What a bummer start to a new week yesterday. I missed attending an event which was very close to my heart: a special sitting of the Penang Free School Assembly where the new Free School Guide would be formally launched. I had been one of two persons instrumental in setting up this Free School Guide and I had been looking forward to this occasion. But life can be unpredictable and a little pill - nay, a quarter of a little pill - prevented me from attending.
To put it mildly, the spirit was willing but the flesh was not. My sleep cycle is sort of screwed up somewhat. There would be four or five days of reasonably good sleep followed by three or four days of restless nights. It's a predictable cycle and I really dread having to drive around when I'm in that lousy mood.
On Sunday night I decided to break the cycle as I hadn't been sleeping well for the past few nights. I wanted an early and good night's rest or otherwise, driving across the Penang Bridge and the roads would be a nightmare for me in a sleep deprived condition. And it gets worse with age.
I set the alarm for 5am and took a very small dose of tranquilising pill. Very small dose. Only a quarter of a full tablet. Unfortunately, it worked just too well at a most inappropriate time. The alarm duly went off at 5am but in my drowsiness, I missed reacting to it. Not once but several times because as everyone knows, the alarms in the mobile phone usually goes off several times every few minutes.
I continued sleeping through the alarm ringing until 7.15am when a friend's call finally woke me up. By then it was too late for me to even leave the house. The Assembly would have been over by the time I reached the School. It is unbearable to miss this very special school function which I had looked forward to. My frustration is beyond description, but that is life....
Fact is, this is the second time that such a thing has happened to me, and all within the same year. In February when I was supposed to pick up my brother-in-law's family before going to the airport, my wife and I woke up too late. No time to detour to Simpang Ampat to pick them up. We had to go straight to the airport, and they straight from their house too.
I believe the lesson to learn from these two incidents is that life is too unpredictable. The unexpected happens all the time and often, it is outside our control. But we mustn't spend too much time moping over the unexpected and unpredictability. Life goes on and we must too. Therefore, I must learn to put aside this disappointment and move on to the next challenge.
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