German for “6-year Proton warranty.”
And in these difficult times, I guess the Proton would pass for cheap & cheerful.
Or just cheap.
After all, why else would this car-owner, driving in a country which has roads with no speed-limits, and where Mercedes Benzs & BMWs are used as freakin’ TAXIs -
- then opt to buy this?
OK, not the best post-title with which to start the new year, but I’m annoyed, k?
I got back from Portugal a couple of days ago
- to those of you who are thinking of going there: DON’T –
and have only just visited my blog today. Only to find that instead of my blog coming up when I type in sheenapunya.blogspot.com, instead I get adbaaz.com. It isn’t even just a teeny pop-up that you can close; it’s a FULL-BLOWN page that loads even before my header has had a chance to appear.
WTF??! I subscribe to you, and you block my blog? I’m taking down your box, and you can keep the money that I earned from your advertisements… All RM1.70 of it.
’tis not like I’m blogging enough to earn actual keep from it, anyway.
Though extra cash is always welcome, especially after Christmas in New York & New Year’s in Portugal.
Oh, yeah, did I mention I spent Christmas in New York? As in New York City, U.S.? To rip-off a post of Jeffrey’s, this is me summing up MY Christmas in New York with just one photo:
Having shopped until 3AM – yes, that is 3 in the MORNING – in Macy’s, NOW I truly know what it means to shop until you drop.
I heart Macy’s.
I heart New York.
I was sorely tempted to do the Xiaxue & put up pictures of all my purchases, since I am bimbotic enough. (And lack blogging-content enough.) Only that I can’t be stuffed to actually lay out all my clothes on a bed, and photograph each & every single item.
YK, you’re right. It would be kinda lame.
Plus, it’s a little too soon for me to revisit the amount of money I spent over the 9 days. (My eyes would probably start bleeding should I see THAT figure again.) I haven’t even started figuring out how am I going to get money to buy the essentials for the coming term. Like, food.
BUT, starving for the next 3 months is worth it for THIS:
I was all-set to buy a Mitchell with a plug-in for 200 USD, until I saw the beautiful Takamine G series lying at the side. Discounted from 450 USD to 300 USD. It was out of my budget, but I thought I’d give one a strum, anyway.
It was love at first sound.
Now, to actually learn to play the guitar…
So, what’s your New Year’s resolution?
From ages 6-10, I was convinced her name was Gnid Blyton.
1) Daisies.
Check.
2) Bluebells.
Check.
3) Robin red-breast.
Check.
4) Stinging-nettles and dock leaves. Check.
5) Magic Faraway Tree. Check.
NOT. (Come ON!)
Seriously, though, it is such a strange feeling to actually SEE in real-life things which before I had only read in Enid Blyton books. Just today, I saw 2 squirrels bounding across the green. And they really did bound across the green, just the way I imagined squirrels would. Even a familiar bus-driver honked when he saw me, and waved, just like they do in story-books or shows about Bob the Builder. (Try getting a KL Rapid bus-driver to not kill you, let alone smile & wave.)
*Digression:When the sun is out, you see so many interesting things. (Probably ‘cos you actually venture outdoors and see them.) Things like pigeons.
As a rule, I think pigeons are dumb, and deserve to be chased by members of the public (not naming names). But today, even I could not help but be amazed when I noticed that the dull grey of the pigeon’s neck actually shines a metallic green or metallic pink, depending on how the sunlight hits it.
Try as I did to take a picture, the colours were just too elusive; they literally glinted for a few moments in the sunlight, before turning back to grey. Plus, the dumb bird had walked off to the carpark before I could snap one.
However, I could not help but be disappointed when I saw the “massive oak” of Enid Blyton’s descriptions.
(Looking up at a gnarly oak tree)
Sheena: That isn’t as big as I thought it would be. Enid Blyton made it out to sound huge!
Luke: Well, you’re from a tropical region. Your trees grow to about 30-storeys high. That’s huge for you.
All the same, I am quite happy with the bits of Enid Blyton books that I’ve seen. Just spare me the creepy toys.
*Trivia of the week:
An oblique critique of a Blyton work is found in Jasper Fforde’s novel ‘The Well of Lost Plots’. The heroine, Thursday Next, should change the ending of Shadow the Sheepdog by entering the novel’s world. Thursday is surprised at the one-dimensionality of the characters. They have limited vocabulary, intelligence and emotional scope, and are confined to designated paths. Even stranger is that the characters attack Thursday simply because they are hungry for feeling and emotion. She finally escapes after showing the characters how to feel guilt, enmity, hate, anger and so on, missing from Blyton’s world according to Fforde.
- Wikipedia, because Wikipedia is getting me though medical school.
For a long time, it seemed like it was going to snow everywhere in the UK EXCEPT Southampton. Yes, we had our blue skies.
And yes, we had our horrible days.
One morning, I dragged myself out of bed and ran all the way to the bus-stop, only to find that the bus had come early, and the next bus was due in half an hour. I had to reach the hospital IN half an hour, because I was supposed to catch ANOTHER bus from there to ANOTHER hospital, and if I missed that bus, I might as well have stayed home.
Which was not a bad idea, seeing as that morning, I was scheduled to do a case presentation on a difficult topic, which I had not finished.
It is impossible to describe the lack of motivation that accompanied me as I endured that 40-minute walk in the wind and rain, with no umbrella (since the wind had completely destroyed it within the first 2 minutes of my commencing the walk) and worse still, no MP3 player, knowing that I was headed to a morning of potential humiliation and definite stress.
So, for people who regularly do 40-minute walks or cycle in their beloved English weather (the local euphemism for bad/awful weather), eg. Sarah & Jess, it is impossible for me to describe the sense of achievement when I actually managed to reach the hospital, without having turned back in defeat, that sense of liberation, of victory, that sense that having done this, NOTHING was impossible.
I had been thinking about going to the Philippines for my elective for a long time, but never dared to commit to it, because I was worried (terrified, to be honest) of spending 3 weeks in a foreign place without any friends. Whenever I imagined myself coming back home from the hospital to my lonely room in a dodgy youth hostel, I felt like throwing my head up in the air and howling.
But now, NOW, having walked along Burgess, Portswood, all the way to St. Mary’s, and having overcome the physical obstables of distance, weather, and high-heeled boots, as well as the more daunting psychological obstacles (storms, school, and the biggest one of all, WALKING) and temptations (my warm bed, a chance to escape feedback on a presentation doomed to fail, A FREE MORNING), I felt, “I CAN do this. I can go to the Philippines on my own, and I will be fine.”
Point is, we have seen Southampton in good & bad weather, but apparently, snowmen are an endangered species in my part of the UK.
But, TODAY, it has finally snowed in Southampton!
Not that I was around to enjoy it, because I was posted in Portsmouth the whole day, where it did NOT snow. By the time I returned to Southampton, all the snow (and slush) had disappeared without a trace.
If it were not for this picture I took this morning, I might have thought I imagined the whole thing.
I would have been gutted if that light dusting of white was my 1st-ever experience of snow. But, having seen snow fall proper last year in Lithuania…
… and having frozen (and currently STILL freezing) in the concordant cold temperature despite wearing 5 layers, I cannot help but wonder,
“So, what’s so bad about global warming again?”
