it's in the air

For me, the festivities of the Christmas season don't begin with the tacky light-up on Orchard Road or the seasonal sales, but the smell of baking - hints of spice, vanilla and chocolate - wafting through the house as it did the whole of Sunday.

I started with a double batch of Choc Oatmeal Cookies and then, with my mom, whipped up some gingerbread men and women, and some heart-, Christmas tree- and star-shaped butter cookies.

It was beginning to smell a lot like Christmas.

one more day

I am looking forward to tomorrow's airport hello.

Year-enders

Not sure what to read next? This is the best time of the year to have that all figured out, as the New York Times, Washington Post, Publishers Weekly, LA Times, Amazon, NPR, and many many more weigh in.

But the best lists, in my opinion, are over at The Millions, which instead of listing the best books published this year, has readers sharing the best books they read in 2008.

Listening: Rosewood Thieves - From The Decker House

In today's news

"I've not heard of the book or the movie".

This ordinarily is not be a sentence that would suprise me on a Friday morning.

However, the aforementioned book and movie is Twilight. While I have every intention not to see the movie or read the book at this point of time, I've been hearing about it and reading about it - in the blogs, in the newspapers, online, and in every bookstore you step into (even in Taipei). And not just since today.

Second and more importantly, the statement was uttered just this morning on live tv, Channelnewsasia to be exact, by Suzanne Jung, the news presenter. This was just after a review of the movie. It was just a complete shock to hear the words coming from her mouth - in this day and age.

Oh Spaghetti Cat

On a sleepy Tuesday morning, when I just cannot stop yawning, here's... Spaghetti Cat.

And some great book covers (via)