Happy New Year...again!

Well hello hello! Happy New Year again! It's Chinese New Year! One of my favorite times of the year because it me to stop and relax! Why? Because pretty much everything's closed and everyone's in the festive mood! OK I'll admit, this year Chinese New Year seems extra good because it's so close to 1 Jan that it feels like 1 Jan was the soft-launch of the new year while today (23 Jan 2012) feels like the actual launch of the new year!

Well it's the year of the dragon and as the fiery and powerful animal depicts, I'm expecting a year of intensity and productivity! I just hope I don't in the process. So far the new year has been good with a lot accomplished and my pretty much in place. After having around 3 weeks (ahh 21 days, oh how perfect) to test-run everything, I've found out what works and what doesn't. Sadly, it turns out I was too ambitious on 1 Jan 2012. A few of the things I wanted to keep up doing this year have faded out and I've had to come to terms and accept failure there. On a brighter note, my workstation is absolutely fantastic now! I can raise and lower it making it a seated or a standing desk quite conveniently. Oh not to mention my brand spanking new computer I had to build just a week and a half ago! This baby is faaasssstttt! A dragon might I say :)

I finally got all my gadgets in order, my Macbook is back after repair and now has a new hard disk and track pad, my computer is squeaky clean and super fast, my mobile phone is all ready to rock and well my iPad is....still stuffed with things I want to read :P Man I have so many things I want to read this year, it's insane!

In the last 10 days, I found myself as a guest speaker at Chinese University and it was really good because I got to answer students' questions at the end of my sharing session and one of them asked me "so what do you think is the purpose of living? Just to be happy?". The short answer (and text book answer), obviously is . But I'm one firm believer of . It's easy to say that, but is it really possible? I think is far too intangible an item for us to know when we have it. I mean, we are happy, but is this the happiness we are looking for? Have we found the ultimate happiness? It made me think about a lot of things and brings me back to my belief that it's the journey that matters, not the result. I suppose it's the life you live, not the gravestone you have that matters.

I've also realized that the more I think about life, the more I realize as much as I am a kind of guy, I enjoy the process of doing. Like working out, sure it'd be great if I could have a 6-pack now, but if someone offered me a magic pill to have a 6-pack, I wouldn't be proud of it. I need to to make it mine. I suppose it's the ownership of the item as well as knowing that I'm the creator that makes it worthwhile. And that brings me back to my enjoyment in getting things done, to be able to look back and see that I did so much and managed to enjoy it along the way (ok, generally enjoy, there are loads of times the process sucks but I know it's good for me).

I also suggested that the students have a habit of writing journals and noting down their days because it's great to re-read what you were thinking and where you were even just 10 days ago. One of the students asked, doesn't this make you stick to the past and linger there? Like if you kept trying to do something and kept failing, re-reading about those failures only re-enforces the feeling? Oddly, I never thought of that. It's true, but I suppose I prefer to write about what I did do, not what I failed to do, mostly because I do get a lot done each day so the things I did are enough to satisfy my daily journal entries. But it does tell you something about your personality and how you're maturing. When I read my old entries, I can see my struggles, my empty holes I'm trying to fill as I see them in the wall, but now it's more about painting the wall. Sure I'll come across a crack here and there, but I'm not surprised by it, I'm half-expecting it and I'm ready to deal with those cracks and new-found-holes. I suppose that's a sign of maturing?

Well whatever it is, the key is to not just grow, but to soar. Like a dragon through the sky and realize those dreams and fantasies. After all, dragons aren't real right? But their vibe sure is.