Should I change my name to "Smith"?

Bleedin' telemarketers.

It's bad enough being asked to partake in a 5-minute survey that actually wastes half an hour of one's life. But I don't like being called up by Chinese-speaking telemarketers trying to flog off cheap international toll call packages between here and Asia.

And I know it's not just people who are listed in the phone book with Chinese surnames; it's also Europeans whose surnames are Young or Lowe or whatever. But at least they can more quickly convince the caller that they're a wrong number.

When I get a caller speaking in Cantonese, I can't automatically tell them to sod off and hang up, because it might be one of my many aunts, uncles and cousins in Hong Kong (not that they ever ring). So I have to wait for them to speak a while, and before I know it I'm hissing into my mouthpiece and wishing my mum had taught me Cantonese swear words.

Well, that's my petty rant. There's not much else to report in this neck of the woods.