Ding Dong Marry-ly on High

Okay, so apparently 2010 is not a good year to be tying the nuptial knot. Which is probably why my list of wedding invites for the year has about doubled. Either that or word got out that Barb no longer avoids wedding-do's and thus is back on the "welcomed" list (lest if I were still in the former mode, I might show up in widow's black, muttering chants under my breath!)

One of my ex-boyfriend tied the knot yesterday. And I am most pleased for you to come to another milestone in life. With one of the most pleasant girls I know. Nonetheless, it was odd to see pictures of his registry wedding as the day wore on. Not odd with a tinge of something.. just plain simple weirdness.

This weekend, I'm gonna be the Maid of Honour at my bff's wedding. It's gonna be magical I tell you and I can't wait. We've got the week running up to it with not one but TWO hen-parties planned out for her, and of course, it'll be a gathering of old chums once again.

So yeah.. it's weeks of rice confettis, well-wishes and endless eating ahead with the people around me finally settling down. It really shouldn't surprise best bud Bear that I had to ask if he was gonna be announcing his engagement anytime soon.

Cos at the end of the day... Kinda makes one wonder.. life sure is a funny one eh?

Clean & Cleared

So yeah, it's now been 48 hours and no, the phone has not rung from the hospital to say I have to go back. So technically I have the all clear.

"Thank God!" said bff Mandy when she rang for an update this evening. And that was the most magical words said to me the whole of the last 2 days. For a brief moment, I felt that my existence in every day life did indeed matter - even if it was to just one person. That there was at least ONE person out there who was grateful and glad that I did not have to be further quarantined and is at no risk to everyone around me (as if there is a long queue for that right now!)

While driving back from my folks' place (where I had to leave my kids' stuff outside the front door and not inside, lest I contaminate the house), I couldn't help but reflect that our society does not condition us well to be loners. Sure we see lots of them out there with their kung-po-kai-fun and Chinese tea ice for dinner and the evening papers. But really, we're not structured to face days on end by ourselves. Or maybe it's just me.

Having just spent 2 weeks in Ireland by myself and coming home to this (this meaning being placed under home quarantine), I am shrivelling up like a grape forgotten at the back of the chiller cabinet. Add to all this, ultimatums that make me feel about as good as someone who has leprosy .. sighing is all I can do.

Perhaps I should sell my car so I have the funds to go get the crooked bone in my nose fixed. That way I won't be subsceptible to sinusitus. And my nose won't clog up at will when the pollen or dust count goes up a bit in the air. And the endless snifflings would stop. Then people won't look at me in this climate of virus scare and go all crazy around me or ask me to wear a face mask when there's nothing contagious about me.

I've been given a clean bill of health by the powers that be at the hospital. If only that bill would stretch to wiping out the stigma of being "suspected"!

Moving without Moving

I wrote Lydia's school principal the following email today after reading the papers:

Dear Ms Julia,

With the latest ruling of teaching of Maths & Science in BM from Year 2012, I write to enquire if Sekolah Sri Sedaya is required to follow this ruling and if so, would Lydia be affected?

Please advice.

Yours truly,

Barbara Er

A lot of angst have been expressed in the media over our government's latest decision. I too am questioning the rationale of the decision and the justification given. As our former PM rightfully said - we appear to be moving backwards! And he could not be more right on this account!

For my office has just received the results of the coming batch of scholars admitting into our unis and only half of them made the entry grade. Surprise! Surprise! The other half that did not make it was due to a poor Math or Science or BOTH score! And these are the cream of the crop - the best of the lot in their year which is why they are deserving of such huge tax-payer's investment in the hope of them advancing our country's growth.

While I am pleased that the schools would be re-introducing English Literature as a subject - I honestly doubt that my kids (if they have the misfortune of still having to follow the mainstream system) would be engaging me in a discussion of Yeats or Joyce (which makes me question the point of enrolling in next year's summer school on the works of John McGahern in Ireland even if the EUR 550 is being paid for me!!!)

At the end of the day, in my humble opinion, education today is wasted cos children are not nurtured to think for themselves which in turns translates to applying the knowledge they receive. It's not just in the poor scores that are being produced by our nation's top scholars but in the overall way of our system - and I can rant cos I was just sent from one end of a public hospital to another and back, despite my uncertain infectious condition, just so the pharmacist dispensing the drug could have 5 more minutes on her mobile with whoever it is that requires her attention! Which is a fine example of not applying knowledge received.

We talk of being a developing country. Perhaps the powers-that-be have mild dyslexia, getting their spelling wrong cos we seem to be more of an enveloping country - folding ourselves in.

We are told that our thoughts and opinions would now be taken into serious consideration under a certain concept - yet decisions still sway away from the cry of the public.

Maybe in time to come, I would be able to escape all these by putting my kids somewhere else to study tho if you were to ask me, there is no one perfect education system that exist in the world today! And if that be the case, then perhaps the only escape route would be to put them in an apprentice trade and say "Heck care!" to a paper qualification!

Afterall, it's pointless having a string of letters to your name if you can't think for yourself and contribute towards the betterment of society.

What A Joke

I have been nursing this nasty head cold prior to my return from Ireland on Monday.

I suppose going from an average of 18 degrees to 30-something degrees in a span of 24 hours did not help. I also suppose that pushing an entire 24 hours without sleep (my own remedy of countering jet-lag) would have maxed me out and bring on a nasty headache when I woke up yesterday. Last but not least, I suppose the pigging out on spicy food as a make-up of 12 days without chili did not also aid my fragile internal system.

Little did I think that all those "insignificant" actions of mine would result in my system completely turning on me today so that I am also having a slightly higher body temperature and the onset of a sore throat.

Now to really bring home the insignificance of my actions - the "repercussions" apparently mirrors the syptoms of *drum roll* H1N1! Which meant that when I finally ran out of my lil strips of Boots Max Strength Cold & Flu tablets (which, mind you, were EUR 0.70 a pop at 4 pops a day for the last 7 days), the doctor at the clinic would turn me away and send me to the nearest hospital.

So here I am, sitting in my work clothes still, scratching my head and counting down the next 48 hours.

If the phone rings with a certain PJ-area number within this time, I'll be packing my bags for a free stay at Sg. Buloh 'resort' and expecting a big whalloping from:

1) The hundreds of passengers on the return flight to KL from London (especially the dudes who were part of the Lord Mayor of London's entourage and who had spent yesterday with a bunch of head hunchos from Bank Negara!!!)

2) My best mate Mandy cos I'm the leader of the pack to rag her husband on their wedding day next week

3) My brother cos that would mean his whole family (and mine!!) would have to done the mask and stay home or have their throats swabbed

4) My boss cos I have put our lil Sam at risk by going back to work today and also not loading up on supplements and vitamins prior and during my travels,

and

5) Ben cos he told me to get myself some face masks and not catch the virus while on my travels.

So yeah, I'm ending up 7 days later:

• About RM 98 out of pocket from those lil Boots tablets,
• Stuck at home for the next 2 days without any human being for company - I was so looking forward to spending the weekend with my doh-doh and lukey boy! AND
• Without food other than bread (that's been in the fridge for the last month), eggs (that's also been around the same amount of time), some pasta sauce (which dates to about the same time as well) and instant noodles.

This is such a joke. I should have saved myself all that trouble and some RM 93 (the hospital bill was only RM 5 with an armload of meds!) and 3 kicks less in the butt.

Please God let that swab be negative!

12 Days

I have to be up front and declare that I am not coming back with micro-sticks load of pictures. I taken less than what would make up a roll of traditional film in fact, and this was what I pondered upon in the last 24 hours as the last minute packing began.

I suppose Ireland is one country you would have to stand on its soil and experience it for itself. Perhaps it is the romantic in me to deny anyone else of that experience with a refrain from being the shutter-bug. I mean, if I did up a scrape book of sorts, you might then decide that you have seen it and thus need not make the journey yourself.

I am way early for my flight to London but it is because the weather has gone a bit grey and I did not want my last hours in Dublin, towing my bags, to be washed out. I had the sunnies with me in the 12 days - let's keep it that way.

I do not think a melancholic reflection is needed as I take my place in line for the flight to London - this was but my 1st trip. I'ld be back in about 365 days from now.

My personal ambition from now: save enough money so that on each annual trip, I'll be able to afford bringing along at least one other person so that they can see for themselves the richness of hospitality of this lil island that gets more rain then one can imagine, and containing (and preserving!!!) more history than we can ever read up on.

Slán go fóill Ireland with your fairies, leprechauns, Guinness and double-decker buses ~ see ya real soon!

Genuine Friendly

Aa nice Paddy seated opposite me on the train todaay to Galway asked if I was comfortable, navigating Dublin on my own, when I told that I had walked the historicaal part of the city using a podcaast and a map.

The truth is, like anywhere else in the world, there are parts of the city (as with Cork and quite possily with Galway too) that one would be ill-advised to wander off into by themself, or even in a group.

I did my walking tour after 7 pm (but hey - it's now 10 past 11 and the sun's just gone down!). This meant that most of the shops would be closed and the pedestrian traffic having died down. Yet, I never got that feeling that I had to look over my shoulder or clutch the bag that wee bit tighter. And mind you, the trail I followed was on the North side of the river Liffey - which is not somewhere you'd want to hang out.

Maybe it was a sense of false safety that had lodge in my head, i.e. if most of the people I had crossed paths with are so genuinely friendly - how could there be any bad persons here?! Which is wrong, I know.

The cab driver who stopped the meter from running cos we were going in circles, finding a particular place, the kindly Pops who walked me down the Quays to make sure I got on the right bus to catch the train, the chap who offered to drive me frmo the station to the hotel - they could be unique individuals. And yes, there were kindly ladies as well - like the lady of the pub who gave me her recipe for Steak & Guinness stew or the B&B owner, Lucy who made me a warm salt bath for my aching feet.

Nonetheless, all the strangers I have sat next to, shared lifts with or even just waited for the bus with have all lived up to the proud reputation of Irish hospitality.

Malaysian Airlines should really take a leaf out of their books, if they want to maintain that MH = Malaysian Hospitality.

What we don't see

I had te opportunity to visit a Physiology Museum a couple of days ago at one of our universities. Now this would be the room where bits of healthy AND diseased parts of our body are encased and put on display - just so medical students can see what things should be, and should not be.

If you're like me, a great fan of medical series ala Grey's Anatomy, you would be familiar with like anuerysm, malignant tumours, etc. But fortunately for us, the telly does not show us what effects these have on the body bits.

3 days in, I'm still haunted by those cross-section "remains". I now know what my grandfather's brains would have looked like after his long battle with Alzheirmer's. And the insides of Ben's mum's abdomen after her fight with cancer.

I am grateful that not everybody gets to see these items. It does not add to your knowledge of tihngs.

If anything, it only makes it more painful in remembering.