No, this will not be about tigers, Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Day. Enough about Warren Buffett being a metal Horse and Pansy Ho, a water Tiger. Let’s gossip about who’s headed across the Causeway to dear Uncle Lim’s Resorts World @ Sentosa instead of Genting Highlands (pronounced jen-thing) — for fun and games, of course. That chatty Singaporean cabbie who drove me to Changi last week thinks the new food and beverage outlets (where jen-thing’s poker and roulette tables also happen to be located) will be winning more crowds than nearby malls like ViVoCity. Anyone care to take bets on this one?
Has someone started a Twitter #tag or Facebook fan site? Would the topic be hot enough to again make Malaysia an overnight Internet sensation? Jen-thing is, after all, still a Malaysian brand, although I suspect it is the Singaporeans who have the rights to the pronunciation.

Please do correct me if I’m wrong, don’t send lawyers and suits-lah.

It is after all the festive season — a time when children have most of the fun and the patience of many grown-ups is put to the test — on the road, at annual gatherings, the dining table and the poker table (yes, poker, never the mahjong table).

Pray, have a sense of humour. I’m quite certain the lovely Ivana Trump laughed instead of sending her lawyers after “DavosDeville” for tweeting on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos recently that Ivana’s nails were “terrible” and must have let the help go. Surely, Arianna Huffington didn’t take offence at Deville’s suggestion that she very possibly ate 26 Toblerones from the minibar and actually entertain the thought of suing… the World Wide Web?

One must really admire these public figures, whose lives, actions and words are constantly under public scrutiny. Any regular David would jump at the suggestion that he was a womaniser just because he was photographed with a model clinging to each arm, especially if in actual fact he was merely being a gentleman — the girls needed a hand walking down the stairs in their stilettos.

Our very own former commodities and communications minister Tun Dr Lim Keng Yaik, for instance, is well aware of that legendary tale of a reporter protecting her tape recorder with a Japanese cocktail umbrella. But being the secure man he was, he laughed at himself, Salem slims in hand, of course. But understandably, even the most secure of people have their weak moments. No one is perfect.

So if you happen to be the brunt of a joke this festive season, take a leaf from Bill Clinton’s book on attitude to criticism: “Take it seriously, but not personally.” See it, perhaps, as an opportunity for self-assessment, a very wise person once told me.

“Why get all worked up at a chance to improve, or over people who are not worth your time of day? After all, just as a mountain will not bow no matter how hard the wind blows, truth will always stand the test of time,” she said.

Here’s wishing everyone Gong Xi Fa Cai, Happy Valentine’s Day and happy holidays. Be safe on the road! May the Year of the Tiger be one that roars with opportunities, a year when all the “bull” stays in the stock market and one that’s filled with more genuine moments of joy, peace, fulfilment and love.