On the eve of 2011

I'm thinking I should write something really inspiring, about all my trials and tribulations over the past year, things and people I'm thankful for, the grand plans I have for 2011 etc. etc. However I'm still sick from Christmas and not feeling particularly inspired. So this is more of a mundane "here's what I did on New Year's Eve" entry.

Sauna earlier this evening worked wonders for my flu. Cleared my stuffy nose and even soothed my sore throat somehow. I basically coughed through the past 2 days (and nights) but it has more or less stopped after the sauna. Now I wish I had my own sauna in my apartment! Well, hope the positive effects will last and that I'm finally on the road to recovery at 180 kph.

Was feeling really hungry after sauna, so threw together something simple yet yummy:

last supper in 2010: spicy soup + noodles & egg

Thought of (re)watching Les Mis (both the 25th and 10th anniv concerts are awesome btw!), but decided to do some reading instead. Finished another chapter of A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. Haven't read much fiction these few years (or maybe decade) aside from Harry Potter. This book has sparked my interest in fiction again.

Background music of choice tonight is English Folk Song Suite by Vaughan Williams. Usually I'm more into grand overtures and symphonies, but this suite is rather suitable for my current mood. There are light, triumphant moments, as well as dark, broodier sections. I've put it on loop right now and hearing new details each time. Can't remember if I've played this piece with the RGS band or NUS symphony orchestra, though I hope I can play it again sometime, maybe with TASO.

Towards the end of the evening, the music was punctuated with sounds of fireworks. I looked out the window and saw some lovely fireworks display in my neighbourhood. Took a few pics, not very good ones since I didn't want to open the window and risk catching another cold. Nevertheless, here's one to end the post, and 2010, with:

Fireworks from across the street

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas

That was three Christmases ago, my first in Finland. I had to travel to Rovaniemi for my first white Christmas, because there was no snow in Tampere. There weren't even that much up north. This year, snow is in abundance right here in south Finland. From one of the warmest (by Finnish standards) Christmases in 2007 to one of the coldest in 2010, my life and experiences here in Finland over the past three years have been full of ups and downs. What remain constant, though, are the warmth and generosity that my Finnish friends have shown me during my stay here.

This year I have the pleasure to spend Christmas with Minna and her family. Again. I had the honour previously in 2008. Last year was with Maria and her family. I also had a lovely pre-Christmas dinner with Miia and Duncan last week. Lots of food, lots of gifts, lots of fun, lots of love.

Words aren't enough, so here are some pics! :)





After the wonderful celebration, I woke up the next day with a terrible sore throat. In a way it's a blessing, since I've eaten way too much at Minna's and Miia's, in addition to the weight-gain program my family and relatives always put me on in Taipei. As it hurts to swallow or even open my mouth, I didn't eat much of anything over the Christmas & Boxing-day weekend. A nice detox I suppose :P

Still, I felt somewhat robbed of my holidays. Already we don't get extra days off work when the holidays fall on the weekends. (This year and next are the worst.) And mine was spent suffering in bed. So this morning I went in search of sick-leave papers for a couple more days off (i.e. a trip to the doc's). Funny how after few days of around -25C, being outside in -10C today felt rather pleasant and comfortable. And no, I wasn't running a fever. Although the doctor agreed that I could use 2 days off work :D

Coldness, Darkness, and Remembrance

21/12 - possibly the darkest day in 372 years? It is the first time since 1638 that a lunar eclipse has fallen on the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. I spent most of the day in London Heathrow airport pondering the fate of my flight home (to Finland), as the Heathrow airport was in chaos, having to shut down the previous days due to too much snow (by British standards), and canceling about half the flights on the day I was supposed to fly back. Thanks to Finnair however, with the Finnish pilots and staff probably thinking "pffft, this little bit of snow? Are you kidding me??", the flights from Helsinki to London operated as planned (albeit with some delays), so I could get on the returning flight from London to Helsinki on those aircrafts. Although on my way from Finland to Taipei at the start of the trip, the Finnair strike almost cost me my trip. Ahh, the joys and trials of travels... I won't exchange them for anything else, but perhaps an occasional first class seat would be nice, though I've been upgraded gratis to biz class couple of times before (talking about long-haul, as it doesn't make a big difference on short-haul or domestic flights). Hmm, my travel tales can probably fill books, and a whole volume just on airports and flights. But who will read them? Lol... sometimes even I find myself rambling on too much as I re-read some of my blog posts. And I digress again. So yes, I got back to Tampere in the wee hours of the morning on the 22nd, briefly feeling the chill of -22C that welcomed me home.

22/12 - slightly jet-lagged, but not as bad as after the Dallas trip in October. First order of things was to confirm the redundancy status of my job thanks to the Symbian reorg. Even though I heard the news over the weekend in Taiwan (via a phone call while visiting Karen), it somehow didn't seem so real then. There's not much details yet (when's my last day? what kind of "package" will we get?) but it was a pre-notice for those of us affected so we can start looking for new opportunities, either internally or externally. While I felt bad for my situation, I actually felt worse for my manager P. She has, for about a year now, taken over my ex-manager S's job in addition to her own when S went on extended sick leave. Double the responsibilities, double the workload, and all I see from her are hard work and dedication. Yet this. She's probably going to be super busy all the way up till our last day, whenever it is. P has been with Nokia for 14 years, and contributed so much. Helped me a lot too. And now she has to deal with this while still helping those of us who are impacted. My heart goes out to her.

About my ex-manager S, the second piece of news I received in Taiwan was that of him passing away. He fainted at work one day and they found a tumor in his brain. He had an operation and it went well, with good prognosis. We were even told he'd be back at work after summer holidays. But things took a turn for the worse, and... anyway we had a memorial for him at work on this day. What's it with the Finns and not displaying emotions?!! I wasn't all that close to S and still, I wanted to bawl my eyes out. (But fought hard to control myself as I didn't want to be the only one crying.) He was so young... and so full of life. Sailing, skydiving, orienteering; he was indeed very active and lived life to the fullest. The timing of S's death and my job loss really forces things into perspective: I can always find a new job, but this is the end for him. S, while you haven't been my manager for a long time, I'll always remember you. Rest in peace.

23/12 - possibly the coldest day this winter thus far (can't imagine what Jan/Feb holds). Well at least the days are starting to get longer and brighter. Walked to work in -26C

This morning at -26C

The sun's not quite awake yet

The secret is taking a really hot shower just before leaving. I managed to still feel warm upon reaching work. Although walking back home in the evening will be another story. I think the high temperature today is -25C and low tonight will be -29C. Too bad we won't break -30C. Yet.

Taipei-bound

I just checked Taipei's weather, wow, the highs are still in the mid +20s! Here in Tampere we dipped below -20°C earlier this week (Mon/Tues), but has since "warmed up" to a more seasonable (and reasonable) -6 to -10°C. Really wonder what Jan/Feb will be like this winter. In the meantime i'm looking forward to a break from this cold -- back to Taiwan next week to see my family and friends, and eat tons of yummy Chinese food while not shivering!

Having said that I don't know if I'm ready to go back to scorching hot summers like in Dallas. Yet another drastic climatic adjustment might create havoc on my aging body :P

There's a Finnish cabin crew strike going on, which started on Tuesday, and Finnair's flights are still grounded as of now. I do hope my flights next week won't be affected. If everything goes according to plan, I'll be transiting in Hong Kong, and meeting my dad there! It so happens that he also has a layover in HK airport on his way back to Taipei from a business trip, and we have the same HKG-TPE flight. How cool is that??

Speaking of strikes, there seems to be quite a lot of them in Finland. Food workers strike, transport strike, health workers strike, Finnair pilots strike... hmm, although I've never heard of an Engineers strike (yet). That could be detrimental since half of the Finnish population would then be on strike. Hehe.

But yes, back to Taipei. One of my many homes. As much as I love traveling to and exploring exciting new places, sometimes it's even better to visit the familiar and comfortable, especially where there's family and/or close friends, like my recent trip to Dallas. Oh and for the food in Taiwan. OMG. Delicious, brings wonderful memories, lots of variety, and cheap. Sometimes I think it's a good thing I'm just visiting and not living in Taiwan, coz if I were, I could easily be twice my current size. Although I could be earning a lot less so can't spend that much on food anyway no matter how inexpensive? Who knows. Food for thought. Pun intended.

Speaking of homes, it'll be incomplete if I didn't mention Singapore. Well, on this trip, I'll be meeting a friend from Singapore who's traveling to Taipei to see Crowd Lu's concert. She visited me in Tampere last October, in part also to attend a concert by MUCC. We didn't see each other for 18 years and then suddenly we'll get to meet 3 times in 14 months (I was back in Singapore last December). In 3 different countries. I have to say this again ... How cool is that?? :D