Not alone

You know the thing about having someone following you back? Pam had an experience in Pattaya when on her way from Bangkok for an event. Late in the night in her hotel room while sleeping, she dreamt of a young girl in white sitting on a branch of a tree, looking down at her. All of us were spooked out at her story and then again, it's not surprising. They are everywhere and you can only pray that they don't show themselves to you for their personal pleasure.

I recalled once I was at a different timezone for work... Due to leave the place by 2am, I decided to "nap" till 1am to do my last minute packing. It was 10pm while I laid down and my eyes closed within minutes. Imagine opening your eyes and realise your room has gotten significantly brighter, and well-aware you haven't touched any switches. It feels like someone is playing with the brightness knob in the room.

I wasn't sure if I was hallucinating due to the sleep deprivation... but this actually repeated for some 4-5 times. I struggled to my bedside attempting to reach for my mobile phone and collapsed back to sleep for another 15 minutes. There was this strong energy beside me (almost feels like squatting by my bedside) and it's certainly not the light.

"Is it a presence?" you are asking... I don't know. But the energy feel is distinct and there was a smell... The smell wasn't stinking but it didn't smell like my burger I ordered for dinner. I opened my eyes and felt the energy zapped off in a split second.

Got up, did my last packing and walked out lugging my bag. I went into the lift, pressed "L" for lobby and waiting. The door wouldn't close... it left about 15cm gap and reopened.

"Okay... someone pressed. I'll wait." *2 secs later, the thing repeated*
"He/she decided not to come in... Okay..." *2 secs later, it repeated*
"Right... technical glitch in lifts... common"*2 secs later, it repeated*
"This can't be happening... Who's that outside?!" *I stuck out my head ready to tell whoever who is waiting, the lift is here*

There was no one... I thought to myself "please... " and I had no more energy to fight. The door closed fully this time.

Onboard the van to the airport, I told the organiser my episode. She was spooked and said, "It doesn't want you to go..." Benji said, "Maybe it's worried that you miss your flight if you got into deep sleep... It did you a favour by 'nudging you awake gently', you weren't scared." I was tempted to think whoever that was, that was very kind.

Getting too smart???

I get an impression that the law makers fail to understand that if the law is meant to hold employers responsible for their maids, that include safety and well-being. Minus those jackass bosses who work the maids to death, but have they met employers who truly care for their helpers? They don't see the unspoken benefits maids get without asking. Yet all they see based on bad reports that maids are ill-treated.

Blame on pure coincidence??? So happens when the regulations on domestic helpers came out on off-days, a Filipino maid is found dead with an Indian man in a hotel... Much is reported from the testimonies of those who knew this domestic helper, including her apparent relationship outside of work - which obviously didn't turn out well. In another coverage was a maid convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. So yes, don't believe whatever you read from the media - especially when the mental alarm bells scream "Brainwash..."

I honestly expect more from those who claim to know the law. They should be no stranger to maid behaviours and nobody would accept the lame excuse "You cannot control everything." Precisely by the same token, there are valid reasons why employers are uptight and choose to "keep the maids at home"!

I rather not give the maid official off days and treat her well at home, and occasionally buy her stuffs. I am happy to include her in my outings and goodies. It's like a parent who chooses to disallow the child to do certain things because the parent knows what to expect and rather prevents it than to fight fires later. The reason is simply because other than the parent, it's NOBODY ELSE'S RESPONSIBILITY!

Someone posted in Asiaone forum on the implications employers would face after the implementation of the so-called dumbass ideas which only bring more problems. People who are for the idea have never met domestic helpers from hell... likewise there are also employers with exceptional bad luck with the same. It doesn't help when someone of authority makes a decision with biased public consultation and bills it whether the citizens like it or not.

Don't even get me started on, "You should be prepared when you make a decision to hire a maid."! Even if it comes out as a curse, I wish you (the joker who conceived such dumbass ideas) meet domestic helpers from hell and then see whether you would slash your wrist wishing you never hired one. I am convinced you won't know how it feels till you go through the same shite.

Many top people I know subscribe to "If it ain't broken, why fix it?" but there's another line missing, "Good going dumbass!" Yeah, why fix it?

You say leh???

PS> Whoever the media owner is, good luck...

Too "many" cooks

Sorry to disappoint you, but I am alive and happy. Just too busy and exhausted lately to tell you what's crazy in my life. Then again, it's all good fun sharing thoughts and sometimes. I don't even know I have surprised some people, but that's another tale altogether. I saw Ben, my hot English colleague get Soto Ayam and this dude is more well-versed than me with Asian food!

I got "inspired" again and wanted to try making, bearing in mind that I have never tried Soto Ayam in my life. I went through a few horrors making it, beginning with familiarising myself with the ingredients. Four spices was the first and I went around looking for the four in one bag and no success.

Benji went to hunt down one and I was already having a bad feeling about it. We were discussing what to put in and I went through rounds of approval or protest by naming the ingredients he happened to hate. What we have ended up with a dirty green broth with a yellowish tint.

Given I am known for dead pellets, Benji tried the soup and said, "Something's missing!" yet couldn't put a finger to it. I just gave him a blank look and he said, "maybe more chicken stock". A teaspoon in and our friend went, "I think the taste is gone..."

Two hours later, one lady who always eat my cooking said, "You forgot ginger..."

In spite of being at the top

So we have read that two government officials are under arrest for what seems to be corruption. These two have come a long way in their own rights. I mean, it takes shitloads of hard work and dedication to be where they are at today. However, the coverage reveals a fact - nobody is immune to problems/temptations in human economy.

While all this time, we have been conditioned to think and assume our public service officials uphold the best standards and conduct, to read of their possible improper conduct with a supplier can be shocking. Either they are too weak to withstand her beauty, or she is that powerful and blessed with her looks that men caved in.

Choice???

Writing under influence

"It's the first day of the Lunar New Year", I tell myself. I downed 2 cans of beer and started feeling sick. I was chatting with Ben on his impending shifting to Singapore and apparently, our friend seems to have some wrong impression about me. Either he feels I am being over chatty or attention seeking (He told me he needed to get cigarettes and went offline abruptly). Oh well, I know I am not going after him. *shrugs*

I am actually amazed I made to 2012, with His grace. I could look back at the obituaries page and to a certain extent, He save me from having my picture planted in one of those obituary advertisements. Do I have trials coming my way? Of course! But He is my grace and deliverance. Sometimes it's so easy to proclaim faith and it's one of those lucky times when your mood is so good under the influence of alcohol that not even the joker down there can penetrate with his negativity.

I officially declare that yours truly no longer have the kind of alcohol capacity like a few years back, and proud of it.

PS> I am not drunk as I write "Blessed year of the Dragon! May it bring forth good health and fortune to all!"

Half zombified

Not me, but an old woman who keeps spirits in her house. Aunty related to me her house was plagued by hauntings recently. Her elder sister, H, went to be a confinement lady in a house at Upper Thomson. The newly-hired caregiver to an infant walked into the house and had odd feelings she couldn't explain. It wasn't her problem as her job is to take care of the newborn.

The domestic helper told H, "Grandma is very strange... She shuts her room door tight and windows are closed all the time. It's always dark in her room and no one is allowed to go in." H suspected something was amiss but again, she told herself so long as the witch (if there is one) doesn't harm her. Three days into the job, things started to happen.

H had trouble sleeping not because of a crying baby, she was often "disturbed". The Buddhist beads she wears round her neck snapped and she began to have bouts of breathlessness and physical lethargy. H eventually held out for one month before telling her employer she is quitting.

Finally, the "witch" extended her hospitality by slipping a bag of oranges into H's luggage bag without telling her. H noticed something extra and the witch sheepishly answered, "Oh! I am afraid you forget to take so I took the liberty to put the bag of oranges into your bag." Never did H realise, there was something else in the bag of fruits.

H got home and she wasn't spared of more disturbances. Taps turned on for hours when nobody was home. Even aunty felt an strange sense of eerie chill she couldn't explain. Aunty finally asked her elder sister if she brought "something extra" back. It was then H spoke about the oranges. Aunty nudged her to look through again. True enough, hidden in the bag of oranges was a bell. That bell served the purpose of attracting spirits controlled by the witch to harm.

H hurried to Johor Bahru to seek an exorcist. Upon meeting him and showing the bell wrapped in excerpts of Buddhist chant, the monk straight-away said, "Yes... there is something in that bell. The master of this spirit is no longer human, but half zombified. He/she has been consumed by the spirit." 

When I heard Aunty's account, I wondered what the monk meant. Aunty said, "养这鬼魂的主人已经变成半妖了..." Aunty recalled H relating how the witch looks like. Her face is always powdered till very pale, and when one looks at her, there is a sense of eeriness. It becomes obvious that something is wrong with this person.

Aunty's words to me, "I grew up in a kampong and black magic was a norm then - especially what is commonly known as Maoshan Black Magic. Once a person gets too deep into such occult practice, it becomes an obligation for the practitioner to harm a person every week, just to please the spirit. It can be physical harm, it can also be destroying relationships, marriages etc. The objective is to destroy someone. If the practitioner doesn't, the spirit will torment through physical pains, sicknesses and other forms of suffering."

PS> True story... Do you know someone like this? Rather, do you have someone like this in your house? Beware, you can be her next victim, not because she wants to harm you, but she no longer has a choice.