Why so `Black'??

Warning: More rant!

Is this officially a black week for me!? And I just need to get these misfortune encounters off my chest!

This morning I was going to apply for visa to enter China - we're having a family vacation next month to celebrate my parents' 40th wedding anniversary! And as my car hit the highway, my tyre burst and the thumping sounds were so loud! I had to do an illegal turn into a petrol station and found my left back tyre was TOTALLY flat. But thank goodness a Pakistanis worker there helped me to change the tyre but it wasn't easy for him and he took more than 30 minutes to do it. (Yes I gave him a tip but it seemed he didn't expect it)

Because of that delay, when I reached the embassy office in Bank of China building, it was just two minutes after its closing time!! But after some pleading, they still allowed me and a few others in. Gosh, I didn't expect there were so many people applying for visa! The queues were long and the air-cond wasn't really working well.. The queue was moving very very slowly.. I was playing games on my phone to kill time. And finally an hour later, it was almost my turn.

But guess what? They have changed the rule! They now required either a copy of air ticket or our hotel booking form for visa application! The man in front of me was furious and scolding away as he didn't know. And neither did I! So after queuing for so long, I couldn't apply for visa and have to come back again after getting the relevant document!! Why couldn't they put up a notice or inform us before we started queuing up!? Argh!!

And then I had a tiff with the parking attendant. The sign was so bad and I missed the entrance into the carpark so I was told to park at the side. When I was leaving, the parking attendant wanted to charge me RM9!! Earlier I already asked whether it was the same price and he just said pay later. I told him I won't pay at all if he made me pay RM9 and he even had the nerve to off my engine and threatened to bring me to the office. Finally I paid him RM3 to settle it all.

I was already fuming inside but just tried to calm myself down. I couldn't go home yet as I meant to collect a cheque after lunch, so I decided to mend my car tyre properly. I drove around Imbi-Pudu and found a tyre shop that looked reputable. Then I realise a big disadvantage of driving a MPV - even the tyre cost much more!! I settled for the Thai-made Japanese brand and that was already RM323 for one! (I even checked with my uncle who asked his friend and yes, that IS the price). And because my other tyre was also bursting, I needed to replace it too. So that blew another big hole to my pocket! :(( btw, a new tyre for say a Proton Wira only cost RM90!

I have contacted my sis in HK regarding the hotel booking as she was the one who planned our holiday. She said she would get the form for me. But the thought of going through the long queue in the stuffy room is something i definitely do not look forward to..

Oh, and did I mention my car still had some problems that could not be fixed the last time I sent it for servicing and repair? And I have to do it tomorrow too..

Sigh.. why suddenly all these hapless incidents are happening to me? Well, being the optimist as I am, I just pray and want to believe that things can only be better now..