iPod nano

oh! Guess what?!

I received the new iPod nano! The blue one to be exact! (I prefer the green one, but I didn’t buy it so I guess I won’t be complaining)

I’ll talk about it later.

Today

Today has been strangely long, although I woke up around 11 am. (one loooooooooooooong night’s sleep for the first time in a long time!)
I think that I could’ve stayed in bed longer, but there was some smell distracting me like none other. It was smelling like Ajiaco (a traditional Colombian soup/stew which is based in chicken broth and potatoes along with other veggies) as my maid cooked it in the kitchen. After all, I am very sensitive in smelling things; any change in the room I could feel and wake up in a second. Especially if it’s a nice smelling soup *wink*.

After having brunch (more like lunch), I noticed my dad went out with his friends to play golf while my mother and brother were not home either. Apparantly they were out grocery shopping. Once they came back, I was almost forced and dragged out of the house with them. You see, my brother suddenly became all “skater boi” and has a passion for skateboards. And as this passion started only 3 days ago, he wanted to buy a skateboard. So we went looking all over Unicentro with no luck and found out about a place named Chicago that only sells these “sports” things. They sold skis (who the hell skis in Colombia?), scooters (way out of fashion), rollerblades (meh, for little kids although I never owned one), and finally, skate boards.

(Warning: you are about to read gibberish on the “skateboard purchase for my brother” section, which talks about things that I have no knowledge in)
A little info on skateboards: they are the most complicated things on earth. As my mother and I had no knowledge whatsoever in skateboards, we simply asked for the best. You see, my mom has this theory: “If any object is to be put near my body, it shall be the best available.” In this case, it applied even more because she decided that once the skateboard is bought, it probably won’t be replaced until it breaks in half (which probably is true). Therefore, she decided to invest more. Anyway, back to the complication of skateboards. The boards are so complicated. My brother wanted the “best,” and there really wasn’t such thing. There was a “best” for beginners, but not “best” for all. In fact, there was no “best” for any items that were attached to the board. So anyway, the dude in the shop started to show different “tablas” (or boards) that had all these different properties like “this one is made of pine trees from Canada” or “this one contains carbon(something) that makes it more durable” or “this one has a double layer of *something-which-i-don’t-remember* that makes it sturdy and flexible” or …… yes, the list can go on. My brother decided on the carbon layer thing. Then came the metal thing below the board where you attach the wheels. Again, more talk of how “this one has higher density” but “this one is made this way with new technology for better grinding” and etc. We decided upon one. Then the “amortiguador” or suspender (that is probably definitely wrong… you know, like the car springs that helps cushion the fall?) to be placed between the metal thing and the board made of rubber. Then the decision of the color of the screws to be used (chose the white one which glows in the night and reflects when shone by light). Oh, the wheels…. some of them big, some of them small, some of them soft, some of them hard….. we chose something that the guy recommended. Then there was this thing which was placed firmly inside the wheels to make sure that the wheels…… well… spin… They were given some numbers like 3, 5, 7 or something… Giving the board better speeds and things… No idea. He recommended a 3 or a 5 and I think we chose 5.
Throughout all this process, my mom kept on asking for the better items, which made the grand total price of the skateboard to reach: 486400 COP (Colombian Pesos). That’s around 250 USD (US dollars). Since when did these skateboards cost so much money? Well… there were premade ones that costed around 300000 COP or around 150USD. But afterall, my mom DID ask for the best. I always thought skateboards were for little kids trying to have fun… 150-250 USD seems to be a little bit over priced… This is probably due to the fact that everything is imported and we live in… Colombia
(end of gibberish)

Then we hopped back into the car and decided to take a “drive” to Andino (a mall). Today was no different from any other days, and it was loyal to the mystery of all time: Andino’s parking lot being crammed full with lines of cars waiting outside, while El Retiro (another mall) and Atlantis (another mall) which are 1 and 2 blocks away respectively, had their parking lots practically empty. So yeah… We went to El Retiro. It’s funny though… the same shops are in both El Retiro and Andino. In fact, El Retiro has more variety and “higher class” brands too. El Retiro has Swarovski (which I’ve never seen elsewhere in Colombia), an international Diamonds chain (forgot the name), MaxMara (for women… yeah… more on MaxMara later by the way), and the usual such as Chevignon, Diesel, etc…
ANYWAY, we headed to Andino for lunch (went to Archie’s and had Carbonara Spaghetti) and went to the Apple Store in search of an “iSkin” (I despise those stupid “i”’s in front of everything) for my “iPod touch.” Obviously, they still didn’t have it although the new iPod series arrived here about a month ago. Furthermore, they had skins for the iPhone (which is not only not sold here, but technically prohibited to be unlocked and used here). Yes, I was pissed off.

I ran out on my supply of toners and lotions and went into “La Riviera.” I went and picked up my usual Clinique series (toner which is some blue liquid with the numbers 3.5 for dry skin and the “m lotion” which a gel lotion for the face, and the cream) and payed. I was surprised to see the “new” (relatively new) Dior Homme series. I wanted to buy them, but they were waaaaaaaaaay too expensive. Each product came close to 70 dollars, which makes the three (toner, lotion, cream) over 200 dollars. (this is when I  call my dad to make sure that his business buddy coming from Miami next week buys these things for me in duty free which is waaaaaaaaay cheaper)

Then my mom’s trip to MaxMara…. she bought a 50dollar umbrella which she probably never will allow me to do and bought two bags for “gifts” to use later… -_-;; Oh, she also bought a jean jacket, which fit nicely and was on 50% discount. Lovely. She also wanted like 5 other things, but due to how petite she is, there was no size for her. (My dad would probably rejoice knowing this)

MNG was also on “up to 70%” discount, but there were so many freakin people that my mom was like, “screw that, let’s go home.”

and then here I am, writing this blog… It’s probably the longest post I’ve ever written and probably ever will write. For all those people who read this all thoroughly (probably spelled wrong), CONGRATULATIONS! lol