Just got back from my trip, and I couldn't wait to get back to my blog. It proved that this Beijing trip is totally worth it, and it was the best Christmas I ever had. China is not a Christmas country, and I don't have holidays for this. So basically, this is quite a record. The first day when I got to Beijing was the coldest day on record in Beijing, and obviously I did not get ready for that. I thought I was so doomed, because I did not take enough clothes. But luckily, after that, it was not cold anymore. I have been to great places this time that I have not been to in the past two trips to Beijing, and I am glad this time I did all the research to do things I wanted in Beijing. Also, for the first time, I got the chance to walk on the ice of Houhai bar area-it was awesome. The Great Wall of Mutianyu is definitely good in snow except the fact that I thought it's not as wide as I expected. Walking on the empty wall, and seeing sunset, it couldn't be any better.

The bars in Houhai is not as good as Sanlitun where The Tree and Rickshaw locate. Mainly, I think it's because many consulates are around Sanlitun not Houhai, so Sanlitun is more international, while Houhai is more commercial. Of course some bars in Sanlitun is also quite commercial, and they are just looking for money instead of entertaining customers. I can get dizzy quite fast with two beers, so normally I just have one beer and it makes me relaxed. Christmas dinner was in Rickshaw, and Christmas lunch was at the Olive. It was great, except the service at the Olive was really pathetic. All in all, I loved it.

The only thing that concerns me is I did not have time to catch up with Elyn who invited me before my coming to Beijing. I hope she can understand...I really had a tight trip. Also, my other friends texted me during the trip, but I did not reply promptly. My bad. I guess I am just libra, and you know what I mean.

It was a fruitful trip, and I hope I can have more time for trips soon.

760RMB for Moto A810, and I sold it. Considering electronics products prices drop quite fast, I did not wait another week or so to sell the cellphone I bought one month ago. The student can definitely bargain, and in the end, it seemed I was the one who wanted to sell it desperately. The price I bought was 1200RMB without the 2G card, so it's almost 40% off the price I paid. I wanted to sell for 900RMB, and yet he did not compromise at all. I knew he wanted to buy the cellphone, and he knew I wanted to sell it. I gave in finally. The way I see it is I am flexible, not stubborn, and probably after new year, it would be difficult to sell it on a better price. Anyway, now I can use the money to buy the ticket to Beijing for Christmas, even though I said I would have given this cellphone to my mom. Since I still have Nokia 5610XM, she might as well use that one which is better than any of the mobile phones I have bought lately. I don't feel bad at all, not quite excited either, though.

I paid my price to make myself feel that I am still having my sanity.

There are 4 days mandatory annual leave I have to take, and I won't be able to take them next year. So I will have my first annual leave during Christmas week, and actually it's my first Christmas holidays. I am supposed to be feel calm and peaceful when I applied to my manager, and yet hearing other companies are laying off employees all the time, I sort of feel a little uneasy. My pretext is one of my colleagues who is so busy all the time just had his one week annual leave, and I was also told, "take the annual leave if you are approved by your manager." Even though there are many people in the company who will not be able to take their 10 days or even more mandatory annual leave days before the end of December. For that, I feel a little guilty. But look at it this way: I am a RCG, and I should not be constrained to some invisible norm. I do the things I think is right.

So, together with two weekends, that's 9 days in total. It's going to be well used and planned, or I will feel sorry for myself.

Well, say that I am sensitive or whatever, but I just feel so ashamed of myself in this whole process sometimes. I really feel humble. I don't know if this is the right thing for me to do especially when the financial crisis is spreading across every corner of the world. I am just following my heart and instinct. Quite often, the idea of going the wrong way haunts me. Maybe I am not choosing the right way, because somehow I can "see" my future? Quite psychic. If so, I have nothing to blame except my fate.

There are lots of things I would like to buy, and the temptation is just a little bit more irresistible than I thought. Yet having been spending money continuously this month, I begin to realize that fashion or trend is just something outside and meaningless. I haven't bought any new jacket this year, because it's still not outdated to wear the old coat I have been wearing for 3 years. The result is unknown yet, and the process is still going on. Even if I get nothing in the end, I won't regret after all, since I have tried my best, and I did whatever I could. It's worth the time and money I spent, definitely.

Maybe after this cold winter, things will get better and brighter. At least, I won't have to worry about money once again, in the worst case. Psychologically, getting prepared for whatever the result might be is the best I can do. Undergoing major decision making inevitably made me stupid on some other things, such as buying three mobile phones in a row, and using three credit cards at the same time. Am I intellectually challenged? I couldn't help but ask myself sometimes. I will need some time to clean up the mess, but for now it's just not the time yet.

 

There are lots of things going on lately, and yet I just don't have the motive to write anything down here. It's interesting that when there is nothing big happening, I have the tendency to even write things as trivial as flushing the toilet after using it. Anyway, it's just I don't know where to start here at this time. My general feeling is spending money is so much easier than earning money. After I bought the third mobile phone in a row in 20 days, I begin to wonder if I need to see a doctor. I NEED EVERTYTHING TO BE PERFECT! Apparently, none of the mobile phones are perfect in terms of my criteria. It's tough. You see, if I did not make any money, I would not have been so picky, nor would I have spent so much useless time on pondering which mobile phone I needed. It's ridiculous! After I lost my Nokia 5300, I thought I just needed one simple cellphone which can make sure I am existing on the earth, and has a dictionary also. Blame Moto A810! That mobile phone is totally not worth 1300RMB, whose system is slow and poor and it took forever to type a message. So I started this maniac mobile phone purchasing journey when I made my mind I should buy another one. So here I am, with three mobile phones on my hands. Mom is speechless on this too.

It's almost the end of 2008, and there will be lots of spending based on my gauge. I should start saving in case the real winter comes, period.