headaches passwords create

Just last week, I was trying to log into my Maybank2u.com to pay the last of my mobile phone bills. Since I have not used it for some time, I forgot the password. I typed all the variations I could remember but they all didn't work. After the 3rd try, I got blocked.

This also happened sometime early this year and I even forgot the pin number to activate it then. I had to wait until I went back home to Malaysia to unblock myself through the ATM machine. Such hassle, what if I didn't have the chance to go back home for another 5 years and needed to make online payments/transfers?

Then I read HL's post and it got me thinking about all the passwords that I have. Now that almost everything is online, there are more passwords to remember :

Emails - I think I have like 10 accounts for various reasons and phases in my life, but regularly use 5 at the moment
Instant messengers (YM, MSN, Skype, VOIPstunt, hardly-used ICQ)
Online banking (Malaysian bank & Japanese bank) - the latter is more complicated, requiring 3 different sets of passwords
Social networking system (Friendster, Facebook, etc)
Blogs (my own and access to other private ones)
Market buzz games, online subscriptions, image banks, etc

Each of these have their own set of rules (only numerals, or combination of alphanumerals, some only with 8 characters or less, some up till 12, and so on) which makes it even more confusing. Some that is more secured require you to change your password every now and then, and you get even more confused coz when you don't log in so often, you make the mistake of typing your previous password (like what happened to me).

I wish there was an easier way of doing this. I do know that biometrics is one good(?) alternative like our Malaysian passport which only requires us to place our thumb on the scanner to verify instead of standing in line like others. But I also heard of one scary story of a guy whose thumb was chopped off so that the thieves could use it to unlock his Merz! Then there's this movie, the name I've forgotten (some futuristic sci-fi flick?) where the guy's eyeballs got scooped out so that the bad guys could gain access through the retina scan.

Anyways, while thinking about all these in bed the other day, I dozed off to sleep. No conclusion, just another pre-sleep wonderings...

But seriously, isn't there any other way??