EVERYTHING IS A REASON - part 2.1

CHAPTER 2: I LOVE THEM

PART 2.1: MY DAD
Even though my dad is nearly bald, his face reminds me to his impressing lifeline. I am grateful to live rich, and full of luxury like a bed of roses, and he was the one which told me that life isn’t always bloom.
He was born on Friday, 4th January 1963, long before Malaysia became independent 9 months and 12 days after. He was born far away in a village, surrounded in a serene environment named Engkilili. I came there for the first time in 2006, after my cousin, Zul finished his PMR examination (PMR, abbreviation of Penilaian Menengah Rendah, an examination compulsory for all Form 3 students, will be ceased to exist in 2011).

My dad worked as… err… I don’t know. I mean, I don’t know what job is he is in. He said; just refer him to as mechanics. He worked in many parts of the world, and he got a full ship of bucks, too. Currently, he was working with SeaDrill, a company centered in Sweden (if I’m not mistaken) through Tioman Drilling, a Miri-born company, which hires a lot of workers but very few petroleum engineers.

I’ve a story about petroleum engineering. It’s about my dad, which was informed by somebody that I was to plot my future studies. He secretly told my mum, “Let him study Petroleum Engineering,” and that news leaked far away in Labuan.
I was thinking about courses, and in my target was: petroleum engineering, chemical engineering, pure physics and chemistry. They are big courses, and a lot of bucks, for sure. My eyes are seeing money right then…
But, something puzzled me. How can he know about it?

Down memory lane, yet, he is the greatest dad I ever have in the world even though he doesn’t look like the best. The low-profile look made me amazed about him. So, now I write this special for him, special for his 48th birthday on 4 January.
When I was in Year 1, he sent me to school at first. It was Monday, 4th January 1999, his 36th birthday. I never felt of been in school before. That’s when I feel away from family for the first time. Not bad, really. But it looked a little bad when a guy made me feel bad.
I told my dad about it. I always cried since the first day. That guy always disturbed me, pinched me, beat me until he saw me suffer.
All of it come to a surprise when my dad came and slow-talked with him. I saw him cried then. Pity him, my heart had spoken.
Since then, he was my good friend until Year 4. Since then, I never met him.

Even though my life is quite comfortable, actually it’s not. That’s what my dad told me.
He is not a fortune collector, but fortune keeps on coming. In reality, 30 years ago, the opposite happens.
He came from a family of paddy farmers. In Malaysia, rice can only be harvested once a year. I wondered how he can live in such family with nine members.
Then, he was adopted by a middle-class family in Kuching. He was kept by the family until he grows to an adult. He was given education until Form 5, but since SPM is not yet 100 percent government-sponsored, so he was about to find his own money.

The family, I consider to be just below average. Every day, my dad have to sell something he could to support his expenses, as well as for his SPM. What I know is that for one subject in SPM, it costs (in a range of) RM 10.50 to RM 12.00 per subject. The most expensive will be the so-called English 1119, which could costs RM 20.00 per student. I took SPM in 2009, and the government paid me RM 141.50 for 10 subject- Malay Language, English 1119, Physics, Chemistry, Islamic Teachings, History, Mathematics, Additional Mathematics (it’s all about calculus), and two ‘killer’ subjects, Biology and so-called ‘Grade Killer’ English for Science and Technology, or EST in short. I got 4A+’s, 2A’s, 2A-‘s, and 2 hope-killer B+’s.

I expected my dad should save around RM 140 for the SPM.

What about his results? He won’t tell me.

My dad proved me, with just an average results, he still have a good job. But still, I am heavily frustrated. WH and Fatin, for example, had a 10 A’s and 9A’s, respectively. I’m totally frustrated with that. I’m done talking about SPM.

My dad proved me numbers isn’t everything, but satisfaction and commitment should be the number one.
Just want you, the readers to know, my dad is very observant. He will observe every single inch and second of his and his children’s actions. The simplest example is my sister, Iqah. I am very sure that she was truly stressed during her school days. Being forced to study is her worst enemy. She appeared to be lazy every day at home.

My parents and I actually forced her to study so in the future she won’t regret. I encouraged her to study, so she will be in the boarding school just like me. But there is a problem. She didn’t even apply for the boarding school.
Then, comes her UPSR result, and some disappointment. She made it too bad, with two A’s and three B’s. When I asked her for the B subjects, her reply was: Science, Mathematics, and for sure, English.
I hated that. Why her English should is so bad? Simple answer from me: she was lazy.

I got 5A’s in UPSR. How could she give such results? Maybe it was our fault. We tortured her too much. I’ve done talking about Iqah. Let her make herself better.
Even though sometimes my father looks loud, but in fact he tries not to.
Offshore, he has a lot of good colleague on deck. Working with ‘black gold’ to match customer’s demand is a satisfaction to the workers. That’s why he wanted so much if I could work with him. He will be the senior mechanic, whilst I will be the junior petroleum engineer. There will be Zamhari Sr. and Zamhari Jr. on the deck. So what? I don’t know. Maybe he just wants someone to talk with or somebody to work or to cuddle with on the rig. Blah, blah, blah. Whatever it is, I tried to match his dream. Maybe he really wanted me to realize his dream. Maybe, otherwise, he just wants to see me better than him, just like other fathers in the world. Well, then, he is the best dad I ever had. I won’t want to change a father. He is just fit for me.

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