Welcoming In The New

It has been only the second time since 1989 that I have spent the start of the Lunar New Year in Australia, and also the second time in my life that I had to work on that special day. Never had I seen and heard so much rainfall in this festive season. This festival has always been associated by me with the heat of summery temperatures, but the start of a new zodiac cycle currently has also coincided with the possible breaking of the drought in eastern Australia.

Whilst most television screens in both East and South-east Asia go agog with a Chinese theme this past week, it has been interesting to note the screening of the finale of Survivor China on Australian TV to coincide with the weekend. The festive day is also marked by a significant parade down Sydney's main CBD thoroughfares from Hyde Park to Chinatown. Last night I was attending a dinner and function near the Queen Vic Building - amongst the 176 guests, it was good to see some familiar faces dining and dancing. Food choice is important during this season - it seems to emphasise that we are what we eat, and we were served fish, chicken, prawns - those dishes with auspicious names. Being Australia, there were the unavoidable dim sims and fried rice.

Personally, it has also been a time to close off matters of the past year and go on with the new. That is partly why I love the New Year - it provides a symbolic demarcation. An uncle in Vancouver had just sent an email anecdote about idealy having the gratitude in experiencing past unpleasantries, and then the trick is being able to jump on to the next dimension. So I am using the festivities as a kind of tool to jump over into the next phase, and take the next train, so to speak.

To welcome in the new is to think, do and enjoy new things. I have a new team at work. As the symbolic Rat scurried in with the new calendar, I am fortunate to have four colleagues join me as speakers in presenting some perspectives of my business function at a mini forum. It must have gone well, I guess, judging from the feedback received and the countenance of the listening guests. I love the audio-visual facilities of small lecture theatres and held this event at a Graduate Business School. An audience has to be kept motivated and captivated, even with token fortune cookies served in a traditional Straits Chinese basket. Each of us in the five-person speaker group has unique delivery styles, but we still managed to weave some continuity and informality into the whole package to make our listening audience relax (or so I think!) I then thoroughly enjoyed the subsequent four multi-media shows, coordinated by Lauren, which served to inject a bit of fun and reflection to close the forum - but primarily as a way to acknowledge the contribution of some individuals to my business unit and as a way of saying how much I have learned from each of them.