The shorter it is...

* Note : What's written below tidak ada kena mengena samada dengan yang masih hidup atau yang sudah mati, hokey? Harap maklum! Sekian :)

I was moved to write this after a few observations of late, which I think are quite normal (apparently), which I personally think should not be (normal, that is).

I would like to throw an innocent question -

What do you think, or how would you feel if your spouse gets SMSes or e-mails from his/her friends/colleagues/staff/bosses (of the opposite sex, mind you) for no apparent reasons?

The messages may seem to be harmless, and could be as short as just saying, "Hi", "Hey", etc, or even bizarre if they're just one single Emoticon, e.g. :), or ;), or :p and the likes. You got my drift?

How would you feel if you were to come across these short "messages" on your spouse's phone or e-mail?

Would you think that there's nothing to it? Or would you be suspicious?

I, personally, will not be comfortable with the whole thing. AND I'll be suspicious.

To me, the shorter the messages, the more personal and the more intimate they are, and NO Tom, Dick or Harry should send them to me, and NO Mary, Jane or Jill should send them to my husband, ESPECIALLY without his or my knowledge, respectively.

I wouldn't send single word stand-on-its-own messages to my married male friends/staff/bosses out of the blue. Would you? The likes of "Hi...", "Salam", "Hey..."

I guess, if I or my husband were to be open about it and we show and share the messages we get, it's a different matter somewhat, because it will mean that the messages or e-mails are casual e-mails and mean nothing to us.

I find it disturbing that there are people out there who do send such messages to other people's husbands or wives. Even more disturbing if the senders themselves are already married.

I really don't know what their motives are for doing this. But, I guess it goes back to my previous posting here.

Do they send such messages to all their friends/colleagues/staff/bosses? Or just the selected ones? If it is the latter, well, the more bizarre it is, then. Don't you think?

I don't know, maybe the messages ARE harmless, but, I still think that they are VERY inappropriate.

If this means that I'm old-fashioned, then, be it - I AM old-fashioned then.

Testing the market - my observation.

I might be wrong, but I think ALL male species at some point (or points?) in their lives will always be tempted to try and test the market - including those whom we would categorize as "pijak semut pun tak mati". Whether they would eventually be "bought" and become someone else's "property" will all depend on their niat to try the market in the first instance.

Some would be happy if they didn't get any buyers. Ada orang "tengok" pun, they're fine already, and they would pull out from the market.

Some would be thrilled if they become the object of an auction, and they would at the end of the day decide who their ultimate "owner" would be - their original "owner", or a new "owner" - depending on who would be prepared to pay the higher price for them.

Some would even WAIT to be bought, BUT, with a hope that the buyer would get bored with them, and they could go back home to their previous "owner" eventually.

Some would be waiting to be bought, and waiting to be released by their previous "owner", but alas there are no buyers interested in them.

Some probably wouldn't even realize that they were testing the market, but along the way would start to feel the thrill of having people interested in them. Some of those in this group would "develop further" and then fall under one of the categories above. But, some would get back to their senses and would pull out from the market before any new buyer could bring them home.

And some of the little piggies would go to test the market because they are just that. Pigs.

Whatever category these male species might fall into, one thing they always forget is that - a lot of female species would get hurt along the way...buyers included.

And some are hurt REALLY badly - to a point that even though at the end of the day, the male species might decide to pull out from the market, the damage has been done and the scars would be there until their dying day...

If only these male species would think with their mono head first before they decide to test the market, huh?

Naik hangin...

Ayah came back home quite late some time last week and asked me, "Did R*B and HS*C people call you tadi? They called me to tell that our credit card payments were overdue, and I gave them your number".

Alamaaaak!!! Then I remembered the thing that was bugging me for the last few days before that. I knew there was something I needed to do which I had forgotten to do - settling the credit card bills!

You see, I'm in charge of paying ALL bills : credit cards, car loans, housing loans, utilities segala.

Well, errrrrr, let me rephrase that.

I'm actually in charge of SIGNING the cheques and posting or banking them into the relevant banks. The cheques are from our JOINT-ACCOUNT, but, ONLY AYAH'S PAY goes into it, get it? ;)

Ayah just fills in the account at the end of every month, and yours truly would sytematically empty it throughout the month, paying all the bills/loans, etc. The only thing Ayah wants to know is that every month all the bills are settled, and he doesn't have to worry about them.

So, when the banks kept on calling him to ask about the overdue payment, it was only natural for him to pass them to me. Short of saying, "It's your job, dear..."

Anyway, after that reminder, yours truly immediately signed the cheques and put them in the envelopes with plans to just drop them into the mailbox the next day as I just didn't have the time to go to the respective banks to make the payments. But, of course, dok sibuk sana sini, etc., I again forgot all about them, until early this week, that is.

I was attending a conference in KL on Monday and Tuesday this week, and my phone was on silent mode throughout the sessions. And I was quite perplexed when I saw 6 missed calls from a 03-2******* number at the end of the conference. And I suddenly remembered about the cheques which were still in my handbag.

"Alamak!! It must be one of the banks!"

I was pretty bushed by then and decided to just post the cheques the next day as the Post Office was out of my route going home.

And post the cheques I did on Wednesday.

It was on Thursday that I received an SMS text asking me to call a certain 03-2******* number, and I knew it was one of the banks, so I quickly made the call.

It was R*B. A young chap answered it, and I informed him about the SMS that I received asking me to call them. He asked me what it was pertaining to, and I told him, I wasn't sure as they were the ones who asked me to call them.

He asked me what my MyKad number was, and after checking their records, this was what he said,

"Ooohhh, Mrs. Wan, etc., etc. This is because you have defaulted in your credit card payments! When was the last time you paid, madam?"

Darah I dah tersirap dah masa tu. Macam lah we had defaulted for months! And lagi pun, he should know when our last payment was made anyway. He was checking our accounts masa tu via their system, kan?! Apasal lak nak tanya, kan?!

I was trying to remain calm, and told him -

Me : Ohhh, okay. Yes, my husband received the MANY CALLS made by your bank, and I've already posted the cheque yesterday. You should get it by the end of the week, I think.

R*B chap then said, "Okay, madam. That's fine then".

I was about to put the phone down, when suddenly I had this really strong urge to pick up a fight -

Me : Errrr, excuse me. Wait, wait, wait! Wait, wait, wait...I just want to say something la to you all ni.

Him : Yes, madam?

Me : Our overdue payment tu how much, ya? (I just wanted him to say it out loud)

Him : Let me check. (Pause for about 5 seconds) It's RM327.14, madam.

Me : JUST RM327, right?

Him : Correct, madam.

Me : And it was what? 8 days late when you started harrassing us, right?

Him : Errr, mmmmmm...No, madam...it's like this...

And I just cut him short.

Me : Why aarrr you all ni so hard-up sangat with the RM327? You called my husband, or rather harrassed him every day for that RM327, and even sent SMSs to us, when the payment was only overdue by about 7-8 days?!

Him : No, madam. If we don't do that and you don't settle it, then we have to suspend your card, and take legal action. Nanti madam jugak yang susah (or something to that effect la)

Me : (Kepala dah gatal...) THAT'S JUST IT! Baru defaulted this time, and ONLY for RM327, and you treat us macam hutang banyak sangat lah with you all! EXCUSE ME, I think you all should differentiate between your clients yang memang hutang tak bayar berpuluh ribu, and have defaulted for months and clients like us who pay the bill fully everytime without fail, okay?! You should check our records for the last 4-5 years. Never once did we pay JUST the minimum payment, okay? We had always paid in full every time, no matter how much our bills were, okay? And bila default RM327 ni, you all harrass us sampai ke lubang cacing! Please lah! I want you to convey our displeasure about this whole thing to your collection department laaa... Langsung tak value clients/customers macam we all ni!

Dung dang dung dang, dush dush dush - si mamat tu kena sembur dengan I.

He tried to explain something, and I just couldn't care less what he was saying and I just put down the phone.

Bengang.

Ya, adik-adik, kakak-kakak dan abang-abang. It was THAT time of the month, okay? Fuse box memang cepat blow.

Bengang. Bengang. Bengang.

I just didn't like the way the credit cards people are treating us.

And what made me even bengang, barely a minute after I put down the phone, HS*C people pulak called! Aaaaarrrggghhh!

Malas nak layan, and I just told them I had posted the cheque and they should be getting it by the end of the week. This, I was quite okay as the amount pun was quite substantial. But, R*B people tu...memang tak patut.

And as I'm writing this, I'm still waiting for people from Ma*ba*k to call me and ask for payment. Believe it or not, I've not paid them for 2 months. Reason being - the outstanding amount is 37 sen. Yes, you read it correctly. 37 sen.

Tak kuasa nak go to the Bank just to pay that amount. Duit minyak pun will be more than that. And tak kuasa nak membazir stem 30 sen to post the cheque(?!) for 37 sen(?!). Tak masuk akal.

If they still harrass us for the 37 sen, memang I akan naik hangin satu badan...

Grrrrr...

Oh, puhleeez...

It's the time of the month and I'm so easily annoyed with things which I normally would not layan... So, please bear with me on this, okay?

I was waiting for my turn at the bank this morning, when this girl walked in. She looked quite "high and mighty", if I may add - wearing a black skirt and a white top, with her hair neatly tied in a bun. And my first thought was, "Hmmmm....she's probably a student from the Law Faculty, and she probably had just finished a mooting competition, or session, or training at the Law Faculty or something like that".

Yup, she looked THAT young, and quite inexperienced.

She sat beside me, and suddenly her phone rang, and this was what transpired -

"Hello? Yes...I'm at the bank now. You're still in court? I was there the whole of this morning. XYZ is till there. The hearing is still going on. I'm going back to court after this. Uh-um...Uh-um...Okay. I'll see you there later, okay? I should be back in court in about an hour or so, etc."

(Or something like that lah...)

And I think everybody sitting at the waiting area could hear every word she said.

Firstly - Hello?! You're in a bank, and you're not supposed to use your handphone, dear.

And secondly - you could surely lower down your voice when you answered the call, couldn't you? Or you could just answer your phone outside the bank? Unless of course you WANTED everybody to listen to your conversation?

(And I suddenly remembered what Phoebe said in one of the FRIENDS series when somebody asked her for a favour and she said, "Oooohhh, I wished I could, but I don't want to!" Hehehe!)

And I thought THAT was so applicable to Little Miss Legal-in-Black-n-White this morning.

Please don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to generalize here and put all legal freshies down, because I know for a fact that not all freshies in the legal fraternity are like that. But there ARE a few who act so like they're "Partners" already when they're in fact still chambering, maaa!! Why aaaaarr like that?

In fact, sometimes when I go to hospitals pun, some of the housemen act more terrer than their consultants!

Aiyyyoooo...Tak tahan...

Oh, puhleeez la, girl. Been there, done that laa... You were probably in court the whole morning doing a few mentions and some J-I-Ds here and there ajer pun...

And you were probably still in your diapers when I was called dulu.

Rasa macam nak bagi ajer kat lawyer hingus meleleh tu my call card tadi...But, then again, I'm not that cruel...

But, hmmmmm, in retrospect, maybe I should have, kan?

That should get it into her that there are so many out there yang dah makan asam garam longer than her. Tak payah lah nak aksi unnecessarily. Bukan boleh menang kes pun...

Hmmmmphhh... Okay, dah lepas tension. Hehehe! :)

Saya manusia biasa...

I received a comment earlier to my previous posting from someone who memberi teguran because he/she said that even though I said my hati dah kempis, I still do'akan the thief will get balasan yang setimpalnya, if not di dunia, di akhirat nanti. He or she said that I should not have said that, and gave me a word or two, short of saying that it was "unislamic" of me to have done that. He/she said that sebagai orang Islam, kita seharusnya berkasih-sayang sesama manusia...

I published the comment, but then I was advised by someone to withdraw it.

Thank you for the teguran, though.

But, I just want him/her to read the posting again.

Yes, earlier on in the "Hati Yang Bengkak" posting, I did do'akan some bad things, but, after reflecting everything, in my last posting, "My Cooking Weekend", I was okay - hati dah kempis, and I didn't say/write that "I "DO'AKAN" the thief will get balasan yang setimpalnya, if not di dunia, di akhirat nanti".

What I wrote was ,"And whatever it maybe, he will get balasan yang setimpalnya - if not di dunia, di akhirat nanti".

Those two, to me, are NOT the same.

Anyway, isn't that what we're supposed to believe in? Whatever deeds we do, whatever sins we commit, we will be rewarded and punished for it?

Hmmmm, was I wrong to have written/said what I said?!

Whatever it is, I guess I have to respect him/her for having the capacity to totally forgive 200% those who may have wronged him/her in whatever ways, in a matter of hours or days. He or she adalah semestinya seorang manusia yang luar biasa. SUNGGUH luar biasa. And I take my hats off to him/her.

Saya pula hanyalah manusia biasa.

I have to admit, I am not seorang yang wara'. I am only human. Manusia biasa.

Dosa pun ada jenis dosa pada Allah SWT, dan ada juga dosa pada manusia, yang mana kita wajib minta maaf pada orang yang mana kita telah melakukan kesalahan terhadapnya.

Why is that? Sebab sebagai seorang manusia biasa, sekiranya kita dianiaya, kita akan terasa marah, sedih, dan sebagainya. Dan it is said that do'a orang yang teraniaya, akan dimakbulkan Tuhan.

Dan sebab itulah, mereka yang menganiayai orang lain mesti memohon maaf pada mereka yang dianiayai oleh mereka supaya yang teraniayai akan memaafkannya, dan insya Allah, tidak akan mendoakan yang buruk-buruk ke atasnya.

Sebab yang teraniaya selalunya adalah manusia biasa...

Am I making sense here?

Well, whatever it is, whatever that goes through my mind, my heart - hanya Allah SWT yang tahu, and memahaminya.

Jahat ke hati I sebab masa memula tu mendoakan yang buruk terhadap si pencuri? Hanya Allah SWT yang tahu.

I feel like hati I bengkak balik...for a different reason pulak.

To all manusia luar biasa out there, I salute you all...

But, to those who THINK they are luar biasa, and think that other manusia biasa are lesser than them, jangan pakai cakap ajer...


Post-script : Anyway, here are some pics of the family berbuka puasa dalam suasana kasih sayang semalam...

Tak kuasa!!!!

I'm taking my lunch break now - without taking lunch. Ayah's coming over to my side of the Uni to have lunch together in an hour's time, and after that I'd have to go to this Haluansiswa Programme which will probably take me away from the office for the rest of the afternoon. And next week, the students will be swarming the campus again as the new Academic Year starts. Sigh...

Anyway, I just need to say this -

Tak kuasa nak dengar and nak cakap about what's happening out there. People out there pakai sedap cakap aje! My two cents -

(a) if these people don't know anything, and are just talking *%#@* based on emotions and ketaksuban,

(b) AND if these people refuse to listen to anything other than what THEY want to hear,

(c) AND if these people don't have concrete facts and evidence to support THEIR arguments and/or opinion or cakap kosong,

(d) AND if these people want to kutuk orang lain based on something they themselves don't know anything about, or not sure of,

Then these people should JUST SHUSH THEIR MOUTHS UP.

And this goes to BOTH sides okay?!

On one hand -

Were these people there when it happened? Can they be the star witnesses of the alleged crime? How sure are they that there's NO conspiracy?

On the other hand -

Were these people there with him at some other place at the time the alleged crime took place? Can they be his alibis? Do these people REALLY know that he didn't do it?

If the answers to all of the above are "NO", then, SERIOUSLY - people should not say anything if they know zilch about what really happened.

And they should use their brain more before opening their mouths.

Pikir la sendiri. Jangan buat dosa kering - and again, this goes to BOTH sides, okay?

Do these people REALLY know the people allegedly involved to judge them?

Don't these people have anything better to do than kutuk and humiliate the alleged "doer" and "doee" without anything to back their beliefs and/or ketaksuban?

We WILL never know what REALLY happened, because banyak benar putar belit...from BOTH sides.

Whatever it is, whether he/they did or did not do - it's between him/them and Allah SWT...

SO, JUST SHUSH!!!

TAK KUASA!!!!!