Kindess To Strangers

This morning I took the train like any other workday, pushed between people but it isn't as bad as the later train that I normally take as many people have probably just left their homes or woke up. There was space all the way until Pantai Dalam when it really becomes full but that is not what I am writing today about.

An unusual number of people embarked the train from the Petaling Station which would normally add less than three or so per coach. The shuffle in positions meant that I ended up two places deeper into the coach though for the better as I can now breath easier without the need to actively keep a space between me and the young lady in front of me who seem to have no problems falling into a guy, hence not holding to any of the bars.

Anyway, a middle-aged man came on and eventually stood behind me in which he tapped gently on the my shoulder. I turned to look at him and took off my right earphone which was nearest to him*. He spoke gently asking about where to take the train to Nilai. I answered him a short 'KL Sentral' of which he ahh-ed in understanding, saying that there is where he should take the next train. I nodded and he thanked me.

Now, perhaps that is nothing new to all of you but somehow I felt like I was being impolite to the man for just giving him a short 'KL Sentral' answer without telling him which way would the train be going.

Throughout the rest of the trip, I wrestled with the thought that perhaps I have been pretty aloof and decided to explain to him better once we get off the train. It eventually arrived at KL Sentral of which he asked where are we of which I answered him again, 'KL Sentral'. This time I pointed to him that he should take the train going towards Mid Valley and Seremban, whilst we waited for the stuck door to open (everybody ended up going out using the next door).

As I walked up the stairs, I couldn't but help to look back and search for him. The man stood at Platform 4, probably waiting for the train which would bring him to Rawang instead or for the mob to go up the escalator before taking it. Either way, I stopped at the stairs, beckoned to him to go to the other side of the platform where 5 and 6 were, of which the latter would go to Seremban, hence the direction he was heading to. He seemed to have nodded though the look on his face seems to be somewhat slow in registering.

As I queued to touch my TnG card to exit the platforms, I heard the announcement that of the arrival of the train to Seremban and I wondered if he managed to get on it.

To many of you, perhaps this story is nothing but a boast of my supposed 'kindness' but every time I think about it, perhaps it's the least that I could do to pay my 'debt' to people whom had been kind to me in the past.

Or perhaps the following verse in the New Testament was what that prompted me to care if he got on his way to Nilai or not:

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it (Hebrews 13:2).

No one knows for sure in this cynical and impersonal world of ours but personally, I would like others to show me the same kind of consideration should be in the same shoes.

It's not about trying to get Brownie points from the Big Man Upstairs, either.

Somehow I just felt like doing it.

Who Dares Wins

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warefare brought my attention the above motto from the British Special Air Service regiment (SAS). Playing as a British SAS operative in this excellent game that I rate above Crysis, I became somewhat enamoured by the team's efficiency and organisation that I began reading up on them. Apparently the SAS was formed during the WW2 under the directive of then then Prime Minister Churchill for special operations behind enemy lines. They were so succesful that Hitler once commented that the SAS must be destroyed in order to tip the balance.

The motto came from a Latin origin, [i]qui audet adipiscitur[/i] and was first used by the SAS. I suppose what it meant is that being special operations in nature, the SAS are required to do unconventional work in enemy territory which I'd imagine would be important enough. I'd imagine if they don't [i]dare[/i], then nobody wins.

A good motto to live in life with but it has to be applied at the right times of course. Hardly proper if you're up against odds that you know is impossible to beat - I'm pretty sure the SAS would fallback and try to formulate something else if they get overwhelmed in numbers. Getting killed in the line of duty due to stupidity and foolish bravura is not an option.

In life I'd imagine it'll also mean fighting for your rights. As is going in the country now, if nobody dares to speak up on the petrol hike, we all lose. Perhaps it resulted in the weird punctuality of the KTM trains in the past five days. Took the train three days this week (more on that later) and in five times so far, they arrived right on the dot or just a minute or two later.

Amazing stuff considering that the KTM is notorious for being overcrowded and rarely on schedule. We'll just see what happens in the next few weeks. Occurences of more than 6/10 will be a remarkable improvement.

As for the other two days, took the LRT thanks to another stupid puncture on my left back tyre.

Now I'm quite sure some pothole or somewhere are nails to catch the unsuspecting. It was fine when I took the car on Wednesday but was flat on Thursday morning, so it's probably the KTM station parking area. But that doesn't seem to explain how I got two front flats the first time though.

Anyway, gotta get it fixed on Saturday morning.

Still, sometimes you dare, but lose. It's a part of life really as nobody wins forever. Going into a fight expecting to win doesn't justify the motto though, just that only those who dare, will have a chance to win. Those who don't dare will lose for sure. Sometimes you gotta stop dreaming and start trying to make it real, otherwise you won't know if it's a dream or a reality.

Who Dares Wins.

My favourite new motto after '

Double Bogey

It was a long day today for me as I followed the Technical Consultant and the Business Development Manager to a POC (Proof of Concept) demo downstairs from our office to an ISP to showcase the ability of our network appliance to do traffic shaping and probably help to develop new subscription package as well.

Came home around 10:30pm - thought I've missed the last train but the next one came at around 10:06pm at KL Sentral, giving me just some 7 minutes of waiting time. They were also showing Final Fantasy VII : Advent Children on the telly, probably on TV3, making it la rather 'enjoyable' waiting period.

Arrived at Subang station around 10:30pm and was looking forward to that McDonald's Mcvalue meal as I was hungry like mad and just plain relieved that the day is over.

Got into the car, strapped in my seat and started driving home.

Or rather, tried to drive home.

You see, the front two wheels of my car suffered punctures again. Came out of the car and had a look and I can't believe myself. How exactly did a puncture happen to both tyres at the same time?

I suppose that's nothing unusual being that sometimes it does happen to the best drivers out there. Nails, screws et al, get punched into the tyre and voila, flat.

Now here's the bit that got on my nerves:

Both my left sided tyres were also punctured on Monday evening. Noticed this after going out for a dinner and on my way back to the car, a guy who was also walking to his parked next to mine pointed to the wheels, mentioning that it was flat.

I pumped some air into the tyres using the portable pump, thinking that it was probably a case of being my luck to have the tyres go flat like that. Drove all to the nearest petrol station to have the tyres filled to the correct amount of air pressure and went home.

The next day, it was flat.

I was going to be really late for work anyway and you can't trust the KTM to arrive right on time, so I called in to ask for an emergency leave. Being still under probation, it will be an unpaid leave. Damn.

Drove to the nearest tyre service centre to have the tyres checked and hopefully fixed. The mechanic took out the tyres and knew immediately from experience what to look for. They found two nails some 10cm long embedded into the tyres, straight down.

Honestly at that point I could only consider the probably of foul play.

Surely my parking outside the kerb of the housing area has nothing to do with this - it was out of the driveway's... way and was away from the house.

Well then, finally got it fixed, parked at Carrefour and arrived at the office at 1:30pm.

And just now, again.

KTMB, if you're reading this, you have one angry customer here. Probably not your fault since you don't hire people to go hammer nails into tyres (trying to keep the station running is already hard enough) but that wasn't supposed to happen. Add that to the 'sterling' effort of keeping to the travel schedule, who can't be more pleased?

And to whoever did this, your comeuppance will come.