Friday, September 16, 2005

A Thirty-Year Saga

1985: 20 YEARS AGO

The beatings started in 1984. It was now 85. Mom had been going to school to see the principal. Her boy was getting his ass kick and he wasn't fighting back. But her visits didn't help any. Paramjeet wasn't simply a naughty kid or the school bully. Something about the way he laughed revealed his mental condition. No amount of caning would work on the boy.

"Are you worried about embarassing me?" Mom asked. She had always instructed her kid to be on his best behaviour. And that means no fighting. We were a peace-loving family and I was expected not to be the black sheep.

I nodded my head and resumed counting my toes.

"Hit him back," Mom's voice changed. I looked up and saw an Amazon Queen towering over me, the sweat on her brow glistening in the sunlight. "I want you to hit him back," the queen commanded, articulating every single word. And her loyal subject knew she meant business.

In 1985, I hit back. And I hit hard. I hit whenever I was hit. And soon, I just hit whenever I felt like it. Oh no, Paramjeet never did stop trying to torment me. Not even when I beat him till he cried. At the end of that year, my anger turned to pity. Paramjeet wasn't malicious. He was just plain nuts afflicted with a mental condition. And at that very moment, James the boy became James the Man.

At Christmas that year, the Man groped a little girl's ass. Heh. But that's another story for another day! Who wants to hear it? :)

1995: 10 YEARS AGO

Anuar left. He'd been embezzling company funds. He was the partner, but we were also good friends. Would she think I was a part of it? Would she fire me? Or worse yet, would she report me to the police? Where was Anuar?

Then it sank in. The bastard left me to take the heat.

She calls me in. The room lights were off, as usual. I stood before her huge mahogany desk and squinted my eyes to make out her face in the darkness. "I'm making you partner," she said in her mild-mannered fashion. And just like that, at 24, I became the director of a small, fledging advertising agency. That year, we would turn it around.

We did brisk business until it all went sour in 1998. I never saw a single cent of my supposed partnership.

2000: 5 YEARS AGO

The new company was already 2 years old. This one, too, was having its share of partnership problems. Unlike me, I realised too late, people never really like to share.

I like to share.

In fact, I liked it so much I was sharing a girl with another guy. She was rightfully his, simply because he was there first. But then, he was never really there. He was on the other side of the Causeway mostly, and so I filled in for him.

She loved me, she said. But she would never leave him for me. In the end, she left. And when she did, I died. I was only 29.

But in that very same year, I was Born Again. He brought me back and promised me the world. I asked if He would make it all right again. He didn't answer; at least not in words.

But things happened. The partner left and the company flourished. Business was good once again. I bought a home. And Mae came into my life. And subsequently, into my home.

2002: 3 YEARS AGO

I was 31 when I realised that it was possible to love someone enough to want to spend the rest of my life with her. And so Mae and I got married. It was July 27. It rained like crazy that day, like it sometimes does in life. But just like our wedding day, whenever it rained, we just went indoors and made the best of it.

2004: A YEAR AGO

One day, while indoors and making the best of it *ahem*, we made ourselves a baby. Jesse came into our lives on August 26. At 33, I was a father for the first time. It was a crazy year but Mae and I enjoyed every moment of it. Almost.

2005: THIS YEAR

Jesse turns 1. Mae and I are no longer spring chickens. It's getting hard to keep up with the boy. And so I enrol in a gym for the first time in my life. I also begin a program to help me finish reading the bible in a year.

2006: NEXT YEAR

By then Jesse would have gotten tired of playing with us all the time. We'd have to make a companion for him. I hear little girls are nice to have around the house. With a new mouth to feed, Mae and I will have to find other means to bring home the bacon. Perhaps a new business venture - one that actually makes money. Heh. By now I would be 35, and having completed the bible, I can finally talk like a smart ass. :)

2015: TEN YEARS FROM NOW

Mae and I retire to Ayer Tawar or some other small town where we own a tiny but profitable little business serving breakfast to the townsfolk. And when the kids come home, we'd sit by our little duck pond chowing down dinner and watching the sun set.

Thanks Bob. That was more fun that I expected! I'm tagging Gina. Also AhPink whom I expect to blog this pictorially. :)

35 comments:

  1. Hey,ur wedding is as the same date as my daddy's birthday leh... =))
    How's the bible reading going on?where are u up to? good book ya?!
    take care and may the Lord's blessing be with you and your family always! God Bless!!

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  2. So sweet. I almost had a tear in my eye. Or maybe it's just sand. :P

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  3. You groped a little girl at 14??!!! >)

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  4. nice gropping at 14!!
    good 30+ years of life man...
    hope you and mae and jesse will flourish another 100 or so :)

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  5. egghead : "nice gropping at 14!!" {---- LOL
    ...james we would like to hear that story now.

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  6. wow... *wipes tears away from cheeks*... this is good stuff... you should do this more often... really...

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  7. hey, it rain on my wedding day too. they said it is a blessing from God.
    planning for another one next year hah??? project dah mula? hehehe

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  8. cheers, jt. Gets better and better.

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  9. Wow..your life story is amazing. Thank you for sharing so openly. *chun blinks back a tear* I am encouraged by how everything has turned out. Yes, there is hope! Praise Him.

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  10. Sir, you win so much and so hard.
    I salute you ten thousand times.

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  11. LOL James in his best melodramatic self. Nice story.

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  12. Thank you for sharing..! you humble me .. for i donch know if i will be able to write about my past like you did.. :)

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  13. hey maybe you can use this as a script to make a short film about yourself, of course starring drama king James! nice story btw... :)

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  14. Yep .. that's what I discovered too. It was fun going through those old filing cabinets in my brain and reliving memories :)
    Speaking of which :
    http://www.bobjots.org/archives/001601.php
    dum de dum dum ;)

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  15. Angel, I'm reading it it chronological order. Currently covering Proverbs and Chronicles.
    I'm sure it was sand, Kat. :)
    :lol: Pickyin. She was thirteen, I was fourteen. Perfectly acceptable age for groping. Hahahah!
    100 years, Egghead? Whoa. No point lah. That time the body will be too weak for anything fun. :lol:
    I'm sure you would, Leo!
    What, Minishorts? The groping? :lol:
    No Miche, the project has not yet begun. We're still working out a budget. Hehehh...
    Indeed it does, Husband.
    Hope is all we have, Chun. :)
    Wow, a 10-thousand salute. That must make you a tired guy, T-boy! ;) But thanks for the compliment.
    Why not, AhPink?
    I'm best when I'm melodramatic, Mumsgather? :)
    Sure you can, BigBoK. Consider yourself tagged.
    I was thinking more of a long, boring epic, DomesticGoddess!! :lol:

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  16. Aww mannnn!!! You must be enjoying this aren't you, Bob?!

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  17. James, you have to cut me some slack. I don't want to keep falling off my chair everything I read your blog. :-Þ

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  18. awww... such a nice piece of writing! i won't be able to remember such details :p

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  19. hi, don know how i came across your blog,nice blog! just want to let u know i am born n raised in Ayer Tawar, a true ayer tawarian! yeah, lovely place to retire,

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  20. hey james,
    nice short auto bio.
    many experiences in your life. some bad. some good. all made your life richer.
    wishing you many more worthwhile experiences to come and forever more.
    best wishes,
    adriene

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  21. walau james, so early started gropping aH? hehehehe got kena piak ah? and for someone who swore he cant remember much im surprised u remember SO MUCH!!! im inspired to this for my blog entry :P

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  22. ooh james, just curious... mind joining us for a blog meet at midvalley next week on the 25th of sept ?

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  23. ooo i like this blog!
    retire in 10 years? very hopeful la u.

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  24. You'll have to wear a seatbelt now, won't you, Yvonne!? :)
    That's a shame, Babe. Dig deep. Okay, consider yourself tagged. Now go and remember. :lol:
    Thanks for dropping by, Susan. I was in Ayer Tawar only once in my life. Nice, quiet place.
    Not entirely true, Adriene. I did have some experience that made me poorer. Hehh...
    :) Gina!
    Don't worry, Gwen, you'll get there.
    Didn't I say I have the memory of an old man, Deepsy. Old men always remember their youth. Heheheh.
    I'd love to Leo. I have been reading about it all week, but never left a comment cos I really can't confirm. :o(
    Wishful thinking, MOTT!

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  25. ahh... do come if possible and do bring jesse a long. (when you do, he'll be the main attraction and not you) :) :)

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  26. Dear James.. (and Mae and Jesse)
    I remember the wedding.. *grin*.. it was gonna be a beautiful garden wedding under that huge tree.. it was hot.. it was humid BUT it was beautiful.. I was so looking forward to the first ever Garden Wedding..
    then.. the clouds started a-brewing... Mr Y and I scurried (yes... like mice) to get the mobile PA unit back into the car, helped the pianist also scurry his instrument back indoors.
    Then it poured!!!
    I felt for you and mae.. well for mae only.. I hardly knew you.. ha ha ha..
    But it was a beautiful wedding and a wonderful wedding reception. *loved the music*.. do you still have the compilation? *grin*

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  27. wow! only james could come up with such interesting write-up in response to a tag... unlike many of us, esp. me, who gave short boring respond.
    you know, i didn't know bob tagged you and decided to tag you afte responding to bob's tag. later only i realised it. indeed you are the the right and most appropriate person to tag this meme - the best i read!

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  28. head over; you've been tagged... again!!! muahahahar! :P

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  29. Very nice...from the past to the future...honest. :)

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  30. Leo, with any luck, he might let me come along. :)
    Hahah, yes the compilation is still around somewhere, Paulos!
    Thanks, Lucia. :) Glad you enjoyed that.
    :lol: Bob beat you to it, DomesticGoddess. I guess now I'll have to do it.
    Thanks 9.

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  31. James,
    Thanks for sharing your life in this way...give me an idea to do the same in my blog...maybe have to wait until I get married first...haha... thanks so much...I just love reading your blog...hehe

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  32. very good one.
    i want to hear the ass groping story. No, i'm serious.

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