Into 2007

And so to 2007. Wow. To think yet another year has passed by already and one more new year has dawned upon us! The proverbial "they" have been credited with asserting that "time flies when you're having fun". But, increasingly, my own feeling is that time flies -- period!

So how did you observe the passing of 2006 and the arrival of 2007?

Me -- I was rather characteristically on the computer and so engrossed with what I was doing that I lost track of the time. Thus it was that I only got to realizing that midnight had arrived upon hearing the sound of fireworks being set off some distance away from me yet near enough to be a loud enough ringer-in of the new year.

And no, I didn't proceed to drink any champagne because, among other things, I don't like the taste of it that much and it's the one type of drink that can leave me with a hangover even after I drink just one glass of it!

So, at the risk of being labelled the 1st January equivalent of Christmas' Scrooge, please don't expect me to make any new year's resolutions, never mind keep them! Also, should anyone wonder, yup re my having not made any new year's resolutions for years, if not decades!!

Come to think about it, I just don't tend to participate or observe all that many festivities any more -- with the one exception being Chinese New Year. (Funnily enough, even when I lived in such as Philadelphia and consequently was far away from home, I would at least make it a point to wear red -- the color of celebration for the Chinese -- on the first day of the Chinese New Year!)

In any event, maybe it's a function of my increased age that I just don't get too excited and "in the mood" to be festive all that much any more. Or perhaps it's due to holidays seeming to be a dime a dozen over here in Malaysia, the country which reputedly has more public holidays than any other territory in the world.

For those who are wondering: all in all, Malaysia has fifteen national public holidays a year (and quite a few state-specific holidays besides). Actually, if I were to be precise, this year, it has sixteen national public holidays because 2007 is one of those Roman calendar years which has not just one but two Hari Raya Hajis (due to the Muslim calendar year being some days shorter than that of its Roman equivalent); with the first of these, that for the Muslim calendar year of 1427, falling today and the second of these, that for the Muslim calendar year of 1428, being due to fall on 20th December, 2007.

For the record, the following are Malaysia's national holidays in 2007:-
- New Year's Day - January 1st
- Hari Raya Haji (1427) - January 1st
- Awal Muharram (the Muslim New Year) - January 20th
- Chinese New Year - February 18th and 19th (strictly speaking, Chinese New Year is celebrated over 15 days but Malaysia "only" has the first two days as national holidays)
- Prophet Muhammad's Birthday - March 31st
- Labour Day (spelt the British English way and celebrated on the same day as the British Labour Day) - May 1st
- Wesak Day (i.e., which appears to be known as Vesak in many other countries) - May 31st
- The Official Birthday of the Yang Dipertuan Agong (King of Malaysia) - June 2nd
- National Day - August 31st
- Nuzul al Qu'ran (Quran reading celebration) - October 1st
- Hari Raya Puasa - October 13th and 14th
- Deepavali - November 9th
- Hari Raya Haji (1428) - December 20th
- Christmas Day - December 25th

As for Penang's additional state holidays, they are:-
- Thaipusam - February 1st
- Official Birthday of the Yang Di-Pertua (trans. Governor) of Penang - July 14th

...though I would almost be willing to swear that during my (Convent) school days, we observed Good Friday and Easter Sunday too. But yeah, even without those two, it really is a lot of public holidays -- especially in the months of January and October -- as it currently stands! Also, don't count on me to blog about too many of them in the coming months or even years... ;)