Great Singapore Sale 2011 - group madness!

From 27 May to 24 July 2011, many major stores and shopping malls in Singapore offer a range of exclusive promotions, including dining, wellness experience, and nightlife & entertainment! It’s what they locally call a ‘Great Singapore Sale’!This is one of the greatest events here, as Singaporeans absolutely love, love, love shopping! Singapore has without a doubt the most shopping-without-limits culture I have ever experienced in my life!

For eight glorious weeks shopping malls offer up to 70% discounts on almost everything! This is a major magnet to Singaporean women, who use their credit cards much more in this period. The central shopping belt of Orchard Road to the city suburbs turns crazy-busy as many Singaporeans as well as tourists want to enjoy the exclusive discounts in the most popular malls such as 313@somerset, ION Orchard, Orchard Central, TANGS Orchard, Wisma Atria, Marina Bay waterfront, Suntec City, etc.

Singapore is really a very fashion-conscious country, just when I look at the women in trains or buses commuting to work every day, it’s so obvious! They look like from a runway, fashion magazine, or in other words, as if they were to go to a party on Sunday evening or to a club. They wear fancy dresses, designer bags and shoes, as here you are measured based on what labels you wear… That’s indeed true, even my fellow Singaporean colleagues and friends admit this! During the Great Singapore Sale, GSS, it’s easier to get the designer items at a better price, so this is a great opportunity for Singaporeans to get their favorite brands!

My shopping experience is limited to occasional shopping sprees in specific shops and I have seen big crowds and queues especially when the new collections come in, but after visiting few more popular shops during lunch time in the Marina Square shopping mall this month, I must say I was a shopping-virgin! One of the shops I went to the other afternoon was Zara; it was full of women going through every rack and with queues at least 30-people-long! And they were rushing, because it was only the lunch break and the queues were so long… It was the busiest in the sale back end, where the clothes were in a mess, mixed together, even on the floor… In Ireland this was quite common sight in the shops, but not in Singapore! The women were trying the clothes on the office outfits they were wearing, to avoid queuing to the changing rooms… I was glad when we left the shop, as this shopping-madness was uncontrollable… The shopping malls are also open late to allow late night shopping for those working regular office hours; almost all of them close only around 11pm. I read that many women take time off work in groups way in advance the sale starts, just to shop during less busy hours and to get the best choice of the product; well, in here I cannot say that surprises me any more…

Although many countries struggle these days due to bad economy and inflation, Singapore is blossoming and pumping lots of cash into the system! Happy retailers can be proud and more than satisfied, as the MasterCard survey of the sale's first month showed cardholders splashed out a total of US$676.6 million (S$831 million) - 49 per cent more than in the same period last year! And the GSS is not over yet… alamak!

Made in China 中國製造

Autobiography In Five Chapters

1) I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I am lost... I am hopeless.
It isn't my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.

2) I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don't see it.
I fall in again.
I can't believe I'm in the same place.
But it isn't my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.

3) I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in... it's a habit.
My eyes are open.
I know where I am.
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.

4) I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

5) I walk down another street.



Portia Nelson

From: Sogyal Rinpoche, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying

iFly Singapore!

Last weekend we went to the newly opened iFly sky diving centre in Sentosa. I won discounted tickets on Facebook, for once I won something in an online competition, and so we made a booking came to the iFly earlier for the safety induction.

The building was very modern and the whole experience, quite interesting! From the very beginning we felt like we were on the plane… In the first chamber we were put in the mood of sky diving, as we were sat down on side benches, it was all dark and there was a big screen with a video of people jumping off the plane and diving in the air, making various moves and ‘dancing in the air’! It was all shown ‘from the plane’ perspective so we had an impression that we were sitting on the bench of a plane and that we were about to jump next.

Few minutes later we moved to another room where they provided detailed security briefing and explained the communication signs that the instructors would usually use during a dive, as it’s not possible to talk in the wind chamber, daah! We met our instructor there and everyone got a try in a proper flying position on the matt provided. Instructor tested our memory for communication signs and we moved on.

When we were in the main fly area of the building our instructor gave us the gear: overalls, helmets, ear plugs and goggles. The wind tube had a small staging area where our group sat awaiting their turn. Each of us went one by one to the wind chamber, also as if we were on a bench of a plane and taking turns to jump! Everyone went twice and for those more adventurous or crazy ones, you could go for the 3rd time!

It was really funny feeling being in the wind tube, as there were different laws governing your every move: the laws of physics! When I did my first flight I was smiling and laughing out of excitement and didn’t even feel when my saliva started going down my chin… Yeah, I didn’t really see that coming! My hair in a pony tail became all tangled; it took me more than half an hour to comb them at home after this.


The third dive was in a tandem with the instructor; he grabs your arm and leg and spirals up and down few times at a very high speed! It was an amazing experience, and added even more adrenaline to the whole experience. The speed of wind went up from about 150kph in the previous dives to over 200kph!

The last dive was at an extra cost, and they do the tandem trick only on the third one, nice marketing move. There is no photography allowed there so you can only buy their pictures at $25 each, so it was quite an expensive afternoon! The tickets to iFly vary from about $70-100, depending what time you are available to fly, so it’s not the cheapest entertainment in town. It was so worth it though!

A piece of advice for the iFly first timers: bring sports shoes and comfy, stretchy trousers; and during your dive: close your mouth, maybe smile for the pictures but do not laugh, seriously; and for ladies with long hair, hide it under your helmet to avoid the combing pain! Otherwise, you will love the experience!

Made in China 中國製造

The Blind Men and the Elephant

Several citizens ran into a hot argument about God and different religions, and each one could not agree to a common answer. So they came to the Lord Buddha to find out what exactly God looks like.

The Buddha asked his disciples to get a large magnificent elephant and four blind men. He then brought the four blind to the elephant and told them to find out what the elephant would "look" like.

The first blind men touched the elephant leg and reported that it "looked" like a pillar. The second blind man touched the elephant tummy and said that an elephant was a wall. The third blind man touched the elephant ear and said that it was a piece of cloth. The fourth blind man hold on to the tail and described the elephant as a piece of rope. And all of them ran into a hot argument about the "appearance" of an elephant.

The Buddha asked the citizens: "Each blind man had touched the elephant but each of them gives a different description of the animal. Which answer is right?"

Pulau Ubin Trip

Few weeks back we made a trip to one of the Singapore get-away islands in the north east of Singapore called Pulau Ubin. This small island is nothing like Singapore, there are no traces of modernization, no skyscrapers, no shopping malls, no restaurants… In fact, it is like Singapore good few decades back when it was a ‘kampung’ – a village! It is a great spot for Singaporeans when they want to a break from modern lifestyle…

Our trip started in Changi Harbor Terminal, where we bought tickets for the bumboat. We had to wait until the boat was full and the cigarette smoking ‘captain’ decided, we could take off! The emergency vests on the boat were all covered in mould so we really doubted the safety of the boat, aiyoh…

Pulau Ubin welcomes its visitors in a small harbor, so called jetty, with few shops where you can rent bikes, small ‘restaurants’ looking more like hawker centers serving famous seafood. We decided to try it out and had a steamed fish and a coconut drink! I must say they were both delicious, and from what we saw on other tables, food looked fresh and quite tasty! We rented a bike, got a map of the island and off we disappeared in the jungle!

The roads around Pulau Ubin are rather rustic but it was quite nice break from the stylish and concrete Singapore! The island is small, but we wanted to explore every corner of it! We pedaled through the whole island, under the coconut trees, near old rubber tree plantations and old kampong houses, there was even a Buddist temple there! Pulau Ubin has a great biking trail system, with different difficulty levels from blue to black, so every biker can enjoy a day out cycling here. There are many break-out stations with locals selling fresh coconuts, cold drinks and other refreshments.

One of the surprises we had was weather changing in seconds! We visited an observation tower, had a break walking around the jungle and on the coastal boardwalk in the east part of the island and we took a turn to the central Pulau Ubin. It started raining, but as the rain did not bother us initially we decided to continue along the road. Little did we know about rain in Pulau Ubin… Within few seconds it was lashing rain, really lashing! It took us about a minute to get to the next shelter, and… we were completely soaked!

One of the highlights of the trip was amazing nature experience! We saw few interesting birds’ species, fish types, monkeys, even the komodo dragon! We took a wrong turn that turned out to be a dead end with a Buddhist temple, and on the way back to the main road a komodo dragon crossed out way! I wanted to stop and take a picture, but Herve was the sensible one and reminded me that after all these lizards can be dangerous and very fast… Few years back there were stories of komodos attacking people in Indonesia… we took off as quickly as our leg muscles allowed us…

After returning the bikes we went to the Secret Garden where they grow various types of fruit, flowers, herbs and vegetables. It was the first time I saw fields of aloe vera, lady fingers, or curry trees! It is well hidden in the other side of Jetty, Herve discovered this place when he was in the island some time ago, a magical and secluded place…

When we finished visiting the Secret Garden the dark clouds were back, so we rushed to the bumboat. Luckily there was one just leaving, so when we just got on board, a huge thunderstorm began! Pulau Ubin was an interesting and relaxing island, perfect for a day break from Singapore, especially for nature and cycling enthusiasts, but with that thunderstorm, we were happy we were on our way home…

Made in China 中國製造

Some days we feel like strangers. When our heart opens, we will realize that we belong just here. Those who are awake live in a state of constant amazement.

Singapore Exotic Fruit Tasting!

One of the great benefits of travelling to new places is discovering new foods and cuisine. Singapore is a never-ending-story when it comes to food, as on almost every corner of this mysterious country you can find foods you would not know of or have never tried before! I mean all types of food, meats, seafood, various types of rice and noodles, dumplings, sweat and sour, boiled, fried, steamed, you name it… Last week I went to discover the exotic fruit Singapore has to offer with a group of girlfriends, what an excursion it was!

Fruit markets are very popular in Singapore, not only among tourists, but actually you can spot a lot of locals going there and enjoying the great variety of fruit on a regular basis. The fruit markets have tables and fresh water, they serve fruit and drinks so they are like small outdoor ‘fruit bars’! We saw many of them in the Gaylang area and they were all quite busy. The must-have in every fruit stand is DURIAN, a very special fruit I came across with already, and let me say: yak!, a fruit of special importance to South East Asian, they call it a ‘king of fruits’ here. Its distinctive odor is unforgettable, locals consider it fragrant, but I think it’s very overpowering and somehow offensive as it is very difficult to get rid off once you are around it for too long! Let me also remind you durians are forbidden in all kinds of transport, you can pay a fine is you are caught with it in the train or other public places! Well, those who are durian-lovers please forgive my resistance to ever falling in love with this part of Asian culture, I found other exotic fruit I came to enjoy and unfortunately, they are not durians…

So we chose one of the biggest food markets in Geylang; we ordered coconut drinks and a few types of fruit to sample, we sat down and started the exotic fruit tasting feast! We tried dragon fruit, mangos, rambutans, longans and mangosteens! These were amazing, juicy, sweet, fresh, rich in antioxidants and most importantly, so delicious!

Dragon fruit, also known as Pitaya fruit, is one of the cactus species with creamy sweet pulp inside. It is very nutritious and has very intensive color, beware as it might stain your clothes! You can find dragon fruit with red/purple or white pulp. Yummy!

Rambutans are vivid red fruit covered with hairy spikes that taste a little bit like lychees. To me they looked like ‘hairy fruit! They have white juicy flesh inside which is very sweet yet refreshing. Very original flavor I must admit!

Longans, also known as ‘dragon eyes’ because their shape and size, are small, hard, round, their shells are brown and thin. They are quite fun to open, as they are very juicy and the shells are firm, so it is not easy to get to get to the fruit especially to the first-timers. The fruit flesh inside is also white and sweet…

Mangosteens we tried are purple and have thick shells (there are also yellow ones, but we didn’t try them at the time). When you peel them you find white juicy flesh inside. It’s sweet and very refreshing! It’s called the "Queen of Tropical Fruits", it is one of the most popular tropical fruits in South East Asia and, contrary to what the name might suggest, they are not related to mangoes at all. They do not taste like mangoes… Mangosteens were my favorite fruit of the evening! Definitely, you need to try when you visit Singapore or any other neighboring country!

After all those delicious fruit we were all full and high on sugar. I cannot wait for another discovery trip like that! So girls, what are we discovering next, lah? We did Singapore Sling, Japanese chocolates, vegan food, exotic fruit, what about the famous Singapore chili crab and seafood, can?

Culinary Musings - Grilled Lemon Salmon

One of my favorite dishes is lemon grilled salmon with rice and veggie salad! This is also one of the easiest meals to cook, as you need to boil rice, cut vegetables for the salad and put salmon in the oven for about 20 minutes! That’s so easy and quick…

Grilled Lemon Salmon

I usually place a slice of salmon in aluminum paper, sprinkle lemon and lime juice over it, add some herbs and spices, let it marinate a little and bake in the oven for 20 minutes in 250°. It has always worked for me and it tastes fantastic! I like adding garlic sprinkle and Italian herbs on top, as these bring a nice flavor to the fish. If you have green onion you can add it also, it adds a nice aroma to salmon... When you take it out of the oven in the aluminum and put the salmon slices directly on the plate, pour the lemon sauce over it. But I serve it in the ‘aluminum boats’ because the salmon does not get dry as it stays in the lemon dressing throughout the whole meal!

Enjoy!

School time! Singapore Education System

Singapore is such a hot country, that it’s really summer all year long in here! I thought of that time back in Poland or any other European country, when kids are awaiting the summer holiday and already in May and June and think of what they want to do in the 2 months school break! Children in Europe also have a short Christmas break and about 2 weeks winter break around January/February. Here it’s all different, the school year starts in January and there are 2 longer breaks: all June and all December. So different, right? But actually this school year organization makes it easier on the students, as they have time to study for 5 months and then rest for one full month and the whole cycle repeats itself till you graduate the university…

The whole educational system is totally different too. It took me some time to understand this whole educational machine; it differs from the European system and they use different terminology to describe certain school levels.

Primary School
A child starts studying at Primary One at the age of six and studies for six years. The overall aim of primary education is to give students a good grasp of English language, Mother Tongue and Mathematics. It finishes with a National Examination (Primary School Leaving Examination) and students are encouraged to participate in Co-Curricular Activities and Community Involvement Programme. It’s quite rich in some extra development activities already at this young age... Most of my colleagues with young kids have to work their weekends around their kids’ horse-riding, dancing, karate lessons or science clubs! And so the rat race begins here…

Secondary School (that’s our ‘junior high’ or ‘middle school’)
Second School Education places students in the Special, Express, Normal (Academic) or Normal (Technical) courses according to how they perform at the PSLE. The different curricular emphases are designed to match their learning abilities and interests. In secondary school, kids can choose based on the examination results to enter in the School Cambridge General Certificate of Education 'Ordinary' (GCE 'O's) level examinations. Kids study there for 4 years if following the express/special route and finish with the ‘O Levels’ or 5 years if they study at the ‘normal’ pace and graduate with so called ‘N Levels’. Of course in here people are so competitive when talking about education that the express route has become a ‘norm’ so when your child goes for the originally ‘regular’ 5 year cycle, he/she is considered ‘behind’… That is a lot of pressure on a child but you need to keep up if you want to stay with your friends!

Pre-university education (that’s our ‘secondary school’ or ‘high school’)
After the secondary level, it's time to decide where to go next:
• Technical (ITE) or commercial institutes (MDIS, MIS, TMC, SIM)
• Polytechnics (Nanyang, Temasek, Ngee Ann, Singapore Polytechnic) to pursue diploma courses (‘polytechnic’ in Polish is a technical university!, here it’s a vocational school)
• Pre-university centers or junior colleges to prepare for the Senior Cambridge General Certificate of Education 'Advanced' (GCE 'A') level examinations and later on tertiary education

ITE – The primary role of ITE is to ensure that its graduates have the technical knowledge and skills that are relevant to industry. ITE is the national authority for the setting of skills standards and the certification of skills in Singapore.

Polytechnics – were set up with the mission to train middle-level professionals to support the technological and economic development of Singapore. Reflecting the wide range of abilities, aptitudes and interests of their students, the polytechnics train students with relevant and specific skills for the workplace to give Singapore a competitive edge as we move into a knowledge-based economy. These two can serve as vocational training schools; students can start working within their trade straight after graduating from these.

The Pre-U Education prepares students for the GCE "A" Level examination at the end of the 2-year junior college or 3-year centralized institute course. Students who completed their pre-university education will receive a School Graduation Certificate (A levels, or Polish ‘Matura’). All students take part in at least one CCA (Co-Curricular Activities). CCA performance is considered for university admission, that’s interesting as well!

Tertiary Education (third level education or university/technical university)
For tertiary education, the National University of Singapore (NUS), the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Singapore Management University (SMU) provide a wide choice of courses. Singapore's undergraduate university education aspires to prepare students not only for today's world but also for a world where there will be jobs that have yet to be invented! There’s some creativity, finally! University students are highly competitive in Singapore; they want to finish their studies as soon as it is possible to start working. I don’t know why they are in such a hurry; the university time was one of the best periods of my life! I wish it could have lasted longer :)

Singapore is a very particular and competitive country while talking about education. I heard that the curriculum is very strict and all students must go thought the same material at the same pace, so it’s almost like education in the army-style environment! (You might know that army is obligatory for every male Singaporean, they serve 2 years at the age of 18 and every year they need to come back for few weeks’ refresher training!) The schools are controlled by the local government, the schedule, teachers, syllabuses, and the school rules all come from the ‘administration’. The students become a part of the ‘system’ from early years of education, and they quickly learn that opposing it in any way will not work to their advantage. This is a little too ‘one-fits-all’ approach, as there is little room for creativity and greatness, as many kids cannot reach for the sky from their rigid educational system. It’s perfect though for training the mass equal-in-brain society with a collective mindset of greatness that gives a constant spin to the system.

Culinary Musings - Skinny Veg Pizza

Our recent change in diet made us experiment with food. At the beginning we were a little lost as we couldn’t reprogram our minds to think: these lovely vegetables are your whole meal! Enjoy! Actually, the typical meal has always been: meat + potatoes/rice/pasta + side salad. This is purely psychological… So now we buy products we never even used before but also, use the usual ingredients in a most unusual way. Here’s one!

Skinny Veg Pizza

I used the wraps/flatbread as a pizza base and topped it with tomato sauce, mushrooms, fresh tomatoes, carrots (Herve’s invention!), parmesan and herbs. You can add any other veg on the top, depending on your personal taste buds or what you have in your fridge! Too easy? Well, definitely easy, delicious and healthy! And quick, as the prep time was about 10 minutes and cooking, between 8-10!

Tomato sauce: tomato paste, pesto sauce, oregano, Italian herbs, oil of olive.

Cooking tip: as the wrap/flatbread is quite soft, you may place it on the aluminum paper instead of the oven grill directly.

Buon appetito!

Going Green…

It is amazing how popular culture and media can formulate our views and habits. No news, that’s common knowledge, right? Well, it is easier to go with the crowd, we eat and drink what we want, we buy and wear what’s trendy, we do what’s common and expected of us in our cultures… We have free will to make life choices that can change our future. Do we really?

Recently we changed our eating habits with Herve and eliminated meat from our diet. What the hell? You have been eating it all your life? Well, a little bit of information and observation (have to give credit to Fred for this), and you realize, wow, we are ones of those people following the mass and eating according to the media standards: fast food, meat, ham, burgers, chicken nuggets and wings, milk and yoghurts, eggs… Here’s a thing, that’s just great marketing that works pretty well, but there is little truth about what we really consume while eating those. Good quality meat is expensive so it must be a luxury; we all want to have it, why wouldn’t I eat a lovely steak with my friends? They say milk is healthy and high on calcium, prevents osteoporosis, really? Again, that’s just good PR…

Before the 20th century people cultivated land, lived more active lifestyles and ate plant based foods, there were no cancers, diabetes, heart and cholesterol diseases, metabolism-related illnesses, obesity, etc. Today, we are at a high risk of suffering from high blood pressure, high cholesterol, excess weight, and many others death causing heath problems. Why? Unhealthy shift of lifestyle choices: consuming animal based foods, often in excess, smoking, alcohol, high amount of calories intake vs. very low physical activity, increased use of mechanized transportation and a greater labor-saving technology at home, less physically demanding work, taking up less active recreational pursuits such as TV or computer games, living fast-paced lives that force us to rush forward without thinking of our health and lifestyle. Shall I continue? No need I think…

According to a 2006 report by the Livestock, Environment And Development Initiative, the livestock industry is one of the largest contributors to environmental degradation worldwide, and modern practices of raising animals for food contributes on a "massive scale" to air and water pollution, land degradation, climate change, and loss of biodiversity. Factory farming requires large areas of land and large quantities of feed, what leads to forest cutting and increased rate of species extinction. What is more, producing a certain quantity of food in meat requires much more water than producing the same amount of food in grain; it roughly takes 60, 108, 168, and 229 pounds of water to produce a pound of potatoes, wheat, corn and rice respectively; a pound of beef however, requires 12,000 gallons of water! Factory farming is also known for its cruel treatment of the animals… (more details: Wikipedia)

Using your link Ivano :)

So going green starts here, in our house, in our kitchen, with our family and friends. Do not let popular culture and society habits take control over your lifestyle choices, this is your life, your body and your future. If eliminating meats can have such enormous benefits to my health and the environment, we choose to go green!

Made in China 中國製造

An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole, which she carried across her neck. One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water. At the end of the long walk from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full. For a full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water.

Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do. After two years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream. “I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house.”

The old woman smiled, “Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot’s side? That’s because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house.”

One year older and richer!

Where there are new beginnings, there are also endings. New Year and new plans for the 2011 made us think and talk about the last year. We were in the swimming pool on a sunny Sunday afternoon, on the 2nd January and realizing, wow, we would never think we would be doing this in the middle of the winter time! As January is a month we know as snowy, cold, white and with minus temperatures! So here we are, in the pool and talking about the last year. I didn’t realize this until Herve asked me, but the last year was really full of changes and abundant in new wonderful experiences!

It was the first time I had to quit a job I really liked at EMC Cork; I moved to Singapore; I came to Asia, first time ever; in my new EMC job in Singapore I work on projects that include all Asia Pacific HR Teams so I get to know how things work in all Asia Pacific!; I started to co-lead our regional volunteer projects at work; I started dancing West Cost Swing, Hip Hop and Contemporary Dance; I learned how to play netball; I attended a Kali Majapahit outdoor Marital Arts outdoor workshop; I went to a Tahitan dance class; I became semi-vegetarian; I learned how to use the shotgun and short guns; I went to Muslim mosques and Hindu shrines; I tried totally new cuisine and variety of Asian foods; I got to know some great, creative and generous people here (and still miss those I left behind…); I can swim in the pool more less every day of the year as the weather here does not change much (apart from occasional monsoon showers); and finally, I set up a blog and started writing!

This last year brought some changes for the rest of my family too, as my mum moved to a new place, my brother relocated to Nanjing in China and got married there with his fiancée… Only my sis stayed put, still in Ireland and happy out...

With all changes came new experiences and I must admit that my whole life shifted to this totally new dimension last year! I started getting a different perspective on life, food, religion, spirituality, relationships, tolerance and how one chooses to live their lives! They often say that travelling broadens your mind; I would even say that getting to know other cultures and traditions influence and change your life in most unexpected ways. My last year’s experienced taught me that, at any stage of your life, you shouldn’t take things for granted and think you are the person you have always wanted to be, as your perceptions change constantly as we learn new skills, meet new people and grow from personal experiences. I hope you find some time to stop, that’s not easy in modern and fast-paced society, and reflect on all you learned last year, as we tend to think of problems and failures more than successes and happy moments… I think it’s quite rewarding to realize that there are so many of things that made our lives so interesting and colorful! Have another colorful year and thanks for reading…