Sit back for this CNY

At the like period of the preceding years, I would have started stocking up CNY groceries, changed new notes and gotten red packets, in order to welcome the CNY festival.

For this year under the new economy, I think I have to lean to tighten my belt. Why? Simply because all the while, those extra prices of petrol, cigarette, toll, fuel, those can eat and those can't eat, had have devouring my income. So there is not much left for my reserve and so in my budget.

Some more, the pricing condition of commodities is worsened this year as reported. The prices of seafood have made a double jump. Vegetables have taken the flood's reason to cost more. One thing for sure, a dollar of today would be exchanged for lessor goods as compared to the previous year's dollar.

As I could feel with all the coolness of marketplaces this year. Chinese people are not warring anymore for CNY goods like before. One of my customers was saying that business is like erectile dysfunction and he has used to "hitting housefly at his store" this time.

Looking around, the immaterial (spiritual) moods which are more important than material (fat foods) mood is aggravated.

At first I thought that the toll agreements inked between the government and highway concessionaires would be made transparent by the Cabinet so as the toll's hike be able to be seen through with clarity. Unfortunately the Cabinet had lastly said "No" and these agreements be remained as secret. That means the government's subsidies was/is channeling to whose pocket remains unclear and is under OSA.

No "tong tong chiang" music in supermarkets? That's why MCA Youth is fighting with Recording Industry of Malaysia (RIM) and Public Performance Malaysia (PPM) over the Chinese NY song royalty issue.

It's sad that the Section 16B of the Copyright Act which was amended in 2000 to confer a new right known as performers' right, had produced many blades in a synthetic manner for cash-cow mechanisms to generate income.

Under the new section, performers should be paid royalties if their sound recordings were broadcast, performed or communicated to the public. And PPM, Music Authors Copyrights Protection Bhd (MACP) and Performers and Artistes Rights (M) S/B (PRISM) were being selected as collecting bodies.

Assuming that one has paid an Astro's subscription of which loyalties had been paid by Astro to the so called collecting body, do you think that it's fare for a restaurant to be charged with fees again for showing up the Astro's program at its premises?

Another emotional disturbance is that IRB imposes tax on allowances. Thus making employees' pocket become shrinkage.

With all sorts of these elements, lets see how far one could spend during this CNY and for the rest of 2007. May the mood of this coming CNY be less festive! For me, certainly yes!

Eschew for a moment

"Long time no see. Where have you been"? This was greeted by a familiar fish seller as I was entered the market for a regular weekly stock-up day before. I returned the greeting by telling him that I was busying in putting money into doctors' pockets for the last few weeks.

I was suffering from flu intermittently. The virus was so stubborn like a hateful spams that has refused to go away. Heeling software didn't work. It has remained its attack in between me and my wife periodically, prompting us to keep on changing doctor. Meanwhile, doctors' prescriptions didn't cure us but instead made us in a sleepy manner all the time. Probably the antibiotic-resistent bacteria had evolved, which makes tweaking our immune systems very difficult.

Most of yesterday's yesterdays and today I attempted to clear off all sort of backlogs. Now am feeling better despite few coughs persisted and at least I'm able to regain my mode to write again in this blogs-sphere.

It's been quite sometimes I was just keeping sneezing and seldom kept my eyes on what were happening within the society of these days. I wouldn't really recognize has someone was making troubles! Has someone was asking bloggers to register before you can blog?

Shall I be impressive?

During the last few weeks, with the advent of my casual days - post-retirement, there has been a tendency to relax myself as well as my wearing style. However, I found that it's sometime not my preference to wear as I like when outing.

At one afternoon, I went to shop with my wife with the maintenance of my domesticated outfit; frayed collar T shirt, nap rised short and a pair of 2 dollars saddle. I felt the delight and casualness for being at such loose apparel at the shopping mall. I was enjoyingly perceiving my sight seeing while smiling to people who had had eyes-contacted with me.

Within a moment, I strangely felt like something was going wrong. I'd noticed that most of the people who be coming from the opposite direction be throwing a glance at me as if I was so special that day. I could not figure out the odd straightaway since my heart had been soak into a happy-go-lucky enjoyment.

So I asked my wife, "Yong, am I looked handsome today, if not why so many people were used to look at me?" "Of course lah! you're wearing like a boh-thuck-cair-eh-lang (illiterate person) and no wonder people may thing of you as a snatcher, a popular skeptical icon these days." She added, "if there were anything to be happened here, you are likely to be picked amongst the first batch for questioning via cctv."

Her word was later on proved to be literal when I was supposing to make a luggage purchase. That silly salesgirl who had been keeping her closed paces to me, was having her both eyes static at me all the time, as if I was not a genuine buyer! Alamak! what 'dog's eyes see people shorter' (dogmatic) manner it was!

This has proved that it can take only moments for people to pass judgement on you with these initial impressions largely based on visual image. What I'm thinking is clothe may not necessarily 'make' the man or woman. Men with proper tied on may not necessarily having money inside his pocket. But the reality is because image talks with this advanced society, and what our image communicates can dictate the quality of the response.

For the reassessment of my thought of whether should I be impressive, I've found an answer. As professional image consultant, Sharon Moore of Image & Moore Pty Ltd once said "There're only two types of people who don't have to worry about their appearance - the very rich, and the very silly. For the rest of us, it's about managing the impact we make on others."

I think I kinder find my old man style that would probably fit the range of what's appropriated for all occasions. And it's perhaps the Charles Bronson's!