STOCKTAKE #2: WHAT DID I DO IN 2006?

JANUARY: I buy a ticket to visit Singapore for three days in lieu of a friend's wedding. I squeeze in an interview for Teacher's College.

FEBUARY: Bought a japanese iBook. Coolness. I will be the only one with japanese alphabet keys in Singapore.

MARCH: I am accepted at Teacher's College. I break the news that I will leave Japan and AIS. Bittersweet moment.

APRIL: Andy visits. It's his last time before I will leave.

MAY: I holiday with my posse in Shodoshima. Spend the month packing and shipping stuff to Singapore.

JUNE: I leave Japan, holiday in Thailand, move to Singapore. Oh my gawd. It's for real.

JULY: So begins my transition into Singapore. Not without its teething problems. I start attending music school for guitar lessons. I am officially under payroll!

AUGUST: Still transiting, I attend Teacher's College at the National Institute of Education. Meet lots of new people, very cool, very entertaining.

SEPTEMBER: I start learning lots of interesting things about Education. I like EdPsychology best, things start to make sense.

OCTOBER: I celebrate my birthday after a drought of 3-4 years. I start to feel the pressure of living in Singapore. I stand my ground.

NOVEMBER: I grow to dislike somethings in Singapore, but learning to live with it. Decide I need a break and an out, so plan to go to Indonesia! Go for some interviews at local schools for a job. I think I got what I wanted. I hope its what I need.

DECEMBER: I go on a mission trip to Indonesia. Deepen some new cool friendships. Want to pursue God more. Spending Christmas with family is a first for me in many years. Will go to Vietnam.

After six months in Singapore (OMG), I am learning that this season of change has been relative calm. I sense that next year will be big changes for me. Daunting. I better brace! God help me!

2005 + 2004

Stocktake #1.

Wow. The thing about the Christmas festivities is that it really is a bitter-sweet moment when you realize, that a week after Christmas brings the New Year. It comes by so fast. I do this every year to take stock...

TAKING STOCK OF 2006

What did you do in 2006 that you'd never done before?
I enrolled into Teacher's College (in Singapore!), signed on a contract to be a teacher in Singapore.

Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for 2007?
AGAIN - Not all of them, but some goals were achieved!

Did anyone close to you give birth?
Not this year. Thankfully.

Did anyone close to you die?
No.

What countries did you visit?
Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam.

What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006?
I want cool, crazy, fun-loving, like-minded friends in Singapore!

What date from 2006 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
I guess it will have to be the moving to Singapore. Who would have thought I would do this again. And not find it incredibly painful?

What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Working to make the transition to Singapore "not incredibly painful". :-)

What was your biggest failure?
Wow, I think I've had a pretty good year!

Did you suffer from illness or injury?
Nothing unusual, thankfully! Still figuring out sleeping and tiredness which leads to bad health though.

What was the best thing you bought?
Maybe my airtickets around summertime.

Whose behavior merited celebration?
I guess Andy's since he's helped make the transition smooth.

Where did most of your money go?
Everywhere! Nepal, Myanamar, India, Indonesia... and guitar lessons.

What did you get really excited about?
Learning lots of interesting and useful things about education in Teacher's College.

Which song will always remind you of 2006?
I think Evermore by the Planetshakers. Because of the concert. It marks the move to Singapore since it was quite soon after I moved here.

Compared to this time last year, are you:
Happier or sadder? Happier
Thinner or fatter? Thinner!
Richer or poorer? Richer.

What do you wish you'd done more of?
Spend more time with cool crazy friends. But they can be a hard breed to locate. And I can be too busy with goodnessknowswhat.

What do you wish you'd done less of?
Procrastinate!

How did you spend Christmas?
Andy and I got to spend the Christmas holidays with my parents.

Who did you spend the most time on the phone with?
Andy

Did you fall in love in 2006?
I guess so...

How many one-night stands?
The record is still 0.

What was your favorite TV program?
I still do not watch TV.

What was your favourite movie?
Homemade video of our Kalimantan trip.

Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Nope.

What was the best book you read?
Through Painted Deserts by Donald Miller. Made me want to up Singapore and go traveling again.

What was your greatest musical discovery?
Skillet. And I (re)discovered TobyMac.

What did you want and get?
New friends! (Again!)

What did you want and not get?
I got my way most of the time. Or maybe for once I figured out what God wanted me to do. :-)

What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 27. And for a change from the past few years, it wasn't rained out! Celebrated it. Got a sports watch. Needed it.

What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Being closer in location to my friends.

How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2006?
I've been told in Singapore that I look Japanese and occasionally Korean.

What kept you sane?
God.

Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I still like John Cusack.

Who did you miss?
The Monday Night Mini-church Crew.

Who was the best new person you met?
Possibly Ruby Pan.

Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2006:
Just one?!
The man who finds his homeland sweet is a tender beginning;
He to whom every soil is his native one is strong;
But he is perfect to whom the entire world is a foreign land.
When I got that Singapore is as foreign to me, then it made being here that much easier.

Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
...