Sunday, November 27, 2005

Another Extraordinary Saturday (It is no longer the same)

Yesterday I reached home about 4 A.M after Karaoke, and I manage to wake up this afternoon at 4 P.M. I am not sure this is a new record for me or not, but definitely very impressive. I had not managed to sleep until this late for a long time. The weather must be gloomy and cool, as the sun and heat didn’t wake me up.

I had news that my cousin’s mom passed away, and my mom decide to pay them a visit. My cousin is a capable women in her 50’s and not married, she accepted her fate and take the career path rather than marriage path. She took care of her parents during their old age and let them stay in her house. She appreciate her father’s support to let he go overseas to study when she was young, although their family is poor and she is a girl (old Chinese mentality with emphasis on son than daughter). Thus, she is very determined to take care of them (another reason could be because she is still single without much financial burden and commitment). Anyway, her dad passed away about a few years back, and now is her mom. She passed away painlessly, with 2 sons and 1 daughter by her side (a good way to go I would say). During a conversation with a relative (which take place later), she mentioned that my cousin is a good daughter (one of a kind, no kids treat their parents with such care anymore) who took very good care of her parents. But, who is going to take care of her when she grows old? Hmm, really a good question worth pondering.

I take my mom out for dinner. My mood is not very good for the past few days (too much thoughts in my head), thus I decide to eat something which would make me happy (means expensive food). I settle for a Hong Kong café (Hong Kong S.A.R café or something like that). The first thing which caught my eye is that they are showing Shaolin Soccer (少林足球) on Projector TV, goodie. I like to watch TV, I like HK movies and I like Shaolin Soccer, Yeah! Though I watched it many times already, but still found the movie funny and manage to cheer me up. Somehow, this stupid comedy movie really can do magic on me tonight, and I really found it extra good and really enjoyed it. And the food is good and cheap too. With just RM 10, I get Honey Green Tea, a soup, fried rice and a fish fillet. Perfect dinner.

We went to my cousin’s place right after. Quite a number of relative is there, especially my cousin’s brothers and sisters, and their children. The whole event is taken care by Nirvana Memorial, I guess they include everything in a package (ceremony, casket, burial ground and etc). Nirvana is really a very enterprising company; they take something old and taboo-ish thing and make it into something modern, trendy and convenient for people. I guess the death ceremony is not very much of importance nowadays, as most people don’t appear to very serious. People chat and laugh around, talking on hand phone while the Monk is praying or even can’t stand straight while praying. Time had changed, probably no point being too serious as it is a tradition ceremony after all. One thing good about this event is friends and families come from a far just to pay their last respect (some fly overnight, and some drive for hours). Just realized one of my nieces is learning dancing too, and she saw me in one of the dance event I went for. My uncle (her father) told me about that and asked, “So, how is your dance competition?” I was like, huh? I found out later her daughter participates in dance competition, and he thought I was at the same level as her. Perhaps it was the William & Luisa event where I saw her mom, but I didn’t saw her (or I don’t recognize her).

I pick my aunt (my father’s sister) home. On the way back, she told me something about “We are born with nothing; and we shall die with nothing” (来也空空,去也空空). That left a lot more to ponder about. How we should treat life? How serious or casual we should be? How much should we expect or ask for? How much should we give to others?

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