Assuming you have checked the following: 

• The network spikes and game lag affect ONLY your Path of Exile 2 session. Everything else from normal browsing to other live action games remain unaffected 
• Nothing is updating in the background 
• Your graphics settings are unchanged (Nvidia has this thing where it “optimises” your settings for you which CAN screw up latency) 
• Bonus: You also tried using your hotspot/different internet connection entirely and are still getting spikes. 

If so, then do this BEFORE you go into your config files or any other “exotic” fixes. 

The Solution to POE2 Lag Spikes

CHANGE YOUR SERVER/GATEWAY. 

Seriously. Change your Gateway at the login screen. And yes, this applies especially if you’re already on the server with the lowest ping. Switch it to something nearby, like the second lowest ping or something. 

I was on the Singapore server earlier yesterday at 11ms ping and my network spikes were absolutely stupid. I was getting pings from 300-600ms when idle at the Instance Waypoint without moving, and then spiking up to 1200ms or more (I saw 4000ms at one point) if I so much as took a step. 

Then I switched to Hong Kong (44ms) though Japan was also an option (88ms). Logged in and HOMG THE LAG DISAPPEARED. I could play again, and play normally at that! There was a small spike when facing bosses that have too many effects (fkcing Draven and his wife) but so far so good. 

I can’t wait for Free Weekend to be over please convert to paying so GGG upgrades servers haha.

Why switching to a Hotspot didn’t really work

I personally suspect it’s how data is routed through the different telcos. It would explain why my UMobile connection was only slightly better than TM’s (which is what I’m using at home). I think UMobile potentially piggy backs off TM’s connections while DiGi has their own routers. 

Partner and me didn’t clock that it could be a server issue because when we switched to our mobile hotspots, we actually saw some ping improvements. 

When I switched my UMobile hotspot on, my ping stayed stable at 200-300ms. However, that was still a little high for me. My movement stuttered. I could move, but just about. Compared to when I was on the TM Unifi connection though, at least my pings weren’t spiking to 4-digit ms lags. 

Partner is on CelcomDigi (aka Siaocom ok I’ll stop the bad bilingual pun) and his pings were more normal, at 30-40ms. In fact, his hotspot connection was so stable, I could jump onto the same network and we both could game comfortably. However, there were still unusual spikes now and then, but nothing compared to the lagfest a few minutes prior.

Obviously using a mobile hotspot to game long-term isn’t feasible, so we continued to search for solutions. We did the usual thing of restarting routers, checking network connections and adapters, and for me at one point, even going into the POE2 config file. 

I think the only thing left was either to file a bug report or mess with our Windows Registry, and I don’t need to tell you why the latter was a bad idea. 

Can’t remember if I read it on the POE2 forum or on Reddit, but someone suggested changing to a different server due to congestion and I thought why not, since I tried everything else. Plus I had already reset my instances several times, so I wasn’t losing any loot I haven’t picked up. 

The connection was so stable, I could easily beat Asinia and her husband, Draven (hey GGG, did you really mean to give him a name that reminds one of craven? If so, I approve!). And that was it for me for the night. 

I suspect what might’ve happened is that the connection to Singapore servers in general might be saturated (we are having a long weekend holiday) so more people are at home gaming and relaxing. Plus, it was also a Free Weekend, so that just complicated things. 

Alright, this entry is long enough, hope it helps, good luck! 

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Well, I say just be, but actually I use the time to sit down and observe things. That notebook was once my attempt to be a commonplace book, and then an ideas book, and then an “As Many Wins As Possible” notebook (thanks to SwiftFilms on Youtube for that idea). And then I saw a video about how journalling can lead to spiralling if you tend to be anxious and the recommendation was that you should instead focus on observing externalities instead of internality and well…

Here we are today.

I like the idea of this habit. I like that it makes me sit down and really enjoy the outside, since I do actually have a balcony that makes this both possible and enjoyable. The dust on the balcony though, that’s not something I can do anything about. And I usually take an ikea stool from the bedroom to sit on and because of how this house is that can be noisy and I worry about waking the hubs because of the light bleed etc but at the end of the day…

Sitting outside is good for me. I do try to get enough sun, Malaysia being the sunny place she is with the hot weather spell we are having thanks to accelerating climate change brought about by capitalism and GenAI, but I really don’t think I do, since I have been cooped up indoors a lot more to escape the heat. I am trying to wear more sunblock, but it’s really hard since my skin does this weird thing where I get unusually sleepy after. And yes, I have tried a few different brands and ingredients and it all seems to be the same, bleh.

But back to the habit.

I sit outside on the balcony, and just… listen. I try to observe too, but it is my sense of hearing that leads me. Birdsong in the morning, the rumble of petrol cars on the tarred roads, sometimes the conversations of neighbours drift up the street. The other day, someone was turning into our street (ours is a corner house) and stopped to take a photo. Unsure what it was but I took both his car and plate numbers. Hope it was nothing.

Either way, then I continued to capture my observation. That particular day was quite hot because by the time I sat on the balcony, it was already past ten. Today, I did so in the hour of 9am. The breeze was pleasant, a friend of my brother-in-law came by and neither he nor my brother-in-law noticed me sitting on the balcony, and I just took my time to… write.

To revel in the joy of writing with pen. To focus on capturing thoughts that did not turn inward, but observations on the life around me. My mind naturally turned towards cause and effect. Were they true? Not necessarily. That reminds me, I do also need to buy toothbrush refills and something else bleh I’ll remember later.

Stream of consciousness writing can be addictive. But as mentioned earlier, it can easily reinforce and increase anxiety as one becomes trapped in a silken web of one’s own making. So stepping out to observe things becomes the norm.

Is there any purpose to this particular post? Not really. I just wanted to write and play with the hubs’ keyboard. Maybe I will consider another low-profile after all. It does make typing on surfaces not at the desk easier.

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May you have good fortune hunting the Lego set you want at this warehouse sale!

In a nutshell

Event: Home of Bricks Lego Warehouse Sale

Where: 13, Jln Perindustrian SIS 2, 43700 Beranang, Selangor. GMaps

When: Daily till 31 May, 2026 (or until their stocks run out, according to their TikTok)

Time: 11am to 6pm

Cards accepted: Yes

Restocks: Happening weekly

Parking: Roadside free parking (when I went)

Discounts: Up to 50%

Why bother: The discounts are real AND they have limited edition/discontinued sets (see below)

Home of Bricks Warehouse Sale Quick Information

Home of Bricks, according to their website, are an authorised Lego reseller. They are currently doing a warehouse clearance sale, with discounts up to 50%. Among the sets seen:

• Lego Botanicals Mini Orchid and Chrysanthemum at RM99 and RM102 (forgot which was which)
• Lego Good Fortune at RM175 (ori about RM320)
• Lego Festival Calendar at RM75 (ori about RM130)
• Lego Rivendell at RM1750 (ori about RM2,099)
• Lego Taj Mahal (price unsure, saw this in someone’s post)

I also saw a LOT of Lego Technics, Animal Crossing (didn’t get them even though MUSEUM SET), BrickHeadz, DC and Ninjago, among others. They also had Labubu stuff, but I didn’t check as it’s not my interest. So yes, if you like Lego but usually hesitate due to the prices, this may be a good time to visit.

Other things to know

Home of Bricks’ Warehouse is in Beranang. It is NOT, as some social posts imply, in either Hulu Langat or Cheras. The closest would be Semenyih, and even that’s a big stretch. Beranang is actually a few KM away from the Negeri Sembilan border, so unless you’re coming from either Cheras itself or Seremban, expect to spend at least one hour on the road… without jams.

The warehouse is next to OTX Automotif, so if you see a car workshop, it’s in the next building. Also, bring a handheld fan or something to keep you cool; it’s very hot. If you have big enough bags to hold Lego sets, you might want to consider bringing them too, cause I don’t think they give plastic bags.

Finally, if you have small kids, I’d recommend leaving them at home. There’s space to move about the place but it can get cramped and when you consider the size of some of the sets, it can be a bit hazardous when there’s many people. Otherwise, keep a close eye on them.

Have fun!

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Been a while, yes I’m still alive. Just didn’t post because May was crazy with a mix of family roadtrips and holidays. Had a long ass post I need to actually finish drafting and then post. Charging your EV on a roadtrip up north Malaysia was… a trip. Ok nights.

The post Hello May appeared first on Ink to Screen.

Had a blast attending the Joy of Nib and Ink Fountain Pen (FP) Workshop organised by Pilot Pen Malaysia today. It was a very easygoing, beginner-friendly workshop. Held at Kinokuniya Pavilion Damansara Heights, the presenter was Bee Hong Yeap, she of Pen.Ink Studio.

The workshop covered the basics of different properties of inks, from dye-based to pigment, shimmer and sheen, as well as the different kinds of nibs available in the market and crucially, the difference between Western and Japanese nibs – in numbers. A Japanese F nib is apparently 0.35mm, while a Western is 0.5mm.

Then of course, there was the introduction to the Pilot Custom 742 and the many, many, many wonderful nibs that actually… terrify me haha. My thought process was:

Terrifying because wow, there’s a lot of options! The intense desire to collect all! My wallet is screaming!

Anyway when I had the chance, I also tried the Music nib (which was honestly the only nib of the series I was really curious about) and… I will stick to the cheaper version.

BECAUSE I CANNOT AFFORD A GOLD PLATED NIB; THAT WRITING EXPERIENCE WAS SO SMOOTH.

Ahem, this went a little off the rails, but summary? I had a lot of fun at the Joy of Ink and Nib workshop. Potentially if you are someone who knows how to tune your nib using the kraft paper method, has a specific ink preference (or am getting there), and understands how paper is often the missing link in the writing experience, this kind of workshop may be a bit too basic for you.

But I recommend attending anyway if you have the chance; because the opportunity to compare notes, assess your understanding of ink, nib, and paper, and hanging out with like-minded peeps is always fun. I think something that also heightened my enjoyment was that most of the attendees here were women, and we were all in various stages of our FP journeys. Some were complete beginners, attending their 101 workshop yesterday. Some were advanced (hello Decimo users), and some were just there for the ink and the chance to try the Pilot Custom 742 pens.

The Pilot rep also warned us that if anyone was planning to buy a FP, especially gold-plated ones like the Pilot Custom series, to consider making the purchase sooner rather than later, as the price would be increasing soon. This follows a wider industry trend, with Sailor, often seen as the most premium “affordable” brand (my words, not theirs), already having increased their prices twice I think within the last two years.

So that was a depressing thing to remember in the midst of everything happening in the world /waves hand.

Thanks GenAI, for gobbling up all the metals. /sarcasm

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Anyway, first things first, SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI! Maaf zahir dan batin.

Writing this on the first day of Raya after visiting my dad’s grave. No, it turned out to be a happy coincidence, coming to this part of town where my dad is buried along his siblings and parents. So we decided to visit him. I try to do this once a year.

What have I been up to in March? Work has both picked up and slowed down – I am officially fully transitioned to a “part-time” role with my team, but letting go of execution work has been hard. It has formed a majority of my working life, after all.

Hobbies-wise, I have not bought any new yarn nor fountain pens (yay!) but have been focused on using what I already have. I bought an undated Kinbor weekly last year, and I have taken to using it to quickly jot down things I need to do. Work has also moved to a stricter time entry platform, so I have been using the weekly, when I remember, to jot down how long I have been working on things.

In-laws got a new car, and I want to write about that too! It’s the e.Mas 5, which you could probably call the MyVi of EVs in Malaysia, at this point in time. It’s cute, small-looking, and very easy to drive. I say small-looking because it is much more spacious than its design suggest.

I started Violet Evergarden and I really should continue watching. There’s something… comforting about it. The setup is very fast, but I have missed watching worldbuilding at speed, with visual cues to help anchor you in the sense of space and time.

And then I made the mistake of looking up a book in an essay I’m reading (What Not Reading Does to Your Brain sorry it’s Substack), and then I got distracted reading the opening to Toni Morrison’s Beloved. And not even the novel itself, but the foreword someone wrote.

I am glad they wrote that foreword though. That… grounds me about what to expect. No, I have never read a Toni Morrison book before. They were not that widely-available nor recommended to me, but that is a thought for a different day.

How was your March?

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When one talks about gambling during CNY, the most popular games are usually Blackjack (also known as Ban-luck, which is a name I’m never going to use as an English speaker) and Mahjong. I’m not going to talk about either of those because there’s been a lot written about them. Instead I’m going to tell you about Ngau (or Gnau, if you’re looking it up on Wiki). 

Ngau’s rules, like a lot of card games played during Chinese New Year, may differ according to household. If you read Wiki, it seems to imply that everything happens in a single dealing of the cards. That’s not how my family plays it. 

Ngau – MY house rules

We play a simplified version of Ngau. No suits (except Ace of Spades, more on that later), payout is up to 5x your initial bet, and we don’t use the Joker cards. Ngau is played against the dealer, not each other, so to gain the “qualification” to win, you need to have a 3 card combination that totals up to or multiples of 10s. 

Other rules, like how the 3 and 6 cards can have interchangeable values, remain the same. 

One round, two stages

Even if the outcome has already been decided, we still play Ngau in two stages. This means that yes, you can win in the first stage, then lose in stage two. Part of the unpredictable fun in gambling, heh. 

In the first stage, it’s a simple 3 card reveal – your aim is just to beat the dealer. Total up the value of your hand – if your total is say 14, your score is simply 4, because we take the last digit. Your 6 and 3 cards are judged according to their face values, no substitution here yet.

If you manage to make any multiples of 10, then you get double the payout. That’s it. There’s no other rule for this stage. That said, getting multiples of 10 (max 30) is considered a pretty good thing because it means you already have a “licence” to win the next round. 

In the second stage, the last two cards are dealt of the traditional 5 card ngau. This is when most of the other rules come into play. Depending on who you’re playing with, this is also the most dramatic part of the round. 

Getting your license to win

In this second stage, you now have all the cards you need to play a traditional round. First, you need to assemble your “license” aka get 10 or a multiple of it. This is where your 6 and 3 cards rule substitution can be both confusing and exhilarating. 

6 and 3 rule in action

Let’s say you have three 7 cards, one 3, and one 8. Taken at face value, there was probably no way you could get a “license” to join in on the action. But actually you have a “5” ngau (or the way my in-laws call it, em tiam). How? 

7+7 = 14 
3 = turn to 6 
Total: 20 

Then for the two cards
7+8 = 15 aka 5.

This is the part that I sometimes struggle with, mainly in trying to figure out the best combination of numbers to use. Once you get used to the mental calculation though, it becomes quite fun to start strategising for best points. 

How to beat the dealer

Actually, it’s the same as stage one, you just need to get better cards than the dealer. 

First you need to actually qualify – if your cards are not cooperating, don’t hand over your bet to the dealer first. 

Wait for him/her to open their cards and see if they also have a “license/lesen” to play. If both of you have no “license”, then it’s considered a tie between the two of you (or as we say in the house, you “lari” or run from the dealer). 

If you have a pair of any kind, it automatically beats the dealer’s single score, unless the dealer has a greater pair than you. Here’s an example: 

• Your hand: Pair of sixes = 12 
• Dealer’s hand: 8+7 = 15
• Winner: You (collect x2 your bet)

Of course, if the dealer has a higher pair than you, then you have to pay the dealer instead. 

What about the Ace of Spades, you ask? 

Glad you did! The Ace of Spades is basically the most powerful partner you’d want in your hand, as long as you have: 

• License to play
• A picture (K-Q-J) or 10 card

Why? This combination is called Ngau Tonkou (pronounced the Cantonese word for mushroom). It’s called that in reference to how the Ace of Spades often reminds people of mushrooms. The payout for this, in our family, is 5x your bet. 

If you don’t have either of those winning conditions, then your mushroom reverts to being a regular Ace card, and your default value is one. Go have some actual mushrooms. 

Why I like this version

A lot of people gamble during CNY to actively make money off other players. That’s why you hear of so many people complaining about losing money during CNY gambling. 

For me though, gambling during CNY is a fun, low-risk activity that improves social bonds. 

The version listed on Wiki is valid, but I feel it’s best played amongst peers who can keep up with each other. Otherwise, it can get very demoralising and isolating if your playing group has people of different ages, such as that older uncle and auntie who just want to have a bit of fun and those younger ones who are curious.

This two-stage version though, allows everyone to keep up. It’s still fast because each round is quite short, but it allows for dramatic pauses by both players and dealers, because opening those last two cards in hopes it can either give you “ngau” or “license” to play can get very tense and entertaining. And yes, it’s not just my family either. 

Plus, because you’re playing against the dealer, other players can step in to help you calculate, and in some cases, even spot better combinations. Most times there’s only one way to get “lesen” and then you’re left with whatever you have in your two cards, but I’ve been lucky enough someone helped me turn my 10 into a pair of Js. 

How do you ngau?

The post Got Ngau License? Making a Family-friendly version appeared first on Ink to Screen.

It is one of the great paradoxes/contradictions of being a writer. When it comes to writing, we will do almost anything but actually sit down and write.

Hang around enough in any writer’s room, thread, or even subreddit, and you’ll eventually come across writers who confess that they’ve gone and cleaned their houses, done unpleasant admin tasks, and in this instance, write something else instead of the project I am supposed to be working on.

I am writing about the benefits of picking up crochet as a new hobby. Originally I was trying out watercolour painting (and doing it by picking up extremely cheap supplies on Temu, more on that in another post) then I picked up a crochet hook and some yarn and that was it.

My watercolour supplies are still within easy reach – they’re in a drawer in the home office under the PC. However, the yarn and crochet hooks (I have multiples now thanks to Shopee) live on my computer desk, within sight.

Why I picked up crochet

Honestly the reason for it was extremely simple and vain. I saw a YouTube short where a young crochet influencer (maybe?) was making a longer video about something, but what stuck to me was how she’d pull out her crochet while waiting for her grandma to finish, and that she was working on a wearable.

And well, I was thinking it would be something cute to make, and try, and that was how I ended up impulse purchasing yarn and a crochet hook from Daiso.

Yes, Daiso. I figured that if I was going to try a hobby, it would be best to try with cheap supplies and see if I even liked the idea.

Very quickly I had to buy another hook because I didn’t realise that the hook I’d bought was too small for the yarn I was using.

After watching this tutorial playlist and trying a few stitches, I started on my first project – a super simple, “easy” one-skein scarf. The idea was to use the rest of the single cake I’d bought, and see if this was something I wanted to continue.

Let’s just say that this ended up far shorter than I thought, whoops. In the end, I turned it into a sort of placemat for my husband’s things.

It turned out to be just nice. And for I think a month and a half, the idea of another project never quite took hold in my head. I didn’t really have anything I felt confident in making.

Then my mom, on learning that I had an interest in crochet, gave me a bunch of yarn supplies she had picked up from a neighbour.

The hook she gave me was absolutely tiny, and it didn’t take long for me to realise that what she gave me was incredibly fine yarn sobs.

After a few months and some projects since, I’ve started making a dent in that stash, but I still find myself gravitating towards larger yarn simply because I haven’t decided on what things to make with the superfine yarn she gave.

With that said, for my second project, I followed this tutorial and made a basket!

Its purpose is supposedly to hold my current WIP along with my hook, but I may need to make another, larger basket cause it’s actually a little too small for the large cake I’m working on now.

Though I’m still thinking about making another basket or even a bag to hold just my working yarn.

My third, semi-finished project was this cute little pouch for my Sony earbuds – I was reverse-engineering the pattern from the many Airpods tutorials online, but as you can see… I kind of gave up halfway. I am still very happy with this attempt though.

It now holds the partner’s Sony XM4s, because I realised it was too slippery for my daily use.

My fourth project, which I ended up frogging, was making a bucket hat.

In crochet and knitting, “frogging” means undoing a lot of your stitches aka when you rip your project apart. Some sources liken the act to “rip it, rip it” which is how the term frogging came about.

So why did I frog the hat? My first completed attempt turned it into a bowler hat.

Following the same guide but with different yarn turned it into a hat too small for any but a baby’s head, so I ended up frogging the first attempt after a few weeks. This let me recover the yarn I used, which I promptly attempted a third time with a different guide.

THAT third attempt turned out much better, though there was quite a bit of trial and error on my side learning the granny stitch.

ISN’T SHE BEAUTIFUL?

The best part is that I just remembered while writing this why I started on the bucket hat in the first place – I promised a colleague to crochet a bucket hat for them hahaha. But this turned out so well I am reluctant to part with it haha. So maybe I’ll buy more yarn and make another.

Or I might make a sanrio inspired one. Nope, scratch that, I am definitely making that Sanrio one for me, and the bucket hat will go to her when I am done with Sanrio one.

The last project I finished in 2025 is making four baskets for my work squad.

This is based off another Bella Coco tutorial, though hers was made with a very chunky yarn and mine is made from Daiso’s yarn.

I made a few adjustments to her tutorial based on her insights – making mine both smaller yet taller, with handles that made it easy to turn the baskets into tiny bags.

This was my every-two-years-I-hand-out-Xmas-pressies tradition hahah.

Man that was productive. In five months I completed about 5 projects hahaha.

Crochet fills up empty time

One of the unexpected benefits of crochet is that it’s a very easy-to-put-down hobby for me. It demands my attention yes, but it doesn’t demand my flow state.

Previously, it used to be that if I had like 10 to 15 minutes of waiting before doing something next, I’d find myself mindlessly scrolling on the phone or playing a game and then getting annoyed because I couldn’t find that “dopamine” hit.

Writing wasn’t an option because if I get into a flow state, I know I’d be super low-key annoyed the rest of the day, and reading was worse, especially if I needed to stop at an exciting part.

Crochet, surprisingly, filled that time well.

With crochet, my hands and attention are engaged, and unless I’m starting a new project or reverse engineering something, I can generally put it down within 30 seconds and then head off to my next task or appointment.

Still haven’t reached the point of carrying it around but if I end up staying someplace for more than a night next time I may find myself finally carrying it about.

Crochet hot takes

I know, I’ve been in this hobby for less than a few months but I already have a few hot takes. Most of it comes from a place of not wanting to spend more than necessary, while the rest comes from watching crochet content.

A magic ring is just a loose slipknot

Thanks to this short, yes, I finally learnt how to make a magic ring.

Slip knots are the most basic knots of crochet – they’re usually the first knot you start with before you do everything else.

It’s foundational for anything not a circle or a sphere etc. A magic ring is usually what you use for anything that’s round, like a plushie or in my case, a round, bucket hat.

Most online tutorials about how to make a magic ring can be confusing, even if you’ve been crocheting a while.

In my case, seeing it as a loose slip knot made it easier for me to get started, and that’s one of the reasons why I’m ok to make more bucket hats – it’s not as intimidating as it sounds.

All you really need is yarn and hook

Some people say to get started in crochet, you don’t just need yarn and hooks, you also need stitch markers and tapestry needles. If you’re like me, making simple, standalone things, you may not need either.

Stitch markers are, as they say, used to mark stitches.

They’re useful if you need to mark areas in your work where you need to make different knots or stitches, but I’ve found that not using them has actually forced me to look at my work and learn to decipher the patterns.

This makes retracing my steps when I’ve messed up much easier, though my next challenge is to do this with single colour yarn – I’m currently using the Daiso Rainbow Chiffon Cake, and so when I change rows, it’s easy to see my stitches.

Tapestry needles or finishing needles as I’ve seen them advertised are meant for weaving in your ends to ensure your stitches never come apart.

I’ve not used them in all my previous projects because they are static and stay in one place, but I did get some for the bucket hat project – it will be interesting to see if it really does keep everything intact.

But beyond that, you should NOT need any additional tools.

Now, I’m not talking about things like amigurumi – you may want to get one of those wool/stuffing pusher needles (sorry I don’t have the tool name right now) to make stuffing easier, especially if you’re a beginner.

Can’t colour block? GET COLOURFUL YARN

As the title implies. I originally picked up multi-coloured and gradient yarns because I didn’t want to stick with plain colours, but I’ve come to appreciate that it’s also a much easier way to add and change colours in my work without actually needing to… think about the knots involved hahahah.

And yes, it makes reading your own pattern much easier.

The next challenge, is as mentioned, to read my stitches in single-coloured yarn hahahacry.

Weaving the end of this post

Would I recommend crochet to everybody?

Only if you already have an idea of what you want to make, and you want to build up your imperfections acceptance muscle.

I feel that crochet, and probably most other fiber arts, are both very unforgiving yet forgiving when it comes to making mistakes. Unforgiving because you will make mistakes and it will be obvious, but also forgiving because it’s relatively easy to fix when you realise it.

This lets you learn to be more patient with yourself, and also trains your “accept that you will make mistakes” belief – I know a lot of creatives have perfectionism issues, and honestly, crochet has taught me to be kinder and not beat myself up when I spot an issue.

Instead, I go into “how do I fix this” mode, though whether that actually results in a good fix is another issue. Still working on that heh.

Fiber arts are incredibly forgiving, but they are also very strict. Make of that what you will.

The post Crochet in 2026: Yes? appeared first on Ink to Screen.

Or that might be my experience of participating in two Hokkien funerals as a family member which happen to have the same kind of beliefs. I know that in Singapore, the differences are quite stark – Buddhist funerals tend to be more serene, “quieter” ceremonies while Taoist ones are “louder” both in action and volume (at least according to online research).

And nowhere is this more exhibited than when you are attending wakes in a funeral parlour. My partner’s aunt had her wake in Nirvana Memorial Centre, deep in the heart of KL, and it’s quite interesting to take a walk between prayers to peek into the different wakes happening at the same time (almost all available halls had been booked when I went).

Oh, and because it’s Nirvana (they are one of, if not the largest funeral services provider in Malaysia) some things remain the same regardless of the ceremony chosen.

Goodbye smoky atmosphere

The usual Chinese tradition when you come to pay respects is that one would be given a lit joss stick with which to “offer” to the deceased when you attend the wake. Nirvana’s memorial centres are all air-conditioned, so you can imagine what happens if the smoke from the joss sticks get into the air circulation system.

Instead, what they have is a bowl of water, next to saucers of white and yellow chrysanthemum flower heads. To “check in,” one takes a saucer of either yellow or white chrysanthemum, hold it up in a similar position to how you’d hold a joss stick, and present it to the deceased. Then you can drop the flower head into the water, letting it float prettily. Less smoke, more beauty.

That said, it was not completely smoke-free within our memorial hall, because we still had two thick joss sticks burning inside the hall. I didn’t see any in the non-Taoist halls.

What was interesting was that the moment you stepped outside the hall, the air was noticeably much clearer and felt like a normal airconditioned space. I think they had two air circulation systems at work. Or maybe just exceptional airflow planning.

Generational uniform are a must

One thing you cannot accuse the Chinese of is lack of bureaucracy. I don’t know how is it in other places, but in KL at least, you can always tell what generation and (depending on which funeral home is making the arrangements) how they are related to the deceased.

While the mourning uniform has been simplified over the years (and nowhere is this more evident in Peninsular Malaysia), there have been a few staples that have not.

Colours demonstrate relations

There’s a very simple colour scheme to follow at most Chinese funerals I have gone to. White means you’re the deceased’s kids or siblings, blue is one generation after (aka the grandkids generation), and green is the great-grandkids. If the deceased was lucky enough to have great-great-grandkids, then they wear yellow. Dark shades often indicated they were related through the male side, while lighter tints indicated female parentage.

Oh, but if the deceased managed to spawn over five generations of descendants, aka deceased (parent) > child > grandchild > great-grandchild > great-great grandchild, then the funeral automatically becomes a “Happy Funeral” and the mourners don’t wear white, they wear red instead. This is to celebrate a long and “fruitful” life. If you think about it, that is kind of a happy and joyful thing to celebrate.

Uniform has simplified greatly over the years

My maternal grandfather passed away when I was a child. Back then, I remembered that I had to wear a “uniform” which was a matching set of light blue shirt and pants throughout his wake and subsequent funeral. This indicated that I was related to the deceased through my mother. My cousins on the other hand, wore matching sets of dark blue. And yes, it was very obvious at a glance.

As the years went by, I noticed the customs moving from wearing the matching shirt sets to generational coloured t-shirts to finally, plain white t-shirts, with whatever pants that are comfortable without being disrespectful. In terms of cost and logistics, this simplified things a lot, both for the grieving families and the funeral services.

However, we still need those colours to indicate relations, so the trend has gone from wearing suits to having an appropriately coloured badge on the sleeve (I remember an elder cousin sisters wearing one) to now… wearing an appropriately-coloured sash around the waist.

So if you were two generations down from the deceased (aka great-grandkids), then you’d get a green sash. And to prevent the issue of needing two shades of green, at Nirvana they simply tied a red ribbon to the sash. This indicated you were related through your maternal line. No red ribbon, paternal line.

You don’t get to take back the sash, but if you bought the white t-shirt through the funeral home, that you get to take home.

The deceased’s sons wear sackcloth over white clothes

Honestly this depends on how “traditional” the family wants to be (which is also a subtle indicator of wealth in Malaysia). The eldest son and his family would traditionally wear a sackcloth vest over white clothes throughout the wake and funeral rites. I rarely see this these days though.

Malaysian Chinese funerary rites are very simplified

It’s not something you realise unless you’ve been to too many funerals as a participant AND you watch a lot of media where they feature more “proper” funerary rites, like the Last Dance](which I should find a way to watch).

In that movie, you can see the uniform isn’t so simplified – at the very least, mourners are still expected to wear collared t-shirts, whereas in Malaysia, we generally don’t. And also I’ve not heard of anyone doing the “Breaking the Hell Gate” ceremony in a while too, but again, it might just be I have not attended the funerals of anyone in Malaysia doing that. Also, we do have female Taoist priests conducting the funerary rites in Malaysia, but in the Last Dance, that’s a taboo thing.

That isn’t to say that the funeral rites were simple either. Just that it’s been simplified.

The post Observing Malaysian Hokkien Funerary Customs appeared first on Ink to Screen.

Was talking with a friend about how much money we had saved simply staying home over the long year-end period. In Malaysia at least, most people clear leave during one of two seasons – Christmas/New Year, before the next year’s allocation begin, and Chinese New Year, because that’s usually when the “carryover” leave from the previous year expires.

The money we saved was quite substantial. How much? Staying at home for two weeks could mean saving the equivalent of how much we’d have to spend going to the office for the entire month. Or more, depending on your lifestyle and diet choices.

This is why remote work, if one needs to work/be a salaried employee, is much preferable for a lot of employees. The pandemic has also shown that it’s not like work doesn’t get done – often it does, and to a greater degree of quality because the employee’s energy level could actually be focused on getting the work done, instead of the inane prep work that is required when one goes to the office.

What does prep work mean in this context? I mean the time and energy spent on preparing to go to the office instead of just doing the work. Stop me if you’ve heard the spiel – readying “appropriate” office wear, planning your commute, actually having to sit in the commute, feeding one’s self at the right times, and then actually sitting down in your office space and setting up (or switching on) your office laptop to work.

Now, I will acknowledge that there are a lot of jobs that do not benefit or cannot be performed remotely. Things like retail, face-to-face sales, medicine, etc, most of those require a space for people to meet. But a lot of jobs, in general, would benefit from remote working. Do I think 100% remote working is the way to go? Not quite. But do I also think 100% days in office needs to go for 90% of the employee roles? Yes.

But there’s a downside to mostly-remote working. Not from the employee point of view, or even the employers, but from a city/local government point of view. See, no matter how much we employees/private citizens contribute, the amount of taxes we can collect and thus give to the local government to improve and maintain infrastructure where we actually live will always be miniscule compared to the amount businesses can give.

That actually makes sense in a weird way in my head, because businesses are technically multipliers. A business can not just employ more people to make themselves money, but they can also contribute to the local economy by:

1. Paying much larger taxes that keeps roads well-maintained, hygiene standards for food businesses (restaurants, cafes, and places that serve food in Malaysia are monitored by local councils to ensure they meet hygiene standards), and ensure community services are running.
2. Bringing the human traffic that drives income and revenue for even smaller businesses; think your makcik/pakcik warung/nasi lemak/sandwiches etc around areas where employees commute, congregate, and pass through.
3. Keeping said humans employed so they can drive factors one and two.

One might say that this is a circular logic, because at the end of the day, what we are keeping alive is the machine of capitalism, and yes, I agree with that. We are keeping capitalism alive. In fact, capitalism says that if one wants to survive, one needs to trade time and energy for money to make time and energy. For now, this is our current mode.

What we can do as humans trapped in late capitalism here is to understand the following:

1. The aid given to our parents, elderly, and friends who qualify to survive (aka Sara allowance from the govt and more) all come from our taxes. SO PAY YOUR TAXES. And make sure you make full use of it too, when you get yours (Malaysians, you get RM100 starting Feb 9, expiry unknown but assume it’s 4 months as of now pending govt updates).
2. If it seems that aid is going to “businesses” more often than us individuals, and you’re angry about it, it’s time to roll up your sleeves. Understand how that aid money flows, and most importantly why it flows the way it does. Then instead of complaining, let your money speak. Ethical spending makes a much bigger dent than you think, as long as you’re spending mindfully. Wherever possible, choose to spend with smaller businesses, not large ones, because if the govt chooses to spend with franchises and big brand names because people are spending their money there due to convenience, we’re just accelerating the death of our smaller kedai runcits and mom-and-pop shops.
3. Work towards Universal Basic Income by STOP JUDGING PEOPLE ON WHAT THEY SPEND. Means-based aid is worse than just simply giving people the money they need. Sure, it may sound nice that the retired uncle gets free healthcare due to his income level, but free medication and doctor’s checkups are useless if he cannot literally feed himself because he doesn’t have the cash for it. Am I suggesting we remove the free healthcare? Absolutely fucking not (my own relatives rely on it). What I am suggesting is that we don’t shame people for their financial decisions, because that’s how you get people who DON’T SEEK HELP BECAUSE THEY ARE GETTING SHAMED FOR NOT KNOWING BETTER*.

All this to say, capitalism sucks, but being human is the only way we will outlive it. Bye.

* Yes, this is very specific and no, I will not be elaborating, just remember all the times *you’ve* (in the general “you”, not a specific “you”) snidely remarked about so-and-so spending money on things you deemed trivial.

The post Sunday Rants: On Remote Working, UBI, and Employment appeared first on Ink to Screen.