Resolutions for my last year on Earth.

If we’re going to believe Hollywood’s interpretation of the Mayan calendar, we know that…

1. The world will end on 21 December 2012, allowing people to spaz about how cool the date 20122012 is (and also making it trend on Twitter) before meeting their end the next day.

2. This will probably be the last year we have on this planet before things come to an end in a catastrophic yet visually impressive fashion.

And, most importantly:
3. Only friends of John Cusack will survive (in giant arks that have gift shops). If you’re the intelligent and good-hearted Indian scientist who actually discovered the impending doom in the first place, I’m sorry, you’re fucked. You can haz giant tsunami wave.

I haven’t yet met a person who really believes that we’re all going to die at the end of next year; after two bung Rapture predictions this year I guess we’re all a little “meh” about these things. Still, since I have a bit more trust in the ancient Mayans than I do in Harold Camping, I’ve decided to be a little bit prepared in my list of resolutions (which in itself is something special, since I generally don’t make resolutions).

Merry Christmas! Love, Me.

What’s Christmas to you? What stops you in your tracks, makes you take a deep breath and go, “Yes, it’s Christmas”? What brings that holiday season cheer into your heart, making you glad to be alive?

Is it the Christmas tree in the corner of your living room, decorated with baubles and shining lights? Is it the reindeer dolls and red-and-white colour themes? Is it the shopping sprees, checking out every sale? Is it the food, or the presents? Is it the snow and the fireplace, or the sun and the beach?

Christmas decor at Changi Airport.

I’ve spent Christmas in a many different places in my life: at my grandparents’, stuffed with char siew mee, or at a restaurant in Rome, a shrill soprano determinedly blowing her way through White Christmas right into our ears. In a crowded backpackers making too much food in the shared oven, or in Ministry of Sound trying not to inhale too much cigarette smoke. Each venue had its own up and downs, but they all taught me one thing: it really doesn’t matter where you are. Only the people matter.

6 Moments of 2011.

2010 was a big year, a year in which so much changed. In many ways, 2011 was a variation on the theme. A much louder variation: more adventures, more new friends, more ideas and more opportunities. It’s hard to imagine that we’re at the end of the year now. I seem to have completely lost track of time; it seemed not so long ago since Christmas 2010, yet things that happened in January and February feel like a lifetime ago.

This October in Manila I met up with an old friend. We had dinner, then took a stroll to one of Manila’s many (too many!) Starbucks. We chatted, talking about everything and nothing in particular.

Halfway through the conversation he stopped and asked, “How did a quiet shy girl in a polkadot uniform become… this?” He gestured with a laugh, referring to the travelling, the documentary filmmaking, the campaigning, the activism, the lobbying politicians, the socio-political blogging… everything.

I thought for a bit, but I didn’t know how to answer him. Truth be told, if you went back in time and told a 16-year-old me about all the things I’ve done this year, I would never have believed you. Perhaps I would have thought it sounded quite good, but I wouldn’t have believed that I would become someone who would do all these things.

But now I am doing them, and hoping to go even further. 16-year-old me would lose her shit.

#Dec15: A Day of Gratitude

December 15, a day of gratitude. A day to tell people what you really think about them, how they have affected your lives (hopefully for the better).

When I read Jillian C. York’s post, I decided that it was time to write one of my own as well. Of course, no blog post I ever write will be quite enough; I have lived a blessed 23 years on this Earth, and have had the wonderful good fortune to have met many, many people who have added to my life in a way I had never imagined to be possible. There is too much to be grateful for to put in one modest post. Also, I might be a little late because we’re now in the early hours of December 16.

But perhaps I could offer up my humble excuse: I was out most of December 15 with my mother, running errands and just hanging out. Incidentally, there is no other way I would prefer to spend my day of gratitude.

Why I’m still here (or, A Night Out With Related Bizarros)

The bus is crowded, but not as crowded as the train would have been. The rain is pelting down on to the blacktop. The combination of a cool wet evening outside and the air-conditioning inside makes it feel like winter, which is strange and inconvenient, because Singapore is a tropical country, and everyone’s dressed accordingly. (Well, everyone except for the self-important businessmen who wear suits everywhere anyway, despite the fact that living in Singapore can be like living in a 24/7 sauna.)

I sit squashed and shivering against the Plexiglass window, watching the raindrops land centimeters away from my face. My earphones plugged into my, well, ears, the iPod playing at a sensible volume – loud enough for me to mentally choreograph any musical number (starring myself, naturally) but not loud enough to deafen me, or turn anyone in the vicinity into a victim of secondhand listening.