2019 Christmas Letter
24/12/19 01:30 Filed in: Christmas Letters
Dear all,
The year flew by very quickly and it’s Christmas Eve again. I was going to be early and was planning on writing this on the 22nd but, “other urgent matters” (aka “being slack”) took over and so here I am again, writing the letter on Christmas Eve.
My IT consulting business is still experiencing double-digit growth this year (remember that even one new client is double-digit growth for me). I am very thankful to gain a few new clients this year through referrals from existing, very kind clients. May it continue in the new year and years to come. I don’t want to build a million dollar company. I just want to make a decent living so I can also enjoy life.
My apps are thankfully still selling OK! Last year, my apps sold a total of 188 units. This year, they sold a total of 142 units. Have to start thinking about writing some new apps next year. But what? Ideas welcome.
Mum is still generally well. Unfortunately her memory is getting quite bad. Luckily she still remembers us. But her questions (the same ones) have become more frequent. She’d often become more stubborn and not want to co-operate. But she’s healthy. Sigh.
We made a few trips overseas this year.
In January, we went to Manila. This is my first ever visit to the Phillipines. I wasn’t sure I’d like it but as May’s best friend lives there, I figured I can’t have too bad a time.
I love Manila! The people are so friendly! Our hotel was right next to a shopping centre and so to save mum all the walking, we borrowed a wheelchair from the hotel and just push her everywhere. At almost every set of traffic lights, there were “traffic controllers” and / or security people (they all wore uniforms with a very shiny badge) and they always help us with the wheelchairs, sometimes even stopping the traffic.
The food was great! They don’t go for very hot food, but they are yummy enough. I spent the week searching for the “best” Halo Halo, a multi-coloured dessert involving crushed ice, ice cream and other ingredients. It’s similar to the “ice kachang” in Singapore / Malaysia but with ice cream.
We visited old Manila city, where you can see a lot of Spanish influence.
I kept expecting Zorro to appear!
There’s also Manila Bay:
And the historical Manila Hotel:
There’s also the smallest volcano in the world at Tagaytay:
It took us 2 hours to drive there and 2 hours to drive back. I then found out it’s only about 20 km away! So yes, I also experienced the famous Manila traffic jam. Our driver is superb though. He was able to navigate through all the chaotic traffic (cars coming left right and centre) without scratching the car!
We visited Wellington, New Zealand in June. Again, this is my first visit to Wellington. We decided to go there for a change from Auckland. Wellington is like Canberra here - political city, quite dead on weekends.
It was very windy and cold (what do I expect? It’s winter!) I enjoyed it though. We visited the Te Papa museum, where I thought the best exhibit is the Gallipoli exhibit. Well worth a visit!
In October, we did our annual Hong Kong / Taiwan trip again. With all the unrest in HK, we still visited because…………We booked this trip long ago and it would have been very expensive to change our flights.
It was sad to see Hong Kong being vandalised by the idiotic protesters. Look:
This was taken at about 6:30pm. This street would usually be full of traffic and people during this time. And this is when we arrived at about 4pm in transit (to Sydney):
Again, these escalators would normally be packed with people.
If you want no crowd, no queues, now is the time to visit. Just stay away from the trouble spots and you’ll have a good time.
We met up with my cousin Eugene and his family in Taiwan. It’s always a lot of fun. I like it when we all meet for breakfast in the morning. But it won’t continue for too long because the little one will be in school and there’s no “sick leave” for kids. Uncle Bevan offered to write a note to the teacher asking for the little one to be excused but her parents don’t fancy that idea for some reason.
This year, we also did a one-day excursion to Kaohsiung, the southern city in Taiwan. This is more of a scouting expedition for me, as we’ll be visiting Kaohsiung properly next year.
Still, we saw the Kaohsiung harbour, once one of the largest in the world, and also one of the oldest catholic church in the city (see photo below).
Cooking-wise, I’m still perfecting my pizzas but I’ve created a couple of my own pizzas, see below:
In addition to cooking pizzas, I used a cast iron skillet and this is what we came out:
This was cooked in basically 4 minutes.
Lastly, the only cutie who sometimes sleeps in my bed - Kismet. She only has ONE job to do - be cute.
It’s her 10th year with us. She’s got more photos than the four of us at home.
Another year older, I’m thankful for what I have - my health, my family and my friends. I hope I continue to have all three for a long, long time.
I should quit now. I’m getting sentimental.
As it’s Christmas Eve, I thought I’d play one of my old favourites, “O Holy Night”, again. I auditioned a few different versions but in the end, I still like the one sung by Michael Crawford.
You may have read that Sydney is surrounded by fires. Many people lost their homes this Christmas. I count my blessings.
Until next year, I hope this letter finds you safe and wish you all, a Healthy and Merry Christmas.
Your friend,
Bevan
