Grrr.... This snow is getting too much for me this winter. I am trying to be patient because December was pretty warm but Jan/Feb is really bad. We have had too many inches of snow already. Most importantly, I have become stuck in my truck twice already. This afternoon I was coming home and driving slowly because the roads were icy. There was no snow coming down but the wind blew really hard and the snow drifted over to the roads. Hence the word, snowdrifts. I was fine until I was turning into my driveway. The snow had drifted from the sides of the road to the middle of my driveway. It was higher enough to catch onto my axle so that even having 4-wheel drive did not help. I called my male friends but no one was home. So, being the pioneering lady that I am, I dressed up warmly and took my shovel and went to move the snow from under my truck. Then I started the truck and tried reversing/forwarding it. It would not move. Back I went into the snow, and dug around the wheels and under the front axle. I saw parts of my truck that I had never seen before--all those heavy rusted metal parts! Yike! I had to go into the house to warm up a little. Then back I went to dig around, pondering all the while about my wisdom in choosing to live out in the country. I ignored the cars passing by, pretending that I were an old hand at this. After all, I have been living out here for about 9 years. Finally, after several attempts of shoveling snow, and starting the truck up and trying to move it, it finally groaned and inched forwarded. Yes! Please continue moving! Yes! Yes! Hooray! The truck moved and slided a little, of course, but it slowly moved in the direction of the garage. It wanted the warmth of the garage and it wanted to stay there.

Do you know that my hood (bonnet to those of you who speak the Queen's English) is frozen and I have not been able to open it to check my oil? Hopefully, the weather will warm up soon enough. If not, I will take it in to the shop and have them change my oil!

One of the things that used to bother me about the way English is used here is the fact that auto repair shops that fix damaged cars are called body shops. I found it really difficult to not say, "Excuse me, would you fix my body so that it is the way it was 30 years ago!" "What! You mean to tell me that you cannot fix my body! You can only fix my truck if there is any physical damage!" "Why do you call it "body" then?" "How can a car have a body?"

After several years of puzzling over this, I decided that life is too short and that I should just accept my body as it is.

So Chinese New Year has come and gone. So has the Lantern festival. It is time to move on and work seriously. I have the tendency to overcommit to social events as well as work too much. Let us see. I work from Monday to Friday (sometimes feel guilty if I take the morning off to work on projects at home). Of course, between the time I leave the office and going to Toastmasters, I have to go to Weight Watchers to listen to those like me who are trying to lose weight. I did not do too good yesterday because I went to the China 1 Buffet at lunch and had more than two pounds of food. Portion, portion, portion, my dears. Watch your portions if you want to lose weight. Luckily, yesterday was a freebie for me in the month of February since I already weighed in last week! Then I have Toastmasters on the first and third Mondays of each month to improve my public speaking.

This February I signed up for ceramic lessons, something I have wanted to do for a long time. So that is on Wednesday evening, after work. It is fun because I am trying to increase my creativity juice, which is difficult to do at my age--too many constraints. Society does not allow a Malaysian female baby bloomer to break out of her environment. I have been trying to for ages. I tried singing lessons one year but could not carry a tune, and besides the singing lessons became too much of a burden. Too many rules to abide by; practice, practice, practice.

Sunday, Feb 8 2004 was a traumatic day for me. I wanted to attend a book club meeting because I had not been able to go for a long time. The members would have forgotten me by now! Usually my neighbor, Jane, gives me a ride but this time she could not. So, I went to the office for a while, thinking I would work first in order to make things easier for me on Monday. Instead, I spent too much time on the Internet! I spilled orange juice on my keyboard and my t-shirt! Luckily I had gone to WalMart and bought a couple of cheap t-shirts and so I changed into one of them. I left early for the book club meeting because I had to find the house. As I found the house, I learnt that I had left my purse at the office. GRR....RRR... I had to go back to the office to get my purse. At this point, I should have gone home. Instead, I stayed and had a good time. On the way home, the road was clear although some spots had snow blown onto it and probably some icy patches. Just west of the intersection of Lincoln and Weidman, my wheels suddenly flew off the road and my pick up truck went ploughing through the snow on the south side of Weidman road. It all happened too quickly for me to be frightened. This is the first time this has happened to me. I was so very lucky that there were no other cars coming in either direction. A man who lived a little down the road came out to help me and let me use his cell phone to call AAA, the automobile club to which I belong. The towing truck came in 20 minutes to pull my truck out. The snow was up to my knees and the doors of the truck; there was no way I could get myself out.

On Monday, life seemed so sweet but I was irritable and short-tempered. Funny, .... one would have thought that I would be sweeter to everyone.