It was pitched dark when I stepped out of the house this morning. The fog was so dense it almost blanketed even the street lights. I wished I had my old Asics Gel Kayano with its reflective strips. I had deliberately put on my cap, just to increase my visibility. The cap was a cream coloured souvenir from the 2002 KLSE Edge Rat Race. The only other item which gave me visibility were my shoes, a white New Balance 7 series. At least the old New Balance 854 was also reflective in some ways. I liked the green fluorescence stripes on the outside edges. I used to have a Nike running shorts with a gleaming swoosh logo, but these days, I run in my pyjamas – a $10 grey Kmart fleecy top and a RM12 Jaya Jusco fleecy track pants. Much easier to run in them than put on cold gear fresh out of the wardrobe. So I ran in scenes reminiscing the set on Hounds of Baskerville. I half expected some howling dogs to come after me every time I turned into a dark corner. The palpable relief at the sight of some street lamp peeking through was actually not good either as the excitement or relief somehow generated more heat and the steamy breath further fogs up my glasses. Not only was my visibility a concern, my sight was also affected. It was only some 40 minutes into my run when sunrise made its way through the darkness. I had by then removed my glasses for wiping easily half a dozen times already. I suddenly remembered using, when I was in school, an Amway glasses cleaner which reduced fogging. Noodle soup was more manageable with Amway! When I hit the showers, I was surprised to see my clothes soaking wet. It must have been a laborious run – it was a good workout, poor conditions notwithstanding. It was worth it as somehow I am now energised to face the day’s work ahead. I wished my wife and kiddo both liked this, as I’m sure it would also give them a similar boost to the start of the day. Just for the record, the usual 8.5km route took me 2 minutes plus longer than usual. It must have been the many slowing down sessions to give the glasses a wipe. I wonder if I can pick something up to ease that, as the months ahead would not, I’m sure, be any easier.

Is something to be viewed and treated as having more value because it was purchased with money? My wife received an annoying email this morning, saying a birthday wish was appreciated notwithstanding that it was free (generated by a free card site). The word “free” was in upper case. We had a similarly annoying experience last year during Christmas. Some gifts were re-cycled and the recipient, though only a 7 year old, made a big fuss about how he thought it was a re-cycled item. I told wifey that must have been a point discussed in home of that 7 year old as I thought kids would just like or dislike a gift, regardless of whether such a gift was purchased new or re-cycled. This is especially so seeing that the re-cycled item was still nicely packed (it was never opened). If it was still a very good item and very suited to the recipient, what did it matter? It has everything to do, I think, with this materialism generated chasing of new goods. To be good, an item must be new, just hot off the oven and newly placed on the shelf. It must have been preferably, paid for by the giver. This brand of consumerism is juvenile. Like I blogged a few days ago, the gift of preparing breakfast for mom is a much better gift on mother’s day than a treat to a restaurant. If as a child I gave mom something say, a bowl of shark’s fin soup (not that I think that is something great, but just to emphasise the point) which I received from someone else but I did not eat immediately, would that bowl of soup be of less value than a bowl of the same stuff I treat her to in a restaurant? Is it any less valuable because I did not purchase it myself? Very annoying indeed, that email was.

Last night, my wife and I drove out at around 8.40pm, to pick kiddo from an Aunt’s place in Glen Waverley. She had gone there from another uncle’s house out in Maribyrnong, where we all  (including the Aunt-from-Glen’s family) spent the afternoon, after church. We had earlier been to Footscray for some very good Vietnamese beef noodles. We were supposed to yum-cha in some Chinese restaurants but it was full as it was Mother’s Day. Our drive last night took us past a nearby restaurant which looked jam-packed. “Mother’s Day”, we said to each other. When we got home around 9.30pm, wifey called Malaysia and found no one home. A call to her dad’s mobile established, of course, that they were out for Mother’s Day dinner, in a very noisy restaurant. So it looked like the occasion was a profitable one for restaurateurs not just in Melbourne but also in Klang, Malaysia. I guess commercialisation is rampant wherever you are. So it was good to receive an email this morning, saying a cousin gave her mom a present in the form of an early rise on a Sunday morning to prepare breakfast for mom. The romantic would say this is a better form of showing appreciation than joining the restaurant-going mobs. I am not quite a romantic but I’d go along with this. As a father in Melbourne, I shoulder a fair bit of the work around the house. I know if kiddo on her own, decides to take over a good part of these tasks on Father’s Day, it would be top drawer present for me – certainly better than socks! I know my wife would have appreciated that. Actually I suspect she would shudder at breakfast in bed as that runs the risk of having crumbs falling all over in the bed or the bedroom, creating even more work! So voluntary assumption of household duties, even if just for a day, would I’m sure be highly appreciated. I hope the dinners mothers were being treated to last night were really a last gift of the day, with the first being making breakfast, followed by laundry, vacuuming, toilet and bathroom cleaning. ironing, grocery shopping and sweeping the yard. I guess kids are thankful Father’s Day does not fall on a summer’s day as dads would have liked the lawn being mown by kiddo on a Saturday morning!

I don’t know if it is fair to say that when we think of what to give our children, we think of the best we can give but when our children think of their gifts to us, they think of what in their mind would be the most fun things to do together. That’s why I don’t count on waking up on Father’s Day weekend to see kiddo pushing the lawn mower along the nature strips…

This morning I caught glimpses of stories making the waves. Among them are – the Minister of Finance (Treasurer) Peter Costello is publicly fighting with the PM, his boss. He wants the PM to step down well in advance of the next election and let him become PM. He told the Sydney Morning Herald the PM is wrong to carry on. Can you imagine a senior cabinet member telling Pak Lah the same thing and more importantly can you imagine the NST or Star reporting this? That’s why Malaysia is ranked somewhere between 121 and 123 in a press freedom ranking recently published. Don’t know where Australia ranks, but I think it is considerably higher than Malaysia. There are scores of stories everyday which demonstrate the role a free press should play in a mature society.  These stories would never see the light of day in Malaysia, even assuming the journalist have the courage to try. Yet since coming over to Melbourne 4 months ago, I have been stingy on spending on newspapers. I used to read the Sun and Star everyday in Malaysia, but here I only read The Age Newspaper once a week, Saturdays, in the library. I must do something about this.

My wife and I stepped into a Nissan dealership near our home (about 20km east of Melbourne CBD) last Saturday afternoon, at around 2.30pm. We made a purchase, and yesterday (Monday) at around 5.30pm, I went and took delivery of the car. No waiting period, no registration headaches and certainly no JPJ-like pains. The registration authority here is relatively pain-free to deal with. Need a customized plate? Log-in to their website to find out the costs. No winks and nudges or secret handshakes as to who to see and payment for unlisted items. As for insurance, I went online and purchased coverage. As for the trade-in, again, I went online and cancelled the insurance for the old car. Did that yesterday and this morning, I got a reply saying my refund has been approved, and I should expect payment within 7-10 days. Cheque is in the mail for sure, but thus far, I didn’t even have to use a single slip of paper. I remember selling my car before leaving Malaysia. The buyer needed me to drive the car to his financier’s branch way out in Selayang somewhere. I then had to go see some lawyer in that area, to sign some statutory declarations. Then I was told I could only be paid at least one week later, as the registration process would take at least that long. I told the manager if it was going to take that long I wasn’t going ahead with the sale as I has some other cash buyer lined up. He then suggested a “fast-tracking” or “express” registration process. Needless to say, some payment is involved and I was asked to pay, in order to be paid faster. What the…. I said no, of course. I was leaving the country precisely because of this sort of nonsense, and I wasn’t about to leave with this lousy experience as one of the last things to remember it by. The buyer ended up paying for all these “extras” (I guess I must have sold it at a low price, or he must have liked the car very much). Anyway, this morning I drove that brand new car, but no sense of excitement there, as this was the exact same car I sold. I sort of like replaced my old car with the same model, except that here, I pay about 1/5 the price I paid for in Malaysia. Even if I allowed for the conversion/exchange rate, I would have still paid only about 60% of what I would have paid for it in Malaysia. Hmmm… another Proton success story, I guess.