Please excuse me, progress is calling

Ever found yourself in a situation when someone asks you the obvious? You know, for instance, when you are waiting for the bus (for those who had the joy of waiting for the bus that never comes) and you get this thrown at you "Waiting for bus ah?" You'll be nice and politely answer "yah, it has been quite a while now."

Back in the day when my only form of transport were buses and I was asked the same question several times within a long wait, I tended to get creative with my answers .... in my head. There were once too many times when I wanted to reply "no, I am not waiting for the bus. I just like coming out to the bus stops and pretend I am waiting for a bus." I know, it sounds rude and some people were just being nice in trying to make conversation. Still, the frustration of depending of public transport gets the better of you. Thankfully, no one ever had to hear what "the other Jacqui" wanted to say. I was being the "good Jacqui". By the way, I do not suffer from having multiple personalities. It is more of a battle between the devil and the angel sitting on my shoulders.

So, as things progressed and our wonderful KTM started regular services from Port Klang to KL, I decided to stick to something that ran on a proper schedule. It was much, much better compared to waiting for a bus. I knew when the train would arrive and 95% of the time it did! Of course, public transport systems sometimes run into some trouble too. Nothing is perfect, or maybe I have come expect that from our services. There was one incident when the train I took kept stopping in between stations and halts. Their excuse "teknikal problem lah". It took me 2 hours to get home instead of the usual 1 hour. At one point, the train came to a complete stop and everything shut down. Some joker mouthed out loudly, "this is what happens when KTM does not pay their electric bill."

Back then, I did not see the need to carry a handphone. I thought "if these trains are almost always on time, I don't need to worry that my mum is worrying at home like she used to when I took the buses." That day, needless to say, she was worried. I walked in the house at 10:00pm. From then, I decided to get a mobile phone so that I was just a phone call away. I did not like carrying that extra gadget in my handbag. My first handphone was this ugly-looking, awkwardly-poking-out antenna device. It was a simple and ugly device meant only to make and receive calls. No such thing as text messaging and taking photos. It took up half of my handbag's space. We have certainly come a long way with that. My phone now fits in my palm.
(By the way, did you know that sometime last year, a lady used her mobile device to take a photo of a man 'yanking off' in the New York subway. Thoroughly offended with this lewd obscenity, she then headed to the nearest police station, lodged a report and gave that short "movie clipping" of the man to the police as evidence. He was later tracked down, apprehended and charged. )

On my previous trips back to Malaysia (in the past five years), I've noticed that Malaysian are just handphone-crazy. Practically everyone owns one... or two.. or three. Now, a ride in the train is not without the sounds of some handphone going off. Oh, no more classic phone rings. I am now serenaded to some latest downloaded pop song. As soon as the train heads closer to the KL Sentral (or any other main station), the phones come alive. Voices get louder with remarks such as "yah, it's me. I am in Subang oledy. Going to pick me up or not?" or "dei! I am in Klang. Where you standing? Near the machines ah?" Oh... and my favourite, "aiyoo, I miss my stop. You wait there, ok. I will take the next train back to where you are waiting. So tired lah today." Poor thing.

Me, I try to be as discreet as possible. I get a little embarassed when I my phone rings in public. I used to set it to play some classical music that came with the phone because I hardly get calls in Germany. However, when I am in Malaysia, my phone is put to good use. So, when I am there, I put it on "vibrate" mode most of the time. Contrary to what some men think, the "vibrate" mode is not a substitute for pleasure - doesn't deliver enough punch! The only pleasure I get out of it is that no one knows when someone is trying to reach me on my phone. Oh! by the way, it is good practice and manners, if one takes a call away from the company you are keeping. I may sound fussy but I find it rude when someone's phone rings during a meal and that person takes the call there and then. The proper thing to do is to excuse yourself from the table, if you must take that call. I may have faltered once or twice with that proper etiquette but I have learned that it can be very imposing if the present company has got nothing to do with the person who is calling.

Now, please excuse me. I need to answer a pop-up message on my computer. I will continue this later.