2011 in short

Last day of 2011. The year ends in another 1 hour 45 minutes. It’s the end of a good run in darlie, and I’m really blessed to have had the good fortune of starting out there. The new place takes over on Tuesday and I guess it is normal to feel anxious about the unknown. However change is the only constant in life and it’s good to be forced to move around so that you never get too comfortable with your situation.

The world has changed so much, and the way we use technology is different from just a few years ago. So what gets to stick around? Very little and there’s only your memory to go by. Even then collective memories disappear after a while.

Here’s to a safe, healthy and kind new year. Never the one to make resolutions, I’m just happy to make it through to the next year.

Change is afoot

Having been away from this for so long, it feels odd to want to keep this going. Just back from a fantastic holiday in Perth, feeling energised. It was amazing to have been able to see Jupiter and some of her moons through a telescope (my first time seeing anything through a telescope). It was nice spending time with the kids and the acute sense of loss after arriving back home is palpable. I am still withholding my feelings about the impending change in 1 months’ time, now that I know what’s next.

I don’t know what to expect, just like every other time when change is afoot. Perhaps it’s best not to dwell on such matters, nor over-worry that things will be disastrous, because I think things always turn out ok.

It’s been a great run in Darlie and I think I’m going to miss everyone.

It’s been good

I have stopped posting for too long. Maybe I’ve been caught up with work and can’t muster enough energy to type anything, or maybe it’s just that I’ve nearly stopped using my trusty laptop which is far too ancient.

Maybe I should download the wordpress app to facilitate entry-typing on the iPad.

What has transpired over the past 6 months of absence? There was a nice holiday in Europe in June. There was the blitz of interviews in May/June, which I will know of the outcome in October. There is the never-ending work, which I am still enjoying (most of the time), except for foul Mondays. I think my temper is rather short on Mondays and I’m sorry some people have to bear the brunt of it.

So bopefully i will be a little more active on this space. After all, it’s been good to me for so long.

Clueless

Hardly any posts because I haven’t have had much to say. There is some strangeness at work, but I’m trying to push it out of sight because there’s just too many things to look into. Sometimes I wonder if everything that is happening, is worth the effort or is it just a futile exercise that benefits no one.

I really am not sure of what’s going to happen next. Am I that clueless or am I rudderless? One of these days I’m going to have to find out.

Nesting

The long 4 day weekend is coming to an end. It was extremely productive, having cleared a huge pile of backlogged work. I’m pretty sure there isn’t such a word as backlogged. I’m beginning to understand why it’s difficult to sustain this level of energy without having any breaks in between to mix things up a little.

It takes me a while to feel comfortable enough to build a nest and roost, and when the nest is nearing completion, the bulldozer comes along and razes it to the ground. I haven’t heard the bulldozer, but it’s there in the distance. Would the next nesting spot be warm and inviting? Then again, where would the next spot be? Out where the vultures lie in waiting?

I always say that I would read my previous entries but I never get down to doing it, partially because I lack the drive to get down to it and also because I don’t see a point.

If so, the only reason for keeping this going is a sense of nostalgia, for the years that have passed by, for a time when things were different. It’s startling when you count with your fingers and realise that you have ran out of digits.

Odd Feelings

A little scary to see how quickly time flies. I’m trepidated all of a sudden, and I can’t explain why. Am I enjoying myself at work? I can’t bring myself to give a resounding yes as an answer. Somehow something doesn’t feel right. Is this what life has to offer?

Virgin post using ipad

2.5 hours to go before the start of a new year. Somehow the work engine has started to crank up in speed all of a sudden over the past 3 days. Feeling a little overwhelmed by the amount of planning because I have procrastinated for far too long. This is not a good occupation for procrastinators. You end up with too much piled up.

As a first, this is my first entry typed on my iPad. This blog has come a very long way and I’m hopeful it will continue to exist.

Any wishes for 2011? I don’t usually make wishes so I’m going to leave it as that. Yes, the early entry just means I’m not going to wait up till the clock strikes 12. Too old for that.

I have an outstanding Entry about my december holidays which I suppose I must write it over the weekend. Else it will never be written. So here’s to another good year ahead. 2010 hasn’t been too shabby. And I thank the people around me for it.

The Grand Holiday – Part 2

I continue with the American leg of the trip. Getting into New York City from JFK was a breeze. The temps weren’t too bad, and we were early for our coach ride to Boston. That’s when it got a little silly and we were traipsing around midtown Manhattan with our oversized bags looking for a cafe to while away the time. Eventually we settled on Borders.

BoltBus was a good choice, given the comfy seats and free wifi connection. It meant that the 4 hour journey wasn’t going to be that awful, bearing in mind we just got off a 13 hour flight from Asia. Met up with the gang in Boston and we had dinner at a Jewish restaurant. They had this very delicious appetiser platter, unfortunately I have forgotten what the 4 different types of appetisers were, that made up the platter. Scrumptious! So were the bread.

I think the weight gain on the holiday is pretty considerable, given that a number of people have commented on it. But I’m not going to worry too much about it, for the food was so good.

On 3 Dec, we explored Boston, visiting the MIT and Harvard campus. The Natural History museum at Harvard was pretty neat, with its glass flowers collection. Glass was used to create plant specimens as a tool to teach botany during the early 20th century when it would have been difficult to obtain fresh / pressed specimens. You have to see it to believe that glass can be used to create something so organic and lifelike.

4 Dec = shopping extravaganza. We went to the Wrentham Premium Outlets for a full day of shopping. Yes. Full day. From 10 to 7. Had lunch at a great Southern-style restaurant just off the Outlets, and returned for more shopping. The end result wasn’t too damaging on the wallet, because I wasn’t too crazy with the shopping. Haha….some restraint was exercised. Hot on the heels of Southern comfort food, we had Korean BBQ for dinner. Seriously good stuff when the people you see in the entire restaurant were East Asian.

5 Dec, we headed south to Newport, Rhode Island, which was the summer playground of the rich and famous at the turn of the last century. Visited the Vanderbilts mansion and learnt a little bit of American history. Quite enjoy this pace of a holiday, where we take in 1 or 2 sights a day. Lunch was at a New England sort of touristy pub, and dinner was at a Mexican place in Cambridge, MA.

6 Dec, we returned to NYC via Boltbus. Took the Staten Island Ferry on the 7th to zip past Statue of Liberty. Explored the Financial District and SoHo. Did more shopping… and ended up in Times Square. 8 Dec, walked around Central Park. Went to MoMA. Caught ‘The 39 Steps’, an off-Broadway play based on the Alfred Hitchcock movie of the same name.

9 Dec, zipped off to Toronto on a very small plane. It’s my first experience on a passenger jet that sits only 4 passengers in a row, with 12 rows in total. The flight was very empty, there were only about 10 of us on the flight and the stewardess was able to get all of our drink orders at one go, without having to push the trolley down the aisle. Felt like a private jet, even though it was just a 1 hour flight.

Next up, Toronto!

The Grand Holiday

It was a smashing holiday (27th Nov – 17th Dec) ! Had tons of interesting food and visited neat places. Let me try to do a recap of the highlights…

Flew into Tokyo first and then took the Shinkansen up to Nagano, which is in the heart of Honshu. The city itself wasn’t much but the Shinshu soba was yummy, and there were so many buckwheat-based products. The main attraction was the Zenkoji temple and we managed to catch a glimpse of the 753 festival. At the tourist information centre, I was thrilled that the guide working there commented that my Japanese was kirei (free from a foreign accent). Surely that motivates me to practise speaking more often.

On 29th Nov, we took the local train up to Yudanaka, where the ryokan awaits. We walked through the small town and had lunch in a very small soba-ya. I love the local townsfolk, they were very very friendly and gave us free Shinshu apples for dessert. I must say that those apples are extremely crunchy and sweet. It was amazing to see the apple trees, laden with huge apples along the railway tracks. I don’t think I have seen fruiting apple trees before, so it was a treat.

By the time we arrived at the ryokan, it was time to explore the 9 famous bathhouses of Shibu onsen. Thanks to the hostess of the ryokan who suggested that we should put on a coat over our yukata, since it was pretty chilly outside, we were called ‘kawaii’ by an elderly couple outside a bathhouse. Yes, they were dressed in yukata only.

Bathhouse after bathhouse, the water was scalding. We just couldn’t enter the water, until we returned to the ryokan and again the friendly hostess informed us that we should mix the spring water with tap water first. So we soldiered back to the first bathhouse and followed her instructions. Clearly, that was wise.

As we were acclimatising to the scalding water, a group of Japanese ladies entered the bathhouse next door. And all of a sudden, we heard shrieks of ‘Atsui!’ They found the water too hot too! Clearly, they have not heeded the instructions of the ryokan hostess. So, it was an amusing to hear a group of Japanese ladies shrieking through a paper-thin divider while we were soaking in the water. After a while, they gave up and left.

I’m not sure if you could term this as schadenfreude, but it was good fun! Dinner was heavenly! It was a luxurious meal, filled with horse sashimi (sounds scary, but it tastes good), rare mushrooms, braised anko (anglerfish), huge shrimps, pork shabu shabu etc. I’m quite sure a similar feast in Singapore would set you back by 2,3 hundred dollars. But it’s just such an experience eating and sleeping in a Japanese ryokan.

Breakfast was similarly delicious on a smaller scale. Then we left for the snow monkey park, which was where the Japanese macaques revelled in the hot springs themselves. I’m not sure if they were playing to the crowd, but it was interesting to see the little baby monkeys staying by the edge of the springs, never daring to enter. Too hot, I suppose.

By the time we returned to Tokyo, it was late in the afternoon. On 1st Dec, we ventured to Shinjuku gyoen, which is an Imperial garden. I’m running low on the really touristy places to visit in Tokyo. Lunch at the employees cafe in the Tokyo Metropolitan Building was a steal, for its prices were reasonable. At this point I feel that there is so much value in making repeated visits to a place, for you discover different dimensions to it and develop a better picture of the place.

Then we explore Shimokitazawa, a neighbourhood that is filled with 2nd-hand shops. That kind of sums up our Japan leg of the trip. We flew to New York on 2nd Dec.

Anachronism

I haven’t a clue what I’m going to write about. It’s an attempt at trying to keep a record of what’s been happening. I finished 1Q84 Volume 3. Perhaps Murakami is going to write a prequel or a sequel to the series, for there are many unanswered questions. But I think I’m happy reading Murakami in Chinese, given that its publication date is earlier than the English translated version.

Admittedly blogging is very 2000s. As we make it over to a new decade, there are numerous web 2.0 tools that we can exploit and utilise in our lives. Of course, it should be incorporated into the classrooms as well. Somehow we are trapped in an anachronistic classroom (I feel that way sometimes).

1 more week to the holidays to escape from the tedium.