January 1st, 2nd & 3rd - Home @ Skudai

January 1st is my sister's birthday. I have been thinking to go celebrate with her, mostly because December's full with holidays and because I miss home.

I drove because I enjoy driving and I'm lazy to accommodate the complications of using the public transports during a public holiday. Ma used to say I have the fate of a driver written in my life. I laughed at that, mostly because I've had to drive my younger sister around most of my secondary school life. But till now, I cannot deny the truth in it. I am a destined driver because I possess the ability to achieve Zen at the wheel. Friends have noticed that I drive fast, and linked that to recklessness. Hey, take this from me, I'm not someone who stares at the speedometer and keep the foot down until I reach a certain speed, OK? My driving is about keeping my eyes on the horizon and keeping a safe distance between my car and the one in front of me. Don't ask me how I define safe, it requires trust and knowledge in the ability and performance of my car. But anyway, because of that, I hate drivers who verve abruptly into the space between me and the car in front. You should know that you are invading my space and making me unsafe. I also hate grass-cutters - drivers who steer from the left-most lane to the right-most lane (or the other way around) in one swift move. I think that is intimidating and showing-off, not to mention very very unsafe by breaking the safety nets of multiple drivers on the road. Lastly (I think), I dislike bumper-riders. I don't know you, let alone your car, so don't expect me to have faith in your skills and your breaks. OK?

Geez, I almost forgot all those drivers that truly pissed me off on the road. It's amazing, that I was totally refreshed after the drive. It was relaxing listening to the hum of the engine and optionally the radio playing in the background, except for the few time when I had bumper-riders tailing me, when I was tensed and slightly panicky.

Driving aside, I haven't much photographs this trip. Sis' birthday dinner had to be postponed to Saturday because she thinks most placed would be booked on Friday. So on Friday we had a simple dinner of some Chinese restaurant, which was passable (not exactly top-notch). I had ginkgo yuba barley, Sis had a mango sago ice. There were stir-fried legumes, asam fish, three-colour eggs and salted vegetables tofu soup.

Sis had to work half day on Saturday. But when she came home we went out to lunch at a ramen restaurant. Sis had not wanted to go there because she said the restaurant was not good, but because the one she wanted to go was closed for afternoon break (3pm-6pm) and that restaurant was near, so we went. The ramen was too salty to my liking, but their chicken chop was fried to perfect crunchiness. Though, that is not very hard to achieve, is it? Sis enjoyed neither her milk tea nor her braised pork rice.  Bro's grilled unagi looked like it had rubber for its skin. While waiting for our food, I found out that Sis was really bad at self-shooting. Maybe that is not entirely true as self-shooting is, after all, very camera dependent.

On Saturday evening, we were supposed to have went to TGI Friday's for dinner. Sis had even asked me to bring along a nice top/dress before I went. I had replied her with "How nice is nice? I thought TGI Friday's is a family restaurant? And what's wrong with my regular tops? They are super nice, OK!". LOL~ Hey, I mean it though, what's wrong with the way I dress? As long as I'm comfortable in them then I'm beautiful enough for my liking. Anyway, we didn't go to TGI Friday's. We went instead to the Seafood place (its name had "Todak" in it) which I think must be one of Bro's favourites. Because we went there last time. I don't mind, really, it was a nice, popular place, and the food was good. We had loads: there was a fish, a lettuce, fried squid, Japanese river snail, and oatmeal prawns. Except for the river snail, which was bland for a Kong-poh dish, they were all really nicely done. It was too bad though, that crabs sold out when we arrived.

After dinner we went to play in the arcade at a nearby mall. It was a lot of fun. Sis and I played and sucked at the Virtual Cop shooting game. We finished 10 tokens between us in what I think to be less than 10 minutes. I keep shooting at the wrong place. I think the only part which I got right was the reloading of my gun. I don't know if it was a problem with my eyes or my aiming, because I used to score really well playing that game on my computer controlling the mouse. We played the basketball shooting game too. Sis and I barely passed the 2nd level cheating the machine and playing as one player. LOL~ I think we spent either 15 or 30 ringgit there. I can't remember the conversion rate, but it was 30 tokens.

The next morning, I had some fun with the camera while waiting for Sis and Bro to ready to go out. This is by far the most fun I've had playing with photography. LOL~ Check out the captions for each of the photographs.

From left, (1) Piggy:"Mummy deserted me... She loves her laptop more than me..."; (2) Piggy is the pig jumping over the laptop, like the cow jumping over the moon; (3) Bro:"Look, the pig is facebooking again." (designed dialogue).

LOL~ Apparently, Sis is listed as "Lazy Pig" in Bro's phonebook. I caught that when Sis was calling Bro on Saturday morning. So, the third picture was really ticklish when I showed it to Bro. He practically boomed his Ha-ha's.

That was all the fun. I started driving just a little past noon. When I arrived Bangi, Sis was sleeping and Bro picked up my call. Yeah, I wondered where she got her nickname...