Yeah, it's that time of the year again. Everybody stands proud, looking at the dawn of a new year and make resolutions of what to achieve and what is hoped for.
1. Change the car.
The idea is already there since September last year as my curent 'old' Saga, the last of its kind released before the people at Proton decided to unleash another that is fundamentally better looking and well-improved to the masses. To be honest my first feeling when I saw the new slick saga was that of betrayal - why didn't they release this in so much earlier?
Still, back then the feeling for a change was due to the dramatic increase in oil prices worldwide, driving petrol prices up, making smaller compact cars the one en vogue. Now that even petrol going down even further than the pre-price-spike era, I still think it would be worth it to be able to save even more.
I take the train to work nowadays but would still have to drive to site if there's work to be done at client's side but that does not happen on a daily basis. So why change the car you ask?
First, I got tired of switching gears. Yes, this coming from one guy who makes fun of cars with automatic transmission. After driving my brother's Picanto and the company's Myvi (all automatic), I felt the need to delegate the shifting duties to the torque converter and really enjoy the driving.
Secondly, this current car is at the end of the line which means that parts and sorts will get reduced bit by bit as Proton increases support for the newer models. It still worked fine of course, but I got tired of getting the starter changed (second one in one year) when it does not respond after the first turn of the key. Then the internal light gave up on me as well as the damage to the bumper that I still haven't fixed after almost five years because it works fine. I predict expensive problems in the future and I plan not to become part of that future.
So which car do I have in mind now? As of today, I'm still set on the Myvi as the car seems to have the least amount of complaints (if any) compared to our friends from Proton and is also fuel economic - lower fuel prices doesn't mean it's time to splurge; I'm like my dad, save everything you can, trouble can rear its head at any time. Also, I'm not rich, mind you so don't bother telling me about the Honda's, the Toyota's and the Suzuki's.
2. Call home at least once a month.
I admit I have been quite the naughty son when it comes to calling home to talk. I'm pretty sure Mother must've muttered in her breath once in a while about me not calling home to tell everybody how I was doing over here etc.
The thing is that I am of the 'no news is good news' camp in which I don't find the reason to talk to people about something unless its significantly important but yet Brother made a good point about just calling home to re-establish that tie.
Earlier this month I just topped up the SIM card, finding some RM37.90 left, meaning that I haven't actually made many calls since the last reload. Now I have RM 97.90 for whatever calls and probably more when I go back for CNY later.
Makes sense? Yes.
3. Visit a(nother) foreign country
Strange enough but from this 29-years of life I have only been overseas twice and both occassions were adjacent countries. The first was to Brunei Darussalam during the times when I were still a wee lad when visiting Brunei was as easy as driving for two hours down the Miri-Brunei road. Otherwise it were the prefectorial camp or for whatever reason that the family wanted to. The other happened just this August when I went with my supervisor to Singapore for a study visit.
To be honest the biggest problem with me is the expectation of going for such trips. I'd like the 6-hours trip down the highway to actually be worth something than just visiting shopping malls and looking at babes from another country. I'm not one to visit some place just to check out the buildings or food as I find all of that available in my own country as well.
"Noooo, it's different!", I hear the choruses of protest from you.
To me, time is 'short' in the sense that it passes by quickly when I'm on leisure and within those hours I'd like to have something memorable enough for me to talk about once I get back. My previous excursion was some two years ago to Langkawi with my ex-colleagues and we had a great time because there were so much to do during the whole trip and came back with plenty of mementos.
So if a trip to Phuket is all about sitting at the beach doing nothing, fine with me but don't tell me it's just to taste the seafood.
The other problem of course is financial - I happen to use cash all the time for everything I can so naturally I don't have any credit cards. I'm one of those people who believe in spending only what I have in oppose to what I will have as I am pretty reluctant to hedge the future seeing that all sorts of unpredictability can just happen on the spot. Liquid cash is what I like and as my friends normally tease - real money is the real marker of one's wealth.
Still, with the car to come, I don't think it's gonna be lavish.
4. Get (only) one credit card
Huh?
In opposition to what I have mentioned above, yes I do need a card and for a few proper reasons as well, the most important one being to pay for things I need without using cash. One such instance are the yearly Chinese New Year airplane ticket frenzy at Air Asia's ticket website. Would be proper to be able to book it myself and have the control in my own hands than to rely on someone else who might be asleep (it gets snapped up at midnight) or busy. Sometimes in the period of waiting I knew I could've done so by myself, quicker and with less hassle. After that there's the thing about paying back.
Other possible reasons include petrol in which paying with the card can be a good idea seeing that I can get reward points for every cent I spend. Accumulate and I might just get something good for free.
I would also want to get a National Geographic subscription for the year of which the easiest way to do so is online without the hassle of postal order etc.
The important part though, is to be disciplined in my spending - pay them back as soon as you spend - which is easier said than done. I have many friends who got burnt and swore off credit cards because they thought they could to control themselves.
I also have this interest of getting a Core2 processor, the iPod Touch (and iPhone 3G if they ever bring it in to Malaysia), Nvidia etc etc ...
Can I? We'll see.
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Four to start with is fine - I don't oversell my abilities.
For some interesting hopes, have a look at the non-specific ones below either for a laugh or to lend a hand...
Non-specific #1 : The first of which I cannot predict, depending on the scenario is to improve my knowledge further in the realm of networking and Linux operations. I found that in the last two months or so of my dalliance with the Open Sourced operating system that many things that is done on Linux is a lot simpler to do on it than on Windows. Furthermore, the customisability of the system is at such great variety that Windows actually looked outdated. Whilst in the process of learning all this I also garnered some information on how to work on the machine using the Unix terminal. The similarity between this and that of the networking appliances I work with at the office seems to (as the operation manager likes to say) 'jive' along well - you learn one part, it seems to correspond in some way if not whole to the other.
Non-specific #2: Have my status changed from 'available' to 'unavailable'.
Whoa, the single and desperate guy.
No I'm not - if I were I'd settle for just about anybody out there just so that I have someone.
I'd probably do this on a more indirect manner in which make more female friends and change ratio of 'success' from 0.00012 to 0.003 for example. One to not expect anything to happen unless it should, expect me to become clueless for just about most of the time but probably get the 'sign' right once somehow.
Friends would be the my favourite group of people to choose from - friends know one another's good, bad and ugly and friends accept one another's good, bad and ugly. In short, they don't pretend with one another. If you like each other regardless of the good, bad and ugly, then chances are your love is honest and very likely to stay with one another regardless of the good, bad and ugly.
Ask your friends and see how many of those previously unseen good, bad and ugly seem to appear or disappear when the chase is done ie. they turn into completely different people. I put that at the same bracket as 'cheating' by selling something you are not.
Hence I dislike making moves on that cutie I hardly know - Adibah Amin's immortal words ring true 'tak kenal maka tak cinta'.
A few friends told to 'just go out and do it'. I know it's that
So far nobody seem to interest me that much to actually cause some of that 'ache' to develop in the heart yet but who knows 2009 might be the year but don't count on it. It's not the same as going to the market to buy cabbage - pick and choose the one you like, pay and go. This 'cabbage' can and will choose who the buyer is too.
Either way, I'm not waiting for 'Miss Right' - she does not exist.
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