For a Toyota Vios, if you were paying RM78 for a full tank previously now you have to pay RM110. Assuming if you had to pay RM292 petrol for one month, with the 40% price hike now you will have to cough up an extra RM117 per month (dulu RM292 sekarang RM409) of petrol.

But trying to cool people’s anger for the ridiculous price hike, our PM Abdullah Badawi announced a RM625 annual rebate for people with cars below 2000 cc. Calculated monthly, RM625 will translate to RM52.08 per month (RM409 - RM52.08=RM356.92). Not much help, right? Don’t think that you’re only paying for the price increase in petrol. Daily necessities like meat, vegetables and rice will also skyrocket, not to mention milk powder - why, my baby still needs her milk!!

I proclaim our PM Abdullah Badawi a qualified rocket scientist - albeit an uncertified one. He has the guts to say don’t be angry about the increase, and that the government had to do it now for the nation’s long-term benefit? Malaysia is an oil producing country and with the soaring crude price it should benefit the country more and the people should NOT be penalized by being forced to pay more for what we ourselves produce. Our former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad says that “…Petronas made a profit of well over RM70 billion, all of which belong to the Government.….the Government is flushed with money”. If this is true (and people with a decent mind can tell you that it is), can we assume that this is a punishment after the ruling coalition party lost 5 states to the Opposition at the recent General Election in March 2008 - unprecedented !!

The next UMNO assembly will be in August with mounting pressure for him to step down from the public as well as within UMNO and very pronounced by Dr Mahathir Mohamad, it is very unlikely that Abdullah Badawi can stay on as PM for very long. Can we say that the price hike done now is more for personal benefit than anything else. So, even if he had to exit and take his “crown” down, he and family would still be the winner at the peril of the rakyat.

What’s my next move?  At this point of time, I think I’m too emotional to make any radical moves.  I’ll have to calm myself down first before I start all over again.

It’s tormenting!

Today, Michael went to see a customer in Bukit Mertajam and was introduced to a fengshui master there.  She asked to look at his namecard and also have his birthdate.  After some calculations, she arrived at the conclusion that Michael is under the influence of fire, and that gold colour would be the best colour for the company name in the namecard.  She also advised the arrangements of logo and name, giving emphasis on the leeway for incoming business.

It seems that a reputable fengshui master in KL charges RM4000 just for 1000 copies of such fengshui namecards.  That is how serious some people are about the influence of fengshui in their namecards.  Would you pay such money for 1000 copies of your namecards?

Total gains for this week = $2937.00

• e-Mini Natural Gas = $1237.50
• Soybean = $ 350.00
• YMM = $ 135.00
• Soybean = $ 512.50
• Soybean = $ 412.50
• Natural Gas = $ 290.00 (my heart nearly jumped out when I keyed in the trade for Natural Gas instead of the e-mini Natural Gas which is 4 times smaller)

Parents mourning for their children who were killed when their schools collapsed. The surviving girl turning away from the grief of looking at the photos of her friends who were killed.

The Chinese Government has said that there are currently more than 80,000 people either dead or missing in China’s worst earthquake in three decades whilst searchers are still digging out hundreds of bodies and hauling them to mass graves. The Chinese Government has accepted international relief help, unlike the Myanmar Government who rejected outside help in the recent Cyclone that struck Myanmar and left 133,000 people either dead or missing on 2 May 2008.

It’s not easy - it’s a difficult language to conquer - but being a chinese, of course I would like my son to know the language well. I’ve spent a long time thinking of whether to enroll him into a national school or a chinese medium school, and the latter won not because I am a chinese, but because Mandarin is still very widely used in the business world, not forgetting that China is also the major economy in Asia for years to come.

Children of other races are beginning to enroll into chinese medium school, so why can’t we being chinese ourselves, learn the language?

I have all along opposed to tuition for children at such young age. I see other parents ferrying their children from tuition to ballet to art lessons, etc. and I pity the children who are pressured this way. I remember being a child and having time to run about, climb trees, and having fun being a kid. Kids nowadays mature too fast and are too house-bound.

But I’ve come to accept the fact that we need help of a professional as a proper guidance is going to help him cope with his Mandarin studies and to set his foundation. This tuition fees cannot be saved.

It’s easy to make stupid mistakes and let emotions affect a trade when we have so little and so much at stake. 

It takes a lot of discipline to be able to control your emotions.  That’s what I’m trying very hard to do every day.

• Don’t let greed stop you from selling a gaining position when the indicators says that’s it for now. 
• Don’t let fear stop you from exiting a losing trade if it is really a mistake you made.  It is easier to lose some rather than to swallow a big loss. Maintaining your money is very important to make sure that you are not swallowed up by losses and have no way back.
• Trust yourself and your indicators.
• Be patient and don’t rush into any trade.  Don’t chase.

Time to loosen up and catch up with the kids since it’s Friday night.