How now brown cow ? Oil price naik kow kow ...

It wasn't unexpected. It wasn't like a bolt of lightning suddenly on a fine sunny day. It wasn't like your girlfriend coming up to you and told you her period stopped. It's not like that at all.

We all knew it was going to happen. We all expected it to happen. And when it happened, after all the waiting with bated breath, obviously, we're all angry. I can see fists knuckling, and faces turn stoic when the news that oil price was increasing quite dramatically filtered into the office.

For something that we've waited for so long to happen, the reaction was somewhat of a mystery to me. I expected Malaysians to queue the petrol stations and cause jams. I expected many of them to blog (like me). I know many will ponder about Petronas money. And I know many will accuse the government of turning its back on all Malaysians in their hour of need.

What I didn't expect was the instant knee jerk reaction. My economy rice some days before, consisting of a modest portion of rice, a chicken dish, and two portions of vegetables, cost me RM3.50. Today, the same dish is RM6.00. "Cost of electricity and fuel up", the uncle repeated again and again to everyone in the queue today.

I'm sure loads of other small traders will take advantage and increase prices. Or reduce portions. Either way, my ringgit will do less for me now. Not like it was doing a whole lot for me.

We have the lowest fuel price in ASEAN (except Indonesia and Brunei, the other 2 major oil producing nations in ASEAN).

But we have the most number of tolled roads anywhere I know of. Someone, correct me if I'm wrong.

We have really expensive cars. We're subsidising Proton as well in that sense, aren't we? Why aren't those subsidies lifted?

As a middle class Malaysian, I get nothing in terms of tax breaks that is considered special.

We have the nicest government buildings with the shittiest service provided inside. Nice buildings costs a lot, counts for nothing, and can't hide that fact that the counter services are probably on par only with 3rd world nations.

We have corruption blatantly going on (Port Klang Free Trade Zone, MITI Building, all the highway consessions, all those gravy trains). Corruption is a hidden cost. It's public money that is unaccounted for.

And above all this, the essential infrastructure and services remain at a very poor state. Our public schools, the public health care system, the universities, the public transportation systems, the utilities and local government services.

I want to be balanced in my criticism. I realise the market price for oil has increased astronomically. I realise that the subsidy bill is no longer affordable. There isn't one thing that the government can do about it.

However, the timing of the fuel price increase, the way the government managed the public's expectations, the message to all of us that we need to be austere and adapt to a new reality in life, and the speed of the announcement, in my opinion, was badly done.

The public was alerted earlier that it would be August before any real change is in place. But it happened overnight. This probably indicates how seriously short of money the government is that it can't even wait for 2 more months.

The public's expectations have not been managed properly as well. No denying all Malaysians have foreseen the price increase, but the quantum, and the speed caught many people out. I believe an announcement earlier, plus some advance warning, perhaps up to a week, would have created a better situation.

The worst part of it all is how we're asked to manage our lifestyles with increased fuel and electricity prices.

Would the PM and his government leaders lead the way by using less police escorts around our jammed streets to feel our pain, being stuck in the jam, burning expensive oil because we don't have a good public transportation system?

Would the PM and his government lead measures to reduce all the kenduri's and majlis makan malam's organised with tax payer money ?

Would the PM and his government commit to reducing fuel and electricity expenses at their respective department's premises to save tax payer money?

Would the PM and his government actually use our public transportation system to feel the pain instead of just giving lip service about improving public transportation?

I am committed to making changes in my life to adapt to the new oil prices and their impact. I am preparing to welcome a new government any time now.

Jumping from one place to another !

It's just been a busy period for me, jumping from one place to another.

All that's been happening is a blur - I wake up, get to work, come home, chat with Girlfriend a bit, then work a bit more, and then go to sleep and repeat the process all over again. It's quite monotonous, and I'm hoping to break it a little bit.

I'll be back at the gym next week, hopefully, to break into some sweat and work myself back into a more streamlined shape. Right now, I'm so out of shape, those airport security scanning devices identify me as 'Unknown'. It's embarrassing.

On the work front, I've been nominated to join a year long project that will double my work load, and increase the amount of time I spend staring into blank spaces and computer screens. I guess it'll be good for me if I'm selected, although I'm pretty sure most people will see less of me. But it's a great program where only a few people get selected into, so I hope I'll get it.

No travels so far, but after Chinese New Year, I expect myself to help MAS achieve it's RM1 billion profit targets. Of course, those bloody lunch boxes they're giving us helps them loads. I hate the lunch boxes - cold sandwich and chocolate filled cereals isn't my idea of lunch. Or dinner. Or whatever. Gimme back my hot meals anytime !

And funnily enough, it sounds like Chinese New Year, it looks like Chinese New Year, but I'm not sure if it's Chinese New Year ! This year, the atmosphere isn't there, for some funny reason. Probably because I've been immersed with so much work that it's just impossible to feel festive. Anyways, I'm planning to get some new clothes - hopefully that will jump start my Chinese New Year festive moods. If that doesn't work, I'll start eating Kuaci-s (melon seeds) and blast Chinese New Year songs at home. Those are fail proof, but it does very little to foster neighbourly love.

And this year, there is no plan to go anywhere ! I'm not even taking a lot of leave, just a day. I'm planning on saving up my holiday for a longer vacation.

Gee, I seem to write rubbish when I don't blog too often ... ok ... no more rants. I'm done. Happy Chinese New Year !

The body's not an engine, you know ...

In my mind, as I go about my daily routine, I never think for a second that I'm getting old. Well, I'm not old ... I'm just 31.

But sometimes, I forget that the body is not an engine, really. Just the other day, when in Singapore, a colleague was telling me he thinks that I have a lot of energy, for all the travelling I've been doing. Well, yesterday night, I hit the wall ... the body just refused to do anything unless I sleep ... so sleep I did. The first 8 hour sleep session in a while ...

I was just counting my passport, and I've made 27 overseas trip this year, and will be making another 2 more trips before the year's out ... that's going to be 29 overseas trip this year that I'll be making, and that translates to around 1 overseas trip every 12 days ... if you average it out !

I think I'll have to take steps to rest myself better, to better make use of the travelling time I have. Perhaps I should start sleeping instead of gazing out of the window on flights. Maybe it'll be good to start sleeping early no matter where I am.

While travelling has been great, travelling as much as I do creates some unique problems. Not least is that fact that since I'm mostly around only over weekends, I try to squeeze in as much as I can during the weekends. This usually means I have stressed out weekends. I haven't had a single decent go at photographing bugs at home since September.

Sigh ... I need to take stock of my own lifestyle, and reconcile it with my love for the job, and for the travelling that comes with it. Maybe the end of the year couldn't come soon enough !

Before and after ...

Before lots of travel ...

KL

After lots of travel ...

KL -> Tokyo -> KL -> Beijing -> Shanghai -> Hong Kong -> Taipei -> Hong Kong -> Guangzhou -> Hong Kong -> KL -> Manila -> KL -> Jakarta -> KL

All of that in about a month ... *faints dramatically*

Manila Manila ...

Got a call on Sunday. On a plane on Monday. Meeting a customer in Manila on Tuesday morning.

That is what global business means. Singapore Airlines e-ticketing totally rocks !!! That's why I was happier flying thru Singapore than going direct from KL to Manila. Well, actually, I can't even be on MAS if I wanted to - no flight.

And if they had flights, I would still have to take Singapore Airlines because they offer better rates. Which beats me - why would it be cheaper to fly from KL to Singapore, then to Manila ? And not directly from KL to Manila?

Hmmmmm ... how to help MAS ?

I packed in such a hurry I forgot to bring my belt. Thank goodness my pants don't fall down without my belt.

Photos to follow if I have time !!

Never been so busy before ...

Do you ever work, work, work and work and still have lots of work left on your in tray?

I've had one of those weeks when it was just running from one job to another, just doing things over and over and over and over again.

In addition to the generally large but not lethal volume of work, there were sporadic cases of firefighting, outbreaks of meetings which were energy sapping but ultimately non productive, sudden unexpected work dropping onto the in tray, and working with people who no understand engrish, but think understand you have to their point first time they say point to you.

Take that, then multiply that by around 3. That was my week.

Good news is - I feel appreciated at work. And that means a lot to me.

Bad news is - no bad news. What? Not happy there's no bad news? Maybe you can jump out of your window and break a leg. That would be bad news.

Totally unrelated picture of how they paint buildings in Hanoi. Just happened to be in the same SD card where the other pictures are, so I thought it's nice to share =)

Next week, and in the coming weeks, there will be travel. But for next week, I'm keeping the D80 home. No need to bring the heavy gun out for a business trip. It's too heavy, anyways.

And speaking of the D80, I was loaned with a device which measures air humidity. I put it overnight in my camera bag, which is placed in what I thought was a dry part of my wardrobe, which had a Thirsty Hippo inside .... and the humidity level was 60% .... !!!!! Too high !!!

In my mind, flashes of lens infecting fungus crept up, and I wasn't able to sleep well on Wednesday night, thinking of the fungi colonies that must be setting foot on my lens. So, on Thursday, I marched to the camera shop and carried home a dry cabinet.

Now, I can regulate the humidity ... so hopefully, my lens will be spared the dreaded fungus attack.


As mentioned earlier, I'll be on the road again next week !!!! Guess where to ?? This place is famous for a certain kind of noodle ... and I can still get Coke in glass bottles ...



Speaking of photography, thanks to all who've been dropping by my photoblog. Love you all !

Morib on a whim

Do you love traffic jam? I don't. I'd say that unless you are a petrol station owner on a stretch of very jammed up road, you probably don't love traffic jam. It's a total, utter waste of time in my opinion. And it drive your fuel efficiency lower, and therefore is bad for the environment as well.

Last Saturday, Girlfriend and me planned to scout around Bandar Utama. She wants to move out to a new place, you see. So, I picked her up, and we were driving towards SS2 when the jam started to form ahead ... all the way from Section 14 towards the Sin Chew roundabout.

I thought I'd go towards Seapark to escape the jam. No help. It's jammed there as well. Finally, we made our way through Kampung Bahagia into the LDP. I thought that was the end of my troubles.

No siree ... more jam ... we decided to make a U-Turn at Tmn Tun and just give up. At that point, I've been in that jam for nearly 1.5 - 2 hours already.

Turns out that there was this massive jam towards 1 Utama, which backed up traffic all along LDP, and also caused traffic in roads feeding into the LDP to be also affected.

Someone - do something about the LDP will ya? Puchong residents like me pay toll to use it, and yet we have to put up with the jam !!!! Nowadays, I take alternative routes that aren't tolled. And actually safe money, because those routes are less jammed. Stuff you la, LDP. Whenever I have the choice, I won't be using it !

Girlfriend suggested we makan a little at Taman Tun, which we did. And while in there, she suddenly blurted out that she wanted to be at a beach somewhere.

So ... just like that, on a whim, we went to Morib !!!

Morib used to be a premier beach attraction - but like most beaches along the West Coast of Peninsular Malaysia, with the polluted waters from the Straits of Malacca washing up everyday, day after day, week after week, month after month and year after year, it's bound to lose its charm.

Driving to Morib, while far away, isn't anything as bad as going to Bandar Utama. I took the Puchong - Cyberjaya - Dengkil - Banting way to Morib. Far as it is, it wasn't nearly as bad as the trip from Girlfriend's place to Bandar Utama. At least it wasn't jammed up.

So, how's Morib?

Let pictures do the talking ...

We arrived at high tide, so there was no beach !!! Except what you see in the background. Still, it was a good place to relax ... just not happy that there was a deejay blasting music and hosting RM2 karaoke sessions. How does that make a beach relaxing ? This fisherman was clearly unpreturbed.

It isn't the most fun filled beach, but it's relaxing, and there are a number of families there that day. I had a field day snapping pictures like these of families strolling along the sea. It was relaxing, a far cry from my traffic jam nightmare !!

And of course, sunset calms me down. Nothing beats a good sunset. It's like someone's putting up this massive show and is saying "Chill out ... tomorrow will be better." ...

Sux to be me ...

It sucks to be me.

Some people are just self centered

Some people think that they are the center of their life, workplace, family, community, state, country, continent, world, and universe.

To these people, I just wanna say this: go stuff yourself.

If each one of us just thinks about other people, and how each of our action can have positive or negative impacts upon others, then the whole world will be so much better off.

You - yes, You - and you know who you are. Go stuff yourself. You're so full of yourself anyways, it shouldn't be a problem. And don't stop stuffing yourself until you realised what you've done wrong.

I pwned you, dear Waja ...

Dear Silver Proton Waja With Heavy Tinting Bling Stickers And Stupid Halogen Light,

First of all, I would like to apologize to you for having to eat my fumes all throughout the LDP stretch. It must be no fun. I would also like to apologize to you for nearly losing control of your car. That must suck. I hope you will find someway to nurse your ego back.

As you would now have learnt, Proton Wajas are no match for me. Not even if you try. Not even if you ate a few babies for fuel before hand. And no, not even after Lotus tuned it. I hope that is absolutely clear to you.

While I make it clear to everyone that I drive nicely, and appear to be a domesticated road user, I was once a daredevil like you too. And I became smart - while still in my Proton, I realised that Protons can speed, but they don't necessarily stop when you want them too. I offer to share this piece of important advise with you.

Granted, all cars travelling at very high speeds would have problems stopping rapidly. However, I would like to point out that you inferior Proton doesn't have ABS. It can't do EBD. When you want it to stop, it acts in funny ways. Well, not really funny considering lifes are at risk. But you get my point. My humble little City has got that ABS and EBD thingy that you don't. My ability to stop rapidly would probably be as good (or as bad) as your car's, but at least I have some control over my car's steering while under braking.

And while you might point out your car is a 1.6 car vs my paltry 1.5 car, I would like to remind you that engine capacity counts for little. I believe my car accelerates better that yours. Just like it stops better.

And finally, next time, on any road which you share with users like me, please, don't be a fool and flash your halogen lights at me. Or anyone else. It's not as if I am delaying you. It's not like cars on the LDP would part as if it's the Red Sea under Moses' control if you continously flashed your lights at all the cars.

And believe me, it shrinks your ego to the size of a subatomic particle when you flash your lights at someone and then get soundly pwned. Understand or not?

But more than anything else, it ain't your ego, it's the other people on the road, ok ?

One more thing, next time, when I pull away, get smart lah ... don't start racing. Otherwise, you eat fumes.

Stayed home and worked.

Some days, it just doesn't pay to step out of the door.

I worked from home today. Had a very long night oyesterday, felt a little under the weather this morning. But not bad enough that I can't work. Just bad enough I don't need traffic congestion, bad take away food and wasting 2 hours on the commute.

So, I decided to stay home and do my work.

How hard is it? Or how different is it?

Well ... when there's a lot of work to be done, there's a lot of work to be done. Where you do the work doesn't quite matter.


The plus is there ... dress as casually as you want, sit in whatever posture you wish, save petrol and time, the aroma of incense / joss stick / perfumed wood grain wafting in the air ...



And so are the minuses ... it's your HOME ?? Why are you working there?


But, tomorrow, it's back to the office ... *sigh*

The 3am post

Just a gaze away from my window is the Ayer Hitam forest reserve. Honestly, it's the reason why I bought this house. I wanted to get away from it all. I needed a quite place to retreat to at the end of my work day. I want to be removed from humans as best I can at least for a few hours every night.

I grew up in a squatter house along Jalan Puchong. Old timers would know the place as the '10 Shophouses' area. There used to be, well, 10 shophouses across Jalan Puchong from where I used to stay. That was in the early 80s.

Puchong itself started the transformation into the bustling suburb today when the tin mines stopped being profitable. This was in the mid 80s. Some of you would recall the Black Friday stock crash in New York. I was too young then to understand the full reasons behind the Black Friday crash, and too disinterested now to read up about it. But it affected my life in more ways than I could ever forsee.

My father lost his permanent employment. My mum was forced to work. I had to learn to cook, clean the house, etc. - basically, I became replacement mum. And still had to score decent marks in Add Maths ...

Let's not stray too far from the topic. Even before Black Friday, the tin mining industry, of which my dad was associated with, had been on the slowdown. Black Friday just totally killed whatever life there was in it.

Puchong's tin mines were closed. And filled. And housing estates were built over the former mining land. Kinrara Court really started it all off. Then there was Bandar Kinrara. Then Puchong Jaya. And before you know it, today, there are more housing estates in Puchong than I'd care to remember.

Jalan Puchong was widened 4 times during my stay in the old house. The 10 shops opposite became many more. People started to pour in. Traffic started to stream constantly along Jalan Puchong.

Today, I can't imagine how I could have slept in my old place. The traffic never stops. The noise never ends. You could hear the show offs who were having drinks in the restaurant 4 lanes across Jalan Puchong from my old house speaking loudly into their brick phones just so that the whole restaurant would know they have a brick phone. There was a time when mobile phones were muses of the rich.

When fires break out in the illegal factories in Kg. Michael Chen, also across Jalan Puchong, I could watch from my window and actually feel the heat on my cheeck.

I can't imagine how far removed I was from that world here in my home now. It's still just less than 10 minutes away by car, but it's a million miles removed from here, if you ask me.

It's quite a funny thing - you yearn for what you don't have.

I wanted peace and quiet when I was in my old place. I hated the noise of the old Protons with their half broken engines passing the house. I hate the drunk folks singing hokkien songs in the middle of the night. I hated the fumes of all those sand carrying lorries fueling the construction boom in Puchong.

Now I have peace. I have quiet. But I'm feeling lately that it's too peaceful and too quiet.

I'm not longing for the sounds of a billion cars driving past my house everyday. No, not that kind of thing ... it's just that I feel ... lonely ?

I think I need some help ...

Are you ok ?

*puts on sad violin track* ...

Dear Panda-Under-The-Bed,

I miss you so ... by the time you read this post, I'm already missing you dearly ...

The sky is grey without you ....

The colors of the world pales in your absence ...

My heart is heavy, akin to having a boulder tied to it when I walk ...

I toss about in bed, unable to sleep with your image in my mind ...

Breakfast, lunch, dinner ... they no longer matter to me ... no food can nourish a longing heart ...

... *cuts off sad music* ...

It's obvious I don't have much to write about today ...

Just wondering what happened to the panda-under-the-bed, and it's brother, the panda-living-in-with-angeliu.

If you happen to read this post, please do leave a comment ... *tsk*

Getting Sentimental ...

I've been feeling sentimental lately. Sometimes, music does that to you. Sometimes, it's meeting an old friend. And sometimes, it's just the weather.

It's been a confluence of all 3 this week.

Last Saturday, while channel surfing, I chanced upon a song that I had long forgotten. It was better forgotten then, something which was much more beneficial to me discarded from my memory. That was because this song reminded me of a time when my heart was shattered and broken. A time when I doubted my own ability to heal.

I obviously got over it, and I'm all fine now. Listening to the song evoked a sense of calm to this week's hectic pace. It didn't hurt anymore. It actually gave me quiet strength, knowing that I, like many, if not all other people, will go through lows.

Hehe ... so I actually put that song in a loop on my iPod and just kept listening to it for hours and hours and hours and hours.

Also met an old friend yesterday night. Reminded me of the lowest point in my career - she was a counterpart in a project I worked at in a previous job. Just a lot of bitter memories from that time. I still can't get that out of my mind - it was probably the biggest waste of time in my working life.

But if nothing at all, it taught me that failure is not the end of the road. I think I've rebounded pretty decently after that. I turned out ok, no?

And finally ... the weather ... the haze is back in Singapore. And I hate the haze. I hate Indons who burn the forests. I hate the officials in Indon who take bribes to close an eye to the burning. I hate the big plantations who get away with a mere slap on the wrist.

But back to the link between weather and my current wave of sentinmentality. The haze brought back memories of 1997 ... the year I left Australia. I have since been lucky - always overseas when the worst of the haze strikes. But not this year - I'm here in the region - with haze and all.

*Sigh*

***

Guess what's I did in Singapore?

Clues: Vivocity, New Asia Bar, Attica, Cufflinks from Tiffany's, neckties and more shirts than I normally buy in a year !!!

Obviously a filler post

Dear Readers,

This is a filler post. This means the Moz is out of idea, tired, stressed and still want to reach out and communicate with you.

Here's what's been happening to me lately, which shouldn't interest you unless you are my non-existant girlfriend, the taxman or my guardian angel, who's jurisdiction must only be within Malaysia :-

• Haze is Singapore over the past few days have been, thankfully, nothing as bad as it is in KL. Lucky Singaporeans.
• Work is getting extremely busy. Where is superman when you need him?
• Why are Crumpler bags such a rage?
• Is there a really good new place in Singapore to party over the weekend?
• Would anyone be interested in a trip to Nepal or Tibet next year? Can't find a group of folks interested for the trip.
• What do you do to heal a broken heart? Someone dear to me is going thru the trauma of separation.
• It's quite obvious the posturing in our media by our dear gahmen, especially, when you're overseas and have more complete views and news from the rest of the world.
• I'm obviously going to fall sick soon.

And you thought travelling overseas is a good thing ....