My new car
I’m still loving it :)

Turtle workshop
We (as in the Turtle Research and Rehabilitation Group of UMT) organized a turtle workshop from 1st to 3rd June in one of the newest hotels in Kuala Terengganu, FELDA Residence. I had been very involved in the organizing of the workshop — from requesting for quotations from several hotels, to negotiating for good rates since we were operating under tight budgets, to confirming the number of rooms we would need to confirming the menu for the banquet dinner, to arranging to pick up our participants from the airport as well as helping them check in and making sure that they were comfortable, to entertaining the numerous requests from our participants during the workshop, to arranging to send them to the airport after the workshop.

I wouldn’t say that I was the one who did everything because it was really impossible due to the nature of the workshop, and I was (still am) truly glad for the support given by Fong, a fellow graduate student, who took a week off her busy schedule to assist in the workshop. Without her presence and most importantly, moral support, I would have broken down before the workshop ended. LOL. Thanks, Fong! Also, thanks Sean, for showing up and for being there :)

My birthday
Thank you so so much to everybody who left me birthday messages on Facebook, as well as those of you who sent me SMSes. I wasn’t able to reply to the Facebook messages because I was busy with the workshop (remember?) but I just wanted you guys to know that I truly appreciate the thought, and the wishes :)

Also, guess what I got for my birthday? Two things — an autobiography entitled “How STARBUCKS Saved My Life” from somebody who remembers the kind of books I love. It’s a story about a man who had everything, then lost it all, and later found it again.

And this from J :)

Road trip
After the workshop ended, I took a 4-day leave and went on a road trip with J, who made a last-minute decision to return to Malaysia a few weeks earlier. From Kuala Terengganu, we drove to KL instead of Melaka because my aunt, who was holidaying on the East Coast had to go to KL to attend a funeral. After dropping her in Gombak, we drove back to Melaka where we spent 3 days with my family.

Then Mum, sis, J and I drove to Ipoh and there began our eat-all-you-can spree. My sister and J were the champions in Ipoh because they literally stuffed their faces with everything — a whole salted chicken, chicken hor fun, dim sum, you name it, they stuff it. LOL.

The following day, J and I drove to Penang, where I began my eat-all-I-can spree :) From Hokkien mee to char kuey teow (with duck eggs) to cendol. Heaven.

The one thing I found funny was that I did not take a single picture during the road trip, which I thought was so unlike myself. I have always been the one ever-ready with a camera to take pictures of people, things and food, but surprisingly, not this time around (though I regret it now, but why didn’t I do it?!).

Workshop on publishing
I have just returned from Redang Island yesterday for a 3D2N workshop on publishing. I learned a great deal about publishing from the workshop and suddenly, publishing a book doesn’t seem like such a far-fetched idea anymore! :) But of course, the hardest part is to start writing, LOL :)

So, what have you been doing in the past month? I haven’t been reading any blogs since I-forgot-when, but let me know and I’ll start with yours :)

So, my car arrived on April 18th, but I was in Redang Island, so I only got to pick it up on the 20th, when I returned to the mainland. The Proton salesman picked me up at the jetty, drove me to the Proton Showroom and showed me my car :) I’ve seen many of these on the road, no doubt, but that was the first time I saw my own car, with my own registration number, and boy, I was *speechless*

Then he drove me to the nearest petrol station, and then drove me back to the showroom, and then he HANDED ME THE KEY. I was like, OMG. Like I was saying, I have never driven owned such a big car. I have driven only the faithful 850cc Kancil since the day I obtained my driving license some 11 years ago (gulps!).

So, I am finding driving very pleasant now because I can overtake without having to deliberately step on the accelerator and holding on to the steering wheel and at the same time hoping that the car I am overtaking would slow down a little to give me way. The car itself is quite high (unlike the Wira), just the way I like it :) But the best thing is that I now have 413L of boot space, which is, I don’t know, a few times that of the Kancil? Which simply means that I can pack and bring along whatever I want on trips instead of having to worry about whether my luggage could fit into the boot.

After 3 weeks of driving it, I am still trying to get used to the size of the car. I am still learning to parallel park my car without reversing into the car behind, and I am still learning to estimate how much space I have in front before I hit the curb. I am still adjusting to having to turn on the indicator lights on the left and the wiper blades on the right. I still need to remember that I do not have to place my left hand on the gear shift because my car automagically switches gears, sweet. LOL.

Overall, I would say that I am a satisfied customer! :)

For the benefit of my non-Malaysian friends:

• Proton is the first Malaysian national automobile manufacturer which was established in 1983. Malaysia’s second automobile manufacturer is Perodua, which was established in 1993.
• Check out some Proton-manufactured cars.

Now that it has arrived, I am worried about parking it under the mango tree outside my house because during the flowering season (and I can never remember when that is), the tree produces some sticky stuff that I think is nasty to the metallic paint on my new car *sigh*

(will take some pictures of it tomorrow)

*inhale*

*exhale*

Geez.

For the same reason, I am as excited as my sister because [1] oh, my sister is getting a new car!! [2] She is giving me the privilege to tag along to pick up her car. Hooray!!!

While waiting for my sister to blog more about her car, please take a look at some of the pictures I took during my fully-sponsored F1 trip by Petronas @ Sepang on April 5.

Geez.

Oh.. tell me they are gorgeous!!!