Of coffee, cards games, and writer's block.

Not that I'm being random. Just read on and you'll see that the title actually does make sense.
Chinese New Year has just come and gone. It's when cousins, aunts, uncles, grandma, moms, dads, and dog (yes, even DOG) come together to spend time, do absolutely nothing productive and just have a good time. And a good time we did have!
This year, I was the maid, barista, and kitchen assistant all rolled into one. But the responsibility of making sure everyone got their caffeine fix fell right onto my shoulders. But this time round, I have one more to add to my repertoire of drinks. Japanese rice cracker tea. I made quite a number of pots of that weird but pleasant tea, and the ones who drank it actually liked it! Can't say I've mastered the art, but at least it was a good attempt.
Making drinks wasn't all I did this Chinese New Year though. I played card games.. from Blackjack, to poker, to "in between" (I have no idea what it's official called). Although luck wasn't on my side, I had fun anyway :) Not forgetting, the red packets!! Money money money... when they say Gong Xi Fa Cai (it means "Congratulations, you're rich"), I think of all the kids and single people having all the extra cash, and all the married people being extra broke. I guess that greeting is only suited for singles like me huh.. lol.
Now that CNY holiday has come and gone (the real CNY isn't over yet), it's back to real life. Well, not just yet. I start work next week, but I need to get cracking on my conference paper. I've yet to send in my abstract, so I'm not sure if they'll accept it, but I need to at least make an effort to write the contents first. Starting with the methodology. And although the paper was based on my own research, somehow I'm struggling to write even the first paragraph. Has all the cookies from CNY cause a blockage in my brain?!! I'm excited yet nervous. My very first conference... well, if I get accepted.
So, I shall continue to daydream about the conference, and hopefully.. just hopefully, get some inspiration to write. Happy Lunar Year :)