Tomorrow marks the end of the 1st quarter of the year 2008.

The 1st quarter of 2008 is indeed a happening 3 months! In January 2008, shortly after the ushering of the New Year, the Chinese were busy with preparations to welcome the Lunar Year of the Rat, which fell on 7 February. And mid-way during the 15-day Chinese New Year festivities, the Parliament and all state assemblies (except Sarawak) were dissolved, paving way for the 12th General Election on 8 March which saw a political tsunami with the ruling BN denied their 2/3 majority for the first time since 1969, lost Kedah, Penang, Perak and Selangor states as well as failed to capture Kelantan.

What is in store in the next quarter? Well, the 12th Parliament shall convene by the end of April. And talk is going on that we might see the 2nd wave of a political tsunami which will result in a new Prime Minister within this year. How far it is true, we just have to observe the happenings in the coming weeks. The recent results of the General Election shown that the impossible did happen after all.

The festivities that began in October last year, starting with Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Deepavali, Christmas and recently Chinese New Year finally came to an end moments ago. The festivities will make a comeback in October, starting again with Hari Raya Aidilfitri expected on 1 October 2008. Deepavali is on 27 October and Christmas is as usual on 25 December.

Chinese New Year will fall again on Monday, 26 January 2009. Till then, have a good year ahead!

Today is the 7th day of the Chinese Lunar New Year of the Rat and the 7th day is also the common birthday for all humans!

The only CNY-related activity I had today is to watch another movie released in conjunction with Chinese New Year, i.e. Kung Fu Dunk starring Jay Chou, Eric Tsang and Charlene Choi. The theme of the movie is mainly a mixture of the game of basketball, kung fu, love, money and triads.

And the joy of Chinese New Year today has been overtaken by the announcement of the dissolution of the Parliament which stunned the nation when only yesterday the Prime Minister said the Parliament will not be dissolved today. The dates for nomination and voting will be fixed by the Election Commission tomorrow. It is speculated that nomination will be on 21 February (Chap Goh Mei Festival) while voting on 1 or 2 March. We’ll know tomorrow if these dates are correct.

Today is the 7th day of the Chinese Lunar New Year. The 7th day of the New Year is also known as the Common Birthday for everyone. I would like to wish everyone Happy Birthday.

Back to PJ this morning and the only thing today as part of my Chinese New Year celebrations was to watch the movie CJ7 at GSC 1 Utama starring Stephen Chow.

CJ7 is a fantasy tale featuring state of the art visual effects, CJ7 is a comedy about a poor laborer father played by Stephen Chow and his young son. When a fascinating and strange new pet enters their lives, they learn a poignant lesson about the true nature of family and the things money can’t buy.