My most important day of the year was my birthday and every year after my birthday, I turn 1 year older. Tomorrow is the day. The day where I celebrate my birthday. I don't expect much for my present from my parents or my friends because first of all I'm 16 and second of all, I already appreciate what I have.

          It wasn't much of a celebration last year when I was 15. The only thing I did was going out for dinner and having a birthday cake after that. Nothing as much as what I have expected during actual birthday parties. Other than that, everything went the same as any other ordinary days in life.

          My family hasn't talked about my birthday, not even the day before my birthday, today. It could be a surprise planned by my brothers and my parents yet it couldn't because one thing's for sure is that my family don'y plan surprises so I'll just be waiting till Monday ends. Hopefully there's something different this year.

          My grandfather passed away on the 8th of October. My father went to the hospital immediately after he got a call in the morning at 5 a.m. . He came home at a quarter before 6 and told me what had happened to my grandfather. I was devastated during the moment where he told me the news. I had to leave for school because there was an exam going on.

          I came home after school ended and attended his funeral. There was surprisingly many relatives of mine who came on that very day. It was a truly sad moment for the ones who are close to him. Many had cried when they saw the body of my grandfathers in the coffin placed in my house.

          The funeral went on for 4 days. We followed according to the Chinese tradition where the are rules to follow. We were only allowed to wear a white t-shirt and a long black cotton pants that were provided for each and everyone of his children and grandchildren. Washing our hair and eating meat was not allowed too.

          On the very last day of the funeral where all relatives and friends witness the cremation of my grandfather, everyone was crying. This was my first time attending a funeral and although my brothers and I were not really close to him, we still cried for him because he means someone very important in our lives

          The most important examination of my form 4 life as a student is just around the corner and I'm really nervous about it. I doubt anyone is prepared for the examination at all. Form 4 is the year where we take new subjects which was to extremely hard to understand in my perspective. Many of my friends have failed in their previous tests which shows how hard it actually is.

          From the stories I heard personally, some people have been burning midnight oil by studying till even as late as 5 a.m. in the morning and it's hard to believe that someone could stay up that late just to study and prepare for their examinations. I've tried to stay up late just to learn up all the vocabulary I learnt from my tuition and I barely made it to 1 a.m. even with 4 cups of coffee.

          My grandfather arrived here in Malaysia a few days back and ambulance has already been prepared for him. He had troubles breathing on his own when he was still in Indonesia so he was admitted to the hospital to be oxygenated with an oxygen mask. When he arrived back in Malaysia, they put on an oxygen mask on him immediately after getting into the ambulance. His breathing rate was around 30.
 
          He was brought to the emergency room right after he arrived to the hospital. Then was moved to the ICU room. The doctor gave us news that with breathing rate around 30, an average human would've died. we were depressed for a moment and asked the doctor "So i assume that our grandfa- " he stopped us there and said "no, you're grandfather made it out alive and his breathing rate is now at a stable 100" . We we're utterly surprised of our strong 72 year old man.

          2 days has passed now and his condition got worse, he needs to be oxygenated all the time, even between his meal. He was kept in the ICU for a few days. He got his antibiotic shots but it never worked. There was a virus in him that we were never aware of.

          After keeping him in the same hospital for several days, the doctor finally told us that they didn't have the proper equipment's to help him. So, he was sent to Hospital Universiti Malaya. We had a little hope in this hospital because it is a well known to locals.

          Majority of Chinese parents from Malaysia are very stereotypical ones. My parents are beyond that. I've been kept in my house for a long time, not being allowed to hang with my friends during my free time. It's like i have a limited freedom, and the longer or more often i go out, i'll have less chances of going out in the future. Sucks right? Yeah i know.

          Here's another one. My parents wouldn't eat Japanese food, Indian cuisine, Malay cuisine or any other ones BUT Chinese. We act Chinese, we follow the Chinese fortune tellers, we follow the Buddhist rules and we believe in spirits and karma and we don't eat beef because it's against the rules of doing so to the god we pray too. I bet at least half of us Chinese youngsters don't know the reason why we should actually follow the rules or believe in any of these traditional ways of beliefs. Well I've done a research for that. Parents has been influencing them with all these since we were born. Thus, having us to grow up in an environment of religious beliefs.

          Surveys have also shown that teenagers are turning into atheists which can of course, have pros and cons.

          Just a mere 5 minutes ago, my dad received a phone call from my aunt in Indonesia saying that my grandfather is in the hospital now for a checkup. i overheard the conversation of my dads. My grandfather has been diagnosed with leukemia. Leukemia is a disease where you have too much of white blood cells. Smoking too much of cigarettes can cause this disease and that's how my grandfather got it.

           Its been years now that I've been telling my grandfather not to smoke too much of his cigarettes but he wouldn't listen to my advises and there he go, he is now diagnosed with leukemia ; but on the upper hand, he is pretty strong for a 72 year old man who is still working! I've seen him jump over a fence with me 2 years back then and it was a pretty hard challenge.

          I always love to spend time with him for breakfast every morning when he comes back to Malaysia because he's usually in Indonesia for months and when he visits his family here, it'll just be a short week or two. Everyone here misses him and wants him. He doesn't seem to have the plan to retire either! I'm blessed to have a caring and strong grandfather who takes care of his family.

          I've just got news that my neighbour was getting married and is having his wedding dinner at his place during the following weekends. Nobody wanted to go, so i went with my brother, Ernest. Apparently, my grandmother and my mother wouldn't plan to go there after the wedding dinner they had the previous year. Food was so limited, theme was all malay because their family were malays too. During the previous wedding they had, We felt like we were the only chinese's there was in the dinner. One thing for sure is that, they're so filthy rich that they built a bridge from his house connecting to his brothers and it was astonishing to see how the decorated bridge turned up to be. This years was a little more disappointing. Nothing amazingly new. It was just the food which gave me an experience of exotic malay cuisine. Even the rice was perfectly made with some spices cooked with it. Dishes were all meat meat meat and it would be sad to see a vegetarian attending the dinner. boohoo. Fact of why my brother and i went there was because we just wanted to try malay cuisine, because my parents, as typical chineses, doesn't like other food but chinese's. Chinese food, chinese food, chinese food, every day and night, chinese food, nothing else. well actually... not really, my brother and i just wanted food. food is life, life is food. foodgasm. bye.