Merry Christmas, And A Brief Summary Of 2010

What a year 2010 has been!  By the time you read this, I am very much on my way leaving town, looking forward to meeting Cynthia’s family and enjoying the serenity of an Internet blackout.  Back to basic, somewhere in Indonesia.  I can imagine how I would hear the ringing in my ears at night, be greeted by the rather cool air in the morning, the prayers from a mosque nearby before the break of dawn.  I would have so much time to exercise, to read, to revise my Spanish, to take a walk in the neighborhood, and to taste the local food.

The official announcement was out yesterday.  My entry of “Sea Turtle” has won over the judges from the HP team, against some of the stiffest competitions.  I have read some of entries written by fellow bloggers showcased at the HP Singapore Facebook page, and they are good.  I am thrilled, very thrilled that the judges were won over by – quoting from the email – my creativity, relevance to the topic, and the originality of my story.  And I dedicate this little achievement of mine to you, my readers.  Especially those who think that I should take up writing more seriously, and the encouragement I receive when I venture outside my comfort zone – in terms of writing.  Also, thanks to Amelia from Waggener Edstrom who has been encouraging and reminding me to complete the entry.  Your positive energy is a blessing to those around you.  You should be my agent, should my writing career takes off.

I enjoy writing “Sea Turtle” a lot.  Because it took me a few good weeks to research on the subject matters down to how sea turtles hear and what sea turtles do.  And it took some good thinking in order to put together a folklore, as inspired by Italo Calvino and his lecture notes “Six Memos for the Next Millennium”.  I am not literature trained.  I wish I was.  Having said that, I would probably hate writing if it was so.

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This doodle of mine (on top of this post) is titled tentatively as “Rain of Heaven and Fire of Chaos”.  It started as a ginger bread man – Cynthia can vouch for it.  But I tossed the idea away and started afresh, with something more complex.  Because that ginger bread man and Christmas tree composition was going nowhere.  I am not sure if anyone would get what this drawing is trying to say.  It is a rather private piece of composition.  Hence the zipper.

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Instead of spending time to write a batch of posts to be released while I am away like I used to – which I suppose most readers would be busy celebrating the festive season and new year with family and friends – I dedicate my time going through all my year 2010 posts.  OK.  Retract a little.  Before I went through my posts this year, I tried to recall what I did in 2010.  Nothing significant came up.  The other day, I had lunch with my good friend Shauna.  We concluded that time flies, year 2010 has disappeared as quickly as it arrived.  Cynthia and I had dinner with our good friend Tong Kiat two evenings ago for his birthday celebration at Dempsey Road.  We also concluded the same.  Now, when I did take time to look through what I have done, here are some of my favorite entries that you may or may not have read.  Some, I have even forgotten that they were written.  Back to the first practical reason of why I blog.  Time does fly.  But not without leaving behind some of the fondest memories.

In no particular order, there is a brief summary of my year 2010.

  1. My niece Bethany was born in January!  When I look at my little sister, who is so full of heavenly joy, it is hard to believe that she now has a little daughter.  My photo is seldom featured here.  The one taken on Bethany’s 100th day birthday still melts my heart whenever I look at it.
  2. I do many silly things in life.  Regardless, these would have been my talking points if we are to meet face-to-face.  Like that toilet bowl incident.  Like that little operation I had on my toe and my buddy still thinks that it was not a piece of hair.  I should have kept the specimen, as what my doctor has suggested.  And like that hard sales incident that till today, whenever I am inside Thomson Plaza, I try to avoid that counter.  Cynthia would say: Don’t worry, you are with me and no one will touch you! Yep.  I feel so much protected with Cynthia around.
  3. If I have to pick one post I enjoy writing the most this year, besides that sea turtle post, that would be the koala post.  Or the one on Indonesian forest fire.  The style is similar.  It takes effort and tons of luck to chain up the stories.  What if I fail to chain them up?
  4. Well, the materials would turn into the “Snippet of My Life” series, which has been running for more than three years.  Snippet without a doubt holds a special place in my heart.  Of all that I have written this year, episode 27 is my favorite.
  5. Our band has performed live gigs in Bali Culture, which unfortunately the land that the restaurant sat on has been repossessed by our government.  Our band has not been doing much lately, due to a missing drummer, and subsequently, lost in momentum and motivation.  Sometimes in life, there are something that I wish.  And there are something that are out of reach.
  6. Writing travel journals takes so much time and sustained concentration.  However, I am glad that I do.  My favorite albums would be Gorges du Verdon in France and Lamma Island in Hong Kong.
  7. Counting how much time and money I have spent on learning Spanish is, scary.  From time to time, I use what I have learned from my Spanish class as an inspiration for my posts.  When I was 18 is one good example.
  8. What else?  Of course, for many years to come, Cynthia and I would still be laughing about how we spent our 10th wedding anniversary.

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Yesterday I was on leave.  Ever since I have been relocated to the east, hardly do I have the opportunity to meet my sister for business lunch.  Because she works at the west.  So I was thinking: Why not gang up with Bethany – my niece – (together with Benny of course) and  have a Surprise!! lunch with my sister?  The logistic turned out to be more tedious than I thought.  So instead of a Surprise!!, we have a “surprise”.  Lora was fully aware of our visit.  Still, it was a fun day.

Below is a photo taken with my niece Bethany possibly mouthing and gesturing “I am number one” or “My mama is the best” or “My papa is the coolest” or “Hey, pass me that camera of yours, would you?”  In the middle is my sister Lora, and by her sides, Benny and Bethany.  Now that I look closer at the photo, I am very much convinced that Bethany was mouthing MERRY CHRISTMAS!

21 thoughts on “Merry Christmas, And A Brief Summary Of 2010

  1. J

    Merry X’mas to you too! Phew! This summary is pretty complete and not that as brief as I have imagined. :P….but I have to say it is a great way to recount all the great moments and experience for this year and I wish you fully recharged as you enter year 2011. May the new year brings you more successes, peace and happiness.

  2. J

    ……and oh congratulations on winning the HP contest. You should really consider writing as your career, be it the first or the second but I have to apologize for not being a fan if you are writing literature. 😛

    1. wilfrid Post author

      J – I doubt I will be writing “literature” per se. More like what I am doing today … he he he.

      Hey, did you know that I write for a living? Not the sorts you see here of course.

        1. wilfrid Post author

          J – Oh, those reviews I write here are more for hobbies. They don’t make a living.

          At work, I write documents. Business type of documents. Pages and pages of documents that quite a few people read.

  3. tansiying

    Merry Christmas to you Wilfrid and Cynthia! I saw your message regarding my xmas cards blog. Yap I think! I was once asked how long I had been doing xmas cards and it must have been 9 years since I first did one? Hope you guys have a great time feasting and enjoy the festive season! 🙂

    1. wilfrid Post author

      Si Ying – Thanks! I remember seeing you post your Christmas cards entries some time back. It never fails to amaze me that you make your cards. I cannot remember when was the last time I sent one. Maybe next time I see you 2011 Christmas cards blog, I will try to do something about it. Hehehe.

        1. wilfrid Post author

          Si Ying – That is one jolly good idea! Maybe I shall find a way to mass produce them! I shall start to create a series of Christmas card perhaps earlier … hehehe. Cheers.

  4. JoV

    Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and your family.
    Congrats in winning the HP entry, you deserve very bit of it.

    I still maintain naught boys got hard hairs, that’s why you got pricked by your own. ha ha 😀

      1. wilfrid Post author

        JoV – Hahaha. OK. It took me like 3 reads to see what the difference is. I think that’s what people say too! Especially Chinese. But I think I am very docile. It must have been all the years of domestication by the female species.

  5. Sis Lora

    Thanks for the ‘surprise’! hahaha… 🙂 And I love the photos very very much! 😀

    I totally agree that the 2010 really flies! I can’t really feel it has been one year… 😛

    Hey, congratulations for winning the HP contest! I always say that you can have a writing career. hehe.. 😛

    Have a blessed Christmas and joyful New Year! 🙂 Love you.

    1. wilfrid Post author

      Lora – Well, perhaps next time Benny, my partner-in-crime, and I should plan a little bit ahead for another round of SURPRISE!

      We should get your secretary’s number. Really. Hehehe. And we shall organize an event as dubious as “Meet the Bankers”.

      OK OK … happy 2011! Love you too!

  6. Raina J. Gang

    Congrats on winning the contest! I look forward to more stories about the sea turtles for i love them too 🙂
    And wish you and Cynthia a very merry christmas, best and warmest regards to her family. Wish I can catch up with you both while you’re in Indonesia.

    1. wilfrid Post author

      Raina – Hi there, humor of the sea turtle post aside, Cynthia did mention that perhaps 2011 or so, we shall visit the South America, since we are learning Spanish. It would be good to be up close and personal with the sea turtles!

      Oh, happy 2011 to you! Well, next time we can try to arrange something in Bandung. This trip was more like “meeting-the-relatives” trip. And lots of quality time between Cynthia and mom.

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