Be happy, Cash. I don't want to invalidate your feelings or anything, but please at least try to let go of the guilt and enjoy. If it helps, you'll be doing a public service by letting us enjoy the good in your life by proxy!

It's a good point. I'm doing my best to let go of guilt issues.

You know, I just wanted to say that I love the G&GR tradition. It beats the hell out of New Year's sales or resolutions.

Elizabethchloe, welcome! Are you from the UK yourself?

I hope to be a better teacher this year, and stay on top of my fricking grading and lesson plans. I also want to take a yoga class to get my back from being a giant ouch tenseness, and go on the pill to keep the communists from turning me into a giant, slavering Ball of Rage and Pain. Oh, and I'd like a Romance. Or at least some action. And for my folks to continue healthy.

Whilst the communists do not turn me into a giant slavering ball of rage and pain, they do seem to be hanging out with me permanently these days, so I'm going to go with a 'wrod' on pretty much all of the above. Also, I want to get better at differentiating my lessons.

Soooo, the year in review. Hmm. This has been a pretty good year, all told. I attended a Muslim wedding in Singapore. I went to India for the first time, and saw the Taj Mahal. A wild peacock flew across my path on the way there, which I took as confirmation that my cunning plan to get a peacock feather tattoo on my back was indeed The Way Forward; thus this was also the year in which I got my first tattoo (6 hours, with a 5 minute break in the middle). Which I still love very much indeed. I also love my job - the kids are great, my boss and co-workers are also great, I feel that in some respects I've definitely improved as a teacher (although of course there are many things I want to get better at, and I'm sure this will always be the case). I'm enjoying the hell out of Thailand. I've got back into acting, and I'm so glad I did - that's just great fun, and something I should have done a while ago. I've been a slob and regained pretty much all the weight that I lost a couple of years ago, which is disheartening - and of course, since size 8 is pretty much the average dress size for lasses in Thailand (this is no exaggeration; size 6 is far more normal a sight than size 14) I am pretty much accustomed to feeling Circus Freak Fat all the time. (Returning to the UK for the festive season has been lovely from that point of view! So cheering! I feel so much better about my appearance whilst looking around at my fellow Brits, for in the UK size 8 is very far from being the average build.)

Hmm. So - pretty good year, all in all. I miss the deep friendships I made in Egypt, but I'm enjoying my life in Bangkok. Can't complain, especially when I know so many people have had shitty things happen to them.

Nevertheless, for next year I'm hoping to get healthier and lose weight; to knuckle back down with the writing; to do more acting; to be a better teacher; to make more of an effort to have a love life (I did go on a couple of dates this year, so bloody well done me [as I am assuredly my own worst enemy when it comes to sabotaging my own love life] but we're barely talking first base); to visit more of Thailand; to get my ass over to Vietnam and to Cambodia, at the very least. Perhaps to visit Japan too. To walk to work more often. To take a Thai cookery course. And yet I also really do want to save money, and think about my future, for I am a financial disaster area, so perhaps these last ambitions are folly...

I may get two more tattoos (a pi on my right wrist, an ohm on my left), but I'm not entirely sure whether I really want them. (And I think that thinking these things over for a good while before committing to the ink is sensible.)

So, yeah - all in all, it's been good. I'm happy with where I'm at in my life, and I definitely count my blessings. But it would be nice not to be alone, and it would be nice to be healthier and fitter, and it would be nice to be making more provision for my old age.

Congrats, bonny!

My C. Kritsanta from MA hit the jackpot and I am so appreciative of: Trees, the book. I have SUCH a thing for trees! and didn't know about this book. COOL. I'm really looking forward to reading it, while nibbling on the accompanying yummy dark chocolate. YUM! Thanks so much, whoever you are!

Yay! I'm so glad you like it, Javacat! I love the book, and you seemed to have a thing for biology, so...

My C. Kritsanta from MA hit the jackpot

And, as your Secret Santee from MA, I have to say that I hit the jackpot too! Java cat sent me a lovely package with two pairs of warm & fuzzy & super comfy "house socks" (which I'm wearing right now, AIFG!), a box of rooibos tea (my favorite!), and a HUGE box of chocolates from See's Candy! I ate a significant portion of them with a friend last night, and I'm going to try to make the rest of them last the rest of the week, but they're so delicious that I may just cave and finish them off today. Thank you so much, Java cat!

2007 was when I got to meet a whole bunch of Buffistas I'd never met before, at the Atlanta F2F, so that was definitely of the good.

For 2008 I'd like to make a similar trip, but probably not a road trip. The Tardis has served me well, but I think she deserves a break from multi-thousand mile drives.

One good NYE thing - I split a bottle of 22-year old reserve Tattinger. My friend's parents' wine chest had malfunctioned and ruined a bunch of the stock, but a few were potentially salvageable, this being one of them. I've never had champagne that old and OH MY DOG was it good. Really mellow and almost mead-like. It also takes on a much darker hue than regular chamagne. Nom nom nom.

Also, one of my resolutions was for 2007 was to participate in one of the secret santa things here this year, which didn't happen (Xmas just bushwhacked me this year). I will strive to fullfil that one in 2008

2007 was an improvement over 2006. My health improved, my looks improved, and my outlook improved. My boss from hell left and the new one is really good. And Christmas with my family was quite nice (previously, the best I could hope for was not painful). So ... here's hoping 2008 is even better!