The Census guys came! August 18, 2010
Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Close to Heart & Home, Thoughts & Scribblings , 3comments
Strangely enough, I do not have any recollection of any census enumerators coming to get data from my house since we moved here. Yet we have that little orange card placed on the wall just outside our house.
Hubbs took down the orange card just in time, because a couple of days later, as we were cleaning up after dinner, the doorbell rang, and I was greeted by a man and a woman, who looked pretty darn tired. The man introduced themselves by saying, “Kami dari Jabatan Perangkaan..” and I noticed the tags they were both wearing too.
I made idle conversation with them before they began asking the questions for the census. Apparently they had just broken fast (it being the first day of Ramadhan) and now they were off to do their rounds. Perhaps they were tasked with coming to homes in the evenings just so they could be sure more people would be at home after a day’s work.
Anyway, I couldn’t help but wonder why they didn’t have a formal form to fill out the questionnaire. Better yet, they could have entered all the answers electronically into a system or electronic form. Nope, all they used was an old notepad and my answers were all scribbled in pencil.
For the benefit of those who have not gone through this exercise, these are some of the questions asked. Not sure why they differ from some of the other people’s questions though…
- Number of occupants in home
- Full name of occupants, birth date and age, and place of birth
- Occupation and place of work (NO, we were not asked for our salary or salary range)
- Highest level of education, and place studied
- Number of rooms in the house
- Number of cars
- Whether or not we owned laptops
- Whether or not we owned a personal computer
- Whether or not we had a radio at home (they told me there was no need to ask if there’s a TV because it was assumed everyone had one)
The entire question and answer session took no more than 20 minutes, and just to ensure we stick the little card (yellow this time!) to denote our home had been entered into the Census, the guy even placed the double-sided tape ready on the card for us!
Look what happened… July 28, 2010
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Have you ever seen anything like this before?
Well, this was what my car key remote looked like a few weeks ago. The unlock button had already shown signs of wearing out for a few weeks, but being the procrastinator that I was, I didn’t do anything.
Until I accidentally dropped the whole set into a puddle of water. And then somehow, the lock and unlock buttons could not function anymore. I knew the battery was still fine because the button to unlock the trunk of the car still worked.
So I brought it back to the car manufacturing service center and they replaced the cover of the remote (price: RM34.90). They could not carve out the shape of the key though, so I had to bring it to a key duplicating shop to do it.
Felt like performing plastic surgery on my car key remote…haha.
Why are they doing this to me? July 26, 2010
Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Thoughts & Scribblings , 4comments
I received this platinum credit card in the mail today, apparently an upgrade. But I fail to understand why I am supposedly given this “privilege”. It’s not like I need it.
It’s not like I’m spending millions or thousands of ringgit every month.
It’s not like I’m raking up a lot of interest too, since I pay my credit card bills in full every month.
So is the bank opening up a brand new market for SAHMs with platinum credit cards?
Backseat seatbelts a farce??!! July 23, 2010
Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Thoughts & Scribblings , 1 comment so far
As I was waiting for the traffic lights to turn green today, I was distracted by some motions going on in the car beside me.
When I turned to look, I was horrified to see two kids, who could not have been more than 2 or 3 years old jumping around in the back seat of the car, totally oblivious to the fact that their lives were in danger. There were two adults in the car, one was the driver, and the other the co-driver. And from where I was, it appeared that the two kids at the back were *attacking* the two adults. Kid number 1 wrapped her arms around the neck of the co-driver and kid number 2 pulled at the driver’s hair. When the car started moving, the kids did not stop their antics. In fact, I saw the kids’ legs dangling high up in the air while he/she grabbed onto the headrest of the co-driver seat.
I hate to think what could have happened if one of the kids did something to distract or disturb the driver. What if the driver was *accidentally* strangled by the kid, or (shudder) what if one of the kids suddenly decided to cover his Daddy’s eyes?!!
Whatever happened to the ruling for ALL backseat passengers to “buckle up or else”? What on earth happened to the enforcement of this ruling?
True, those kids would have been too small for the seatbelts to fit them, but surely they could have been in toddler car seats? Many parents cite costliness as the reason why their kids are not strapped into carseats, which leads me to think that our dear government should give this serious thought.
How about tax relief, or better yet, tax rebate, for infant/toddler seats in cars? Come on, Mister Prime Minister, we ALL know very well that the RM1,000 tax relief per child is not sufficient! The government should do something about the child car seat *problem* pronto…something that would *entice* the citizens of Malaysia to look at safety for their kids in a different light.
What good is the tax relief for purchase of books (to cultivate the reading habit amongst our future generation) and the tax rebate for purchase of computer (to promote information technology awareness in the community), if the lives of the future generation is in jeopardy?
I shouldn’t feel entirely guilty but… July 21, 2010
Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Thoughts & Scribblings , 1 comment so far…I still feel that it’s partially my fault.
SIGH.
You see, as I was mopping the floor today, my mop hit the skirting of my timber stripped floor, and onto the floor jumped a very tiny black lizard. It didn’t crawl away quickly like what I would have expected of a lizard, instead it lay there on the floor, looking quite stuck.
I figured it could be because the floor was damp, from the mopping, and the lizard was waiting for the floor to dry before it made its escape.
I turned on the fan and allowed the floor to dry.
But even after the floor had dried, the tiny lizard still lay there, motionless. I wasn’t even sure if it was alive or dead.
Since I am terrified of lizards, I thought I would use a rolled-up newspaper to sweep it out of my house. So I rolled up some old newspaper, opened the main door of the house, took a deep breath and touched the lizard gently with the newspaper.
It moved a little bit, which showed it was still alive.
Then I swept it towards the door a little bit more. Took a few sweeps for it to move, really. Poor little guy must have been hanging on tightly to the floor.
At times, the lizard flipped upside down and looked like it was going to escape. I screamed a little, then it flipped itself back upright.
Slowly I swept that lil fella out of the house. But then I noticed it became quite motionless.
That’s when I thought it had died. And then the guilt set in. 
But it was something I had to do. Rest in peace, little lizard…
A year has passed… July 16, 2010
Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Close to Heart & Home, Thoughts & Scribblings , 1 comment so far
Hit and Run in the Morning July 15, 2010
Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Thoughts & Scribblings , 4commentsJust a small accident, really…but the shock of it all is appalling.
See…this is what my side mirror SHOULD look like:
It has a nice chrome shell, that gives my car its unique look, i.e. can spot a mile away.
But this morning, as I was driving my boy to school, I used my usual route…I drove along Green Lane, and right about reaching the area of the *gostan* flyover, a motorcycle appeared out of nowhere, sliced so ridiculously close to my car on the driver’s side, hit my side mirror and bent it outwards, causing the chrome shell to go flying onto the road! My son exclaimed, “Mommy, that motorbike HIT your car!”
Now if you know Green Lane in the mornings, it is very congested with traffic. There was no way I could stop. The only thing I managed to do after recovering from initial shock was to mentally note down the bike’s number. Yes, he bent my side mirror and rode off in a hurry. Come to think of it, it’s a good thing he didn’t lose his balance from the impact and fall off the bike!
So after the incident-accident, this is what my side mirror looked like…all botak and unappealing:
I wasn’t even sure I could get the same chrome cover to replace it, and I wasn’t confident of retrieving the chrome shell that fell off.
But on the way back, as I was driving in the opposite direction, I spotted the chrome shell placed on the side of the road. So I purposely drove over and took the shell back. One of the hinges was already broken, but I managed to fix it back on my side mirror anyway. That should do for now.
Thank goodness there was a good Samaritan out there who took a risk and picked up my chrome shell and placed it at the roadside. Thank you, whoever you are… 
The Cruel Game July 7, 2010
Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Thoughts & Scribblings , 3comments
The World Cup 2010 has certainly dished out serving after serving of delicious meals of football, both for the avid football fans as well as for those once-in-a blue-moon watchers. While some matches have ended in clinical expected results, some have been shocking and depressing to say the least. Shed tears, hands on heads and finger-pointing have been by-products of this wonderful game we call football.
And while most of the time enjoyable, because, really…at the end of it, it’s only a game…we simply MUST admit it’s a darn cruel game. That’s what my hubby said as I expressed the unfairness of it all, as Uruguay marched away with victorious chants, beating Ghana in the quarter-finals on penalty shootouts.
All this after Ghana ALMOST scored in the added time of extra time. All this after Ghana was awarded a penalty in the final few seconds of extra time, and unluckily failed to convert. Oh, my heart truly goes out to Asamoah Gyan…imagine how he must have felt.
But then that is just an example of what the game of football brings to us, is it not?
Excitement.
Hope.
Then heartache….for some.
And joyful celebrations for the rest.
Kind of like what life does to us sometimes, doesn’t it?
There are times when we give our all, our 300%, expecting to receive a matching reward, if not something that would exceed our expectations. But life CAN be cruel, just like football CAN be cruel. And we sometimes do not get what we deserve, instead we are shortchanged and someone ELSE who does not deserve it, gets everything we deserve.
Just when we think we are about to grasp and own that final victorious second, it is painfully snatched away from us.
And that’s what life’s like….sometimes.
Is life imitating art? Or is it the other way round?
…something to think about while getting ready for the final 4 matches of the World Cup, huh?
It’s now Shell V-Power 97! June 25, 2010
Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Thoughts & Scribblings , 2commentsI’d been hunting for the Shell V-Power racing fuel for my car for a few weeks now. And I couldn’t find any Shell petrol station in Penang that still carried it.
Finally, I found out today that Shell had recently launched Shell V-Power 97, which replaces the Shell RON97 fuel. It’s supposed to have added and better fuel performance (just like V-Power) but at the RON97 price of RM2.05 per liter. It was confusing because the V-Power logo is red but the pump handles are green. A bit contradictory to me.
Picture credited to and adapted from Shell Malaysia
Looks like no more Shell V-Power Racing for my car from now on…unless I go to the Klang Valley or Johor, that is…cuz some stations there still sell the Shell V-Power Racing fuel.
The World Cup is all different now… June 24, 2010
Posted by The Giddy Tiger in : Thoughts & Scribblings , 1 comment so far
…and I’m not even referring to the fact that my beloved France is out of the competition. Monsieur Domenech team’s clearly needs a HUGE change…but let’s not get into that, shall we?
We’re now heading towards the end of the 3rd round of 16 matches, and guess what…I haven’t even sat down to watch an ENTIRE match live. No kidding.
Yup, things have definitely changed in more ways than one.
- Matches at 7p.m. are not conducive for watching because it coincides with my dinner time. We like to keep the TV switched off as far as possible during dinner so as not to encourage having TV dinners. But we sometimes relent, just like the other day when there were 3 or 4 goals scored by Portugal during our dinner.
- It’s hard to watch the 10p.m. matches too, because most of the time, I only get to take a shower after the kids are in bed around 10p.m. After that, there is some washing up to do and preparation for the next day. By the time all is done, it’s already sometime into the second half. I only rush to watch the repeat of goals if I hear the commentator scream, “Goaaaaalll!!!!!!”
- Let’s not start on the 2:30a.m. matches. Many a time, I have told myself I will wake up to watch, but that has never happened. Oh wait, I did wake up for that England match and watched it for like 10 minutes, but that was about it. Sleep is so much more important now…well, not till the knockout rounds, that is.
- I still haven’t got into the whole ”waka waka” groove yet. Ricky Martin’s “Go Go Go, Allez Allez Allez” from World Cup 1998 was so much more catchier and easier to sing. I can now only manage 4 lines of the Waka Waka song, ending with “It’s time for Africa”
Little Miracles
Our Journey of Love
