The past week has been really, really tiring for me.It all started on Wednesday when I went down to KL for a few days to spend some time with my brother and friends before I leave. Day 1: Drove down to KL, went to KLCC to close the bank account I still had there, went to meet a client for discussion on an upcoming project, but had to adjourn it to go to Low Yat Plaza for another appointment to meet a friend. Spent a few hours there shopping around and comparing prices before deciding to buy one last 'toy' -- a Palm Tungsten T2. It was already 8:30 by the time we left LYP and I was starving. Another half an hour to get to PJ where we had a Japanese dinner at Damansara Jaya. After dinner, already dead tired after driving long distance and all the walking, but still needed to see the same client again for further info on the project as she wasn't free the next day and I had to nail all the requirements before I leave, so off to Starbucks Mont Kiara where I could also use my notebook and we could look at sites while we discuss. By the time I was done, it was almost 2am, and I got back to Colin's place shortly after that. Thankfully he had made up the spare bed for me and I went to bed almost immediately. BUT, there's a difference between going to bed and actually sleeping. I couldn't sleep the whole night due to the traffic noise coming from the highway next to the condo, and the mozzies which were feeding on me. Day 2: Groggy from hardly resting the night before, I took my friend who followed my car down to KL to Puduraya, losing my bearings along the way and I actually forgot how to get there. Eventually found it, and rushed back to PJ for a lunch appt. After that went back to the condo and was so dead tired i just closed the windows (to shut out the noise), drew the curtains and slept. Had dinner with Adrian (only him, cos everybody else stood me up) and met up with a few other buddies from college after that. We had a highly intellectual conversation about males and females until 1 something. Could have gone on longer but some of them have to go to work the next day. I needed sleep. Day 3: Slept in a bit but kept hearing doors slamming in the apartment in the morning. Met with Clarissa for lunch and having the afternoon free, I went to check out the new Ikea that just opened in Mutiara Damansara. It is truly huge, but what shocked me the most wasn't the size of the mall or the new furniture. It was the amount of people shopping in there, at 3pm on a weekday. Still, I must say i'm impressed with the new premises of the furniture mall and the layout is very well thought out and customer friendly. There were even self-service terminals where customers could use a simple CAD floor-plan design application to plan out the arrangement of certain customizable Ikea product lines. Met with Johny at 6 for a quick drink before starting my way to Bangsar for a 7:30 dinner reservation. I joined the Federal Highway from the Motorola exit and was immediately trapped in a massive jam. Inched my way down and by 7:45 I was still no where near KL. I had plenty of time to SMS everyone, and guess what, almost everyone stood me up, again. So it was only me and Jaime left, and she already reached the restaurant, coming from her office KL. 8pm and I'm still in the jam, near Amcorp Mall. Getting really fed up so I forced my way off the highway, went back into PJ and cut through Section 17 and tried going by Jalan Damansara to Bangsar. It was also jammed, but the traffic was moving a lot faster and i finally arrived at 8:45 -- 2+ hours late for dinner. The time it took for me to get from Kelana Jaya to Bangsar could have gotten me back home to Ipoh. Anyway, dinner all but made up for it. Jaime and I had a leisurely dinner, ordering a lovely selection of tapas, downed with sangria and was there chatting until late. Again got back home around 2 something, but couldn't sleep until 4am (must have been the alcohol). Day 4: got up at 9:00 (really difficult) to drive back to home as mom needed my brother's mini compo urgently as a makeshift PA system for her Perak Heritage Society's Papan Open Day on the next day. Already tired as I was, i followed her to Papan that very afternoon to take a look at the town, test out the speaker system in the hall which they were going to use it, and also plan out where I'll be stationed for videotaping the event, as I had previously agreed to do that for Mom. I still got a BBQ party happening that night... Left Papan at 5:30 and had to go to Medan Kidd to buy a bus ticket for Jaime to go back to KL as she was following CS up to Ipoh (for my party), but he'd be going back to KL too late for her. After that and picking up a few more things for the night. Finally reached back home and had barely a nap before the first guests started arriving. It was my grand parents and aunt, and a surprise guest being my aunt Jackie who came down from Singapore. As the party started going I managed to keep up and entertain my guests, who were just a few close relatives and friends who happened to be in Ipoh, and Jaime, CS and Charlie from KL. Party ended at midnight. Day 5: Another early day. Had set my alarm for 7:45am. Had to go to Papan a bit earlier as was helping mom with the video coverage. Everything went pretty smoothly on my side of things, except that the battery and tape ran out when I was covering the heritage walk of the town. No big loss there, I think. Left the place around 1:30pm. Took a much needed rest and relaxation that afternoon, and went out for dinner with my family and grandparents and aunts. And that concludes my whirlwind of a life for the past 5 days. T-minus 2 days.