Wednesday, December 08, 2010

WHERE OLD THINGS END AND NEW THINGS BEGIN

While replying to an e-mail thread to the last few *surviving old friends I have this evening, I came up with the conclusion that December doesn't really exist in the working world. In fact, it's the month which we use to prepare for the next year - drafting KPIs and whatnots and in some cases, to complete stuff that ends the year - accounts, for instance.

Towards the end of last month, I before the "December does not exist" epiphany hit me, I was forced to admit that I might need a list to get some stuff done before the year ends. I do it at work, so I didn't see why I couldn't use a list to get personal things done as well. That particular night, I wanted to call it my **year end resolutions and post it up on Facebook, for two very clear reasons - it's the end of the year as we know it, and if  I don't do the items I listed, I can kick myself as we usher in the new year, but then I procrastinated (nothing new there), and the next thing I know, I have two pending tags there, one of which I had cleverly put up here instead of there. In my defence, I need to edit the format, hence the delay!

Anyway, (drum rolls, please) here is the list in no particular order

1. Watch a movie in 3D 
Surprise, surprise... I have never watched a movie in 3D before. So yeah, any movie will do. 

2. Read up AND comprehend the Constitution of Malaysia
Well, I'm honestly fed up of the argument regarding article 153 among the race-centric people of the country, so despite the intimidating legal language style, I attempted reading the introduction pages of the version from 1964 - wish me luck!

Edit (10/12): So apparently the book which I'm reading, although misleadingly titled "The Constitution of Malaysia" is apparently only an attempt to explain the constitution to laypeople, and does not list out all the articles in it's true form. Bangs head on desk.

3. Watch Harry Potter
Done. Yay. To top it off, I spent the past two days reading the seventh book again. The chapter titled 19 Years Later is still somewhat cringe-worthy.

4. Complete organising my music alphabetically.
I began this insane task earlier this year and have most of it compiled neatly by artist, alphabetically. Well, it was better than naming the folders "Music", "Music 1", "New Music", and "Neww Music", right?  There are about two or three new folders that need sorting, but the last bit seems to be the hardest!

5.Rescue mission of Bali holiday pictures from penti3
Bali was my first ever holiday, and at that time I was still using the old pentium 3 (lovingly known as penti3) which runs on the most unstable Windows Millenium, and for some strange reason, I never bothered to copy the photos into a CD or a thumbdrive for leisurely viewing in later years.

6. Complete write up on North Sumatera trip, and the 2nd and 3rd day of Taiping (from July)

So, that's it... a reasonable list that has items within my reach - we'll see how it goes :)

* Well, they are still alive by the looks of it, but lack of communication makes it seem as though they have dropped off the face of the planet into strange islands that have names like Motherhood, The Wife, or Missing In Action.

** Not to be mistaken with the far more popular New Year Resolutions or even UN Resolutions

12 comments:

  1. Very determined of you, I'm impressed. Can't say I'm similarly determined, all my energies right now are going into surviving the unexpected sub-zero temperatures. But I've successfully purged a lot of books from my overflowing book shelves so I suppose that's something.

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  2. All my music is in alphabetical order, my books are in dewey decimal. Me, anal?

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  3. nick: Ha ha... we'll see how it turns out...

    nurse: I suppose there's no need for you to ever say that you'll 'have to look for the book' if someone wants to borrow it. I just rearranged my book cupboard, but it's according to size. I'm so in trouble!

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  4. 'Read up AND comprehend the Constitution of Malaysia' ... seriously? You're going to read that crap? Gee, I salute you ... LOL! Let me know how it went :D

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  5. Yup, I'm planning on reading 'that crap'

    I'll do a post on the progress for all the year end resolutions somewhere in January... :)

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  6. Great blogpost, thoughtful and funny! First, I loved the Calvin & Hobbes cartoon. My friend Tom, who went to the same college as Bill Watterson, sent me this link recently. If you're a C&H fan, it's worth reading. http://www.serverunderground.com/archive/bill_watterson.html

    As for procrastination, it is the enemy, KILL IT WITH FIRE! Think how much nicer life was if we could take our mental finger off the 'procrastinate' button. Bah.

    As for your resolutions, allow me to offer the following advice.
    1. 3D is over-rated. It does not make a dull film more interesting. I would recommend Coraline as an example of a good film that is enhanced by 3D. (I actually ducked in the cinema when the sewing-needle-sharp forefinger of the Other Mother came poking out of the screen, and the Mouse Circus HAS to be seen in 3D).
    2. Good on you. It's important to know our rights and responsibilties.
    3. ironically I liked the new HP film much more than the book it was based on!
    4. I did that recently. So satisfying. And then got a computer virus.
    5, 6 -great to get these things done too, I'm sure!

    Almost time to say goodbye to 2010. Hard to believe!

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  7. Thanks Hoozle... I used to follow the comic strip in the mid 90's. And thank you as well for the link... Just finished reading it, and couldn't agree more on so many things!

    As for the 3D movie.. I think I'd have loved Coraline (my sister says it never came to our shores) My options now are either Tangled or the Narnia movie...

    And yes... 2010 is like a ride on a Shinkansen. It just sped by.

    PS: Enjoyed reading your feedback on my resolutions... well, except for the part where your computer got attacked by the virus of course...

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  8. Now that's a pretty sane list of resolutions.

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  9. He he... no point in making an impossible to do list, right?

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  10. I watched 2 3D movies which were Rapunzel and Narnia. Narnia 3D effect sucks because I was hardly see the effect. Not only me, but my friends too. It was waste of money since 3D movies are not cheap.

    Rapunzel was good. I could see the effect especially when the butterfly flew and made me feel like it flew just beside my ear. When the lantern was flying to the sky, I could see the effect clearly too :)

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  11. Faisal, I enjoyed Rapunzel... and you're right... some of the effects made me want to just grab them!

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  12. must see harry potter before it leaves cinema!

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