Bottled in Extreme Clarity

How’d boo get to be so big?

As i dragged my leg into the cab and my bud slid into back seat with crutch we lovingly call the M16, cab driver’s eyes widened.
Without missing a beat, she goes…
“Haiya, you ar cat… told you dont fight with the feller u dont want to listen..”
Curiousity turned to horrified fascination.
“Haiyo….how i know he got carry knife??”
My bud wont stop going on and on…
“You carry M16 oso useless wan…”
“Ya lor… the thing too long… bullets got stuck…”

At this point, driver smiles… and blessedly refrained from asking questions.

Who needs physiotherapy?
Just get drunk and you’d put your foot through the paces you never would, if you were sober instead.
Mom’s choice of traditional meds are right on the money. Had something she brewed with ingredients from the shops and the long line of wound has dried up except for the botton end- deep hole…but sloooowwwwwly getting there.

Meds were from some animal parts which couldnt be identified from its “scientific names”…only recognised snake gall. I feel bad esp. after seeing a documentary about how some animal parts are cruelly obtained for their medicinal properties. Am somewhat at odds here… on the one hand… it helped heal nephew’s eardrums and my scrapes awfully faster than usual. But i saw how animals were hunted down, cruelly treated and just left to die… to the point some of these animals are even endangered species now. I just hope mom doesnt have to go and get some more.

However, I will still swear by the efficacy of aloe vera. Damn good stuff.

Watta nite. At last managed to have that gathering that i talked about earlier. Almost everyone turned up… even though in stitches, crutches and casted leg. Even got to “rag” the new ‘uns who sportingly complied. Had a few puffs of some kind of cigar that went around, before it was totally flooded with someone’s saliva… yeck. Dint have chance to CSI but everyone was generally happy and feeling the warmth of every single body who made it from Redang.

Then onward to z bar, where hurrah hurrah… a sambuca was awaiting… tis my birthday! I wouldnt take the thing so Bud in fit of frustration gulped it down… god bless. Otherwise doubt Id survive enough to go grocery shopping for few hours today. And there’s a few other birthdays to be celebrated this month and next… *getting a phantom hangover*

And i miss booboo, as always. She’s just so awesomely adorable.

…never really had time to look back at what happened at Mehrang (or was it Marang, I forget).
But at last had some time to look at the pics I took of the accident site and am slowly remembering what that happened. The accident is still evident on me…bruises, scrapes and a balloon on the end of my right leg. Ive already had a permanent small swelling on my ankle from past injuries which was taking its time to decrease… guess it’ll just be bigger now. Maybe I was too hasty about discharging from the hospital… maybe most of us were, but the month is honestly just too short.

How did it happen? While I slept i was flung from my seat and from dreamland. As i moved as if in slow motion across the space, i remember hearing sounds of wood breaking and also wondering whether this was real. Upon impact with chair in front, disbelief quickly changed to…. “wow, its really happening… my first accident”Then the second crash against bus happened and that was when i felt the excruciating pain but could not do anything but sit back in silence while i heard everything going on around me - the groans, the disbelief, someone threatening to vomit, calls for help. My mind pulled out pictures of horrifying fire and explosions happening, but all these were at the back of my head… the main thought at the forefront being “PAIIIINNNNNNNNN and where the hell are my glasses???”

Id lost my glasses and hated not having it. A few of the least injured ones (at that time they seemed so), went around helping the ones in pain trying to offer comfort and support. Most of us were stuck inside as the bus door was smashed in, and the emergency door wouldnt open until the key to it was produced adn used. After what seemed a time, two colleagues were taken away in ambulance and then after more waiting we made it to the jetty.

When the ferry broke down half way to the island, we were really starting to think it just wasnt our day. But made it to Redang at last, we did.
And got terribly sunburnt I did. And a few cuts and grazes from dead corals and shells at Marine Park. My nose hasnt peeled yet like it usually does, but my thighs look as though a few blood vessels reached boiling point and just burst - a first for me.

Eveything that happened made us all huddle a little closer together. At least a lot more than if the accident hadnt happened.
For the first couple of hours, we wouldnt wander far from the group…cos even though we attempted lighthearted banter and humour…inside i think we were all still shaken to the core… and just intent on sticking close to the main herd for who knows really what reason…support or reassurance that if we stumbled, someone close by was looking out for us and would come to aid.
Trengganu was still a long way from home at that time.

Its been a week since it happened. And I thinkwe’ve all kind of made a tentative agreement that as soon as everyone was back with us, we’d have a gathering… to re-assess what that happened to us, was happening with us and be thankful that everyone made it back to home base (and of coz, CSI a little…the bus driver said he was swerving to avoid something….yea, my foot!).

…i count my blessings.

Every day, stories come in, in all kinds of different shapes and sizes. Every month, a new situation calls for a new kind of way to communicate everything which you’ve seen and heard and experienced the best way you possibly can - to have to arrange and present so that logic flows as coherently and smoothly as possible. For someone who has done this, for the past four years, what would their priority be?

Unless you’ve experienced all these stories for yourself, been there first hand to see and hear events as they fold out - just trying to fit them into neat little boxes will never do them justice. Sure it may be easier to do so for some, but there has to be another way, a better way.

Two surefire ways of getting strangers smile at you.. Look extremely injured or be carrying a cute baby.

We did a lot of the latter… There werew loads of babies at redang beach resort…one or two were younger versions of booboo.. Blonde babies, brunette toddlers…all chubby and highly huggable. There was even one eight month old girl..awwwww.. So gorgeous mixed race baby wit big gooly eyes and squealy laugh.

News of the accident travelled far and the hotel people were well prepared for us… Giving us pretty nice treatment and pampering.
Tried snorkelling for the very firt time this trip..twas awesome.. Don’t swim at all and not a waterbaby like most of the others were but its amazing..

.. Being able to float and move freely in an almost gravity-less in another environment.
Oh the places you can go with just a life vest and snorkel gear. Couldn’t snorkel at deeper parts with the rest but got to practice at three feet at marine park. Developed a bit of faith in the floatability of life vest..and maybe my aerodynamics and also got the hang of using the snorkel mask and pipe…and then floated away from two feet to three feet.. Wudave practiced at deeper depths but the currents were too strong and couldn’t find the others to help pull me back..

Redang was superb.. The water were either turqoise green or deep deep blue… The best sort were when the waters were so clear that you could see the white sands beneath…. Fantastic. I wanna do it again.
Even made a teeny bit of moolah at cards hehehehehehe…

Peeps who saw us bruised and hobbling along at redang beach resort, would wonder which dangerous dive spots they’d need to avoid… They would probably be curoiuser cos the whole group of ten plus managed to actually hurt themselves?
The thing is it couldn’t be avoided… The bus we took crashed into a hut and then the back end of another bus.
Three have gone to hospital and the rest of us had our share of groaning in pain… I’m no stranger to sprains, twists and dislocations, I even hv a crooked middle finger.. But I’m looking at my right ankle and have to admit its a colour I’ve never seen before.

My thoughts are with the other three and the tour guide who broke her rib cage.

…..it doesnt help that i have quite a few projects stewing in the pot… i dont really know where or how to start. But truth be told, I AM excited about what’s cooking. Not as much as last month….but its still pretty juicy. And Im STILL excited about it.

In other happenings, Im now wearing a garnet stone ring. I glanced thru the book and saw that its supposed to help stimulate blood circulation and improve memory… much like how gingko biloba works I guess. Then i read somewhere else that garnets also symbolise faith and truth, repels negative energy…yet another book says it’s the Stone of Commitment.

Ah commitment. That “C” word.

Hmmm….maybe the improved circulation, hence improved memory helps by way of helping one remember what to DO… and in a way that IS commitment???
In the past Ive always had trouble with the C word in quite a number of things I do.

I think…a love for what one is doing helps muchly as well. Otherwise, can you imagine spending the rest of your life just going through the paces like a mechanical robot? Just doing something just for the sake of doing it, without knowing what its for, or worse… doing something for your own sake.

Id know about this… being one of the youngest in the family… Id pretty much do whatever I want, without a care for how it would impact the family on the whole. Going away from the family nest and living away for months on end hasnt made me any less a loner or a spoilt brat… but i did learn the value of working/living with a team and the meaning of that word almost synonymous with commitment - sacrifice.

Im looking forward to improved memory with my garnet stone.