Change begins with me...

This is the latest FOMCA battlecry in wake of the price increase. And I agree wholeheartedly. Why when the price increase must we blame the government when in fact they are just cutting subsidies; the bane of modern society.

We have always been so excited about freedom so why can't we be free of subsidies? No, I'm not suggesting that we cut the subsidies alltogether but we must have the resilience and be independent, be ready when the time for the subsidies to be abolished (that means somewhere in the future). As Wacko Jacko always sang (Michael Jackson for them in the dark :)) :

"I'm Starting With The Man In The Mirror
I'm Asking Him To Change His Ways
And No Message Could Have Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World A Better Place
Take A Look At Yourself,
And Then Make A Change"

Read more about the article that inspired this very short article.

Cerita Arguing...

Arguing. Man, I hate arguing. I really do. I really hate it that it even defines me, the man that I've became now. A dude that doesn't argue and if I do, usually it won't last long as I will take note and give weak acknowledgment to any counter arguments that I've received, believing that there's a small truth to them even as I scrambled home and researching more about the subject of the argument in the cyberspace.

But in reality, if I argue, I want to win(Ok, I am like everybody else. Unique :P). I just hate to spoil a perfect day by arguments, and in the end, everyone leave for home with a bitter taste in their mouth and a cloudy mind. For people who don't know what I'm like at home, I like to argue a lot, people. Yes I do. Just ask my mom or my sister. My dad even. From my deductions, if you fall into arguments with family members, it is easier to recover and mend relations. With friends, usually arguments will turn into a stand off, or worse, an insults throwing competition and to later stages will bring you to strained relations, more so if you're arguing with people who couldn't keep their emotions in check (By the way to detect people who has let their emotions do their arguing, just take a deep look at their eyes. They will try their very best to evade your stares. Really I am not kidding)

That is why, although I am a person who likes to argue in my family circle, will avoid arguing with friends or co-worker. Even though as some people said that they don't take heart of the arguments or will not let emotions cloud their mind up, they actually do! So people, better safe than sorry...

One more thing I want to touch is talking big. Or in what I like to call it in Malay; Cerita K**e. Ok, there are two understanding of Cerita K**e. One is a lie and that lie made into a big exaggeration and is public understanding of Cerita K**e and another kind is the true story but exaggerated to a portion until you feel exhausted from restraining yourself from saying something smart that probably...no, most definitely will stop the story teller from continuing his/her Cerita K**e.

Please people, I am tired of hearing grand tales that's too good to be true. Remember, I am your friend! It is understandable if you are trying to impress a stranger or a girl but again, I am your friend. And a dude. I will never be impressed by grand stories. No, I do not want to discourage my friends from telling me stories or their adventures ever again but I do hope that they tell me the real, true stories. Without embellishments or exaggeration. Remember, to gain respects from your dudes or dudettes, don't exaggerate your stories into Cerita K**e, ok?

Fuel...

Fuel. My first posting in this brand new blog and I write about fuel. These few days fuel is a hot topics for Malaysian. No need to guess, but for the uninitiated, fuel price in Malaysia has gone up (well, well, what a surprise! Says them in Singapore, Thailand and a few others moderately and modern nations). From RM1.92 to RM2.70++. People will compare me with a broken record for saying this but...the price is still low people! But first, for those using vulgar words cursing me when they read this posting by this part, well, the same vulgar words to you back. I don't force you to read my blog posts so if you can't use the brain-containing-skull God has given you to think like a scholar and a gentleman, the Home browser button is up there; give it a push and it will magically take you away from this seems-to-be-offensive-blog-to-you.

Ok, continuing to fuel, I have friends who drives a smaller engine capacity car than me and yet cursing and bitching like there's no tomorrow. Funny thing that they seems to earn a lot more than me. Hmmm...Anyway, for them there is one advice from this humble person to them: "Start planning on buying an electric car or at least a hybrid ones". Fuel price is rising and looking at the depleting oil reserves, it will never go down. Jangan ler nak bermimpi kalo tukar government bole turunkan harga minyak. What do you expect? That they will give the first 20 litre of fuel for free every month? In your dreams, thank you.

So, instead of screaming vulgarity to those who likes to, I purpose some..ah...solutions for those who feels that the increase of fuel price has taken quite a toll on their pockets, wallets or purses. (Or you can be cool like me, absorb the hikes and still pay my study loans, give some to my mum, divide some for savings, spend some on a shopping and even go out once a week for movies or fooling around :P) Ok, here goes:

1) Be creative, go for public transports. It's a little hard to swallow but people who uses public transports everyday are some of the most creative and resourceful that I've met during my era of using buses and trains to work. They can predict accurately which buses or trains arrives at what time (given that the current state of public transport services in Malaysia), take an alternative route and still arrives at places of destination at the same time using other routes, sleep soundly and arrived fresh even when its a 5 minutes journey ride. Not to mention its good for you who doesn't exercise much; all the walking and pushing is good workout plus you can train to blunt out your smelling senses, especially if there's any foreigners who smelt a little on the strong side in a packed buses/trains on a hot, humid day. And another plus side to those who feels strongly about the environment; types who likes to go green, rejoice, for that you have contribute less carbon monoxides by going for public transport. And not to mention its much, much more cheaper plus you get to have your own driver; albeit sharing him/her with all who rides with you :)

2) For those of you stubborns and can still can take the hikes with head held high, one advice: Don't be a show offs. Showing off on roads has more bad to it than good. It's dangerous, people will definitely won't be impress by your antics, you will be looked down upon and it takes toll on your fuel. Showing off means pressing the accelerator and pressing it harder means more fuel be needed to power up your car quickly and more fuel means more money down the drain. Why can't everyone drive gently without showing off? At least do that on a freeway or get involved in motor racing, much more satisfying or at least be a gamer, spend a little on good gaming rig complete with racing game accessories and you will have a great time showing off, in a game that is highly competitive and driven by showing off, but you won't offend people, at least not on the road :)

3) Change to a smaller engine capacity car. I would suggest a Perodua Kelisa but because they only got second hands of that car now, try your luck on Myvi or Savvy. Average performance cars, quite comfy not to mention spacious and it saves fuel. Imagine spending below RM70 a week on fuel to and back from work. And please practice point number 2 while you are at it. Tak guna jugak kalo keter jenis save fuel tapi cara pemanduan out...Support lar kereta tempatan dey! :P

So folks, thats some of the alternatives that I can think off for you to save fuel during this hard times. Also I would like to propose to the government to implement fuel subsidy by differentiating salaries so that people (notice that I use the word people humbly, without any political motives :P) will feel not feel the burden too much and blame the government less than before. Maybe its hard to implement for a start but later it will be very beneficial as do all good things tend to be...Happy Driving...and refuelling...