Dewdrop Notes 露语

Yes, it’s that time of the year again and after blogging about year-end feelings for several years, I ought to be running out of new things to say. Or maybe not. That’s because 2011 is indeed a very special year. Not in a good way, though. It has been a very, very tough year and that may be an understatement, at least for me. Business hasn’t been this bad for quite a while. After GE2011, things just kept sliding and sliding. Things must have been equally bad on the competitors’ turf. They started studying my creative marketing efforts and lodged complaints about my violation of rules and regulations and “distasteful” website presence.

Then, came the untimely death of a member of the family. A former classmate who climbed Kinabalu with me in 2010 is now down with leukaemia and undergoing chemotherapy. I just upgraded my hospitalisation coverage. With all these unhappy incidents, 2011 certainly qualifies as annus horribilis. I can only say that I’m glad that the bad year of the rabbit is finally coming to an end, assuming that 2011′s misfortunes don’t spill over to 2012.

Sadly, economic forecasts predict that business wise, things are not going to be rosy in 2012. The last year of the dragon saw the end of the dotcom boom. But that’s the big picture. Just as I don’t see any part of the impressive GDP figures reflected in my daily takings, a major downturn in economy may not have such a great impact on little guys like me. In reportedly very bad years like 2008, I didn’t do too badly. 2011 has been worse.

I’m seldom so pessimistic – in fact, my usual self is extremely optimistic. Looks like my luck was not the only thing that took a turn for the worse in 2011. Health is another issue. 48 is a nice number. For an average lifespan, I’m already halfway there. 2011 also saw Singapore’s oldest living person, our very own “Mother Teresa”, Madam Teresa Hsu. She was 113 and has led a very meaningful life completely devoted to helping the sick and helpless.

Soon, 2011 is going to be history and you won’t be able to imagine how unwilling I am to look back.

China model “Sheena”