Chinese New Year 2015 The Year of Goat

I drove all the way back to my hometown for the first time in my whole life with Bao for CNY celebration as the father was away overseas. Worried about the heavy traffic, we left on the day before the eve.

I called sis to inform her few days ahead, upon hearing my decision on the telephone, she warned me not to drive at night and told me to drive slowly. On the day before we left, my beloved niece Tess whatsApp me saying that both her husband Lai and her brother Yong suggested to travel further down to Yong Peng to avoid the Tangkak stretch of road. It is very winding and narrow. They were worried that it would be too much for me to handle. I told her the detour is too far and I assured her I would drive carefully.

We planned to start the journey around 8+ in the morning. But I had difficulties falling asleep the night before, not that I was worried about the drive, but I was excited to see them after so long. By the time I woke up, it was 8.30am, so we only managed to leave at about 9.30am.

It went smoothly, I had some bites of sausage bun in the car. After about 45mins, I felt uncomfortable without my usual cup of tea. So we stopped at Seremban R&R area for it and Bao said she didn't have appetite. Then we continued the journey. After a short while, Yong called Bao on the handphone and again told us to take the Yong Peng road. He further told Bao that the Tangkak road is so winding and narrow that when a bus or truck come from the opposite direction, I would have no room to avoid. He ended by saying "tell your mother don so Haolian" loudly! Okay Okay, since they are so concerned, I decided to take their advice by driving further down south for another 45mins

Very beautiful weather. The trunk road after the highway.

True enough, though it's further, the drive proved to be much easier. After highway, it was practically a straight road all the way to our destination. We reached about 1.30pm.

My favorite Kuachi from  dear nephew Yong.

From then onwards, the times just breezed through. It was talking and eating.....preparing meals after meals.....more talking....more eating....visiting....before we knew it, it was time to wave goodbyes!

Mother with some of her grand and great-grand children.

Part of the family!

Finally meeting the Super VVIP of the family!! And most likely New Zealand made!

Home made popiah on the 3rd day! Everyone enjoyed it especially the kids!

The new comer joining the 4th generations!

The traffic was congested at the usual spot where we were stuck for about 1 hr even though it was Saturday and not Sunday! The news about the traffic on Sunday was havoc with 3 hrs jam at the custom for those headed to Sg! Heard about the case of someone travelled from Melaka to Spore, it was a horrifying 8hr drive!

Heavy traffic flow at the usual spot.

It was getting worse...

The day the result was out

The IGCSE 2014 result was scheduled to release on the 21 January 2015 around 2pm worldwide.

I received the notification email from the school on 13 Jan 2015 with the attachment of user login name and password. I didn't realized then that the login info was in the attachment. She told me only she herself can log in and I stupidly assumed that she got the password separately.

On the night before, I asked her whether she was nervous about it. She said not really and she was all normal. I was quite easy myself as I knew what I could expect.

On 21 Jan, at around 11am I whatsApp her and she said she was in the library. I told her to send me a photo of it.


I pictured her in a library like our school days but it is nothing like it at all.

 Then she said she was going for lunch with her friend Shania and I asked for a picture again.

At 2pm, I was telling myself the result was released. How I wish I could log in to check (cursing myself "left and right" later on).

I received her whastApp at 2.55pm saying that a lot of her friends got their results but she was "stuck" in her class and "tearing up". I asked her how she knew her friends got their result and she said they had been "spamming" in the whatsApp. And that she was too nervous to check and didn't wish to freak out in front of her classmates. And refused when I offered to check and then she logged off.

I was so nervous and anxious at the same time. So I checked the notification email again and opened the attachment. Only then I read about the username and password. I tried to log in with the link provided and punched in the info required without much anticipation (still thinking that the password might not work as she said only she could log in, really hopeless).

I clicked on the box and before I could react I was already staring directly at the result! The first thing I saw was the number of As and I had to look again and again to confirm. Then I finally was sure of it and was grinning nervously to myself.

Immediately I whatApp her - "My girl, I am so proud of you". It was 3.02pm. Then I informed the father and a few "super-close" family members. All the while cursing myself of my super stupidity! I could have checked the result at 2pm!

It was at 4.03pm when I received her reply of - "Huh? What?". I whatsApp her the result worrying that she might be angry with me for checking her result without her consent. In fact before I sent her the msg, I pondered whether I should let her check herself when she was home but I just couldn't stop myself. She asked for a clearer picture of the result. Then she said it was unexpected!

Of course she was happy! And I found myself grinning every 10 mins for the rest of the day and it continued even when I was driving home and she was granted a BIG hug when she reached home.

I certainly did not expect a result which is so good. With A+ from both BM and Mandarin, she scored a total of 7As. The "C" from Chemistry is expected as she opted for "core" instead of "extended" when we discussed over it before the exam. The point was not to jeopardise the rest of the subjects because of Chemistry simply she was having difficulty with it. Econs is another tough subject and a "B" is just fine with us.

We talked excitedly at night not forgetting to remind ourselves not to get carried away and certainly never to boast about it. So we only keep this to our beloved ones. And to tell ourselves that she still has a long way to go! (all the while, she is just a slightly-over-average student. She scored 5 As for her UPSR.)

P/s:  2 weeks later on, I finally informed her "da gu gu" who is her father's only sibling quietly at a family function. Her immediate reaction was pulled her purse out from her handbag and insisted to put a few hundred ringgit into her hand even with our strong protest.

P/s:  She was granted a scholarship of RM3k which will be deducted from the fees for the second semester.  Though it's not much, it really proves that her hard works got rewarded.





The Devil's Star

Jo Nesbo,  终于还是买来看了，这 (又?) 被称为Stieg Larsson（再次证明他的魅力）的接班人的挪威人气作者。

这本The Devil's Star，是 Inspector Harry Hole 系列的第五集,  是犯罪小说，又是犯罪，一直没看也因为这原因，太多犯罪故事了。

Anyway, 一开始看,  就被那“序”吸引了。作者用"一点水"就很快的把我带进故事里，第一宗罪犯就从这一滴水开始，一个年轻的女人被杀了，母指被斩断不知所终，眼皮下留下一小颗五角星红宝石。

接着，五天之后，第二宗。再过五天，第三宗。连环凶杀案，都是在第五楼发生。

~~~

Harry Hole 是很出色的警员，但因前同事之前在查案时殉职，，一直耿耿于怀，常常借酒消愁，女友离他而去。又因为怀疑另一同事是“黑警”，涉嫌军火买卖勾当，而他找到的证人在最后关头被人收买了，令他在上司面前无法交代，种种的挫折，使到他一窍不振，頹靡不堪。由于案发时刚好是假期，在没选择下，上司找了他。

然后，复杂的查案过程，他把目标锁定在一个与“黑警”同事有挂钩的人身上，然后又发觉他不是真凶，他只涉嫌走私罪。

终于他在一张照片里，找到了他的突破，也成功破案。

凶手是第二受害者的丈夫，他其实是要对不忠的妻子做出报复而杀了他，他为了不让警察对他有所怀疑，再制造种种假象来加害于妻子不忠的对象，使警方逮捕他，没想到被机警的Harry识破。

而“黑警”同事因军火买卖勾当秘密被Harry发现，绑了Harry女友的孩子来要挟他，结果英勇的Harry成功将他救出。

破了案的Harry被复职了，可是女友因差点失去孩子还是选择与他断绝关系。

不知何故，在看的时候，我一直将这本书与另一本做比较，下意识的以为是类似那本到目前为此还让我印象深刻的侦探故事，可能因他的名气有所期待。但是，这本并没有让我想追着看的感觉。

开始的五角星红宝石，和一连串与五角形有关的线索，都只是假象，到最后只是轻轻带过，对于这点，我还蛮失望的。