A Hard Life in 2014

Watching Wan Nyah getting
ready to go out

Making a sad face
"Please don't leave me"

"Are you really going
Wan Nyah?"

Yesterday's physiotherapy session had caused my right leg muscles to be cramped more than usual. Despite that I still keep doing the other recommended exercises at home thus causing the muscles to become even more sore. Well, no pain no gain, that is what my physiotherapist used to say.
Well, cramped or sore muscles would not deter my determination to go out. May be window shopping will lessen the soreness ha ha ha. My little playful tuxedo girl was watching intently from the staircase as I got ready to go out. Even made a sad face at me. But she got distracted when Mickey came in and started chasing after her. The catch-me-if-you-can game was to be continued from this morning.

So I drove to KTM Commuter station and took the train to KL Sentral. Since it was already lunch hour and I haven't even had breakfast yet, I looked around for a place to eat. Lunch hour at KL Sentral Station is always a busy and crowded affair with all the hungry travellers and office workers milling around. McD, KFC, Subway all long queues. Secret Recipes, Swiss Oven, Starbucks and many others were almost full too. Since I was alone, I did not feel comfortable to join other people's tables. Okay, I went up to the food court, even though I did not really favour Malay cuisine if I eat outside actually. At least there were seats available there.

So mixed rice today. I asked for half a plate of rice, one small fried ikan kembung, two scoops of cuttle fish sambal, one pegedil, half of a salted egg and a scoop of acar timun. It cost me RM14.00 without any drinks. I thought the lady made a mistake but no, she gave me the printed itemised receipt. Perhaps I was not very up-to-date on the prices of foodstuffs and the likes.

I am not a person who is calculative when it comes to eating. I eat what I like even if it is a little expensive. If it is good food and value for money, good service, clean surrounding, cosy atmosphere, then is okay even if it is a little pricey. As it happens, nowadays there are also days that I would just eat whatever stocks I have in the fridge because I was too lazy to go out. My meals would then be a combination of whole meal bread, cheese, eggs, Japanese cucumber, mushroom and may be some capsicum. Well, I still think RM14.00 was a tard too pricey for KL Sentral food court. A lot of people passes through this hub of a station and many of them are just ordinary working men and women who have families to support and children to raise.

After lunch I took a the coupon cab to Midvalley Megamall. It cost me RM12.00. One thing I like about this cab service is that the price of the journey is paid at the counter and you have a ticket. You do not have to wonder for example why the meter in the cab you took seemed to move a little too fast. You also do not have to feel irritated when the cab driver picks up another passenger along the way, after taking you on that is and that passenger is heading to a different destination.

After browsing in MidValley for a while I went over to Borders located in next-door The Gardens. Borders The Gardens is one of my favourite bookstores besides Kinokuniya at Suria KLCC and Popular at Sunway Pyramid. I ended up buying this memoir by Ivana Lowell entitled "Why Not Say What Happened?". The memoir was priced at RM111.80 but I was lucky card members were entitled to 50% discount on certain titles including this memoir.

A memoir about a
dysfunctional aristocratic
family

Reading is quite an expensive habit nowadays. I do believe that many parents would love to stock their homes with reading materials for their kids but the hefty price of books is a deterrent to this noble desire. One suggestion I can give is for them to watch out for the famous Big Bad Wolf Book Sale where the price discount is really really good and is not available anywhere else in Malaysia. The yearly Popular Sale usually held at KLCC Convention Centre is another place where you can find books rather affordable.

I came out of Borders at around 17:30. I thought I might as well have an early dinner. So I went to the food court next to Borders.  I ordered fried rice, black coffee and two slices of fruits. All together it cost me RM11.00. The plus point about this food court is that it is very clean and not crowded. There are plenty of tables and chairs and benches too even if the choice of food is rather limited.

The point I am trying to make here is that life is hard nowadays and the ordinary people are struggling to make ends meet. I am retired, single and most of my financial commitments are for myself, my two cats and some contribution to the family and yet I feel the pinch. Many items and services are becoming more expensive and you just have no money to save anymore. Around Klang Valley if you do not own a house, the accommodation rent is going to make a big hole in your pocket. I think housing is ridiculously overpriced in Klang Valley. Of course there are always rich people who can afford them but most of these house are beyond the means of the low income group. Where cars, another necessity, are concerned,  a lot had also been negatively said in various media about the prices of our national cars. Perhaps that is why many people get irritated with the PM's "kangkung" statement previously. To make it worse, some of our cabinet minister were making quite a few statements, that can only be described as being moronic, pertaining to complains from the rakyat about the increase in prices of various commodities.