Bills, bills nothing but bills…

February 15, 2006 in Personal Reflections

Being the middle of the month, it was only natural that my mailbox was flooded with dreaded bills, bills and nothing but more bills. *Sigh!*

Telephone bill, TMNet Steamyx bill, water bill, Reader’s Digest subscription bill and my home loan statement arrived in the mailbox yesterday but only this morning did I go down to retrieve them. And another funny bill was from the Income tax division of Penang… that informed me that as of 2003, my late father has a credit of RM34.14 in his income tax account… whatever that means… (anyone of you know what that means?? Does it mean that my dad still have RM34.14 or do we have to pay RM34.14??). It got my mom into quite a rant over the idiocy of the income tax division who should’ve known by now that my father has not worked since 16 years ago when we moved to K.L from Penang.

The way I see it… only three options – first is to ignore, which my mom said we should. 2nd was to call the income tax people and ask what the letter meant and what do we do, now that my dad is not around. 3rd, go down to Penang and tell those income tax people off, which I do not recommend. So, at the moment we decided not to do anything. Suggestions anyone?

And so, after a day out the whole day yesterday, I finished half the day paying and settling bills and organising the receipts into their respective folders for safe keeping. If there were ever a fire to break out in my condominium (Choi! touch wood, touch wood!), the first thing I would probably grab is the whole stack of files and folders of important documents. Fortunately, we don’t have those huge metal filing cabinets or otherwise we’ll be discovered burnt while pushing the cabinet out!

This is where I must be thankful that out of all the safety and security precautions undertaken by the management of my condominium, it is the fire prevention measures that was A-class. Every floor, there are fire hoses, fire extinguishes and two fire escape routes that’s within distance to the various lots on the floor. Four units will be within the fire escape distance, another four units will have the fire extinguisher nearby them and another four units will have both the fire hose and fire escape route. Nevertheless, it is within the home that is of greater importance, especially wiring and gas tanks! My mom and I constantly ensures that there are no haphazard wirings or short-fused plugs are in use and whenever we cook or use the gas, we ensured that it is completely turned off. Plus, whenever there’s a lightning storm, it is always best to unplug every electrical item in the house. It’s always good to be extra safe.

Back to the subject of bills, I have the habit of straying far from what I want to say but anyways, bills are another part of the growing up process. When we were kids, it’ll be our parents having headaches and migraines over the effort of settling bills and ensuring we are earning enough to have food on the table and to cover up all our expenses. Now with one half of my parents gone and the other half not working, the burden is now upon my shoulders to help pay the bills and ensuring there’s food on the table for both of us. Sisters do help, but rarely. One sister do give us RM600 every month but the rest would only give us once every 6 months.

A lot of my relatives always chided me for being so money-minded and tight-fisted. Come to think of it, I think they are chiding my family more. We aren’t exactly the richest among our family but we prided ourselves in not fighting over inheritances of our grandparents. To say money is the root of all is evil is a bit unfair, I would rather say the pursuit for wealth is the root of all evil. For me, money is the means for survival. No money = no food, no life, no place to live. You might as well be dead. And honestly speaking, seeing the poverty in the world, I’d rather die than to beg and ask for charity. My dad’s always been  a proud person, and I must say that I am a bit like him (God, why it always when the moment someone close to you goes for eternity that you feel like you are so much like them?)

*Sigh* I guess with each and every post that I make here probably reveals a bit more about me than most of you could ever know. The fact is that I am extremely guarded with my feelings and emotions. I never, ever open up entirely and completely to anyone but me and God. Except when I am in a very bad mood then I turn into this god-be-damned person who’ll give anyone a piece of my mind… and perhaps fist as well (*shrugs* haven’t come to that yet, thankfully).

Well, I’m off tangent yet again. I apologise, dear reader and many thanks if you had been following word for word of all that I had said. You truly are a faithful and dear, dear reader! I humbly bow to you!

Tomorrow’s another day… I pray that whatever tomorrow brings, it’ll be mostly good. Good night, and good luck! ^_^