It's 2007! Happy New Year!

It's 2007! And the motivational quote for today (which I reproduce here because tomorrow it will be gone) is:

"He enjoys true leisure who has time to improve his soul's estate." - Henry David Thoreau

I have been given the opportunity to reflect on my Masters' programme in 2006 to the group of incoming students. I want to just recall some of my high points in 2006. I did a mini-listing in My First Post on this blog (learning to meditate, tidying up a lot of my old junk etc). So here are my top 5:

• Masters' programme. An opportunity to reflect on an attempt to consolidate what I have learned through my years of work. But also made a lot of new friends - both here in Singapore and overseas. Although it has actually been quite a fair amount of work at times (not the one year of playing golf which I was looking forward to) I suppose the cost-benefits come out positive.



• Buying my new car must surely count as a major high point! I really enjoy driving my BMW around. Someone just told me that it is a very different car for me to drive :-)



• Going to the US. The great open spaces of the US were stunning - the mountain tops of New Hampshire, the bright sunny beaches of Provincetown from which the sea stretches out to an infinite horizon, the strong sense of history in Lexington, Concord and Boston, the sheer majesty and splendour of Niagara Falls. Of course I managed to get interesting insights about the way the people in the US think and react by staying there and by visiting Washington DC.



• Visiting Mexico, the gateway to Mesoamerica. The Pyramid of the Sun was spectacular, and the shrine of Guadalupe a truly special experience (I would say spiritual but those who read the post on this visit will know that the spirituality was somewhat limited). But the visit was an introduction to a culture so different from what I know.



• Starting this blog?! Well, I have benefited from the discipline of having to think of things to write about my life and what I've been doing. It is a pity that I didn't start it much earlier in the year... well, it did not occur to me. And even if it did, I can't say that I would have started it up very much faster. But the activity of blogging also has made me more aware of what is going on in the internet world - maybe I will be less of a techno-bodoh (my friend's brother calls her a techno-bimbo but I really don't like the sound of that) than in the past. Because of the blog, I started a Flickr account (and today I reached my 1,000th view - not a very large number for some Flickr members but pretty good for me) and a Multiply account, and even starting printing photos on-line using QOOP! I know this sounds extremely rudimentary for all the techie folk out there, but to me it is BIG. Not to mention working out how to make all these lovely photo mosaics.

Looking back, I suppose it has been a slightly self-indulgent year - a year for Me. I've probably done more shopping this year than ever before (and my cumulative credit card bills will confirm this). Spent more days on holiday/ leave than in the past - even more than in 2001! But I have spent a fair amount of time just rejuvenating and reflecting - through meditation, through the morning walks which I started just this past month or so :-) and even through this blog. And I think I have managed to keep in touch (better than in the past) with friends old and new.

Now for my New Year resolutions for 2007. Resolutions inherently are about things one is not so keen about. After all, one does not need to resolve to enjoy oneself? So for next year, 2007, my resolution is to keep up a schedule for sharpening the saw - meditate, exercise regularly - say 3 times a week each. Now to work out how to meet this target!!!

I end this post with a sampler of photos to represent 2006: