Insomnia

I haven’t been able to sleep the normal sleeping hours. First was the jetlag which caused Sleepless in Muar. The jetlag was really bad. I couldn’t sleep at night and during the day I would fall asleep on the hard wooden couch in front of the TV.

I finally got rid of jetlagness and went on the Road Trip up North. We got some horrible back seats and the whole 9 hour bus ride was bumpy and very exhausting. The church trip consists of mostly elderly folks. I would call them the ‘new age’ elderly because these people travel a lot and are very “street smart”.

I was queuing up in the busy crowded toilet; there was one young girl in front of me. I looked away for 1 minute and suddenly in front of me was an elderly lady. Oh well, ‘old people first I guess’. Then in a flash of the next minute another elderly lady was in front of me. Oh man…the toilet was stinky and the queue is getting longer and longer. By the time I got out of the toilet, it was empty. Everyone had gone in before me!!! It made me wonder if these ‘cut queue’ elderly did it intentionally knowing as a matter of fact that even if they had asked me to let them go first I would have said OK anyway. Or it was unintentional and they didn’t see me at all in the queue. OK my thought of them was that they were really rude. They could have asked nicely and I would not have to think them as rude old people. But then again they are old people and I should respect them but somehow I felt they had taken advantage of my respect for them and they might have just taken away my respect for them.

That was how I felt then but later when I got to know these elderly folks better. They all seem really nice people. And nothing else matter now that we had reached Penang safely. The church is still as beautiful as I remembered. And the food in Penang is still super good. We had 8 course meals every time plus a buffet breakfast. And to top that up Uncle LM and Aunty MN brought us to Gurney Drive for more food. Penang is this crazy island where you can find food at every nook and corner. I wish I could try every stall but I was already stuffed from the 8 course diner. The thing that one must eat in Penang is Penang Laksa. The last time I went to Penang I had it for breakfast, lunch and diner. Its super super good stuff! Thanks to Uncle LM and Aunty MN for bringing me and ZS around!! We had a great time!

It was lovely meeting up with my cousins in Penang. I love hearing them talk about their school life. Listening to their school adventures feels like a revisit to my past. Makes me feel so old. They are all so grown up now and I only been away for a while. Maybe age is catching up with me but I can't seem to keep track of my cousins ages. I can't even remember my own age these days. Age is definitely catching up. It is weird seeing them all so grown up now. The memory I have of them is this cute little children who play like mad with my brother when they come back to Muar. I don't know when I will see them again but I believe they will all lead a good life and I pray that they will make their dreams come true.

I kept falling asleep in mass. Its really bad I know but I couldn't help it I was really tired. In between those nodding off I looked around me and saw that I wasn't alone. Heck ! So many people were sleeping. Many people had traveled as far as Singapore and Indonesia for St Anne's feast and its a long way to Penang.

On our last day as I was enjoying a seafood lunch at Bukit Tambun, the trip leader told us a very sad news a bus travelling to St Anne crashed down the hill and 11 people died. I was numb by the news as I recounted a guy in Penang wishing us a safe trip home and at that time I thought to myself 'Of course God will protect us seeing that we travelled so far to St Anne.' I don't know what to say when people say things like 'These are all good people who died. How can God do something like that to them?'

I guess I can only say that God has His reasons when things happen. We always blame Him when awful things happen and almost always forget Him when we are having a Great time in our life. I am also an ungrateful bitch sometimes. When Shit happens I always ask God 'why me?' I try and try to have faith and be patient but sometimes it ain't easy.

What happened to the victims of this tragic accident is very sad and all we can do is to pray that their souls are resting in heavenly peace.

I couldn't stop my tears when we started singing this song 'Betapa Hatiku' at St Anne's; Tell me now my Lord, what you want me to do...

The trip has been really wonderful. It made me think a lot and personally the candle of faith in me that was blown off for a while has been sparked again and I am thankful and hopefully it will continue to shine through the windy days ahead.

I can't sleep in front of the TV anymore because it just died a few days ago. No more Jamie Oliver mornings for a while.

My only insomnia medicine has died. Maybe I should try reading myself to bed. I really really need to get some sleep. My whole body system is crashing... sore throat, runny nose and the lot...

Other than insomnia life is great. Met up with Power Consultant Miss Joanne Jong for lunch yesterday. Hey girl so happy to hear of your exciting life in KL. See you again this weekend!

PS - I bet there are 101 spelling and grammar mistakes in this very long and 'loh soh' post. Sorry lah couldn't be arsed to check. Going to try to get some sleep now....