So, this is gonna be a long rambling post.

The Saturday before CNY, we joined the exodus of cars leaving Klang Valley. By the time we arrived at Slim River at about 8plus am, we were slowed to a tortoise crawl - possibly because of the bottleneck (I cannot understand why the highway is not 3-lanes all the way, they expect everyone to get off to trunk roads at Slim River?). But anyhow, it wasn't as bad as expected, we reached Ipoh in about 2.5 hours - still good time. Managed to grab the-most-fantastic-noodles-ever at "8 kok lau" before heading back to hubby's home.

Then the weekend passed in a sleepy blur. I know, so bad of me to say this. But Ipoh air makes me sleepy. Or maybe the bowls and bowls of rice (even for breakfast, believe it!) needed too much digestive energy. Or maybe I'm just not cut out to hang around the kitchen and pretend to be a dutiful daughter-in-law. I mean, I'm not pretending to be dutiful, I try very hard to be dutiful, I just have a different sense of what dutiful is. No la, it's not that tough, the MIL is actually very nice to me and a superb cook as well. Ya la, I'm just spoilt :P

So on Tuesday night, the 2nd night of CNY, we drove back to KL - following the exodus of non-Chinese who were heading back to work. But not us. We were heading back for an entirely different reason.

Got up at 5.45am on the 3rd day of CNY. By 6.30am we were on the highway past Pusat Bandar Damansara. By 7am, we were lining up neatly by the side of Jalan Tun Razak, along with other similar-minded souls. At 7.30am, we dutifully handed in our handphones, went thru numerous metal detector scanners, and sat waiting for our numbers to be called to various counters.

First counter, submitted our forms. 2nd counter, pressed all 10 fingers for biometrics scanning. 3rd counter, answered various questions (posed over loudspeakers and heard by all in the waiting room) assuring the officer that we had no evil intentions. Then, we got the coveted yellow coupons informing us to collect our passports the next day. Yippee!

Our 10-year multiple-entry visa to the US of A is approved! :)

And that is the biggest news in this entry.

On the 4th day of CNY, I started work. With a bang. Literally. Our tempered glass front door at work was shattered to a million pieces. How that happened is still a mystery.

And at night, gorged completely on wonderfully delicious durians from dad's dusun (yeah, he suddenly called home one day and said he'd bought land - siao!)

On the 5th day, I couldn't wait for work to be over, so I could finally start enjoying the CNY festivities. My dad's twin brother was in town, so we went out for dinner at Oriental Pavilion. Seems like food there isn't as nice anymore, maybe it's the CNY period, or maybe the chefs have changed. Or maybe my tastes have changed? ;) After dinner, met up with the girls just to catch up - and because I was probably still heavily digesting food eaten since a week ago, I was superbly tired and went home quite early to plonk straight to bed.

Now, what did I do on Saturday? Oh yeah, attended a friend's wedding dinner in Damansara Heights. Jarrod & Rawlins - great food. (Btw, is the 1U outlet closed for renovation, or chup lap already?)

And on Sunday, went to another friend's place for lunch. Always nice to catch up with friends. But we had to go home early because the hubs had to study for final exams (statistics - yucks!).

This morning, while driving to work, I passed by Kelana Jaya LRT station and the platforms (which can be seen from the LDP) were completely empty! I breezed past the bus-stop (which is constantly filled with irritating cars who drop passengers at places they are not supposed to) happily. What a rare occurrence.

And now, I'm digesting (seems to be the word of this entry eh?) a heavy steamboat dinner, farewell for a friend who's living to UK on a working holiday visa. What a dream.

But eh, I actually got lotsa stuff to do. Like finish my novel which has taken ages and I can't wait to finish it because I want to start the next one. Or like, research on the LA/Vegas/San Fran trip. Yep yep, what a happy thought. Nope no shopping for you this time, because this trip is all about me me me! Wahahahahahaha. If only I had a suitcase as magical as the Weasleys' Quidditch World Cup tent ... can't stop smiling, I love love love my life! :)