Monday, March 29, 2010

dead & buried

when the party that claims to represent my interest is helmed by a scandal-tainted yes-man & an impatient power-hungry wannabe, my gut feeling is that it has gone down a very slippery slope into a political cess-pool.


& when the outspoken lone ranger, the only one currently with the courage to raise issues that matter, is unceremoniously dumped, again my gut feeling is that palms have been greased & pockets lined with ill-gotten gains the delegates did not vote by conscience.


whether it will go the same way as it's cousin in penang & be sidelined into irrelevance (or worse, oblivion) is left to be seen.

we all know gut feelings sometimes come true & i don't believe i am the only one in sack-cloth today.

PS. perhaps this phrase was specifically coined for politics : nice guys finish last.

Friday, March 26, 2010

squeezed














when i posted about trying to push off my car that has served faithfully for 120K km, Zewt commented that i've milked the cow dry. actually, as it turned out, that wasn't a one-off event.

my other faithful servant, a pair of nike, has seen better days - the colour looks jaded,
















the canvas giving way &





















part of the sole has come off.
















the reason i kept exercising in them is because they remained comfortable. maybe it's because it's branded that it has lasted this long - over 2 years.













i've definitely squeezed this one as well, but then again, that's one value my parents inculcated in me - waste not, want not.

and currently, i have absolutely no very few wants.

(however, i have difficulty passing on that same value to my kids. i wonder why?)

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

the letter C

consider this:

Letters 'a', 'b', 'c' 'd' do not appear anywhere in the spellings of 1 to 99,
(Letter 'd' comes for the first time in Hundred)


Letters 'a', 'b' 'c' do not appear anywhere in the spellings of 1 to 999,
(Letter 'a' comes for the first time in Thousand)


Letters 'b' 'c' do not appear anywhere in the spellings of 1 to 999,999,999,
(Letter 'b' comes for the first time in Billion)
:
:
:
:
:
and the letter 'c' does not appear anywhere in the spellings of entire English counting....
:
:
:
:
except.......
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
C ..for...CASH !!


i wonder if this is the reason why residents of a Little Red Dot are purportedly pre-occupied with the 5 C's:

Condominiums

Cars

Credit Cards

Country Clubs,

and, of course, Cash!


**thanks, Seng, for the email**

Saturday, March 20, 2010

medical bills too expensive??

amidst spiralling medical bills, one private hospital has purportedly offered its patients more than one way to AVOID paying their medical bills by putting up this patient escape plan.

















how about this to promote corporate social responsibility???

(email me if you want to know where you can get this private medical treatment for FREE!)

Monday, March 15, 2010

a true champion?

malaysia currently has only one true champion in sports, & that's nicol david. my criteria for a true champion is one who consistently wins at the highest level, doesn't let the victories (read: cash prizes) get into the head & continues to portray the country in good light, & nicol has admirably fulfilled all 3.

today, we have a new champion - all-england badminton champion lee chong wei. never mind the wrong line call that gave him the winning point in the final, he has played well thoughout to deserve this elusive title. all credit also to his unseeded japanese opponent, k tago, who took the premature defeat graciously.

it is now left to be seen if chong wei, aged 28, will go on to be a true champion that will make the country proud, or will he be confined to the scrap heap, a fate suffered by recent malaysian all-england champions.

in the music industry, they would be call one-hit wonders, or in malaysia, jaguh kampungs.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

not meant to be?

it was a difficult decision.

a nurse colleague resigned from the hospital to work in saudi arabia, where she will be paid at least 5 times more than her last job. she is due to fly off this weekend. her husband had also resigned from his job so that he can look after the children.

a few days ago, he developed a bleed in his brain. it was huge & was removed in an emergency surgery. he is still unconscious & things don't look good. if he were still employed, he would have received benefits that would have covered his medical expenses but that's academic now. he may have to be transferred to a govt hospital due to the escalating costs.

sometimes, life deals us a cruel twist. one day, all is hunky-dory & the next, our whole world seems to collapse right before our very eyes. what is one to do in such dire circumstances?

i don't have the answer. but i imagine her job in saudi would have to be put on hold until her husband's outcome can be determined. if it includes rehabilitation, it could stretch to months or even years, & recovery may still not be complete. besides, the children need taking care of.

it's common for us to organise things & make good plans that will benefit the family & possibly others. but if these don't fit into the Great Scheme of Things, they will not materialise, for reasons our mortal minds cannot comprehend. no matter how hard we strive to make it happen.

because some things are just not meant to be.

i pray for my colleague to have the mental strength to go through this ordeal & hope that a greater good will come out of this unfortunate event.

Monday, March 08, 2010

a dream

just seen the late news. i thought i heard the PM had, amidst applause, announced the immediate abolishment of import tax for cars.

actually, he was at a golf event & he meant GOLF BUGGIES. the reason he gave was that this would lead to improvement of quality of services at golf courses.

i'm sure that brought relief to the thousands of golfers & their respective golf clubs.

or, could he have done better by actually abolishing import taxes for cars which would certainly bring cheers to millions of motorists? then perhaps the retailing of petrol without subsidy would be more readily acceptable?

i don't know. i'm not the finance minister. but i have a dream that a fair price for a honda civic 1.8 should be around rm70k. heh heh!

Sunday, March 07, 2010

we care, we serve?

my son's piano teacher was admitted to hospital on thursday after falling unconscious. a CT scan revealed generalised bleeding in the brain, most likely from abnormal blood vessel(s). She underwent emergency surgery to relieve the pressure building up within the skull. As she required further investigation & surgery not readily available at the hospital, she was referred to a prominent private medical centre in PJ today. this evening, her husband called me to bemoan the poor service rendered thus far.

1st, the medication ordered by the surgeon to lower the blood pressure was not served until after 2 hours, & that only when he asked why it wasn't served. apparently, there was a breakdown in communication between the ward and pharmacy.

2nd, the nurses looking after her weren't sure about some of the critical nursing procedures, & that's because she was lodged at the neonatal intensive care unit(!!!) as the adult ICU was fully occupied. last time i checked, neonates are babies up to 1 month old.

3rd, what aggravated the situation was that he was asked to put up a deposit of RM50K(!!!), & this is even before any investigation or surgery had been planned, today being a sunday. but he has no choice because he's in a desparate situation.

i checked up the medical centre's website & apparently, the group's corporate motto is :

we care, we serve.

i hope & pray all goes well because i think he has only scraped the surface.

Thursday, March 04, 2010

how to lose money

count the ways.....

(1) gamble at a casino;

(2) invest recklessly in stock market;

(3) exchange with black money;

(4) join a dubious pyramid scheme.

you get the point. do any of the above & you would have mockery & jeer showered upon you for not being clever with your hard-earned money.

however, i think the most legitimate way to lose some, if ever there were one, without incurring any ridicule is to buy a car. any car. because the public transport system is so appalling, any worse it would be non-existent. therefore, buying a car is a justifiable exercise, even when it loses at least 10% of its value the moment it leaves the showroom.

in my case, i'm losing 80% of the car's original value after 9 years. the wife is flabbergasted at the depreciation. however, i'm ok with that because i relish those years of reliable work-horse-like service. without pricking on the conscience, i dare say it is a good investment. up & down the country in almost 120,000km of pleasurable driving in comfort & safety - 10-disc CD player, ABS, airbags & all.

only thing it's not, is a babe magnet. heh heh!


so, bernie madoff, eat your heart out!

Wednesday, March 03, 2010

the dent - a final straw?

i've been thinking of getting a smaller capacity car for some time. i'm not too enthusiastic about driving long-distance anymore, my reflexes have slowed down & i think my sense of awareness of space & distance has definitely gone downhill. this nasty dent i acquired today while trying to slot into a parking space large enough for a truck proves the point......

















the boy witnessed the incident & after examining the damage, pronounced his judgment : papa, you need a new car.

correction, my dear son - papa needs a smaller car!

(perhaps a green car like a hybrid?)