April Dilemma...

While waiting for the commencement of the new semester, I had some kind of 3 months holiday which I spent half of it quite meaninglessly. Anyway, in the month of April, especially April Fool's day, I was caught in a big dilemma.

29th March 2008 was the wedding night of my dear cousin Emily (look up in my photos section under "Emily & Ivan's Wedding" for the pics). That night was kind of a wonderful night to get together with family & relatives, but, of all places, it was held in Paradise Beach Hotel, & this was the third time a wedding function was held by a cousin of mine (previous 2 were Wei Leong & Gwendelyn). It was, as I've said, a wonderful night as I get to meet many people. However, it was kind of a big plus as we've got someone rare attending the dinner that night - James a.k.a. Ah Jian!!!

2nd April 2008 should be the wedding day of Emily, & I've applied leave to attend the ceremony. However, on the early morning of 1st April, I got a call from my mother saying that my uncle, Ah Keong, came out to Penang with his wife & 2 small kids. That was not the worst of the news yet. What was worse was that they were planning to go down south to Genting Highlands & I was directed by my grandmother to accompany them down there since my uncle & his family, being Thai citizens, couldn't speak Malay, English or Cantonese. They could hardly speak understandable Mandarin also, so I was needed to guide them here & there.

What could I do? Apply for more leaves lo... Ms. Ros, my department boss, was being very lenient to me as I was actually being too much. However, later that morning, my mother called me & said that my uncle said he felt that he can manage on his own, so I didn't have to follow them up Genting. So what? I cancelled my leave lo... I apologised to Ms. Ros & she said it was OK. Then during lunchtime, my mother called me again saying that my grandmother insisted on me guiding my uncle & his family up Genting. What was that? April Fool's game? My goodness. I went to Ms. Ros again & applied again. Thank goodness Ms. Ros was as lenient as she was earlier.

That evening, I went back Penang from SP straight away after work. I was to fetch my uncle from Queensbay Mall as they went there since morning, I guess. What actually worried me was the infamous Penang Bridge after-work jam that occurs everyday around 6 - 8 p.m.. I was actually quite lucky to reach there before six, & I was rather happy to see the tolls not being congested. However, as I passed the toll, there was a sudden congestion. Though it was a bottle-neck, but the congestion was too great & sudden. What else could it be? ACCIDENT!!!

I slowly drove my father's Kelisa bumper to bumper until I reach the middle of the bridge where the accident took place. At least I drove a Kelisa & I could squeeze through gaps easily, like every other Penangites would do, & I got through the jam quite fast. Then the traffic went smoothly until I reach Queensbay Mall. I was delighted to see my uncle & his family, but at the same time, I felt sad too as I couldn't attend my cousin's wedding ceremony.

I was told by my mother that my grandmother asked me to accompany my uncle up Genting & my grandmother had even gave RM500 to compensate my expenses up Genting. My uncle was amused at that & he said that, of course he would take care of my expenses in Genting. So, I had to go up Genting with them the following day, which means I had to cancel my plan to attend my cousin's wedding ceremony.

That night, I had a quarrel with my cousins. I had no choice. Some stupid granduncle of mine was too 'kiam siap' to take my uncle up Genting although he could go instead of me going. My grandmother & uncle does not know anything about my cousin's wedding (my uncle is from my mother's side while the wedding cousin is from my father's). My cousins put the blame on my uncle & grandmother saying that Genting they can go up anytime but wedding is just only once. I know this also. I'm not stupid. But I can't do anything. I'm too indebted to my grandmother. It is true that anyone can get up to Genting at any other time, but my uncle came all the way out from Thailand. He haddn't been out since the last 7 years. All were happening at the same time. Wrong timing. I couldn't blame anyone but myself.

When I said I would accompany my uncle up Genting, he gave a sigh of relief. So the next morning, I went up Genting with my uncle & his family though I did not express my dissatisfaction to them. It wouldn't be nice. I would had refused to accompany them to Genting if he were the other uncle, but this uncle took good care of me when I was in Thailand. Emily had many other cousins & relatives to attend her wedding, but over my uncle's side, I was the only one available. If Emily & the other cousins would think badly of me, then I have no choice also.

We were up in Genting for 3 days 2 nights. First day was all theme park experience. My grandmother called me at night to check on how things were going on. As usual, elderly people would talk on this & talk on that. She even warned me not to allow the 2 little kids to ride the roller-coaster as they might be traumatised. I answered: sure thing. Little did she know that those 2 little kids had already rode the roller-coaster more than twice & were laughing all the way, begging for more. My aunty was more adventurous than my uncle. My uncle was reluctant to ride the roller-coaster at first but after some encouragement from me, he took 2 rides & enjoyed it. My aunty took the 'Solero Shot' ride & many other rides that even I dared not take.

The second day of the trip, we divided into 2 groups. My aunty & the kids would spend their day in Genting's indoor theme park while my uncle & I went down to KL Low Yat Plaza to be exact, as he loves computers very much. It was a good thing I was there because, he wouldn't know how to get down to KL from Genting. Furthermore, my uncle knows little Mandarin & couldn't speak Cantonese at all. So if I wasn't there, then he might not have the chance to get to Low Yat. Even my memory was a bit rusty. I forgot the monorail station name of Times Square. I told my uncle that and he laughed at me, but I told him I could still recognise the place.

As usual, I was the translator there in Low Yat, just like he was my translator back in Thailand. Long we window-shopped but we bought nothing. Then he asked me whether I want the bluetooth headset. I just said: its OK, not necessary. Then he took me to get one. He let me choose whichever one I want. So? I just chose an ITech bluetooth headset worth RM465 over a Sony Ericsson bluetooth headset worth RM365. Hmm... not really that bad, I thought.

I was so near to my dear CB-Sakai Gang but I had not the time to visit them. I went back up Genting right after the visit to Low Yat, but at least I grabbed something for someone special. Who is it? K lo... haha... Back to Genting, the kids were playing happily. Then at night, I went to the casino with my uncle. Well, what do you expect? Lose lah... RM1000 gone just like that.

The next day, we came back to Penang & the rest of the days my uncle were in Penang were spent with visiting relatives. I took my uncle to visit his brother, my money uncle, & we had dinner together at Eden restaurant, which I ordered without looking at the price since it was the money uncle who would foot the bill. Later on, we went to Hagen-Dazs for ice-cream.

After a week of luxury, then I was back to work after my uncle left Penang. I saw my cousin's wedding ceremony's photos & found that it was not really that bad after all. So the April dilemma wasn't really a bad thing after all.