stories' to yourself unless asked/requested. Be kind to yourself and be kind to others by acknowledging their feelings and the world will be a more peaceful place.

Religious Tolerance - Quote From the Late Chief Reverend K Sri Dhammananda Nayaka Thera

A random search on my old blogs and this came up.

I actually paraphrased the quote I've heard in one of the talks I was fortunate enough to attend when the late Chief Reverend was still with us - the High Priest of Malaysia and Singapore has passed on five years ago on 31st August 2006.

"One thing that I have NOT done in my 54 years in Malaysia: I have NOT converted one person to Buddhism. If they are Christians and they came to me for advice/help, I ask them to go back to be better Christians, if they are Muslims or Hindus or Sikh or professed other religions, I ask them to go back and be better Muslims or Hindus or Sikh or practise their faith better. That is one thing which I have not done - to convert another to Buddhism" - Dr K. Sri Dhammananda.

With that, can't we all live with religious tolerance and continue to be happy without wanting others to 'conform' to our 'norms' because there is no such thing as the perfect 'norm'. Peace be unto you. :-)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K._Sri_Dhammananda

DHAMMANANDA’S THOUGHTS

"Happy is he who has lofty and noble aspirations.
Happy is he who enriches the lives of others.
Happy is he who allows others to live in peace.
Happy is he who makes this world a better place to live in.
Happy is he whose work, chores and daily tasks are labours of love.
Happy is he who loves love".

A note on Sarawak 2011 State Election

In Malaysia, we have State Elections to elect assemblymen and Federal Elections (nationwide) to elect Members of Parliament.

The EC has announced the nomination of the state of Sarawak's State Elections on Apr 6th and the polling day on Apr 16th, 2011.

This is hardly a reflection, more like a personal note on Sarawak 2011 State Election from someone who is a nobody like me.

Anyway, let me give you a brief introduction on my voting experience from 2001 when I was 21 up till today.

When I was 21 (the minimum age of registered voters), and I could vote, the state election was held too near to my birthday in October and I could not make it in time to be in the voters list due to something that is out of my control - the creation of Sue by my parents, hence I missed 2001 state election.
- quote on 2001 State Election from wikipedia - The Eighth Sarawak state election was held on 27 September 2001 with nomination date on 18 September 2001. The state assembly was supposed to be expired on 18 November 2001 but it was dissolved by the governor of Sarawak 2 months earlier on 3 September 2001. - so it's so unfair they had to dissolve it earlier by two months and I would have missed it anyway, as at the tortoise rate they update the list, two months is still too little time for them to include my name in the voters' list, so never mind then, I still would have missed the 2001 election.

Then in 2004, I was already a registered voter (the patriot in me made sure I registered as soon as I turned 21), and just as fate would have it, I had to fly to Kuala Lumpur to take up a new reporting job and had to be uprooted and 'stationed' on polling day as it was the Federal Election (nationwide), with candidates contesting for Parliamentary seats. I couldn't abandon my reporting job in Kuala Lumpur back then to fly back to Kuching, cos I was attached to a beat of another constituency in Kuala Lumpur, so there goes my second chance to vote. So much for patriotism, huh? But the candidate I was rooting for in my constituency won. No prizes for guessing who (for those of you who knows I'm a patriot as much of a hopeless romantic).

Then in the last State Election that was in 2006, my mum and I flew back just to vote, and I felt I kinda 'jinx'ed it cos the candidate I voted for lost, no prizes for who I voted for. I vomited immediately after I voted, outside the compound of the school which is my polling station, I remember vividly like it was yesterday, I was down with food poisoning -- and call it coincidence if you like, out came all the Kuching laksa and kolo mee I had upon touch-down the day before and that morning -- and down went my candidate of choice.

Okay, so I'm staying in Kuala Lumpur, you may ask me why don't I change my voting constituency? I just don't fancy changing my voting constituency. The last time a friend and his wife did that, their name disappeared from their old constituency and never appeared in the new constituency so they are no longer registered voters as far as anyone is concerned!

So this time around, I'm gonna pass. Not gonna fly back just to vote, cos judging from the responses on fb among my friends who purposely wanna fly back just to vote, I think that will stir things up enough for us to watch the drama unfold through the mass media. Moreover, during that weekend, I'm going to be up to my neck with work and deadlines (this time around, I'm a lecturer, nope, not in political science but in Public Relations), and to give a very politically-correct response to the election this time around, let me gear up my Public Relations skills to give an acceptable answer:

Someone on facebook, a friend from my childhood years in Bau (a former goldmine town in Sarawak) asked about my comments on the impending election based on my past reporting experience - I kinda like what I typed in the comment box and it came from me, so I'm sharing it here:

"We have to remember not all politicians are bad, they are just different by their levels of commitment towards their 'fight' for the people. Once you join politics, you are bound to have some degree of 'taint', cos it's the same dirty pond we're talking about." -- Sue Tiong, 2011

I rest my case. :-)

Going Down Memory Lane - My 'Breakthrough' Feature News Articles

Going down memory lane here as I scrolled back to 2002 as an intern from a public university in Malaysia, with a passion in journalism and keen to learn (plus some strong support of personal ties to pull strings for special interviews).

The English version
KUCHING BUS SERVICE IN SHAMEFUL CONDITION- COMMUTERS

---

Date: 19-04-2002
Author: Tiong Sue Yii / TSY MT AAM
	Kuching-Bus (Special Report)

KUCHING, 19 April (Bernama) - If there is anything that Kuching
commuters would like to complain about in the city they live in, it is the
poor condition of the bus services.
The bus services here are not only unreliable in terms of commuting
schedule but the condition of many buses is in a state of dilapidation.
Perhaps Kuching is the only city in the world that still allows
"antique" or some refer to them as "dinosaur" buses to run on its streets.
All the six bus companies operating here had been the object of
complaints from passengers over punctuality and the condition of their
boneshakers. Some of the buses are so old and rickety that passengers fear
for their lives.
"The buses are so old...I fear they may fall apart at the next hump,"
said Haji Imali Abdullah, 60, from Taman Malihah here.
He said the buses plying between his housing estate and the city always
broke down and when that happened passengers had to wait for hours for the
replacement buses.
Esah Rahmat, 25, from Kota Samarahan, who had only been using the buses
here for a month since she started working in the city, found the buses
lacking punctuality which inconvenienced commuters especially when the
buses arrived as late as an hour from the scheduled time.
She said it was common for her to arrive late at her workplace and to
be reprimanded by her supervisor.
Winnie Encharang, 23, an undergraduate at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
here also complained of buses exceeding their passenger load by almost 20
percent, thus sacrificing their safety and comfort.
She said most of the buses were without air conditioning and on hot
days, the heat in the bus was intolerable.
Winnie also said with people throwing rubbish and chewing gum inside
the buses their condition was not presentable especially to tourists.
All these complaints should serve as a wake up call to the authorities,
the city council and bus operators to take drastic action to upgrade the
bus services in this city.
Chairman of the Sarawak Commercial Vehicle Licensing Board (LPKP) Wan
Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar told Bernama that LPKP was working very closely with
the Road Transport Department (JPJ), the Traffic Police Department and
Computerised Vehicle Testing Centre (PUSPAKOM) to improve the current state
of the public service vehicles in this city.
According to LPKP statistics, Kuching had 438 stage buses up to
December 2001. There are six bus companies operating in Kuching including
the Sarawak Transport Company, Chin Lian Long Motor Vehicle Bhd, Kuching
Matang Transport Company and Petra Jaya Transport (Sarawak) Sdn Bhd.
"We are aware that the public buses in Kuching are in very deplorable
condition hence our immediate action is to ask the bus companies to replace
the old buses with new ones," said Wan Junaidi.
Wan Junaidi, who is also Member of Parliament for Batang Lupar, said a
proposal would be submitted to the JPJ to introduce new guidelines which
would limit the age of the stage buses and ensure strict adherence to JPJ
rules for the comfort and safety of commuters.
"The Kuching bus service is in a sorry state if compared to Miri and
Sibu which have beautiful new buses. This is very damaging to the city's
image especially in the eyes of tourists," he said.
Wan Junaidi urged members of the public to submit written feedback to
LPKP instead of just passing remarks in coffeeshops because without a
record, the LPKP could not act.
He also hoped that the bus companies would cooperate and not protest or
resort to political leverage to go against any new directive from the
authorities because they should consider the city's larger interest.
Wan Junaidi said that the bus companies should be willing to initiate
the upgrading of their services before expecting bigger fares.
Meanwhile Kuching Puspakom Manager Jalil Ahmad said all buses in the
city were required to undergo cumpulsory testing every six months to be
eligible for permit renewal.
He suggested that public service vehicles undergo voluntary inspection
once every two or three months for better maintenance.
Jalil said Puspakom also organised dialogue sessions and seminars to
educate vehicle owners regarding their responsibilities especially in
dealing with public safety.
The largest bus company in Sarawak, the STC has 280 buses operating
throughout the state with 25 percent or 150 buses in Kuching.
STC General Manager William Chan said that before the 1997 economic
downturn, the STC was making a profit of RM2 million annually, enabling
them to replace 10 percent of the company's entire fleet with new buses
every year.
"However, the bus fare had not increased with time. Furthermore the bad
economic situation and the increased prices of spare parts and petrol
caused the STC to lose RM8 million and the whole industry in the city
suffered an accumulated loss of over RM60 million last year," he said.
"The price for suspension springs for the bus was RM50 some 10 years
ago.It has increased to RM300 today but the fare has remained at 50 sen for
the first five kilometres and six sen for every subsequent kilometre since
1989."
Chan said the government should stop pirate taxis and illegal hired
vans from operating as they posed a major threat to the bus industry in
Kuching.
"We are a dying breed here and nobody seems to care about us. It's not
that we don't want to improve our services but to do so, we need funding
and we can't afford that at the moment," he told Bernama.
It is obvious that the poor public bus services in Kuching will remain
a problem until the bus companies had sufficient funds to upgrade their
services especially in replacing their old buses with new ones.
The authorities and the bus companies agree that they must work
together to reach mutual understanding in the effort to uplift the city's
image by providing the best possible bus service in the city.
Besides expecting a helping hand from the government, the bus operators
should seriously consider the possibility of merging to improve their
services like in Kuala Lumpur.
--BERNAMA
TSY MT AAM

The Bahasa Melayu (Malay) version

PERKHIDMATAN BAS AWAM DI KUCHING MENYAYATKAN HATI

---

Date: 19-04-2002
Author: Tiong Sue Yii / TSY MT PR
	Kuching-Bas (Laporan Khas)/Bergambar

KUCHING, 19 April (Bernama) -- Kuching, sebuah bandar raya yang
tersergam indah dengan pelbagai prasarana moden menjadi kebanggaan
penduduknya, bagaimanapun perkhidmatan bas di bandar raya itu tidak dapat
dibanggakan oleh penduduknya.
Perkhidmatan bas di sini bukan sahaja tidak boleh dipercayai kerana
jadual perjalanannya yang tidak mengikut masa tetapi keadaan buruk bas-bas
di atas jalan mencacatkan pemandangan dan menimbulkan pelbagai gelaran
sinis akan bas-bas itu.
Mungkin Kuching satu-satunya bandar raya di dunia yang masih
membenarkan bas-bas "antik" ataupun yang digelar sebagai "dinosaur" atas
jalan.
Kesemua enam syarikat bas yang beroperasi di sini tidak terlepas
daripada aduan bertali arus mengenai perjalanan yang tidak mengikut masa
dan keadaan bas-bas itu yang dibaratkan sebagai besi buruk yang boleh
membahayakan keselamatan penumpang.
"Bas-bas itu sudah ditelan zaman...Saya khuatir ia mungkin berkecai di
bonggol jalan," kata Haji Imali Abdullah, 60 dari Taman Malihah dekat sini.
Beliau berkata, bas yang beliau sering gunakan selalu rosak dan selepas
itu para penumpang terpaksa menunggu berjam-jam bagi bas pengganti.
Esah Rahmat, 25, dari Kota Samarahan yang menggunakan perkhidmatan bas
di sini sejak mula bekerja sebulan lepas mendapati jadual perjalanan bas
sukar dipercayai dan menyusahkan penumpang kerana ada kalanya bas itu
sampai satu jam lewat daripada sepatutnya.
Beliau berkata, sudah menjadi lazim bagi beliau untuk tiba lewat di
tempat kerja dan dimarahi oleh penyelianya.
Winnie Encharang, 23, seorang penuntut institut pengajian tinggi di
sini juga mengadu bas-bas membawa lebih ramai penumpang daripada sepatutnya
dan biasanya 20 peratus lebih dengan itu membahayakan keselamatan dan
keselesaan para penumpang.
Beliau berkata kebanyakan bas tidak berhawa dingin dan jika cuaca panas
keadaan dalam bas bagikan `ketuhar'.
Winnie juga berkata perbuatan penumpang membuang sampah dan `chewing
gum' mengotorkan ruang dalam bas serta rupabentuknya di luar yang nampak
usang memberi gambaran buruk kepada pelancong.
Walaupun semua keluhan ini, bas-bas ini masih bermaharajalela di atas
jalan-jalan Kuching tetapi penduduknya mahu pihak berkuasa dan pemilik
perkhidmatan bas ini untuk mengambil tindakan drastik memperbetulkan
keadaan demi menjaga imej Kuching sebagai sebuah bandar raya yang disegani.
Pengerusi Lembaga Pelesenan Kenderaan Perdagangan (LPKP) Wan Junaidi
Tuanku Jaafar memberitahu Bernama yang LPKP sedang berusaha gigih bersama
Jabatan Pengangkutan Jalan (JPJ), Polis Trafik dan Pusat Pemeriksaan
Kenderaan Berkomputer (PUSPAKOM) dalam mencari penyelesaian bagi
perkhidmatan pengangkutan awam di bandar raya ini.
Menurut statistik daripada LPKP, Kuching mempunyai 438 bas
berhenti-henti sehingga Disember 2001. Antara enam syarikat bas yang
mengadakan perkhidmatan di Kuching ialah Sarawak Transport Company, Chin
Lian Long Motor Vehicle Bhd, Kuching Matang Transport Company and Petra
Jaya Transport (Sarawak) Sdn Bhd.
"Kami sedar bas-bas awam di Kuching berada dalam keadaan buruk dan
tindakan segera kami ialah meminta syarikat-syarikat bas untuk mengantikan
bas-bas usang mereka dengan yang baru," kata Wan Junaidi.
Wan Junaidi yang juga anggota Parlimen bagi Batang Lupar berkata:
"Keadaan di Kuching memilukan jika dibandingkan dengan di Miri dan Sibu
yang mempunyai bas-bas baru dan cantik di atas jalan-jalan mereka. Ini
menjejaskan imej bandar raya itu di mata pelancong," katanya.
Wan Junaidi berkata, syarikat-syarikat bas harus bersedia memulakan
usaha menaikkan taraf perkhidmatan mereka sebelum meminta para penumpang
membayar tambang yang lebih.
Sementara itu Pengurus Puspakom Kuching Tengah Jalil Ahmad berkata,
semua bas di bandar raya diperlukan menjalani ujian mandatori setiap enam
bulan sekali untuk memperbaharui permit.
Beliau mengesyorkan mereka dengan sukarela menjalani pemeriksaan sekali
setiap enam bulan bagi penyenggaraan lebih baik kenderaan-kenderaan mereka.
Syarikat bas terbesar di Sarawak, Sarawak Transport Company (STC)
mempunyai 280 bas yang beroperasi di seluruh negeri dengan 150 bas
beroperasi di Kuching.
Pengurus Besar Sarawak Transport Company (STC) William Chan berkata
sebelum krisis ekonomi 1997, STC mencatatkan keuntungan RM2 juta setiap
tahun, membolehkan mereka memperbaharui 10 peratus daripada bas-bas dalam
perkhidmatan syarikat itu setiap tahun.
"Bagaimanapun, tambang bas tidak dinaikkan dengan peredaran masa. Untuk
mengeruhkan lagi keadaan keadaan ekonomi yang buruk dan kenaikan harga
alat-alat ganti dan petrol menyebabkan STC kerugian RM8 juta dan seluruh
industri itu mengalami kerugian sebanyak RM60 juta tahun lepas," katanya.
Sebagai contoh harga spring sistem penggantung bagi bas ialah RM50
sepuluh tahun lepas. Kini ia telah meningkat ke RM300 tetapi tambang kekal
50 sen bagi lima kilometer pertama dan enam sen bagi setiap kilometer
seterusnya sejak 1989.
Chan berkata, kerajaan juga harus meningkatkan penguatkuasaan
undang-undang dalam menangani perkhidmatan teksi swasta (van sewa) haram
yang menjadi pesaing utama kepada perkhidmatan bas di bandar raya ini.
"Kami tertekan dan tiada siapa yang mahu membela kami. Bukan kami tidak
mahu meningkatkan perkhidmatan kami tetapi untuk berbuat demikian kami
memerlukan pelaburan yang kami tidak mampu buat masa ini," kata beliau
kepada Bernama di sini.
Pihak berkuasa dan syarikat-syarikat bas mesti bekerjasama untuk capai
kata sepakat dalam usaha meningkatkan imej bandar raya ini dengan
menyediakan perkhidmatan bas terbaik mungkin.
Selain daripada mengharapkan bantuan kerajaan, pengendali perkhidmatan
bas mesti menimbangkan dengan serius kemungkinan bergabung sesama mereka
untuk mempertingkatkan perkhidmatan.
-- BERNAMA
TSY MT PR

It was this first 'big' assignment that sealed my 'fate' and passion to have reporting as my FIRST JOB! It was a big deal for an intern that I was, yup, I wrote this when I was a struggling intern who had her first news torn in front of her by her editor as that was how rookies were 'orientated' by the companies they first 'work' or interned in, as described by my journalism seniors in uni.

I have since written many more news and feature stories, some front page news, but none struck me as much as this special report. Looking back fondly to my journalism career, it was relatively short but meaningful. I'm glad I went in but then again, am I glad I'm out, as our priorities change in different stages of our lives.

Anyway, about the bus industry in my hometown of Kuching in the state of Sarawak, East Malaysia: You know, nine years on, it's still in a deplorable condition, sad, but true. Anyway, one of the bus companies are no more, and some efforts have been made to improve the system but it's slow.

UPDATE ON HOW THE BUSES LOOK LIKE NOW according to sweetsurrender's blog:

http://sweetsurrender.99.com.my/?p=7298

New Bus in Kuching

March 13th, 2010 ·SOURCED FROM sweetsurrender's blog:

For those of you who left Kuching for quite a while, if you do come back, you will not be seeing the usual blue buses from Chin Lian Long anymore. It’s now replaced by green buses called the City Public Link.

When it started? I’m not so sure. I’ve seen quite many of them on the road few months back but I didn’t know those were our new public buses because I don’t take public transport and I don’t know how hahaha… I thought it’s a new express bus company. I only knew about it until my mom mentioned about it.

However, public transport in Kuching isn’t that efficient yet. I doubt it will be soon. At least, nicer looking buses and cleaner looking buses are used now.

- end of quote from sweetsurrender's blog -

The two news above are copyrighted by Bernama - (pertubuhan Berita Nasional Malaysia) the Malaysian National News Agency and have been accredited in this blog post, and should be properly accredited when quoted by anyone.

Beginning of April, Getting ill and Love Sick

It is the beginning of April and I get so love sick! No, it's not Valentine's but the love of my life is away on a working trip for an extended time (anything longer than an overnight trip is considered extended time for us), so I am going bonkers trying to cope without him.

Maybe with kids around I'll miss him less? I see friends with kids who still miss their spouse the same so I guess it's the same, with kids or without... but I also see friends who say they miss their kids more than their spouse and they would choose to be apart from their husbands rather than their kids, so I guess it's just different level of attachment. Not necessarily less love, but attachment.

Gosh, another 6 more days to go before he returns. I'm literally sick right now, with a bad cough and many other symptoms due to the heat and I am so very missing him even more! Been holding back from taking sick leave from work for the past one week, just to keep busy and not for him to worry before he left.. so with him not around, I think it's time to finally rest and let my sickness take over.. not love sickness but genuine illness.. I can't sleep at all due to the persistent chesty cough. Geez! If only he's around so he could pat my back whenever I cough or press the pressure points (acupuncture) to relief any pain.. I miss you so much!

Coming home to an empty house accentuated how much the house isn't so much a home without you around. And it was our first anniversary of owning (and moving into) our own house on April 3rd. I had to 'celebrate' it alone.. luckily I had my parents nearby and my siblings came over to keep me entertained last evening. They have left and the forlorn mood takes over again. And the coughing persisted. Kiss my work day bye bye tomorrow. :(

Anyway, I am just ranting and letting it out of my system. I'll be alright. Please take good care of yourself and come back in one piece and in good health! I'll be right here waiting for you (can't resist song quotes).

I'll be fine. I'll be fine when you're back, so please come back safely. :-) :x

p/s- Some people say I'm shameless, but I'd say I'm bold enough to love and let the whole world know about it.