about credit cards...

During the times of the 1980s when Credit Cards first came into fashion, it seemed that only the rich and glamourous seemed to be able to use them on a frequent basis.

I remember one of my best friends getting her first platinum card from American Express back in 98 and it still seemed like such a luxury.

How times have changed. My dad wrote some harsh words several months ago about financial institutions - banks, and how their image has change dramatically over the years in his eyes.

An example of this would be when I canceled my Citibank card two and a half years ago. It all seemed fine and dandy till about six months ago when I was in the UK and my dad received a statement about paying my membership fees.

Being Mr. Worry, dad called me up instantly informing me off this, worried that if I don't solve this problem ASAP, I will soon be charged excess monthly.

To avoid such a scenario, I quickly resurfaced previous faxes to the bank - scanned it for emailing purposes, wrote a new letter of complaint to fax, email and POST (to be sure) to TWO different addresses and fax numbers. Such was the hassle that my father has since lost so much confidence in the banking institutions that fear strikes him as he receives any letters from them.

The second example was when I canceled my HSBC credit card a year ago. Again, because of the complexity of the system (I used to repay my mortgage through HSBC - and I have a savings account with them) I had to return to the branch office to cancel the cards.

Thinking that it has all been sorted I was shocked to receive a new statement as my second address stating I still owed them an outstanding amount of RM0.15

Knowing that if I didn't fulfill this payment and straightened out the problem I may actually owe them a total of RM60 across the period of one year - I stormed straight to my hometown branch and gave their staff a rightful bullocking.

It turned out that when I closed my account - by some default I had owed them that measly amount. It started to give me the impression that banks WERE really baying for our blood. That their function of existence was really to suck us dry off our money...

"With Great Power comes great responsibilities..."

... as Peter Parker once said. This saying has never weighed more on my mind than ever before.

With more education and more real life experience, expectations of life start to slowly creep into my schedules.

I must admit that I have led a colourful life so far, almost achieving most of the things I had never dreamt of before, but as one cyclist put it to me, " What goes down, must come up" - implying that whatever downhill exhilaration that we encounter, there is bound to be a taxing uphill task sooner or later.

Sometimes when you have reached a certain achievement, there is much more to lose in life and this makes you wish that you never exceeded expectations so far and that life could have been much more simpler had we stayed status quo.

But then again as I always state, what is the point of living if we don't strive to improve.

Like our Andersonian motto - I think life should be "Usaha Hingga Jaya"...

Football Predictions

OK, since this request has been put in since my Euro 2008 predictions, here are the predictions for the 2008/09 season*

Simple one to start - who will win the league?
Not really a simple task to predict, as the top four teams look juicy. But, I'll have to choose Liverpool. Reason is because they have got a rated striker in Robbie Keane to partner Torres - which would possibly mean all those draws last season could be turned into wins.


Which team will go down with Hull and Stoke?
I would say West Brom as all three teams promoted last season don't really give me the confidence of lasting the distance. Also, if the league was of 17 teams, the bottom three may be Sunderland, Wigan and Bolton and they look to me to have too much experience amongst them to fail over the three promoted teams. Having said this, I actually hope Bolton go down as I can't stand them.


And will either of those two beat Derby's 'total'?
Sadly, because of the class of the top four and the next six after them - Everton, Villa, West Ham, Spurs, Blackburn and Citeh (notice I have not included Newcastle in this group) the league seems to be split in two sizes: the big teams and the average teams. Thus YES it is very possible that the bottom three would not be able to gather enough points amongst each other to beat Derby's dismal record.


How many points will Liverpool finish behind the champions?
As I said in the first question - I predict Liverpool would win this year, but I expect it to go right down to the last 3 matches with all the top four actively involved.


First manager to go?
I don't think the predicted bottom three would fare any better with new managers - they probably need new budgets, so it would have to be one from the other 17. Looking up the ladder where the pressure is bound to be greatest - i predict one of the newbies, Paul Ince.


Will Cristiano Ronaldo be that good again?
No.
1. Because he will miss the first part of the season,
2. Because after last years glory, there won't be much motivation,
3. After the summer speculations, his heart would clearly be not into the job as before and
4. I just can't bear another 'C. Ronaldo' season.


Will Mark Hughes do a better job than Sven?
No. I see Mark Hughes as a great manager, but then again if you are not in the top four, the foundations are not strong enough and with the turmoil surrounding Citeh, I don't see him succeeding where Sven has not really failed.


Which newcomer will have the biggest impact?
Samir Nasri. A lot of people forget that Arsenal have purchased a potential gem in Nasri. Didn't impact Euro2008 much, but then again which of the French team did?


And which one will flop horribly?
There is not much choice here as the transfer market has been relatively silent this season compared to the previous one. So, I probably have to choose a striker - since they are usually judged harshly by the goals scored, so it's Jo for Man Citeh.


Who has the best chance of cracking the top four?
Looking at the squads, I would actually say Aston Villa - they have a great English 'backbone' and players have been in the Premiership for sometime (except in defense) compared to the teams around them. I hate to say this, but they could quite possibly slip pass Arsenal for fourth spot.


Which transfer saga will be boring us all this time next year?
Hopefully for the last time - Christiano Ronaldo finally shipped to Real Madrid. And Didier Drogba to Italy.



*bear in mind this was typed out on 13th August 2008 - there may be additional changes in three weeks time!
Note: Questions taken from the Football365 website

Wilderness

There comes a time when we need to reassess our targets and the path in which we are heading there.

For many years, I have been lost in the wilderness wondering where my future was.

Funnily by taking a step back, I seem to have taken two steps forward.

Of course this view may very well be temporary - things always looking different in hindsight. Sometimes, we benefit from this view, but we mustn’t live too far back on past glories.

I figured that over the last two years, I have frequently assessed and reassessed my position. There were times that I wondered where I would be and what I could have done better.

So, it's like what one of my friends told me, if we seem to be stuck in a rut, why not make the most of it and learn from being in this rut.

This is why I have taken the opportunities to add further value to myself as I enjoy my time over here in London - travel lots, study whenever I can and build up my experiences as I go along.

Now that sounds like a great plan!*



*that is until I decide to re-assess and change my targets again.

Grumpy

As we grow old, we tend to get grumpier.

We tend to get more critical in our analysis and sound out inefficiencies in society.

One school of thought is that the world is becoming more dangerous, with all this reporting of rape, murder, robbing, etc.

Another school of thought is that the world has always been this way - just with the benefits of modern media, people have become more aware of their surroundings.

It could also be the possibility that before we achieved a level of optimum efficiency, we were more engrossed in attaining that level - and once we do, we start pointing out the previously lesser negatives. Humans also tend to be more attentive to the happenings from the 'supastar' culture.

Example - there have been quite a number of stabbings occurring in London the last couple of months or so. Then suddenly, a relative of an actress gets murdered and all the press are out on their feet screaming for reform. Sorry to the relatives but I hope to be excused for being cynical with the press attempts to sensationalise.

So then as I was speaking to this colleague the other day, he was telling me of his grandmother's saying, "What the young people really need today is another world war to whip some sense in them!"

Now, I won't be one to advocate a world war, but what she says does make sense - in times of peace, people tend to start picking up on other races, religions and political associations. But once we get involved in a war - all types come together as ONE to defend the country.

This does not only apply to England, but probably Malaysia as well...



... how can we make everyone be more selfless and look at the bigger picture?