Wow, before I knew it, 2008 has come and gone, I completed my PLC, I started working for real, went through several hard times at work and in my relationships, went for several memorable Strikeforce performances, organised several fun gatherings with JC, primary sch friends, and put on quite a bit of weight around the tummy!

Oh man, my waist is 32 inches now, from just 30 inches at the beginning of 2008! I'm really getting too fat, and its only around my tummy area, which looks quite gross to me, time to really EXERCISE in 2009, at least 3 times a week!

Alright, time to really think through and set my goals for 2009.

Here's the final list, which includes the goals set out earlier in a previous post:
1. start coming to office on time (i.e. reach before 9 am) (so can leave office by 6.30 pm if there's nothing urgent! hahaha.. seriously, i wanna go home before the moon comes up.)
2. start sleeping earlier (12.30 am latest) and wake up at 7.30 am sharp each morning (7 hours of sleep should be sufficient)
3. lose the excess fat - start exercising, jog twice a week (2.4 km at least), 30 sit ups twice a week, 30 push ups twice a week, only have supper once every 2 weeks
4. start reading the Bible everyday, praying for at least 15 min after reading the Bible, before sleeping.
5. learn to understand Joan better, try to provide for her not just financially, but in terms of emotional support - encouragement esp during exam periods, plan a private getaway holiday over a weekend for just the both of us (maybe in June after her exams)
6. spend less money on cabs (max take cab twice a week) - limit myself to $100 of cab fare a month
7. complete building fund of $5000 -> $833 each month (i'm already late one month, did not give BF for november), if not feasible, pray n ask CGL about the amount
8. resume Bible study classes every wednesday night
9. start to treat my family more often to meals ( at least once every 2 months)
10. spend more time with the cell group, fellowship more with them
11. start planning my career path - write resume, send out by end of Jan, go for interviews in Feb or March, change firm by June 2009 latest (if God willing of course.. still need to pray about this a lot)
12. cancel credit card, not necessary
13. Save up at least $300 a month for myself starting Feb onwards, so i have at least $3300 in my personal savings account by end of 2009 (yes thats a really miserable amoount for a lawyer, but what to do, got building fund n all sorts of other commitments. haiz.)
14. practice my keyboard and drumming skills at least 1 hour each every week
15. Plan for wedding in early 2011 (subject to other factors)
16. record all my expenses in a book and in the excel sheet for financial planning
17. Bring 1 new friend to Christ in 2009, bring at least 6 new friends to church in 2009
18. Be more open to discipleship and fellowship with more mature Christians and working adults - find a mentor or a close friend i can be accountable to
19. go for one mission trip in 2009 (always wanted to go for one, having no time or no money is not really a valid excuse anymore!)
20. limit myself to 2 movies a month (not more than 20 movies a year)
21. step up more in Strikeforce to play for lead, work together with Boon for the SF Musical
22. learn to say "NO" to unnecessary spending - e.g. weddings of friends i don't really know, impulse buying, midnight cab fares, etc
23. come out with a 5 year plan from 2010-1015
24. go for couples ministry events, help pastor if he needs help for the new ministry
25. meet up with law friends and JC friends at least once every 2-3 months, meet up primary sch friends 2-3 times this year, meet up with old ex-CG members at least twice (pple like Rosa, weixiang, shuyi, yongqiang, yujie)

will update the list when i think of more realistic goals for the year! will also keep a checklist so that i'm able to see if i achieve at least 70% of all my goals! i think 70% should be quite acceptable already, cos very few pple can really fulfil ALL of their goals and new year resolutions!

there's also 3 resolutions that Joan picked for me:

1. be more proactive n perform better at my job
2. rise up in Strikeforce
3. don't spend so much, save up more

I think I already covered these 3 in my personal goals, so don't really have to put it in the list.

***

Now, for a quick recap of events..

31 December - 1 Jan 2009: The last gig of 08 and first gig of 09 at Sheraton Hotel!

Took urgent leave on 31 Dec, mainly because i couldn't drag myself up from bed after the late rehearsal at marina bay w the SF pple, n woke up at about 11 am. i can't really remember what happened after that, except we had to be at Sheraton hotel by 1 pm, and the practices lasted until about 4 pm, and then we went to Waffle Town for a late lunch. then we went to cold storage to buy a pack of playing cards, and then Joan n i went to meet Chinhua to get the costume (because Ian forgot to bring his costume for neo!) and by the time we got back to the hotel, we still had time to join the others n play cards for about an hour. Haha! Bridge is quite fun, if you're winning. hehz.

The gig was good, we had a lot of fun, the Russians were really sporting n fun loving pple, they clapped n cheered n joined in the fun! they needed no prompting, when we were playing 4 minutes and Dhoom again, about 30+ pple came down to the dance hall and just enjoyed themselves! energy level was up and UP, we played quite well (i mean we're playing to a track with IEM, what can we play wrongly right? hahaha!) after the FHW (david as usual, we super energetic, making all of us look like snails, n his buff build made Nic look like stick man, playing next to him!), we went to eat the buffet at the event, n it was awesome! delicious lamb, beef steak, prawns, pasta, lobster soup, etc.. we really ate until we were so full!

Went to storehub to packup, then to marina to pick up the SF pple who played at the mediacorp countdown show, then back to storehub to pack up, and then we drove to the hongkong cafe at east coast area but last order was at 2 am, and we had just missed it by a few minutes! so we went to another cafe called c9 or something also in the east area, n the last order was at 3 am, so we managed to order a bit of food and had a nice time of fellowship, although most of us were super tired by then! millie slept in boon's van even though there were like 7 of us squeezed in the back! Joan, millie, valerie, nic, guankeat, yongqiang and myself. there was barely even room left to sneeze. hahaha! Ian, as usual, sat in the front seat. LOL!

By the time we finished supper, it was around 4 am. i remember reaching home close to 5 am, and seeing a bit of the sun rise before i plonked into bed. slept until 2 pm on new year day! hahaha! i can't remember much of what happened after that too, prob went for dinner with family or something. totally too concussed from the overnight gigging to remember anything else. haha. Oh yeah, we had teppanyaki at our house with auntie Phyllis n the maid, with beef n salmon n pork n stuff! so much food again! no wonder i'm gaining weight. after that went to play game while they watched the Little Nonya on TV. boring show, don't understand why pple like it. haha! Joan wanted to go Kallang but i was too tired out so sent her home n slept until 4 pm on friday!

2 Jan: Slept the day away, went out with Joan, bought Band of Brothers DVD and attended the wake of Chenguo's grandmother. Supposed to meet up with Millie, but in the end didn't so just sent Joan home and completed Crysis the final level at about 1 am in the morning. Haha!

3-4 Jan: KTV with JC guys, met Joan for dinner in town. Watched Transporter 3 w Sharlyn, Ivan, Millie, Ian, Nic, Irenus and Joan n felt really ripped off. Short service, went for a talk by Pst CK after svc, some trip to JB with a wedding exhibition n the kickstart of the Couples Ministry. Honestly i think such a ministry is a bit bo liao, there are already so many bible studies n courses to help couples, n they can always go to their CGL and other church friends for help, but if Pastor thinks this will help us, then we're willing to give it a go. Had fun fellowshipping w the cell group after that at the kopitiam, then went to take MRT to city hall to meet up with my family to have dinner - at Joan's favourite bedok bachor mee stall at block 85! not bad lah, quite nice n good portion of food. went home and attempted to complete another stage of LEft 4 Dead, but just before completing the stage, i DIED at the very last moment! super frustrated n annoyed, but too tired to continue playing liao. oh well, another day then.

5 Jan: Back to Work.. zzz... Only less than $300 left in my account to last me until 23 Jan (the 5 day cruise) which means about 18 days to go, and i can spend a max of $15 each day! haiz.. overbudgeted for building fund n totally forgot about the joint account n the insurance payments, until i finally worked out the amounts this morning! hopefully, i can decrease the BF to about $4000, so i can have enough to survive for the next few months...