Of Hari Raya Puasa holidays and Sibu mini bloggers’ meet
Life is great. No doubt of it. In spite of everything that has been said about racial unity and its implications on the nation’s future, on a personal level I have been invited to a few homes for the coming Hari Raya. It is also the same with Chinese New Year. We receive guests of all ethnic groups.
I went for bible study last night. I was told we lead blessed lives. In a way, it is true. Many of our rants are of a higher nature. We do not starve in Malaysia nor do we experience devastating earthquakes or typhoons. Our roads are relatively safe and few people are hungry. The few published deserving cases of extreme poverty have always met with positive responses from the generous public who are eager to help out. Bless our generous Malaysian public.
Some of my friends have been very negative about the Malaysian astronaut program. They say it is a waste of funds. A symbolic act. Perhaps it is. Perhaps we need a symbolic act like this to fire our imagination, to spur our nation further. You should have seen Benghui’s face yesterday. His eyes almost popped out when he saw the launch on television. I think he will remember the day forever. He is the new generation. It is for them. It was the same for a different generation when the first man landed on the moon.
The balik kampung ( going home ) exodus has begun. Many people have left for their home towns. Even some of the makcik and pakcik who sell Muslim delicacies this fasting month have stopped selling. They explained they want to spend some time preparing their own homes for this grand occasion. Traditional Muslim settlements like Kampung Hilir and Kampung Datu have been a hive of activity. There are so many cars with outstation registration plates and the joyous folk can be seen preparing for the big day.
Retail outlets have suddenly been hit by an onslaught of last minute shoppers eager to make purchases. A friend told me he smiles even he is sleeping. In his sleep he says, “I can hear my cash register ringing”. The New Sing Kwong Supermarket especially has been busy with parking space hard to find during peak hours. Farley has been doing reasonably well too. After this, there will be the Christmas crowd and after that, the Chinese New year shoppers. Life is good for everybody in Sibu. We all just pray that the price of petrol will be maintained at its present level.
A baker friend of mine told me he hasn’t raised the prices of his pastries. “Why should I?,” said he. I am still making money, He however worries about the price of pork which may cause him to raise the price of his meat dumplings.
I have four whole days of holidays. I can’t believe it. There is a bloggers’ meet of sorts next week. It is organized by Miss Personality Clare and we are inviting the great Borneo Monkey MonkeyWong and Jam is expected to join us. Benghui is eager to attend his very first bloggers’ meet. A pity though clement and wong sinse will not be able to attend. Are there any others interested? Bengbeng will of course attend. I will attend anything which promises great food 
Will post pics of our mini bloggers’ meet food
I will end this post with a quote from a very dear friend of mine. He said, “I will die one day. I told my wife to play the song, “The Great Pretender” by the Platters during the funeral service. Do you know why? We people are all pretenders, aren’t we? We all have to pretend to be what we are not but we are all just humans anyway ”The end.
13 comments Bengbeng | Miscellaneous
u forgot abt me!!!! ahha but im not in sibu neways
aiya .. u useless sibu kia..come back oso never invite us out leh
buy a flight ticket immediately n join us !!!! kekekeke
Only 4 of us? Start thinking twice whether I should attend or not…
these r the ones on my msn list…as for u, Monkey told me. i dont know who else clare invited
but i know for certain there will b at least one surprise blogger
No worries, to make it a great gathering ever I bring some monkeys there to cheer you guys up
I got no monkeys only Benghui which is the same thing hahahahahahah i will bring him
to cheer u guys up too 
if you want i can bring those inflatable dolls of Dolly parton n put them on the chairs n we can pretend there r lots o f chicks with us
Its true that we lead a blessed life.
It’s also true that we tend to focus on things that go wrong. I mean, why fix things that is already working? The broken stuff are the things that need fixing. I guess that is why so many of us tend not to focus on the positive side…
Btw, have a great gathering!
acknowledge blessing is something most ppl dont do..they only know how to complain n curse
Miss Personality… *wipes sweat* Yeah, only 4 of us 1 ’surprise blogger’ like how you put it. You said don’t want to make it big mah…
why dun u invite another lenglui blogger? simmy tan? she’s always in sibu, and have been wanting to find sibu bloggers.. the big one.. when is that?
there is no big one..sibu so few bloggers..how to have a biggie?
We dont have the url for simmy tan. u have?
no more friends liao! none of u invited me!
eh..eh …in my post, i mentioned a mysterious blogger friend..is you lah….don’t disappoint us..come home brader
i cna’t, i’m still at aus now.. will only be back in dec.
Waseh blogger gathering, kool man!
cis! now u make fun of me!
aduh i am not making fun of you.
so sorry
simmy is currently on hiatus… but her blog is here:
wuching. check my blog.. ha ha
http://www.simmy-tan.com/blog.html
she’s so famous and yet u duno? ha ha
jienster… u come to december one la.. WTJ too..
Have a nice holiday bengbeng! Make sure you take lots of pics of the meet.
i will
hari raya puasa is always celebrated by everyone. our neighbour in petaling jaya always holds a openhouse to everyone. Malays are very hospitable people, and their rendang is always delicious. i m glad in sibu that tradition is still going on and neighbours invite each other when celebrating their own festival days. when is the bloggers meet? i will look frwrd to the pics and report of what happen. about the guy who says we are all pretenders. hmm, i m not, but maybe i m the exception.
i couldnt find a video on the song The Great Pretender. He is a great fren and also a great guy. Not at all phony. just that like everybody else you included I am sure put on a civilized mask because society warrants it.