Chinese New Year is done and dusted with ! It was a great stretch of long holidays and that is also very good except that it started to freeze !! I dug out my doona, and its great again !

The week before the New Year just seemed to fly by and that is always great when you have a long holiday to look forward to. All too soon it was the weekend. Had a couple of great lunches, especially a sort of reunion lunch on Friday. Also went along to the Flower Market that night and that was really interesting. Something that I had only heard of in TVB, the flower market is sort of like the Royal Melbourne Show dedicated to Chinese New Year. There are snacks for sale, a lot of CNY decorations, and of course all manner of weird things. For example, there were nutcrackers for sale, there were giant blowup dolls, cow costumes, whirligigs, and so on. And of course all manners of flowers that people would use for CNY !

Saturday was a day of more mahjong games and spent Sunday mostly at home, resting with television. Went out for lunch with RoxBear and FredBear at the quayside place, where we had some brunch and then went along to the Flower Market again. The market in the daytime was different as there were more products for sale, and also a lot of younger kids. Given that Sunday was the eve of CNY as well, there were also a whole lot more people who came along for some last minute bargains ! Went home in the evening after some dessert and lazed about. While FredBear had his reunion dinner, I had some sandwiches. Had to wait as I was going to join his family in making those first prayers of the year. It was really interesting, going to temples in the middle of the night. In fact we went to three places, and I think they prayed to gods, and then to ancestors, and also to the luck people. Then off we were in search of last minute flowers again. Went to Sheung Wan and then towards the Flower Market again. Found some near the market around 1 am. All the cold air at night got me wide awake, so stayed online for a long time. Somewhere along, I got all riled up about learning another language and signed up for a 3 month online course in French. Hopefully, it goes well.

Spent Monday afternoon, dancing to hiphop on Youtube as well as learning the Tell Me dance, as later went to watch The Curious Case of Benjamin Button at the cinema with some friends, followed by dinner at Temple Street. The movie was in my opinion, something to just watch once, and was too long, and nothing to shout about. I spent Tuesday doing all my long forgotten chores, including the cleaning, laundry, cooking, ironing and at one point it felt great to hear the pot bubbling on the stove, the washing machine rumbling, and the iron hot in my hand. Later had coffee at the Intercontinental with FredBear at TST as we were awaiting the grand fireworks to be held later that night.

We were joined by GAHil, GATra and GABish and we started making our way into the human mass gathered on the harbourside at TST. There were so many people there that it was pretty impossible to move much. We stood in the crowd for about 90 minutes before the fireworks started, and they lasted for another 25 minutes or so. So it was a VERY long stand. Have not stayed in one place to watch fireworks for a long time. Colourful, but could not really get into the mood of them, (never have) and patiently waited for it to end. We had dinner at a Chinese restaurant and had some heavy topics involving marriage, work and currency movement.

Today basically got woken up by a call by FredBear at noon to go out. Considering that I had a very late night the night before, was not too pleased. Dressed up in the cold, we eventually decided to have high tea buffett at the Shangri La Hotel but that would be at 3.30. We got some snacks to munch on, and then went to Pacific Place to laze around the additional hour and a half. The food was disappointing to say the least. I have been to much better meals in Malaysia for the same price and it got me thinking about Rakuzen at one point ! Stuffed, we ambled along to Toys R Us to look at Wiis, but went home empty handed. Took a two hour nap, and am still stuffed and sneezing.

Will sleep soon. Another CNY over.

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Yesterday, I got picked up. Haha. It is a fun story.

So after Chinese class, MsCong and I went for shopping for toys, as it is one of her hobbies. We went to this alley in WanChai and goodness, it was packed. Mostly with people shopping for the New Year as it was also filled with all kinds of CNY decorations ! I had a great time wandering around the tiny shops where you could find all sorts of old toys, such as those tin toys, and you could even buy whole sets of toys that you could only get from those Egg machines. It was very fun, and we eventually bought a set of gian pick up sticks ! Each one is about 80 cm long ! I guess we would have to play this game on the floor as there is no way that it would fit on a table ! We took the tram back to Central and had curry (her recommendation) with roti canai. I was pretty much starving, having had no dinner the night before except for a couple of waffles, and it tasted good. Slightly pricy for roti, but oh well.

Later that afternoon, I went over to GAG's apartment where we played table tennis for a while. It was then that we got picked up. Two kiddies about the age of nine came over and challenged us. We agreed, as it could be fun. I think GAG was slightly disappointed over their level but I enjoyed it very much. They were about my level, which is to say, we can hit the ball, and sometimes smash but no fancy stuff like spinning or magic shots. They were very precocious and would shout Great Shot ! everytime they got a point in self praise. And sometimes when they made a mistake they would say, GOSH, free points for you. So very fun. After about an hour, continued on to the Gym where had a great time working out (never thought I would say that) and then some time in the sauna. This got me thinking about joining a gym again, but there is no gym really near my place and boy are they pricy ! So maybe some exercise videos ? I dunno.

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Lalala. I am still exhausted but perhaps because of different reasons ! SailorJow, SailorIan and GAJan came over to visit and are actually still here, well, actually in Macau at the moment but they are here for a week and are bunking in ! I have never realised that my tiny place can fit so many people ! But yes, here we are, and it is packed ! I swear, it is really hard to have so many people around one toilet ! Added to the happy party, ParkyBear also turned up for the weekend !

Over the past week, I have had hotpot, and went to The Peak, Repulse Bay, Stanley, The Press Room, Wan Chai, Sogo, Causeway Bay, Sham Tseng, Sai Kung, Central....it seems that every time a new posse comes to town, I have to retake the Grand Tour of Hong Kong. As it is, I am extremely glad to have FredBear, RoxBear and SoBear show me around Hong Kong and helping me learn what a great place it can be. This has helped greatly in showing people around !!

Tonight was another dinner with one of my brokers, and it was pretty sad cause it was a sort of farewell. We have been having a better working relationship recently, but he has been retrenched due to the Financial Crisis, and will be out of work by the end of January. A very sad story but at the same time, repeated millions of times around the world at the moment. Just hope to hold on to my job safely, and learn more ! Had a very nice dinner at an Italian place in Soho. Meal started out with yummy beef carpaccio with truffles and mushrooms, as well as a mixed salad. Then we moved onto a fantastic seafood linguine with huge prawns and oysters and mussles and cuttlefish, and then onto my favourite, cream cheese stuffed chicken breast wrapped in pancetta. Absolutely divine. Am definitely coming back for that again. Add to that again, I had a superlicious cannoli for dessert. The honeycomb bits melted into my mouth ! Yum.

Which reminds me, I have not trained for the marathon for weeks. Shits...

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I am so exhausted at work. It seems like after a tremendously hard year in 2008, everyone just wants to be better in 2009, and it seems like we will all have to buck up. Learning curve still steep, and I dream about my work all the time.

Dreaming about work is pretty serious. I think I am confirmed workaholic.

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And once again !! The New Years Resolutions Post !!

A flashback to 1/1/2006, with comments on 1/1/2007.
1. Lose 15 kg. At least. (Crap. Failed miserably)
2. Get a job and enjoy it for a year. (OK, well 2 weeks to go..Considered Achieved)
3. Start professional certification studies. (Started. Exam Dec 3. Achieved)
4. Keep in touch with all my friends. (Achieved, well.. yea I consider it achieved)
5. Make new friends. (Totally Achieved)
6. Save some money. (Achieved)
7. Go on one overseas trip. (Achieved - In Shanghai now !!)
8. Have a much cleaner house with more systems. (Achieved)
9. Improve my Chinese, and start on Japanese. (Achieved)
10. Try to make some effort towards world peace. (Making friends counts. Achieved !!)

Result : Achieved 9 out of 10.

A flashback to 1/1/2007. With results today.
1. Lose 10 Kg. At least. (More reasonable...but not achieved - I blame Melbourne)
2. Keep plugging on at my job and achieve success. (Not bad at all in this area !! Great !)
3. Pass Level 1 of my professional studies and start Level 2. (Passed Level 2 !!!)
4. Keep in touch with most of my friends. (Easily done)
5. Make new friends. (Ha ! Even this week I made at least 2 new buddies ! Cheers to ViBear and YSBear!)
6. Save more money than in 2006. (Technically failed. But should have been expected. Technically, if you look at it, by just not going to Melbourne I would have achieved this goal. And I paid for 3 exams in this financial year too. So. Achieved on technicality.)
7. Go on one overseas trip. (Done - Vietnam, Australia, Singapore twice...)
8. Buy less clothes of higher quantity. (Easily)
9. Improve my Chinese, my singing and learn more skills. (I think so...at least relearnt macros)10. Keep on having fun times and be positive all the time. (Had great fun with Cranium!)

Result : Achieved 9 out of 10.AHHAHAHAHHAHAHA.

A flashback to 1/1/2008. With results today.
1. Lose 10 Kg. (><"" The face says it all. Failed miserably)
2. Pass CFA Level 3. (YAY ! Passed !)
3. Travel overseas at least twice. (Cambodia, Korea, Hong Kong, Macau...)
4. Keep in touch with old friends and make new friends (Not too bad...considered achieved)
5. Get a good suit. Hugo Boss. Or Armani. Or Calvins... (Done and achieved)
6. Get promoted. (Haha foregone conclusion. Achieved)
7. Fall in love. (Fell in love with Hong Kong. Achieved. And note not to include as future resolution)
8. Improve my Chinese, my singing and learn a new language and more skills. (Achieved in parts)
9. Save lots of money. At least as much as this year. (Achieved with great results)
10. Stay happy. And healthy and fun. (Easily)

Result : Achieved 9 out of 10. Bleargh.

New Year's Resolutions 2009 !
1. Lose 10 Kg. (This year I really want to make this happen. Cross my heart.)
2. Meet at least 10 new good friends.
3. Travel to at least 2 other countries. (Hong Kong and Malaysia are not counted)
4. Visit New Territories and discover more areas
5. Save twice the amount I saved in 2008.
6. Perform great at work and get commended
7. Go home at least twice !!!
8. Improve Chinese, and start a new language. (Current target : French)
9. Keep my house clean and do my laundry/washup at proper times.
10. Be happy and healthy working away from home.

Good luck to me. Although last year I got dissed by RoxBear and IzyBear and DamBear, I feel great about my resolutions and hope to really really achieve everything this year !!

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