Dad was having leg pains last Saturday (first day of Raya), so we were pretty much stranded at home 'cause no one else can drive, and we weren't so mean to leave our dad at home alone. Hahaha. And of course that sparked off the conversation with mom on why I haven't taken my driving license yet.

I keep saying "insya-Allah" (god willing) and "tengok arh" (we'll see), but the real reasons I haven't taken my license are :

No money.
Dad's very stingy with his car. Even if I do have a license, he'll only let me use it with a heavy heart. What's the point? And if I do get to drive it, I'd get hell at home if I ever.... Erm, tap into anything. You never know! So, yah. Because of dad. Of course he doesn't know. Hurr.
I don't enjoy driving a car that much. I prefer driving something taller like an SUV or a Land Rover or a bloody freaking 5-ton lorry. Hahaha. Gives you a better view of the road... All Army's fault. :P
Plus, it's been a year since I have driven anything. Kinda lost my confidence there.

First point is no longer valid now 'cause mom had told me she'd sponsor my driving lessons. _-_ I'm most probably not going to accept her offer though. It's bad enough my parents are sponsoring my degree course. Bah.

Anyway, veering off-topic. Hari Raya! First day, pretty much stayed at home and waited for relatives to vist. The rest of the time was spent on the computer playing games and surfing sites. Pretty unconventional first day of Raya, eh? Hahaha.

Second day, my dad's leg was feeling much better, so we went out. First stop was grandparents' graves. There was a jam within the cemetery grounds itself when we arrived. A "Takdir" hearse was blocking the road, and I saw the driver just standing there doing nothing. I called out to him, and my dad asked him to move the vehicle a little bit away. The body had already been placed in the plot, and there were people mourning, and we felt a bit disrespectful, but since the driver was already there, and there was a huge line of vehicles stuck, I figured it was the right thing to do. But get this, here was what the "Takdir" hearse driver said to us, "Selagi aku tak dapat duit, aku takkan bergerak."

Can you freaking believe that?! The body had just been buried, and the family was still mourning, and he had the nerve to say such things. But he got in the van anyway, and drove it away.

A few of the stuck vehicles trying to go out of the cemetery managed to once the hearse left (I don't know why nobody bothered to ask the driver to move the vehicle away... The driver had nothing to do with the mourning family and was just standing around anyway), but most of the traffic was still stuck there. I went out of the car to have a look. Walked a bit, and saw the problem.

There was a huge container lorry trying to drive further in the grounds, while there was another huge container lorry trying to drive out.
There was a freaking bus parked on one side of the road.
There was a freaking ice-cream van parked on one of the road exits, blocking any car trying to leave the jammed up traffic. (Think of a T-junction with one major road and one minor road.)

Let me just ask you how clever these people are. And since it is a Muslim cemetery, just how freaking clever our Muslim community is. I want to give a smack at the back of our collective heads. Think, dammit, think! It's a cemetery, not a freaking carnival! Ice-cream vans?! I saw at least two inside the grounds! What next? A van equipped with a cotton-candy machine?

And lorries. Not just a normal lorry, but those huge lorries with containers at the back. You know how huge those are? Bigger than Army's 5-ton trucks! Inside the cemetery grounds! GAHHHHHHH! It's like these people never bothered to think about anyone else apart from themselves. It was very annoying. The roads within the grounds are already small as they were, is it a smart thing to freaking drive in a lorry? Park it outside, somewhere else and walk in, for god's sake! Oh, and don't get me started on people who park anyhow on the road! I mean, of course, if you drive in, it's not like there are any parking lots (me and my mom joked while we were driving out at the end that they are going to build multi-storey carparks above the burial plots one day soon), but for the love of Optimus Prime, bloody park your vehicles properly! Do not use up so much of the road; park on the grass patches instead! ARGHHHHHHHHHH!

I'm sure most of you are familiar with these situations, right? Are you guilty of any of them? For my blood pressure's sake, please don't do any of these. Please. _-_"

My family was there on the second day of Raya. I don't even want to imagine how bad it was on the first day. And yeah, I know there's no rule that we have to visit the deceased graves (are there any other kind of graves?) on first/second/third/whatever day of Hari Raya, but I guess it's become a tradition for most Muslim families, so, can't do a thing about that. I just didn't think so many people would be so selfish.

Went to visit a couple of relatives from mom's side, then went back home 'cause we were getting some visitors. Helped mom while she cooked, then visitors arrived, then visitors left, then day ended.

That's my youngest nephew. :D His name is Razik, and he's less than 2 months old if I'm not wrong. He's my sister's latest kid.

I didn't take that many photos this year. A bit lazy. Haha. But I did lug my Lumix around, and at about 6 pm when we were outside our house on first day of Raya, I saw the superb blue sky, so I had to go and shoot it. Hahaha.

Day 4 saw mom going back to work, so no more going out. Well, lazy to anyway. My lighting kit came but nobody heard the door, so I had to go and collect it the next day at Woodlands Civic Centre.

What lighting kit? Oh, I bought a light stand and a light socket from a guy online, and it arrived! I'm shooting a doctor at Changi General Hospital (or Mount Elizabeth, he hasn't confirmed) on Saturday, so I'd need extra lighting. :) I wanted to buy a whole set, but it'd cost too much, so I thought I'd do a DIY and got the parts. :D

I bought a reflector and an umbrella from another company, but erm... I think they won't arrive on time for the shoot. :( So I went ahead and ordered another umbrolly from the other guy. I'm getting a soft-umbrolly from him, and I ordered a reflector-umbrolly from the other company, so at least I won't have 2 of the same kind. I decided not to get the reflector from the guy 'cause... A bit too expensive. It's way bigger than the one I bought and both sides of the item are reflectors, though, so the price difference is quite justified.

If you are getting confused about the above two paragraphs, I'm talking about photography equipment by the way. When I have all the pieces of my lighting kit, I'll take a picture and post it up. :D

In the meantime, here's a picture of my younger brother that I took with just my 45 Watts (giving off a supposed-225 Watts of brightness) energy-saving bulb.

It was around midnight, and the only other light was the fluorescent lighting of my room. My PC's monitor light was negligible. It was a head-on lighting on my bro without any reflectors or umbrollies, and it was still quite dark. I shot the above at 1/20 seconds at ISO 100 and it came out underexposed. I'd need more lighting to be able to fully light up a model in my room. Or get a camera with better ISO performance. And an external flash to bounce off my ceiling. :D

When I get my whole lighting kit, I'm expecting Mr. Malique to come by and play! Hahahaha. :P