I will be the pattern of all patience; I will say nothing.

Is it me, or is it a normal occurrence? The post-holiday crash. In the void between and after the Christmas and New Years (and the accompanying festivities and holidays) caused by the combination of anticipation and miscellany that comes with family get-togethers.

This is the time of year when things really start shutting down at work, since everyone is pretty much off. In school, this would mark the end of one year and the uphill climb to the next level.

Everything chugs off the rails slowly in January and February, and then starts picking steam in March – plans are made and routes are set. April onwards, it’s full steam ahead (since Q1 was pretty much squandered) and everything rushes towards a dizzying tailspin towards Q4. By late November, it’s pretty much said and done. In December you’re pretty much goofing off, enjoying the finer weather (in the tropics) and shopping.

But there is that void. It will creep in after Christmas dinner, and really start to rear it’s ugly head on New Year’s Day. Cos the first working day of the year is always the hardest. At school, it was the day you show up in the new class, figure out when your new classroom was, get a feel for how tough the year was going to be, figure out who your desk buddy was going to be. I always went through that process with a lot of trepidation. I guess I wasn’t a very confident student. At least I was realistic. Ha.

At work, the first day is a sham. Everyone comes back from the holidays, appearing to be recharged when you know they’re tired as hell from maximising their holidays. They appear to be all action and back to regular programming but you know they’re annoyed as heck to be back at work. It’s like a game of chicken, we’re all just waiting for a sucker to give up first and admit it.

I’ve never been big on New Year’s resolutions. Perhaps that is the device used to stave that sense of beginning bewilderment.

It is interesting, that the Chinese regard the year as a mythical monster. The word for year refers to the monster – Nian. Perhaps the Nian would terrorise China for two weeks, because the New Year festivities last that long, and the whole point of the Chinese version of the New Year is to mark the passing or the surpassing, of the Nian.

I think the creature that the Chinese call Nian is really time. It shows up once a year like clockwork to haunt you, remind you that it’s alive. Freak the crap out of you because without you noticing, it slithered past you in the year. And you see it again, 365 days later, still the same dimwit you were, doing the same things, in the same place, status quo.

I guess that’s when the Nian should just put you out of your misery and bite your head off.

You know, if they told me that version of the story in school, maybe I’d have turned out a little more motivated. Instead all I heard was that sorry ass story about how the little people triumphed over the nasty Nian, with red everythings and firecrackers.

You know, for the people who invented the paper and the printing press, we sure tell lame stories.

Anyway. I will conquer my trepidation this time. I will grab 2010 by the horns. I will psych myself to face the Nian face on. I will live flagrantly, like I’m afraid to get my head bitten off.

That can’t be a bad way to live.