As you all may recall, Ahmad has quit his job just a few days before CNY. Although I felt very angry at him for doing so, it wasn't a surprise. In the 5+ years being married to him, he has changed jobs just about every other year. Except for when we were in the bundle business. That one actually stuck, for about 3 years. The longest job he ever had, heh.
Well, you may also recall that I'm taking writing classes at USM. The class was quite informal to say the least and fun too. The best part is that I get to create new networks for my services, friends who are still at USM; some continuing with PhD, while some were finishing their MSc, are all very happy to know that I'm offering proofreading and editing services. After USM was awarded the Research University status, postgraduate programs have been upgraded. More postgrads applications have been approved and the school has cut back on the undergrads numbers. So, the pressure is on them (the postgrads) to publish research papers with high impact factor journals. Problem is, many of them have issues with the grammatical part of writing a paper.
When I first went back there to attend my first writing class, I had the chance to see some of my friends who are still there. That first day itself, after I told them about my services, an expatriate student from Indonesia called me, asking me to edit his paper. Since then, I've accepted quite a number of papers to proofread/edit and I'm very happy with this development. Plus, today in class, my lecturer asked me what am I doing at home, since I'm not working. So, I told her about the services that I'm offering. She then proceeded to tell me that she's going to give my number to a few Iranian/Iraqian students who went to see her about their theses. They wanted her to check the theses for them but she was very busy. So, looks like I could be getting new 'customers' soon.
Anyway, what I really wanted to write about is Ahmad's new attitude. Starting from 2 weeks ago, he had stayed at home to babysit the boys while I'm in class. That's 3 classes already, plus next Friday, when I'm going to attend a very early class, starting at 8.00 a.m. I thought that after the 1st time he had to babysit, he would accept my offer to send the boys to their sitter, so that he can go about his days as he usually does (read: hanging around the coffee shop with a bunch of other guys, doing GOD knows what). But it seems that he doesn't mind looking after the boys for a few hours. Which is a big relief for me because this way, I can be sure that they are spending quality time with their father.
Ahmad has also taken to washing his own dishes after every meal. Which is quite a nice surprise for me because his usual MO is to just leave the dirty dish in the kitchen sink. And a few days ago, he'd also begun to kiss me on the cheek, in a passing manner. Still, the kisses were sweet & they brighten up my day. Just this evening, he VOLUNTARILY (which is a HUGE matter since he is quite the silent type & I always have to pry information out of him; like pulling out a tooth) told me that a friend of his has commissioned him (Ahmad) to make grills and a gate for him (the friend). Welding; making window and door grills, gates and the occasional odd pieces, was his first venture into doing business on his own. This came right after we had Shahrin & Ahmad quit driving trailer just to be close to home. After a few unpaid projects, he became frustrated with doing welding and switched to selling knock-off bags/purses/totes at night markets. After a few raids by KPDNHEP on the suppliers and we had trouble stocking up, Ahmad switched to selling bundles instead.
Seems like we've come a full circle in Ahmad's attempt at being the breadwinner of our family. Maybe he's gotten bored with my never-ending babbling about him not providing for this family, about how other people are struggling hard to accumulate wealth while we are accumulating debts, & my occasional taunts of him switching places with me instead; he could be the stay-at-home-dad while I go out to earn a living. One fact that I know for sure is that he is not going back to driving trailers, well, not in the near future anyway. Who knows, maybe next year, he'll pull this quitting-his-job stunt again and go back to driving trailer. Again!
One other news, I've found a semi-D house for rent quite close to Shahrin's pre-school. I've tried to contact the landlady but she has gotten back to me yet. The previous occupant told me that she rented the house for RM300. I'm hoping to persuade the landlady to let me rent the house for RM250-280, since the house is quite close to a pre-school. Some people don't like living that close to a noisy place (you know children, always running and making noises) but I don't mind if it means that I can FINALLY move out of this house!
As usual, Ahmad didn't look too happy when I told him this news, but this time around, I'm just going to go for it. I'm tired of waiting for him to decide. This is my life too and I deserve to get what I want too!
Fingers crossed!! Toes too! :D
Anyway, what I really wanted to write about is Ahmad's new attitude. Starting from 2 weeks ago, he had stayed at home to babysit the boys while I'm in class. That's 3 classes already, plus next Friday, when I'm going to attend a very early class, starting at 8.00 a.m. I thought that after the 1st time he had to babysit, he would accept my offer to send the boys to their sitter, so that he can go about his days as he usually does (read: hanging around the coffee shop with a bunch of other guys, doing GOD knows what). But it seems that he doesn't mind looking after the boys for a few hours. Which is a big relief for me because this way, I can be sure that they are spending quality time with their father.
Ahmad has also taken to washing his own dishes after every meal. Which is quite a nice surprise for me because his usual MO is to just leave the dirty dish in the kitchen sink. And a few days ago, he'd also begun to kiss me on the cheek, in a passing manner. Still, the kisses were sweet & they brighten up my day. Just this evening, he VOLUNTARILY (which is a HUGE matter since he is quite the silent type & I always have to pry information out of him; like pulling out a tooth) told me that a friend of his has commissioned him (Ahmad) to make grills and a gate for him (the friend). Welding; making window and door grills, gates and the occasional odd pieces, was his first venture into doing business on his own. This came right after we had Shahrin & Ahmad quit driving trailer just to be close to home. After a few unpaid projects, he became frustrated with doing welding and switched to selling knock-off bags/purses/totes at night markets. After a few raids by KPDNHEP on the suppliers and we had trouble stocking up, Ahmad switched to selling bundles instead.
Seems like we've come a full circle in Ahmad's attempt at being the breadwinner of our family. Maybe he's gotten bored with my never-ending babbling about him not providing for this family, about how other people are struggling hard to accumulate wealth while we are accumulating debts, & my occasional taunts of him switching places with me instead; he could be the stay-at-home-dad while I go out to earn a living. One fact that I know for sure is that he is not going back to driving trailers, well, not in the near future anyway. Who knows, maybe next year, he'll pull this quitting-his-job stunt again and go back to driving trailer. Again!
One other news, I've found a semi-D house for rent quite close to Shahrin's pre-school. I've tried to contact the landlady but she has gotten back to me yet. The previous occupant told me that she rented the house for RM300. I'm hoping to persuade the landlady to let me rent the house for RM250-280, since the house is quite close to a pre-school. Some people don't like living that close to a noisy place (you know children, always running and making noises) but I don't mind if it means that I can FINALLY move out of this house!
As usual, Ahmad didn't look too happy when I told him this news, but this time around, I'm just going to go for it. I'm tired of waiting for him to decide. This is my life too and I deserve to get what I want too!
Fingers crossed!! Toes too! :D
Dear Kak Anis, orang dah comment dalam comment box Kak Zarin how to put ur Labels. :-p
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