A riddle

What's shiny and purple, lives in my pocket and brings me hours of pleasure when I get it out and play with it? That's right, it's my new DS Lite! Yes, I actually managed to find somewhere with one in stock, so I thought I'd treat myself to an early birthday present :) . It's dead sexy and the dictionary software is very nice and should be incredibly useful. It's still not as cool as my Atari Lynx though, obviously.

I find that I keep pondering the aspects of my appearance that make me feel conspicuous here. For example, I get quite embarrased about my left-handedness. I am informed that left-handedness is pretty much forbidden here (and, indeed, in the rest of Asia), and that children who show left-handed tendencies are "corrected" (the verb usually used by people in this context is 直す, meaning to correct/cure) as they grow up. I feel so conspicuous that I might start trying to use chopsticks with my right hand.

I finally got round to opening a bank account here, with the bank down the road from school. They gave me a box of tissues. The mind boggles, quite frankly.