a death in december

Have you attended a funeral and thought, no.. I am not going to cry because the person who passed on does not have that much emotional impact over you.

And then you thought wrong and you ended up bawling as if that person meant the world.

Well I was at one of those funerals today. It was my cousin's funeral. A cousin whom I haven't seen in years. He was my uncle's eldest son. And this uncle's family has not been attending Raya gatherings, relative's weddings, or even my late grandmother's funeral. Yes, estranged would be the word to describe it.

My cousin died of drug overdose - a concoction of sleeping pills and God-knows-what. To make things worse, they found his decomposed body, alone in a hotel room, sitting up, with the TV and air-con on. Doctors estimate that he has been dead for more than 10 days. He was 26.

When the talkin was recited, it seemed that my mind went back to the days when I used to babysit this little innocent, baby cousin of mine. We were nine years apart, and his parents used to send him to my grandparents' house for free day care. And I was the one who had to help my aunt take care of him, put him to sleep, prepare his formula, watched cartoons with him.

And today, he's bundled up in white cloth, lined with plastic - the condition of his body too horrific for me to even describe here.

I sat behind his wife, near to his mother - they tried to hold back tears during the talkin but only ended up crying until their whole bodies shivered. And I did too, silently.

Goodbye, Azlan. I hope you did not die in vain.

My friends, dear readers, this is not the way to die. So stay off drugs. You think you're in control, but don't play with fire. I beg you.

it's the most wonderful timeeeeeee of the yearrrrr

Today is my Dad's birthday. Just a piece of useless trivia to start me writing again.

I've always told people that December is my favourite month, and NO.. not because it's my birthday (on the 27th) but because everything just seems soooo festive in December what with the Christmas decor, the school holidays, the New Year anticipation AND don't you just notice that people in the office tend to be more laid back in December? And especially THIS December because of the many public holidays.. I mean, what's a reason not to LOVE this month???!!

Well in spite of all that, December has been a long month for me, and it's only the 17th today. First off, we finally moved in to our new home this month, a move that has been long overdue to both The Diver and my hectic schedule. Well mostly HIS schedule. To make things more topsy turvy, our Bibik went on leave for more than a week right after we moved in. But she's back now and I have recovered my sanity somewhat.

The first two things I made in our new kitchen are these two:

Banana Bread & Butter Pudding

Roast Chicken with Lotsa Veggies

I am elated beyond words that tomorrow's a public holiday and so is every Friday in the next couple of weeks. Didn't have much planned as we still need to fix a few things at the house and of course, decorate the Christmas tree. We left the ornaments at our Kg Warisan home, so for now we only have lights for the tree. (note to self: drop by Kg Warisan to pickup ornaments tomorrow!!!)

The Diver and I will be going to our usually monthly respite from office stress - The Comedy Club thingy at Zouk tonight, and looking forward to that. For those of you who haven't been to the Kuala Lumpur Comedy Club, I highly encourage you all to go, it's just a helluva blast.

My parents, my brother and Medina are in Japan right now visiting our lovely sister, Zaza and brother outlaw, Kazu-san. Medina seems to be OK with the wintry weather except for the occasional nosebleeds. They've been there for 5 days and coming back on Saturday.
Zaza, I ciloked your pics :)

And on the 26th, we'll be having a post-Christmas do at Gombak4Life's home in where else but Gombak County...Ah! So many things to look forward for....

Happy December y'all and joy to the world!