Monday, March 20, 2017

100th Birthday

I survived 4 flights in 48 hours period. It is tiring but honestly I don't mind this kind of businessman high and frequent flyer life. I went to Jakarta on Friday night. I reached home at 1am+ and I only had 2 hours to sleep before catching a morning flight to Pontianak. I took a flight back to Jakarta at 130pm today and I continued with another flight back to Singapore at 815pm. Enough about the plane and back to the ground now.

Since I am overseas, I decided to just keep quiet during all the preparations for my grandma's 100th anniversary. My principle is if I don't have anything to add value or I can't do anything to help, shutting up is being helpful. I am glad that I did that. People were so disorganised as everyone only wanted to do a part without care what others were doing and people were just complaining about everything when they themselves were part of the problem.

The food was terrible, the events were messy, and my only entertainment was the photobooth outside. They had a mass planned but did not assign the people to sit on the prepared chairs. I was asked to sit and hence I could not take enough photos outside. Sian.. I hate to go for mass in Indonesia because I cannot follow the words. I only took a few pictures. Family pictures were hassle to get as my dad was all about talking to people. Seriously.. As everything overran, I did not know who was to make the decision whether they should extend the photobooth as 30 minutes extension will cost another Rp 500000. My biggest regret was for not taking a picture with my grandma: just the two of us. Near the end, I was just with her at the photobooth before I pushed her wheelchair back. Why did not I take the photo even when the photographer gave a signal? It was because I did not know the photobooth was extended or not. It is all over now and a chance like this will not come again. No point remembering and getting sore over this so for now I can only say f u c k you all.

Seeing how all these people behave, I don't know whether this celebration is about my grandma or it is all about themselves. I feel quite sad because my grandma forgot about me on Saturday. At her age, her memory is failing. Sometimes she remembers and sometimes she does not. It is sad that on Saturday, it seemed to be her 'off' day. Today when I saw her before flying back, she could remember me and she was chatty like the good old day. If only she was like that yesterday during the event.

To reach 100 years old is an amazing feat by today's standard and she is really an inspiration. Having said that, I am still not inspired to live that long. I am a selfish person and I really don't want all the physical challenges that come with ageing. Dear God, thank you for my grandma who is such a blessing for all the people around her. I don't mind that you take away my life and give it to her so that she can live longer, healthier, and continue to give happiness to the people around her.

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