It's only Tuesday??

Oh my goodness...

I'm pooped.

Yup. That's the best word to describe it.
Not 'exhausted' or 'tired' or 'penat' or 'letih'...

Pooped.

You know, if you look at that word (POOPED) long enough, it looks really odd... I mean, look at it.. Really LOOK at it..
Is it really a word? Pooped?
Okay... am digressing. Forgive me. I'm just so pooped.

I worked last Sunday. From morning till nearly midnight.
Is that insane? Yes.
Why did I do it? Naturally, because I'm insane.

I was actually preparing for a trial that was scheduled on Monday morning.
Why was I preparing at the last minute? Because my life abides by Murphy's Law that Whenever you set out to do something, something else must be done first.

There were tons of 'suddenly urgent' things that I needed to attend to so the only time left for my trial prep was... yup... SUNDAY.

So I spent Sunday in the office, with a couple of other sad-souls, and we diligently prepared for trial.

MONDAY, 15th August 2005 - Day of Trial

Woke up bright and early, despite having slept at 3:30am.
Rushed through traffic to get to the court, carrying the heaviest suitcase in the history of the world.
Case called.
Parties appear before the Judge.
The learned Judge opined that it is best if parties submitted written submissions and therefore, trial is postponed till all submissions have been filed.

Right.
Spent a Sunday like a mad-woman for a trial that DID NOT GO ON.

*sigh*

Never mind... Pacify myself... Remember what Auguste Rodin wisely said Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely.

I vow to use the experience wisely...
Lesson learnt: Never sacrifice a Sunday.

So lets go to the rest of Monday.
Spent the entire day preparing for an injunction hearing scheduled for Tuesday morning. All things were fine and I was prepared to leave around 5:30 and catch up on some sleep.

At exactly 5.00pm, the boss asks me whether the 'Affidavit of Service' ("proof that the Defendant knows about the suit") had been filed, because without that, it would be impossible for us to get our Order-in-Terms ("what we want").

I was pretty sure that it had been filed because my secretary was instructed to do so a few weeks ago.

Checked the file.
Nope.
It was not filed.

That's okay, can file it first thing tomorrow morning.
Secretary's on medical leave.

That's okay, I can do it.
All it entails is that I draft the Affidavit and get the service-guy to sign it and the Commissioner of Oath to validate it.
What's so tough about that?

Reality is the leading cause of stress amongst those in touch with it.
Jane Wagner

What happened next was a comedy of errors crap. Like a bad remake of a Shakespeare play.

Cast: Lawyer - Me / Service Guy - Beck / Commissioner of Oath - Zack / Boss - Dave (OBVIOUSLY these are not their real names)

Beck had left the office. So I called him to make sure that he comes in very very very early Tuesday morning to sign the Affidavits as I need to get it validated and filed before the case is called in court. Beck says, ok.
I call Zack to tell him the same thing. Zack says ok.
I spend the night drafting the Affidavit and preparing for the hearing.

Tuesday morning...
8am - I'm in the office. Beck and Zack not in office yet. I wait.
8:30am - Dave calls "Have you got the affidavits?" No. "Ok. I'll try and stand-down ("delay") our case". Yay.

8:45am - I call Beck "Where the hell are you?" (politely) On the way, Cik Mediha.

9:10am - Dave calls "Have you got the affidavits?" No. "Aiyo. Hurry. I don't know how long I can stand-down ("delay") our case". Ugh.

9:15am - Beck comes into the office. Grinning and singing. He is ignored. He signs affidavit. I look for Zack. He's not in his room.
He's SUPPOSED to be in his room, goddamnit.

9:30am - I am dying a slow and painful death. The Malay saying is right Penantian itu suatu penyeksaan ("Waiting is a torture")

9:45am - Zack arrives. Rambles about traffic jams and the haze and crap crap crap. I tell him to never mind, just start validating. He rambles on and the more he rambles, the slower he does his validating. I tell him to shut up and start validating. (politely)

10am - I'm rushing to court. Upon arrival at the registry, I scramble for cash to file the affidavits. Only have an RM50 note. Girl takes forever to come up with RM48 change. I grit my teeth but force a smile because registry girl has the power over all lawyers. If you piss her off, you piss-off the WHOLE Court Registry and your life as a lawyer would be worse than hell. So smile.

10:10am - I arrive at the court. Find Dave having a nice, long conversation with some buddies. The Judge is not ready to see us yet. After all that running around, I sit in court, waiting for the Judge to see us.

10:45am - We appear before the Judge. The learned Judge barely glances at The Affidavit. The learned Judge barely asks us ANY questions... The learned Judge calmly gives us our Order-in-Terms.
Hurrah.

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), "Macbeth", Act V scene V

I crawl back to the office to prepare for a Judicial Review at the Shah Alam courts tomorrow morning. Spent the entire morning, and my entire lunchtime doing it.

Did NOTHING else. Just preparation for the Judicial Review.

5:30pm - I walk into boss's office to brief him on my strategy.
Boss tells me "Oh, the AG's Chambers just called. They JUST filed an Affidavit in reply to ours, so we just need to get another date pending our response. Judicial Review won't go on tomorrow"

I crawled back to my room.
I looked at the work I had abandoned while doing the Judicial Review and promptly burst out laughing.

Insanity.
I welcome it.

Lesson Learnt:
To be free of destructive stress... Don't sweat the small stuff and realize that ALL stuff is small.


Pardon my selfish griping, people... I just needed to vent.

Over the years your bodies become walking autobiographies, telling friends and strangers alike of the minor and major stresses of your lives.
Marilyn Ferguson

There's so much pollution in the air now that if it weren't for our lungs there'd be no place to put it all. R. Orben

Conversation overheard at KLCC

Makkk, cantiknya kabussss!
Bukan kabusla, Jo. Tu jerebu.
Jerebu tu apa, mak? Macam awan yek?
Bukannn... macam asap.. Kan bau asap nii, Jo tak bau ke?
((( sniff! sniff! )))
A ah la mak. Asaaap.
((( pause )))
Mak, kenapa banyak sangat asap kat sini? Banyak orang isap rokok ek?
Bukan Jo. Hutan terbakar kat Indonesia.
Sapa bakar hutan tu mak?
Orang Indonesia la Jo.
Kenapa dia bakar hutan tu mak?
Sebab dia nak buat bangunan atas tanah hutan tu.
Bangunan macam KLCC ni mak?
A ah.
((( pause )))
Mak, hisap rokok tak baik kan mak?
A ah. Tak baik. Tuhan marah.
((( pause )))
Bakar pokok?
((( pause )))
Mak, bakar pokok pun tak baik kan mak?
... a ah Jo, tak baik.
Nanti Tuhan marah kan, mak. Pastu kenapa diorang bakar pokok tu mak?
Kan mak dah cakkaaapp, sebab diorang nak buat bangunan. Dah, jangan bising-bising. Kata nak makan ais-krim tadi... kita naik gi McDonalds yerrr."

I hate the haze.

I hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate HATE THE HAZE.

As I drove out of the parking lot in KLCC yesterday evening, I went through the underground tunnel. And as I approached the end of the tunnel, I could see the thick haze being reflected by the streetlights. And believe it or not, my eyes teared up.

Not because they were smarting from the haze or anything like that... But because I was overwhelmed by the HORRIDNESS of the haze.

Bad weather like heavy rain or thunderstorms or extreme heat; these can all be tolerated. And I would never say I HATE 'em.
They're Mother Nature's work.

But THIS?
This Haze is Man's Masterpiece.

As I drove home, I looked at how KLCC had disappeared from the skyline. I saw how the trees were wilting and how the entire city looked like a bad remake of Twilight Zone. It was disgusting.

It's disgusting how we allowed this to happen to us.
It's disgusting how we continuously tolerate being tortured with bad air.
It's disgusting how we calmly purchase masks as if it's the most natural thing to do.
It's disgusting how we relish in the 'uniqueness' of "hazestones" falling from the sky.

It's disgusting how we just sit back, and tolerate all this.

Life goes on.

Yes, that's true enough.
But what KIND of life is this??

I can't walk out of the building without feeling like a smoked salmon.
I see people coughing, sneezing, wheezing, panting...
I see children forlornly gaze at the haze that has invaded their playgrounds.
I see construction workers braving the haze while rushing to complete their work, building more palaces in the sky.
I see people driving to the office, wearing a mask even in the confines of their cars.

And I hate it.

I hate the level of tolerance that we have for things like this.

I hate what we've become.

I hate knowing that in the future, I'll have to do the explaining when my children ask me "Kenapa orang bakar pokok, mak?"

We cross our bridges when we come to them and burn them behind us, with nothing to show for our progress except a memory of the smell of smoke, and a presumption that once our eyes watered.
Tom Stoppard (1937 - ), Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

She's not dead, she's a newlywed

Oh my. It's August already? It's been nearly TWO months since the wedding and I haven't been updating much... In fact, I barely said ANYthing about the wedding! Gosh... Have I really been that busy?

I guess so.

Work has been piling up. Not that I don't enjoy it, but it does take a chunk out of my day. And when I get home the LAST thing I feel like doing is playing with the Internet. I'd rather play with my husband. Muahahaha!

Aaaaaaanywayyyy....

I can honestly say that getting married was the most memorable and wonderful thing I've ever done.

Wedding Prep
I'd always gone my cousins' weddings and I was involved in the preparation for it and stuff like that. But actually BEING the bride is an entirely different story altogether!

The house was filled with relatives and everything was going on all at once. The words hustle-and-bustle doesn't even come CLOSE to describing what was going on in the house. And the best thing was, I didn't have to do a single thing! I was made to feel a weeeee bit like an invalid. Can't lift a finger, can't venture further than 5 feet from the front door. If I dared to breach these rules, I'd hear a volley of loud, high-pitched shrieks from my well-meaning aunts.

My mom was handling everything like a pro. She delegated, she supervised... *phew* I was exhausted just LOOKING at her work. But the aunties and cousins and neighbours and friends were like angels... They were flitting here and there and getting things done miraculously well.
Amazing.

The Nikah
I can't even begin to describe how it felt, to see Wan gracefully and calmly say the words "Aku terima nikah, Mediha binti Mahmood, dengan mas kahwin RM100 tunai". When the Imam, without blinking an eye, immediately went "Al Faaaatihah", signalling that indeed, we were now OFFICIALLY married, I was actually stunned. That's the word for it... STUNNED. My mother, who was sitting right across from me, told me that my jaw just dropped and my eyes grew wide. I was amazed that in less than 5 seconds, I had gone from a single girl to a married woman.
Amazing.

The Receptions
I could never be described as a smiley-cheery person. But I think, I must've broken a record during my wedding. For Longest Period of Smiley-Cheeriness :)

All throughout all the receptions, I was just grinning away. But that's not all I did...

I nearly fainted when on the night of the akad, there was a blackout that left the entire house pitch-dark... (luckily, Tenaga Nasional saved the day..... or I would've sued. I BET I would've!)

I almost whacked my maid-of-honor on the head for not noticing that I was crying after the akad and I NEEDED TISSUE OR I'D HAVE BEEN THE BRIDE-WITH-SNOT-RUNNING-DOWN-HER-NOSE...

I nearly bawled in tears at the hotel when my groom serenaded me and the crowd with 'Permata (Untuk Isteriku)'...

I almost died when my dad started his wedding speech by telling the entire crowd about my baby-crapping-habits...

I very nearly snorted with laughter when my mom's friend described me as "Breathtakingly beautiful"... (Made me feel like a scenic view...)

The receptions were indeed, a kaleidoscope of emotions.
And I actually ENJOYED dressing-up (though wearing a songket in the afternoon sun is a reallllly sadistic thing to do) and I enjoyed meeting guests and sitting prissily at the main table 'pretending' to eat. I can't believe I enjoyed all that, but I did! I was actually HAPPY to wear high-stilleto-heels, and princessy-makeup and sequiny-gowns... I didn't even frown at wearing that freakin' tiara! I am completely surprised at myself.
Amazing.

It would be impossible for me to share every single bit of every single thing that happened in my wedding.... Some might find that a little bit dull :)

But all in all... I guess I could sum up my wedding in one word.
Yup... you guessed it....

Amazing.