WinXP has crippled me yet again. So has Acer. So has the weather. And my sister. Yesterday's night was one of those nights. Late nights. Me telling dear ol' me that I should shut down the laptop and go to bed. But I would not. And how I regret it now. Perhaps I've been overworking my laptop ever since I got my home wired (or should I say wireless-ed? I'm not quite sure which word to use), that caused my laptop to go haywire and hang, forcing me to curse, hit the favourite 'ctrl+alt+del' combination continously (but to no avail) and finally punch the main switch to end my misery (and the laptop). Upon restarting the laptop, the fact, 'you should not punch the main switch needlessly' finally got into me. Patience has never been my one of my virtues. But as I recalled the actions that led to my downfall, I concluded that no amount of patience would lead to me not hitting that main switch eventually. I've been acquitted of all charges. Let's fuck Acer now, shall we? Now I'm in a complete mess. Should I be impatient again, reinstall WinXP using the pirated CD which I happen to possess, and risk losing everything else? Or should I wait till Monday, get the damned laptop to 8 Flags, so that the staff would diagnose it chim-ly and conclude that I do need to reinstall WinXP with my pirated CD. I chose the former. As my pirated CD works itself magically on my 'cannot-make-it' laptop, I shall perform my daily online SOP on the home PC now. My sister waits by the side, cursing under her breath why she did not make her move earlier. She practically spends more time at the computer than anywhere else in the house. She's becoming more like me. I wonder if it's in the blood. She must be the luckiest person in this family. Half of this new PC was bought using my own money, when I had a laptop to begin with. The speakers, the keyboard and the mouse, contributed unselfishly by me. Not to mention the $168 ADSL modem which I bought to accomodate 2 surfing computers under one roof. And the frequent shopping trips that got my poor mum poorer, thanks to the 'oh, so successful' Great Singapore Sale gimmick. Movies trips with her cousins were proudly(??) sponsored by my mum as well. My mum seemed to be running an underground money printing factory, which I could only imagine. If not, why doesn't she feel the pinch as HER money get dished out on never ending clothes that would never be donned on her? My dear sister hardly knows how difficult it is to earn money these days. She's turning 19 soon, and yet never has she worked a single hour before in her life. (I'm exaggerating. Of course she worked before. But not long.) Nobody in the family has got the nerves to question her. Fiery temper she has. She only talks to me nicely when she needs my shoe bag. Or my camera. Or when the home PC got cranky. Or when I'm useful! Her rude responses to my mum only irritate me more. Although I am just as guilty for the occasional rants that I unleashed on my poor mum, I am utterly disgusted by the way my sister treats her, especially after the hundreds my mum had just spent willingly (or not, I do not know) on their shopping trips. And for the record, that's the only time my mum would go shopping these days. Could my dear sister be more of a human, shows some gratitude to a parent who has showered unconditional love in the form of money (I strongly disagree with that), and be more responsive (at least on the surface, if you are so unwilling) to our 'no-longer-young' parents? We, ourselves are not young anymore. Think sensible. My laptop is calling out for me to give it attention. I believe I am soon becoming a 'format and reinstall' pro.