ringgit.me

Past one week I have not been gaming. I was hooked on reading Stephen King's The Shinning, a digital book I bought using Amazon Kindle. No, I don't own a Kindle, but the Kindle app runs on iOS. I find that it is very pleasant to read novels on the iOS. The Kindle app is easy to use, you can highlight text, put a 'dog ear' on the page to return to it and best of all, you can also see what other people around the world have highlighted - so you would may particular attention to the text :) And it has dark mode, meaning you can also read it in the dark without straining your eyes. And the best part - there is also a Kindle app for the PC, so if you are fed up of reading in iOS, you can fire up the PC app and you continue where you stopped! No more figuring out which pages. It auto syncs between devices. The best part about Kindle book, which I learned today is Lendle . You see, amazon.com allows owner of a Kindle book to lend it out to a friend for 14 days. During th...

This is a different labour cost. Not the maid cost but the cost of giving birth. I met the wife of an acquaintance this morning. Her baby just turned one. She asked if my wife has given birth and I said yes. The next question from her caught me aback. Maybe I was expecting the typical question like how heavy was the baby, is it a boy or girl, who does she looked like, etc. But what came from her mouth was how much and where was it delivered. And when I told her the cost, she exclaimed, how come so cheap. Life is full of strange people!

I feel bad. I went to the bank to have the maid's passbook updated as I just deposited her monthly salary into the account. Her total showed RM3,500. This is her take home pay after working 12 months with us! The reason is because she didn't get paid in the first 7 months - I did fork out the money but it went to the agent to process her travel, agency fee and what not. She only get paid on the 8th month. In fact, despite the rules, we still pay her RM100/month for the first 7 months. I feel that she should get some remuneration for the work she has done. Even then, the total still comes to a measly RM3,500. Seriously, something is wrong with the system!

What the bloody fuck? Did I read correctly? Chinese evening daily, Guan Ming, is reporting that teh will cost RM2, up from RM1.50 and teh ais will cost RM2.20, increase from RM1.70! WTF! This is a bloody 33% increase! Salary increment is flat and yet drinks are 33% more expensive. I bet you that this will create a lot of hardship for many people and will result in many social problems.

This morning, I was having breakfast in McDonald's Sungai Buloh. To my surprise, I saw about 10 blue collar workers - they were dressed in blue jumpsuit - the type where there is a zip in front, from the hip all the way to the collar - an attire typically worn by factory worker. It was then I realize that McDonald's weekly breakfast deal, which cost RM4.50 for a Saussage McMuffin with egg and a refillable coffee, is FAR cheaper than those found in coffee shop! A bowl of noodles and coffee in kopitiam could set you back RM6! Incredible.. to find that McDonald's, with its a/c and free wifi and refillable coffee, is cheaper than your father and mother's coffeeshop!