Ilmu Hisap Darah..

Besides Arts, I am also horribly terribly atrociously hopeless in Maths. I see you raised an eyebrow. Why so surprised? Now you know I am not purrr-fect.

So!...Numbers scare and bore me.

My earliest memory of how 'suckie' my arithmetic is, is as below:

I was 10 years old. I had Rm1. It was a hot and sweaty day, and I had a hard time deciding what to buy at the school canteen. I was so rich, I panicked. Should I buy the sugar-laden doughnut with flies hovering over it? Or the hard like rock karipap? Ah.. what about that ice-cream stick? I checked the price. 10 cents..... A good bargain.

Digging deep into my pinafore pocket, I dished out my crumpled Rm1 note. Handed it over to the Malay lady and proceeded to rip open the ice cream sirap. While sucking on it, making my tongue all pink, I stood patiently for my change.

Remembering what ahbu always told me, I checked if I got the right change. 1, 2, 3, 4.....90 cents. It can't be! I counted again... 1, 2, 3, 4...90 cents. Really wor...

Die! The lady short-changed me. I was in dilemma. Should I approach her?

After deep concideration, I braved myself and charged forward and told the canteen auntie,"Kamu bagi saya sempilan puluh sen. Saya bagi awak satu hinggit"

"Yelah! Betul-lah! Habis..Makan ais krim tak payah bayar ka??????????????"

Oh my bitter-gourd! That was like so memalu-balukan!

One ringgit minus ten cents equals ninety cents. How hard is that? Very loh..to me when I was 10. Now it's easier a bit.

And the only time I passed my Ilmu Hisab with a mediocre C, was when I got a new pencil case, which when flipped, revealed the whole treasure of the TIMESTABLE....right up to 12!

I struggled on until Form Five when copying answers for Additional Maths every morning doesn't seem like fun anymore. I threw in the white cloth. And never look back ever since.

Eekk... I hope Gooly will fare better in the canteen and numerology.

*put on paper bag over my head* Ok..start laughing.