Last weekend I was just getting of the Star LRT at Taman Bahagia when I heard Arrrgh theeeew - the sound of someone clearing her throat and spitting the contents somewhere. Looking back I saw this women in tudung wiping her mouth. As I was going down I noticed this small blob of sputum on the platform near the escalator.
Of course, I am not aware of what really happened. Maybe a fly flew into her mouth and she had no chance but to spit it out. But can't you please spit it on a piece of tissue or at least in the rubbish bin but not on the floor.
I guess its not so bad here in Malaysia. In India spitting in public is a real nuisance. Everywhere you go, you will see red markings on almost every corner. Those are stains caused by people who eat "sireh" (beetle nut, Areca catechu, called paan in Hindi) and spit out the juice. I guess chewing pan is one of the most popular pastimes in India. The colour comes from the mixture of the leaves, the nut, lime (carpur in Malay) and various other things which they add to it. Thank God! not many people eat sireh here in Malaysia.
19 July 2004
09 July 2004
OWL
OWL is a new abbreviation which I just invented and it stands for "Overwhelming Work Load". I am sure most of you have faced this phenomenon at sometime or other and I am at such a phase right now.
The past few weeks have been pretty hectic.I have so many things to do that I don't know what I should do first. I used to preach - "Get your Priorities straight, Manage you Time, Blah, Blah, Blah". However, as they say, it is easier to preach than to practise. Anyway, putting my MBA learnt skills to good use, I decided that the best direction that I should take was to tackle the problems one by one, by priority.
Our committee (of which I am the chairman) has to organise a particular event. In order to do that I had to conduct a number of meetings to decide who will do what. Like typical Malaysians, we has to sometimes go ahead with only half the quorum present, with the rest trickling in as the meeting progressed.
I guess the secret of a being a good leader is knowing how to delegate the various tasks. the problem starts when various people don't do the jobs they are delgated to do. Its realy tough when the members are actually your collegues and not your junior staff. The only difference is that you are the chairman of the committee. Thank God, most of my team members are really responsible.
I also have to have two papers ready ASAP and am only halfway through one of them. I haven't even started ont he other one. I am also halfway throgh one project and am now in the questionnaire design stage. The most important part is yet to come, namely, the data collection, tabulation and analysis.
Finally, I have my part time studies to take care off. I am slogging in classes every Friday night when most people are enjoying themselves. "Just think of the future rewards, Just think of the future rewards" I think to myself. There are the assignments, the exams and to pass I need at least a B.
The past few weeks have been pretty hectic.I have so many things to do that I don't know what I should do first. I used to preach - "Get your Priorities straight, Manage you Time, Blah, Blah, Blah". However, as they say, it is easier to preach than to practise. Anyway, putting my MBA learnt skills to good use, I decided that the best direction that I should take was to tackle the problems one by one, by priority.
Our committee (of which I am the chairman) has to organise a particular event. In order to do that I had to conduct a number of meetings to decide who will do what. Like typical Malaysians, we has to sometimes go ahead with only half the quorum present, with the rest trickling in as the meeting progressed.
I guess the secret of a being a good leader is knowing how to delegate the various tasks. the problem starts when various people don't do the jobs they are delgated to do. Its realy tough when the members are actually your collegues and not your junior staff. The only difference is that you are the chairman of the committee. Thank God, most of my team members are really responsible.
I also have to have two papers ready ASAP and am only halfway through one of them. I haven't even started ont he other one. I am also halfway throgh one project and am now in the questionnaire design stage. The most important part is yet to come, namely, the data collection, tabulation and analysis.
Finally, I have my part time studies to take care off. I am slogging in classes every Friday night when most people are enjoying themselves. "Just think of the future rewards, Just think of the future rewards" I think to myself. There are the assignments, the exams and to pass I need at least a B.
05 July 2004
Hillarious MI
MI here stands for Malaysian Idol. If you thought William Hung was bad, you should watch the auditions for Malaysian Idol. I was able to catch one episode this friday on 8 TV.
I really enjoyed the show. I was laughing so hard that tears came to my eyes. Many of these guys would break down crying after they were booted out. But thats life. Take the sweet with the sour and I guess some people need to be brought back down to Earth from the clouds they were floating in. Actually, it is these people who really make the show interesting. After all if the show was full of beautiful people - all with good voices, it won't be much fun.
I really admire this one guy without arms who came to try his luck. He was not selected but I guess it takes guts to go out there and to do what they did. After all as William Hung said "I tried my best".
I really enjoyed the show. I was laughing so hard that tears came to my eyes. Many of these guys would break down crying after they were booted out. But thats life. Take the sweet with the sour and I guess some people need to be brought back down to Earth from the clouds they were floating in. Actually, it is these people who really make the show interesting. After all if the show was full of beautiful people - all with good voices, it won't be much fun.
I really admire this one guy without arms who came to try his luck. He was not selected but I guess it takes guts to go out there and to do what they did. After all as William Hung said "I tried my best".
02 July 2004
Finally Registered
Posting exactly after a week.In view of the problems I had last week, you might have thought I would have learnt something by now and be an early bird. However, as they say some people never learn and I guess I am one of them. However, I went at 10:00 am and I didn't have to wait long to pay my fees which came to a little bit more than RM3000. However, when I reached the IPSP, it was clear that there were a lot of people like me who wait till the last moment to register. I couldn't find parking AGAIN. Had to park at the car park of a neighbouring institute AGAIN. AND worse of all, had to wait in QUEUE AGAIN. When I was finally doen, it was 5 minutes to 1:00 pm. That was nearly 3 hours.
I met an old collegue, with whom I used to work with for a while in one international NGO in KL. She was also registering. I don't know how or why but she got called earlier even though I was there before her. Anyway, I was just in time for the prayers at the Kelana Jaya mosque.
My classes start tonight. Just found that I missed the first class.
I met an old collegue, with whom I used to work with for a while in one international NGO in KL. She was also registering. I don't know how or why but she got called earlier even though I was there before her. Anyway, I was just in time for the prayers at the Kelana Jaya mosque.
My classes start tonight. Just found that I missed the first class.
28 June 2004
Registration Chaos
In case you didn't know, I am continuing with my "higher' studies at the number 1 institute of higher learning in Malaysia as a part time student. Tried to register for my next semester in University of Malaya last saturday. I say tried because I couldn't.
It was partly my fault because I was quite late - started around 10:30am from the house. On reaching the IPSP (or Institute of Post Graduate Studies) I found that the parking was packed, with several cars double parked and took about half an hour reversing the car, going forward and round and round. I finally parked at an adjoining institute and walked to the place. On reaching the registration hall, found a huge crowd of post graduate students. I don't understand why they don't open up different registration dates for seperate faculties.
Anyway, after waiting for a while, I finally got my forms printed out and was able to find out how much I had to pay. Yes, I know. My tidak apa attitude - I didn't even know how much I had to pay. I quickly rushed to the bank (BCB) in the campus to deposit my fees. I was just in time to see them put up the "TUTUP" sign on the entrance. I forgot that banks in Malaysia close at 12:00 am on saturdays.
Had to go back to Kedah the same evening. Fortunately, the registration date is till the 2nd of July and so I have to wait till next week.
Lessons learnt:
1. Aurora Musis amica - Dawn is friend of the muses. (Early bird catches the worm.)
2. Animis opibusque parati - Prepared in minds and resources (ready for anything)
3. Tidak Apa - University Malaya is not going to change the way they run things for quite some time.
It was partly my fault because I was quite late - started around 10:30am from the house. On reaching the IPSP (or Institute of Post Graduate Studies) I found that the parking was packed, with several cars double parked and took about half an hour reversing the car, going forward and round and round. I finally parked at an adjoining institute and walked to the place. On reaching the registration hall, found a huge crowd of post graduate students. I don't understand why they don't open up different registration dates for seperate faculties.
Anyway, after waiting for a while, I finally got my forms printed out and was able to find out how much I had to pay. Yes, I know. My tidak apa attitude - I didn't even know how much I had to pay. I quickly rushed to the bank (BCB) in the campus to deposit my fees. I was just in time to see them put up the "TUTUP" sign on the entrance. I forgot that banks in Malaysia close at 12:00 am on saturdays.
Had to go back to Kedah the same evening. Fortunately, the registration date is till the 2nd of July and so I have to wait till next week.
Lessons learnt:
1. Aurora Musis amica - Dawn is friend of the muses. (Early bird catches the worm.)
2. Animis opibusque parati - Prepared in minds and resources (ready for anything)
3. Tidak Apa - University Malaya is not going to change the way they run things for quite some time.
27 June 2004
When I Need You
Listening to this old love song by Leo Sayer
Lyrics by Albert Hammond & Carol Bayer Sager
When I need you
I just close my eyes and I’m with you
And all that I so want to give you
It’s only a heartbeat away
When I need love
I hold out my hands and I touch love
I never knew there was so much love
Keeping me warm night and day
Miles and miles of empty space in between us
The telephone can’t take the place of your smile
But you know I won’t be travelin’ forever
It’s cold out, but hold out, and do I like I do
When I need you
I just close my eyes and I’m with you
And all that I so wanna give you babe
It’s only a heartbeat away
It’s not easy when the road is your driver
Honey that’s a heavy load that we bear
But you know I won’t be traveling a lifetime
It’s cold out but hold out and do like I do
Oh, I need you
When I need love
I hold out my hands and I touch love
I never knew there was so much love
Keeping me warm night and day
When I need you
I just close my eyes
And you’re right here by my side
Keeping me warm night and day
I just hold out my hands
I just hold out my hand
And I’m with you darlin’
Yes, I’m with you darlin’
All I wanna give you
It’s only a heartbeat away
Oh I need you darling
Lyrics by Albert Hammond & Carol Bayer Sager
When I need you
I just close my eyes and I’m with you
And all that I so want to give you
It’s only a heartbeat away
When I need love
I hold out my hands and I touch love
I never knew there was so much love
Keeping me warm night and day
Miles and miles of empty space in between us
The telephone can’t take the place of your smile
But you know I won’t be travelin’ forever
It’s cold out, but hold out, and do I like I do
When I need you
I just close my eyes and I’m with you
And all that I so wanna give you babe
It’s only a heartbeat away
It’s not easy when the road is your driver
Honey that’s a heavy load that we bear
But you know I won’t be traveling a lifetime
It’s cold out but hold out and do like I do
Oh, I need you
When I need love
I hold out my hands and I touch love
I never knew there was so much love
Keeping me warm night and day
When I need you
I just close my eyes
And you’re right here by my side
Keeping me warm night and day
I just hold out my hands
I just hold out my hand
And I’m with you darlin’
Yes, I’m with you darlin’
All I wanna give you
It’s only a heartbeat away
Oh I need you darling
23 June 2004
Autocrazee
Looking at my car today, it is in a real sorry state. Maybe something to do with the fact that it is parked between a brand new Toyota Altis and a Kia Spectra. Even without the scratches and the bump, it looks pretty ordinary. After all, it’s a limited specs car. So that means standard audio systems, unpainted bumpers, no reverse sensors, no fog lights, 13” tyres and no sports rims.
I just remembered a great show I watched on the Discovery Channel while I was in Phuket. It was about a group of talented guys who converted an old car (I think it was a Ford Mustang) into a real mean racing machine, using parts bought over Ebay. They took the old thing apart and redesigned it from scratch. However, the engine was a brand new one donated by Ford. But they even took that apart and rebuilt it in to a super charged mean machine. I don’t even know whether the final product was even street legal.
I was truly inspired and was thinking of doing something like that (but not so drastic) with my wife’s (now mine) old Wira. I know quite a bit about the overall Auto industry in Malaysia but when it comes to the technical parts, about the engine, turbo charging, electronics, etc. I am afraid I am a bit left behind. So I looked, researched and asked around. How could I modify my car to look and perform better. In the end I decided that I don’t want to modify my engine and only should work on improving the look. Here is a list:
Side Skirts The side skirts on the new Kia Spectra are really something. It changed the overall look of the car completely. I could slap on some mean looking skirts in one of the many accessories shops around here. The most popular look being the Satria Gti look.
However, I was concerned with the safety aspect as one of my friend told me that most of them would break into pieces in the event of an accident. After all most of them are made from thin fibreglass. So I thought the best would be to go to the original manufacturer after all Proton had recently come out with the limited edition Wira, which had nice side skirts (I hated the shiny big rear wings though).
Unfortunately, Proton Edar does not install these accessories on normal Wira cars. I asked if I could buy it and install it somewhere else. The person there refused politely "It comes with the car and we don’t sell extra parts". I persisted and insisted that there must be SOME extra parts available. What if any of these special edition cars are involved in an accident? Don’t tell me that Proton is going to fit them with the old fashioned Wira parts. The guy ended the topic with "we order the parts when that happens". I thought I better not push him further as they were still servicing my car and you know what happens to the food ordered by people who are rude to waiters in restaurants….. So would have to go to the friendly neighbourhood car workshop, where everything “Can!”.
The Front Grill I would like to replace the old dull looking front grill with a more attractive one with the new logo. I don’t have anything against the old logo and it is of course an Islamic symbol but I think that my car should reflect the change. For aesthetic reasons. I think I can get an original Arena front grill, which should do.
Wheels and Rims Now I have to get some cool sport rims (JRD or BSA). I don’t like shiny ones and white don’t look cool. I would prefer a matt finish. However, I am not too ambitious and am only looking for 15” ones. I would then have to change my Wheels from the standard factory installed 13” Sime Tyres to something else.
Others A friend suggested that I should put in a big exhaust. However, as I am not going to make any modifications on the engine, so no! I once took a lift in my friend's car, which he had modified and it had a HUGE exhaust. We couldn’t converse at all in the car. We had to shout and in the end I had a splitting headache and was partially deaf when we reached our destination about 50 Kms away. Anyway, I don’t want to attract unwanted attention from the good guys in blue (and white).
No-nos Stickers, shiny fake chrome fittings for doors handles, etc. and flashing blue lights.
Overall, the cost is calculated to come around RM2000, which is not much actually. Come to think of it, if I want to modify the car, it would not make sense if I only concentrate on making it look good, which is so pretentious. Why not improve the performance? I would then need to change the engine, exhaust, the brakes, etc., etc. Then in the end, I think what they say about us humans is true “wants are unlimited”. According to my wife, “just buy a sporty car when you can afford one. Forget about this Wira”. However, looking at my Wira, it really looks sad between those two cars. Maybe I will just go and get it washed.
I just remembered a great show I watched on the Discovery Channel while I was in Phuket. It was about a group of talented guys who converted an old car (I think it was a Ford Mustang) into a real mean racing machine, using parts bought over Ebay. They took the old thing apart and redesigned it from scratch. However, the engine was a brand new one donated by Ford. But they even took that apart and rebuilt it in to a super charged mean machine. I don’t even know whether the final product was even street legal.
I was truly inspired and was thinking of doing something like that (but not so drastic) with my wife’s (now mine) old Wira. I know quite a bit about the overall Auto industry in Malaysia but when it comes to the technical parts, about the engine, turbo charging, electronics, etc. I am afraid I am a bit left behind. So I looked, researched and asked around. How could I modify my car to look and perform better. In the end I decided that I don’t want to modify my engine and only should work on improving the look. Here is a list:
Side Skirts The side skirts on the new Kia Spectra are really something. It changed the overall look of the car completely. I could slap on some mean looking skirts in one of the many accessories shops around here. The most popular look being the Satria Gti look.
However, I was concerned with the safety aspect as one of my friend told me that most of them would break into pieces in the event of an accident. After all most of them are made from thin fibreglass. So I thought the best would be to go to the original manufacturer after all Proton had recently come out with the limited edition Wira, which had nice side skirts (I hated the shiny big rear wings though).
Unfortunately, Proton Edar does not install these accessories on normal Wira cars. I asked if I could buy it and install it somewhere else. The person there refused politely "It comes with the car and we don’t sell extra parts". I persisted and insisted that there must be SOME extra parts available. What if any of these special edition cars are involved in an accident? Don’t tell me that Proton is going to fit them with the old fashioned Wira parts. The guy ended the topic with "we order the parts when that happens". I thought I better not push him further as they were still servicing my car and you know what happens to the food ordered by people who are rude to waiters in restaurants….. So would have to go to the friendly neighbourhood car workshop, where everything “Can!”.
The Front Grill I would like to replace the old dull looking front grill with a more attractive one with the new logo. I don’t have anything against the old logo and it is of course an Islamic symbol but I think that my car should reflect the change. For aesthetic reasons. I think I can get an original Arena front grill, which should do.
Wheels and Rims Now I have to get some cool sport rims (JRD or BSA). I don’t like shiny ones and white don’t look cool. I would prefer a matt finish. However, I am not too ambitious and am only looking for 15” ones. I would then have to change my Wheels from the standard factory installed 13” Sime Tyres to something else.
Others A friend suggested that I should put in a big exhaust. However, as I am not going to make any modifications on the engine, so no! I once took a lift in my friend's car, which he had modified and it had a HUGE exhaust. We couldn’t converse at all in the car. We had to shout and in the end I had a splitting headache and was partially deaf when we reached our destination about 50 Kms away. Anyway, I don’t want to attract unwanted attention from the good guys in blue (and white).
No-nos Stickers, shiny fake chrome fittings for doors handles, etc. and flashing blue lights.
Overall, the cost is calculated to come around RM2000, which is not much actually. Come to think of it, if I want to modify the car, it would not make sense if I only concentrate on making it look good, which is so pretentious. Why not improve the performance? I would then need to change the engine, exhaust, the brakes, etc., etc. Then in the end, I think what they say about us humans is true “wants are unlimited”. According to my wife, “just buy a sporty car when you can afford one. Forget about this Wira”. However, looking at my Wira, it really looks sad between those two cars. Maybe I will just go and get it washed.
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