Start of a new year

New Year’s Eve: I went to work for half a day but ended up staying till 2+pm as there were still a lot of things to do. I went home to freshen up, then headed down to Suntec City to deliver my clicking external hard drive to Datasavers. I didn’t want to procrastinate anymore on things – that’s one of my resolutions for 2008.
Since I was in the area, I decided to walk through Citilink to Funan Digitalife Mall and exercise my options as a new member of computer superstore Challenger. I decided to be naughty and bought computer games: Command and Conquer – the First Decade, because it brought back good memories; SimCity, because I like strategy games and want to start running/managing things in 2008; and Football Manager, because I love football and am probably a closet Jose Mourinho / Arsene Wenger / Alex Ferguson.
I also spotted the HP Touchsmart PC, a lovely modern-looking computer cum TV system with a 19″ touch screen. Yup, you heard that right. I was ogling it for a while and despite the S$2999 price tag I was seriously contemplating getting it for my room so I could do stuff and watch shows on it.
We had a huge family dinner (huge in terms of number of family members attending, as well as the amount of food served!). I sent one of my cousins back to the office as she still had work to do, poor gal. I drove my sis and two other cousins around the Esplanade area and we saw crowds gathering to watch fireworks.
At home, we had numerous blackouts due to a power trip. Turned out it was the air-conditioning – so we would spend our New Year’s Eve night sweating away! Nevertheless, I started playing Command and Conquer. To my horror I realised I was still highly addicted to it, even though I was a bit rusty at first. I was so immersed in it that I didn’t realise 2008 had arrived until several minutes later. What a way to begin the new year! Anyway we all wished each other at home and I replied to some SMSes from friends.
New Year’s Day: I was much more productive. I woke up late as I slept at 3+am playing aforementioned computer game. I swore to myself that I did not need to be addicted again. I helped mum prepare lunch and dinner. We went shopping for clams at Tekka Market to go into our seafood soup which we were cooking for dinner with our grandparents. After that, Mum helped me re-arrange the work space in my room. Now there’s more space and it looks neater. I am so pleased. However we realised we needed some new stuff for the home, so we went to Ikea. I bought myself a new swivel chair for my re-arranged desk.
Mum bought baguettes to go with the soup, but we were concerned about carb overload. I remembered how I once learnt how to make finely-sliced bread by putting it in the freezer first. It worked – we had fine slices of baguettes smeared with butter or olive oil and herbs and spices like thyme, nutmeg and pepper. It was a great meal.
The whole family is now watching the next Arsenal match… so this is Van, signing off for New Year’s Day!