I've never been the biggest fan of fantasy books. True, I love Harry Potter (you're mad if you don't), but I've picked up Tolkein's masterpiece 'Lord of The Rings' and put it down after a hundred pages three times now. For someone who reads a lot of books, that is definitely not something I'm proud of.

But anyway, guess what? My theory is that fantasy books are the hardest to write. Think about it. It has to be the hardest task for the authors to create a completely different world (maybe just a few similarities) from ours, and bringing it to life. The characters with sexy, exotic names. The descriptions of a place you can lose yourself in, imagine yourself living in. Mackerels, if you love JK Rowling, you can't deny that you've given some thought, wished, or even dreamed of what it would be like attending a school like Hogwarts. Childish... but I'm right?

I'm not saying that other books are not hard to write. Sheldon has always been my favourite when it comes to all the drama, almost-perfectly executed crimes. Tricking the Gestapo with an oxygen tank in the boot? (Guess which book, Sheldon fans!) The female characters are always extra brilliant, somehow. There's Archer who makes overthrowing companies seem like the easiest thing in the world. Grisham rules the courtroom. Ahhh.. Chic lit. Some may think it's trash, but Kinsella was hard to knock off the top. Dan Brown. Nick Sparks. I could go on forever.

Yet they don't have that task of creating another world with characters to match.  Who walks through a pillar at Platform 9 3/4 in real life? (Sorry for the constant Harry Potter references. Like I said, I'm not the biggest fantasy fan) Who the hell would think of swooping past a dragon on a broom? Hello, dragon? THe bizzareness of it all is what's attractive. It's what makes fantasy writers admirable and stand out from other writers.

It's not easy to write a story. You're not writing for yourself, you're writing for an audience. A demanding, shitty audience. :P Haha, I've tried a billion times, and it hasn't even gotten easier, dammit. :P Put me into a fantasy author's shoes, and I think I'd be quite screwed. I wouldn't even know where to start. I tried once to write a really short fantasy story, and now if I were to make a choice on which one of my works to burn... yeah, you understand.

So this is my tribute to all the fantasy authors out there. :) You guys are truly amazing.

I doubt if I'll have the time to blog tomorrow since I'll be the tortured slave serving all the guests. *Yawn*

So, Happy Chinese New Year, all my lovelies. All the usual prosperity, wealth, health and ang paos, yay!

The kitchen is a mad area now, and to visit it is complete suicide. It is wayyy too congested, even for an industrial one. I think I'll just sit in my room with Amy Tan's The Hundred Secret Senses, which started off kinda boring but is now sinking its claws into me and I'm completely hooked.

Hope you have a great reunion dinner tonight, cause I know I'll be doing just that. For all the MIA family members (you know who you are), please call home.

ShaolinTiger did this awhile ago and somehow I still remember it. So now, I want you guys to do the same.

See, I don't know who you are yet, but I will soon enough cause I want YOU to leave me:

• your name,
• where you're from,
• blog address (if you have one), and
• how you got here (another blog, I pimped my blog and you fell for it, PetalingStreet, whatever, a link will earn you my rotten mandarins brownie points!).
• Okay, bullets on my blog really scare me cause it looks like one of my old high school assignments... freaky!
  

Anyway, don't shy shy with me, or be a lazy arse. It doesn't take long or a lot of effort to just open the comments box and leave me what I want to know.

Don't worry, I'm not asking for Friendster testimonials. This isn't a one-off guestbook either. I'm just curious and I might just be the cat you killed if you don't leave me a comment!

It's been an extremely long day. Got to 1-Utama at 10ish and decided that Starbucks would be my breakfast venue, since my tummy was loudly demanding to be fed, but holy crap, big mistake. I had the worst. cheesecake. ever. Take my word for it; stick to coffee! Mmm.. lattes!

Met up with Carey & family, and Amanda. We meant to go shopping but somehow, Carey got stuck to the bookshop because her aunt wanted to buy her how-to-survive-uni books. So I went off to meet David and pass him his very incredibly belated birthday present. I'm NOT having lunch with you before I leave unless you plan to actually EAT and not just drink 8 bucks of coloured water. You make me feel so guilty that I'm not on a real diet, you bastard. :P

Then the shopping began. Technically, Amanda is actually ponteng-ing school, since Year 12 officially started today in Brisbane, lol. Poor girl isn't spending new year's here since her family is off to Hong Kong. Reminds me of last year, my first CNY away from home. I whined days (weeks?) before that I wanted to go home to anyone who would listen and stayed in my room and bawled my eyes out on the first day. Hope she copes with it better than I did. Have a safe flight, Mandy!

Trina caught a ride home with me, though there was some miscommunication with my mom that made us end up in Tropicana, trying to collect a flower arrangement from the florist that was non-existent, since the flowers were sitting oh so serenely in my house, unarranged. Dumb, dumb.

I want to shop somemore. :( Forget my aching feet, almost empty wallet and what I've already bought for CNY. Someone stop me.

Fine.

I hate Ferdinand.

I hate Manchester United.

We celebrated my granddad's 81st birthday today in Klang and it was a 4 table affair. Because MyPhotoAlbum crashed on me and I got frustrated, I'm just posting the pictures up here. Gotta love PhotoBucket.


This is my younger brother looking like an alcoholic running away with the bottle of Otard. :P


My younger sister, cousin and soon to be brother-in-law. I have no idea why my sister likes grabbing random objects and posing with them. This time, it's the soup spoon.


And then there are the three little pigs cam-whores. I'm not good at positioning the camera, as you can see, but then again, my camera has got the stupid lens on the right. Explains why I cut myself off, lol.

Completely unrelated: Trinity came over and before we went off to a dinner function at Taman Tun, she picked up my camera.

Thought you guys would like more pictures instead of me chewing you guys' ears off about my emotional state. Bet you guys are relieved! Anyway, check this picture out:


It has to bring back sweet memories for some of you. If it didn't, then you obviously haven't got your license yet! :)


Yeah, I actually took pictures on the day of my driving test. :P What? I thought you guys might like them, hehe. I'll never forget my test.

I went up the hill, stopped on the yellow line, and as soon as I got over the hill, I heard the officer sitting comfortably at that little blue pondok (look at the picture above) shouting his arse off at me, and so I hit the brakes.

'Kenapa?'

'Tak beri saya nombor! Mana saya tahu kamu siapa? Nak buat sekali lagi ke? Nanti tak naik fail tahu?!'

And he went on and on and on till I just drove off.

Okay, that was a joke. :P I just meekly nodded and apologised countless times till I felt my neck was on hinges. The officer must have had a serious case of constipation that day or his wife didn't put out the night before. Whatever.

I executed my parking and three-point turn fine and then after more arguments with that same bastard, I got my results and began to wait for the road test. I completed mine just before it rained (lucky!) and my only mistake was not changing my gear. Stupid but the guy was obviously happy with his coffee money anyways.

Man, I saw a woman being driven BACK by the examiner (she obviously failed) and another car had its driver's seat window broken. There were the nice, intricate patterns on the glass before someone shut the passenger door and the window just fell apart. Funny, funny.

So I've got my license now. :) Miracle, hey?