by Trailerman Sam
We’re now in the last month of 2023, December! Maybe 2023 wasn’t everyone’s year. That’s digestible as at times unpredictably we do wake up on the wrong side of the bed.
Luckily, December marks the last month of the year, which means you are closer than ever to 2024 and all of the new beginnings that come with it.
What have I accomplished in 2023? In my own small way, I’d like to share that I have downed 12 bottles of espresso coffee, each weighing 200grams or in layman terms, 100 cups of espresso in each bottle! And with 12 kg of sugar. (That makes me a sweet person, too).
I must also not forget roughly about 30kg of rice and packets and packets of instant noodles. Don’t you agree that these instant noodles seem to be the perfect bowl each time to kill one’s hunger and laziness quickly? That’s why they’re called instant noodles. Fixing our hunger pangs in an instant!
Anyway, I just want to say that I usually have two choice answers to every question. But there are two exceptions to this rule: the first being “what’s your favourite cuppa?” Answer: espresso!
And the second, what is your favourite month? December!
Being the last month of the year, most people are filled with enthusiasm for the new year to come as they reflect on the one ending soon. Please don’t dwell on the bad stuff of the soon-to-be-old year. Dump them at the nearest Indah Water treatment plant.
I’ve just come out of surgery under the safe hands of Dr. Ani Natasha Abdullah of the colorectal unit of Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital, Alor Setar. I’ve been hinted that there could be more surgeries to come.
With high expectations from this much dedicated staff of this unit, I will just have to take one day at a time and sing “Que sera, sera, whatever will be, will be.”
To ease the heavy load of the delicate surgery off my mind, I was somewhat humming in the operating theatre since it’s the season to be jolly as countless numbers of such songs have floated across my ears in recent times reminding me that it is so.
So, for me, 2024 is again going to be another year of early commuter rides through the paddy fields of Kedah from my centrepoint in Lunas and sitting in the crowded waiting hall of the Alor Setar hospital.
Why is it crowded? Well, I noticed that for every patient, there seemed to be at least two people accompanying them. The waiting hall has been turned into a hub of activity, noise and distraction.
Good lord, pets are not allowed! Or else much to the amusement of those present, we might see our own Malaysian-made Mowgli barging into the hospital riding on his favourite pet ox!
After much observation, I can conclude that some of the patients on wheelchairs actually can walk! So, why the need for wheelchairs? It must be the reason that they were unable to get a proper seat while waiting for their numbers to be called.
Ninety percent of the patients and their sidekicks will be on their phones scrolling the same photo over and over again. The only odd one will be me with a novel on my hand with much empathy for those celled up with their cell phones, to the extent of even not being alert when their calling number pops up on the digital display.
So, what should we anticipate for 2024? Approach the new year with determination, grab any opportunity that comes your way that may be hidden in each new day.
Leave behind 2023 and let’s start a new beginning from the forged shards of the past, not from the abandonment of them.
I don’t know where I’m going from here, but I promise it won’t be boring. New year is the glittering light to brighten the dream-lined pathway of the future. The bad news is that time flies.
It’s no harm being excited about the future as the good news is that you will be the captain and the pilot. Remember not to take any hatred into the new year without requiring it to restate its purpose. Write it in your heart that every day is and will be the best day in each year.
Happy holidays and Happy New Year for 2024 from the very bottom of my heart!