Although I can only save one time for the petrol, I have filled it up to full tank. I have calculated carefully, I would have spent RM15+ extra if I missed the last 6 hours chance to fill it to full tank before the price increased.

At about 6pm, my brother told me that the petrol price is going to increase the next day, as usual the first question I asked was who says… who says… Is that true?!? I did not believe it as usual until I check a Malay news website. It is not a joke; it is the increment of RM0.78 per litter for petrol, and RM1.00 for diesel. I quickly rushed to the nearest petrol station. I have become a “kiasu” person.

[”Kiasu”] is a Hokkien (a Chinese spoken variant) word that literally means ‘fear of losing’. However its actual usage would imply a meaning more approaching that of “dog in a manger”, and yet not quite. Examples of “kiasu” behaviour includes accumulating too much food on one’s plate during a buffet lunch in case there is no more later, or joining a queue many days in advance just to ensure that one successfully gets hold of the limited free tickets to events, promotions and shows - quoted from Wikipedia.

I reached the nearest petrol station at about 6:30pm. There were only less than 10 cars in front of me. How lucky was I. It took me less than 15 minutes for the whole process, but when I left, the queue was already very long. Actually my car petrol tank was only half empty, but I can still fill in another 20 litters, therefore 20 litter X RM0.78 = RM 15+, that was the amount I have saved.

While I was in the petrol station, a friend called to confirm whether the news is true, I quickly told him where I was, and we hang up immediately to prevent explosion.

I never thought that I can be such a “kiasu” person. But the news that I read confirm it, and the percentage of increment is so high, which make me did it. Another reason was that the time was still early; it was only 6:30pm. I told myself if there was a long queue, I rather not to waste my time, and I just went to the petrol station to try my luck, who knows, everything went smoothly. :p

Two years ago I missed the chances because the news was released too late, I got the news at 10:30pm, and it was not confirmed. The SMS I have got only said that the price “MAY BE” increased. I still remember on the way I went home after meeting my friends that night, I saw a long queue at the petrol station. It was almost 12am. I did not queue up because the news that I have got only said “MAY BE”. When I almost reached home, it was 12:05am, I was curious, and I took a turn to a petrol station, and it was true. The price had increased 30 cents per litter for petrol. I did not have any worry because it did not affect me much, I had almost full tank of petrol, and even if I could save, it would be very insignificant.

I have no comment on the increase of the petrol price. Nobody can decide it, except the market and trend. I cannot says it is good or bad, but I am sure it affect a lot people.

Have you got any reflections recently?  I have.  They were reflections of a building and some street lights during one of the rainy days.  The rain has caused the surface of the road to act as a mirror to reflect the surroundings.

But is that all?  Are reflections just plainly what it seems to be?  The reflections shown in the picture tells us that it rained that night.  We reflect ourselves in front of the mirror to ensure we are presentable to the public so that we won’t make a fool out of ourselves.  So, reflections do convey a certain amount of message to us.

Self-reflection is one of the ways to help us realize our mistakes so that we can carry out neccessary improvements.  Our friends, family and colleagues can always be a good mirror towards self-reflection.   Writing down the things that we have done everyday could also be a good way to reflect ourselves because you get a better view of what has happened.  Some people reflect before they go to bed to have a new start the following day.  Have you reflected yourself today?

I had witnessed the following scene when I was boarding an aircraft many years ago (about 10 years ago).  I am not sure if it still happens now, because I seldom use that airline anymore.

This airline allocates each passenger with a specific seat number.  Passengers are able to choose where they want to sit while booking the flight or during the check in process.  Here comes the problem.

Passenger A sat on Passenger B’s seat.
Passenger B:  “Hey, that is my seat.”
Passenger A:  “You can sit any where you like.”
Passenger B reported to the flight attendant that his seat was taken by someone.
Flight Attendant:  “Since we have plenty of empty seats, please help yourself, you can sit anywhere you like.”
Passenger B: “?!? What ?!?”

This happened on an aircraft which was not fully occupied.  Too many empty seats make it allowed the tolerance.  But what will Passenger B think about it?  Is it reasonable?  Would Passenger B sit on Passenger C’s place and cause the problem to arise again?

This can happen in a cinema or on a bus as well.  Most of the times it can be solved by tolerance if there are many empty seats whereas otherwise the rules would be enforced.

The main cause of this problem is the mindsets of those selfish people who care about themselves more than others, which make them do not like to follow the rules.  Sometimes if we notice carefully, we may do it as well especially while driving a car.  Let’s think about others as well besides taking care of ourselves.  The world will be more peaceful if we practice it.