Friday, February 10, 2017
The year so far had been quite on a celebratory note. Besides ushering in 2017, we celebrated the parents' 30 years of marriage over a very satisfactory lunch at Joie, a restaurant in town that serves great meat-less cuisines with an impeccable service. They accommodated our request for a private room on a weekend afternoon, and showed patience in explaining the dishes. The staff also prepared a little cake for the occasion. 30 years is really something that doesn't come by so easily, and for us the children, we're really happy to be a part of this wonderful journey throughout.
WL and I also had a little staycation at Quincy over one of the weekends in January. Though it was for no celebratory occasion, it was pretty fun-filled. I personally liked how the Weekend package included a number of items, including a Chocolate Truffle making session, a bottle of Red Wine, free cocktails and pastries, a movie screening etc. It essentially filled up the staycation easily!
Spring Cleanings came after the staycation weekend, and I did enjoy clearing off unwanted stuff from my room. But there was also something different this year -- I joined some of the other TMBS friends to take part in another half-day voluntary work elsewhere, where we helped to clean rental flat units with 5-6 people in a team. I hadn't done something like this before and I initially had my reservations, which eventually disappeared. We did help to clean up and tidy up the rental unit, making it one of the more meaningful events I've done in recent times.
Chinese New Year came and it was definitely worth celebrating. There were reunion meals with my family and WL's family, and a couple of other gatherings with friends and colleagues. Everyone says that as they grow older, CNY would gradually seem less celebratory. I do feel it somewhat, but call me traditional-or-what, to me CNY will always be my favourite festive season in the year. Perhaps I really enjoy reunions and seeing everyone's well and good.
On CNY Day 2, I was the emcee for TMBS 新春团拜. It was a pretty 'easy' emceeing task as it was just mere reading of the standard script, but it was still nice to hear some positive feedback from some attendees.
For most of the CNY (Day 6 to 14), I returned to my ICT unit for training. A number of friends and colleagues would exclaim at the timing in a sympathetic tone, but to be honest, it wasn't that bad lah. Having ICT after the main CNY period (those first 3 days), also meant that my absence from work is a little longer than others and so have a slightly longer celebratory period. The thing I find interesting about ICTs, is really how the team-mates could bond over the ICT week, then remained transient with almost no contact for 2 years, before coming back again in strong camaraderie. And seeing each other once every 2 years, it was also interesting to see how each of us had (or hadn't) aged. It had been quite an enjoyable week for me.
人生是黑白的.
5:12 PM <3
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