It's 2017, and I'm exactly two years past seven decades with memories I wish I could record and cherish, even if I can't share them.
Let's see. There's golf that I enjoy, and needing it to keep the sweat glands working, because everyone's saying you have to exercise daily. To enjoy the game you have to have some degree of skill with it. To acquire skill you have play the game often, always with the intent of improving. There's the long and the short game. There's the physical and mental game. Above all, there's the attitude. Carrying an official 14 handicap isn't too shabby at my age. This morning I had my first game for 2017. Off the blue tee on a wet, rainy day, with water-logging on some fairways, and water pools in many bunkers (and I got into a couple ), I shot 43 on the first nine, and 42 on the second for nett 1 under 71. Not too bad. And I won 3 balls on the wager to boot, and recovered my buggy fee !
Then there was the year-end mess with my car. Not only did I contend with 1,360 for the insurance, and 1,626 for road tax due right on the nose on 30/12, I also had to send it to Min Soon for nine days because the right front air-suspension went kaput, along with the compressor pump and valves, and I was 14k poorer ! That's right, 14,000 ringgit! My children couldn't believe it ! Fortunately for me, I have one daughter. The three boys didn't lift a finger, but the girl gave me 6k. So I scrounged around for the other 8.
On fb, I see some old friends suddenly becoming chatty and trigger-happy. I joined in a few times, but can't keep up with them. But I did manage to get Ramlee to personally send me a petai seedling which I ended up planting in my brother-in-law's yard. I still follow the postings, but find some very personal, and others too fiery to share, but, hey !, it's a free country.
Next was the imbroglio of the Undangs of Johol and Jelebu. The dust seemed to have settled in Johol, but Jelebu is still in the "jerebu"! These are recent examples of the palace intrigues of old, and say everything about greed, double-crossing and plain dirty tricks. The different "peruts" can't stomach each other. They are sacking each other until you can't stomach the muck anymore. And then the State government went headlong into the pile of backbiting wannabes, along with a Kelantanese SS who knowa no Adat Perpatih, a very opinionated imam with a doctorate (not a Religious one) and a retired Appeals judge, himself a scion from Undangship and can't help being bias, all helping to stir the boiling pot.
Over everything else, Malaysian politics and state of economy hang damp and putrid. Najib & family are holidaying in Australia, while Malaysians are faced with a dismal economic outlook, and a disruptive political scenario. 1MDB's thievery continues making bad news, and Felda is fast catching up in the financial scandal market, while the top figures in both remain smug. Only a General Election will settle all this.
In my own small corner, our housing estate Islamic welfare association just held its belated AGM. We managed to convene the AGM in spite of the "non-effort" of the previous secretary. We scraped the qurom and meeting went reasonably well. The new committee has its work cut out. The RoS has to be tackled for the delays in submitting returns in the last two years, almost entirely caused by the secretary's failure to compile them. But the association has to be saved because of the "khairat" it contains, which is in trust of the housing estate inhabitants. The moneys appear intact, although apparently some previous activities have not been clearly recorded. The old secretary had been running the association like a personal account. A fresh start is in order.
That is not exactly new year cheer. Just some passing thoughts, and definitely looking forward to a good year ahead.
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