Some reflections

November 2006 is ending, soon it will be December and then another new year will be here. Time seem to fly so fast when I think about what happened over the past year. Last year at this time, I was struggling with the rainstorms of Chennai. I would post weekly updates on things that happen in India . I am glad that I have done so too. Since I don't have a personal diary or logbook, this is my only account of events that happened previously. Reading them brought back plenty of memories which are quite interesting and that shaped my change.

2006 has been quite an eventful year. Before I wait until December 31st to make a check on whether I have achieved my goals or not, I will do a quick reflection and plan for 2007. Some time ago, it was quite funny when I think about my current situation. As in few weeks ago, I suddenly woke up to a realisation that I'm no longer a student. I realised that I no longer enjoy December holidays nor do I have long semester breaks. My "work calendar " starts in April and end in March (based on financial year and when I am given more paid-leaves =P. But not long ago, I am still looking at life as if I'm still following the NUS academic calendar. I am sad that I no longer have long holidays.

Previously I wrote down 3 "simple" new year resolutions. Of the 3 changes I set, only 1 - Exercise regularly is being followed till end of year. Eat healthily? Well, I tried but failed. Not easy when too busy with work and food from hawker center is so unhealthy. Once in awhile I would do my own cooking - steam everything =P but that was before I moved into this new project. I only did cooking between July to early September. After that, got too busy and too lazy to cook. Continue learning? If it was on a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 is least achieved to 10 as satisfactory, I would say I have only done a 3 or 4. I haven't been reading as much as I would have back in India. But learning other skills, maybe..... which brings me to Salsa again. Hahaha...

For the past few blog posts, I have been talking about Salsa. But it's because there's so much to say about it as I'm currently very into it. It is quite funny that my friend has been asking me to take up salsa since June or July but I hesistate. In August or September, another friend has shown keen interest and asked me to go take up lessons together with him as well. I hesistate another few months until finally agreeing that I need a kick-in-the-butt and be dragged to lessons. I told him to just force me along and ignore all my reasons for not wanting to join. I am glad that I made that resolve. Although a few days before lessons begin, I was again feeling against joining. However, I went anyway and now my feet can't stop moving.... kinda. Hahaha... Lessons are fun. Going to salsa club is even more fun but takes lots of courage to dance with girls who are better than me. I'm not implying that I have the courage because so far, all the dances in the clubs that I had were with friends who asked their friends to volunteer to be my training partner. It is super embarassing on the first few occassions that I keep making mistakes. But as I progressed further, I can feel extra padding on my face making it feel thicker especially after Friday's session. Hopefully I can gather more courage to just dance with any girls in the club. Don't care what they think, ignore their plea for rollercoaster-turns, ignore their pleas to lock arms and focus on basics. They'll have no choice but to follow.... and I might lose another dance partner but what the heck, I need to practise to reach their level. =P

(p.s. hey ppl, I recommend joining salsa too!)

I'm back!

I bought myself a new pc last Saturday. This time a desktop. Hopefully the burglar won't think of coming back for this. (Touch wood. *cha-go-ba-hao*chapzhu*). Anyway, it feels quite different to be having a desktop again after being so used to having a laptop around. I can't bring my pc anywhere I like anymore. Oh well, I've traded off convenience and portability for power and performance. =P

After I set up my desktop, it blocked my usual walking path in the bedroom. Because of this, I accidentally kicked the bed support twice on the same foot! The toe was still fine after the first kick.. the 2nd kick, just made it turn red and immediately swollen. It was darn painful. A little unbearable too. I think the bone might've cracked. Abuthen ha.... despite of the injured toe, I don't know whether I'm crazy or just so enthu, I went for my Salsa lessons yesterday.

Initially, I thought that it would be fine for the toe since I'm wearing a shoe, everything is covered. However, my leather shoe was not comfortable at all. Exepcting it, I brought sandals to change just in case. I tried to walk out abit but I could not walk far without feeling pain. I limped from my HDB unit to the next then gave up. I changed to sandals and travelled to the studio. I changed back into my shoe and ... danced. This proves that dancing with pretty girls can take the pain away. LOL ... but after that I can feel my toe hurting again. I couldn't walk far so I changed to my sandals after limping all the way to the bus-stop. My sandals never felt more comfortable.

Hmmm.. speaking of salsa - After this 3rd lesson, I realise that my basic turns from lesson 2 suddenly become so rusty or my partner's turning is rusty. I can't feel that smooth palm turning but more of her grabbing my hands then I get stuck or I grab her hands, she gets stuck. Not only that, when the instructor lets us to "free-style" at the end of the lesson, I have to spend more than 10s thinking of my next move. Execute 1 then think another 10sec for the next move. The girl I was practising with "free-style" yesterday quite bu-shuang me. 90% of the time we were just basic-stepping. She voiced her dissatisfaction at my "fan-shu-ness" (potato-ness). Oh well.....

Another update after soooo long

Well, this time I have an excuse. It's not easy to write blog posts without a computer and internet connection. Although previously I said I wanted to post about changes in my work and lifestyles, after more than 2-3weeks, I can't seem to "pen"/type out what I had in mind back then. I suppose I should've kept a diary or something so I could recollect my thoughts and reflect on those issues later. Hmmmm....

Updates from me - The IT guy without a computer is like fish without water? Well, I did have initial withdrawal syndromes. It's like restless nights, nausea, occassional vomitting and not forgetting uncontrollable spasms...... Kidding! Of course, by now most of you should already know to read my posts with a pinch of salt. Just in case, I'll clarify that I did not experience those symptoms :). Let's maintain the status quo (whatever that means. I think I abused the term.... will check out dictionary later. Been hearing the term 'status quo' very often these days from the news, at work, tv shows...). Anyway, not having a computer ain't that bad. All that happened is that I no longer can spend my nights defending the Frozen Throne or the Tree of Life owning my opponents while they sleep. I don't get to chat online very often and I've been deprived of all my animes in this "Golden Anime Season". But then again, I've not been disconnected that much. I'm still able to access news from the office and read my emails.

Life really isn't that bad without a computer. Over the past 2 weeks, so much has happened. I've started my Salsa lessons. In fact, I have just finished my 2nd beginner class today. It is a lot of fun to lead my partner front, back, side and then turn her, then turn some more, if not enough, turn her again till she can't take it =P. Everyone in the class is enjoying themselves as we all laugh at our mistakes as we learn. I'm sure it will be even more fun as the lessons progressed because I'll learn more variations. Before I think too far, I need to work on my basics and following the rhythm. Quick-quick....slow. Quick-quick....slow. Quick-quick....slow.