Yet Another Year!

1/2/10: it's too late to catch up on last year's activities but one of my new year resolutions is to update this blog as a personal record as frequently and diligently as possible...the world as my witness we will see how long this effort lasts...

December 31st of last year was a memorable day as the last day of the year is not only just the last day of the year, it is also Dad's birthday. On the eve of Dec. 30th I went to book dinner, Moet and Chandon, and the cake. I also dropped by Sogo to buy socks as Dad's birthday. It's really hard to pick presents for Dad, as he has one of everything, if not more.

finally Dad's birthday came. I rushed home after a hectic day and picked up all the food items. Suyi and Ruby and Andy all came to have dinner, along with Omar and his GF. We had a wonderful time, before everyone split up for fireworks viewing and count down.

For the count down, I went with Friends from the TMC, and cleverly combined two parties into one. What happened was Friend W1 and W2 already asked whether I was interested to see TPE 101 fireworks from afar in Neihu. That sounded really good cuz I had no interest in getting into the Hsin-Yi District whatsover today to be amongst the horrible crowd. Meanwhile Friend C called to see if I wanted to go to Friend L's home to watch the Red-White singing competition on his HDTV. Since Friend L lives in Neihu, I decided to ask Friend W1 to go and get Friends C, L, and myself. This plan worked out fantastically in the end!! Everything went as planned and we successfully found a spot to park the car nearing the ramp where we watched the fireworks as we counted down. Here's the pic from the TPE 101 as captured by Friend W1: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22725554@N08/sets/72157623111327988/show/with/4233005204/

The drive back home was not too bad either since the general direction taken mostly went against the traffic flow. Went right to sleep and got up to see that Mom was rushing to leave. I forgot that it was the anniversary of Grandmother's passing and traditionally Mom's siblings and their children would go visit Grandma--and now Grandpa who passed in May of '09--to commemorate them. I went with Mom to pick up Aunt Lishya and Uncle. Then we drove to the Christian Cemetary in Tamsui where Grandma and Grandpa were laid to rest. We had some quiet time reflecting on their lives, and pleasant conversations catching up, before moving on to the lunch. Yes, the lunch. How can family gatherings go without meals!