I am so overjoyed to see everyone downstairs ushering the new year in just now! In the final countdown, everyone was holding their breaths as the last remnants of 2007 ticked away. When 2008 arrived, there was a joyous rupture! Everyone celebrated the new year. Hugs, kisses, elation... Wow, it's really amazing.

You know what? This really compels me to throw a new year party this year! I think it will be really cool to have so many people, especially friends, counting down together. It is surreal, man!

Hmm... 1 January 2008...

Well, have a great year everyone! And for those in other time zones, hope to see you join us soon in 2008!

[+] There's more!

I'm so happy to see my elder brother and his girlfriend back again! Time really flies by fast! I remember hugging them goodbye during the last week of December 2006 back at the airport. Boy, I can't believe I'm seeing him again.

I love Chinese New Year because this means that my elder brother will join our family again to celebrate this auspicious festivity. It also means another time to start afresh again. I'm determined to make the best start as possible. Now, if only my motivation and spirits are not dampened that fast... =P

One thing this festivity bugs me is that my house is opened for people to visit every year! Swarms of people, i.e. relatives, acquaintances, friends and colleagues will flock over to visit. I find it pretty scary to go down to the living room and confront so many people sitting there, laughing and having a good time. And I don't know many of them. =S I remember people looking at my way everytime when I come down the stairs. I feel so self-conscious when the eyes kept staring at my way. =S

People, especially my parents' friends, who see me will be shrieking, "Oh! Look how tall you have grown!" or "Hey, is this your son? So big already!". Man, I feel so embarrassed to be complimented that way, lol!

My mom says letting people to come over to my house brings good luck. I guess I have to bear with it. After all, I'll be compensated with lots of red packets (and a chance to show off my new clothes). Hahahaha! (No, that frolicsome kid! Don't have such selfish thoughts. >=P)

Hmmm... Have you guys ever wondered how Chinese New Year came about? My Dad told us this story last night and I remembered hearing that on Disney Channel:

A long time ago in China, a grotesque and horrible monster always came to haunt the villagers on the eve of the New Year. Oddly enough, this monster is called 年(nián - which also means "year" in Chinese!). The people were upset that this monster kept appearing to hurt them every year. One day, when Nian came again, it confronted a red colour in one of the villager's house and it became frightened because it was afraid of red (that is why Chinese wear red during Chinese New Year ;) ). Then suddenly, a lightning striked and the monster howled with fear. The villagers then discovered the monster's weakness so they ensured that they put something red in front of their house and make loud banging noises during the eve of the Chinese New Year.

Soon, this legend then became a tradition of the Chinese. When firecrackers were invented by the Chinese, they adopt that method to chase out the old year and welcome the New Year. So if you guys heard firecrackers last night, you now know why. =P

In case you guys haven't noticed, Chinese New Year falls on a different day every year. This is because it is based on the lunar year, not the Gregorian calendar. =) (I don't know how it works though.) And this festival is also called Spring Festival.

This Chinese New Year falls on a pig year. It's like each year is represented by a different animal, which we call the zodiacs (pretty similar to the Western Astrology). Legends of how the 12 animal cycles came about can be found here.

Anyway guys, I got to go now. I will be back soon to blog more. =P If you know any Chinese friends who opens their house during the 15 days of the Chinese New Year celebrations, feel free to pay them a visit and observe the celebrations first hand. I guarantee you find it interesting. ;) So, I'll leave you all with this and...

I want to wish you guys Gong Xi Fa Chai; have a healthy and prosperous New Year to everyone! =D

[+] There's more!

Due to school-related stuffs, I was unable to blog the last week. =( I am utterly exhausted from having to do important assignments and schooling six days a week (despite our school hours running from 7 am to about 1 pm). Yesterday, I was rushing through my Commonwealth Essay as the deadline was today (and I barely met it) and because it was done at the eleventh hour, it turned out looking like a shoddy and sloppy piece of essay. =( The topics were quite hard this year and I think that is one of the main causes why I procrastinated.

Thus, I wrote it half-heartedly as I ran out of fresh ideas. It was horribly standardized and I doubt the judges would even read past the first paragraph before tossing it into the bin. *sigh*

Two days before the deadline, I was struggling to brainstorm out ideas for my essay. It took many hours later for me to decide to switch to another topic. I was unsure of the facts itself, therefore I failed to deliver my opinions. So instead, I wrote another topic which to my utter disappointment was not done well. Nevertheless, I am glad that I managed to shove this essay away from me. *weak smile*

While I was writing, I was loathing to my best friend the obstacles I had to overcome (i.e. my procrastination). I think I typed more words in our online chats than in my essay. =\ I can't believe I wasted so many precious hours just moaning and groaning to him how arduous my work was!

After I finally concluded my visit to one of my friend's blog, I suddenly entered panic mode and cold, harsh reality sank in. I had an essay to write, and I was faced with a blank document, except for the few paragraphs. It was pretty discouraging. Yes, I know I was a NaNoWriMo participant and 1500 words is "pretty easy" to manage.

I thought so too. I was overconfident. And that overconfidence brought my downfall, once again.

I began ranting to him how much I was strayed off track and I poured my disturbed emotions over him. I feel sorry for him having to bear my incessant rants. =( I am thankful that he can still manage to drill reality into my head. Thanks man, I really need that! =)

Like how I pathetically wrote 2 paragraphs in 3 hours. And he knowing that I find thrill in doing work at the last hour. They're all true and I don't deny it. Okay, I did but we knew it's true! =P Your sarcasm sure bites, mister! And they bite hard! =O (And I needed this shock therapy once in a while or rather everytime, lol!)

Then I began to get serious about my attitude. Sure, I may finish my essay minutes before my English teacher steps into class. Unfortunately if that continues, I'm not going to lead a very successful life.

I know this might sound really shocking, but I have this conceived belief that life is like a fairytale. I'm serious! It sounds childish but I hold onto that thought! I always feel that whatever I do, it will have a happy ending. If the ending is not happy, then it's not quite the end yet. Besides, isn't that what most stories in novels and movies are like - happy endings which will move me to tears or make me go "Yes!"?

It's rather ironic that I did not even try to put in the effort myself. I do things half-heartedly if it isn't to my desire. I loathe work. I dislike doing it. I rather do things that matter most to me (i.e. nothing at all!). The funny thing is, I like work as well, in the sense that it keeps me occupied and giving me a sense of purpose. In other words, I shun and love it!

Over-optimism is what I call it. Then at certain times, I can feel over-pessimistic. =S

To put it simply, I treated life like a fairytale and I think that belief is very self-damaging. Guess the advice I was given by this best friend of mine? =)

I never thought of it that way. Now that he had mentioned it, I pondered about it since I like to write (and end with a happy ending). He then took the words out of my mouth by saying that I feel as though whatever things I do will turn out well in the end. The weird thing is that many, many times the work I have done always turn out well and it further strengthens my belief. Self-damaging success? =S

Does that mean I am waiting for failure now? Maybe... There's that part of me that yearns for failure and once I have experienced it, it will be like a shock therapy and I will change for the better. So far, the failures in my life have yet to affect me? =S I don't know, I don't get it myself. I don't learn from mistakes? Or must be mistakes be so grave and profound that it will affect my mind, body and spirit?

Our conversation ended with these three important values that I will always remember for life:

1. Set goals
2. Prioritize
3. And most importantly, to take things that matter seriously

I failed to do any of these three... But I really must try my best to uphold these characteristics in order to be successful. Even one of my teachers explained about these to us in class.

I admit, I have read a lot of books on how to succeed in life. They are fun to read and they always motivate me. I never applied them though...

Maybe it's high time that I should.

......

I am really thankful that I have such a good friend in life who tries to give me a push in times of need. Especially at this crucial year where I'll be sitting for that important GCE 'O' Levels exam in November.

*sigh* It's time to begin... Screw procrastination and laziness; may these two demons go back to hell, lol! >=)

On the other hand, maybe I was slightly disturbed by the thought that I have yet to tell the Deputy Principal about me wanting to drop Sociology... I don't know why I hesitated to confront her. Why am I so afraid of telling her about my confirmed decision?


------------


Let's talk about my Valentine's Day. I thought it was a rather ordinary day, except very overrated and exaggerated. Ugh~ People get lovey-dovey and mushy-gushy at this one day of the year and what about the rest of the 364 days? And oh my, how commercialised has it been especially in this 21st century!

That wasn't what St. Valentine's Day was originally intended for. Our Christian Religious Knowledge teacher explained to us about its origins, and it was then only I realised how beautiful the story behind really was.

So much have changed over those years. (Fine, maybe I'm a bit biased towards this because I'm single and I have no "proper" girlfriend. But hey, I can always shower my love 365 days, not on that one day out of so many days! =P)

Despite my dull feelings towards that day, I want to wish everyone here a Happy (belated) Valentine's Day, and I want to thank you for the friendships we have formed. I thank you guys for coming here to this blog and took your time to know me; it was a pleasure to know you guys as well. Thank you, and all of you will always have this special spot in my heart. =)

Lots of love! =D

[+] There's more!

My family and I were tuning in to Phoenix channel, and we saw how Taiwan welcomed the New Year. Oh my gosh, after we counted down loudly (together with the people in Taiwan via TV), Taipei 101 spurted out many colourful fireworks into the air from each "bamboo stem"! It was absolutely amazing. Hugs were exchanged and each family member gave each other the New Year's wish.

Today marks Day 1 of 2007. 20 minutes has passed.

Hello 2007! =)

[+] There's more!

I myself cannot believe time itself has flown so fast, and I still remember vividly on this very day last year, my family and I were counting down to 2006.

We're going to do the same again, in less than an hour's time. Moving on to January 1, 2007. Time to take down the old calendars. Time to practice writing 2007 instead of 2006 in school exercise books! Time to sober oneself one; never again will I ever repeat the mistakes I made this year (which I can't remember at the moment!). Time to tell myself, "Hey man! It's the new year! Time to turn over a new leaf, into an even better person!"

Hahaha, I have yet to write up my New Year's resolutions! I'll do that on the New Year itself.

I've gained so much this year, MORE THAN EVER in my entire life. Never have I looked at things in such a new, mature perspective. I actually began to learn to value my life and build up and strengthen my self-philosophy and values. I'm really happy and content with myself. I hope you guys are too! =)

Tonight's New Year's Eve BBQ was a total dud, at least that's what I thought unfortunately. The few guests my mom invited weren't the most exciting bunch. They left home before the countdown. Sigh~ But I guess that's okay. I prefer this to be a family event anyway.

I don't know what else to say now. Guess all that I can do now is wait, keep checking on my eBay's sales activity (which is currently only 1, hahaha!) and yeah... waste the final moments of 2006. Not exactly a good idea, but hey, there isn't much I can do now. I think.

45 more minutes to go.

I shall leave you guys here in 2006. I'll wait for everyone in the Western Hemisphere to pass into the New Year, then we can really celebrate. Okay? =P

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2007! PERPETUAL HEALTH AND PROSPERITY TO ALL, AND OF COURSE, PLEASE ENJOY THE NEW YEAR!

[+] There's more!

Hey guys! I'm finally back at my place now, listening to the pitter-patter of the raindrops. It's that time of the year again when there is heavy rainfall and floods are all too common in my country. Rain can be fun, of course, but having too much is a major bummer!

I'm actually am back home on Christmas Day! Can you believe it? I have to fly so early in the morning at 4 a.m. for goodness sake! I seriously wonder who flies at such an odd hour. Well, my wonder ceased to amazement when I saw the 200 passengers congregating at the airport in the wee hours of the morning, on Christmas Day! Wow. I had tried begging my mom to postpone our trip back home but unfortunately, it wasn't possible as all flights from post-Christmas to the first two weeks of January are fully booked. Not even a seat! That was how terrible the scenario was. Hordes of Australians (or the English) are using our national carrier to go to London from Perth and vice versa, transitting in my country. Apparently it's cheaper by 200 dollars (not so sure about the currency, but it's definitely not in Sterling Pounds!) compared to Qantas or British Airways (if that carrier does fly to Perth), plus with that amount of money, one can stay at my country's most prestigious 5 star hotel for a day. I don't know how true it is, that's what my mom told me. Anyway, on that flight that morning, about 3/4 of the passengers were transiting. I think we were the only local passport holders even!

Now on to the important question. Did I celebrate Christmas?

YES OF COURSE! HORRAY! Technically, that is.

At the stroke of midnight, right before we leave to the airport, my family and I (including my elder brother's girlfriend who I call my sister - she's the bomb!) exchanged gifts! Oh my gosh, I cannot believe I got a Nintendo Wii (How I wish! Hahaha) they like the presents I gave them! Each and every one! I was so happy, I almost wanted to shed a happy tear or two.

Christmas always gets me. It moves me when I show my love through gifts. Okay, that sounds very materialistic, but hey! It's the thought behind that counts! I hugged each and every one of my family member, and deep inside me, I thank them for giving me such a good life and showering me with lots of love, even though I can be a real mischievous and misbehaved son at times =).

It's really cool. The crinkling of present wrappers, the shout of joy when they saw their gifts beyond the wrapping paper. Let's just say the Christmas humbug bit all of us. In short, it was an amazing short time when the family bonded even closer. But then, everything has to end when we have to get to the airport. Everyone stuffed their gifts inside fat and oversized baggages (it was so full, we were worried that it was overweight). Thank goodness our luggage did not exceed the maximum weight imposed by the airport, the weighing scale was being kind to us!

So yeah, my Christmas this year to me seemed so short. We didn't do anything special when we got back home. Everyone was too exhausted from the whole return trip although my brother and I tried on the new video games that we bought back from Australia. (The games they sell in my country are mostly pirated anyway and are not so reliable.) Hehehe...

I'm happy that at least we got to exchange gifts and had an early Christmas dinner at a French restaurant. Damn, I didn't know French can hit the spot in my stomach; yum, yum! No turkey though, haha! We had a jolly good two and a half hours dinner.

I've said it already, and I will say it again. Christmas is AWESOME!


So what have I been up to nowadays? Well, nothing much. Except trying out Flight Simulator 2004: A Century of Flight. I actually wanted to buy its newer version, Flight Simulator X but unfortunately, this game was released too early and only about 5% of the gamers can run it properly. It is too demanding and quite unplayable for modern day computers. According to people's reviews I've read online, they stated that this simulatorwas meant to be played on Windows Vista, with DirectX 10 and well, this system is yet to be released. So staying on the safe side, I purchased the older game which was cheaper and was sold for AUD$10 less. So what the heck! *big toothy grin*

I have this weird fascination for aeroplanes (here we go again!). When I was young, I used to grab a small model of an airline, pretended my bedroom was one big airport and fly the plane, always either taking off or landing. Flying mid-air was too boring for me! Hahahaha! You can imagine me making the sounds of the aeroplane engines and make the aeroplane land or takeoff, and the aeroplane goes zooming by the long runway. Oh yeah, I love it!

The game is fun, but is currently a major bore to me as I need to learn how to fly properly first before landing (Boo!). Hopefully, after I have mastered the controls, I'll fly all over the world and make stops at the world's most busiest airports and admire it's monstrosity and beauty (Changi Airport!). There's something about airports which excites me...

Oh yeah, I've signed up for eBay.com under my "mother's name" since I am underaged. Thought it was high time I got rid of a couple of things around the house and make money out of them instead of feeding them to the dumpster. And that's what I have mainly busied myself these past few days. That explains my inactivity, I guess. It is loads of fun selling! Now I know how it feels like to be a e-seller! If you would like to check out what I am selling, you can ask for my username at eBay by e-mailing me at frolicsomekid at gmail dot com. Reason being my username is easily recognizable by my friends should they stumble into here and find out that I have a secret blog. And my privacy will be shattered... *shudder*

It took me a long time to figure out the mechanics for selling, and I've managed to understand the basics. The hardest part is the shipping, since not many locals will browse at eBay, and international shipping prices don't come in cheap. I was overjoyed when I discovered that a bidder has bid on one of my items! I intend to make the sales to go as smoothly as possible! =)

It's just great that Taiwan had to suffer an earthquake. The Internet connection isn't stable and very slow nowadays, and it will last for a long time until some undersea cable is repaired. What a bummer! At least I still can get online, I heard that our neighbouring countries isn't faring so well. But it's weird that it happened on December 26, eh? Coincidence?

......

Well, I guess that's that for this blog post. I'll blog more when some random blog-worthy thoughts hit my brain. Heehee. Until then, I wish you guys a very belated Merry Christmas, happy shopping at the after-Christmas sales (and cry when you learn that item you bought for $100 is given a big 50% discount!) and of course...

A very happy, prosperous and healthy New Year! (in advance, in the event that I cannot blog on December 31 - January 1)

And brace yourself for the flurry of SMS-es wishing you a Happy New Year!

Joy to the world! =D

[+] There's more!