Life is not measured in minutes, but in moments…

Last Saturday, 21 February 2009, that was the day.

I just reached home after my latest purchase of NEC VERSA S3500 when I received the unexpected phone call. I looked at the LCD Screen of my mobile phone. Rai’s name was there.

“Dym, I have bad news…” That were the exact first few words uttered by Rai. What followed after that left me in shock. Not believing what I heard, I asked her numerous questions; whether it’s Zack as in the Zack that I knew; whether it’s Zack as in Veeky’s Zack, etc. With the utmost shock in me, I started to bombard Rai with questions - how, what, why, when, who…

The next thing that came across my mind was to call Veeky - to confirm the news and if the news is true, to make sure that she’s alright. The line couldn’t get through though. I called Roy - nope, couldn’t get through. I called Susan then. The news WAS true. I asked Susan about Veeky.

Veeky was on the way back to KL from Kuching, that’s what Susan told me. And worse, Veeky might be waiting for Zack to pick her up at the airport. My heart felt so terribly heavy at that time. Shock + Sadness = Speechless. I was trembling when I told my boyfriend and his cousin that my friend had passed away. I felt like crying, listening to my own voice conveying the heartbreaking news.

The initial plan was to go to Shah Alam with Zaim & Norwen. But that plan had to be aborted since I had to go to Bukit Jalil first. Not exactly so sure as to the whereabouts of SMC @ KPJ Selangor, I took the Federal Highway heading to Shah Alam. My concentration was locked at the road signs - Section 21 - until I reached the Panasonic factory and realized that I was lost. I stopped my car to ask for direction. One fella who looked like one of the factory workers pointed to the Panasonic factory and insisted to me that that was SMC. Politely, I nodded and smile at him before driving off to make a U-turn. My car passed that fella again. I could see from my rear view mirror that he kept of pointing to the factory while looking at the direction of my car.

I stopped my car a few meters away from the factory and gave a call to Rai. I proceeded to drive to what I understood as the direction given by Rai. Obviously my understanding was wrong. I saw a sign board that showed, “Tanah Perkuburan…” Yes, that was eerie. I decided to make another U-turn and called Zaim for direction. The phone was passed over to Norwen. I then proceeded to drive to what I understood as the direction given by Norwen. The right one, this time. Despite the sign on the hospital that said, “KPJ” instead of “SMC”, somehow I knew that I was already at the correct place.

As soon as I drove through the entrance of the hospital, I saw a lot of familiar faces, all sad and troubled; some with red teary eyes; some expressionless.

A lot of friends were there - a lot. This somehow showed how much Zack meant to his friends. How shocking the news was to his friends. How news like this was so unexpected and so uncalled for. How friends will come all the way to give our last goodbye, to show respect and to show how much we care.

Zack has always been a good person - a good friend to most people. He was smart, funny, nice, friendly, honest and never failed to amuse. I knew him since 2000, when we first started to do our pre-law. Gradually as years gone by, I started to know him better. Though we have never been so close a friend to each other, he will always be a friend that I will cherish.

The most unforgettable moment was of course that day when we were still doing our chambering. After one of the CLE talks, Zack, Zaim & I decided to hang out together. Zack brought us to the firm he was chambering in at that time - Messrs Sharizad, Rashid & Lee. That was the first time I went into that firm. We went to the library, where the chambering students were seated then. Then we decided to spend the night watching movies in Zaim’s place until the wee hour of the next morning. I was the fasting month in 2006 at that time. We had sahur together before heading home… Eversince that day, everytime when I bumped into Zack, he will always teasingly asked me, “Bila lagi nak lepak, Dym?” *sigh*

Life is indeed so short and indeed unpredictable. Who would have guessed a nice fella, with bright future ahead of him, would leave his family & friends in the tender age of 27.

The post-mortem was carried out at Klang Hospital instead of KPJ. I saw the van leaving KPJ Selangor heading towards Klang, escorted by a police car. Few minutes later, a green CRV followed the lead. It’s Steph, with a distraught looking Veeky inside, calling for me. I waved. I wanted to go there, to see Steph, to see Veeky, to tell her not to be sad (although of course it’s hard not to be). But the CRV was already holding a traffic; hence I decided not to. I waved some more and the CRV left.

It was starting to drizzle then.

Rain… Is always good, especially on days like that…

“Another normal life story of mine… Things like this always happen to me…“

Today, I am supposed to have a hearing at the Melaka High Court. It’s our client’s application under Order 18 rule 19 of the Rules of the High Court, 1980 (to strike out the Defendant’s Defence).

As usual, because of the tight schedule when there are a lot of things urgent in 1 day, I only had the chance to prepare for the hearing on the day before (a.k.a. yesterday). Since half of my day yesterday was gone, stuck in KL High Court, the rest of the day that was left out of yesterday was not enough to finish up the submission and bundle of authorities. Anyway, I stayed back past midnight to do all the getting up for the hearing.

At 1.30 a.m. the Defendant’s solicitor texted me, enquiring whether I’m still awake. I said, “Yup.. Why?” Then he replied that he wanted to talk about the case tomorrow. So I gave him a call. Apparently, his daughter had fallen ill so suddenly and he needed to send her to the hospital. Since his wife was not around, there was no one to look after the daughter. On that basis, he asked me to mention on his behalf today.

Pity him… But that would also mean that all the hard work preparing for the hearing was wasted… -_-” Oh well, at least I can use and improvise on the same when it comes up for hearing again.

And so yeah, I left office at around 2.00 a.m. It was raining so heavily. I only reached home at about 2.30 a.m. After getting ready to bed, I made sure that my alarm was set as early as I am able to wake up. The earliest alarm that I set was at 5.00 a.m. (Semangat what!) Then, the latest was at 6.15 a.m. I planned to leave KL at around 7.00 a.m. to avoid the traffic jam la… So yeah, I went to bed at around 3.30 a.m.

BUT THEN… I woke up in the morning without relying on the alarm. Yup, the alarm went off without me realizing it. And it’s already 7.10 a.m.!!! :S

And to make it worse, the traffic jam was super terrible in my place! When I exited at KESAS, I thought the road will be clear but nope… It’s all bumper to bumper! Cars were going at 10 to 20 km/h only… And this lasted for about 45 - 50 minutes. *sigh* By the 40th minute, I haven’t even reached Bukit Jalil and it was already way past 8 a.m. at that time. How could I make it to the Melaka High Court before 9, in less than 1 hour time??? Bloody impossible.

As soon as I saw the exit to Seremban, I speed up. It was 9.01 a.m. when I saw a signboard that says “Melaka - 79km”. OMG… And just how long will it take me to reach there??? And thinking that things couldn’t get even worse, it started to rain! *sigh* But since I was already so bloody late, I still have to speed up my car despite the rain… (at the same time, I was hoping & wishing that the Court will only start at 10.00 a.m.) :p

By 9.18 a.m. I managed to reach “Sempadan Negeri Melaka”. *Heh, not bad, I thought*… I thought that I would be able to reach Court by 9.30 a.m. then…

But nope! I’m supposed to take the Ayer Keroh exit to be on the way to the Melaka High Court, and from that signboard that says “Sempadan Negeri Melaka”, Ayer Keroh is about 47 km (if I’m not mistaken). *sigh*

Finally, I managed to reach Melaka Court Complex at around 9.35 a.m.

BUT THEN…. There was no parking inside the Court compound (again!!!). It’s either that or the pak guard was just to lazy to open the gate for me!!! And so, yeah. I had to look for parking elsewhere. Found one by the roadside (illegal parking again!) and it was so bloody damn far from the Court!!!

Since there was no other choice left, I quickly parked my car at 1 ‘logical’ spot by the roadside and started to walk as fast as I can to Court.

It was far, I’m telling you. Plus, the Court Complex was a bit on a hill and there were stairs to climb up, and plus of course, I am wearing my heels! *sigh*

And finally, I reached the Registrar’s chamber! And, guess what! Matter hasn’t been called yet! Heh! Lucky!

BUT THEN… When I saw the Court’s list, my matter was not listed as hearing though. It was listed as Case Management. -_-” So even if I come all prepared for hearing, it certainly won’t go on lah, right… *sigh* This is the problem with the Court system in Malaysia. And yes, this is the kind of problem that lawyers in Malaysia always have to face.

Oh well… After waiting for a while, my matter was called up in-chambers before the Deputy Registrar. I informed him that we were notified that it was supposed to be a hearing today. And guess what he said, “Ala, kalau hearing pun I tau apa Dato’ nak buat… Either postpone or suruh U file Written Submission…” -_-”

And yeah, talk about getting rid of all the backlog of cases in Malaysia…

But on the other hand, the Deputy Registrar was SUPER NICE!!! We chat for a while, talking about the new Judge that’s going to be transferred from KL to Melaka. He asked me whether I’ve appeared before that Judge (no mentioning of name, okie). And I said, yes, quite often actually. And so, he asked me how is the Judge like, his style when conducting mention, etc. The Deputy Registrar was really so friendly and nice! I hope he will stay that way ~ ~ ~

Done before 11.00 a.m. Since I got nothing else to do, no where to go to… I decided to head back to KL. See, without the traffic jam and the rain (it was slightly drizzling though), there was no problem reaching KL in around 1 hour & 15 minutes.

(*Note: I was so sleepy when I was driving back from Melaka to KL though… Dozed off a couple of times when driving! Yikes, scary!!!)

(~ I’m eating McDonald Double Cheeseburger while typing this entry now. Hehe. Yup, that’s my dinner for the day. I LOVE the McShakers Fries!!! ~) This is not an advertisment, okie. Yeah, it would be if they’re actually paying me something to advertise them here. :p

Knowing that the open court matter at RKKK1 will usually start sharp at 9.00 a.m. I made it a point to arrive early at Court today. The traffic jam was heavier than usual… Traffic from very slow at Jalan Mahameru until the turning to Jalan Duta. Anyway, I managed to arrive at the Court Complex sharp at 9.00 a.m.

BUT….. The security guards won’t let me park inside!!! Knowing very well that there won’t be any empty parking spaces in the parking compound outside the Court Complex, I wanted to park inside, besides the Sessions Court. That’s where I park my car usually, anyway. Even yesterday when I came I parked inside. There were damn a lot of parkings inside (yeah, compared to outside). But the freaking security guards just won’t let me and other lawyers in!!! The reason was - because we don’t have a foyer sticker! What the hell! There was no notice to us lawyers that we would need some kind of foyer stickers to park in the Court compound, and there is no freaking notice to even say how and where to get those blinking foyer sticker!

So, I ended up driving round & round the parking lot outside Court in the hope of spotting 1 empty parking space. With so many other cars in front of me looking for parking, what’s the hope of finding 1? ZERO!!!

Most of them decided to illegally parked by the dividers… Yeah, with very little space, just enough for another car to squeeze through. Urgh! I hate it so much when they parked like that!!! Some even blocked the access for other cars to pass through!

Without any luck at the public parking space, I decided to go to the parking lots designated for lawyers. It was so damn bloody full as well! I felt like just going to the security guards and telling them that lawyers were already so bloody late for Court! Yeah, if the matter got struck out, who’s going to get the blame? *sigh* But of course, I did not do that.

After nearly 30 minutes driving around the fully packed parking lots, finally… finally… I saw a lawyer entering his car, as if he was about to leave. The car was illegally parked at the end, near the turning around the parking lots though. But I don’t care. As long as there was an empty spot and sufficient place for other cars to pass through, that will do. And so, I waited. But this bloody guy was taking his own sweet time! Already a number of cars were lining up behind me, waiting for me to move! But I don’t care, man. I’m not going to waste this parking spot. And so yeah, I waited… That guy drank a bottle of water, put on his sunglasses, checked his handphone, went in his car, put on his seat belt, started the car engine, checked his handphone again -_-” (I was getting annoyed)… And finally, he zoomed off! Yay!

But then, there’s another problem! I have to parrallel park! And I’m very bad at that. Some more, have to park to ensure just enough space was left for other cars to pass through! I tried, halting the traffic for a while… But it’s not straight and it’s not perfect. And next to me, there was this one bloody impressive & expensive sport car parked nicely, causing me to be extra cautious so that my car would not accidentally bump into that.

Ugh, after a few minutes trying, I couldn’t take it anymore. I’m so stressed up already! It’s already more than half passed nine… I’m bloody late for Court already, so I couldn’t give up this parking space… So, in the end, I left my car ’senget’ like that, and called Conrad. He was in one of the Courts, waiting for his opponent to come. Thankfully he agreed to come and helped me parked my car! :D

So yeah, to cut the story short, I went to RKKK1 after that, and guess what! My matter was actually listed as number 1 on the open court list! Which means, it was already called and I was not there!!!! Bloody hell! The Senior Federal Counsel, for the 1st Respondent in that matter was already there and she said yeah, the matter was already called just now but since I was not there, the Court stood down the matter. After checking with the Interpreter, I was told that the Judge will finish up all the matters in her in-chamber list first before re-calling our case again. *sigh* So, I have to wait… It was around 9.40 a.m. at that time.

And so, I waited… and waited… and waited… Only at around 1.00 p.m. the matter was re-called!!! Around 3 hours and 30 minute of waiting! And I felt so bad because the SFC had to wait for the matter to be re-called as well because of me being late to Court! *sigh* I was so pissed at the security guards who wouldn’t let me park my car inside the Court compound! Yeah, I was complaining to the other lawyers in Court lah…

Ugh, what a waste of time! The time spent waiting at Court could have been spent doing submission & preparing for hearing! Yeah, I got a hearing at the Melaka High Court tomorrow… I am still doing the submission now. *sigh* After that, the Bundle of Authorities have to be prepared… :( So tiring…

*sigh* Wish me luck for the hearing tomorrow!!!

**Note: Apparently, the SFC was telling me that Foyer Sticker is a sticker that needs to be applied for from the Court. Each sticker has it’s own class, i.e. A, B, C, etc. However, I’m still not sure how to get them.

BUT… Early in the morning, I heard this voice - My neighbour, shouting & screaming like mad!!! She was shouting in a dialect that I couldn’t understand. For Chinese dialect, I can understand Cantonese, a little bit of Mandarin & Hokkien. But this lady, she was shouting maybe in Teochew, I guess. Screaming & shouting to her son, I suspected. And it lasted for a while. It came to a point that I almost opened up my bedroom window to tell her to “Shut Up!!!”… But of course, I didn’t do that. The Chinese lady ended her screaming & shouting with a loud bang of her door (grumbling all the way). *sigh*

I cannot understand why some people can be so inconsiderate and “thick face” to scream & shout like that when they realized that all other neighbours can hear everything! *sigh* That was among the things that we have to face when living in an apartment, I guess. Yeah, you will be in close proximity with the neighbours and you can hear almost everything if it is beyond the normal speaking tone.

Yeah, just like the other day when my cousins said they could hear the couple downstairs fighting. Or the worst was when early 2006. before I moved in with my cousins, they said the couple upstairs used to fight all day and throw plates at each other. The fight got so ugly that the glass door overlooking the balcony was also shattered to pieces. *sigh* Thankfully I was not there at that time.

Some people should learn to keep their private life “private” and not shouting & screaming so that the whole neighbourhood can hear them.

I foresee my fever getting worse today