The KadazanDusun

At the Crossroads

The name itself suggests a division. We are divided as to whether we should be called Dusun or Kadazan. So, what's in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

The time for instrospection is now over. We must now put all our positive thoughts into action, and hopefully they would come out all roses.

Here are some positive thoughts that we can all put into action;

1. We must be prepared for a long and ardous journey. The test of maturity of our collective thinking must be to eschew short term results. We must focus our sights on strategic advantage rather than short term subsistence oriented goals. An example of a long term goal is character development; to nurture habits of thrift, diligence, honesty, hardwork, patience, and ambition. In short we must develop a culture of integrity and excellence. These traits are foundations of a civil society which must evolve for Malaysia, and we must be there as a substantive and potent force.

2. Let us raise the bar on the standard of performing our everyday roles. Quantity is out, quality is everything. We have to over-achieve especially in education to be able to win the game of life, and to gain strategic positions in big and important organisations.

3. Rewards must be largely intrinsic. The journey to be the best must be its own reward; let us be the guiding star when darkness is all around; let us steer our boat on an even keel when others have lost their rudder. Let us be "ready to go into hell, for that heavenly quest".

4. Ask what we can do for the country. The age of subsidy mentality must be declared as over. Let us build the capacity to be able to contribute in the most meaningful ways to our country.

5. Let us build and nurture symbols of unity and strength of our community, as an imperative to our shared existence. For a start, I propose that we adopt the Penampang/Papar dialect to be used on radio and all important functions. I am from Ranau, and I am learning that dialect, for the sake of unity.

Finally, let it be remembered that others are travelling on the same ocean of life ever hoping for a better and better existence. This is not a competition - we are all striving to improve the quality of the human race.

Misery From Hagibis

Kota Kinabalu: Strong waves and winds brought on by tropical storm Hagibis pummelled villages along coastal areas near the State capital late Monday, damaging 76 stilt houses and completely flattening another 16 in Tanjung Aru, Petagas, Meruntum and Pulau Gaya.

Over 200 people were affected in Tg Aru alone and thousands overall.

Source Daily Express Sabah http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/


courtesy of http://www.nea.gov.sg/

Dire Streets of KL

There are small sections in Malaysian society who are not getting their fair share of the cake. They are Malays, Chinese, Indians and many others. Life is unfair for half of the world's population.

The action by a group of Indians to bring their grievances to the street is both brave and wrong. Taking it to the streets is a step too far for the violence generated has turned the case on its head, and actually turned people's attention away from the real issue. The surest way to get people's attention to the truth is to exaggerate a little. In this case it is too much.

The richest man in Malaysia is an Indian. The poorest is still a Malay. How they get to be where they are is not purely because of the system in place. Half of man's fate, must surely come from individual volitions, nay, a person holds his fate in his hands. People can rise up no matter the odds or obstacles. One can be born in opulence but die a pauper.

Malaysia is a democratic country, though not among the best in terms of transperancy but the system of checks and balances are working fairly well. There is a fair, and very vocal, representation of the oppositon in parliament. The rule of law still operates. Disssenting voices are heard and read everywhere; there is no way of gagging them short of what Myanmar is doing in cutting off the internet.

We are a multicultural society and there is bound to be disagreements. The logic of operations in such a society is for each to have its own set of political representation, and the Indians have more than enough political representation. Whether that representaton is effective is another matter. Maybe this is what it's all about.

They also have brought a suit against the British government for bringing them to Malaya in the first place, among other things. I think this is a bit off the mark. How is one to know that they would not be worse off now if they had stayed in India. This is not relevant.

However, there has been of late a spate of demolitions of Hindu temples, especially in the state of Selangor. It would be wrong to say that the Selangor state government wantonly raze temples to the ground. The truth of the matter is that these temples were illegal structures, and they have been asked to relocate these temples a long time ago.

Be that as it may, the demolitions can still be considered high-handed, and highhandedness is a form of moral violence. I think a government has enormous powers and every opportunity to make things right for itself and for others. We must preserve our multicultural identity at all costs because diversity is the foundation of our unity.

Let us shun violence. For violence begets violence.

Are you a terrorist?

"You think you are being terrorized by other people, but in truth you are being terrorized by your own beliefs."

from Tomorrow's God by Neale Donald Walsch, quoted by Scott W Houston at http://sippiambrose.blogspot.com/

Win Win War

I saw two terrorists shooting at each other. One was American and the other was an Iraqi.

I went up to the Iraqi and asked him why he was shooting the American, he said, "to make the world a better place".

I went to the American and asked him the same question. The Americans of course had been in this business for a long time and the answer was expected. He said, " to make the world a better place"

So I went back to the Iraqi and told him what the American said. He said, " I know, but why give them all the credit". I asked him if he truly beleives that killing the other fellow will make the world a better place. He smiled and said, " if I die I go to heaven. When he dies he gets to go home, which makes it about even. We both die happy".

The King is Dead, Long Live the King

Australia's heart is in Europe, its head in America. It claims it has Asian soul, but that's just the bully talking.

I don't think Australia necessarily has a better premier. The people just got tired of the old one. I mean, what's the difference really? The new one will still be the staunchest American ally even if he does bring home the boys from Iraq. The new will still wear the sheriff's badge even if he sign's the Kyoto Protocol ahead of Bush. Rudd has already pledged to govern as an "economic conservative," even as he curtails industrial reforms introduced by Howard.

It is the time for changing underwear down under. Period.

The Sharpest Slingshot

I was never the sharpest slingshot when I was a kid. It was one of the most enjoyable thing to do in the make beleive universe of children. You had power in your hands and you dare use it.

To make a sling you either carve it out of a block of wood, or you can cut a length of stem of the coffee tree, which have branches growing out on opposite sides. You bend the branches until you get a perfect "u", tie them in place, put it over heat or steam it. Then you leave it for a couple of days so the shape stays. Cut the "u" branches to the required length. Attach strips of rubber to either prongs. For the seat, find a length of leather, 2 inc by 1 inch. Punch openings at both ends to attach the strips to.

The nearest I got to hitting a bird, which was the popular target then, was to clip its wings or tail. My friends seem to down their targets with consummate ease. No matter how much practice I put into it, I guess I was not cut for it.

There were lots of birds in my line of fire. Now, I am thankful that I did not harm any of them ( even if I tried hard).

Nowadays, watching people die in the killing fields of Iraq or Palestine, brings back vision of my violent past, (or should I say, saintly, in hindsight) of hunting birds for the pleasure of killing something. Does the games of boyhood extinguish the latent desire to harm others, or is childhood the time for practice?

The games have graduated to something with higher stakes, including so called defense of one's honour, be it personal or for country. In the end carnage ensues out of some process of weeding out the culprits of some perceived wrongs.. It is the same search of pleasure to kill something for the simple reason that we have the instruments to kill, in our hands. What's worse, in the real world the birds will always be the birds and will always be the target. How absurdly wierd that the real world now seems so like the world of childplay.

Do Not Under-Urinate

A 30 year research has yielded a new complementary medicine called Ecological Healing System. A revolutionary finding reveals that someone who under -urinate after drinking plenty of water would get diabetes whereas someone who under-urinates without drinking enough water would get heart problems.

Think about it. Or you can call Dr Palani on his findings. His phone is 012 2071414, or email him at vmpalani@streamyx.com

Malaysian TV Must Grow Up

Dato Johan Jaafar comes across as a very intelligent, articulate and resourceful moderator. His quality does not mitigate the very real notion that Malaysian TV is bad, and dangerous as an intellectual diet for growing up children and adults alike.

Most of the programs seem to be designed for juvenile viewers judging from the simplistic and unidimensional approach in their formats and the utter lack of skills of the presenters (including news readers).

We have too many pretty faces. It used to be the norm to present beautiful faces on the screen presumably to hold the attention of viewers. But the rest of the world has moved ahead; they have found the ultimate truth - smart is beautiful.

We also have very young and I dare say, green, presenters who are not shy to give advice to all and sundry, on subjects they have no proper knowledge of.

TV shows are showcases for the world to see our best. Sadly that is not the case. You see famous leaders who cannot pronounce properly many words of their own mother tounge, except Rais Yatim who was born articulate, I suspect. The best still ( to me at least ) in articulating the Malay language is my old history professor, Encik Shahrom Ahmat, late of USM.

I like the sports channels best of all, for sports appear to us, excepting those irritating dives done by some footballers, as honest and truly true to life. The coverage of EPL games are especially interesting, and may I add, captivating, not least because of our affinity with the English language. Strangely you find here excellent examples of how English should be spoken. Regular commentators like Andy Gray and Martin Tyler come to mind. They have voices with excellent tonal qualities, and with rich timbre, and otherwise would be considered as adding romance to it all; something we will never find with Malay commentators, no not Karam Singh with his peribahasa.

Their commentaries bring to the game a richness, with all those little incidental details and tangential remarks, about the players and the sport in general. The game in itself is rich with human drama played out every week of the season; it is a culture unto itself, nay, a community with its internal logic and philosophy, with myriad characters who colour our imaginations.

Then there are the channels on natural history, which can make us feel humble to know that we are privy to the deep and subtle secrets of nature.

In short, there is depth, and there is breadth of these tv presentations - by others. Now I would like to advance the notion, and I hope someone agrees, that the source of the wonderous feelings when we view these wonderful programs is the presenter himself, who with his agile artistry in using the language wins over the attention of the viewers. There is an ease to which he has put heart and soul in his presentation. He is the artist.

I will stretch the notion further by saying that the ultimate cause of all this is that we do not have a reading culture. We are a nation who shuns the printed word.

Reading, writing and contemplation are the instruments by which the mind plumb the depths of our existence; of knowledge itself.

Do we wonder then as to why we cannot dish up a decent tv program?

Trees and boats and planes

The offer by Datuk James Hwong to plant more suitable trees in the main towns of Sabah is laudable and deserve our sincere appreciation. I hope it will not be too long when we can enjoy the promised shades of these trees.

While we are at it, wouldn’t it be nice if other kind souls offer their expertise, hopefully free of charge too, on the following problems facing our towns.

1. Chronic traffic jams. Would you believe it, even smaller towns like Keningau and Ranau are boasting jams which the bigger towns might envy. I am sure I am not the only one who would not mind having a smoother flow of traffic in our beloved capital, and the bigger towns, with or without shades. I nominate Putatan as a priority area to be planted with shady trees along the main road. People can expire of sun stroke in the heat of the jam there.

2. Better toilets. We are centuries behind in good toilet culture. Our public toilets are wet, dirty, smelly, and water-less most times. By the way, world toilet day was November 19. It passed us by unnoticed.

3. Dirty streets and dark, dirty, damp and smelly staircases in the buildings.

4. Ugly shop facades, ugly anjung selerea, ugly anjung senja. I will not mention the food at all, I mean it’s not worth it.

5. Polluted and smelly water on our water fronts. Over-polluted Papar river, ditto rivers in Keningau, Beaufort, Tenom, Tamparuli. Rivers dying in Kota Belud and Ranau. I should be writing odes for the rivers we once had in Kudat.

6. Make our towns more pedestrian-friendly. As it is now our roads are dedicated to the preservation of our metal cousins, who by the way, were designed without souls. Little wonder then that drivers easily lose theirs when they drive one.

7. Build better wet markets. Make them sparkle with colour; make them happy and exciting meeting places. The ones in KK, Sandakan, Putatan, and Papar, to name a few, look more like torture chambers, where sellers languish forever to expiate non existent sins.

8. Create art/culture belt in the heart of towns. Have library, art gallery and museum next to each other, in the same building even. Now they are miles apart in far away places as if planned to just decorate the landscape. Then build close by too, the music halls and cinemas.

9. Regular, reliable public transport system. With all the shades from the soon-to-be planted trees, it might be worthwhile planning for bicycle lanes.

I think a town should be planned starting from the heart. I fear we might be losing it. It might yet grow on trees. Datuk Hwong, please plant your trees quickly.

Mount Kinabalu, The Sacred Mountain

Photo courtesy of www.travelblog.org

Happy Toilet Day (Belated)

Celebrate World Toilet Day like a kingSubmitted by Layer 8 on Fri, 11/16/2007 - 11:53am.

According to the World Toilet Organization, the underlying purpose of the day is to have people in all countries to take action, increase awareness of toilet user's right to a better toilet environment, and to demand for it from toilet owners. It also wants people to be aware that over 2.6 billion people around the world lack access to basic sanitation services. Founded in 2001 the WTO has 54 members in 41 countries dedicated to improving sanitation conditions around the globe. Hear them roar.

The Descent of Man

It would seem that the continual warring among the nations of this world is the ultimate testament to man's inherent barbaric nature. Or is war just nature's mechanism to play out Darwin's idea of survival of the fittest?

Wars are zero-sum, winner takes all, games. It seems nowadays we know who the winners are, all the time - the anglo-saxon race, or axis, or allies; call them what you will, it doesn't matter.

From now on wars are like the gentle rain, or soft falling snow, or the wind that blows. There is no more emotive meaning to wars because there is just too much meaning that our hearts cannot compute it all. The trauma of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is the most eventful offering to the altar of progress of the human race. There is only one human race that matters now - the anglo-saxon race.

In his The Descent of Man, Darwin states, " mankind's social instincts are primary and individual instincts are secondary", a prescient notion, now devoid of meaning. It is meaning in itself. The surreal explanation of why the moth is drawn to the flame; why there will always be empty souls willing to blow themselves up. Life has no more meaning. One has to die to taste that fading sense of humanity.

Of Dolphins and Later Day Saints

The theory of evolution has passed on to be a religion. So is global warming; say anything against it and you are labelled a heretic. You will be ordained of saintly status if you work hard enough to promote it.

Say hail to Al Gore, the patron saint of global warming. He looks very much like Willy, you know, the famous dolphin; maybe that's why he won the nobel. He's got everything going for him, has Al. As I recall he came as a guest to Malaysia once, and he almost got the nobel peace price then for advocating street violence. Then, he almost became president; he it is who proclaimed himself the smartest candidate who did not become king.

Now we know he has got dolphin power; a built in sonar device which can detect what's ahead. He saved himself for a higher calling. (Pun intended). Who knows how much better the world would have been, had he become president.

The advent of the blog has afforded a convenient outlet for many aspiring saints to reveal themselves. Of the home-grown variety, we have more than enough; their line-up would reach cloud seven. It would warm Al's heart to know the depth of their dedication to their cause or causes, whatever they are. Apparently there are always two versions of the truth; theirs and the government's.

I always thought that truth should not take any sides of any dispute. but then, when saints are involved, truth becomes a prisoner of conscience, and left to languish in muddy minds, I ask you, where will we turn for the truth?

Global Warming? What a load of poppycock!

The other view on global warming

by Professor David Bellamy. Find the full text here
Whatever the experts say about the howling gales, thunder and lightning we've had over the past two days, of one thing we can be certain. Someone, somewhere - and there is every chance it will be a politician or an environmentalist - will blame the weather on global warming.

But they will be 100 per cent wrong. Global warming - at least the modern nightmare version - is a myth. I am sure of it and so are a growing number of scientists. But what is really worrying is that the world's politicians and policy makers are not.

Instead, they have an unshakeable in what has, unfortunately, become one of the central credos of the environmental movement. Humans burn fossil fuels, which release increased levels of carbon dioxide - the principal so-called greenhouse gas - into the atmosphere, causing the atmosphere to heat up.

They say this is global warming: I say this is poppycock. Unfortunately, for the time being, it is their view that prevails.

As a result of their ignorance, the world's economy may be about to divert billions, nay trillions of pounds, dollars and roubles into solving a problem that actually doesn't exist. The waste of economic resources is incalculable and tragic.

take, take, take

the sorry story of mining

The meeting mediated by the State Minister of Tourism and Environment between SEPA and the former management of Mamut Copper Mine in Ranau recently, fell short by a million years. There should be an immediate moratorium on all mining activities until all problems relating to environmental damage are addressed properly. As long as there are alternatives to developing Ranau, any choice that results in environmental damage, and exposing people to risks to their health should not be considered, ever.

Some of the problems we create outlive us and the ultimate tragedy will be when the damage to generations of the gentle natives become their social identifier.

Many clever questions were asked. Many clever answers were given. But what is the point of being just clever. The silence of one million years can never erase one wrong step.

The ball is out, sdr Anwar

I don't understand it when a match between Sampras and Federer is made out to be more than it really is. It is just an exhibition match, or mismatch, to be exact. Just because it happens in Kuala Lumpur does not automatically make it spectacular. For sure it will pass for more than mundane, but it is a non event. I ask myself if I am missing the point.

The demonstration orchestrated by the street maestro, Sdr Anwar Ibrahim is a non event of epic proportions and there are plans afoot to manufacture many more. It is his desperate effort to be noticed. Getting to soil the King's hand is simply unMalay.

Surely the best place to champion the cause for a better election process is in Parliament. The rakyat need to be won over by good and clear rhetorics. Truth is self-evident. The rakyat shall judge through the ballot box. Justice will not be served by promoting lawlessness in the streets.

We can perhaps see a time and another place where we need extraordinary means to achieve a just cause. This is not the time. Malaysia is not the place.

HAPPY DEEPAVALI, DEAR HINDU FRIENDS

Image credits:

http://www.smartradio.sg/images_menu/Deepavali2006.jpg

The 4 things That Matter Most

We should all be reading this book.
Title: The 4 Things That Matter Most
Sub-title : A book About Living
Author: Ira Byock MD. Publisher: The Free Press

Find details here

Blurbs for the book
Four simple phrases -- "Please forgive me," "I forgive you," "Thank you," and "I love you" -- carry enormous power. In many ways, they contain the most powerful words in our language. These four phrases provide us with a clear path to emotional wellness; they guide us through the thickets of interpersonal difficulties to a conscious way of living that is full of integrity and grace.

In The Four Things That Matter Most, Dr. Ira Byock, an international leader in palliative care, teaches us how to practice these life-affirming words in our day-to-day lives. Too often we assume that the people we love really know we love them. Dr. Byock reveals the value of stating the obvious and provides insights into how we burden ourselves by hanging on to old grudges unconsciously and unnecessarily.

Fiksyen

sedutan dari novel yang tak kunjung siap

Apakah ada dengan cinta. Bila direnung ia cuma satu episod pendek tetapi mencuri segala detik usiaku. Bila berakhir seolah-olah masa sudah tiada. Emili gadis yang ku cinta, sekarang sudah pergi dari sisiku.

Kehilangannya mengakhiri satu episod yang sangat manis di dalam hidupku. Apa jika sudah kita curahkan segala jiwa raga untuk satu episod lalu episod itu berakhir, maka sudah wajar kita relakan segalanya sudah berakhir? Aku teringat kesah Yokio Mishima yang membunuh diri kerana sudah tidak yakin kepada manusia dan dunia. Mungkin dia merasa terlalu pintar untuk dunia ini. Mungkin juga dia menyangka akan dilahir semula suatu masa kelak dan dunia akan lebih pintar. Macamana dia boleh berharap mencari kesempurnaan dalam dunia yang tidak sempurna. Namun, hakikat segala kejadian ialah kesementaraan. Setiap yang berlaku ada permulaan dan ada penghujungnya.

Manusia memang tidak gemar kepada kesementaraan dan inginkan supaya hidupnya bukan sekadar menerima yang ada tetapi juga berharap punyai kudrat mengubah keadaan; mahu punyai kuasa menentu bila sesuatu itu akan bermula dan berakhir. Aku dan Emili dalam saat-saat saling asyik, tidak tau tepi dan hujung, bagai di tengah lautan luas tidak nampak tepinya; tentu tepi itu tetap ada cuma adakah kita berani menemuinya? Cinta itu satu keadaan dinamis, tidak mesti tidak akan bergerak ke arah yang di bawa oleh dinamika cinta itu.

Perlu diakui cinta itu cuma satu unsur untuk memenuhi asyik itu, seperti unsur dedebu yang mesti ada di awan supaya hujan bisa terjadi kerana selepas condensation dedebu diperlukan untuk membawa cairan menjadi rintik hujan. Kalau begitu percintaan itu seolah-olah tidak lebih daripada pemangkin supaya episod-episod kelangsungan hidup terus berlaku.

Adakah kalau begitu percintaan itu sesuatu yang mesti berakhir dan janganlah sesiapa mengharap cinta itu akan kekal? Paling boleh pun dia cuba memanjang-manjang episod cintanya. Taj Mahal. Oh yah, lambang cinta Jehan untuk Mumtaz, tapi jangan lupa, Mumtaz mati di saat keasyikan cinta sedang memuncak.

Teringat pula patung anjing di stesyen keretapi Shinjuku, lambang kasih haiwan kepada tuannya. Si anjing khabarnya menunggu tuannya yang pergi perang dunia ke-dua, tidak sempat balik sebab jadi korban perang. Si anjing pun mati kecewa dan kelaparan. Walau kecil dan bersifat anjing, nilainya sebesar Taj Mahal. Banyak lambang yang bersemadi di jiwa, seperti luka yang tidak nampak. Seperti luka di jiwaku kerana sebenarnya cinta ku pada Emili belum berakhir. Ah, sakit mengingatinya. Mujurlah boleh diringankan dengan rasionalisasi. Orang bilang pengukur kematangan ialah bila akal rasional mengatasi emosi. Tapi ada keseronokan barangkali bila kita biarkan diri kita dikuasai oleh emosi; ia suatu bentuk nafsu yang perlu dipenuhi. Ia mewarnai segala bentuk naluri yang ada pada manusia. Tentu kalau tiada emosi dalam naluri untuk makan misalnya, maka keseronokan aktiviti makan itu akan berkurangan. Lantas, manusia patut jaga emosinya supaya apa yang diwarnai oleh emosi itu benar-benar menjadi signifikan.

Emosi adalah akar segala ritos. Apa yang perlu kepada ritos membawa makna pada hidup kita. Itu simbol yang menandakan jiwa kita berkomunikasi dengan sesuatu yang lebih besar dari kita. Jadi, emosi berlandas naluri untuk mencari asal usul segala sesuatu.. itulah asas beragama. Tanpa emosi, tiada jiwa, tiada ritos, tiada agama.

Gadis Sarawak, dari keluarga berada; anak tunggal. Agama memisahkan kami. Katanya bercinta tidak bermakna mesti hidup sama. Ungkapan yang lumrah untuk golongan bercinta, tapi bagi orang yang siuman ia seperti bermaksud, aku tetap melihat kamu walaupun kamu disebalik tembok tebal. Bergantung siapa yang bercakap, siapa siuman dan siapa tidak adalah persoalan perspektif. Hakikat dan abtstraksi adalah persoalan perspektif, bezanya cuma satu bersandar pada objek solid, yang satu lagi bersandar pada bentuk-bentuk abstrak alam fikrah.

Detached Retina

The retina has to be cut out leaving a hinge. It is then flapped out while the cornea is cut into the desired shape. After that you can throw your glasses away.

An older method of cure was to cut up the retina, much like the way we cut up our favourite pan pizza. I have heard of one who has suffered the ultimate consequence.The only consolation maybe is that the afflicted can now definitely identify an elephant by mere touch alone.

I have visited a few of the famous blogs by Malaysians and the main offerings are about the UMNO meeting; more rantings against almost all those who dare call themselves leaders.

I think it is understandable. Those concerned just want to be heard. The ultimate aim being to get into some position of power. Is that wrong? Their major affliction is foot in mouth disease, not life-threatening but very contagious.

Eventually some of them will achieve their ambition. Some will not. The quality of government will rest with the former and those governed. In essence quality must come from the leaders and the followers. As the saying goes, " the people deserve the leaders they get"

honk honk

Malaysian motorists hate being overtaken. "Hate" is a bit mild to describe it. This behaviour shows an innate sense of inferiority and an overt desire to excel in things mundane.

You can tell this type by the way they use the toilet. I am guessing, but it could be true. People with no toilet sense and no road sense belong together

The Season of Huffing and Puffing is Here Again

The UMNO general assembly is the biggest political gathering in Malaysia. For sure there will be much huffing and puffing from participants and spectators alike. Spectators meaning us.

Social change evolves. Whatever one may want to derive from this meeting, or whatever consequences we anticipate may only be seen when history has cleared our mindscreen from the steam of huff and puff.

As for me, I see a day for a united Malaysia, tied together by the heartstring of diversity. It is my duty to help build this united Malaysia in my little corner of Malaysia

Another Take on Being A Spaceman

Stephen Hawking is the world's best known cosmologist. I am pretty certain that he wont be making a space journey soon.

Even without being up there in space he has explained as much as possibly can be said at the moment about the cosmos. For one, he can explain how black holes eventually disappear. Find him here

So if you ask me who my space hero is, I would say Hawking. Much must happen on earth, before we can move forward, I mean, up. Get my drift? The search for space heroes transcends nationalities.

If we cannot get the next ticket to the moon, just remember there still is a vast region of space between our ears.

10 Reasons Why I like Driving Alone

Especially on long journeys.

1. I like listening to the radio at full blast. Well, sometimes.
2. Some people like to belch like every 22 seconds or so after a meal.
3. I can drive at the speed I like. I could take a nap.
4. I can choose the eating place.
5. The quality of the conversation might be wanting.
6. I can take and make calls when I like. As for the call of nature, I don't have to discharge at any particular bush if a toilet is not available.
7. The best place to put food is on the front passenger seat.
8. I can cut short my journey any time.
9. The other person might fall sick.
10. 101 reasons incidental to the above.

I can say the same for cooking and gardening which could be the last bastions for the the intrepid individualist.As for angling, that's another branch of philosophy altogether