The eight o'clock news, the five hundred ringgit and How I Met Your Mother.

My all time favorite comedy show should be 'How I Met Your Mother'. I start watching the show few years back when my mom finally decided to let those Astro peeps have a fucking space on our roof.

She previously against this whole satellite television idea. For her, it was a waste of money and yeah, a distraction for us to concentrate on our study. I, myself wasn't so desperate for Astro at that time. I spent most of my day in campus than lying on those cold floor in front of that twenty something inches television.

Until when my brother told her that he will take care of the monthly payment, she finally gave in.

My mom, she was a pro-government. She's been supporting the red over white and green keris flag for a quite sometime.

Back at home, watching the eight o'clock news slot is a must. Even when she was at the kitchen preparing for our late dinner, changing the channel would be an invitation to have her nagging as our appetizer. She didn't really care about the clips show on the tv, she just want to hear the news.

And yeah, better tune the volume up.

So no football or whatever program on that twentieth hour mark. It's all news.

Another taboo is to never state your political ideology nor condemn her political party in front of her and in her house. Not that she wasn't democratic, she is, as far as I concerned but here, in her house we have to always live to her rules. Break it, then we have her nag for desert.

She had her reason. A reason that none of us dare challenge.

For her, it doesn't matter which flag we were into but the important thing is to never forget those who has done good to our family.

She was right. We will never forget.

It was January 2002, I was at home when my older brother got the offer from the Universiti Teknologi Petronas. The fees was around RM500 plus if I'm not mistaken. A reasonably cheap but for a school's janitor cum housewife cum the bread and butter of six, that was such a burden. A huge one. The traveling cost alone will costs her a fortune.

The palm oil industry wasn't helping. To surpass the price of RM300 per tone is a mission impossible and to collect more than one tone of palm oil per plucking session means you are one lucky bastard.

And the offer couldn't come at any time worst as the school session was just around the corner.

While many of her typical-Felda-minded-mates would have surrender and let those opportunity slipped, she wasn't. She as humble as she always be, going from this one person to another looking for no donation but a loan. She spent her night thinking of her next move, pouring yet another motherly tears.

And while none of those people works any wonder, this one man come to the rescue. He was at that time, the head chief of both the village and the United Malay National Organization party.

But that night, he wasn't just that. He was the savior.

Eight o'clock and he was right in front of my house with his blue aging Proton Saga. He's going to take my mum to see the state assembly representative, whom he have quite a close relationship with. Alongside him was another guy who was having the same problem. Only that his daughter was going for a top premier school.

Leaving the six of us with our dinner, skipping the news slot.

The gift, five hundred ringgit, it wasn't much, although according to mum it was her request to only have that amount of money. She told us even the driver called her idiot for failing to name a greater amount when she was asked.

But it was more than enough. With that five hundred ringgit, my mum and my brother took the night train going north for his registration day.

And I have my first taste of 'How I Met Your Mother'.