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Happy Chinese New Year and happy holiday! 
Not celebrating it, but I want to convey my greetings and wishes to all my friends who do. Just sought out some good new year wishes from site to site and found this one that I think is good:
Not celebrating it, but I want to convey my greetings and wishes to all my friends who do. Just sought out some good new year wishes from site to site and found this one that I think is good:As spring is around, good fortune abounds. As season progress, your longevity increases. A Charm to insure prosperity and long life. 🌿🌟
Often have I heard that the Chinese (or at least the Indonesian people of Chinese descent) believe that rains on the first day of New Year signify good fortune for the year ahead. I might be wrong, but I just read an article by ABC News that seems to confirm it as well. (Feel free to correct me on this one.)
[Read: Cyclone a sign of fortune for Chinese New Year 👉 https://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2014/01/31/3936064.html]
If “the more rain the better,” almost positive my Chinese fellas were rejoicing last Lunar New Year’s day in the massive downpour and water abundance, as there seemed to be these giant, dark rain clouds sitting over this town and not really clearing up until the following morning.
Water had overflown onto the streets, and made our area largely inaccessible for two of the entryways are inundated. It took hours before the water logging subsided and left behind only thick mud and waste materials in its wake. What. A. Pain in the neck.
Shame on us. Most of the areas that were meant for water absorption purpose have transformed into cluster housings and our drainage system is uber shitty to boot.
Water had overflown onto the streets, and made our area largely inaccessible for two of the entryways are inundated. It took hours before the water logging subsided and left behind only thick mud and waste materials in its wake. What. A. Pain in the neck.
Shame on us. Most of the areas that were meant for water absorption purpose have transformed into cluster housings and our drainage system is uber shitty to boot.
On the back of my house is this empty lawn which the villagers living up the street maintain and sporadically plant assorted cultivated greens on.
It would turn into a temporary swamp following hour-long downpours and you could hear the frogs, crickets and their fellow inhabitants sing in harmonious chorus.
Little did we know that besides the frog chorus, what the rain brought us was also the resident creepy-crawlies migrating and wandering about due to their dwelling being submerged.
It would turn into a temporary swamp following hour-long downpours and you could hear the frogs, crickets and their fellow inhabitants sing in harmonious chorus.
Little did we know that besides the frog chorus, what the rain brought us was also the resident creepy-crawlies migrating and wandering about due to their dwelling being submerged.
Everyone in the house was already fast asleep. And so were all our neighbors, it seemed. My parents slumbered in living room with the TV on. They always liked sleeping there better than in their own bedroom.
At 2 AM or thereabouts, my mom woke up feeling an urge to answer the call of nature. The bathroom was at the back of the house.
When she stepped in, toiletries were scattered across the tiles and drain cover shifted aside. There was also a nine-inch aluminum pot that I filled up with water the previous night and set down on the floor—it was knocked over and laying on the floor.
At 2 AM or thereabouts, my mom woke up feeling an urge to answer the call of nature. The bathroom was at the back of the house.
When she stepped in, toiletries were scattered across the tiles and drain cover shifted aside. There was also a nine-inch aluminum pot that I filled up with water the previous night and set down on the floor—it was knocked over and laying on the floor.
Without giving it a second thought, she started picking the stuff up and putting them back in their places. Mind you, she did all those with the lights off because the lightbulb went out days prior. Water leaking from the attic had gotten to the socket and seemed to have caused a short circuit.
Finished with the clean-up as well as her business, she turned around and was about to go back to sleep. With her body facing the door, in the dim light, vaguely she caught a sight of something—with patterns on its surface—‘sticking’ on wall only a few inches by the door.
She described the pattern to be looking a bit like diamond tiles, but was not so sure either due to the poor lighting. After staring at the ‘thing’ for a couple of seconds, everything finally registered and it made her nearly jump out of her skin.
At the horrific sight, mom quickly took to her heels, shrieking incoherently all the way to the living room.
I was jolted awake by the noise and sat up in my bed. standing with horror in her face, trembling and so visibly shaken. (I legit thought she had run into a ghost or some mythical creature lol.)
I needed a few moments to collect all my senses and process what was going on, befofe I realized that the word she muttered in between every panting was...
“Snake.”
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“Snake?!????”
My scream came out to be otherworldly loud my parents had to reprimand me to either tone it down or deal with hissy pissy neighbors banging on our door.
My eyes on stalks, any trace of somnolence had worn off completely. Mom still muttered the same word, now emphasized that this was one hell of a huge snake. The three of us looked at each other knowingly.
My scream came out to be otherworldly loud my parents had to reprimand me to either tone it down or deal with hissy pissy neighbors banging on our door.
My eyes on stalks, any trace of somnolence had worn off completely. Mom still muttered the same word, now emphasized that this was one hell of a huge snake. The three of us looked at each other knowingly.
About fifteen minutes later, dad came back and we bombarded him with questions, thinking he got to get a glimpse of it. He didn’t. It was one of the rare moments when I found my seemingly-dauntless dad feeling daunted by something, too.
Despite that, he did hear hisses from what seemed like sand-like particles hitting the floor from inside. Dad notified us that he tied the doorknob to prevent the snake from emerging to other parts of the house and hide in unseen places. That also meant that we couldn’t use the bathroom before we successfully drove that buddy outta there.
Before sacking out, we stayed up for like an hour listening to my mum’s account about what had gone down. She apparently felt something was off right off the bat. The scattered toiletries and shifted drain cover were the first red flag, but she shook it off as a deed of a rat.
Now that everything had clicked, “ohhh no wonder the pot was laying like that on the floor,” she said. Correct. What rat is robust enough it’s capable of knocking over a water-filled pot thrice its size? Unless, it’s some humongous mutant one.
The weather was pretty much perfect for tucking ourselves to bed, and yeah we did (even after such an event taking place in our house). We slept in the remaining few hours before sun came up.
By morning, my dad was ready to open the bathroom door and equipped himself with a bat (just in case). Mom, on the other hand, was worried for his safety. They went to get help and were back with a neighbor who brought another bat with him. I locked myself up in my room, so that I wouldn’t be a pain in the ass for the others.
Once they slammed the door open, it’s gone, the snake mysteriously gone. They even checked through the entire bathroom to make sure theirs eyes were not tricking, only to find traces of it. There were a heap of wall debris on one side of the floor, which seemed to be the sand-like particles dad heard the noise of when securing the door last night. To cap it off, the water in my bak mandi (i.e. a tall ceramic basin we scoop water to bathe etc. from) was polluted with dirt and cobwebs.
It almost felt like we were hallucinating, but these traces won’t lie, will they? Still find it tremendously puzzling and unsettling, as to where and how the reptile suddenly disappeared. Mum had put the drain cover back on, rather unthinkable for it to slither away through it. Another shot was through the toilet pipe. Such case of ‘toilet snake’ is not unheard of, but be that as it may, it’s one in a million chance. Moreover, instead of escaping, ain’t it more like trapped? Yuck!
[Read: Can snakes really come up a toilet pipe? 👉 https://animals.howstuffworks.com/animal-facts/can-snakes-really-come-up-toilet-pipe.htm]
The only possible way was through the ceiling as there’s a fairly thin yet wide fissure up there. Though it is pretty narrow that a sizable snakes like pythons would need to flatten out to fit into the fissure. Can it? IDK. My parents tried therefore to clue our neighbors in that there was a snake wandering about the area, to which they responded only with a grain of salt. Even a couple who lives next door said that it was likely just a paranormal sighting. Goshhh.
This time’s Chinese New Year’s ‘gift’ is absolutely not soon to be forgotten, especially by my mom. She’s hugely affected by it and still traumatized. Ever since that night, seeing snake’s pics always jogs her memory of the blood-curdling sight and even triggers a panic attack. Never had we imagined having a python chilling in our bathroom, let alone such a close encounter with it (was only two feet away from her face). Thinking back on it now already sends shivers down my spine.
Fun fact, though this year is Year of the Sheep according to Chinese zodiac (生肖 or Shēngxiào in Mandarin), my mum’s zodiac sign is snake. And thus, dad just can’t stop teasing her about it now. He thinks that last time’s visit must have a lot to do with her zodiac sign. The snake must want to greet and wish her—as someone who was born in Year of the Snake—a happy new year. I am ctfu. Dads and their so-bad-they’re-actually-good dad jokes are the best.
To all my readers whom I care a great deal, watch out for any kinds of ‘midnight intruders,’ ’kay? 🐍 Stay on guard always! And before signing out, I just wanna say something. 恭喜发财, 红包拿来!
