Driving, Reading, Driving, Reading, Driving, Watching Movies

Yesterday was mostly spent driving my dad around because he had bought a whole bunch of stuff for me on Sunday and I felt guilty for being responsible for the loss of so much cash, so I wanted to help him work. Also I didn't want to get bored at home, even though I had plenty of books to read.

I drove him to his first meeting, and he said that I could go get some hot dogs from Ikea while I was waiting for it to finish. I had actually been to Ikea last week with Hannah and Ebony after taking them to 1 Utama, so I was craving another hot dog, which is why I had mentioned Ikea hot dogs as a possible option for lunch on Sunday, which is why my dad was telling me to buy them for lunch on Tuesday. Anyway, at Ikea I called our house and asked what everyone wanted on their hot dogs. Hannah said she would have two curry puffs instead. I ended up ordering nine hot dogs, two curry puffs, and a drink. It was only when I was about to pay that I realized I had left the money in the car, so I apologized to the guy at the counter and ran off for a while to get the cash. When I got back, the hot dogs were ready, so I added way too much onions to my two (Structurally, not gastronomically. The hot dog could have been tastier, but the bun could not support the amount of onions I had loaded it with and so it was literally falling apart.) and ate them. After that I put ketchup on Jan's, everything on my dad's, and everything but chili sauce on Ian's. There was one hot dog left over, so I left that one plain.

I called my dad and asked him whether I should go pick him up or go home with the food. He told me to go home, so I did. The hot dogs were distributed. They looked quite sloppy, so I explained that hot dog garnishing is a subtle art, and I am neither an artist nor very subtle. Everyone seemed to enjoy the food anyway.

My dad called and said that he was going to Plaza Damas to continue the meeting, so I should be there by two o'clock. Hannah let me use her laptop to check where it was using Google Maps. She kept switching tabs to Tumblr, so it took a while, but she did help me out and for that I am grateful. Anyway after that I set my alarm and I plopped into a chair to read some more of Sphere by Michael Crichton. I had found it on our shelves recently and remembered reading the Wikipedia synopsis. Since I had enjoyed all of the other Michael Crichton books I had read, I thought I would be a good thing to bring along to keep myself occupied while waiting for meetings to finish. I was correct. It was really interesting and exciting, even though I vaguely knew what would happen next, I still couldn't remember how it would end, so there was still some suspense left.

After a few chapters, my alarm rang. I went to the car and drove to Plaza Damas. Along the way I passed the Backyard Pub where Carmeni's birthday was celebrated. The grassy bit outside seemed a lot larger when I was passed out on it. Anyway, I got to the mall at Plaza Damas and gave my dad a call. I could see him, but the way into the mall was blocked by taxis. I waited behind one for a while, but it wasn't moving. Finally I gave my dad a call and asked him if he'd just run over. He told me to go forward a bit and come to him. Apparently there was another lane into the mall in front of the taxi that I couldn't see. My dad got a little annoyed with me for not seeing that.

Anyway, I drove him to his next meeting, then I found a spot to park and read a few more chapters of Sphere. His meeting ended very early, though, because the guy he was meeting with had another emergency meeting come up so he had to leave. I picked my dad up and we went to fill up the car.

Once the car was filled up, my dad didn't have any more meetings to go to, so he decided to see about renewing my driver's license at the JPN, which was very nearby. There wasn't any line or much waiting to be had. I was told that I couldn't renew my license since it was a P, even though it was only four days from expiring. I would have to come back later with my full license to get it integrated into my MyKad. After that I went to have my picture taken for my new MyKad because I was getting it updated or something. The lady said that it would be ready in two weeks and I should call to confirm and then drop by to pick it up.

On the way to the car my dad said I could get my full driver's license from the driving centre, which seemed like a good idea. I'll hand my P in a few days from now, and then when my new MyKad is ready I'll integrate my full license into that, for convenience.

Our next stop was HELP, because I had found out recently that I couldn't access my results on MyPride because my resource fee still wasn't settled. I had thought that was sorted out, but apparently it wasn't, so I was going with my dad to see if things could be resolved. The lady at the counter was very helpful and she said she would get it done, and my dad was pleased. I was, too. In the end my dad didn't even have to do anything. At his request, though, I filled in a form to request for a pair of transcripts so I could start applying at other universities. It should be ready by next Monday.

After that we were headed to Bangsar Village so my dad could go pick up a new microwave to replace the old one that had died mysteriously a few nights ago after heating up my carbonara. Along the way I noticed my dad reading Sphere. I said to him that it was a really good book, and he agreed. I told him I was going to finish it that day. He said I wasn't, and I told him that I had read larger books before in one day. He clarified that I wasn't going to finish reading Sphere that day because he was going to finish reading Sphere that day. My father, ladies and gentlemen.

Anyway, I had the chance to read the book while waiting for him to get the microwave, so I did. After a while my dad left the mall with a component for our breadmaker, but no microwave. I wasn't even aware our breadmaker was broken. Oh well.

When that was all done we went home. My dad read Sphere, and I probably watched a movie or something. In the evening my dad told me that he suddenly had a meeting at KL Sentral and I was driving him there. I didn't mind because it meant I could continue reading Sphere while I waited.

We went to the station, my dad went to his meeting, and I read the book. I was about halfway through when my dad said it was over. I picked him up and he handed me some Burger King as a reward for driving him around all day.

When we got home my Burger King meal became a lot less of a great reward because I saw that Aunty Rosie had made chicken and chips for dinner. My fries were redundant, but at least the chicken tenders were still tasty. I gave one to Hannah, and I let Ian have my coke because somebody drank his. I shouldn't've given my BK coke away because the bottle I had in the fridge was flat. Oh well. Dinner was nice anyway.

After that I watched The Illusionist. I wanted to watch The Prestige, but I figured I might as well watch the lousier of the period magician movies from 2006 first. Save the best for last, y'know? Anyway it was an okay movie and I probably would have enjoyed it more if I wasn't so tired, but the truth is there's so many more good movies on my hard drive that I could have watched, so it felt a bit like a waste of time. But yeah, I went to bed late after a shower and exercise and stuff.

The next day I let my 8:45 alarm ring and ring and ring. After ringing for a minute, the phone will snooze for the next nine. I ended up only waking up at nine fifty-five. Perhaps "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien" isn't annoying enough to be an effective alarm, but I just can't resist the Inception reference. It does unfortunately mean that every time I wake up I have to mutter either "Asshole! How could you screw up the carpet?" or "No, it's too soon", but I enjoy it so what the hell, eh?

I was supposed to go see Inception with Elo after she finished shopping with her friend, but her friend never decided whether they were going to Mid Valley or Times Square, so I ended up arranging to meet Elo before she leaves at KL Sentral on Thursday night with a bunch of the others. I didn't have anything to do after that, but my dad was finished with Sphere so I picked up where I left off.

While I was reading, my dad told me that he had another meeting at KL Sentral, so I drove him there again. A guard chased me away from the drop-off point, but I found a better spot anyway. I finished the book (It was really good. I want to lend it to my Psychology lecturer.) and then I took a nap. I woke up to a call from my dad at six. During the drive back I realized how easy the drive to and from Sentral had become ever since they finished building the flyover and changed the flow of traffic in Brickfields (or is it near Brickfields? Whatever).

Back at home I watched the Dark Knight. Cillian Murphy was in it. I'm seeing Inception everywhere. Extradition between France and the United States was in Catch Me if You Can, as was DiCaprio, obviously. Ellen Page, also rather obviously, was in Juno. Jennifer Garner was in both, but she wasn't in Inception. Cillian Murphy and Ellen Page are in Peacock, which Hannah should be giving to me soon. I forgot what the point of this paragraph was. Whatever.

Anyway that's the story of what's happened in my life recently. Later on in my life I'll be going to Redang with my family so Jan and Hannah can learn how to scuba dive. Even later on than that I'll be going to continue my studies, but I have to pass my Bahasa Kebangsaan first. I used to think I was going to do Civil Engineering, but my dad doesn't want that for me. He said something about always working underneath other people. He'd rather I become a programmer, but that really doesn't sound appealing to me. He's cool with me being a structural engineer, though, so I'm going to meet one of his structural engineer friends sometime.

Unrelated to that, I was reading my old blog posts a few nights ago. You know how you usually read stuff that you wrote in the past and you can't believe that you would say something like that and you notice how much you've changed and stuff? Yeah, it was the exact opposite of that. I thought the posts were great and they helped me vividly recall the days I was writing about. They were also funny and well-written except for being too long.

I guess this means I'm not a modest person, but who needs modesty when you're this awesome?