What a day. Thank god today was one of those once-in-a-blue-moon occasions, and not a typical day. Lets see, where do I start ranting.

<rant>

Well, first, I arrive at the airport early. Ok, so far so good. Security baggage check, clear. Check-in, clear - NOT. Turns out I forgot my old passport (my student visa is linked to my old passport, which has expired, so to get into Australia, I need my old passport to display my visa, and my new passport to show I'm not a political refugee from Malaysia).

Crap, no passport. Ok, time is something I have, luckily. Thank god I'm in Penang with my mum's 'go early' philosophy, not in Adelaide with my friends and their 'it's ok, we'll make it... I hope' philosophy. Heheh. Right, so my mum goes home to find the passport. And promptly gets stuck in rush hour traffic from Penang's main industrial zone. &%#^!*@^$&%^. Takes her an hour to make the trip.

Great, so now we're back at the check-in counter, with my passport(s). Here I feel another effect of MAS' cost cutting exercises. My student weight allowance has been cut to 25kg. And the damn agent was trying to tell me that since I didn't have a 'special letter of authorization', I was limited to 20kg. FFS!!!

*Interrupt*

To top it all off, my mum overloaded my bags, even by the old allowance of 30kg, she was way over with 36kg. Ok, so my mum gives up on trying to import enough instant noodles to feed me for a year. Less 5kg. Move all canned food, and 2 boxes of Brands (essence of chicken) to my carry on luggage, which now weighs a ton (at least, it feels that way after lugging it all over the airport). Why am I lugging it all over the airport? Read and see.

Thank god they didn't weigh my hand luggage.

Move on to the security check, where they try to separate out the terrorists and drug traffickers from us normal people. Do more than just try, I hope. And here I have to remove - 7 coins, 1 phone, 1 watch, 2 bags. Walk through, dang alarm goes off. I point to my belt (iron). He (security) points to my iPod and chuckles before petting me down (feeling me up?). Collect 7 coins, 1 phone, 1 watch and 2 bags. Just in case you're wondering, the 2nd bag is my laptop backpack.

Oh joy, my gate is at the far end of the airport. Trudge, trudge. At the gate, I see no flight staff whatsoever. Panic, 'Shit I missed the plane'. Cool down. Tell myself to think rationally, plane isn't supposed to leave for another 15 minutes (which means I should have 5 minutes left to board), and theres a ton of passengers still standing around the place. 5 minutes later, I find out that 'due to weather adverse in Kuala Lumpur' my flight has been delayed to 9pm, from original time of 7.25. Nice to see some things never change (like the standard of English in Malaysia).

Ok, i have 90 minutes to kill. Sit down, get bored. Look around, see a power point, plug in my laptop. Cross my fingers. Oh joy, they have wireless. Try to access my email. Realise that the cheapskate TMNet beancounters won't let me access the Internet without paying. MCB. So I start writing this overlong post.

See that *Interrupt* line up above? That's where a MAS person comes along and asks us all to move back to customs for visa processing, to expedite the process in KL. I'd appreciate the initiative, if it didn't involve me lugging my ton of hand luggage back to the entry area. Oh, and repeat the entire security process of 7 coins, 1 phone, 1 watch, 2 bags. This time my iPod goes too. Of course, my belt sets it off again, and he feels me up again.

Right, lug my canned food back to my power point. Luckily for me nobody else has claimed it. Sit down and continue this overgrown post. Another announcement. For the last 45 minutes MAS has been telling us that light refreshments will be served 'shortly'. The latest announcement informs us that, due to 'time constraints' in preparing the refreshments, refreshments will not be served after all. There's another 45 minutes before the plane is supposed to depart. I leave you to draw your own conclusions about their efficiency.

Right, I've caught up to where I am right now, sitting here writing this. Wonder what I'm going to do now. The way my luck is going, I'll arrive in KL to find my connecting flight has left.

3 minutes later edit - OMG, my laptop fan has just died. *Insert obscenities here*

<rant>