Saturday, July 31, 2004

Prefect Buffet 04

And WE DID IT!! :)

The buffet was a total success. Sure there were a few hiccups here and there (like when the CD jumped during the 5ive dance), but overall... Went a gazillion times better than expected.

Oh and hey, the food was good too! *grins*

A thousand thanks to the Form 2s who did an amazing job. Their Malaysian Idol spoof was a hoot! The audience was in hysterics the whole way through. Their "mini concert" and Ads game were pretty good too. Kudos to them on a job well done.

And that's an understatement.

According to feedback, though, the best performance was the choir members' rendition of the school song. Aww shucks. What can I say? We're the best. Just that some idiotic judges refuse to acknowlegde that. Grrr.

In the case of this buffet (after the lot of us practically went mental trying to get everything in order in 3 days), the MGS last minute spirit prevailed.

Hail MGSians!!! Yet again we have shown that no matter how late we do things, we still can churn out the best!

*croaks* Oooh MGS our schoool mosst deeeaarrr....

Friday, July 16, 2004

Ooh I'm MAD !

A hectic few months. Crazily so.

I'm so tired I could fall asleep on my feet.

We got 2nd place for choir. I'm sorry but I'm NOT satisfied witha that result. The excuses given by the judges were totally lame. Why? Here..

Excuse No. 1

"We couldn't hear the harmonies"

Why is it NOT valid?

We recorded the performance and listened to it over and over again. And if you can't hear the harmonies there, what the bloody #*$&$%* are you doing being a judge?!! Let me break it down..

Sejahtera Malaysia had 3 parts. The Alto was so strong this year that we could hear them almost TOO clearly. Penalize us for not blending, fine. But DON'T say the harmonies couldn't be heard.

The Sound of Music had SIX parts. And if you can't hear 6 parts, when only a small minority are singing the melody, then there is something SERIOUSLY wrong somewhere.

Excuse No. 2

Pakaian

Why am I mad? Here's why.

We were wearing school uniforms. So? Let me tell you we looked 3 times neater than the first school did even though they were wearing new costumes. Trust me. The pictures say it all.

And they couldn't come up with anything better than that! *rolls eyes*. Sure, their dynamics were better than ours, but overall, their harmony sucked, their piano accompaniment was whack.. I just don't get it.

Sigh.

Oh and the Prefect Buffet's coming up. Yeehaw. Another load of work.

I'm in charge of entertainment, by the way.

Oh joy.

So much for seniors not having to do anything.

Saturday, July 10, 2004

Mama

The past two weeks have been among the worst weeks I've ever been through, and yet not so.

Two weeks ago, we found out that Mama was terminally ill. For weeks the doctor had been putting her loss of weight and continuous coughs down to thyroid and weak lungs. And then she went for a scan.. and they found she had lung cancer. Further tests confirmed that it had spread from her liver.

You can imagine how stunned we were. It hadn't been 2 weeks since she was on her feet cooking otak-otak for us and she'd just been on holiday in Australia couple of months before and she seemed just fine. As fine as any average 80-year-old lady could be, that is. Not a single one of us ever thought she would have cancer. And in such advanced stages, at that.

But from that time on, it was downhill all the way. Within a week she became almost skeletal, and could hardly talk. She didn't have the strength to eat either, and her cough was heart-rending to hear.

That same weekend, she was admitted in SJMC. She progressively got weaker, and it was torture to see her struggle. She couldn't clear the phlegm herself and the doctors were reluctant to use a tube as it would have been very uncomfortable for her. Plus she was diabetic, and that complicated matters. It wasn't long before her breathing became loud and noisy... So loud that we could hear her from the elevator when her room was one of the furthest from the lifts.

(I only just found out that it is actually an indication that the person respiratory system is failing.. It's also known as the "death rattle").

That was when the doctors said she didn't have long to live.

While we were all in shock, I am and will always be, proud of the way the whole family pulled together. We developed a timetable and there was never a time when there were less than 3 people at her side.

We fed her a solution that would keep her sugar level stable, helped her clear the phlegm that she couldn't spit out due to the fact that she was so weak, massaged her arms and legs to improve circulation, and kept a 24 hour vigil at her bedside.

She saw every single one of her children and grandchildren before she died. All 10 and 21 of us. I will never forget the moment she died... She came out of her coma just long enough to look around at us all and breathed her last. It is a consolation, though, to know that the last thing she saw was the faces of all those who loved her and cared for her right up to the end.

There is also consolation in the thought that she received Christ as her Lord before she passed on. It is comforting to know that she is now safe in the arms of her Maker.

It's been 3 days now since she was buried. The shock hasn't quite abated and I don't think I've accepted it yet. It's hard to imagine life without her. She was a central part of our family... Almost every family activity revolved around her.

All of us will miss her, I have no doubts on that account. She loved us in her own way, and showed us in every way she could. She was the typical old school sort of grandmother... Not one to show much affection. But I am convinced that she did all she did for us out of love and I will always treasure those memories.

Mama we love you. We may not always have been obedient or particularly patient with your ways and opinions, but we DO know that all you said and did was because you cared.

I know we will meet again.. and I cannot wait for the day when I get to hear the rare laugh that so often brought joy to us all when we were blessed enough to hear it.

Rest In Peace, Mama.
~ 3rd July 2004 ~