New year's eves have always been happening times for me a few years back. When i was in London, every year without fail we would be walking from our apartment all the way, in the blistering cold ( i know, i know, london isn't THAT cold compared to like somewhere up north like Scotland, or places like that, but it was still cold enough for me ), to Trafalgar Square to join in the countdown for the new year with the other millions of people from all walks of life. One of those years, if i remember correctly, i was squashed like a sardine in a can of sardines in one of those parks besides the Thames river, eagerly awaiting there from some ridiculous time like 8pm, again in the blistering cold, for the fireworks along the Thames river. Now actually, come to think of it, i don't know what got into us that night. We supposedly wanted to get there early so that we could get a good spot, and hence a good view. However, our grand plan didn't actually work out that well, considering the fact that once we got to the place, there were ALREADY sad sad SAD people (like us ha ha ha... yes.. amazing that there ARE others out there!!! ) marking their territory in the park and giving you that dodgy look once you try inch closer and closer to their space. By the time the fireworks started, i was completely surrounded by people much MUCH taller than me ( since, as some people would say, i am not the tallest person in the world, and some would also mention that i could be a teeny weeny bit vertically challenged, by British / Mat Salleh standards ). Luckily, fireworks do go up, high high into the sky, so by craning my head upwards, i could easily catch a glimpse of the fireworks display. A much better view than if i were to look anywhere infront / behind me, i would be only be greeted by sights of drunken Londoners with their heads looking way up in the sky with their mouths widely opened. It goes without saying that i woke up the next day with a major neck strain.
Anyway, being back in Malaysia, the first couple of new years i spent back here, it was more of walking around partying in the Bangsar Telawi area. The typical new years night out then would be to meet up at someones and deciding to go to Bangsar to check out what's going on. After that, spend and hour or so in the car stuck in the jam going up the road leading to Bangsar from Jalan Damansara, (which we conveniently found out the next morning that there was indeed another way up there), then spending probably another hour trying to find parking that is not too far and also not too close since we obviously don't wanna be stuck in the traffic going out later. Then, once we finally get to Bangsar, we would probably spend another hour trying to get in touch with the other people who came in the other cars, since during this festive few hours before the start of the new year, you would be lucky to be able to call out when you are in places like these. The network would definitely be congested, what with all the other people there trying to call their mates as well. Anyway, i think that year, i spent counting down for the new year, sitting with my buddies besides the pavement in front of the 7-11 there, having drinks bought from the 7-11 itself, after finally finding and gathering everyone else who came about 10 to 15 minutes before the countdown.
This year, i think the main theme for new year celebrations was to have a barbeque at home with friends and family. My sister had one at home, my brother went to one at one of his friends house, and me, i was invited to probably 3 to 4 barbeques on that night itself. (Well, actually not everyone had a BBQ, i guess, since i do know a lot of people who also went to CyberJaya for some sort of rave party or something like that there, but i guess i'm getting a tad bit too old for that sort of thing, maybe ). Anyway, i decided to go to the barbeque at one of my good friends which was located not too far from my house, in view of it being easier to head back home after. Not that many people were invited, just close friends, around 15 of us i guess. Everyone was assigned to be bringing their own seperate food / drink items, and the thing started from like 6pm ( i got there late since i was working in KL that day and only managed to reach home around 7pm due to the absolutely idiotic traffic going out of KL) and itlasted all the way to 3am+. I must say that i had a very very good time, the company was good, the food was good (other than one particular batch of BBQ that was transformed completely into pieces of graphite when the fire suddenly and randomly decided to go beserk and so huge such that we had to hose down the BBQ pit and restart the fire. Majorly overcooked chicken isn't really my thing, so you can't blame me for not wanting to eat overcooked chicken ,which wouldn't be out of place if put in the bag of charcoal, and to make things worse, it was WET as well, from the water that we had to splash onto the barbeque pit!!) , the music was... er... considering the radio decided to short circuit, and a few of us attempted to play the guitar, it wasn't too bad, i would guess since i couldn't see a rain cloud anywhere within a mile's distance away from us! Food was extremely good (other than the carbon graphite serving) although i do think i probably had too much of lamb chops, grilled beef, BBq-ed chicken and sausages to last me for quite a few months. Waking up the next morning was probably the most difficult thing to do, but it was aided by my phone ringing in my ears at 9 in the bleeding morning by my mum telling me come back soon and also not to forget that i have a BBQ at my aunt's place at lunchtime, and that they were planning to go early in view of coming back early. The thought that ran through my mind at that particular point of time, was probably something in the vain of "Oh dear.... no more lamb... please.... no more lamb..... no.... ". I probably had 2 or 3 slices of lamb at my aunt's place, other than the grilled beef, BBQ-ed chicken and sausages that would probably last me for quite a few months.
Anyway, now that it's already a new year, i would just like to list down what i would like to call my new years resolution, so to speak. Just a list of things i think i need to do this year, or the stuff that i need to improve on myself.
Number one. Numero Uno. Top of the pops. I need to smile more often. I have to remember that i should always not try to take myself seriously. One thing that i learned from 2003 was that i have to always be able to laugh at myself. I think thats particularly important, since i know of a lot of arguments that i have been in, was due to me being too goddamn serious and not seeing the ligther side of it. I would like to think that i am already able to criticism as well and also able to be the butt of my friends taunts and jokes as well, as i know it's all in good vein. I should also smile. Smile. Smile. Smile. Actually i am smiling now just writing about smiling. Ha ha!
Number two. Need to keep my weight in check. For the first half of 2003 i gained 15 kilos from my extremely unhealthy way of life and diet. In the final quarter of the year after realizing that i was on my way to obesity, i managed to lose a total of 10 kilos (which included fasting month as well ). However, after fasting month, i suddenly started to gain on the pounds already. So yeah. Need to keep my weight in check. I'm sure anyone reading this would probably think its weird that a guy like me would be paranoid about my weight and all, but i do feel like there are a lot of advantages for me to control my weight gain tendencies. Of course there's the health issue which is a major plus point in itself, but after the fasting month, i actually realized that i could wear my clothes comfortably again and not feel like an overweight bastard. My work trousers don't feel like bursting open anytime during the day and for once, when i try on my dad's pants, i can finally say that i won't be able to use them. Thank god for that! The very fact that i fit into my dad's pants before that was one really freaky experience. You just need to look at my dad to understand my feeling. So that means i dont need to get new pants and shirts, and hence some savings in my expenditure column. Also, i realized that once i started to lose the kilos, i feel so much more agile in the futsal courts. I can remember feeling like a bumbling idiot, feeling so slow and lethargic playing futsal sometime early this year. After fasting month, i feel like a reborn player, running around the court doens't feel so tiring anymore. This is definitely due to my weight loss, since i need less energy to move around. So yeah, keep my weight in check.
Which brings us to number three. Need to exercise more. I used to be playing futsal 2 - 3 times a week and also playing squash at least once a week. Nowadays, at most i play futsal once a week, which i don't think is enough. I read somewhere that lack of exercise will make you feel lethargic and less energetic, which is exactly how i am feeling right now. I actually started to jog 3 times a week before i go to work before fasting month, but that stopped during fasting month since i felt like it wasn't a good idea due to the fact that i wouldn't be able to drink after jogging and hence would not be able to replenish amount of liquid that i lose during the exercise. So, yeah. Need to start THAT again.
Numero Four. Need to decrease the amount of procrastination in my life. This has been my aim for many many years but still not much has changed. Well, actually i have found something that has indeed helped. Everyday in the morning, i would list down the things that i need to do in my notebook, and after i've done any of them, i would take a red pen and put a tick onto it, or if i can't do it, i would write down in red next to it why i haven't been able to do it. At the end of the day, i review what i've done and what i have not done, and for the past month or so, my productivity level has indeed increased, much to the joy of the people working with me. But still, need to decrease the amount of time wasting.
Number Five. Need to control my spending and actually start saving a decent amount of moolahs every month. Actually i do have a savings plan but i think i need to start saving more and probably need to control the amount of spending on my "wants" and only spend on my "needs". I mean, not to say that i stop spending altogether on my "wants" but just to keep it in control. But i sometimes find that it is indeed quite hard to control the urges to spend spend spend and think later. My current list of "wants" is a new handphone to replace my ageing Nokia 6510 ( i was looking at the T610 before, but after playing around with the Nokia 6660, the camera and screen on the T610 just doesnt feel the same anymore. I think it will be some time before i get another one since i find it difficult to justify myself spending RM1000 or more on a phone, and since my "wants" all fall in that category, i don't see the point yet. Seriously, i really don't know HOW some of my friends can just keep changing their handphones every now and then. How can they AFFORD that? Can someone tell me please? ), i want an ipod (imagine, having 40GB of space to store ALL of your songs on. I mean, even my laptop has only 10GB of hardisk space on it, end even that, most of it is gone already, filled up with all my porn.. ops i meant work stuff :D ), and i also want a new car to replace my current ageing (just replaced timing belt which cost me a few hundred) satria and also an iPAQ 4150 (to replace my ageing Palm Vx. Actually this is ALSO very difficult to justify spending RM1600 on a new PDA when my old Palm Vx still does the job that i need it to do, which is just the scheduling, to-do's and contacts. But was playing around with the iPAQ the other day and was dreaming away of me just hanging out at Starbucks and surfing the net thru my iPAQ. That is just so cool ). And that's just the major ones, not inclusive of the shoes, clothes, and pants that i want to buy as well.
Finally, number 6. Need to spend more time with family and friends. I realize that sometimes this year and i can see in the forseeable few months ahead as well, i will be getting pretty busy, with late nights and all. I just feel that before this, whenever i get busy, i spend a lot of hours in the office and dont meet up with my friends or even meet my family members that often. So, another resolution for me would be to always try and MAKE time for friends and family as i feel they are definitely MORE important than anything else.
Anyway, have to make a move now. As you can see, my updates on this blog hasn't been as often as before, nor as often as i like, but i am gonna try anyway. So, i wish everyone a happy new year, hopefully this year will be better than the last. Keep on smiling, stay healthy and be good to each other. Take care of each other, and yourselves.
Later.
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