Malaysian Taxi Drivers Anonymous

Malaysian cabbies worse problem than dirty toilets: minister
A top minister slammed Malaysia's taxi drivers Wednesday, saying they were more of a problem for the tourism industry than the nation's notoriously filthy toilets.

A top minister slammed Malaysia's taxi drivers Wednesday, saying they were more of a problem for the tourism industry than the nation's notoriously filthy toilets.

"The complaints by tourists about the taxi drivers' behaviour are more than toilets now, so in that context the taxi drivers are worse than dirty toilets," cabinet minister Nazri Aziz said.

"People are complaining about the taxi drivers overcharging, being impolite and not using their meters, forcing the tourists to bargain with them," he told AFP.

"This is the third-world taxi driver mentality. Even in China now, taxi drivers can no longer (haggle), they just have to take the passengers, no questions asked.

"It's not that all taxi drivers behave like that, it's just a small group of them but that is already giving Malaysia a bad name," said Nazri, who is minister in the prime minister's department.

Complaints about taxis are common the world over, but it has become a hot topic in Malaysia where frustrations are vented on blog sites and in letters to newspapers.

In a survey by the local magazine The Expat last year, some 200 foreigners from 30 countries rated Malaysia the worst among 23 countries in terms of taxi quality, courtesy, availability and expertise.

The respondents lashed the fleet as "a source of national shame" and "a serious threat to tourists -- rude bullies and extortionists".

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I stole that article from MSN Malaysia (http://news.malaysia.msn.com/weird-news/article.aspx?cp-documentid=3740754)

Wow, so we actually admit our public toilets are shitty. Great news people! Malaysians have finally come to their senses and are starting to pinch their noses when entering 20-sen-per-entry toilets ( there were these automated public loos in Bukit Bintang that costed 1 buck or something right? crazy..).

I love it how we are all aware that we stink at cleaning up after ourselves after taking a dump. Fair enough. Now, all we need to do is take action. Hmm, wonder when that will be....

Endword:
This aspiring writer is sooo sick of flushing toilets for people everytime they just leave it after pissing all around the urinal. They should pay him for all he has done. Wait...that's what they pay the janitor for. To clean up after ourselves. So, if he does flush the toilet and keep the place tidy, the janitors would not have anything left to do. Bottomline, kindly keep the toilets dirty.

Encouragement in a subtle form...

Ok. Let's face it. Anyone can write something or another. Be it some factual essay (which majority of my classmates absolutely ADORE to do), a story (which require's a certain amount of creativity which most of my classmates do not have..that is not to say that I can write too...) or some informal article. But what I notice most when I write or type anything of my own, there has to be an initial feeling or passion. Hate (no...dislike is a better form, I do not hate), love or happiness. Whatever. Then only will the ideas begin to flow out and the little article becomes a little more interesting. You cannot force someone to write.

Neither can you force someone to play the piano. In this aspect, my sister has been giving me quite a lot of encouragement to open that dreaded piano once again. The beautiful and sorrowful tunes of Clayderman or Mozart can often knock on that unknown or forgotten door of music and that is when you know, music has to come out and greet you another time. Yet again.

So guys, writing will not always come out forced (except when you are sitting for an essay exam....I do not blame you...as if I would. But your English teacher would...) and there has to be a certain pre-existent feeling.

On Self Esteem

Yesterday, I had a handful of hours to my laptop and I decided..what the heck, I will browse some blogs. The blogs of notes are not really that fabulous so I took my chances..(rarely but quite frequently...there I go again..contradiction abound) and read some recently updated blogs.

I came across one that really got me thinking about writing this post. There was a post in this individual's blog that really sounded low on the self esteem side. Her mother has really high expectations of her daughter and came down really hard on her (the way I read it, well..it gave me that impression) and wanted her daughter(this girl posting in the blog) to be as good as herself (talk about arrongance). Until her younger sister came. Constantly praising her younger daughter, she compares her with the elder..this girl until she had a bout and a really bad bout of low esteem.

When looking about us in our everyday lives, I found out that this is indeed not rare. A minority (or majority) of parents expect their son/daughter to be as good or in certain cases..surpass themselves in their lives. We cannot expect everyone to be perfect. While writing all these posts, one might think that I am quite a matured guy (well..actually I like writing..or in this case typing but I am not that kind of person..yet..ask my friends...) but my behaviour can vary. I used to compared to others last time but now, my parent is more tolerable and does not compare my sis and I to others...thus making me more fortunate...unlike some people I know.

All cases of low esteem and suicidal thoughts coming right after that little 'virus' does not always blossom from finicky people who like to compare and say we must change this, we must change that..be better than so-and-so or so on and so forth. Low esteem also comes from, in some of my friends' cases...'failure' in life. Failures can vary....from examination results (which leads to some parents comparing our marks to our better peers...which I am not excluded from) and 'love' lives to severe psychological disorders which I do not know so much about...but I do know if you have the feeling that you are being psychologically affected with low self esteem..i.e. those nervosa kinda stuff..i suggest you consult a phycisian.

All I know here is this:
Do not..I repeat...no...let me say this..never ever feel that you are not good enough for anything or anyone. Everyone has a purpose to be here on Earth...be it repopulate the Earth..haha...or helping someone...lending alms..whatever. Hell, you might even be put here for the sole purpose of just making someone happy...i.e. your parents or me :). God never makes junk, He makes masterpieces...its just that people cannot see that purpose in you until much later or you begin displaying true talent in something. Let me give you and example. I think Picasso's drawings are weird. They do not capture my attention. To me those kind of drawings are just abstract 'art'. But if I tried telling that to the next billionaire who bought a Picasso drawing..(I noticed something...when an artist dies...his work becomes more famous than he/she ever was..haha) he would have scoffed at me or spat..either way. I mean...who can ever appreciate a drawing like this:
Looks scary heh? I googled Picasso in the images link and I got this. It is titled Love and War. Well..i definitely see war. It is disfigured. Severely.











My point is this...everyone is special in their own way. That is why you have to seize every opportunity life hurls at you...cocurricullar activities...relationships...studies. You have to experiment with life because in truth, it is a gamble. Franky speaking that is. Bill Gates must be a very good gambler.

On Relationships

Well, the other day I had a friend who told me that he was liked this girl very much and of course the feeling was mutual for her. So he had actually asked me what he should do about it. Imagine! Someone asked MY opinion on that kind of matters. Anyway I reasoned with him. If you both seem to like each other..why not give it a try? Well, you could try or just be comfortable with the knowledge that you both like each other and just settle for being really good friends. I mean, you both are still young and maybe you should not try something along that line so soon (I am contradicting myself..but I do not mind). But he in return said that it was either they both have a relationship or not be friends. Now this statement brought Michael Bolton's song to my mind as I pondered that statement. How can you both be lovers if not friends first? The main purpose of having a relationship...in my opinion...is because you:
1. really like that person...or adore them in any other way
2. feel that they are perfect for you...though only a minority of people get to find their perfect and superbly decorated other half
3. have been really good friends with that particular person and would like to continue your relationship to a 'higher level'. (sounds like some RPG game...)

Well, there are many other reasons to want to be in a relationship but the point is this:
In my sooo glorious and revered opinion...I do not believe in 'love' at first sight or any of that crap. I believe in really good friends but of course..a healthy start would be if you liked that person for the first sight kind of way...the way the person carries themselves, great personality...stuff like that. But not love at first sight. I prefer to call it admiration at first sight. So, to all who have the same problem with my good friend here, please be reasonable. You do not have to fall in 'love' with anyone you meet or be in a relationship sooo fast. Look before you leap and make commitments you cannot keep.