I've never exercised my rights before. Judge me or not, (and all this while, I had the privilege to meet some pretty vocal friends, but I never did get around to do it in the past) but irregardless I suppose things happened for a reason, and by the grace of God, I too get to do it finally this year.
Yes, I was a bit worried, since being on my maiden voyage this morning (probably affected the sleep pattern early this morning too) and read back and again about how to go about it, and yeah I went there alone, but made 2 friends, (and of course went back alone lol) and I've been thinking if I don't log this in; I'd probably let this post as un-published.
With half an eye on the other window about the on-going live feed of the counting at the moment (if that's what its' called) I shall make this quick, would probably miss a few bits but let's put up some pictures from an avid first-timer eh?
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| Speedy delivery for a freebie :) |
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| Thank you, GRAB |
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| OOTN omgosh |
Back to earlier today, jitters aside (i mean, what if my vote cast would be deemed spoilt?) I reached the school of dubious name (I remembered it was called another chinesey name when I used to live around there, the infamous school that caused major jams for the residential area) and to my relief I got the right school and the queue was amazingly long. Bumped into a guy with 2 kids who asked if of the school similarly to me, and I kinda gave him the #fakenews of not wearing slippers. He went back to the car (after asking his 2 boyos to stay there, I kinda stood there to watch over them without a word spoken of) and to my horror and realization of giving out the wrong info when I saw a couple leaving the compound with inked forefingers, and with sandals *gulp!
He was surprised to see me standing with his kids still; but I told him 'bang, i think i told you #fakenews bro' and we went our way.
Obviously the noob, I had trouble connecting to network to check on which 'saluran' I was on. The kind officer checked it out for me and was directed to the other end of the school.
Reaching there, I saw the malay brother at the same queue as me, with his 2 boys at the corner playing on a smartphone. And so we struck conversations one after another, and it was amazing too, if its not for this, I'd probably had the brilliant idea to not queue and go to Riana Green for breakfast or fill in some work or something.
Nik (the guy with 2 kids) works for Perodua, same like me, used to live around the area, got to know about his wife's adventure yesterday travelling back to Kedah, his 2 kids, but the thread that got on pretty long was about his success in shedding some massive weight; he is about 65kg now, 5 years ago he was 130kg! and with this we talked about diet and exercises (oh well, as you know not-so-Constant Reader, I don't exercise per se) and somehow we got to know Din the guy behind me.
By the 2nd hour leading up to the queue , we'd have touched about a few things of life, and somehow we teamed up as a gang to send one out to get water (and subsequent sneak out for a smoke) and I myself went for a sekolah-kebangsaan-Toilet-walk-down-memory-lane (oh, the smell and the mozzies!!!)
Nearing the third hour mark, I've managed to help Din to set up his finger ID and Facial ID on his phone (for I spied he was still unlocking with patterns, so i kepo-ed) and I managed to tell them about my not-so-unusual situation of not actually from there; and how last year being cash-strapped in Taiping I found out my registration would put me in PJ, and by the grace of God the doors were opened for me to be back here this year to be able to vote here this morning. Hallelujah!
In all fairness, all 3 of us didn't exchange numbers or soc-meds or a selfie; it was an amazing experience to know this 2 strangers (and the teamwork) we'd probably not meet each other (and if having a number would generally be swept in the loads of contacts, I suppose all of us have too many one-off chance encounters, or maybe just me) and it certainly made each of our time waiting in the queue much pleasant.
Went back to the room and knocked-out, (most of the friends are back in Taiping anyway), there are distant friends nearby, but it's a day to reflect on, rather than reach out i suppose. Initially I planned to leave the polling station and make a trip to FGT for a prayer intercession , but as I was done with lunch at 2:30pm, (and of course, probably a RM50 for travelling) I headed to the house and had my quiet time before dozing off.
And lo, I got up and put on the new shirt from Grab (i didn't dare to wear it this morning , another #fakenews) and I am here having a cuppa after food, and probably will move to the shop next door with the live telecast on the telly.