Life in Malaysia is great.. just great. As you never know what to expect on a day to day basis. It’s flourished with amazement and oooohh!! Don’t even get me started about the weather. It swallows you in and spits you out by surprise, some may even consider it similar to a roller coaster ride.
Take 2 : Without sarcasm..
Since all these astounding things are constantly rotating around us, sometimes, it’s hard to keep up. That is why.. all the birds in town, follow you…. Just kidding. That is why we need a constant in our lives. Something that weighs down your sanity to make sure you’re not firing away like a loose cannon.
Now, the constant that we Malaysians have is waiting. WAITING.. WAITING.. and more WAITING… No matter what you do, who you meet, where you go, you have to wait. According to my recent survey (on myself) revolving around my daily activities, which consists of going to work, coming home from work, going to the supermarket, going to visit friends who live in silly places like Petaling Jaya, or sometimes if I’m lucky, a meeting on the other side of town. I realized that I spend more time in my car than actually getting things done. Which I guess all of us have come to terms with. Jump in any one of your friend’s cars and you’ll find out why. The backseats are probably draped with 10 different types of magazines, kacang and snacks in the glove compartment, Sudoku books and of course, lets not forget the fancy “throne” for our mobile phones that are most of the time angled perfectly to our desired line of sight, so that we don’t hit the wrong point when playing Tap Tap Revenge 2. We know it’s coming, hence the preparation. Some may even choose to have their car activities on rotation and even with a combination. OK, Monday, I’m gonna read my KL Lifestyle magazine at 5:46pm because then I’ll be in the middle of a circus on Jln Tun Razak, then open one bag of the kacang at 6:00pm as I head into the 2nd underpass, and thank god I brought my suede cleaner so I can clean my shoes for tomorrow’s meeting at 6:19pm just before I hit the AKLEH, and BOOM! 7:00pm, I’ll be home just in time for dinner. Fabulous.
If it’s not on the road, it’s waiting for a friend, waiting at GH, waiting for our fantastic broadband service to open the next page on Firefox, waiting for food (this is sometimes inflicted by choice), or for the nice parking spot right next to the elevators, or for a colleague, or even worse, for a colleague that is of a higher rank than you that INSISTED the meeting be at 0900 hours SHARP, and at 10:30am, he’s on his way (which means just left home) or stuck in traffic (which also means just left home). AND the worst one of all, everyone nonchalantly assumes that our peers have what we call “Malaysian Timing” and then end up waiting for one another at the specified location.
More often than not, each rendezvous point has a certain time line, and because of that, the same meeting may have to be held at 2 or sometimes 3 at different locations. Say the original point is at Pelita’s on Jln Ampang, but Mr. Yap has to be at Hard Rock Café (on a Tuesday morning??!!) in the next half an hour. This is when a mass text message is sent out to inform the latecomers of the new meeting point. It stops here if you’re lucky.
For those of you fortunate ones who have reliable and punctual friends, there’s still no escaping!! I believe the universe is made with a fair amount of balance. So it’s either one or the other. If you have nice, punctual friends or co-workers, the rush hour traffic will start right outside your door. And if you don’t have a license or a car, or simply choose not to drive, you still have to wait for the bus.
