The Wilful Sunflower

Slept at 7:30pm yesterday evening and woke at 10:30pm. The first thing I did was check my mobile phone, which I'd left in silent mode. 1 missed call from home. I promptly returned the call.

Of course, my mom wanted to know why I hadn't answered her call in the first place. When I told her I'd been sleeping, she asked why I was so tired.

"My friend has been helping me to design my website over the weekend," I said.
"What's a website?"
"It's, well, you know, an Internet thingy."
"What do you want one for?"
"I put my poetry and other stuff I've written on there."
"Is it free?"
"Yeah, you can get one for free, no problem."
"Oh."

This is the same Mom (well, I only have one!) who tells me not to trust what anyone says on the Internet, because they're all liars! I think she didn't realise that I'm inadvertently included in that sweeping statement! LOL

My parents don't have Internet access, so when I go home for vacations I usually pop into Internet cafes to check my email. Mom always exclaims, "Going to the Internet cafe AGAIN?!" I'm still trying to convince her that sending email is just like writing letters, except it goes through electrical wiring and phone lines instead of through the postal system. I think she isn't buying it. ;P

About a year ago, one of my uncles gave my dad a mobile phone. Mom told me, "Your father's mobile is really good! You can actually save people's names and telephone numbers inside it!" I looked at her and said, "Mom, every mobile phone can do that!"

It's good to know that no matter how technologically-challenged I may think I am, I ain't THAT bad after all... *grin*

Boy, am I glad my mom doesn't have access to my blog! hehehehehee

Seriously, writing becomes more difficult once I know who my readers are. When I went for that 2-day trip with the Soulcare people two weeks ago, every once in a while I'd hear, "I hope you aren't going to write this in your blog!" A few weeks ago, in the midst of a telephone conversation with a friend, he threatened, "If I ever read any of this on your blog, I'm going to KILL you!" (Oops... I hope this part of it doesn't count!) And last week, a friend who hasn't written for more than two months suddenly sent me an email. "I haven't been writing to you because I'm not too comfortable with the idea that it could be published on your blog for the whole world to see," went the excuse for his long silence.

Oh, good grief! In the first place, the paranoia is unjustified. All you have to do is tell me not to mention it, and I won't. Or do you not trust my word?! And in the second place, I DO have lots of other stuff to write about, you know. To automatically assume that I'm going to write about you... well, let's just say that it could be construed as conceit on your part. :P

And back to my technologically-challenged state: I was in a bookshop during lunch hour today, and ended up looking at computer magazines. They're wrapped in plastic, so I only looked at the front covers, but I thought, "Maybe I ought to learn more about all this stuff. Maybe it won't really be over my head." (Wishful thinking? hehee!) So I bought three mags – yes, I'm ambitious! – Computer Active (Malaysian edition), which touts itself as "The only plain English computer magazine", PC.com, and Chip. I specifically looked for Malaysian publications/editions because not only would any software/hardware mentioned be available in Malaysia, but the prices quoted would be in Malaysian ringgit, thus making everything much more relevant to me. I hope I'll learn something useful. :)