About Me

I have done a lot of things in my life and have also worked in many different jobs to make a living and to experience life. This blog is just some of my musings, sometimes funny, sometimes inspirational, sometimes sad, sometimes angry, sometimes simple but all the time, it's just me.

Monday, June 30, 2008

Mack's hiding in her attic

Mack's been missing in action - at least on her blog.

Nevertheless, she is also in a month long course and likely has no time to write her blog. Furthermore, just like me, she said she has a writer's block . . . . I hope it becomes a writer's blog soon.

I am too having a writers block, I am also just tired, my new role at work has been keeping my mind busy. I also have not been getting good sleep and no electricity last night did not help the cause any further.

I had to sleep on the sofa with the door slightly open so that some of the nice sea breeze would come in. But with the sea breeze, so came the famous and notorious Luak Bay mossies (mosquitoes) and sand flies. On top of that, I also got a really bad back ache from sleeping on the sofa.

Anyway, I had a rather decent weekend. On Friday, I did absolutely nothing at night, on Saturday, I went to Ngiling Tikai which is the rolling back of the carpets/mats after the long harvest festival. There will be another picture blog on that, soon, very soon I hope. I just took my 105mm Nikon macro/micro lenses and shot lots of portrait shots.

On Sunday, got up early enough and had and early lunch with Mack and HanW. A lunch that become this extended "lepak" (meaning hang out basically) session that lasted from 11:30 am to about 3pm in the kopitiam and then until 5:30 pm in my Luak Bay home.

We talked, joked, teased and just relaxed and had a nice day.

After 5:30pm, they left and I went to do some shopping and come back home. Then our lepak session continued for a while over dinner at Mosjaya.

I came back after dinner, was about to write my blog and the electricity went off.

Anyway, Mack, HanW and I decided on something which I hope will happen. She is supposed to blog about it, so I don't really want to say too much . . . but then again, who reads this anyways.

Okay, the thing is we were just hanging out and wondered out loud where we may be 20 years from now, and then 10 years from now.

And then three of us decided that we should have a reunion, 10 friends in 10 years. Of course we will bring our spouses, children and such. But children will be taken care off. We have got 9 people so far because we could not yet decide on the 10th person. Also, I just realised that the 9 we have can become 8 if any of our friends get married . . . hmm, I wonder which of the 9 are dating right now.

10 friends in 10 years for a few days in Miri, then we go for a holiday somewhere else. We will have a day where we invite our extended friends but for a few days, just 10 of us and our spouses.

I will be 49 then but we plan to go to our hangouts in Miri, like Cheerie Berries, Wheels, Coffee Bean, Canada Hill, Luak Bay home or thereabouts, play Ultimate, play Pictionary, and whatever or even nothing . . . just hang out and lepak, 10 friends in 10 years.

Take care and be well.

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Bu Bu is lost in the woods

Bu Bu is lost in the woods.

The question is, should Bu Bu find his own way out of the woods? Or should the Bear (a.k.a. me, myself and I) go get him out of the woods, or just give him some clues to get out of the woods or should we organize a rescue party and rescue Bu Bu out from the enchanted forest of playfulness, fun, joy and everything sweet?

At the moment, as Bear, I want Bu Bu to find his own way out of the jungle, but I have left some clues, some trail.

Einstein once said that the world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.

So, as such, I do not want to sit back and do nothing. I leave clues.

If Bu Bu still remains lost, maybe more clues need to be left. I would prefer if Bu Bu was able to come out of the woods himself, and I am certain he can come out of the woods, as long as he concentrates, looks for the clues, gets help from the special creatures in the forest who are more than willing to assist as long as he asks.

Our ideals resemble the stars, which illuminate the night. No one will ever be able to touch them. But the men who, like the sailors on the ocean, take them for guides, will undoubtedly reach their goal.

You may not be able to reach the stars, but use them as guidance to reach your goal, your destiny.

I seriously wish and hope for Bu Bu to be out of the woods soon.

Take care and be well.

Friday, June 27, 2008

Ultimate Tuak at Luak, Post Gawai Party

This is going to be a picture blog, not many words, but knowing me, enough words.

Had a Ultimate Tuak at Luak Post Gawai Party at my home with a few friends on 21st June.
This time it was pot luck and we had a nice variety of food and desserts.
We had different types/vintages of tuak, we had langkau which is distilled tuak, we had performances on my Fender guitar, we drank following traditions, I wore a Orang Ulu costume, we played a short Ultimate flying disc game (Frisbee is a copyright word from Hasbro toys).

We also had a birthday for my buddy and another friend but she could not make it due to other obligations.

There were the usual friends, some new ones and some were missing as they could not make it, like my wife who was in KL during the party and Bu Bu and little udang as they were in some wedding.
It was a little quieter party, but nevertheless it was fun, small group.
And here are some of the pics, for the rest, I'll load them up in Flickr when I have a chance.



Take care and be well.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

New computer, more complications

I just bought a new ASUS laptop because my Toshiba laptop seems to have reached its shelf life. I was resisting as much as possible to buy a new computer and tried my utmost best to fix the old one. This is because I liked the old Toshiba plus the economy is not that great, so I wanted to conserve money as much as possible. I was also hoping that with my new role, I would be able to get a company laptop and could use that , but that has not happened yet.


Anyway, why I am writing about this is because my new laptop has some 100++ GB of hard disk space and a 3GB RAM. My first ever computer that belonged to me was a 086 with a 7MB RAM and 40MB hard disk. Can you imagine the differences?

Also, my first ever computer can on DOS and my latest acquisition is running on MS Vista and there is where all the complications lie.

There are so many complications using Vista, amongst which include that your word documents are now automatically are saved as DOX instead of DOC and people without Vista cannot read it. Same goes for all the Office applications under Vista.

Apart from that, I have been unable to compress my pictures using Picasa with Vista OS. My Picasa just hangs.

Also, in my Toshiba, I had a 1GB RAM and the machine was running faster than my new Vista OS with 3GB RAM.

Why am I complaining so much? Well, I always thought that the more advanced the computers get, the easier they will make life for us. However, it seems it has added more complications.

I have been hoping to upload some Ngiling Tikai (or as I called it, Gulung Tikar) Ultimate Tuak in Luak house party I had last week and I have been unable to compress my pictures to do so.

So, hopefully, after all the usual things I have to do this weekend, I hope that I am able to upload the pictures of the Nigiling Tikai in my house. And hopefully I will also be able to take some nice shots at the Ngiling Tikai party in KRP tomorrow.

Take care and be well.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

I'm generous but taking advantage of it will be at your own peril

I'm generous but taking advantage of it will be at your own peril.

Winston Churchill said "We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give" and I have mentioned this before.

I am making a life and I do not mind being a kind, generous giving person.

A person unlearns arrogance when he knows he is always among worthy human beings; being alone fosters presumption. People are arrogant because they always associate with their own peers, those who are all really nothing but who would like to be very important.

Huxley says that most of our miseries spring from human stupidity, human malice and those great motivators and justifiers of malice and stupidity, idealism, dogmatism and proselytizing zeal on behalf of religious or political idols.

Einstein joked two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.

An intelligent man, maybe one of the most intelligent, believed that human stupidity is more infinite than the universe itself, how ironic.

For everything there is a season,
And a time for every matter under heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die;
A time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal;
A time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to seek, and a time to lose;
A time to keep, and a time to throw away;
A time to tear, and a time to sew;
A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate,
A time for war, and a time for peace.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

If arrogance and stupidity take advantage of my generosity, be at at your own peril.

I am not elaborating further as I have always maintained that no names will be mentioned and I will not personalise an issue.

Hell hath no fury like a Nil scorned, stop it and you will not perish . . . if not, it will be between any supreme power and your own soul.

Take care and be well

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Belum bernama (Still unnamed)

I was born some 39 years ago on April 6, 1969 in Penang Sanitarium and Hospital (yes, that is what it was called. Now it is Adventist Hospital).

When I was born, I did not have a name . . . well technically my name was Belum Bernama. Hard to imagine that my parents did not have a name for me before I was born but it was rather common those days.

This is because the initial, the alphabet of my name is determined by the day I was born. So, I guess they could not choose a name until after I was born.



So, I was Belum Bernama s/o (son of) Kishor Timbadia for about 8 days of my life.

First name Belum, middle name Bernama, interesting.

Anyway, the good thing about being born in Adventist Hospital was that I also got a separate birth certificate from the hospital shown below with my baby feet... hot cute is that.

I was the heaviest baby in my family at a whooping 8 pounds 2 ounces. As you can see, my head was bigger than my chest, all babies heads are bigger than their chest hen they are born, God intended it that way. This is because normally the head will come out first, ramming through with the thick skull protecting all other parts of the body. Once the big head is out, it's pretty much over.

One thing of mine that has remained the same since the day I was born is my eyes. Again, all of our eyes are and will remain the same size from the day we are born until the day we die.




Anyway, that is the story of my birth. It always brings a tinge of happiness, a lump of my throat when I see my baby feet.

Story of my life is a whole different story.

Take care and be well.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

I'll take a cup of kindness yet

I am somehow just reminded of a New Year's Eve song today. I don't know why, by I know I love it.

So, I am just printing the English version of this Scottish poem by Robert Burns.

I'll take a cup of kindness yet and gladly share mine, with all the friends I've made here, and all the friends in my life.

Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind ?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and old lang syne ?
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
And surely you’ll buy your pint cup !

And surely I’ll buy mine !
And we'll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
For auld lang syne, my dear,

for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
We two have run about the slopes,

and picked the daisies fine ;
But we’ve wandered many a weary foot,
since auld lang syne.
For auld lang syne, my dear,

for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
We two have paddled in the stream,

from morning sun till dine† ;
But seas between us broad have roared
since auld lang syne.
For auld lang syne, my dear,

for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
And there’s a hand my trusty friend !

And give us a hand o’ thine !
And we’ll take a right good-will draught,
for auld lang syne.
For auld lang syne, my dear,

for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG3afAIi6IQ

Attached above is the link to the song which was also the theme in Waterloo Bridge, a 1931 as well as 1940 movie.

I hope you enjoy the song as much as I do. I know it is not New Year's yet, but nothing wrong.

Take care and be well.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Then and Now

I am not old yet, I would say that I am in my prime years.

Nevertheless, when I was little boy growing up, my favorite television shows were Flinstones, Ultraman, Semut Hitam. A little older was Thundercats, Jetsons, well, you get the drift. I grew up at a time when the Donny and Marie Show, Dallas, Rockford Files were the top shows on the tele. I loved watching M.A.S.H., I enjoyed Mind Your Language, Mork and Mindy, Space 1999, Lost in Space, Manimal etc. My favorite "reality" game show on TV was Telematch and it taught all of us in that era some German ... well at least to count from one to five.

I do not watch the tele much nowadays, but I still enjoy shows like House, CSI, Chuck. Cartoons have now evolved into anime and a big following of anime. Cartoons like Naruto, Yu-gi-oh, Dragon Ballz, Sailor Moon etc etc.

Interesting that I use evolve for anime. Anime was first started in Japan in 1930's by animators like Osamu Tezuku who were influenced and inspired by Disney's early features like Snow White. Osamusan simplified the techniques to reduce costs as well as reduce number of frames thus allowing for quicker time to process and market.

Even Ultraman now is so high tech.

Certain things in life move so fast like lightning, apart from an example above of cartoons. Look at the way computers have evolved. As a young boy, I remembered seeing the first computer in my dad's office, it was an Atari.

My first personal computer was a 286, right now, it would be difficult to explain what a 286 could do. My RAM was 8MB and I had a 256MB hard disk. Imagine that? My current computer has a 3GB RAM and a 200GB hard disk.

And yet somethings never change. When growing up, I thought for sure by now i.e. 2008, I would be able to travel in space easily and cheaply. Obviously that has not happened.

I also thought that we would have cars and vehicles that were significantly more advanced, i.e. like Jetsons, and obviously that has not happened.

I also thought that people would be wasting less and re-using more and recycling the rest, but that too has not happened.

I thought flying to New York will be done in matter of seconds . . . beam me up style.

I thought we would evolve to do what we enjoy without having to worry about the need for money, food or sustenance . . . again Star Trek inspired.

Despite many vast improvements and changes, there are vast areas where the changes have been slow.

Nevertheless, I still enjoy playing live games i.e. Ultimate Frisbee, Table Tennis, Swimming, Basketball, Squash rather than the computer versions of these games. I myself have never been into computer games but I am always intrigued.

I was hoping for computer games to evolve Ala Star Trek style as well, go to a room and get the computer to create any environment and game to your liking.

Nevertheless, I am living a good life, my forefathers lived a good life and my grandchildren will lead a good life . . . different lives, but all good.

A little trivia, so please do response : Which is the most distributed and most played computer game ever?

Take care and be well.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Living life that is full

I have a lot of hopes, dream and aspirations.

I want to life a life that is full.

I remember a quote from Winston Churchill that we make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.

To live a life that is full, one has to be generous, be kind, do good deeds.

I have started with baby steps to do this.

I am going to make a life with what I give, what I do, what I say. I am going to live a life that is full. I want to live this full life with my loved ones, I want them to live a life that is full as well, together.

There is a wonderful spiritual and mythical law of nature that the three things we crave most in life -- happiness, freedom, and peace of mind -- are always attained by giving them to someone else.

Take care and be well.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Fever

Never know how much I love you, never know how much I care
When you put your arms around me, I get a fever that's so hard to bear
You give me fever - when you kiss me, fever when you hold me tight
Fever - in the the morning, fever all through the night.
Sun lights up the daytime, moon lights up the night
I light up when you call my name, and you know I'm gonna treat you right
You give me fever - when you kiss me, fever when you hold me tight
Fever - in the the morning, fever all through the night.
Everybody's got the fever, that is something you all know
Fever isn't such a new thing, fever started long ago.
Now you've listened to my story, here's the point I have made:
Chicks were born to give you fever, be it Fahrenheit or Centigrade
They give you fever - when you kiss them, fever if you live and learn
Fever - till you sizzle, what a lovely way to burn.
What a lovely way to burn.
What a lovely way to burn.

Didn't know how sick I was today, not to say I really cared
When I woke up this early morning, my bedsheets were wet with my fever sweat
I'm having a fever - when I woke up, thirty nine degrees centigrade
Fever - in the the morning, fever all through the night.
Sun lights up the daytime, moon lights up the night
Doesn't help when it's so hot here, and my landlord decides to burn the leaves
I'm having fever - when I woke up, thirty nine degrees centigrade
Fever - in the the morning, fever all through the night.
Only I have got the fever, now it's something you all know

Fever isn't such a new thing, fever started long ago.
Now that you know I got fever, I don't have any other point to make
Heat and food can give you fever, be it Fahrenheit or Centigrade
They give you fever - when you eat bad food, fever if you get a sun burn
Fever - till you sizzle, not a lovely way to burn.
Not a lovely way to burn.
Not a lovely way to burn.


Yes, folks, I've got fever, hopefully one of those 24 hours ones. And I hope to fine by tomorrow. It is 2pm, it is so hot in Miri and the smoke from the burning leaves from a fire my neighbour started just does not help me anymore.

I've closed my doors and turned on the air-conditioner, but that has not helped too much. I am also so hungry, I guess I have not much choice but to eat.

I hope I get well by tomorrow, as I also need a haircut and color. I hope I get well by tomorrow, as I would like to play Ultimate. I hope to get well by tomorrow, but I better take care of myself today.

Take care and be well.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

The Bu Bu and Bear Band

Today, Bu Bu, my cubie bro and I decided that we would start a band and we wanted to record an album, The Bu Bu and Bear Band (The four B's for short).

So, first, we decided we need some songs. We already had our version of Favorite things, but to make a CD, we need between eight to twelve songs.

We chose some songs which we are Bu Bu-rizing and Bear-izing, which means changing fairly good popular songs to make it our own, some become funny, some become nice, some become just hilarious and crazy.

We also identified some band members which we would be honored to have although we have not asked them yet, but once our songs are ready and once the two singers are ready, we will convince our band members to join the fray.

On guitar we hope to have Buddy as well as Bu Bu, on drums we would love to have Babeh Mack, on piano we should try and get Gambling Buddha Jo, back up singers Yani, Ah Mei and wifey (hopefully). We are also looking out among our friends who could maybe play trumpet or saxophone.

We have our versions of Favorite Things from The Sound of Music, L.O.V.E. by Nat King Cole, It's Not Easy by Five for Fighting, When You Say Nothing At All by Ronan Keating and Kau Ilhamku by Manbai.

We have identified I Write the Songs by Barry Manilow, Too Late by Timbaland, Cats and Cradle by Ugly Kid Joe, Save the Last Dance for Me by Michael Buble and She by Elvis Costello.

Some of the songs above may be difficult to convert and we may have to go to some other songs. I am listening to Beatles while writing this blog post and maybe a Beatles song may be good to add to our list or maybe we will just Let It Be but at the moment I Gotta Pee :-P

Yellow Submarine has been among my favorite songs, maybe even a classic P. Ramlee song Bila Larut Malam. But we want to keep it clean, so, my version of Bila Larut Malam just cannot be done... Bila Larut Malam , sikit goncang sikit goncang, Buka Seluar Dalam, .... well, you get the drift (pun intended) :-P

I hope our band members get on board after we have written and selected our songs. I hope this project is not hangat hangat taik ayam which basically means hot like chicken shit which means just hot for a very short period of time which means something we start off all gung-ho and cool off and never finish the project.

I hope to see Bu Bu and Bear Band CD come out, even if we make just enough copies for just our friends, it would be a nice project while I am still here.

That's all folks, look out for our CD, support us.

Take care and be well.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Another day that time forgot

Got a decent night sleep and car pooled to work today...so did not drive Dungaboy to work.

Spend some time on safety day stuff at work, some time getting some work done and some time doing scripts that I am totally unfamiliar with.

Just another day, already mid-June, and June seems to be passing by like a Malaysian storm, fast, quick and never the same.

I just found out a few days before Gawai and basically at the end of May that my role at work has now changed. I have been promoted to lead the project management team managing a group of seven project managers. This role is effective June 2008.

This is something that deep down I had wished for but did not expect it to be this fast. I have been with my current company for 8 months although I have a wealth of experience and have no doubt in my mind that I can live up to the challenge and the job that I am now doing.

I informed my immediate supervisor, who is a very nice and understanding person although very hardworking and demanding but in a good way, that I am grateful for the opportunity, I am committed to deliver, and I am certain that with his support and guidance and my commitment, I have no doubt in my mind that I will succeed.

This to me has been the law of attraction at work.

I am going to do this but I am still going to maintain my work life balance. I really enjoy my work life balance in Miri, something that is not easy to achieve in Kuala Lumpur, mainly because of distances to work, traffic jams and therefore, amount of time spent sitting in your car.

Today, I car-pooled to work with a friend, as mentioned. I then went to play table tennis with three friends, one who started and the same day as me and we have been friends ever since. We have had similar work experiences and we just clicked. The other friend who has been a friend pretty much since the beginning but a few weeks later. The third friend is my cubicle mate, we took a while to warm up when I first came but we soon clicked so well, we are like brothers. Indian Genius and Indigenous - about the same, we can be brothers.

I have had a lot of good times with these friends over the past months.

Later, after dinner, I went to another friends house with my cubie bro. This time, we met with six other friends, all newer friends, people I got to know in the past few months but nevertheless, we had a blast. We ate, played Pictionary, laughed our hearts out and drank some tuak (local rice wine)

Work life balance.

So, while my blog title is another day that time forgot, it is more to reflect the opposite. Many days here I will remember and cherish, it will not be another day that time forgot, not another day that I will forget.

Side bar:-
For those who may not know, Dungaboy is the name I have given to my Landrover Freelander, my mode of transportation over here. Dungaboy is a South African term for a male buffalo that has been kicked out of his herd - through getting beaten by a younger male buffalo. This solo male buffalo will then usually team up with another solo male buffalo in the same predicament and move around in a pair or max threesome. The herd of hundreds does not want them anymore, so they are left to fend for themselves. They usually are more aggressive then the herd buffalo's mainly because they are fending for themselves. Why my car is called that? Well, there are only two or three Freelanders that I have seen on Miri roads, so similar to a Dungaboy, my Freelander has to fend for itself.

Take care and be well.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Lack of sleep

I am writing a really really short blog today.

I will maybe write it longer to explain it a little further in another blog.

Last few days I have been lacking sleep and having a thousand thoughts running through my mind. I don't know why at the moment? They are not all bad thoughts, many are positive thoughts, active thoughts, hopeful thoughts, visionary thoughts... but just too many of them.

Lack of sleep for me means lack of productivity the next day.

As one of my favorite poets Rabindranath Tagore once said, "He who is too busy doing good finds no time to be good."

I need to calm down, meditate, get at least six hours of sleep a day, get up at five in the morning to meditate and pray. Not sleep at one or two in the morning, get up at half past six and rush to work, be not so productive and go through this grind day in day out.

Maybe like Eric Hoffer said, "The feeling of being hurried is not usually the result of living a full life and having no time. It is on the contrary born of a vague fear that we are wasting our life."

I certainly hope I am not wasting my life . . . need to slow down a little, sleep right, eat well, take care of myself first.

Take care and be well.

Friday, June 6, 2008

No ROOM for racism

My wife and I had just taken my mum-in-law and my sis-in-law to a nice restaurant in KLCC today.

After our early lunch, I passed by this nice little shop that I like to frequent to called The Room which sells knick-knacks, interesting stuff.

On my way out, I saw this help wanted sign and due to this help wanted sign, The Room will likely not see me as a customer again until they change their ways in dealing with racism.

The help wanted sign was seeking for a Sales Assistant - but clearly written was Chinese only.

I figured that to stop racism and to not be racist, I have to start with myself and not supporting organizations that are outright and clearly racist. It may be more difficult to do with organizations that are covertly racist but organisations that are openly racist will no longer get my business and I would hope that they will no longer get business from any of my friends.

I therefore like to declare that I will follow to the best of my ability the creed set out by Martin Luther King Jr that all humans are created equal - irrespective of race, religion or the color of our skins as well as James Allen who said "All that a man achieves and all that he fails is a direct result of his own thoughts."

I will no longer support organizations that are outright racist. I will no longer support organizations that do not provide an equal opportunity. It may be difficult to do, but I will try to the best of my human and non-hero abilities to avoid these organizations and places.

I do not understand why there needs to be a race based Sales Assistant in a shop in KLCC Suria which is mostly frequented by all types of people and I am very upset with The Room.

If they required a Chinese speaking Sales Assistant, I may understand partially but still would not agree why such a requirement would be needed in KLCC Suria. But to outright and clearly write Chinese only is an outright racist and I am ashamed of it.

(I will post a picture soon but I have yet to install the bluetooth device for my phone on my laptop and as such unable to do so until I am back to Miri)

I will support organizations that will not discriminate. I will support organizations that have a social conscience.

I will support my friends always but will correct them when needed and I would appreciate friends who would correct me when I am not right either.

Like I said, it will not be easy, but I wish therefore I am.

Take care and be well.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Living hand to mouth

The great government of Malaysia today announced one of the biggest increases in fuel prices ever known in all our 50 years of independence.

For a oil and gas exporting country, we will now be paying RM2.70 for petrol (a 78 cents jumps from RM1.92) and RM2.58 for diesel (a RM1 jumps from RM1.58).

All these hikes have come mostly since our great prime minister of Malaysia Abdullah Ahmad Badawi took power. I have personally met this great man and personally been to his home in Kepala Batas... I thought him to be a nice and quiet man.

Image and graph is courtesy of Malaysiakini

At the same time, the great man and the great Barisan Nasional government also announced an increase in electric tariffs.

I think although I wanted to keep personalities, politics and religion out of my blog, this affects me directly and more so a lot of my friends and family members who live hand to mouth, who need to work hard for a living, who need to drive because out wonderful public transportation system is just great and among the top in the world (I am being sarcastic here for you first time readers).

I used a environmentally friendly EU approved diesel engine car which I fuel up once a week and used to spend roughly RM360 to RM400 a month to fuel up. Now, after the increase, I calculate the cost to go up to RM588 to RM653, that is a jump of nearly RM250 a month which comes up to more than RM8 a day. That is pretty much how much I spent on 2 out of my 3 meals a day.

The fuel price is expected to go up further. I guess when that happens, I will be feeding my car rather than feeding myself.

What will happen in this chain reaction is that everything will go up, and it will go up significantly and it will go up fast. A forty to sixty percent hike in fuel means a forty to sixty percent hike in pretty much everything except of course salaries.

If employee were to plead with their employers to give them a salary hike, it will become not competitive for a lot of the employers to remain in business. This would mean that a lot of foreign investment to this country will just move to cheaper countries like India and China and elsewhere and a lot of local business may actually close down.

This would mean more people looking for jobs, and if you are lucky and rich, it would mean that you could migrate out of this god forsaken place and at least make a better living in another country.

I have not completed my rantings and will continue within this blog or part two. However, the price hike is going to make it difficult for many people, for many Malaysians alike and while our great PM is hoping there will be no protests and public demonstrations, he is pretty much asking for it and I think there will be protests and demonstrations and there should be. We are a peaceful nation, nothing wrong with some protests from the people whether it is through blogs, through letters, through any peaceful means.

I usually like to end or write my blog with positive quotes and things like that, but today, I would like to end with an sms I received from a friends of mine in response to the hike which brought a smile to my face because I would have never expected such a sms from this person.

"BN is fucking cruel. Badawakwi and KJ should go to Hell!"

Take care and be well.