I can’t wait to greet the new year that will bring a fresh start. 2008 is a memorable year with its numerous peaks and troughs but I’m happy to get on with life! For my New Year’s celebration, we’re going to have a gathering at one of our church members’ house in Flagstaff Hill, about 19kms south of the city. We’ll have it from 7pm to roughly around 10pm, and afterwards we will pick a nice spot to gather and watch the fireworks, either around Glenelg or in the city. Knowing how crowded those places will be, I doubt it if we end up going to any of the hot spots.
To me, New Year’s Eve is a private time – a time to reflect on the past year’s successes and failures, and to remember the lessons learned along the way. I prefer to be on my own on New Year’s Eve if I can. So far, the day has been another leisure one for me – I got up too late to water the plants again, bummer. I will have to do it on Sunday morning, knowing that I won’t have time to do it this evening. I had a ‘healthy’ breakfast – four slices of pizza that I reheated in the oven. Two nights ago, Patrick, one of the guys from church who works at a pizza shop, came by with a stack of five pizza boxes. So I’ve been eating pizza for lunch and dinner for the past two days. I know not to overdo it again as I don’t want to regain the weight that I have lost! 😀
At the moment I’m listening to an old Gloria Estefan’s CD, Abriendo Puertas (Opening Doors) – quite an appropriate CD to greet the new year, don’t you think? Haha. One track in the album is called Tres Deseos (Three Wishes) – a song that I remember quite fondly. Many years ago when I still worked in Citibank Jakarta, I used to go out with my friends from the Bank to a salsa club that is funnily enough, called Salsa. Haha. Tres Deseos used to be played there all the time – I was introduced to the joy of salsa (even though I have never learned to do it properly) by Cindy, a dear friend of mine who used to drag me into the dance floor and lead the dancing. Hahaha. After she left Indonesia, I carried the torch and brought my friends over to Salsa when they felt like having a good night dancing. She’s now settled down in Connecticut, USA. I haven’t salsa-ed for ages and no doubt my salsa-ing is probably very rusty. I used to love dancing when I was younger! Maybe when the time is right, I can let my hair down even further and salsa the night away again. Hahaha.
Well that’s it, my last entry for 2008, a year where I lost my job, my brother, but gained valuable lessons in resiliency, resting, vulnerability, friendship, and faith in God. How can I not be grateful? 🙂