Human nature is such that we usually take things for granted. We see negativity in everything but often miss out on the little blessings in life. We compare ourselves with others but forget how fortunate we are with what we have.
Sometimes, it is good to remind myself once in a while, ideally on a daily basis, that what I have is so wonderful and should be appreciated fully. Counting one’s blessings keeps me grounded and happy. As Marie Kondo says, it sparks joy in me.
This week is one of joy for me. I want to remember it and celebrate it again in my mind via this week’s blog. I have much to be thankful for and my week of celebration is definitely a highlight. As I turned 57 this week, so did my younger son as he celebrated his 22nd birthday. We share the same birth date, thanks to my better half 🙂
The week started on Sunday on a high note as we had a baby shower to welcome the first 100 days of a close relative’s baby girl. The long lunch stretched to almost dinner time as we moved from the function room to my sister-in-law’s condo apartment for part 2 with drinks. Lots of wine and finger food later, we watched Coldplay on Youtube to prepare for the battle ahead to acquire concert tickets for their visit to our tiny, red dot the next day.
Monday was purely Coldplay day. A Whatsapp chat group of 13 was set up for the battle plan to go online to purchase as many tickets as we can for the 4 concert dates in Jan 2024. It seems that literally a million souls had the same idea as we had queue numbers that went into 6 digits. Luck was with the younger ones and we managed to eventually buy 12 tickets.
The next day, it was made known in the news that almost 200,000+ tickets were sold within hours, making it the most highly anticipated event in S’pore history. Subsequently, the organizers announced 2 additional dates to satisfy the huge demand. A few days later, everyone cheered again as Taylor Swift revealed her new 2024 S’pore concert dates. Thanks to the Monday training, we were prepared to do battle once again LOL.
International acts are apparently avoiding HK as a venue, to the advantage of S’pore to have more dates. The China/USA tensions are probably the cause and I suspect that the recent HK authority’s clampdowns on the 2019 riots are discomforting for the Western artists.
20 Jun, Tues is the official birth date for my younger son and myself. We started the day with a Mala fish lunch which was a joint fav of ours. This was followed by a movie, utilizing our privileged status as students and senior citizens for a discounted price of $7.50 and $4.50 respectively. The latest Transformer movie was so-so.
The highlight of the day was our gathering of friends at a private dining venue that evening. 12 of us had many bottles of vino, good food and great company. We were uni mates that have known each other since 1987. We had studied together, started our careers and watched our kids grow to be young adults. The 36 years seem to have just flown by so quickly…
There was a further celebration for me the next day on Wed with another group of friends. We had known each other since our banking days and have been through thick and thin, battling one financial crisis after another. Ironically, great minds think alike and it was at the same restaurant as the night before. With great friends and wines, it doesn’t matter to me that we eat at the same place a few times in a row.
Thurs was mainly an errand day, trying to buy stuff for house repairs as well as preparing for the big KBBQ dinner on Sun when my older son finally returns home after completing his final paper in the UK. Evening time was spent attending the wake of a close friend’s mother.
Finally, on Fri, I ended the week with another 2 gatherings. The first was a morning breakfast get-together of another group of uni mates. This was our regular early morning meet-up to catch up on news and discuss uncle matters.
In the late afternoon, I attended a town hall meeting organised by the founder of the consultancy firm that I was a member of. It was a catch-up of like-minded people around my age group that had many years of work experience in the financial sector. Some important people in the fintech space were also there and we had a good chat about life in general. One of the ex-CIO did a wine presentation in which I learnt a number of new pointers on how to better appreciate our wines: older vines = great vino, to try the Pinot Nori from Musigny in Burgundy.
Taylor Swift’s concert dates for S’pore were announced a few days after the sold-out response from Coldplay on Mon. Like before, we had to register interest on Fri to get a special link to buy tickets in early Jul. The feedback was overwhelming and they had 8 Million (!!!) registration. Every father, mother, son, uncle and aunty was roped in to try to secure a maximum of 4 tickets if successful. 3 more dates were added, making it a total of 6 concerts like Coldplay.
I suspect that the huge response was due to a few reasons. (1) The rise of the acknowledgement of Asean spending power post-Covid, (2) The China/USA tension has resulted in all international acts skipping HK as a venue. It means more overseas visitors to our shores as a destination for concerts in the future.
It was indeed a wonderful week of celebrations and one worthy of writing it down to remind myself that we are blessed with great friends and family around us all the time. I treasure these moments and they make me happy. My older son is also flying back from the UK today as he completes his uni. A double blessing and celebration ahead!!
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