My Grandfather Went Out On A Saturday Night

my mum (middle) between her sisters

My grandftather died last Saturday night. He went out that night (badam-bam-ching!). He was my mums father. I didn't know him well because he lives in Makassar, and I only drop by about max. once a year.

All I know is that he was a man that means well, very stubborn, and loves to 'shout' rather than use the human friendly frequency (I wonder if I'm part dolphin?). But I do remember, as a kid, he use to take care of me when mum needed to multitask. He's a great nurturer to kids, especially when he was still a bit younger and stronger. He still took great care of my cousins when they were little which wasn't long ago.

My mum is getting older. I was anxious how she would deal with it. I just called her. She seemed to have a sore voice, I suspect because of some deal of crying. I asked her where she was at the time, I was ready to calm her down... and this was her answer:

"Oh iya Nuni (my nick), ini Mami lagi makan-makan ama semuanya. Makan coto." (Oh yes Nuni, I'm just and eating out with the family. Eating Coto.) In the background I could hear my aunts laughing, my uncle joking around, and I bet my dad was just keeping his cool as always. With a bit of a jaw drop, I wondered, so... where's all the tears? Beats me, but I'm glad they accepted it well. Death is part of lives, and it's not something we can reverse. They do say, it's easier to cross over if no one cries for you too long. So I guess my mum and whole family wants grandpa to cross peacefully.

He did die at home, which is a good thing, and because he was really old. It was his time I guess. I know that they love him, as hard as he was. I sure do even though I didn't know him that well. I have one or two memories of him taking good care of me, and at least without him, I wouldn't be here. 

May his soul rest in peace.

LOL

It was a night when I dropped by Renny's house, a co-worker, when Rudhy was also there. We happen to just chat and just had to use a bit of imagination to survive another night in Wetar. We were talking about how the docter got a bike from the company for his needs. We had a little fun with that fact. Once you know it, Renny almost fell off her seat of laughing, I couldn't stand up straight because I was laughing so hard, and Rudhy's eyes looks like a frown. Renny applaud my wild imagination. And with that, I started wondering, maybe I am a bit funny. I also started thinking, why do I have to follow my funny gene, especially since I 'understand' that being funny is a masculine trait? 

3 months later ...

I recently went to Timor Leste to visit Inge, a college friend, since her hubby happen to work in this country. Inge is a lovely delightful humorist gal. She might look mean, but trust me, she's a leaking bucket a.k.a ember bocor! So, during my 4 days 6 night stay there, I had a lot of laughs. And by a lot I mean A LOT! Not to mention Edmund, her hubby, was in town and he too had a competing sense of humor. So all we were was a bunch of silly people that like to use our imagination and laze our days out.

One night, we decided to have Indian (South Asia not America, although it would be awesome to have native American food,ohh.. FOCUS!) cuisine. Yes, Timor Leste has tonnes of affordable (by the expat community) yet delicious International restaurants. Anyways, we were waiting on our food when we started to be... umm... sarcastic; I can't really say funny cos we were kinda making fun of the Indian culture. And suddenly, my stomach cramped up because we were so funny.

As I sit there holding my stomach of ache and looking at Inge, laughing so hard I think she peed a bit (isn't hard to hold it in when you're 6 month pregnant?), I realize, hmm.. maybe I am a bit funny?

I'm not sure why lately, during these laughs, my epiphany pops up. It's probably because I think that people don't have a hard laugh as often once they get older. I try to 'analyze' (ok ok... sue me for trying to figure things out) and see how we can have these sessions more often. My conclusion so far, most of the time, it does take a comedian to have a lot of fun.

I always though I have friends that are much funnier than I am. I always have a blast laughing with them, and at their jokes, sarcastic or not. So I always thought maybe I can be spared from one masculine trait: being funny. Because of these 'incidents', I thought wrong. Funny, I am, a bit.

Being said that, I need to find a gay guy trapped in a straight mans taste, or else I'll be single fo'eeeeevvvvvvaaaaaaaaa.... :(( but have a few laughs along the way :P (I just had to)