Let me explain. It started when I watched the finale of Singapore Idol. Big mistake watching the opening, because someone decided it would be a good idea to throw together a medly of songs which should never be mixed together. Anyone who watched it would know; whoever composed and authorised the singing of that medly should be fired, at least. Shot, at most, for the massacre of music.

Then, the outcome cemented the fact that most Idol shows are, in fact, popularity contests. Enough said.

On Wednesday I had to get my passport renewed since it was expiring soon. I had to wake up at 7 am to be driven to some huge building (not the ICA, it kind of looked like the Malaysian Embassy but they don't do passports, or do they? Anyway, I digress.) The queue to get an admission pass was long! We queued for about half an hour before we found out that they had run out of passes.

What! Is that even possible?

So my father decides that we have to drive across the Causeway to Johor Bahru to do our passports, but he did not have his. It was another drive all the way home to get it, then another long drive to the Woodlands Checkpoint, where a MASSIVE traffic jam decided to happen. After an hour of waiting we finally got through, but when we reached the building it was overcrowded. Too crowded, in fact, that they COULDN'T accommodate any more people!

Couldn't, or wouldn't?

If that wasn't frustrating enough, my sisters (they came along as well) wanted to go shopping after all that! Now, I know what you're thinking: It's just a little shopping, isn't it? Well, unlike several gifted people out there, I have a natural abhorrence to long hours of walking through a mall buying things I either don't need or will ever use.

That's why 2009 has ended badly for me.

(and yes, I love parentheses. Aren't they just?)