1 year, 100 posts, 10,000 experiences

In retrospect, I'm glad I started this journal. Looking over the previous 99 posts, I have the same feeling I havhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gife when review the notebook from my first China trip where I can re-read inane and insightful observations long since forgotten. I'm not a diary person; business organiser maybe, but personal diary no. Yet it is often suggested by diverse pundits from personal effectiveness, personal growth and even happiness experts that even just a one line note about your day made before going to bed is a valuable, long-term habit.

I digress though as this journal is not that much about me and a lot more about the people around me. I've learned a lot in the last year; there are certainly more known-knowns, but there are also more known-unknowns so there is plenty of adventure ahead.

It is appropriate at this time of year to reflect and I thought I'd pick out a few notable, even favourite posts from 2007:

• Pasar Patois
• Nancy, New-York, November
• Moan, Moan, Moan
  
• Driving
  
• Kiasu or what Lah
• Singapore is Middle Earth
• MerLionKing
  
• Die-Hard in Singapore
• Hokkien is Chinese for Yiddish
• God's Birthday

Here's to the next 100. Happy Holidays.

Day One, the housemates arrive and get settled in

There is an old saying that the 3 most stressful things in life are Divorce, new job and moving house. In other words, people fear change and react badly. More precisely, people fear change they don't control, and since this move to Singapore is voluntary, I'll skip the many irritations and say I Like It Here.

Adventure. That's what I say when people ask why we Upped Sticks and Moved. Adventure is loosely defined as Willful Risk Taking so it puts an acceptable spin on a potentially risky venture, which is handy. The weblog is just a modern form of Airmail envelope. You know, those nifty pre-gummed ones made of rice paper to keep the postage down. Probably don't exist any more with Internet Cafes taking on the twin tasks of dampening parental fears while asking for money to be wired.

So here we are in the Information Age with whole new ways to communicate the pleasures of travel and meeting new people. Stick around to see if the enthusiasm lasts. It's bound to be fun even if it doesn't.