(Some) things I learnt in 2008

1. How to make tiramisu.
2. No matter what the recipe suggests, you should add at least double the amount of Amaretto to the ingredients of tiramisu. Otherwise you are just eating over-priced Italian cheese with swimming, soggy, coffee-dunked finger biscuits.
3. ‘Friends’ are precious. But the old-school definition of friends. Not the Facebook definition. I know this because I managed to become friends with myself on Facebook today. Now I’m getting spam from me. Beat that.
4. To travel is indeed fantastic. But to have a home to call your own is truly a blessing.
5. It’s easy to forgive. But even more difficult to forget. No matter how good the intentions are, time is usually the winning ingredient. The more time you have, the easier it becomes to forget. I think. I just hope that I have enough time left to forget.
6. ‘Plum’, ‘doughnut’ and ‘turnip’ are politically-correct and quite acceptable forms of insult. You can call someone a plum and not feel that you have necessarily offended them.
7. George Bush is a Plum.
8. Robert Mugabe is the Emperor of Plums.
9. That going to a doctor does not solve all your problems. They can ease the symptoms. But it’s best not to get sick in the first instance. Doctors know this, I think.
10. Some friends are like olives. Drinking a martini is generally better with them involved.
11. I like Phil Collins.
12. It’s lovely to work for a company that you like. Let alone a boss that you like, too. But when the chips are down, all is fair in love and war. This is not a criticism or a reference to any person living or dead. It’s just a thought. A boss once told me, “Be patient with your leaders. One day, you may have to become one.”
13. The tattoo I got when I was 21 (a Celtic armband) is the 2008 equivalent of a ‘Tweetie the Bird’ tattoo from the early 90s (which Doughnuts got when they were 21).
14. You never really appreciate something until it is gone. This includes things like toilet paper, your health or people you love. So to be grateful is a good thing.
15. That tough love is something we could possibly all benefit from. Tough love, not as in fetish love (steady, now), but tough love as in leaving your loved ones to their own devices… unaided and without sympathetic support. But always with a watchful eye and a close presence. It’s difficult to do this, I think. Popular support is for showing sympathy. But I don’t think this is big, clever or smart.
16. That wearing a medium-sized shirt used to look sexy. Now it looks a little silly. And tight. That’s over-priced Italian cheese with swimming, soggy, coffee-dunked biscuits for you.
17. Not sure on number 17.

 

Things I still don’t know, but am hoping to learn in 2009:

 

1. My purpose.
2. Everything else.