One of my happiest days

The day is Saturday, March 8 2008. I was supposed to let this out a day after, but due to some other commitments and my over-julibation, I was stunned in words as I could not believe my eyes. There are three reasons why I was happy.

1:

I get to exercise my civil rights for the first time. Casting my votes for Malaysian Parliament and State assemblymen in Malaysia 12th General Election that is. Well, having about to reach my 30's, and based on the fact that Malaysia will have her general election once every 4-5 years, simple math calculation would tell everyone that I missed exercising my civil rights once. That was simply because of my mis-perception that my vote, one out of 10 million, does not count. Well, I was wrong. Big time wrong. I had deprived myself of the freedom of speech. Which is a sin.

Anyway, this time I won't let myself unheard. That morning, I woke up as early as 7:45am, get myself prepared (though without breakfast - I was too anxious to satisfy my taste buds and growling stomach), and fetch myself and my parents first to SK Sungai Rapat to cast my votes for Gopeng Parliament assemblyman candidate and Sungai Rapat State assemblyman candidate. Later on (after my dad also cast his votes there), we headed to SK Seri Keledang for my mom to cast hers. I was glad that everything went smoothly, and by 10am, we were done with fulfilling our duties.

2.

I bought myself a laptop from Ipoh's PC Depot for RM3054. The specs are as follows:

ASUS F5RL-16DX
Intel Core 2 Duo T5450 1.66GHz
ATI Xpress T100 Chipset
160GB Sata HDD
2GB DDR2 RAM
15.4" WXGA ---> This is what attracted me!!!
Built-in Webcam 1.3Mpixel
Weight 2.8kg ---> I won't mind even if it's of hippo weight!!! :-P
yada yada...

Surprisingly, even for myself, I decided to buy it even when there's a heavy rain pouring parts of Ipoh city, causing flash floods around certain 'drain-clogged' areas. And even more surprisingly, I found myself being among a lot of Malay families purchasing computer systems and accessories, in cash... yes, thousands of $$$ (oops... it's RM-RM-RM... I'm in Malaysia!!). Even the cashier was noticed to fill with RM50 notes to the level of near 'explosion'. What a windfall for PC Depot amidst the downpour!!!

For my part, I was excited with my toy - I'm gonna be able to do all kinds of stuffs with my own portable computer system! I can even go online now (provided there's WiFi). Well, I'm going to subscribe for my wireless connection soon. Here I come, Skype!!!

3.

[Refer to #1 before you continue reading this part] I feel proud, that my voice is amongst many Malaysians' voices are heard. The 12th General Election results was gradually announced. From 8pm through 1:30am I was flipping the channels from Astro's XingHe channel (for one of my favorite TVB drama) to the mainstream TV channels (RTM1, RTM2, TV3, NTV7, 8TV and TV9) for the results. No, I was not using my laptop to go online for alternatives that time. I stared and yelled in awe when they announced the Penang State seats results and P62 results. I wanted to watch till the end of transmission, but knowing that the next day I need to drive from Ipoh back to Penang right after Mass, I eventually kncoked myself off at 2am.