Thankful 2012 - The New, the Change and the Good

I've been invited to post on my wife's blog! She asked me (and at least 23 other people) what I feel most thankful for this year.

It’s not really hard to know what to be grateful for when it’s a year in which you’ve had a new baby, and a healthy one at that. Everything else pales in comparison. Still, many other things have happened. Good ones. Staying on the family side, there’s Poppy’s fantastic acclimatisation to her new school, to the point that her teacher made her the piece de resistance at their year-end concert, by having her do a solo dance (the only one in the whole school, actually, who had a solo). As a parent, one can’t help but feel proud. And Poppy also loves her little sister, and I’m pretty sure the feeling's mutual. Never does she show any sign of jealousy, and it’s pretty obvious she understands that when we take care of Calla first, it’s because it’s a must, not because it’s a choice. They seem to have started fighting together, though. Yep, already.

It's mine! Mine! My precious!

Then of course there was the visit from my mum and my bro’s girlfriend (practically his wife, let’s say it – he himself couldn’t come, unfortunately), who came to see the baby. Having them come over instead of us going sure saved us a bundle! Har har har. Final thing about my family: my wife. She did so much this year, for the girls, for her career (her blog sure is flourishing), and for all of us. I’m sure most men say the same about their wives, but woo! What would we be without them!

On a more personal level, I have had the pleasure to work for 6 different employers during the year. Six. Six. It may seem like I repeated myself here, but one six is in English and the other is in French. If you don’t know French, we pronounce it like “cease” in “cease fire”. Some of these six jobs were concurrent, while others were but a few days apart. Needless to say that for a guy who likes change as much as I do, it’s quite enjoyable. I didn't get fired from any of these places, it's not like that.

Another similar streak is with my phones. After 3 years on the Bold, I went through 4 different operating systems this year. To me it’s a fun thing. Blackberry, Meego, iOS and Android (and back to Meego to finish the year). Don’t alert Mother Earth, I’m not a consumeristic maniac, I only bought one of them, and the others were either borrowed, or they transited through me. And Windows Phone? Maybe next year. Like I said, I like change.

Then there’s the rest, some small things that I like to recall. Like that night Calla was born, and that I had to leave her and her mama at the hospital and walked out at 4am to find out that there were no more night buses, that the ATM was not working and that I didn’t have enough dough for a taxi. But with the full moon to light my way, I simply walked all the way home (luckily I had my headphones), nearly 7km, smiling all along.

All the way home, she showed me the way.

But the nice walk home is not what I’m grateful about, by the way. I’m thankful that it’s one week later that one of my shoes broke. Something funny is that I got forewarned about this, as I saw three different people with broken shoes just a few weeks before, including Adora who broke a slipper. Premonitions exist! Just need to know how to see them.

Still on that night, it’s nice to think about our friends who took care of Poppy and let her sleep over at their place. It was at her best friend’s house and they ended up having a slumber party and slept really late, like ten or eleven! For a couple of three year-olds (back then), that’s big!

All in all, 2012 was a year of newness, change, and good stuff. The laws of statistics dictate that next year can’t be as good (don’t expect us to have another kid!), but that doesn’t mean we can’t have fun all year round!

What it looks like on the MRT

In essence, the train system here is close to being perfect (perfection being a relative term). It runs smooth, the cars are wide, there's lots of seating for those who need it (elderlies and preggies), it's clean as a whistle and you never wait too long. Singaporeans complain about it, but I've seen trains in many other cities, from countries of varying economic levels, and I know that they complain for nothing.

The stations are well-lit, also very clean, and sometimes (rarely) empty enough for nice pictures.


People wait in a rather orderly fashion, considering we're in Asia and not every one who's waiting was born in Singapore (it's still customary to many around here to simply storm the doors and rush in, without allowing passengers to get off -- makes no sense, I know. Some of us like to storm OUT of the train with our elbows up, to greet them).


The problem, of course, is rush hour. This picture shows it well, although it doesn't make it look as bad as it feels.

B.O. to start the day

No, no, not mine.

That B.O. was an amiable contribution to my day from one or two guys on the MRT this morning. (Those who don't know, MRT is the subway here in Singapore). They needed to bathe real bad. I won't tell you their skin color but I'll let you guess.

Which brought me to this: if they can control what we do and bring on the MRT with all sorts of fanciful fines and signs, why can't they simply ban B.O. from public transport?

We'd walk through a metal-detector look-alike machine that would sniff our pits and fits, and it would beep loud for the 'fragrant ones' and they'd be sent back home to wash, or made to wear an Hawaiian flower necklace.

A taxi driver once smelt fish in our grocery bags and asked us to put them in the trunk, so hey, it's not like nobody can do a thing about smells, right?

Order to read

Yo read the first one first (at the bottom completely), then read the long one right after this (which is just a copy-paste of my previous blog from 2007).

1st blog from long ago

It was called Max vs the Master Procrastinator. I had five entries only so I'll put them all under one here.

1- It has started…

February 6th, 2007 by maxricher

That’s it, it has started. Yesterday I made the first payment, which means there’s practically no turning back from now on.

In a month from now, I’ll be a student again. MBA with Major in Environmental Management.

In a month from now, I’ll be fighting, hacking at, combating, wrestling in the mud with the foulest of all deities, the baddest of all gods, worser still than His Supreme Rancidity the Devil himself: The Master Procrastinator.

All the stressful moments of my past will come back to haunt me and gnaw at my flesh, bones and joints like hundreds of crabs feasting on the corpse of a poor drowned man lying on the beach.

Assignments, exams, group studies, cases to analyze, lack of sleep, lectures and seminars to attend… Two years of torture!Two years of guilt for every waking moment not spent on it!

Merriam-Webster’s dictionary says of procrastination : to put off intentionally and habitually the doing of something that should be done. It’s SOOOOO true! It is SOOOOO one of my habits. Apparently it’s in my genes as well. My brother’s like that too, and so was my dad. Can I fight my genes? Probably not.

In her blog, Julia mentioned procrastinating as one of her problems too. But she also mentioned something interesting about it. She said that waiting before doing something important is actually what causes the stress, because you keep thinking about it. Doing right away what you have to do will keep you clear of that stress.

Therefore, this blog should be on for about two years, or for as long as it will take me to complete the MBA (maximum 6 years). And of course, writing it will be nothing else than procrastination in it’s purest form! I’ll talk about all the things I like to do or dislike doing but which will be immensely brighter and greener and more attractive than studying. Oh! Don’t get me wrong, I AM interested in the subject. It’s just that, you know… there’s that show on TV. I’ve not finished my computer game yet. The kitchen counter needs to be cleaned. I feel like cooking something complicated. Could go out with Adora to see a movie, or shopping, or anything.

One of my Writing professors back in Montreal told us that a good writer’s house is usually super clean, even the doorknobs are shiny and all, because they just can’t write when there’s something else that could be done. Will I be like that? Adora sure would appreciate it to have a rampaging cleaner in the house! Ha!

Ta.

2- Life goes on

March 26th, 2007 by maxricher

Yes, the MBA has started (about two and a half weeks ago) but life goes on.

At work, the cup of my performance possibility was constantly filled to the brim, often keeping me at the office until way past what my contract states. At home (which home?), Adora and I were and are still enormously busy with the arrangements for our new house (bought it on March 19th!), and now we’re gonna have to see to the renovations. So as to my studies… they’re not relinquished, but let’s say, put on hold more often than they deserve.

What more, I’ve been doing quite a few things that I shouldn’t. Namely, playing games on the computer! Yeah I know, I’m such a kid! Can’t help it.

Other than that, I’ve spent some time cleaning things around the house that don’t really need cleaning, we bought a new LCD TV so I’ve watched a few more movies than I would have normally had, I read novels, I read online newspapers (elections in Quebec!), I follow hockey results, I’m trying to jog again (only twice in the last 5 months), all these things that take only a little bit of time individually, but add up to so much. I guess I naively thought I’d get all serious about studying. Typical of me. But life goes on. The MBA is just one more thing I’ve got to do.

A good example of procrastination: You go out to a coffee shop to do
some work while having a cup of tea, and end up reading the subtitles
to the Korean dramas on TV more than the words in your book. What’s worst is
that these shows are really insipid, but still so much more stimulating
than Effective Managerial Skills and Balance Sheets! And we really DO
want to know what’s gonna happen between them. Will he try to kiss her?
Will she let him? A soap’s a soap, no matter which country it’s from…
if the smell is nice you keep rubbing.

But otherwise, I’ve been studying. Well, it’s mostly reading for now. There’s a huge assignment I’ve got to do (4000 words, deadline April 27), so I’ll have to get on that asap. Afterwards it’ll be preparation for the exams (sometimes between June 18 and 29).

Still two years to go before I finish… [note from today, January 22nd, 2010... took more than that!]

3- It’s the worst thing!

April 19th, 2007 by maxricher

I’ve uninstalled all the games in my computer. I’ve not watched much TV lately. My favourite hockey team has finished its season (prematurely, unfortunately). I’m not a procrastinator anymore. I’ve spent practically all my free time working on a big assignment for my Organisational Behaviour class… but the problem now is that I don’t have much free time!

I clean up around the house a bit more than usual, yes, but not so much.

So then why? Two reasons.

First there’s the new h

ouse that’s keeping us up late every night, looking at the floor plan, where to put our stuff, what colour to paint the walls, etc, and of course looking at the IKEA catalog to find new furniture! Hey we move in on May 19!

But mainly, what’s keeping me busy so much that I can’t study properly is… my job! I’m so busy with so many things! Now is term break, so I thought I’d have it pretty easy, and that I’d be able to study all day at the office, but no! That darn Devil of Procrastination… He’s gone and disguised himself
as reports to do and exams to mark and meetings to attend and other
vile and malodorous stuff! I’m always working and working and working! I can’t postpone these things, and I don’t get any pleasure, respite or satisfaction, so it’s really the worst way to waste my time.

My assignment is due in 8 days from now, on the 27th of April… I foresee a few nights of very little sleep for me.

And do you think I’ll spend a lot of time on it this weekend? Unfortunately no because I have 13 or 14 hours of Accounting class all crammed in one little weekend! And I’ve also got to attend a 5-hour in-school academic conference on Saturday morning. Thankfully I’ve not been asked to be the master of ceremony this time, but so tired I’ll be!

If I believed in God, I’d pray for my soul, if I had one…

4- Finished my assignment!

May 8th, 2007 by maxricher

You know the feeling aft

er you submit an assignment on which you’ve spent sooo many hours that you didn’t see your life go by? Well I’ve been floating on it for the last 10 days or so, and it still feels as good as the first hour. But I must get back to my studies now, as the “break time” is more than over. But also the new house and the shopping for it are becoming more important nowadays as D-Day, or M-Day (M for moving) is getting nearer and nearer. Around May 19 all should be about finished. Including the move itself, I don’t mean only the renovations. On Sunday the 20th we should be able to sleep there already.

But does that mean I’m not procrastinating anymore? You think I would stop being myself? Of course not! Do you want

to know what I did the day before the deadline for my assignment? I’m talking about Thursday April 26.

Took a day of leave to write comfortably at home? No.

Wrote emails left and right to everybody involved with the MBA in order to get an extension? No (although I thought about doing this).

Spent the day at work in a normal fashion? Neither.

Was abducted by aliens and brought to their ship where they asked me if I knew a good place to eat in Singapore? No.

Got involved in the filming of a TV show and impersonated Alphonso, a Spanish tattoo artist and body modification expert on a business trip to Singapore where he slit a girl’s tongue in two so that she would look like a snake? Yes! That’s exactly what the supposedly perfect student that I am did! I sacrificed almost a whole day of assignment writing for a 30-second part in a local TV show! It didn’t take the whole day to film, but I slept so little the night before (stress?) that I had no energy left for writing.

It was quite a good experience though, and very funny to see myself covered in tattoos and piercing (what, you think tattoo artists look geeky like me?). But getting up at 5h45 and leaving for the studio almost right away in order to get my makeup, hair and tattoos ready in time for the shooting isn’t exactly my idea of fun… If there’s a next time I’ll specify that I only do evenings!

5- One term done, about five more to go…

July 13th, 2007 by maxricher

Yes the exams are over! (For now…)

Usually, before having exams, MBA students hide out in their den, don’t go to work, don’t pick up the phone, only study study study. I didn’t.

I went to Paris with my family!

Eiffel Tower, museums, small cafes, nice restaurants, a short escapade to Belgium, picnic in the Luxembourg Garden for Adora’s birthday with a baguette sandwich and a bottle of wine, walk up and down the Champs Elysees, etc. That’s what I did instead of studying! Or should I say, that’s what the Master Procrastinator had planned for me…

I had my PDA to revise a few things, brought some papers as well, but I left the books back home because they’re a bit heavy. I guess Adora will tell you that I probably took out my PDA only once or twice to study, and I think she’s right. Once, queuing to go up the tower (which I think deserves more to be a World Wonder than the statue of Christ Redeemer), and another time while the others were all shopping in Les Galeries Lafayette. I’m sure I studied more than that, but I can’t remember exactly. Of course, back in Singapore I studied like crazy to catch up, but only a few days were left.

Nonetheless, I managed to amass two ‘B’s.

Next week I’ll be starting term 2, with Comparative Law (German, Chinese and Australian Law systems) and Information Systems (which is basically a computer course).

I’ll let you know how it is later!

January 22, 2010

That was it. 5 entries only. I hope this time my interest will last longer.

Gotta start again sometime

Hey, my first blog in nearly 3 years, and the first one here on Blogger. Previously I'd blog through Friendster, which is why I stopped. Not easily accessible...

For those of you who have had the good fortune of missing it, don't worry, I'll catch you this time around by re-posting each entry (very few, don't worry), right after this one.

I started that previous blog because I needed to find a way to procrastinate while having to do my MBA assignments. I just love to waste my time, that's why.

And now, all this time later, I'm down to my final assignment, and of course, instead of working on it, I'm starting a new blog... that's me.


So go read my previous blog, in the next few posts, and then I'll talk to you again.