Time to adapt, time to change..

Our recent petrol price hike threw most of the people into frenzy when the price of petrol increased 78 cents causing our usual cost of 1.92 cents/litre to 2.70 cents/litre! Initially when the announcement was made, it didn't trigger me that much since I know there's nothing much I can do about it but to get hit by it.

So I just lengang lengang and drove back to Penang from Kulim after work and then suddenly it came to me.

The sight of a huge overcrowded traffic was right in front of me and caused a standstill for almost an hour. The usual ride from Bukit Jambul to Queensbay that took only 15 minutes had taken me an hour to reach Queensbay that day.

I wonder what caused that traffic and behold, I saw: 2-3 stretches of cars tailing out from a petrol station a few metres away queueing to pump petrol! The queue was like 50 - 100 metres away from the station! And if you are familiar with the roundabout located in Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah (I hope I got the name right...), there are about 4 petrol stations located at the vicinity! The whole roundabout was at a complete standstill due to the overwhelming traffic that was going to pump petrol.

After a few days, I started to receive forward emails that propagate the falsehood of the government, some research about oil-producing countries against the petrol pricing, how we can boycott from Petronas to pump their petrol, how to maximize the total petrol you paid for and etc.For once, I think that this petrol price hike did served its purpose. Why?

1) There are basically too many cars on the road and most of them only holds 1 passenger.I guess we are too pampered in a situation where most families are able to own more than 1 car these days.Some of them basically needs the car for the means to work.That's totally a credible reason in buying a car.

However, most families are so blessed (I won't use the word pampered since I want to be gracious..:p) that every members owns his/her own vehicle or even shared among siblings. This is for convinience sake they say.Sayang your kids mah.Now you see lo what happens.Too many cars but too few people occupying in them.

I believe this price hike will wake some of the people up to start car pooling or actually start to make use of public transports.

2) People will start to consider on the other alternative plan: NGV (Natural Gas Vehicle)

Installing this would be a one time deal and the cost of having a full tank gas is way much lower than a full tank of gasoline.I won't go into the details on how much in comparison but it's very low lah..It's like comparing Ding Dang(50sen) with JOJO(RM2) [Those in my era surely knows these brands..hehe]..

The only con I can see from installing NGV is that most of the petrol stations in Penang Island do not have natural gas. The only petrol station that has it is in Butterworth on the way to Kulim Highway.Well..even though this may stop Penangites to consider this alternative but it doesn't mean its the same elsewhere.

Maybe one day, everyone will turn to renewable energy....be more environmental friendly..going towards solar...buy First Solar panels....hehe*

3) Makes people thinks twice before they go anywhere.

This cost hike may just cause people to change their lifestyle and to adapt with the cost incurred by cutting down their lepak frequency.Once there's a cut down on outings like that, surely they could save more money when they stay at home and read some books..or exercise..(highly not possible but it could happen!)

For what's worth, I'm not saying that this petrol increase is good which makes me very unpopular among people around me.What I'm trying to address here is simply we can't do much about it but to accept the change.Be worried or not, its not the point because the price will increase eventually in time.What I'm trying to emphasize here is that DiGi is right about its slogan, Time to Change.

Regardless of what the government promises, we should take it as pinch of salt and never put our full trust on them.Nope, not because they are corrupted or bad but plainly because there are too many factors around the world that are uncontrollable. I guess people love to blame someone else when bad things happen and never look on the positive side of life.

Lets take some time off and start to appreciate our life that God gave us. To be contented in life is one of the toughest thing to do but it's the best thing to do in order to appreciate our short span of life on earth.

The third heavens...

I took a day off from work today.

Hooray!FINALLY I got a day off to rest just to recover from work fatigue that was accumulated since last 2 weeks.Took my US counterpart out for sight seeing and food hunting on the last weekend.He(US counterpart) was so excited about Penang and durian could not stop bugging me for more authentic Penang food even during weekdays.Had to entertain him throughout his stay here and that took a toll on me since most of the time I had to drive.

So since I took a day off, I went for a movie at Queensbay with my church friends. All together 5 of us went and watched Kungfu Panda. As I was loitering around the gaming section, I met another group of my church youth group that came for the movie as well. I went to catch up with them a little and they was shocked to see their YP Chairman there when he was 'supposed' to be working!I told them that I took leave to watch movie with friends and one of them was shocked till her eyes was opened wide as if I was 'pontenging' work.

After the movie, I saw I had 2 missed calls so I called them back (Both of them are my church mates) and I found out that one of them is in the arcade zone when the other one is on the way to Queensbay to watch Indiana Jones.I thought to myself for a moment whether why is everybody coming to Queensbay today!Then as I walked around the arcade zone to greet my church mate, I met another 2 church members playing the drum game.Walau eh, got so many church members around Queensbay one!Luckily didn't bring any date with me that day or else..rumors will spread like wild fire...

I met at least 15 church members today and I got really excited about that because its like everywhere I go,I'd know someone.Felt famous for a little while.Hehe.As I enjoyed this thought, my mind soon caught focus on the thought of eternity.One day I will be amongst and together with all my brothers and sisters in Christ spending eternity together with God forever.The more I thought about it,the more excited I become.I am certain that we'll all one day meet in the third heavens whether God takes our lives first or He cames back again.


14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.[b]
15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.

1 Thes 4:14-18


I am comforted and looking forward to that day when I can be with my brothers and sisters in Christ forever.

Team Hoyt - Redeemer

I'm always motivated when I watch this short video clip of Team Hoyt competing in an Iron man Triathlon.It never fails to inspire me whenever I lacked motivation and confidence in facing my challenges.I would always remind myself that wherever I go, I have someone like Rick Hoyt (the father in the clip)that guides me and runs along with me each and everyday of my life.This 'someone' is my Heavenly Father that watches over me and never fails to be there for me when I need Him and even in times when I don't feel that He's there for me although the truth is He's still there for me.

Sometimes I felt that I'm just like the handicap son, Rick that needed his father to push me around to where I'm supposed to be heading.This video clip showed me best on what total dependence should be like when I have problem committing myself to God.Sometimes I think that I just have to let go and let God take charge of my life while I place my trust on Him and enjoys the view wherever He plans to take me to although most of the time, I couldn't let that happen.

However, this video also reflects how the gospel of Christ can be shown clearly here.We don't earn God's favor by our own efforts but rather rely on Christ's finished work on the cross to save us.There's nothing we can do to earn God's favor when everything we do is tainted with sin.The only way is to accept what God has done for us and repent of our sinful ways to follow Him.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16

P/S: If Penang Bridge run is still on this year, I might be joining it again after watching this video but too bad it's canceled..aiya..although I broke my toe nails each time, I finished the race..ish..