holiday recap!

december was a whirl of parties and food. the first day of 2010 finds me on the couch, trying to recall what happened this last month, sorting through photos on my computer while slowly digesting both the mound of food and alcohol in my stomach and the mishmash of thoughts in my head.

in brief:

a few friends from the arts group and i are chipping in to rent a studio space situated in an alley where tons of artists work. besides using the space for our own creative efforts, we are also hoping to host various events and commit the space as a nucleus for community. christmas was the perfect opportunity to throw an inaugural bash, and a bash we threw indeed! mulled wine, yummy treats, sing-along, and interactive art...we managed to squeeze in about 100 people in our small studio.


continuing our caroling tradition, some friends and i took it to the streets of shanghai again this year. perhaps it's because of preparations for the world expo, but the police were much more vigilant this year and we were shooed (firmly but politely) by security guards and cops on three separate occasions for drawing a crowd and creating a "potentially dangerous" situation. at one point, a newspaper photographer snapped some shots, which appeared in a local newspaper the next day - online version (in chinese) here.

we planned for our finale to be in the lobby of this big shopping mall that featured a wonderful open atrium with amazing acoustics - we sang here last year and it served as a fantastic finish. to our surprise, we arrived to find a large stage set up smack in the center of the lobby with bright lights flashing and techno dance music playing. they were setting up for some kind of performance, with "christmas carnival" sprawled out in purple and pink above the stage.

our fearless group leader, morris, asked the guys running the show if they wouldn't mind turning off the techno music so we could sing a few songs, and to our surprise they not only agreed but invited us to sing on stage! so we ended up as the "opening act" for this brazilian dance number that featured scantily clad women with huge feathered headdresses and one bare chested man whose hip-wiggling could rival that of ricky martin's.


we hosted our annual christmas party at the gallery, and our non-profit highlight this year was 'compassion for migrant children' (CMC). there was a special exhibit of CMC photos set up for sale, and we held a lucky draw with ticket proceeds benefiting CMC. it was a great turnout this year - especially a lot of young chinese folks who had heard about the event via word of mouth.

(photos by henry sha)

i hosted my own christmas gathering at my place - a small brunch on christmas day. nothing like hearty fare, fun friends and even a little impromptu music to celebrate christmas.


last but not least: new year's eve. kicked off with a dinner at my place. the menu ran the gamut from beef pasta casserole to dumplings to krispy kreme donuts (yes, we have a krispy kreme in shanghai now!), and of course, lots of wine and bubbly. we rented a van this year (after the nightmarish ordeal of trying to hail taxis on a freezing new year's eve last year), so we rode in style to azul/vargas grill for drinks following dinner. after reaching midnight and being showered in confetti, we were ready to groove and headed over to lost heaven on the bund, a gorgeous restaurant/lounge/bar with DJs that laid down some heavy beats for the evening's celebrations.


whew! so, that's the holidays at a quick glance.

2009 - it's been grand. thanks for the memories.

2010 - bring it. i'm ready.


cups of coffee - 1

mood: laaaaaazy