Storing up for the New Year December 27, 2006

 

Another X’mas comes and goes away.  Commercials on TV has changed their skin from to New Year, faster than the Mother Nature.

 

I’ve stored up calories during the holidays from wine and food. And am happily holding on to the various presents I received, and my bank account deep in red.

 

This week of rest is the true reward for the year.

After 12 months’ of toil and moil, this week we can recharge, rethink about life and most importantly, reunite with our loved ones. 

What else is more important than that?

 

So an early start on my new year resolution – salute to the 100 things to do by Princess Vespa – I have 10 and they are small, but hard to achieve so give me a break 😉

 

1, Lose the pounds I gained ever since I came to US

2, Squeeze in time for a new hobby (yes, I’m going to pick up glassblowing…somehow)

3, Save up enough for two trips – one with my family, one with my most important half – and have money left after the trips

4, Paint my ideal picture…(I’m not sure how since this has been put off for 9 years)

5, Travel to one other city in US than the ones I travel to on business

6, Be a good sister to the little niece

7, Be a good godmother to my best friend’s daughter

8, Leave work everyday by 9p.m. the latest

9, Clean up my rabbit’s cage every 3 days max.

10, Figure out where I want to be in 2008…

 

The last one is tough, but hey I have another 12 months yeah!

Don’t call me a procrastinator. At least it’s on the top 10 list…

 

No matter what your wishes are, hope they will come true.

 

Happy Holidays.

 

 

Hanging on December 21, 2006

 

I’m hanging on to the thought that I have 1.5 days to go…before I can simply rest and relax and not think about anything until Jan 2.

 

It’s a lot of work and we are planning already for production in Jan – Mar. Things are looking extremely busy and not very profitable. We will have a challenging year in 2007. How funny that we plan ahead for the work we do, but we don’t even know what to do next week in our personal life.

 

The best thing about this extremely loooooonnnnnnngggg week is that we keep receiving presents and every hour cheers around the public area where the chocolate hampers, snacks and cheese we got are shared.  So despite the depressing Q1 calendar, my X’mas spirit kinda remained. 

 

Keep smiling. Everything will turn out ok.

A different life December 20, 2006

 

I woke up this morning realizing that my plan is not going to happen. Didn’t catch the alarm at all. But it’s ok.

 

It was a bit eerie when I woke up from a dream. The sun was blocked and everything looked perfectly still, the way it was left before I went to bed. It was quiet. And the impression of the dream lingered. I didn’t feel like going back to reality just yet so I thought I’d share the moment with you here.

 

It was a dream in which one of the friends I lost contact longggggg time ago appeared. And I witnessed a life changing moment in his life. He walked away from it all, and pursued his dream business. The last scene was that I was on the MTR (subway in HK) reading his letter (yes, not email) and he told me he would know what’d happen next week.

 

It’s so bizzard. It’s like a split self trying to escape from my life and start a new one in the dream world, wearing the mask of a once-important person in my life. 

 

Just at the time when I thought maybe my job isn’t too bad. I hope this is not a warning signal.

 

 

Ho Ho Ho!!! December 19, 2006

 

I have spent two full days getting everything together. Spend half a night wrapping presents like crazy. And about 5 mins giving them all away. 

 

It’s pretty amazing how the process of buying gifts, wrapping, and carrying them away to give out to friends is such an emotionally uplifting one. And to me, the meaning of X’mas presents does not lie in the gifts themselves, or the actual moment of giving and receiving.

 

Say for example, you go into the Apple Store, spend less than 5 mins to get a $200-$300 worth Ipod in its little neat packaging. And you give it away the same night you see your pal and one exchange between hands the gift is given. But that’s just one of the 100 presents you are buying this season. By the end of the month, your credit card is max-ed out…

 

But hey, that’s why you should look at it this way.

 

You know your pal has been expecting one for half a year, eagerly looking forward to receiving it from a friend and mostly just wishing that it will really happen during Xmas. Eventually he / she will be happy receiving a little gift set.  Then you arrive with the long awaited black bag with this white logo. And the box smells of plastic wrapping and the distinctive smell of electronic products.  Every touch on the perfect packaging leaves a nice little fingerprint. So does the very perfectly shinny ipod…isn’t it lovely? You know your friend will stay up all night loading it up with mp3s. And he/she will dream of the gift later at night.

 

That’s very motivating.  OK. Now go out and shop.

Balancing your life… December 7, 2006

 

24 hours are never enough.

 

Imagine if you are a person who needs 8 hours of sleep. You have only 16 hours left in the day. 

2 hours in a day to eat – 14 hours left.

2 hours in a day to commute – 12 hours left.

How do you spend your 12 precious hours?

 

My mom is in NY. Besides the blissful holidays of Thanksgiving and the long weekend trip we had together, I was trying to get work done in 8 hours, so I get to spend the 4 extra hours with her during work days.

 

So 2 wks later, I’m behind of about 40 hours worth of work but I gained 40 hours with mom.

 

What does 40 hours equate to? It’s about 1 full week, or 2.5% of an headcount’s time in a year in business terms which could mean quite a bit of retainer fee on a business.  But it’s actually short as hell in our life – not even 0.5% of a year’s time.

 

It’s like you tried hard to give what you can to the most important people in your life, but it’s never enough.

But what more can we give? How else can we make it work when the difference between value of time in our personal and professional lives are measured on a completely different scale?

It feels like you have tried very hard but it’s just not working out – it’s burning on both ends.

 

Sigh