Marsha Maung:: Freelance graphic designer and writer

The price of petrol goes up…once again! Accordingly, Malaysians enjoy quite cheap petrol prices compared to many developed countries. But still…as a citizen who is ENJOYING the slight advantage we have over other developed nation, it still hurts like mad to know that the price of petrol will be hitched up another notch and we’ll all have to prepare ourselves to pay more for….basically everything! From chicken to computer mouse, from hamster food to CDs. the cost of transporting goods will go up and the consumer bears the brunt of this very cruel joke.

But this is life….but I rather enjoyed the article in today’s The Star on the rising cost of living.

Global Cost of living statistics

Accordingly, Tokyo and Osaka are among the most expensive cities to live in; but the quality of their life is very high. I know we’re heading in that direction although we’re not as ‘cheap’ like Paraguay (which is the cheapest city in the world). I heard that ‘some’ Indonesians need only spend about RM1.00 (USD$0.25) a day to keep a family of four alive! Amazing, isn’t it? All they get to eat is vegetable of the second-rate variety together with rice provided by the government to poor families…and viola, four heads are fed.

And also my sponsored child who lives in Hotan, Xinjiang, China and his family survive on RM50 a month…which works out to be RM1.66 a day. But their lifestyle is unenviable. There’s also a friend of mine who prefers to take a bus to work (I don’t like this idea at all because I hate smelling other people’s armpits whenever they raise their arms to hold the banister screwed to the ceiling of the bus!! Eugh!) instead of driving. He owns a very nice car (not your conventional Malaysian car, ok?) and keeps it safely at home while he jumps into a ‘sardine can’ every morning to work?

But my friend’s decision is actually very sensible. Sitting over cappuccino, he worked out how much he actually saved by taking the bus. He also worked out the many benefits of waking up early to catch the earliest possible bus, walking to the bus stop, reading while waiting for the bus, and getting home dog-tired and sleeping early…and I am like….mmmm….that’s interesting. On the flipside of having to cramp one’s body into a moving sardine can, you get to live a healthier and cheaper lifestyle. I guess if you looked at it that way, it is KINDA great to take the bus to work, huh?

Back to point in contention…..a price rise like this that affects the overall cost of living in a developing country like Malaysia is inevitable. We can’t stay cheap forever and change is unavoidable. But who says we have to smile while ‘change’ comes bossing us around every now and then.

I was reading the papers today (which is rare because I think newspaper is a bearer of bad news) and read something that struck me as ironic. Remember the song ‘ironic’ by Alanais Morisette some eons ago? That song about how you find a fly in your Chardonay, rain on your wedding day, a man who was afraid to die die in his first plane ride…etc?

Well, today, a cancer patient died on his way to the hospital. It’s probably like God telling him, “Hey, here’s a gift from me to you. Die quickly instead of slowly”.

Cancer, as we know, is a very slow and cruel killer. If one was to die, one would rather it be quick and relatively painless. Well, for it to be completely painless would have to mean that you die when you’re already dead. Make sense? No? Too bad. But the thing is that if human beings had a choice between dying of cancer or dying in a car accident, I suppose many would rather die in a car accident. Choi Kor Lei Tai Kat Lai See (Cantonese Touch Wood)…I know.

But suppose this man had a chance to live? I wonder what the report would say after the checkup? Would the doctor say, “Mr. so-and-so, sorry but we made a really stupid mistake. There’s nothing wrong with you. The report we gave you belongs to someone else”.

But I guess we’ll never know now since he’s dead before he made it for the checkup. Ironic, eh?

His name was Fleming, and he was a poor Scottish farmer. One day, while trying to make a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog. He dropped his tools and ran to the bog.

There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a slow and terrifying death.

The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman's sparse surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved.

"I want to repay you," said the nobleman. "You saved my son's life."

"No, I can't accept payment for what I did," the Scottish farmer replied waving off the offer. At that moment, the farmer's own son came to the door of the family hovel.

"Is that your son?" the nobleman asked.

"Yes," the farmer replied proudly.

"I'll make you a deal. Let me provide him with the level of education my own son will enjoy. If the lad is anything like his father, he'll no doubt grow to be a man we both will be proud of." And that he did.
Farmer Fleming's son attended the very best schools and in time, graduated from St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London, and went on to become known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin.

Years afterward, the same nobleman's son who was saved from the bog was stricken with pneumonia.

What saved his life this time? Penicillin.

The name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill. His son's name?

Sir Winston Churchill. 
  
What goes around comes around.
Work like you don't need the money.
Love like you've never been hurt.
Dance like nobody's watching.
Sing like nobody's listening.

Things I learnt after moving out of the safe confines of in-laws’ home and my own home.

1. When using plastic gloves to wash dishes, you lose the use of your touch (feel) faculty. Use eyes when washing dishes.

2. Dust is not only on your PC. Dust is EVERYWHERE.

3. Ants are hateful creatures. Worse than vultures! And worse yet, they are also very vengeful. Kill one hundred of their brothers (or sisters), a thousand of their kind will come raid your kitchen and dustbins. Thankfully, ants are not very smart creatures. They don’t know and can’t remember what a mortein (insect killer) can looks like.

4. It takes so painfully long to cook, and very short time to eat (spill, throw, stuff in fridge)

5. Each component in a cuisine (albeit dish) is delicately handcrafted by an art master. Read: Have to cut carrot, potato, onion, garlic, vegetable, and whateverelsethereisinthedumbdish each one individually one meh? Cannot cut all at one go?? Someone should design something like this.

6. There’s a very important reason why knives are made sharp – they CUT!!! Wash and use carefully.

7. Clothes don’t wash, dry, fold and return themselves to closet without human intervention

8. The toilet don’t flush, wash and clean itself. Keep soap at safe height.

9. One can actually get bored of canned food. (amazing discovery here. I thought we could actually feed the kids canned food until they are 18)

10. Food doesn’t grow in fridges and freezers.

If girls, particularly teenagers, are allowed to idolize female singers or actresses, how come male are called FAGS and other unkind names when they tell others that they idolize a particular male singer or actor? Females can obsess over female idols and yet when males do it, they get the ‘eye’, you know what I mean?

I idolize female singers and actresses all the time, young or old alike and shamefully, I visit some forums on these actresses too – just to find out inside news about these people. Nosy Parker but I am not a lesbian. In fact, even if I WAS a lesbian, what in the world is wrong with that? Lots of people are like that and we should never be judged because of our sexual preference. I like Angelina Jolie, Michelle Yip, Maggie Cheung Man Yuk, Charmaine Seh, Charlize Theron….blah blah blah…does THAT make me a lesbian.

I think it’s wrong for people to think that it’s OK for girls/females to have idols and whenever a male have a male idol, they’re not straight. My husband used to ADORE George Michael (who happens to be gay, just a coincidence, I assure you) when he was young. He collected all CDs, posters and everything he could get his hands on and I personally don’t think that gay-ish. I think it’s called modeling after someone you admire. Admiring someone is always good and always natural.

And besides, I feel very strongly about people who have prejudicial thoughts against Gays and Lesbians. It’s not their fault that they are attracted to the same sex! They have no control over this. I can say this very frankly because I used to be very good friends with guys who are gays. In fact, I had a crush on one of them, he told me he was gay and then we became sort of bestfriends! Seriously. He confided in me his problems with the REST OF THE WORLD who considers him a queer (including his own parents) and treats him coldly and unkindly. I think it’s unfair.

I am strong believer of ‘personal choice’. in this case, whether a person likes the opposite sex or the same sex, it’s not our business to judge. It’s their inborn preference. And as mentioned, they don’t have any control over it. You cannot simply tell yourself to like the opposite sex and viola, you like the opposite sex? You don’t have a treatment for these kind of things. it’s inborn. It’s hormonal. If there’s anyone to blame, it’s God. I don’t mean to be disrespectful but hey, he’s our maker and he gives us whatever we have today. There must be a reason why he did the things he did, the way he did it, right?

And back to the point, males can have and should have male idols too. I mean, this is part and parcel of life and it’s natural. When I admire a male actor or singer, I think he’ll look good in my bed (AHEM!!! Cough, Cough!). If I admire a female singer or actress, I like her and wish that I can be like her (or whatever she projects to the rest of the world), I respect her and thinks she rocks.

Plain and simple. So, if this rule applies to the females, why not males?