just get them through...

i have just finished reading a book on teenagers written by rob parsons.

how i wish i had the book earlier. it was well written with examples that we can easily identify with. and eerily too, since you cannot help but feel that he is talking about yours truly own experience. the best feeling is knowing that you are not alone in coping with our teenage children who never seem to stop giving us all sorts of headaches and sleepless nights with their demands, tantrums and late nights.

one of the most comforting reminders by the author is for parents (like me) who are in the middle of what seems to be a great battle (with teenage children) - one that they appear to be losing, not to lose heart and to take comfort that "this is not just you".

and also to remember that we as parents have to always be by our children's side"just to get them through" the difficult growing up years.

read this book. it will ease the pain and agony as we painstakingly guide our vulnerable teenage sons and daughters on their journey to adulthood.

what say you?

more reason to own a bike

the inevitable has happened. price of petrol and diesel has gone up - this time very, very high. i don't know the mathematics for the increase but i wish someone would take notice of idris jala's comment about world oil price level which was driven up by unreal speculation.

let us now face reality. price of other things will go up in no time. roti canai, mee goreng, nasi lemak, teh tarik, rojak will join the fray. cooking gas for sure. and many, many other things. all because of the oil price increase.

the worse hit will be transportation. for the average layman, there will be less ronda-ronda with the family. outings will have to be pre-planned to ensure the shortest route and avoid jams. however there is no compromise as far as sending children to school and then fetching them from school. bus fares will go up, no doubt about that. and so will other modes of transportation.

for me, there is a little way out of this worsening situation although i have been doing it for many years. own a bike. use it to do marketing. if possible take the bike when sending the kids to school. ride it to go to the office.

if you don't have one already, there a lots of choices in the market. don't get the big c.c. bike. get the regular kapcai. low fuel consumption, high on performance.

for me, my old faithful the honda c70 will do.

what say you?

a gem of a band in kuala terengganu

while having dinner at one of the food stalls at taman awam in the heart of kuala terengganu recently, i was impressed by a performing group who called themselves insan prihatin (picture). this group which comprises youths wowed the small crowd of spectators with their rendition of beautiful songs using the traditional gendang, kompang and gong with modern acoutics. they were very good indeed.

what amazed me most was their simplicity. they wore t-shirts and jeans. their lead singer whom i presume was their leader simply sat on a railing. the other band members sat on folded chairs and some even sat on the floor. no decorations whatsoever. nobody cares anyway because their music was just fabulous.

wish many such groups could be formed all over the country. it makes you proud just to hear them sing.

what say you?

be a little bit kedekut to beat oil price increase

everybody is talking about the inevitable - increase in oil price.

a couple of years back, driving was fun. for rm10 of petrol, one could go places. better still for diesel-run vehicle, rm10 of diesel could last for days. now driving needs thorough planning; which is the shortest route to take, is there a traffic jam which could ruin your day, etc, etc, etc. driving is no more fun since one has to glance at the petrol indicator every now and then. even the diesel vehicle owner cannot talk about fuel efficiency anymore.

whether we like it or not, sooner or later we will all have to be a little bit of kedekut in order to avoid being pokai because of the hike in oil prices. the culture of berjimat cermat has to be one of our main agendas in everyday living.

i for sure have to convince my eldest son to be more economical as far as ronda-ronda is concerned. that is very,very difficult.

what say you?

12th sukma in kuala terengganu

greetings.

just got back from kuala terengganu where the 12th malaysian games or sukan malaysia (sukma) is taking place. it was officiated by the yang di pertuan agong at the beautiful sultan mizan stadium located near gong badak on may 31st.

athletes from all the malaysian states including representatives from brunei are participating. the many sports are played at various location in the districts of terengganu such as dungun and kemaman to name a few.

it is interesting to note the official terengganu mascot which is a fish reminiscent of nemo from the film "finding nemo". this mascot is called si diman.

the next sukma will be held in the historic city of malacca in 2010. hopefully melaka will showcase its mascot (wonder what?) at the closing ceremony of sukma 12 on june 9 at the same venue.

preparation is under way for a glittering sukma 13 in malacca. surely in this intriguing historic city, sukma 13 will be one to remember!

what say you?