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	<title>my sanctuary... &#187; new year</title>
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	<link>http://lazyautumn.com</link>
	<description>lending words to my thoughts...</description>
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		<title>My 2009.</title>
		<link>http://lazyautumn.com/2010/01/my-2009/</link>
		<comments>http://lazyautumn.com/2010/01/my-2009/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 03 Jan 2010 13:03:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>lazyautumn</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[new year]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[reflection]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://lazyautumn.com/?p=562</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Another year came and went just like that.
Funny how the anticipation seems to dissipate with the passing of time as the real thing draws near. Or perhaps it&#8217;s just me missing out, yet again, on all those stuff that I had wished to complete in time for the real day. The day just doesn&#8217;t feel [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Another year came and went just like that.</p>
<p>Funny how the anticipation seems to dissipate with the passing of time as the real thing draws near. Or perhaps it&#8217;s just me missing out, yet again, on all those stuff that I had wished to complete in time for the real day. The day just doesn&#8217;t feel like it at all when nothing is really done because things are basically still the same. >.< </p>
</p>
<p>Lazy me. The chronic procrastinator. T_T</p>
<p>2009. I&#8217;ve changed. My thoughts and my perspectives on life. Sadly, the same does not apply to my good ol&#8217; bad habits, namely laziness and procrastination. There&#8217;s a whole lot more but these two vices are more than enough for me to deal with already. T_T</p>
<p>The first half of 2009 saw a disillusioned and depressed me <em>(then again, when am I <strong>not</strong> disillusioned and depressed anyway.. *shrug*)</em>, finding my job then <em>terribly</em> <strong>dull</strong> <em>and</em> <strong>meaningless</strong>. 3 years plus of insignificant contributions <strong>plus</strong> a company culture that&#8217;s seemingly open <strong>but</strong> is ironically full of buried ill feelings that are unearthed when people find common grounds to talk about it.. <strong><em>Man</em></strong>, I&#8217;ve really let my insecurities and inconfidence got in the way far too much, <em>again</em>. <em><strong>(!)</strong></em></p>
<p>But then there&#8217;s the consolation of having bonded with some colleagues whom I can talk personal stuff with <strong>and</strong> trust, for which I am quite grateful because being the social recluse and homebody I am&#8230; <em>I really don&#8217;t have a lot of friends</em>. T_T</p>
<p>I <em>ambitiously</em> drafted a <strong><em>detailed plan</em> for 2009</strong> in an Excel worksheet some time around March and April, only to see myself largely <em><strong>ignoring</strong></em> it for the most part of the year. That&#8217;s another case of <strong><em>over-setting</em> of goals</strong> to add to the list. T_T</p>
<p>This is really getting too depressing. <strong><em>But I shall bravely continue!!!</em></strong></p>
<p>Duh.</p>
<p>The second half of 2009 was <em>a little</em> more <strong>happening</strong> <em>(please do not place too much emphasis on the word <strong>happening</strong>, bear in mind that I <strong>am</strong> a social recluse and a homebody, even the <strong>littlest</strong> thing would be considered <strong>happening</strong>.. *shrug*)</em>.</p>
<p>For starters, I resigned and hopped on to another job that offered <em>less</em> fringe benefits <em>(<strong>much</strong> less, sad to say.. *cry*)</em>. Call me crazy, but this job gave me some of the fulfilment that I&#8217;d craved for ever since I officially joined the general workforce <em>ages</em> ago, notwithstanding the poor fringe benefits (*cryyy*<em><strong>!</strong></em>) and the extra miles to cover on foot for the commute, not to mention the extra burden of a laptop on the back <em>(great for maintaining the body weight though.. *shrug*)</em>. As such, I&#8217;m one or two levels less disillusioned and depressed now. =.=&#8221;&#8217;</p>
<p>I don&#8217;t exactly know how to describe that feeling of contentment, especially the sources of it. But I think it&#8217;s largely due to the fact that I&#8217;m working with a group of people that emit totally different vibes from those of whom I&#8217;ve worked with before. I&#8217;m talking about experienced people with minds bent on neverending research as well as eager in finding and making use of effective solutions. I feel that I&#8217;m learning, <strong><em>finally</em></strong> learning something useful here, but I am yet able to pinpoint exactly what is it. =.=&#8221;&#8217;</p>
<p>That aside, turning to personal matters, 2009 also saw a terribly emotional me, what with <strong><em>happening</em></strong> conflicts with siblings, as well as some troubles in <em>heart-</em>land, towards the last quarter of the year. Of course, there will always be the issues of poor self-image which have seen the light once too many times and probably will be so <strong>until</strong> I&#8217;ve <strong><em>finally</em></strong> knocked it <em>darn</em> deep into my <strong>mind</strong> <em>and</em> <strong>heart</strong>, <strong>body</strong> <em>and</em> <strong>soul</strong> to straighten out my act. Well, <em>no talk of poor self-image for now.</em> Blerh.</p>
<p>The biggest life lessons 2009 had to offer me came from the misunderstandings I had with my siblings. Never had I <em>hated</em> someone <em>so</em> <strong>much</strong> before in my life at that point of time <em>(well, as far as I can remember anyway.. *shrug*)</em>. <strong>Two</strong> someones at those <strong>two</strong> points of time, to be exact. I felt <strong><em>so</em></strong> upset, <strong><em>so</em></strong> disappointed, <strong><em>so</em></strong> terribly taken for granted.</p>
<p>As it is with my basic instinct, my initial impulse was to get away from them as soon as possible. Restricted by financial and security concerns (<em>and</em> laziness.. *roll eyes*), I resorted to having nothing to do with them at all as much as possible. Which isn&#8217;t really wise considering that I <strong><em>am</em></strong> the big sister in the house. But I am just a mere human with dozens of weaknesses. Sigh.</p>
<p>Yet I surprised myself still, where I would have been consumed with rage and showed it by banging things here and there <em>(especially doors, ahem&#8230;)</em> had something like these occurred in the past, this time round, I gradually felt resignation and reluctant understanding of why they behaved this way towards me. And <strong>never</strong> had I felt <em>so</em> alone before in my life when I couldn&#8217;t find <strong><em>anyone</em></strong> to share my angst in person, <strong><em>someone</em></strong> who could <em>truly</em> <strong>listen</strong> to me <em>and</em> <strong>understand</strong> what I was going through. <em>The feeling was horrible.</em></p>
<p>But time was a great healer and I realized that I was <strong>not</strong> <em>that</em> alone after all. I myself was to blame for the most part anyway for not taking the effort to build meaningful friendships, <strong>even</strong> to the extent of pushing potential good friends away <em>(was too lazy to go out, see&#8230; *no eye see*)</em>.</p>
<p>And I have since made up with one of my sisters, the younger <strong>yet</strong> wiser one. On her birthday, I wrote her a private Facebook message when I saw how depressing her Facebook status message was. I loved what I wrote her because it was truly beautiful and meaningful, and she was really encouraged after she saw it because it was what she has been direly wanting to know. But I can&#8217;t really claim all the credit for what I wrote, for something motivated me that night as I wrote and I firmly believe that it could have only come from God. And it started to mend my relationship with her as we continued to reply each other&#8217;s messages and understood more of each other.</p>
<p>We gossiped <em>a little</em> on <a href="http://lazyautumn.com/2009/12/trying-hard-to-contain/">the idiot</a> too. Yeah, the other sister. Sadly, I&#8217;m still <em><strong>not</strong></em> on talking terms with her. She went too far with her words on her Facebook wall <em>(with our <strong>mutual friends</strong> amounting to <strong>more than a hundred</strong>, not that I care a lot, but there is clearly <strong>no respect at all</strong>&#8230;)</em>, couple that with her idiotic stubbornness, flawed reasonings, inflated ego and sense of pride, I am having quite a hard time to forgive her completely. But I&#8217;m more at peace now with myself, except for the occasional under-the-breath swearings when she pissed me off again or when I inadvertently reminded myself of her brattiness every now and then.</p>
<p>I have to give her the benefit of doubt though, she&#8217;s not <em>that</em> bad, really. Perhaps all will be good when we live apart. There&#8217;s only so much that can be done with people who can&#8217;t stand each other.</p>
<p>As for love, me and him had a good talk about us on the last night of the year and well into the new year. And we found out that a lot of our thoughts and feelings on our 3 years plus of long-distance relationship were very similar, as well as some of our characteristics which <strong>shouldn&#8217;t</strong> be <em><strong>that</strong></em> similar. Long story cut short, as of now, neither of us are able to give up what we have in order to live our lives together with each other, and continuing with the long-distance relationship will mostly see us repeating the same stuff all over again with what we are now, so we decided to remain as friends instead and see if fate brings us back together again. I&#8217;ll blog about it in a separate blog post (subject to laziness, blerh.).</p>
<p>Last but not least, the two most important things that <strong>should</strong> be on the top rungs of my priority ladder but had <em><strong>always</strong></em> been neglected: <strong>health</strong> <em>and</em> <strong>faith</strong>. I&#8217;ve <strong>always</strong> taken my health for granted, never bothered to get <em><strong>even</strong></em> a normal medical checkup, and I&#8217;m <em>a little</em> worried if I overdid it with all the improper diet and lack of sleep. <em><strong>Especially</strong></em> the <strong>unnecessary</strong> late-nighters, <strong><em>all-nighters</em></strong> even <em>(my poor, poor liver&#8230;)</em>&#8230; Okay, am <strong>quite</strong> worried. I <strong>pray</strong> that it doesn&#8217;t take a serious illness to wake me up to the harsh reality. *slap forehead real hard*</p>
<p>My Christian faith have taken a turn for the worse ever since I moved myself to the big city 3 years plus ago. And it was <em>certainly</em> no better this year, in fact, I&#8217;m beginning to think that I&#8217;m losing it at a rate that is not so reassuring, <strong><em>especially</em></strong> after what I had with my siblings. *sweat* That said, I <em>still</em> <strong>believe</strong> in my faith and I&#8217;m annoyed when people don&#8217;t respect it. You can choose not to believe in what I believe in but you <em>at the very least</em> <strong>respect</strong> it by not saying that what I believe in is wrong. It&#8217;s the practising part that&#8217;s gotten me in a rut and I know not yet how to deal with it. =S</p>
<p>Okay, I actually published this post without mentioning one <strong>major</strong> thing that I&#8217;ve started <em>again</em> <em><strong>(!)</strong></em> in the second half of 2009; <strong>this blog</strong>. *slap forehead <em>damn</em> hard* I can&#8217;t believe how could I have forgotten. <em><strong>(!)</strong></em> Here I am, typing it all out here, and I forgot all about <strong>it</strong>, just like that. <em><strong>(!)</strong></em> Anyhow, seeing how I forgot all about it <em>just like that</em> and the fact that I have been slacking in churning out blog posts lately, suffice to say, it is <em>unfortunately</em> <strong>not</strong> an integral part of me&#8230; <strong><em>yet</em></strong>. *sweat* I started it with the sole intention of earning money from it, but that had remained a mere thought so far. I guess I ended up wanting this blog, this website, to carry more meaning for me than just a <em>mere</em> money-making machine. But it <strong>has</strong> to earn me back some money to at least cover the hosting costs in less than 2 years, failing which I&#8217;ll revert to either Blogger or Wordpress <em>(kept blogs in both before =.=&#8221;&#8217;)</em>. T_T</p>
<p>There you have it, my <strong><em>way</em></strong> overdue lengthy recap of my 2009. And with that, it shall make up for the lack of blog posts on this little blog of late, he<em>he<strong>he</strong></em>. But lengthy as it is, it is still quite condensed. >.< </p>
</p>
<p>I shall miss writing and typing <strong>2009</strong>, after all, the digits <strong>2</strong> and <strong>9</strong> are my favorites. *big grin*</p>
<p>Resolutions for 2010? <em>Hmmm&#8230;</em></p>
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		<title>The Countdown Began.</title>
		<link>http://lazyautumn.com/2009/12/the-countdown-began/</link>
		<comments>http://lazyautumn.com/2009/12/the-countdown-began/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 05 Dec 2009 18:12:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>lazyautumn</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[discipline]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[new year]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://lazyautumn.com/?p=449</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Been meaning to write up a little about it for a while but haven&#8217;t got around it until now. >.< 

My own 2010 countdown began more than a month ago, in a well-meaning but not-quite-successful effort to remind myself, being the procrastinator that I am, that time is of the essence as the passing of [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Been meaning to write up a little about it for a while but haven&#8217;t got around it until now. >.< </p>
</p>
<p>My own 2010 countdown began more than a month ago, in a well-meaning <em>but</em> not-quite-successful effort to remind myself, being the procrastinator that I am, that time is of the essence as the passing of 2009 unwittingly accelerates (well, it <em>is</em> the last quarter of the year already&#8230;). I obligingly put up <em>&#8220;27/10/2009: Only 66 days left for 2009!&#8221;</em> in my Facebook after posting a similar status message on MSN the day before of which prompted a mild disapproving response from a colleague who actually felt saddened being reminded that the year is ending all too soon.</p>
<p>Something along the lines of feeling not much has been done albeit the fact that more than 10 months had passed by since the start of 2009.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s the unpleasant bite of reality that most of us share as we <em><strong>age</strong></em>. <em><strong>(!)</strong></em></p>
<p>Well, at least it got her reflecting on it and she actually began telling people to put in effort to enjoy more and extract more meaning out of life, especially as the year nears its end, because those are the memories that count when we reminisce the past. Being a workaholic at one point in her life made her realize that all those extra time spent on work made time passed by all the more unknowingly, unappreciated and in the end, lost. As if nothing much had been done.</p>
<p>Which really equated to lost chances to create sweet and everlasting memories, boring as they might be, yet undeniable proof for herself that she had indeed lived up her life.</p>
<p>Sigh.</p>
<p>As for me, I&#8217;m not a workaholic. In fact, I&#8217;m <em>anything</em> <strong>but</strong>. Yet, I don&#8217;t have much memories of anything simply because&#8230; I&#8217;m actually a social recluse? <em><strong>(!)</strong></em></p>
<p>Okay, I&#8217;m exaggerating. Well, <em>a little</em>. And not really making any sense. But am not delving into this now. >.< </p>
</p>
<p>So the year is ending and more than a month had lapsed since the informal proclamation of my countdown <strong><em>and</em></strong>&#8230; I haven&#8217;t done much to redeem myself in spite of my original noble intent of starting the countdown. *sweat*</p>
<p>Now, it&#8217;s as if I&#8217;m countdown<em>-ing</em> just for the sake of countdown<em>-ing</em>.</p>
<p><em>Oh, well.</em> <strong>Unsurprisingly.</strong> *shrug*</p>
<p>Okay, picking myself up and going to get things done. Make solid and viable resolutions. Tie loose ends everyday. Fight laziness and procrastination every second of the day. <del>Realize my dreams <em>(hmmm, what are they&#8230;)</em>.</del> Be sure of myself, know what I want and be a go-getter.</p>
<p>Hmmm. Fight laziness and procrastination every second of the day. Tough one.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ll start with everyday first&#8230; Uh, make that every week&#8230; <em>Um, perhaps every month&#8230;</em></p>
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