Giddy Tigers

A couple of days ago, hubbs and I suddenly realized our water bill was due the next day. The problem with the water bill is that we can’t pay it online so even though the amount is not even RM10, we have pay the bill in person. And what irks us is that we can’t pay in advance, for example, pay RM50 up front for the next few months. Advanced payment is only allowed if we go directly to the PBA, which isn’t very convenient. So we made our way to the post office in Tesco during lunchtime to pay the miserable seven-something bill. There were many people waiting in the post office already and it was disheartening to find out that we were about 50 numbers away from being called. SIGH.

Boredom does weird things to people, I tell you. Have you ever flipped your water bill over to see what it says on the back? Well, sometimes there is a need to state an estimated amount on the water bill and here is a list of codes associated to why a particular amount is estimated:

Hehe…. the funny ones are:

G: Anjing Garang (Fierce Dog)
L: Pembaca Meter Bercuti (Meter Reader on vacation)

…and so the wait continued. More and more people arrived at the mini post office and took their respective numbers but only one counter was available. The man behind the counter, who went by the name of Yee, was handling each and every customer with tremendous efficiency. Parcels, registered mail, stamps, bills, ASN accounts…. and he didn’t look the least bit frustrated that all of his colleagues had walked out for lunch. Yes, in the midst of the huge lunchtime crowd, I witnessed 3 of Mr Yee’s colleagues walk out, waving a cheery goodbye to the poor man, leaving him at the mercy of all the tired and restless customers. Tsk tsk… to think they can’t even reschedule their lunch time to accommodate the crowd. But kudos to Mr Yee, for here was a man that faced adversity head on and handled every customer with ease.

So finally after about 40 minutes of waiting around, my number was called. Paying the water bill took less than a minute. We even took the opportunity to change our voter’s registration address. Hubbs and I are registered voters and have been so since we hit the age of 21, but our voting address had been still in our hometowns of Ipoh and Taiping, and since we changed to the MyKad with our Penang addresses, we have yet to change our voting address. Up till that day. Changing our voting address would mean a change in our voting constituency. Mr Yee told us it would take THREE WHOLE MONTHS for the change of address to be reflected in the voters’ registration database. Why so long, no one knows…. hopefully the change would have already taken effect by the time the national election comes round.

‘Cos if at first you don’t succeed….
Pick yourself up and try again
You can dust if off and try again, try again…..

Those are the lyrics from the late Aaliyah’s song Try Again, that I try to keep in mind… and things have started looking up for me again, I am happy to say. There is no sign of the silver lining as yet, but linings in all other colors are beginning to make their presence felt, albeit in small ways. But it’s these little things that mean a lot, right? And yesterday I accomplished many things which I am proud of. I hope it is the start of good things to come.

• After many moons of procrastination, I finally completed upgrading Pelf‘s two blogs to WordPress 2.2.2. She had so kindly requested for my assistance sometime back to help her upgrade two of her blogs, The Giving Hands and The Turtle Talks, and I finally did it! Wheeee!!! Those are great sites and Pelf is doing some absolutely awesome stuff to save and heal the world.
• I also signed up for Blog Action Day (see link on my sidebar?). This is a program that requires all its participants to blog about the environment on October 15th. So watch out for my post then, it’s my personal bit to bring awareness to our environment. Or better yet, you can join me and sign up as a participant too!
• Yesterday evening, after days of calling the Royale Bintang, and checking their website daily, I finally secured a room! A Deluxe Queen to be exact. Woohoo!
• I called to check on the status of our housing loan and was delighted to find out that our payoff amount is now LESS than a quarter of the loan amount we took. Closer and closer to being debt-free, we are getting… 😀
• And finally, before I called it a night, I chupped Simple America‘s blog. TWICE! 😀

Is the silver lining a mere cliché or is there indeed really one somewhere out there? Because all I see now are dark, dark clouds that are slowly but menacingly rearing their ugly claws all around me. Waiting for that opportune moment when I am at my weakest to launch their deadly attack. There ain’t no silver lining, and no lining in any other color too that can be seen. Nuh-uh. Not from where I am standing…

And what about the saying, “Everything happens for a reason.” I myself have at many times said this in consolation to many a friend. I believe it to be true. But yet, I am still trying my best to say it to myself now. I know that God has a plan for me and that I should put everything into His Hands for now, because who am I to question Him?

Although these circumstances are making me call out in desperation, I endeavor to be strong at heart. It’s difficult and is taking every ounce of my weary being. I persevere. For that one last gasp attempt.

And I am hopeful. Still.

Hoping and praying that maybe,…just maybe…. that elusive silver lining will make its presence known. SOON. And when that happens, I will welcome it with open arms.