Chinese New Year - The Year of the Snake

It's Chinese New Year this weekend, so take note - if you didn't know this and were going to attempt to get into a place for dim sum or a proper Chinese dinner (ie: NOT Yang's Chinese Western Kitchen & Pizza, or any of that ilk serving Lemon Chicken and Egg Rolls), be prepared to wait a long time. And when you do finally make it through the gauntlet of a million other Chinese folks also trying to get in for a dinner, be prepared for some of the WORST service of the year, and the GRUMPIEST Grumpy McGrumperson servers you'll encounter in your life due to the high volume and stress from the season. You've been warned.

Okay, now having said that, Chinese New Year is also a time to reflect back on the year that was, and look forward to the opportunities of the coming one. The year of the Dragon was an awesome adventure for Anita and I, in which we somehow managed to visit Montreal, Vancouver, Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Korea in the span of 9 months. But while we seemingly squandered our earnings on travel, we did also manage to put away for a rainy day, and feel very optimistic about what the future holds, despite the uncertainty in the world economy. Anita continued her studies in Japanese, and I took up teaching with a photography school. We also both started running in the summer (to slim down from all the good food we ate on our travels), but also spent many an hour with friends at beer halls sampling the recent explosion in craft beer culture. And then of course, we capped off the year celebrating Christmas and Non-Chinese New Year together with my brother and parents (which is somewhat of a rarity given that my folks live half a world away).

I'm not one to make resolutions, but I will set some goals for this coming year, The Year of the Snake, and see where I land on them when we do this again next year:

-Spend more time with friends, and reconnect with ones I've lost touch with
-Catch more live concerts
-Shoot a ton more film
-Develop B&W film at home (success!)
-Summit at least 5 peaks
-Visit South America for the first time
-Eat healthy, cut out junk food
-Donate more time and money
-Curse less, laugh more, and most importantly:
-Be as good a husband as Anita is a wife (sappy, I know).

I want to wish you all good health, peace and prosperity in the Year of the Snake. Gong Hei Fat Choi, friends!