The Set-Up part 2

Its already Sunday.

Late that morning, I woke up, worried.

Worried I had overslept.

The night before, I hadn't had proper sleep.

Well, actually the morning before.

I slept after Subuh.

Guests that came for the reunion / tahlil arwah only left minutes before Subuh.

I stayed up (for the most part), to keep my father company.

The girl was nearby, but not yet at my house.

She was lured to my neighbourhood under the pretense that her parents wanted to clean up their piece of land here.

Which is the empty piece of land next to my house.

(I know right, tak susah nak pikir balik kampung siapa.)

I woke up, finding that my mother had already begun sneaking a peek at her potential daughter-in-law, from my grandmother's room.

I didn't see why I should miss out on all the fun.

With the sleep still in my eyes, I couldn't really make out what she looked like.

Or if it was actually her I was looking at.

I may have accidentally checked-out her mother.

Before long, they came to our house.

This was when I started getting nervous. Again.

The fact that I still had not bathed might have had something to do with it.

My mother, upon seeing how 'unpresentable' her son was, told me to quickly wash up a bit.

No one looks good after only 4 hours of morning sleep.

I was nowhere near my regular good-looks.

Double the nervousness.

Me and my brother started practicing our stress-relieving exercise.

Jump up and down for no reason.

It did little to help.

"I wish you hadn't told me about this", I told my mother.

"Dah2, siap2, pergi tunjuk muka sikit, tangkap gambar benda yang ayah suruh tangkap semalam tu", replied my mother.

Deep breaths.

Fuh. Fuh. Fuh.

"Abang, salam dengan kawan mak dekat ofis, Pakcik Aragorn", said my mother.

It was then I saw her.

And she saw me.

It was only a split-second that I looked her way, nervous as I was, but it was enough.

She was wearing a very labuh pink tudung.

Very fair skin. Almost glowing even.

Her face was bujur sireh, as the Malays would say it.

The eyes were not the regular dark brown, what colour, I could not say.

Radiating a sense of warmth, she did not seem at all nervous.

I liked what I saw. XP

Passing in front of her, I went to shake hands with her father.

I refrained myself from kissing his hands, to avoid being seen as overeager.

I quickly retreated to the kitchen, and eavesdropped on their conversations.

It was while eavesdropping that I discovered a horrible truth.

*Imaginary forehead smack

I was checking out her older sister.

Apparently sitting on that sofa, in between the older sister and the mother, (whom I saw both), was the actual intended (whom was under an invisibility cloak).

Epic fail.

Oh well, at least no one knew.

(Note to self : delete blog tomorrow.)

So they went on and chatted and chatted, while I chatted with my brother in the kitchen about unrelated stuff.

When they were about to leave, my father called me to do something, but it was mainly to force me to show my face again.

Eyes fixed on the proper location this time (and hopefully on the correct person), I saw her.

She was not looking at me.

She was wearing a black tudung, labuh, similar size to her sister's.

She seemed distant. Perhaps shy, or afraid, or unhappy.

I didn't really get a good vibe.

It was after they had left that I told my parents she seemed disinterested to me.

I also remarked that her sister seemed happy to see me.

My father then explained that the elder sister had already came to the house a few times with the parents.

So if she seemed more relaxed, it was probably due to familiarity.

And that's about it actually.

My father did not force me into anything, he said it was still up to me.

I was told that if I wanted to get to know her better, I could only do it through Facebook.

She comes from a very religiously strict family.

Despite contradicting with my own ways, I still have to respect their way of doing things.

I added her on Facebook a few hours ago. So far no response.

From what I can decipher, my father doesn't necessarily want me to marry this particular girl, however, it would not be an exaggeration to say that even my father wants to see me get married soon.

I think this is his way of saying "Get off your bum and find me a daughter-in-law".

Well....

Challenge. Accepted.

Peace.

The Set-Up part 1

It was an ordinary weekend. With an unexpected twist.

I went back to my hometown on Saturday.

There was a small gathering of my father's close friends, most of which know me as well.

They all came to Ipoh for the tahlil arwah of their religious teacher, that passed away a few weeks ago.

I didn't personally knew him, but I've heard only good things.

Apart from that, I wanted to get my new spectacles. Yeay.

(but unfortunately, the optometrist overpowered the spectacles, so it had to be redone.)

My brother was home as well, him on his 1st semester break.

Upon arriving from the barely 2 hours trip from KL, I had a bit of a chat with the family.

Discussing stuffs like my cousin's wedding plan, my father's health and my upcoming trip to Indonesia.

Little did I know that another 'plan' was concocted, and from the unlikeliest of plotters.

I was casually telling my parents, that I was going back to KL early tomorrow (Sunday) morning, when my father blurted out.

"Abang tak boleh balik esok pagi!."

Huh?

"Kenapa?"

There was no immediate answer from my father, but a nervous laughter came from my mother.

"Ayah la ni,.. pandai-pandai."

Oh boy. I can sense where this is going.

"Hmm?", I said, trying to pry out the truth.

"Kawan ayah Aragorn (bukan nama sebenar) datang esok pagi..."

And then it came out.

"... datang bawak anak dia".


.

Oh dear sweet mother of heavens, I'm being set up by my father.

.

He goes on to explain that it was the mother of the girl's incessant complains about none of her children being married, she being worried etc2.

So he asks for my father's help in looking for a nice boy for her daughter, and my father, not knowing that many 20+ year old boys, suggested...

Me.

She's a final year medic student, studying in Australia.

Haha.

Haha.

(nervous laughter)

I said nothing.

But my brain was processing information at maximum capacity.

My body was present, but my mind was in the future. (back to the future moment)

The fact that it was my father, not my mother that arranged this, meant something.

The tone in which my father explained the situation told made it sound as if he had no hand in this, that he was merely trying to soothe his friend's worries.

Somehow I know better.

I was not at all against the idea.

The way I see it, if my parents already approve of it, then the choice would be up to me.

As compared to if the girl was my choice, I still had to get the approval of my parents.

I had the upper hand here.

Questions then popped into my head.

What is this girl like?

Would this actually lead to something?

How early do my parents want me to get married?

How would I actually interact with this girl?

Is this IT?

To be continued.

Arrogance.

Every time I try to write about something, half way, I feel like its something stupid to write about and stop.

But whenever I do really write something, it often does come out sounding stupid.

Its silly, how I find the need to sound smart.

I feel bad if I feel stupid or look stupid.

Is that something normal?

Why do I have the need to be smart or clever?

When in fact, the wisest of people know that "all I know is that I know nothing" (Socrates).

Is it wrong to be stupid? Perhaps we dislike the feeling of being looked down upon.

Some people find it very hard to be humble, myself included.

I constantly remind myself that I have nothing to be arrogant about, save my foolishness.

So far its working.

A senior engineer at my workplace says that his New Year's ambition is to be the same, to maintain being friendly and not be arrogant.

He is a very nice guy, despite his vast experience he is very friendly, even with graduate engineers like me.

Some people on the other hand, have arrogance written all over their faces.

Do these people not know that people can sense their condescending tone / look ?

I once had a chat with a chap about 5 years older than me, and he was asking me about my study background, my work.

So I told him I was working for an oil and gas consultancy company.

I detected the hint of condescension when he says he's never heard of the company. But I ignored.

I then tell him what sort of work I do.

He actually has the balls to ask me whether this is actually related to what I studied.

"Ada related ke? Because saya dulu pun belajar chemical engineering jugak."

Granted, the current type of work I'm doing isn't pure Chemical Engineering stuff, but to actually ask whether my work has any relation to Chemical Engineering is like asking a surgeon if his job is at all related to medicine.

Then he goes on to mention new technologies in the field of safety (fyi, my field) like the non-static boots or something, and that I should consider this when doing my work.

Its like telling David Beckham what kind of ball he should use on the field.

Again, granted, I'm no David Beckham, but he hasn't got a clue what I do, and he's trying to show he knows stuff.

Ugh. Obnoxious wanker.

In the beginning I wasn't even talking to him, I was talking to someone else, and he suddenly comes in and bombards me with all these questions.

As if I was at his house, asking his permission to marry his daughter.

Luckily shortly after that he had to leave.

Please tell me if I'm ever like that. Thanks.

Peace.

Baby Leaps.

My previous attempts to write a post have failed due to my inability to stay focused on one thing for a long time, thus I shall keep this one relatively short.

Hi.

I had previously attempted to write about the highlights of my 2011, however I found it to be too long and, while writing, I got bored.

Anyways, lets not dwell too long on the past, and look to the future. Nothing can be done to change what is done.

Things I'm looking forward to.

I am looking forward to get a new pair of spectacles. My current ones are somewhat seasoned, due to my reckless nature, despite being only two years old.

I am also looking forward to going for suluk. What is suluk? When asked, I tell people its sort of a religious camp. Thats the simplest way to put it anyway. Its a 10-day thing, at least the one I'm going to.

Why go for suluk? Simply because, despite all the sins I've committed, am committing and bound to commit, there's still that tiny bit of me that wants to do good. And I indulge the good side of me for 10 days. haha.

I want a new handphone too. You know your phone's outdated when you can't touch the screen. Sigh.

Oooh! Grand finale. I want to buy a car. Or a house. I can't afford both. Actually at this current moment, I can't even afford one, so here's hoping for a big fat raise.

Whether I choose one or the other depends on this year's developments.

That's about it, my wishlist for 2012.

Resolutions?

I made a list, because there was this contest at the office for New Year's resolutions. I didn't win. huhu. Probably because I sent mine too late.

Here it is :

1. To smile more. :)
2. To procrastinate less. (i.e: This email)
3. To spend more time with friends and family (before labelled 'antisocial')
4. To get a girlfriend (before my mother starts pestering me)
5. To be the best person I can be.

I forgot one. Guess its not that important.

To be honest, I really feel that 2011 has made me more mature. I feel as if I've really grown up. And grown sideways. hehe.

I'm trying to gain weight, coz my father says I'm too thin. But not to worry, I'm exercising more as well.

No, I have not gone jogging as initially planned, but I do take the stairs sometimes.

And when your office is on the 19th floor, that's saying something.

I've bought a skipping rope. Really good exercise. For now I do about 20-30 skips per go, before I run out of breath.

The first time I did it, I did 10 and ran out of breath. My face was as pale as that shiny vampire.

Baby steps.

One small step for mankind, one giant leap for me.

Peace.