Most probably the donuts will sell better today and tomorrow (particularly in the Netherland) as it is a belief that eating donuts on new year's eve will bring good fortune to those who practice it. They say the shape of the ring, which symbolizes the full circle, the year’s cycle. So head to J. Co, Big Apple or Dunkin' Donut and grab your donuts. Alternatively you can have onion rings or any ring-shaped food.

I'm not trying to be superstitious here but who doesn't want a better year ahead right? Probably you might want to practice these on New Year's Eve and New Year:

1. Eat fish for you'll swim better through the new year just like a fish.

2. At the struck of midnight, make sure you have some money in your pocket or wallet. If the New Year finds you with money in your pocket, you’ll not miss them in the year to come.

3. Just like the Chinese New Year, you might want to dress up in a new clothes.

4. Be aware at the first visitor on New Year’s Day! He or she would bring either good luck or bad luck. It is said that if the first person who visit is a tall, dark-haired man, he will bring good luck to the house or hosts (not choi san, ok).

5. Make a lot of noise by organizing fireworks and laughters. And not argument.

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year. Welcome year 2008!

Got this tag from Dora.

The year 2007 is rather memorable and a good year for me. Many good and bad things happened but I only remember the good ones.

I hope I can share more about my loved one whom I met this year in this blog but I've done it in another blog which I remain anonymous. What can I say? Meeting my love is the best thing that happened to me this year.

The bonus for this year is definitely meeting up with my tennis idol, the world number 2, Rafael Nadal. Not only that I managed to get his signature, I managed to snap a personal picture with him and watched him playing live from a RM388 seat.

From a Buddhist perspective, it's a blessing that I met many rinpoches this year including Dzongsar Jamyang Khyenste Rinpoche and I've even attended the Kalachakra empowerment by His Holiness Sakya Trizin which is the highest point for any Buddhists.

The year 2007 has been very kind to me as I've won several contests. It started off with a cool HP desktop loaded with Window Vista after I've won the first place in the Window Movie Maker competition at the Window Vista launch. After this big winning, I moved on to win several consolation prizes from Golden Screen Cinema (GSC), T.G.I Friday's as well as ticket to watch Rose Rose i Love You the musical. Still I have not hit any jackpot or 4D though.

Anyway, the most important things about 2007 is the good health and happiness of my family and friends. And talking about friend, I am happy and proud of my best friend, Shuh Yong, for letting go of her good job and her car (her hubby) to pursue her dream to study abroad for her postgraduate degree. Not everyone is able to do that and I'm proud of you (although it's sad because we are not able to hangout anymore) for making such drastic step in your life.

So bye bye 2007, hello 2008!

Nothing is better than to see Rafael Nadal combining two of his passion, tennis and football for a good cause.

Iker Casillas, Real Madrid's goalkeeper, and Nadal recently team up to plan various activities to promote public awareness of malaria and to raise money to buy vaccines for children infected by the disease.

"I'm extremely pleased to do it," explained Casillas. "The fight against malaria is a great cause that I've never undertaken. Rafa and I want this to be just the beginning, and we hope it's repeated for years to come. It's a great cause and I hope Madrid Arena is packed on Thursday. Nadal, the other athletes who will be there, and I would like to see the stands full of people. If it goes well, we will try to hold it in a larger venue next year."

I was listening to Fly FM's Big Bang Breakfast show a couple of days ago and the DJs discussed about what is considered fat. Is Queen Latifah considered fat? Is Santa Claus obese?

Since X'mas is just around the corner, I'll take Santa Claus obesity as my topic today.

Since Santa is a favourite Christmas icon among kids and adults, some people suggested that we should have a slimmer Santa to send healthy message to everyone during this holiday of the year.

Well, perhaps the animal activists too might think it's time for Rudolph and the rest of the flying reindeers to have a breather from pulling the heavy sleigh with the obese Santa on it.

With the climate change in North Pole, perhaps one day, Santa might consider to lose weight.

Looking at the political situation in our country, the traffic congestions every day, economic slowdown, high inflation, no increment and bonuses, stress in exams, ruined marriages, etc, there's no doubt Malaysians are turning into unhappy lot.

If you expect people to change in order to make you happy, then you have to be patient because chances are people doesn't like to make changes to accommodate you. However, if changes comes from within you, things will be a lot easier and you'll be able to sustain happiness on a longer term.

If showing off anger and being negative are not what you want to resolve your unhappiness, then read on. This post is only for those people who doesn't do BJEs (blame, justify, excuses).

So how to be happy? (Based on the same topic in Wikihow)

1. See the world for what it really is. Many of us tend to forget how fortunate we are. By the way, fortunate is not equal to fortune. Wake up because we can't get everything we want all the time. Learn to be thankful.

2. Be yourself. Get real because you can't satisfy everyone. So what if people criticize you for different opinion? People never care about what you have gone through. Practice self-acceptance and you'll be a lot happier.

3. Build strong relationship with family. Many of us leave our hometown to build our lives and career in another city. Hence we leave our parents and family behind. Call your parents or go back to your hometown more often. It's hard to survive in the city these days due to the high cost of living. It's alright to share with them your situation /struggle and seek opinion.

4. Get a job you love. I'm sure you want to be productive on your job as well has looking forward to go to work every morning (in a happy mood) and still be able to have time for your family, friends and leisure. Consider to change job or even a career move if you start hating your job. There are many options in life.

5. Lighten up. Don't take yourself too seriously. Don't let stress controls you.

6. Change your thought process. If you can't laugh, at least smile. Use a little bit of imagination. We are able to control our state of mind and change the negative mindset to positive. Don't bury yourself with negativity.

7. Learn to be a giver. The problem is many of us only think about ourselves. We give too many excuses. If money is an issue, you can always contribute in kinds or time and energy.

8. Choose the right companion and friends. It's kind of important that you choose the right people to spend time with. Choosing positive and encouraging friends and getting involved in activities that reflect who you are will make you happy. Ditch those who doesn't.

9. Wish the best for others and mean it. Instead of spending most of our time finding faults in people, jealous with our colleagues and hate people who has different political view with us, spend those precious time to celebrate the good fortune of your colleagues, friends and family instead.

10. Be healthy. Keep your body and mind healthy with good diet and activities. Give yourself a good sleep every night. Be spiritually healthy helps too.

Personally I'm happy although I don't have much. If you are unhappy, you can get more tips at Wikihow.

Last night, I spent 2 hours in front of the television watching Discovery Channel's amazing stories about real people with extraordinary super powers.

If you like to watch the show Heroes, this documentary might attracts you. Imagine, if you have always struggle in Mathematics and suddenly wakes up one day discovering that you have this extraordinary super power to solve complex mathematical formulas inside your head. That is exactly happening to Rudiger Gamm - The Human Calculator.

Wim Hof - The Iceman, another superhuman, discovered that he has the ability to control his body temperature. This man successfully completing a half-marathon run in his bare feet and wearing on shorts at the Arctic Circle in Finland.

In another case, Esref Armagan - The Blind Painter, is a gifted visual artist who can paint and draw in three dimensions. He drawing has been compared to Renaissance architect Filippo Brunelleschi who is the first artist to master the three point perspective. For your information, Esref has been blind since birth.

I find Elisabeth Sulser - The Synaesthete has the most impressive superpower which I can't imagine it myself. She is able to combine all the senses so that she can taste music! Imagine, F sharp is violet colour, a minor sixth is creamy and a perfect fourth tastes like mown grass.

The documentary also feature some of the geneticists, biologists and futurist which talked about very controversial topics including stem cell biology and genetic engineering. Pay attention to Bruce Lahn, a geneticist on his idea of an 'organ farm', which to me sounds a bit scary.

It seems that the top tennis players starts coming in to Southeast Asia for exhibition match. Besides the Bangkok Open (men players) and the CommonwealthBank Tennis Classic (women players) in Bali, as well as the exhibition matches recently in Kuala Lumpur, Southeast Asia is definitely not a favourite place for tennis sports.

And guess what? The hottest woman tennis player, Maria Sharapova will be heading to Singapore late December this year for a Challenge Match against world no. 5 ranked player, Anna Chakvetadze. Not only that, you'll be able to meet Maria Sharapova at various functions!

The following is the general schedule for what promises to be one of the highlights of Asia’s sporting year:

• Saturday December 29 (afternoon): ‘An Afternoon with Maria Sharapova’ event
• Saturday December 29 (evening): ‘Maria Sharapova Live Celebrity Night’ event (promises to be one of the highlights of Asia’s social calendar)
• Sunday December 30 (8:00pm): Maria Sharapova vs Anna Chakvetaze at Singapore Indoor Stadium

This is a tag from Nea.

Use the first letter of your name to answer each question. Must be places, names … nothing made up. You can’t use your own name for the boy/girl’s name question. If you get stuck, skip to the next one.

1. Famous Singer: Harlem Yu
2. Four Letter Word: Hole
3. Street: Holland Street
4. Colour: Hot pink
5. Gifts/Present: Honeymoon trip for two
6. Vehicle: Honda
7. Things in Souvenir Shop: Hourglass
8. Boy Name: Harry
9. Girl Name: Heidi
10. Movie title: High School Musical
11. Drink: Hundred (100) plus
12. Occupation: Housewife
13. Celebrity: Hayden Christensen
14. Magazine: Her World
15. U.S. City: Hawaii
16. Pro Sports: Handball
17. Fruit: Honeydew
18. Reason for Being Late to work: Hangover
19. Something you throw away: Hah? Can't think of this one.
20. Something you shout: Hey!