The ramblings of a Malaysian lady who was born in British colonial days, grew up in the newly born Malaysia, and then moved to the U.S.
Wednesday, March 24, 2004
Life is so short. I wonder what dying is like. To be here one day and gone the next day. Is there really an after life? Is there heaven? I would hate to go to hell because I really do not want to be burn forever. Neither do I want to be in limbo like Bill Murray in the Groundhog Day. Sometimes I feel that I work so hard and am rushing around so much that I do not have time to enjoy life. I see so many of my friends in the same boat. Why do we do this? (sigh....)
Thursday, March 18, 2004
Oh, oh, my elder daughter is reminding to update my blog. I have a lot to say but not enough time to sit at my computer and write. I am not sure as well that it is a good use of my precious time to write too much on my blog. I will have to wait and see what responses I receive. One thing I get frustrated with is that SOME older people are not willing to listen and make changes. Some organizations have many senior citizens as members and these organizations are slowly dying because of a lack of younger members. This is because the senior members want the organizations to operate the same way as it has for decades. The younger members join for a while and then decide to leave because they are busy. For example, I get up at 5:00 am in the morning (okay, maybe 5:30 a.m. am because I lie in bed and listen to the radio news for a while), walk on my treadmill for 30 minutes (this is difficult to do), and have breakfast. Then I am in the office by 7:30 am and would leave at approx. 5 pm. Once every two weeks I attend the meetings of this organization at 7:00 pm. One senior member wakes up at 11:00 am and stays up until 2:00 am. She wants the meeting to last two or more hours, which brings the meeting to at least 9:00 pm. My suggestion that we have shorter meetings so that more members would want to attend fall on deaf ears! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr........... This generation gap is really frustrating, and I am only 54 plus.
Last Sunday, my younger daughter turned 25 (a quarter of a century old). Of course, she reminded me that I am quite quite older--more than two times. Her auto insurance should be lower now although it should also go down when she gets married in July. I have to get used to the idea that my baby girl is a grown grown woman. I am very proud of her because she finished two degrees in six years--one bachelor and one masters. Now she is going to get married and will be moving into the next stage of her life. Didn't someone tell me that a woman moves from/to the stages of the daughter, wife, mother, and old lady (I forgot what this last stage is called). I am in the last stage.
I will be 55 in November, and boy, I can hardly wait because I will get a senior discount at Goodwills. This store sells donated clothings, household goods, and books at a very low price. I can also get a senior drink at MacDonalds and Burger King. I think other places want me to be at least 62 or older for their senior discounts. Getting old can be such fun.
Another fun thing about getting older is that I am allowed to be eccentric, grumpy, smelly, forgetful, and all things nasty. I am kidding. I want to be eccentric but none of the other horrible things. I am naturally forgetful because I just keep myself too busy. I have to write things down on pieces of paper that I lose anyway. I do not want to be smelly or nasty. However, in the U.S., people are becoming so sanitized that they do not have any immunity at all. Every little cough is passed from one person to another, especially in the winter time when the buildings are so enclosed.
Whenever I am in a bad mood, I just say, "I am not in a bad mood. I am just an old lady." Of course, in the U.S., 54 is not old. It is young compared to ladies in their 70s and 80s. This is the time to do the things that I always want to do but could not when I was younger. I have just signed up to complete another masters degree--Masters of Art in Humanities. Of course, I have seven years to complete this degree, and I also receive tuition waiver from my university. I pay $220+ instead of the $820+ per three credit hours. Right now I am just finishing up one 3-credit class called "Teaching buiness subjects at the post-secondary level." Imagine that. Learning to teach after being a professor for 9 years! This is because when I finished my doctorate, I was never required to take any classes in teaching. I thought that I should learn to be a better teacher soon if I want to stay in this profession. After this class, I will look into taking the fun classes; e.g., religion, literature, art or history. An interesting research topic will be the analysis of the institution of marriage across culture. The U.S. is in an uproar over gay marriages--a storm in a teacup, I say.
Oh, oh, time to get back to my homework.
Last Sunday, my younger daughter turned 25 (a quarter of a century old). Of course, she reminded me that I am quite quite older--more than two times. Her auto insurance should be lower now although it should also go down when she gets married in July. I have to get used to the idea that my baby girl is a grown grown woman. I am very proud of her because she finished two degrees in six years--one bachelor and one masters. Now she is going to get married and will be moving into the next stage of her life. Didn't someone tell me that a woman moves from/to the stages of the daughter, wife, mother, and old lady (I forgot what this last stage is called). I am in the last stage.
I will be 55 in November, and boy, I can hardly wait because I will get a senior discount at Goodwills. This store sells donated clothings, household goods, and books at a very low price. I can also get a senior drink at MacDonalds and Burger King. I think other places want me to be at least 62 or older for their senior discounts. Getting old can be such fun.
Another fun thing about getting older is that I am allowed to be eccentric, grumpy, smelly, forgetful, and all things nasty. I am kidding. I want to be eccentric but none of the other horrible things. I am naturally forgetful because I just keep myself too busy. I have to write things down on pieces of paper that I lose anyway. I do not want to be smelly or nasty. However, in the U.S., people are becoming so sanitized that they do not have any immunity at all. Every little cough is passed from one person to another, especially in the winter time when the buildings are so enclosed.
Whenever I am in a bad mood, I just say, "I am not in a bad mood. I am just an old lady." Of course, in the U.S., 54 is not old. It is young compared to ladies in their 70s and 80s. This is the time to do the things that I always want to do but could not when I was younger. I have just signed up to complete another masters degree--Masters of Art in Humanities. Of course, I have seven years to complete this degree, and I also receive tuition waiver from my university. I pay $220+ instead of the $820+ per three credit hours. Right now I am just finishing up one 3-credit class called "Teaching buiness subjects at the post-secondary level." Imagine that. Learning to teach after being a professor for 9 years! This is because when I finished my doctorate, I was never required to take any classes in teaching. I thought that I should learn to be a better teacher soon if I want to stay in this profession. After this class, I will look into taking the fun classes; e.g., religion, literature, art or history. An interesting research topic will be the analysis of the institution of marriage across culture. The U.S. is in an uproar over gay marriages--a storm in a teacup, I say.
Oh, oh, time to get back to my homework.
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