Why I sometimes drive with the radio off

Just came back from Spanish class. The drive back home was annoying on the account of the radio. Certain diptera naming, don'tz knowz howz toz spellz radio stations were the root of this vexation.

I actually went through all the channels I had hot buttoned on my radio ie 1 2 3 4 5 6. 1 through 6 were adverts. All of them promoting something or another.

On Diptera FM you had a mobile phone service provider, paying big bucks to an advertising company, to come up with ultimately, an avian influenced advert. Subscribe to us, cause we have a certain winged animal(that tastes incredibly tasty done Peking-style), as our mascot?

On Don'tz Knowz Howz Toz Spellz, we had a couple complaining that their son kept having dreams about a certain two-legged, gloved wearing, pants with two buttons wearing rodent. And their brilliant plan to relieve their son of these rodent infested nightmares is, 'Let's bring him to NZX, as they are having a Disneylandish carnival there'. Yeah, when my son has recurring nightmares about a talking mouse who has a yellow dog and a duck as a friend, I bring him to the one place in Malaysia that is FILLED with these characters. Some one better call child services.

On channel 6, ...as-a-feather FM, the station famed for the older generation (however in denial they are of this fact;- as-a-feather FM purports that they also cater for the younger generation eg Saturday Night Fever). We literally have on 'call 1800 now to get rid of those pesky termites', 'buy our prunes for better bowel movements' etc etc.

I understand that adverts are how radio stations earn a decent revenue, but come on, when one is stuck in a jam or when one drives a 13 year old Proton Seems to Always Give Anger that doesn't have a CD player, one would like to listen to some music, not some lackluster pair of voice actors talking about going to some optician to get a pair of spectacles claiming that they 'make you look SOOooooOO much younger!'.

However, when music DOES come on in the end, well, this might not be the station's fault, I always find myself disappointed. Don't know if it's just me, but I'm kinda tired of listening to a trio of brothers wondering about a "baby...turn(ing) the temperature hotter" as they seem to be "slippin' into lava" and they unfortunately are "burnin' up, burnin' up, baby".

The worst came when I was reminded of a time when someone complained that I didn't contribute enough to the environment. In other words, I wasn't 'green' enough. What sparked this sudden reminiscence, was another of DontzKnowzHowzTozSpellz's out reach programs. The guest artist used the power of the media to deliver this message, I quote, "Save a plastic, save the world".

I love Heroes references as much as the next guy, but this time, not so much.

I do my part for the environment in an almost indirect way. I switch off the lights when I leave the room and turn off the tap when not in use. My intentions not for a better environment but to save money on bills. I don't litter or throw my trash into the ocean for the sole reason I support a cleaner city and clearer oceans (I love Pulau Redang).

Furthermore, I despise the idea of doing a good when it inconveniences you in turn. Eg, you will never see me contemplating the use of the air-con when I want to. You will never see me contemplating an alternative route to the mall when I have a (im)perfectly functional car filled with petrol on the driveway.

Then someone comes along and tells me that I'm not green enough because I use plastic bags? I'm not green enough because I throw my aluminium cans in the trash can and not the trash can of a different colour?

That's why I always question those who so believe that they are for the environment. I am too for the environment, I don't want polar bears out of a place to live, I don't want an increase in skin cancer cases. But when someone comes out to say I'm not green ENOUGH? I ask them the same. Cause the fact is, they probably aren't either.

Crazy huh? How many things can be stirred up just because I decided to turn the dial on my radio to the right.

Note to self: Get CD player. Quick.