Life without credit...

While Nee Shen's post describes the danger those credit card might give to a person, if improperly managed, I would like to give a different point of view for not owning a credit card.

Recently, I have been trying to do some of stuff using the internet service, buying books and booking an air ticket online. For books, I am trying to use the Japan's Amazon to purchase some books. Everything seems fine for the procedure from selecting my books until the registeration of the address to send these books to. When I proceed to payment section, I was near to hopeless in making this a successful transaction. The reason, as you might have figured out, it the use of credit card as payment. Well, I did mention that my transaction is near to fail, and luckily they, the amazon, have a COD (Cash On Delivery) service, only valid for local delivery - Japan, which helps me to complete the transaction.

Besides this, if I were to walk my way to the bookstores to purchase books, I will need to add extra transportation expenses to my gross payment for these books. Credits good??

Next experience will be the online air ticket booking, just two days ago I visited the JAL's website for that purpose. This website offers discount, for my case, mileage point discount, if I book the ticket online. Online services rules, don't they? Again, the process of booking the ticket goes well until I was asked for my credit card number. Without the number, I couldn't proceed further to confirm my reservation and complete the transaction. How sad when I know that I failed. Yes failed, JAL is not offering that COD service!Fine with that, I am going to do it by phone this time. I called their toll free number and was greeted by a "sweet" operator. I completed the reservation and the operator told me that I will be able to get my e-ticket in one week time starting from today. Great, I thanked her and disconnect the line. At that time, I was so happy that I have finally reserved my ticket. Later, I received a call from the centre asking me to recall them regarding my reservation. They actually need my credit card number to make the tax payment. Damn it, as expected, they still need credit card anyway.Then, I told the operator that I don't have a credit card and I would like to pay the tax with cash. She later told me to go to one of their ticketing office to get the ticket and make the tax payment. Ok, settled. Now, I need to add extra expenses to it - transportation. Besides that, I need to find some time to get to their office, which is not near, to get my ticket.From these two cases, it is obvious that credit card does have its good besides the bad. Sometimes, credit payment will ease the pain you will have to face when doing a cash payment. Furthermore, we are now in the age of networks. Most of the transaction will/might be carried out in terms of credit rather than cash.Therefore, my conclusion is owning a credit card does not always give harm to you. It will only do harm when you failed to control your usage with it. Like a sentence that I would like to repeat from time to time - A knife could harm or help you, depending on the way you use it. This goes the same for credit card. Manage well and you will find that it is indeed helpful. Our transaction has been evolving from the barter to the monetary and now the credit system. The system is to help ease the transaction.

Q&A session...

Yesterday, I went to EF's blog and busybodying myself to ask her 4 questions in one of her recent entry. In return I have to post up a blog entry here to open myself for those who wish to have some bullet training. Ok, ready and fire accurately and gently. Remember, I will be able to answer them truthfully if your bullets do not hit the "correct" point.

Yoroshiku onegaishimasu...

Another item into my inventory... (1)

Yes, I have just bought myself an iPod shuffle.

And I can tell you all that it is very frustrating for me to get this little gadget. Normally, we could get it at those electronic/electrical stores found everywhere in Japan. However, this time, we have to actually go to the counter and reserve it. Well, going to the counter and register, fine... but wait, yes you have to wait for 2 - 3 weeks before you could officially get a taste of it. Yes, 2-3 weeks is very long for me and I ain't gonna register and wait for it. I need shortcuts. The only shortcut that I know is to buy it directly from the Apple shop that is quite far from the place that I stayed previously and even farther from my new apartment.

What can I do? I couldn't wait any longer and therefore I had to do some extra spending in order to get it. Spending for train transportation is inevitable and it costed me around 800yen! (This is around RM 28!). Nevermind, I am willing to pay this rather than sitting in my room and wait for 2-3 weeks. I could have suffered more if I were to wait.

Took the train to reach a station called "Ginza". This place is the place where luxurious stuffs are being sold and most of the people who shop there have a lot of money to spend around. If I could accidentally get to know one of them, man, I would not need to work for the rest of my life, I suppose. But, who cares, my current mission's to get my little gadget. Don't give a damn about these people walking around.

Reached the station, and wah..., that's my first time going there... and I missed the oppurtunity to take some photos for memory. Haha, as if I won't be going there anymore in my life! Wait, I still have not mentioned anything yet, and I've already jump into photo session? Crazy me... sorry.

Took my first step to the station and slipped my train ticket to the ticket counter located not far away from where I got off. Okay, now problem arises, which exit should I take? I don't even know where this Apple shop is? The station is under the ground, yes a subway, therefore I couldn't get a sight from here. Haha, just press my luck then. Walked for around 5-10 minutes before I decided to take a stair up above the ground for fresh air and some sunlight.

Ahhh, out from the subway, and err, which way to take... *follow my instinct and it says I should take the left path* and so I did as instructed. Walked for about 10 minutes and still I couldn't see any Apple trademark imprinted to a building. What I saw were some automobiles showroom and a Ferrari showroom, wow, really hope that I have my camera with me that time... *keep walking* Was going nearer to another train station already, which means I will cross the Ginza border soon. No hope, should I go back to the starting point and take the right path instead? Decision made, and so I went back to the initial starting point, *another 10 minutes walk*. Okay, all my effort wasted for the past 20 minutes.

Go right! Go right! 1, 2, 3, and 4 steps taken *stop for a while and peep around for beautiful chicks, woow... i saw girls here and girls there and apple there*. Alerted when my mind spoke the apple word. Don't tell me it's... yes, Apple shop laid just right in front of my eye. And it only took me 4 steps from my initial starting point to locate it! Stupid me to follow my instinct, ceh.

Without wasting anymore time, I rushed myself to the other side of the street and finally I reached the Apple shop. It is a 4-story building, with all the floors selling Apple products. And my "target" could be found at the ground floor. But the pay line was another challenge. What? I have to wait at least 20-30 minutes to pay? Alright, what's 20-30 minutes to me now. Quickly rushed to the corner and grab my gadget (*kiasu style*). Target secured.

While following the queue, I noticed that some bought more than one of the iPod shuffle. Wow, Apple must be earning a lot by now... *still dreaming around with my iPod*

*tsugi no okyakusama douzo* (next customer please) - yes, my turn to pay, quickly grab my wallet and pull out my one and only one 10000 yen note and another 1000 yen note to complete the transaction.
Cashier: *tii tii (scanning)* omataseshimashita, kochira no goukei ha 10980yen to narimasu. (Sorry to keep you waiting, the total is 10980yen.)
Me: Hai. (yes) *putting my 10000 yen and 1000 yen note in front of the cashier*
Cashier: Hai, 11000yen wo oazukarimasu... (Allow me to take care of your 11000yen) *toot toot toot - pressing the machine*
After a while...
Cashier: taihen omataseshimashita, otsuri no 20yen to resiito to narimasu. sorede, kono kami ha hoshousho no okawari to narimasu no de, moshii nanika gozaimashitara, kono kami... *don't know what's the remaining sentence* (Really sorry for keeping you to wait, this is your 20yen change and the receipt. And this paper represents the warranty for this product, if there is anything with your product...)
Me: Ahh, hai, wakarimashita... (Ahh, ok, I understand)
Cashier: arigatou gozaimashita, *other staffs also said the same* (Thank you very much.)

Finally, got it!!

*Fast fast rush back to get it to work*

...to be continue

Hari April Bodoh...

Haha,

Sudah sekian lamanya saya tidak menulis blog ya. Harap maaf.
Sebenarnya, bulan April merupakan bulan ulangtahun saya. Ulangtahun untuk apa? Untuk menulis dalam BM loh. Tahun ini merupakan ulangtahun pertama saya. Masih ingat, tahun lalu, saya menghantar surat elektronik kepada beberapa kawan saya dan mereka terkejut apabila membaca isi kandungan surat itu. Dengan segera mereka menulis semula kepada saya menanyakan kesihatan saya sekarang. Haha, mereka bimbang yang saya ada sesuatu yang tidak betul namunnya...

Tetapi, memang sukar bagi saya menulis dalam BM sekarang disebabkan penggunaan BM bagi saya amat jarang, hampir kepada 0 peratus. Sudah sekian lamanya saya tidak lagi menulis mahupun bercakap dengan menggunakan bahasa kebangsaan Malaysia.
Saya masih keliru dengan singkatan "BM", adakah ia singkatan bagi "Bahasa Malaysia" ataupun "Bahasa Melayu"?

Apa yang telah berlaku kepada saya kebelakangan ini? Mengapa saya jarang menulis blog? Ini adalah disebabkan saya memang sibuk dengan kerja saya, malah malas untuk melayan ke halaman blogspot yang memang membebankan talian internet saya.

Dengan ini, apa yang harus saya tulis untuk kali ini? Kita baru saja memasuki bulan April, dan dua hari yang lalu merupakan hari "April fool". Tetapi, adakah "April fool" hanya disambut pada hari pertama bulan April? Ataupun kami boleh menyambutnya sehingga ke hari yang terakhir bulan April? Baiklah, adalah lebih baik untuk saya menghentikan perbincangan yang tidak bermakna ini sebelum pembaca tidur di depan skrin komputer... haha.

Seterusnya, saya ingin memberitahu kamu semua yang saya telah berpindah ke apartment lain kebelakangan ini. Sebelum ini, saya tinggal di apartment yang hanya mempunyai sebuah bilik dan satu dapur sahaja. Rumah di Jepun memang sempit. Tetapi, sekarang saya telah berpindah ke apartment yang lebih luas dan sempurna. Ya, ia merupakan rumah dengan 3 buah bilik, 1 ruang makan, dan 1 dapur. Di Jepun, mereka memanggilnya rumah "3DK" dimana, "3" bermakna 3 bilik, "D" bermakna dining room ataupun ruang makan, dan "K" bermakna kitchen ataupun dapur.
Jadi, rumah yang saya tinggal dahulu merupakan rumah jenis "1K".
Memang, rumah tersebut bukan hanya saya seorang sahaja yang tinggal. Masih ada seorang pekerja baru dari Malaysia (eeh? sudah hampir satu tahun dia berada di sini, masih baru?).

Baru sahaja, musim sejuk telah berlalu. Tetapi, musim sejuk ini merupakan musim yang terbaik bagi saya dalam tiga tahun ini. Ini kerana banyak salji turun untuk kali ini. Tetapi, saya masih tidak berpeluang untuk pergi meluncur ais?? walaupun terdapat banyak salji yang terkumpul di seluruh Jepun. Sungguh sayang sekali...

Baiklah, jangan ungkitkan perkara-perkara yang menyedihkan ini.
Sehingga saya menulis blog lagi... jumpa lagi!

お久しぶりです．．．

お待たせしました…

本当にすいませんでした、もう何ヶ月の間にブローグを記入してなかった。ごめなさい～
実は最近忙しいし、話もないし、いろいろ困ってることを考えすぎるので、ブローグはちょっとの間にやめちゃった。

今もそうだけど、EFからのリクエストで久しぶりブローグを記入すると決まりました。

それで、今回のブローグ課題はなんでしょう？４月に入ったばかりで、"April fool"というの日でしたよね。
でも、"April fool"とは本当に月の一日だけですか？あるいは今月ず～っと３０日まででもそういう日ですか？
もういい、こんな無意味の話はやめましょう。

次はなんですかね。そうだ、先月は引越した。もっといいアパットに引越した。前住んでいたアパットは１Kなんですが、今のアパットは３DKだよ！嬉しくな い？そ、３DKのアパットに住んでいる僕はもちろんほかの人と一緒に暮らしてます。その人はマレーシアの新入会社員？？（だってもうすぐ一年経ってるよ） です。そう言えば僕の後輩だね。ハハ…もう先輩になっているだな。

終わったばかりの冬は僕にとってはこの３年間の一番最高の冬でしたな。雪はよく降ってるだからね。初めての冬と比べると…えっと、比べるの？全然比べないですね。そう言っても、スキー旅行とか行ってなかったけど…残念だったね。せっかく雪が多いなのに…

もういい、悲しい話はここまでだ。
またいつかね…

New year spending...

I admit that I have been over spending for the past two weeks. In brief, I spent most on my winter preparation, like getting myself new winter clothes, and stuff like that. And it costed me an amount of yen.

Furthermore, I also bought myself a 40GB portable harddisk, one of my wish list's items. Hehe, couldn't imagine that I achieved one of my wish list's item in such a short time. No, it is not my new year's wish list anyway. Just a wish list, and that's it.

Besides that, I also got myself a book - The Golden Ratio by Mario Livio, another wish list's items. So far so good for my wish list, huh?

Other necessary/unnecessary expenses goes to a trunk and a bicycle trump cards. The trunk is to make my life easier when taking my luggage to the airport on this coming February! Hehe, well that's not the only reason. Previously, I was using a carrying bag to pack all my stuff into it whenever I travel back to my hometown, Penang. However, the strap's supporter? was broken and therefore I couldn't hang it to my shoulder while walking anymore, which gives me a burden when carrying it with hand - I am small in size, remember?

Regarding the bicycle trump cards, I bought it out of curiosity. I read from Internet that performing magics with this type of cards is better. Therefore I am curious of how and what kind of cards it is. Well, the differences that I could tell is that bicycle trump card is harder and that's it. That cost me a 1000 yen (RM 35.80)!!! Hmm, fine, just take it as my new year present. Plus, I get some magic gadget that comes with the cards. Let's see if I know how to perform the tricks explained in the sheet (in Japanese)... hmm, 全然分からない.

I believe that's about all for my winter, err... new year spending.

Haloscan comments... gone?

I wonder if I am the only one experiencing this. My haloscan comments accumulated so far has been deleted from my account. What is happening? Is this the way haloscan works?

Memory of the past

Today, I dreamt about the past. The time when I was still a secondary students in Penang Free School. However, those inside my dream was from 1st GTS (Georgetown South) scout members.

To name a few, they are Selwyn (not sure if the I still spell the name right?), Huan Keat, Kok Seng, etc... these are the people that I think I have not met for a long time and therefore they appeared in my dream. Strange thing was that, in my dream, before they appear in my dream, I think I am still in Japan. I saw myself somewhere near my current apartment and then suddenly I found myself with Huan Keat. Then we both went to a basketball court and at that place, old-free guys were there! However, the environment was kinda like mixed. I think I was in a winter season while they are enjoying the hot summer. I recalled that I was with my jumper when I said "Let's play ball", and I tried to take off my jumper. Why this difference and what does that mean?

Too bad that the dream couldn't last long enough because I woke up after that. Well, it was not a nightmare for me, ok?

After I woke up, I rethink about my past secondary schooling life. One of them was a time where I went for my Pengajian Am tuition center. Still remember that we sit at a corner of the classroom and made stupid stuffs from time to time. Those people, if I could still remember well, were Ding, Shean Hor, Chin Hoong, Brian, Nee Shen, Teik Chai and me. I think that's about all the members we have for that class. At that time, I had transportation difficulty but Chin Hoong, Nee Shen, and Teik Chai took turn to help by providing their services to me. Thanks for being my driver at that time!

Recalled that, I provided my comics for this group of people and they read it while the teaching was been carried out. Haha, I wonder what grade did you all get f0r your PA paper? Evil me right?

However it was, that was my first tuition class with a group of my friends in it and I enjoyed that. Thinking back, I also realised that this tuition center is/was earning a lot from the students. Imagine that a student pays around RM30/month and inside that class, there were like 40 and above students. And this class is not the only class they have! No wonder they can afford luxurious cars. =)

帰ってきたよ！

もう何ヶ月ブロックを書いてなかった、本当に申し訳ありませんでした。

やっとプライベットインターネット接続できましたから、これからインターネットに自由的に接続できるんだ。これは最高ということですかね？

さて何を書くのかな？残念だけど、頭の中になにも考えてない。

まぁ、今はこれで終わっちゃうのかな。言いたいことがあったらまたここにポストしますから、その時まで待っててね…

あっと、忘れる前に一言があります：
明けましておめでとうございます。今年こそ新たな夢を叶うようにお願いします。で、夢は何なんですかな？
まだ願ってなかった…
みんなさんも、いい年になれるように頑張りましょう！！