One Day by David Nicholls

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The characters feel real and their experiences relatable. David Nicholls did a fantastic job depicting their lives, decisions and outcomes as if they actual people. The time span also allows an easy visualisation of the whole story as if one were watching a movie. Overall, a very enjoyable read even if I didn't particularly like the death of Emma but perhaps it was needed to make a deeper impact on the reader.

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Newest addition to the family

This is George - another furry friend to add to my soft-toy collection. Who would have known that I'd still get these 'toys' in my mid-twenties. Thank you Jae! And for the roses and chocolates too of course.

사랑해요!

Wise words

"I'm not in this world to live up to your expectations and you're not in this world to live up to mine." - Bruce Lee

Year of the Dragon

Remember this little dragon? If there were only real dragons that looked like him, how cute would they be?

As Chinese tradition goes, the new year celebrations can go well over two weeks but the most important day is usually on new year's eve. It is the day where the 'reunion dinner' is eaten, which as the name suggests, involves all family members reuniting at the dinner table.

I think, by far, my family would be one of the least traditional Asian families around but since a few of my relatives moved to Sydney a few years ago, we've made more of an effort to do something on this day. There was a discussion about some of the customs usually undertaken during this period, some of which include: putting away all brooms (and therefore all sweeping/cleaning objects) so as to not 'sweep away' all your luck and not washing your hair or your clothes on the first day of the new year for reasons also to do with luck. There are probably more than a dozen more of these but thankfully for me, we don't follow any of them especially since a lot have to do with superstition, something which I don't particularly believe in. I wonder, though, how many people in my generation and the ones after will continue carrying out these customs and traditions and how much knowledge will I pass on to my own children? To me, this is one of, if not, the most festive Chinese traditions and I really hope they will get to experience the same joy I've had. The only downside of being so far away from most of my extended family is that there are obviously less red packets and there is no celebrating like how they do it in Asia.

Happy new year and may you all be blessed with peace, health and joy.