Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Happy 2013, free again!

1st January 2013, a quiet day at home. My sweet granddaughter Kuca and family left after a late breakfast (and a romp in the pool at our clubhouse before that) to continue shopping for school stuffs before they return to their kampung (village). They stayed the night and we had a lovely dinner at the Lake Club, rather quiet at the coffee house restaurant , despite all the parties to welcome the new year at the Club's other outlets.
Kuca, three years and three months is a real bundle of joy, sweet, smart and inquisitive, good natured and just plain adorable. A few minutes before midnight she came into my bedroom to say goodnight; she kissed my hand and asked for a hug and really hugged me with all her heart. That's when I told her we have to watch the fireworks first before she goes to sleep, at the stroke of midnight from the balcony upstairs.

So here I am at the beginning of a new year, a free man again/at long last. I was briefly free for four months after I retired from my last job when I was offered another appointment. Now just about five months to the end of my third year contract I threw in the towel with a 24-hour notice and a month's salary thrown in . Enough is enough! Work, money, position are nothing when your honour and integrity are questioned. My work and contributions are widely acknowledged by the public, our clients and my staff but not the 'powers-that-be', so what is the point of going on!

Looking back,  2012 had not in fact been a great year for me. @011 was a big bang where I stamped my mark, but things slowed down to a more relaxed pace in 2012. On the personal level, I did not do as much overseas travel as I would like to (unjustified restriction by the powers-that-be) but there was a lot of short internal travels with me discovering my own country.

So where do I begin now, with my new found freedom? I had thought of going far away just to forget everything that had happened but I only got as far as Penang for five days. And it was really the comfort of my own house, my sanctuary, my cocoon that I actually needed. My good friend in Hove, England wrote a very kind, persuasive email asking me to come and spend a few weeks with him to 'drown my sorrow'. But hey, I am over it now, seriously and Alhamdullilah!    

So life goes on, and I am confident something good is cooking up for me. For now I am just enjoying the pleasure of freedom - not having to go to work and not responsible for a whole gamut of things. Last Friday I went to the MAS office and acquired return tickets to Osaka (my actual destination is Kyoto) for mid April - I am finally going to Japan! And in May I will go to Tashkent and visit mygood friend Hamidah. In the meanwhile I can choose to go to Makassar, or Ambon or Surabaya (again) if I want to. Thank God for liberty, at last!
Have a great 2013 everyone. 

2 comments:

Rural Paulista said...

Salam Encik Roem,

I found your blog through a Singapore music blog that talked about your love for Kartina Dahari's music.

I am trying to find the audio of her singing "Setangkai Kembang Melati" with M. Ismail, but all on Youtube are covers of the song by other artistes.

I would like to ask if you have a record/CD with the song, and if you could so kindly make a copy for me. Please let me know if you'd be able to help. I am contactable at (no spaces):

a s s u h a n a [at] e s p l a n a d e [dot] c o m

Your help would be much appreciated.

Wassalam,
Suhana

airmataemas said...

Dear Puan Suhana,
Thank you for your message and for surfing my blog, which is rather inactive of late. I regret that I have not come across the recording of the song you mentioned, though it sounded familiar. I am not an authority on Kartina Dahari's songs or recording but I believe I have a fair knowledge of them and I am quite certain there had been no recording of SETANGKAI KEMBANG MELATI by her and M. Ismail (perhaps you men R.ISMAIL, even so there is no such recording)on vinyl record. Perhaps you heard a television studio recording on RTS. Sorry I can't help you but in any case you may wish to take a look at my YouTube channel "lukisanperasaan" which hosts practically all of Kartina's recordings as far as I can gather them, and am happy to say has reaced well over a million viewers. Alhamdullilah. Wassalam, RA