The stairs are free but some prefer to use the crowd-filled elevator.

The stairs are free but some prefer to use the crowd-filled elevator.

I read this somewhere in The Star newspaper but I can't remember who wrote this. I think it was some campaign to promote exercising.

Yes, I find it funny that there are people who prefer to wait and wait and wait for the lift instead of using the stairs to climb just one floor up.

Especially in that College X where I have once worked before, I have seen students using the lift just to go one floor up or one floor down when the stairs are just so nearby!! If you are using the lift to get to the 10th floor, then it's ok. But if you are using the lift to get to the next floor, I feel like smacking my head!!

I don't like using the lift because I am paranoid of germs. Imagine especially if someone with TB sneezes/coughs in the lift. Wow, if that happens you can't escape from it. LOL!

In fact, I have always used the stairs to climb to the 6th floor (almost on a daily basis) in one particular place I have worked before because there are always dozens of people waiting for the lift. Instead of waiting, I just climbed the stairs.

So, use the stairs! Exercise your legs. It's a free gym!

Do we need to go to tuition?

I noticed that many parents nowadays send their kids to tuition centres? Do we need to do that? I'm never a fan of tuition centres. To me, going to tuition is useless and a waste of time.

I have seen young children as young as Standard 1 students being sent to tuition centres. I wonder what their parents are doing?? Can't they teach their own children simple arithmetic or simple English grammar or simple Bahasa Malaysia? Or maybe these parents themselves are uneducated.

In my opinion, opening up a tuition centre is very profitable because many parents today are fond of sending their children to tuition centres. If they are so lazy to teach their own children simple Standard 1 lessons, let me do it for them by charging them money.

Mullet!

Only those who have lived through the 80s will know what a mullet is. Mullet is a type of hairstyle which is short in front and long at the back. Many considered mullet as the worst hairstyle of all time. LoL! But I think if you style it nice enough, it will be cool.

Yes, I once had a mullet when I was a kid in the 80s. Short at the front and some long trail of hair at the back. If I were to have this hairstyle again today, many will frown at me. Yet, there are still people having this hairstyle. Who? You guess it. It's the Ah Bengs!

Now I will take an opportunity to show you what a mullet is and one of my favourite 80s songs of all time (Icehouse - Electric Blue). I wish musicians would produce good pop songs today as in the 80s. Icehouse is an Australian new wave/synthpop band. Pop bands are very rare in the 90s and today. Instead what we have today are boybands who don't write their own songs or play any instruments on their own.

In those days, the keyboard players played an important role in pop bands because the 80s is synonymous with electronic pops! You will also find that the keyboards in those days are like guitars which you can hang over your shoulder.

Let's go back to the days when we have genuine pop bands who play pop songs! And mullets! Watch out for the lead singer and the drummer with mullets.

The Flu

Influenza (flu) is infection of the lungs and airways with one of the influenza viruses. The flu is not the same as the common cold. The flu is a more serious infection such as the swine flu (H1N1) or the bird flu (H5N1).

Influenza virus is spread by inhaling droplets that have been coughed or sneezed out by an infected person or by having direct contact with an infected person's secretions. That's why I have been repeating 49 times that one should practise cough/sneeze etiquette. Please don't blame the cold weather for it. The flu is caused by a virus. I repeat, a virus.

So, what are the symptoms of the flu? Sore throat, runny nose, cough, chills, fever, body aches and pain, headache, and watery eyes. Yes, the symptoms are the same as the common cold. The symptoms for the flu could start 24 to 48 hours after infection or it could begin suddenly!

How to treat it? All you need to do is to rest adequately, drink plenty of fluids, and avoid exertion. Fever may be treated with acetaminophen (paracetamol, as it is commonly known here in Malaysia). Alternatively, the flu may be treated with antiviral drugs.

And since the flu is a virus infection, antibiotics will not cure you. Antibiotics are to be taken if it is a bacterial infection, such as a bacterial pneumonia infection.

Should I say it again? Practise cough/sneeze etiquette!

H5N1 is back

Remember SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) seven years ago? Well, it's back!

Hong Kong has confirmed its first case of human bird flu in seven years and raised the bird flu alert to ‘serious’. Read here.

A 59-year-old woman had tested positive for H5N1 bird flu after returning to Hong Kong from the Chinese mainland, and is in serious condition in a local hospital.

We just had H1N1 last year and this year we are going to have another round of flu, this time, H5N1.

Again, the worry is where did she contract the flu from? She must have got it from someone or from the birds.

And please, everyone, please practise cough/sneeze etiquette. Just imagine how H1N1 which started in Mexico could spread to the entire world. We should thank those who don't practise cough/sneeze etiquette for that.

As long as we don't observe this etiquette, we are going to face another round of influenza pandemic again.

Something was in the hotel room, I am sure

It happened way back in September 2005 when I was working as an auditor. I was sent to Sungai Petani together with my colleagues and we stayed in a golf resort for one week. I will not name the hotel. If you know Sungai Petani well enough, then you will know there is only one golf resort in Sungai Petani. Haha.

All of the rooms are designed like a chalet and it is located at the end of the golf course. From the lobby, you need to drive to the end of the golf course to reach your room. Of course you still can walk there but it is quite far. It is pretty creepy since all of the rooms (or chalets) are lined along just next to a jungle.

I shared the room with one of my colleagues and my other two colleagues took another room just next door. On the very first night after working, my colleague took a bath first. After his turn, I took my bath and he left the room to discuss work related stuff with my other colleagues. Even the toilet is creepy enough because there is a small window at the top corner facing the jungle and the window is opened. If your imagination is running wild, you can just imagine what sort of things could climb in through that window. Haha.

Good thing nothing happened while I was bathing. So, I was wiping my body getting ready to come out when I hear a knock at the toilet door. I can remember it was a loud and obvious knock. The knock was just once, "KNOCK". Thinking that my colleague wanted to use the toilet, I quickly wrapped the towel around my body and opened the door. Nobody was outside the toilet. So, I walked around the room and indeed nobody was in the room. And yes, my colleague had already left the room earlier after bathing! At that point, I had goosebumps throughout my body and I could feel some chills running up my spine. Who knocked the toilet door just now?

I began to ponder whether it was my colleague who knocked on the door and then ran away? But it was impossible. I took just 5 seconds to open the door after the knock. And the room door is not very near to the toilet door, unlike most hotel rooms where the toilet door and the room door are just next to each other.

Whatever or whoever knocked the door, I was not perturbed to it because I have bigger things to worry at that time. My work! I was working in a tight deadline environment! But I am sure that there was something in the hotel room. However, there were no other incidents for that entire week. Or could it be just a door crack? I don't think so because I can clearly remember the knock was loud and obvious as if someone has knocked on the door.

Some English radio stations in Malaysia

1. Hitz.FM (previously Hitz FM)
I have stopped listening to this radio station since 10 years ago. All they play is only the current hits. They don't play any old songs at all. But I used to like the Rick Dees Top 40 programme every Saturday back then.

2. Mix FM
I listened to this radio station somewhere between 2000 and 2006. My favourite programme is the one-hour Awesome 80s programme. I remembered that the Awesome 80s programme was on every weekday morning at 8am. Then in 2004, they shifted the programme to 8pm instead. They played 80s music throughout the day with songs from other decades sandwiched in between. I don't listen to Mix FM anymore today.

3. Lite FM (previously Light and Easy)
I began listening to Lite FM somewhere in 2007 after I was dissappointed of how Mix FM has transformed into another Hitz FM. To my delight, Lite FM also introduced the Awesome 80s programme in 2007. I remembered that they have it every Saturday morning for two hours from 10am to 12pm.

There was also a time I listened to the then Light and Easy in 2003 for just one month. At that time, Light and Easy played more music from the 50s, 60s and 70s. They even had a programme that played songs from the 1940s!

4. Red FM
I can't remember exactly when I began listening to Red FM. Maybe in 2008 or 2007. Red FM also played a lot of 80s music but now I feel like it's just like Mix FM. Sadly, they played hip hop music as well. But most importantly Red FM have this Retro Disco programme on every Saturday night. They played music from the 70s and 80s for about two hours. Mix FM also used to have this programme many years ago but I'm not sure if Mix FM still have this similar programme today.

5. Classic Rock
Classic Rock only operated from 1997 to 1998. I used to listen to it just a while and it played only rock music and mostly classic rock from the 60s and 70s. But, the Classic Rock radio station can still be listened on Astro today. On some days I would switch on the TV just listening to this Classic Rock.

6. Talk Radio
As the title suggests, it's a talking radio station. LOL. It also operated just from 1997 to 1998. I used to listen to it as well. It's more like a forum radio station with a lot of discussion going on. Of course, they played music as well. I think Talk Radio is almost the same like RTM Radio 4 (now Traxx FM).

7. Traxx FM (previously Radio 4)
This is the radio station that I listened to before 1997 and I only listened to it when I'm in the car as a small boy. It's the only English station in Malaysia, I believe, during those time. I remembered there were more talkings than music on Radio 4, just like Talk Radio.