bringing in the new year

So I know this post is kinda late, but by the time I got home and wrote up all those other posts, I was too tired to even shut down the laptop. I fell asleep with it on my lap until I woke up an hour later. So here's how I brought in the new year - with my family as per usual. It was kinda quiet: food, games and taking photos of random stuff.

But when midnight came around, everything changed. Myself and the cousins that were closer to my age were faced with a choice: to play with sparklers in the front yard, or to head to the lake to watch the fireworks. For some time, Gail, Daryll and I assumed that we were spending it in the yard because Giselle hadn't moved from indoors. However when she finally came outside, we made the last minute decision to head to the lake. We bolted there, hoping that we weren't going to miss them. We didn't miss them alright.

We arrived in the dark carpark (with me almost running into one of those barricade-y things), only to be met with the crackling of fireworks being lit and going off - just a couple of metres away. As it launched into the air, sparks freaking attacked us, so we had to retreat into the cover of the [sparse] forest [thicket of pine trees]. When we finally thought it was safe (and after thinking that we've stepped in doggie doo) we emerged from our haven, only to be attacked again! With all these things shooting at us, we thought we were in a warzone!

So after the explosions on our side of the lake ceased and the air was hazy from the smoke, we ventured out to photograph the other ones, further away from us. We headed back, and played with sparklers, and I had the bright idea of trying to write out 2010 in sparklers and taking a photo, but we were a bit shorthanded to ensure that they all remained lit for me to take one, so we settled for just '10. There were still several packs of sparklers left (my doing I'm afraid, I grabbed a handful off the shelf), which I palmed off to Gail to save for another date.

Hope all your New Year's celebrations went without a hitch and that you have recovered from the lack of sleep or hangover. Here's to 2010, a year in which more good things will happen.

almost 500 characters of new year's wishes; my new year sms

For anyone who happens to not be in my phonebook through accident, fault or me merely not having your number, here's the message for you, exactly how it was sent - grammatical errors, missing punctuation, super cheesiness, long winded and uber nostalgic.

as 2009 comes to a close and i look back on the year that was, i can remember the times i laughed, cried, ate till i couldn't eat anymore, got sunburned, was overjoyed, got cool technology, got obsessed over one thing or another or anything else i might have done. all i can say is thankyou for being there fore those memorable times. and now, i hope you will be part of my 2010. have a very happy new year, filled with even more good times =]

As you can tell, it makes very little sense now, but it made loads of sense when I was typing it out on my KU990. Afterall, the qwerty text interface only allows me to see two lines of text so I can't really read how it threads together. So I apologise for it not making sense or looking too long. Blame the phone XD. Last year I think my New Year's SMS got up to 5 pages?

Well, a very happy new year to everyone out there! To those that know me, thanks for making 2009 memorable and the best it could possibly be. To those that have just somehow stumbled on this, and those that I will meet - maybe you could be part of my 2010?

write them down & tear them up

As another year comes to a close, the time for the obligatory reflection of the year that was comes, and a chance for us to spare a thought for the year to come. This reflection helps us keep things in perspective I guess. It makes us have a good, hard look at ourselves and figure out where we've come from and how much we've grown and developed in the year. And it leads to us making decisions about improvements in our character, appearance, attitude and all that stuff. I guess that's where the concept of New Year's resolutions arises.

Now, I think I will share with you some of my resolutions and hopefully I will keep them. And if it seems that I'm not, you have my permission to tell me off (but be nice about it please!) =]

RELATIONSHIPS.

Be it with friends, family or my boyfriend - I want the relationships I have with people to remain genuine and good. I want to keep up with everyone and be involved in their lives. Sure, people say that friends may come and go, but there are a few select individuals that I know I will be with for life - you all know who you are. So as 2010 rolls around, my aim is to continue to have positive, caring and encouraging relationships with these people, and maybe add more people to my circle of trust. We will all make an effort to catch up and enjoy each other's company even if we are all divided by our different paths and learning institutions.

FINANCE.

Work provides me with income that I don't have to ask the parentals for money. However, with that comes the responsibility of handling that money. I tend to be a rather impulsive spender, and this year I hope to make more informed and useful purchases in the hope of actually having some money saved up.

EDUCATION.

Everyone knows that I'm not the most dedicated person to studies, nor am I the most organised - or do I even seem to care too much about my grades. This year, the goal is to pay more attention in lectures, tutorials and the like - and aim for a borderline credit/distinction average. It's not much more than my current average I guess, so maybe with a little bit more effort I can achieve this goal. So that's starting things a bit earlier, researching more instead of bullshitting everything and turning in something that is at least 75% of my best effort.

FITNESS.

Over the past few years I have gained a lot of weight - I swear, it just crept up on me. My goal is to be Ashley Greene, who is about my height and is about 53kg. She is my idol. I will be like her, I will! It may just take some time, even a few years, but I will!

DRIVING.

So, I've had my L's for God knows how long, and they expire June 30 this year. The aim is to be on my P's before this date. Wish me luck everyone =] Now to take the first step and call the instructor - whose number I have had by the way since like, August.

COMPLETING THINGS.

To date, I have never completed anything: be it an essay, story, fanfic, project - nothing at all. By the end of 2010, I want to have completed something that I've started, just for that sense of satisfaction, joy and pride. I guess that's why one of last year's resolutions was to start a blog - because it's something to maintain, or keep going. It's me trying to finish something: week by week, post by post.

And that's about it =] Hold me to these guys. Hope all you stick to all your resolutions as well. This is probably the point where we write them down, and tear them up in the hopes that we will keep the things we want to change in the year that's closing and continue to better ourselves in the year to come.