sestertii

This evening when I grabbed my coin purse, containing my magnetic card (Octopus) to enable me to "doot" to get through the barrier, the zip of my coin purse was opened and out flew all my change. Where my change landed was probably a circumference of 2 metres. A nice lady helped me pick up my change. Isn't it great when you come across a random act of kindness.

Anyway, the coins made me think about sestertiis for some strange reason. I must miss my Asterix collection subconsciously. This one was about Asterix minding the money for Chief Whosemoralsarelastix so that he doesn't have to pay the Romans taxes. Asterix then loses all the money (because Chief Whosemoralsarelastix tricked him) and then he and Obelix have to find ways of making the money back, including becoming gladiators. If you haven't read it go borrow it from the library.

I just found out Uderzo put a new one out last year unbeknownst to me! Asterix and the Falling Sky!

I was also thinking on the train that if I had to describe myself in two words - I would say that I am an all-rounder underachiever. Does it count as two or three words with a hyphen? I am an all-rounder underachiever in that I can do a wide range of things well but once I realise I need to do better than well, I lapse out of concentration and cannot progress to better. It's the lack of focus and attention span. I have ADPLD - attention deficit in the passions of life disorder!

- Speaking of onomatopoeic words, my father cracked me up the last night by asking me to "dung" the fish in the microwave. In Cantonese, we say "ding", which is the colloquial verb for reheat - and of course common sense would tell you that it is derived from the sound a microwave makes when it's done. I guess to him, the microwave makes a "dung" sound. Actually, let me run down stairs and test it.........it's makes a beep sound.

By the way, the "doot" is the sound the Octopus card makes when you scan it to walk through the barrier. And if you think I've lost the plot and making up my own language, I dare you to come to Hong Kong and ask the locals.

See! I did it right there. I couldn't talk about one topic and jumped back to my first topic. Is there a hotline for this sydrome?