Meet the kids

A few months back, I volunteered to help adjudicate for a HELP College interschool debate. Which was when I found out that my old secondary school took part in it, though I didn't actually get to meet them.

I've been considering for a while on helping some secondary school kids on debating. It seems to be the 'in' thing these days for a *cough*washed-up*cough* debater to do. Sweeks' helping out his old school St. George, while Fea's helping with RMC. And I was thinking what better than my old school? Unfortunately I haven't seen the name LSPJ in some of the interschool debating tournament I've been to, and I didn't want to go through the hassle of starting an entirely new debate team, recruit students etc etc. So I was encouraged to find out that my old school actually sent a debate team for a tournament.

I got in touch with a formerly-Miss-now-Mrs. Sheela and told her about helping to train some students who are interested in debate. She agreed, and after working out a suitable time, I agreed to meet the kids for the very first time yesterday.

Where I was initially a little nervous about. People skills have never been my strong point, especially kids. Alright so they aren't technically "kiddie" kids, but still I'm known to be the most patient person around. So I turn to our resident mother-hen of the UKM team, Fea, for some advice. Which she tried to dispense as well as she could over the phone, and in the end admitting that she was also a little worried for me didn't really help my nerves much.

So then yesterday I left around 11 from Bangi, only to get stuck in traffic jam along the KL-Seremban highway (which later I found out was due to unnecessary police presence with the whole Anwar thing in KL). Luckily I managed to arrive in time, with a secret weapon in tow - Kenny Roger's muffins! Hopefully it'll be enough to bribe the kids to stay put for the entire duration*.

I met the-now-Mrs. Sheela at the porch, and the stepping into my old school again after a long time was a bit disconcerting. I asked her whether she recognised me, to which she said yes and that she had taught me before. I decided to save her the embarassment that no, she hadn't. Just that she had been one of the teacher advisors for Leo Club.

Anyway, my fears were quite unfounded. The kids seemed interested enough, and among them were those who went for the debate in HELP college. Their language proficiency were quite good, and they seemed willing to speak when asked to. I was worried earlier if I might need to use a crowbar to pry their mouths open.

As for myself, I was still a little nervous as I'm not exactly sure how to pullf off this whole mentoring thing. I didn't wanna get too technical with them on our first meet, so I just ran through some basics with them, and sort of did a mini-impromptu debate between them. All in all, I'd like to think my first meet with them turned out quite alright, and we've already made a tentative date for our next meet.


*The kid were ravenous for the muffins, and I didn't even get one as I didn't have the heart to take if from them.

Oil, oil...not a drop to waste

After 51 years, local politics has taken centrestage in the lives of most Malaysians. Ever since the 13th general election in March, suddenly the political arena is scrutinised so much more by everyday people, excited and wary of every by-the-minute development. Right now, the biggest thing on everyone's mouth is the Anwar fiasco.

But let's skip that for now, what I'm more interested on is the recent huge price increase of petrol, which initially triggered a wide panic by the people who tried to stock up as much as they can before midnight. Just like everyone else, I'm affected by it too. Now I need to fork up 40 bucks to get almost the amount of petrol I could get for 30 bucks. In other words, every 3 refills right now is just almost equivalent to 4 refills in the past.

Unlike most people, I'm somewhat glad by the price hike. Because suddenly, things never heard hitherto - how to save petrol, saving electricity, cutting costs - became nationwide obsession. Things which should've been everyday practices are now touted as the 'new-age' tips of surviving the current situation. We hate to admit it, but all of us are incentive-driven beings - with economic incentive being the strongest. We're only motivated to move our b**ts when our pockets are hit. And it's starting to show too - less jams along roads in KL and highways, and more people taking public transport.

Which in the whole big picture, is good for the environment. Especially with the latest piece of news on global warming. If we're really to go all-out to do our part for global warming, here's what I would suggest:

1. Increase prices of plastic - customers should be charged extra for take-aways using styrofoams and plastic bags. Shopping complexes too, should start charging customers for the number of plastic bags they hand out.

2. Compound garbage collection per weight - When throwing away more will cost you, people will attempt to throw less and recycle more. In fact this is widely practised in countries like Denmark (a recycling haven that should be adopted by every other country).

3. Further increase prices of petrol - but at the same time, improve public transport and provide welfare cushion for the lower income. In countries like Singapore and France, driving is actually more troublesome and takes longer than taking public transport.

Yeah, sure the oil price hike hurts everyone, especially the lower-income group. But with proper welfare structuring and good infrastructure planning, the oil hike in hindsight could be one of the best things to happen. Like the jolt that revolutionised our apathetic attitude to climate change.