Hole in My Pocket

Ramadhan can be a breeze for some while it can be trying for a huge lot of us mere mortals. With the right upbringing and conscience, one would have no complaints about going without food and drink while keeping oneself morally and religiously in check. This communal obligation normally provides a greater motivation for some of us to increase one's level of adherence to religious responsibilities, InsyaAllah, while for some, it is just another regular month getting closer to Allah as we readily should every conscious minute of our lives.

Ramadhan may also be the time when the men, women and children get excited over the forthcoming Eid. Customarily, the ladies would get into a mad, mad shopping binge for all things serba baru, while the children pray hard that they may not be forced to wear scratchy traditional clothes and opt for stretch Levi's over muslin top from The Island Shop, to match the new Rastafarian beeswaxed dreads and the newly pierced tongue post-Phuket trip.*winks at somebody*

It is also a time when the Fathers, Brothers, Fiances, Husbands, Boyfriends, Sugar Daddies et al develop permanent frowns thinking about the impending fate of the soon to be maxed out credit cards, a fast-dwindling savings and mana lagi lobang aku nak korek duit seh... There is the big issue of ang pows or duit raya, packets of money given as celebratory token if not as charitable/filial gifts.

CA and I keep several spreadsheets of how much we would likely spend in RM and SGD for Hari Raya and try not to exceed our budget. This year, for the first time, I am taking care of the Malaysian side of things. Only now I realize how much money has to be set aside for duit raya, for salam berlapik and for general stocking up of kampung goodies like serunding, dodol, lemang, belacan and cencalok. Can't complain because I volunteered, and I have to be ikhlas. Susah juga mencari ikhlas.

I have also realized when one tries to be prudent,(read:frugal), things fall apart. My mini studio has been offline for nearly two weeks because of an inevitable power surge caused by the langsuirs and the penanggals of adapters and cables that were not equipped with a power regulator. I have set aside some money for a new set up. CA got started with a buffed up CPU( u da man, B) but not 24 hours after reviving my studio, the PC gave me a blue screen curse due to some device failure. The VGA card conked out on me. I told you I am no electrician or some tech support personnel. I was chatting with Anedra last night when the power cable of my trusty Thinkpad PUTUS?!!!! I can only conclude one thing, I am jinxed when it comes to anything electronic. Good thing, the cute little EZBuddy still works and I have hijacked the Asus for my blogging pleasure.

Sheesh. Kopak la lagi pas ni..Must forget about floorboards and soundproofing the room. Nak beli pintu pun dua puluh juta kali pikir...Scrap the idea of calling the spring cleaning team to wash my windows and sental my lantai. Overlook the fact that we need fresh paints on the walls. Third year with the same curtains is okay too.

Now I know how CA feels about Hari Raya. Why can't raya be simple and pain-free? Something tells me that this is what I get for not giving enough sedeqah. Duit habis macam air.

Wal-Asr.Innal insaana la fil khusrin.