Posts Tagged ‘holiday’

Recession? What recession?

Just back from holiday. It went quite well, very relaxing, and the the weather seemed to be moderate than usual.

Weather was not the only thing that went well. Economy.  NZ as a whole, despite the worries,  spent more compare with the last holiday season. Even me, a typical Chinese who loves to save rather than spend, nearly exhausted my purse.

However, it doesn't mean that I and other shoppers have full confidence on the economy, instead, I feel exactly the opposite. That's why I have spent most of my money on  stocking up  clothing,  small appliances and  other stuffs I really need rather than luxuries,  so I don't need spend another cent on non-necessities until the next Christmas.

Most businesses fully realised this kind of thinking among the shoppers.  They also need  to  keep themselves alive in 2009,so there was also an urgency for them,  that they need to convert stocks to cash as soon as possible before the recession hits them hard.

It's kind of a win win situation, both shoppers got what they want in the holiday.  Actually I'm now starting to think that recession isn't that bad as I first thought - reduced price on food, oil ... nearly every thing, aren't those what we wanted a year ago? This sounds more like greedy businessmen's recession, rather than the one for the general public.

For those who are likely lost their jobs in the new year (National predicts that will be about extra 4% of the work force), a comprehensive and working social safety net is where their confidence lays.People know the state will help them if they found themselves in trouble, so when come to spending, they were less hesitated to open up the purse.

holiday season

As the Christmas and New Year fast approaching, I'm planning to take a holiday away from this blog, and possibly away from Auckland as well:), so this will be my last post in 2008.

No doubt that 2008 was a tough year, people, especially my fellow countrymen back home, they had suffered a lot - nationwide snowstorm, earthquake in Sichuan ... but as what we always say, a new year means a new start.  You cannot go back in time and change what's already happened - they are set in concrete;  but the future is always in our hands and we can do whatever we want with it, the only thing you need to do is just don't let the chance go.

Bush Senior's vice president, Dan Quayle once quoted: " The future will be better tomorrow". Sounds funny, but in principle it's actually quite right. The force that drives most of us to work hard is indeed the belief that there will be a "better tomorrow". This is also the force that drives our world to progress.

But  that kind of thinking can sometime get you into a really unhealthy loop.  You always work for tomorrow but never stops for a while and enjoy what you achieved today and in the past. So don't push yourself too hard in a new year, achieve what you can, and let others go. Whenever you feel tired, rest for a while, look back and see what you have accomplished, then you will find the power to keep yourself going.

I'll be back sometime after the new year, until then, I wish every one here to have a very happy, and safe holiday.

I need to take a break from here...

It's closing to end of this semister, busiest time of the year. I messed up quite a lot of my work and study during the year, and it's now time to catch up.

I won't invest too much time in here from today to possibly until end of this month(June).

However, I am still closely monitoring development of news such as China Earthquake, NZ elections so on ... So you can still expect to see frequent new updates in my Digest, well if you subscribed it.

Today's the Queen's Birthday holiday, but what's more important than that, it marks the start of Winter season. The weather's so cold at night and I was struggling to type up my work.

Take care of yourself - get worm clothsing and don't catch cold -  if you are a student it  definitely gonna costs you a lot  if you catch cold around this time.

It's Labour Day today...

... But do you know that this year's New Zealand Labour Day coincides with International Stuttering Awareness Day?

Started in 1998, this day is aiming to "recognizes the growing alliance between speech-language professionals and consumers, who are learning from each other and working together to share, give support, and educate one another and the general public on the impact that stuttering has on individuals' lives."

I'm very open about this. I suffered from stutter since the day I started to talk (in Chinese), and still, today, though significantly improved.

In early years I was laughed by nearly every people in my life, even my relatives. I never lable those laughters "discrimination" because it's not their fault: there was very little public awareness on stutter, and people don't treat it as a clinical disorder, especially in a Chinese society where most eldlies (including my grandparents) believe that give their children a slap on the face everytime they stutter will cure the disorder.

This sort of things happended in my life in just about 15 years ago.

I settled right here in New Zealand around 2003. What I really enjoyed about New Zealand society you feel far less discriminated because of your speech difficulty. Most people will wait quietly to let you to finish the sentence without any laughter.

But in most of the cases, people who waitted me to finish the sentence are not awared of that I'm a stutter; based on my Asian apperance, most of people thought that I just have a very bad English.

This International Stuttering Awareness Day is not well observed in New Zealand. Stutter happens only in less than 1% of population. In a small population such as in New Zealand, this 1% can be easily ignored.

However, I'm very grateful that I had the experience of being ignored and discriminated. Because of this, I treat every person in my life, whether they are physically or mentally disabled, fairly, and in the same respect that I would give to everyone else.