Adorning the Christmas Tree was fun. Wuan brought all the decorations from Kuala Lumpur to dress it up. We had a great time decking the tree with baubles, ribbons, pine cones, Santas, stockings, beads and a snowman. A lovely angel on the top completed the setting. This is the most beautiful Christmas Tree we have ever seen.

What lies underneath the tree is no less eye-catching. Presents from Rosalynn, Justin, Sabrina and Wuan captivatingly beckoned. This is my best Christmas yet. I am grateful to be blessed with friends like them. The Christmas spirit of giving is truly still alive. It is not the presents, but the thought of giving, especially the sharing of one’s time during this season, that makes it the most precious gift of all.

After the Lunar New Year, Dong Zhi is the most important date in the Chinese calendar. Dong zhi literally means �the arrival of winter� and coincides with the Winter Solstice. This is the time when night is the longest, daylight shortest, sunshine weakest and marks the beinning of winter.

This is the time farmers celebrate the year-end harvest. This is also the last festival of the year where the entire family will gather to give thanks to a bountiful year with a feast and eating the tang yuan, a dessert of glutinous rice balls and syrup.

The Tan Clan Association in Penang observed the Dong Zhi yesterday with offerings and prayers at the Clan Hall, known as the Eng Chuan Tong Tan Kongsi, at Beach Street. Later in the evening there was a dinner at the premises that my neighbours with the Tan surname and I attended.

That was the first time that I had been into the Clan Hall or attended any of its activities. It was an eye-opener to be in the presence of so many people carrying the same surname as I. It was a jovial and boisterous affair with good food, good company and interesting karaoke performances by clan members and entertainers in attendance.

Went to PIKOM PC Fair with Emil. We each bought a set of Altec Lansing AHS30 headset and microphone. I have not tested it yet but Emil gave it top marks. He also got some CD-Rs at a bargain while I bought the Logitech Optical Wheel Mouse.

I had intended to shop for a 17� CRT monitor to replace the one I am using now as I believe it is going to give up the ghost anytime soon. The screen would alternate between yellow and normal, which is very stressful to the eyes. After checking out the LG Flatron 700B, I decided that it was a little too pricey.

Since my current PC tends to freeze and hang every now and then, which according Emil is due to a failing power supply, I thought I might as well get a new system, since this system has already outlived its life span anyway. After getting several different quotations, in a moment of illogical impulsiveness, I placed an order for a PC running on Pentium 4 2.6Ghz with Hyper�Threading.

That is going to set me back RM2, 600. I hope I will not regret this one moment of irrationality as I can hardly afford to splurge like that. The system will be delivered at the end of next week. I shall soon find out if it is worth the money spent then.

The beauty of a journey lies in the unexpected. When the senses are stirred, the journey itself is already fruitful. The loveliness of new sights, the intensity of new smells and tastes add colours to the interesting characters that we meet along the way. Unhurried steps, an open mind and an innocent expectation are all that are needed to make every trip a pleasure. This beautiful photo of a waterlily was the consequence of a journey that was as annoying as it was a gratification and unanticipated.

After having travelled to KLIA on the Express Rail Link (ERL), Wuan and I decided to experience the trip to the airport by road. We started out early to give ourselves some allowance should something untoward happen, like the taxi breaking down, and at the same time, we wanted to spend some time wandering around at the airport.

As fate would have it, the taxi ran out of petrol and gas just as we were about to reach the toll plaza to KLIA. We were stranded there for more than half an hour while waiting for the Elite Ronda Truck to rescue us with some petrol. I cannot imagine how one can drive a taxi without keeping an eye on the fuel gauges. And to run out of petrol and gas at the same time still bewilders us.

The petrol provided by Elite Ronda was only sufficient for the drive to the nearest petrol station, which was about 3 kilometres away. As the taxi pulled into the Petronas Station, Wuan spotted the blooming waterlilies and snapped a few shots.

This image is one of the most beautiful in my collection. Had the taxi not run out of fuel, we would not have had the opportunity to catch sight of this beauty of a flower. This reminds me of Robert Frost�s poem The Road Not Taken. Sometimes, trampling off the beaten track can bring about a surprisingly delightful outcome. We had not intended to do that but the effect was equally as gratifying.

The Road Not Taken
by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on back to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.

This morning, Emil and I went to the Microfair 2003 organised by The Star. Emil is my IRC-turned-ICQ chat buddy since four years ago. As have been the norm for the past two years, we have been going to the Pikom PC Fair together, which is usually held at the Penang International Sports Arena (PISA). We have similar interests in computers and usually enjoy sharing information and ideas on the latest in hardware and software. Emil is a Systems Engineer with one of the major IT solutions provider here in Penang.

As we entered the exhibition area, we met K.T. Goh, photographer with The Star. He took those nice photographs of me for the In.Tech article that I was featured in. A short while later, while we were browsing among the booths, Angelina came and introduced herself. Angelina is the journalist who gave me that good write-up for the same article. It was pleasant indeed meeting her.

Angelina, in the hubbub, I failed to thank you personally because your article has opened up a whole new world for me. I received many emails and inspiring comments left in this blog because of that article. I have even become good friends with a few and got in touch again with some of my schoolmates whom I have lost contact with. Thank you Angelina.

That was just about the highlight of the day. We did not manage to find the items that Emil and I were looking for. I was looking for the LG 700B Flatron 17� monitor. The Flatron�s screen is supposedly true flat. The colours and resolution displayed were brilliant the first time we checked it out at another computer exhibition. However none of the exhibitors carried it this time.

Emil was looking for an optical mouse but he did not find one suitable for his needs. The exhibitors were mostly peddling digital cameras. And then there were the usual printers, scanners and printing consumables. We left empty-handed, and hoping that the coming Pikom PC Fair in December will feature more exhibitors selling the hardware that we need.