Monday, April 10, 2006

"The One with nicknames, and being a 'lebai'..."

1
My mom's side of the family has a family friend to whom my grandparents had regarded as their own flesh and blood. He practically grew up with my uncle and aunts as well as my mom, and everyone's grown accustomed to calling him Uncle Milo - of which I still vaguely remember how he got this callsign. So whenever PakTam, PakTeh or any of my aunts come back to Bentong he'll always be dropping by for a good laugh or two. I've known him since I was practically a baby, even though until now I seem to haven't got an idea of his real name.

That's pathetic, I know.

Come to think of it; that's quite interesting. We all had callsigns or nicknames growing up. Be it given by a family member or peer, it's kinda describes a part or characteristic of us in a simple catchy word. Like, my family for instance. My grandfather had names for all my siblings. I'll spare Andi and Afzal theirs but he used to call me 'lebai' because I had the hardest time waking up for Subuh prayers (and still do!). I still remember how he'd constantly come and continuosly poke me here and there while chanting "lebai-lebai...bangun subhi...subuh dah nak habis dah..". Gotta give credit to him, for being so patient with me and all. I was a stubborn brat back then (and still am!).

Sometimes its fun to have nicknames growing up, because it kinda reminds you of how colorful your life was in the past. And looking back, I'm pretty sure it was rainbows and colorful spectrums.

Last week I spend the whole weekend going back to both Ipoh and Bentong. Dad and I drove all the way to see Wan Ipoh - I gotta admit it that I've missed her after haven't seeing her for quite some time. It's great to once in a while visit your relatives back home.

Oh, and there's also the story of the snake we found near Aki's bird cage and PakTam's effort to ward it off the house. Now that's first-hand Jeff Corwin stuff right there. And today I had my Myvi tinted as well; courtesy of PakCik. Now it looks much more dashing, like a car with sunglasses. Tommorow's a public holiday, so I guess there'll be much to anticipate and expect happening throughout the week.

I love my life.

-JeP

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Selamat Menyambut Maulidur Rasul!!Moga diperbanyakkan amalan yang sesuai dengan sambutannya...anyway apsal Paktam pulak kene ward-off the snake, where are all those youths when u need them??and ur young enuff to be classified as a youth!! :P -kundur di sheffield