Cars - Basic Training

There was this interview i watched with a CEO of a major car manufacturer a couple years back and he mentioned something that shocked me.

He was discussing the R&D stages they go through when creating a new car or upgrading an older model. Basically, as with all products, they asses its market feasibility and if people will actually buy it. Then they begin to hone it down adding on features and accessories people will drool over.

What was interesting though, was when the interviewer asked him 'How do you assess what people want...?', to which the CEO answered, 'Well, in brief, we place a 40% weighting on the needs of north america. 40% on the europeans. 20% is split around east asia and the oceanic continent. We don't place much weighting on the middle eastern region, for the reason that they'll buy pretty much anything as long as it's new...'

Immediately, i took that as a crude insult. Though, a moment of pondering later, i came to the conclusion that the son of a bitch is right. Especially when it comes to automobiles, generally, we don't have the foggiest clue when we are in the buyers chair saying, 'Aaaaahhhh.... mmmmm.... oh Daddy, i want that one!'

If you think of it in the sense that this is one of the biggest depreciating assets you'll probably be making in your lifetime... it does make most of us morons, doesn't it...?!

I had a friend come up to me proudly proclaiming that he's going to buy a new Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 for KD 16,000... 16 GRAND!! for an american gas guzzling, premature ejaculating jeep... in my view, and in the view of anyone with a mind on their shoulders, there are far better alternatives to throw away your hard earned cash.

Another point that begs to be beckoned is peoples ability to drive and before you all start telling me crap about if you drive in kuwait you can drive anywhere... let me tell you something about driving.

the ability to drive in a straight line and the ability to merge as one with your machine and hold it when it's at the very edge of its physical capabilities are not one and the same. Being a good driver firstly means that you have good knowledge about your driving ability, your cars strengths and weakness's and your anticipation of things that are about to happen before they actually do.

People are dying pretty much everyday on kuwaiti streets. We are all mature enough to understand that accidents to happen and we all know we are taking a risk getting into our cars. But what burns down deep in your gut, is when people are dying for stupid, reckless reasons.

I've had many friends dissapear in a second due to car accidents, i've seen a whole family laying on the ground covered with white linen due to accidents, name it i've seen it. Each and everyone of them needn't die, yet the very reason they die is our governments total disregard to driving standards in this country, and ofcourse, our arab superiority complex thinking we're all schumachers.

Damn fools!

Random thoughts...

1. In highschool I punched our school director square in the face... poor dude, he was just in the wrong place at the very wrong time...

2. All my girlfriends, apart from one have been older than me...

3. I bought the car of my dreams only to realize that it doesn't suit kuwait at all,,, frankly i'm gutted...!

4. Did kuwait really change so much in such a short frame of time...?! why are people here so fucked up...?!

5. My suspicions are confirmed, Islam here is used as a tool... nothing more, nothing less... religion i'm afrain once publicized in the way it is, only serves to segregate the masses...

6. Tat, you rock dude... apart from that, you have wierd taste in movies... (alice in wonderland musical anyone...?!)

7. Thats not a bike honey, it's a Chopper... and Zed...?! well, Zeds dead baby...

8. I've always wanted to get chased after by the police... and it happend... not nice... not fair, they have backup...

9. I've done 345kph, on two occasions... and it's orgasmic...! at that speed the world does really slow down around you...

10. What if kuwaiti's had a japanese philisophy to work and life...?!

Monty Python II - I can't help it...

Here you go guys... another amazing sketch from the boys at Monty Python...

Haha,,, does your wife GO...!

'Nudge' 'Nudge'... Say no More... Say no MORE...!!

'Wink' 'Wink'... ;)

Monty Python - one of the best comedies of all time...

This must one be best all of time, One of the best time of all, this must be somebody of somebody not be left by anybody...

LoooooooooL it's a shame they don't make comedies like this anymore...

Emancipate yourself from mental slavery... Non but ourselves can free our minds...

I left work one day much earlier than I thought, having promised a friend I'll drop by his place at 7ish in Mishref for a little chitchat and maybe a few good games of Chess, I had a couple of hours to kill. So i decided to drop into Starbucks Mishref and have a good read of my book ( I think it was Stephen Levitt's 'Freakonomics' at the time )

Bought a White Choco Moca walked over to a free table and sat down. The chairs were comfy, the coffee hit the right spot and the book was as absorbing as a dry sponge on Eva Mendes's back... I leaned over and dragged the adjacent chair closer so i can stretch my legs a little and there it was again, all the eyes in the joint veered my way. It wasn't even just a glance and back to the conversation at hand, they kept checking back, slowly peeling away at me, wondering if my feet are still stretched across the armchair in front.

This, fascinatingly enough, is something that I've noticed repeatedly here and have come to the conclusion that it is the main reason that Kuwait can be a hassle to live in at times. People here can't just be, they need to get into peoples business. Today I received an email at work of a chick dancing as she was listening to an album at Virgin Megastore @ Marina Mall, taken on a mobile camera... WTF!

This sort of attitude removes the de-stress factor from going out. People nowadays are reverting to other means of chilling and spending quality time with friends and family. Going to such places as members clubs, like Palms - Corniche - SAS, and shalehs or home parties and dinners. There seem to be less and less venues around where people can just go and let loose.

Which is a real shame...! We are living in an increasingly complex time and people are dealing with more and more stresses, from work to the home to the family to the ever rising cost of living. With all that on board, people need to enjoy the precious few moments they have to themselves.

Being new to the corporate scene, I even find people take the short blasts to foreign land to relieve their stress and return to face another three to four months before their next excursion.

Why does it need to be so...?!

Personally, this lifestyle is still never ceases to boggle me... What to do though..?!

You can't beat them all... or can you...?!