End-Hol Report Card (2010)

There's not much of an end-hol report card because:

1) I had to work (remotely thankfully) over the shut down

2) This year we managed to take a trip!

3) I'm not sure when the "end-hol" fits in because even when the shutdown ended, I'm on hospital leave for a week thanks to a fractured knee (not as bad as it sounds!)

Anyway here's the report card:

General# of calendar days not working: 11 (including 2 weekends)

# of leave days taken: 5 (reduced to 3 given 2 days off awarded)

# of minutes on blackberry: a lot =( (including having to log in and reply)

Entertainment# of days overseas: 10

# of days skiing: 1.5 (cut short thanks to the knee)

# of parties attended: 7, of which…

# of parties thrown: 4, for which…

# of roasts cooked: 5 (2 beef, 3 chicken)

Food# of good meals eaten: a lot!

At the turning of the year...

Even if your "3-2-1", countdown's in a foreign tongue...

Fireworks in the winter cold, are amazing to behold...

Saying thanks to God above, sending prayers with words of love...

Then we eat and drink our beer, a happy new year we cheer!

It's beginning to look a lot like....

Apologies for the long silence. Rather than go into detail on the extremely busy last 2 months, I might as well jump straight into Christmas!

The tree is *still* up, re-decorated with the usual silver and glass decorations...

the roast is in the oven...

the bread is being toasted...

Bottle of wine left to breathe...

I think we're all set!

End-Hol Report Card (2009)

Was way too busy with work in Dec to do much blogging, and for a period of time I was afraid I wouldn't get to enjoy the annual office holiday shut down. Luckily I still managed to, and then I was too busy having fun to be blogging.

Here are the results:

General
# of calendar days not working: 11 (including 2 weekends)
# of leave days taken: 3 (phew!)
# of minutes on blackberry: <1 min per day (just to make sure nothing urgent)

Food & the like
# of ice-cream tubs purchased: 8, for the...
# of parties attended: 5, of which...
# of parties thrown: 3, for which...
# of roasts cooked: 4 (2 beef, 1 chicken, 1 pork) , and...
# of other meals out with friends: 6

Entertainment
# of movies watched: 2
# of hours at massage/spa: 4

Spotted! #5

It's barely November and not only are the Christmas lights up, they are also already lit!

Isn't it a little early? Or is it due to Singapore hosting APEC this coming week?

Either way, its a reminder that time is passing and yet another year is coming to a close...

End-Hol Report Card (2008)

General
# of calendar days not working: 12 (finally a break!)
# of leave days taken: 4 (yahoo to 2 free "off" days!)
# of minutes/day spent reading the blackberry: 5min (less actually)

Food
# of parties attended: 4, of which...
# of parties hosted: 3 (no more for a long time)
# of "good" meals eaten excluding parties: 6 (stuffed!)

Entertainment
# of episodes of anime watched: 90 (roughly 30 hours!)
# of anime movies watched: 3 (only 1 in a cinema though)
# of hours at massage/haircut: 4.5 (insufficient!)
# of hours/day sleeping: 10-12 (definately not enough)
# of hours of exercise: Nil (as expected)

Conclusion
# of kg gained: *censored* (less than expected!)

Mid-Hol Report Card (2008)

# of calendar days not working: 6 / 6 (good)
# of leave days taken: 2 (good)
# of parties attended: 2 (average), of which...
# of parties hosted: 1 (average)
# of "good" meals eaten excluding parties: 4 (good)
# of hours of sleep: 60-70 (average)
# of episodes of anime watched: 36 (good)
# of massages / general pampering: 2 (good)

Comments: Still has areas for improvement, but good performance overall. Keep it up!

Merry Christmas!

I got feedback that my blog had too few photos. *sigh* Taking photos when I am in Singapore does not come naturally to me. Taking photos of my food....? Even worse. Most of the time I am too eager to start eating and by the time I remember, I am already halfway through. Plus if I'm eating with people, I rather not fuss with taking photos and interrupting the mood and conversation...

In an attempt to please my readers however (yes, the both of you), the next post will have more photos. Having said that, please take note that I am grateful that (the both of) you are willing to waste a few minutes of your time each day to read my blog.

Have a Merry Christmas!

Analogue or Digital?

Today I received the card that broke the camel's back.

My past years on the sell-side meant that every Christmas/CNY I would have to send out cards to past/present/hopefully future clients. Luckily this was more or less co-ordinated within the department, so all I had to do was lend a signature to the cards already floating around.

Moving to the buy-side, I had the luxury of receiving cards, and not feeling obliged to return them. Don't blame me for being rude, given that I sometimes receive cards from:
1) people I met only once in some "shake-hands" meeting, and I have absolutely no recollection of who they are; and/or
2) people who sign off with an illegible signature and no name card attached.

Today however, I received a card from a fairly senior banker, and since he had the good manners to send me (a comparatively junior person) one, I guess I shall finally have to start sending cards to those whom I can identify.

So the question now is....
1) Should I send a hard-copy card (which is more personal) notwithstanding that it will not arrive in time (which is rude since I obviously didn't bother about it); or
2) Send an e-card which would arrive immediately, but is impersonal and could jolly well have been sent via mass email?

Don't forget the lyrics!!

There's something wrong in having happy upbeat cheery versions of these 2 songs, and playing it right after/before songs like "Here comes Santa Claus" or "Jingle Bells"!

"Do They Know Its Christmas" was written in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure specifically to raise funds for the 1984-85 famine in Ethiopia. The group "Band Aid" which released it was a British and Irish charity group formed (and reformed) from the most successful British and Irish pop music performers.

"So This Is Christmas (War is Over)" was a protest song about the Vietnam War by John Lennon, Yoko Ono and The Plastic Ono Band. In 1969, with the US entrenched in the Vietnam War, they rented bilboards and posters around the world with the words "War is over, if you want it".

Source: Wikipedia

Source for photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/yokoonoofficial/2892804843/

Do They Know Its Christmas Time

It's Christmas time, there's no need to be afraid
At christmas time, we let in light and we banish shade
And in our world of plenty, we can spread a smile of joy!
Throw your arms around the world at christmas time

But say a prayer - pray for the other ones
At christmas time, it's hard, but when you're having fun
There's a world outside your window
And it's a world of dreaded fear
Where the only water flowing is a bitter sting of tears
And the christmas bells that ring there are the clanging chimes of doom
Well tonight thank God it's them instead of you

And there won't be snow in Africa this christmas time
The greatest gift they'll get this year is life
Where nothing ever grows
No rain or rivers flow
Do they know it's christmas time at all?

Here's to you
Raise your glass for everyone
Here's to them
Underneath that burning sun
Do they know it's christmas time at all?

Feed the world
Let them know its Christmas time

So This Is Christmas (War is over)

So this is Christmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
And so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young

Chorus:
A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

And so this is Christmas (War is over)
For weak and for strong (If you want it)
For rich and the poor ones (War is over)
The world is so wrong (Now)
And so happy Christmas (War is over)
For black and for white (If you want it)
For yellow and red ones (War is over)
Let's stop all the fight (Now)

And so this is Christmas (War is over)
And what have we done (If you want it)
Another year over (War is over)
And a new one just begun (Now)
And so happy Christmas (War is over)
We hope you have fun (If you want it)
The near and the dear one (War is over)
The old and the young (Now)

Chorus

War is over
If you want it
War is over
Now...

Seeing the forest for the trees...

Note: *Shinta only agreed to a tree because I said I would be responsible for taking it down.

Dec 2005: Decided not to get cos away for most of December.

Dec 2006: My first proper tree!!! Went to Concourse and picked out a nice dark green one that was slightly taller than me, and red & silver cheapo-balls.

Feb 2007: Tree still up. Decided to take down the decorations as a start. Thought of hanging red packets on tree to celebrate CNY, but too lazy.

Aug 2007: Tree still up. Placed little red flags to celebrate National Day.

Dec 2007: Time to decorate! Wanted to replace half of decorations with a different colour, but mistook colour scheme (thought it was gold and red), and bought more silver items!!!! Discovered cheapo-balls not usable as glue had turned yellow. Bought a few lovely glass balls (ex!!) from I Wanna Go Home and some silvery/white non-ball decorations (flowers, fake-crystal/glass chains, silver leaves).

Feb 2008: Tree still up. Removed decorations when on MC and bored at home.

Dec 2008: Tree still up. Decided to go for a white/silver look, since non-ball decorations still ok. Added these pretty prisms from I Wanna Go Home to glass collection.

Decided that every year, would buy a few nice ("a few" because nice = expensive) glass items to add on to tree. *Shinta pointed out that if we ever have kids, would have to replace everything with plastic ones........ Conclusion: No kids!!!

We are young only once, after that we need some other excuse - Anon

On Saturday, *Shinta and I went for a Christmas party hosted by some old(er) friends. Despite my initial reluctance (tired lah), I'm really really glad we went after all....

1. We are the "babies" of the group

Being the youngest in a group has its privileges. The others who are walking the path of life ahead of you, can understand and relate to issues that you are only just starting to face. Hence they can sympathise and know how to say the right thing at the right time. They also know how saying less is sometimes saying more!

It sometimes gets awkward amongst friends who despite being the same-age-group ("SAG"), are at different stages of life and can't always relate. It's quite tiring sometimes, to be honest.

2. We were pampered by the spread of food without any work from us!

It's probably related to being the babies of the group, but we didn't have to prepare or bring anything. For most of our other gatherings with SAG friends, either
i) we host, *Shinta has to cook and I have to wash up, or
ii) its a potluck and we still have to prepare something substantial.

This time round however, we got yummy potato mashes, the most amazing pomegranate salad, stuffing, turkey and tons of other stuff without having to do any work. We did attempt to assuage our guilt by bringing 2 bottles of wine though!

3. *Shinta brought his guitar and we sang carols

Yes, singing of carols is not something done only in church or by carollers. And it doesn't matter if we're out of tune or humming in a totally different key. It's the words you read and reflect upon that matter. I had a good time although my throat is now slightly sore.

I think having 3 groups of friends helps a lot...
1) friends your age to walk together with you;
2) friends younger to remind you to leave a path others can follow; and
3) friends older to guide you and let you know there have been others walking before you.

The tree is up! Now for the gifts?

The Christmas tree is up! This year its silvery white

Ten things I love about...

Ten Things I Love About Christmas

10. Carollers
9. Christmas lights
8. Office shutdown
7. Putting up decorations on the tree
6. Finding the perfect gift for someone
5. Receiving a carefully selected / handmade gift
4. *Shinta will buy me gifts
3. I have an excuse to buy gifts for myself
2. Using the holiday as an excuse to meet up with friends

Lastly and most importantly...

1. Commemorating God's gift to us, His Son

Ten things I hate about...

Ten Things I Hate About Christmas

10. It starts in November
9. Crowds and long queues everywhere
8. No parking everywhere
7. Kids running around and screaming for things they want
6. The same Christmas songs playing over and over again
5. Restaurants jack up prices and bookings must be confirmed weeks in advance
4. Deadweight loss
3. Lonely people feel even more lonely
2. Guessing who might give me a gift and feeling guilty if I left anyone out

Lastly and most importantly...

1. No one seems to remember or care what Christmas is really about