It’s that time of year where I tend to take stock on the previous one and set some goals for the new one.

The blog has been a great reminder of some of the things I have done / seen throughout the year and my passport has fleshed out some of the other details. I’m still waiting on my annual performance appraisal so I can set some work targets too.

One of the highlights of last year was the visitors that came. From aunties, uncles, cousins to second cousins and third cousins as well as our Christmas visitors, we’ve been tour guides to many. This has seen us become more familiar with HK as well as reminding us of some of the aspects that amazed us when we first arrived.

Another highlight has been the amount of travel that I’ve been able to do, both work and personally. I’ve particularly enjoyed the various food experiences including some great seafood in Mumbai and a traditional Korean barbeque not to mention some authentic Italian pasta. The scenery in Kota Kinabalu (with its resident primates), Cebu, Italy, London provided a welcome break from the constant highrises and pollution (in winter) that I like to escape.

Some of the funnier things include the unusual security in my office block during the China Olympic Games. We needed to weave our way through a maze to a reception area where we registered our Octopus Cards before we could enter the lift well. There was a security dog at the exit where this whole process was reversed. No-one I spoke to could explain why a dog would be at the exit rather than the entrance.

This year I have scaled back on my usual plans as I find it difficult to fit in extra bits and pieces now that we’ve moved. I’m already out of the house 12 hours per day and I don’t want to stretch myself too much. Every other day I am up at 6am to go for a run and / or take our dog out so it doesn’t leave much time during the week for other pursuits.

With that in mind, I’m planning:

• A trip to Cambodia
• At least weekly writing of this blog when I’m in HK
• A course of some sort – I’m tossing up between a wine course or a TSOL course at the moment.
• A running event – ideally this will be a marathon but I’m yet to pick one. If not a marathon, it will be a 10km event x 2 because I don’t like half-marathons. I’m aware of how this doesn’t make much sense but I find the halves boring. If I find a marathon at the right time of the year, it will also mean that a chunk of my Sundays will also be spent running. I’m going to do this on a trail given we’re near quite a few national parks.
• Two large hikes – provided that I’m either in the early stages of marathon training or not doing a marathon at all, as these hikes need to happen in winter. I’ve already bought myself a hiking stick and have some maps so I just need to plan and do them now.
• Make a start on a book or some short stories and write regularly.
• Join a book club – I’ve joined one already and it starts on 15 January. Our first book is The Clothes On Their Backs. I’ve finished reading it and didn’t like it so I’m curious to hear what everyone else thought and also to give my two cents. There’s another Book Club where I live which I also join but this one is more about drinking wine and socialising than a critical analysis of a book. That said, everyone contributes $40 each session so books can be bought which go in a crate to then be borrowed.
• A work course – I have a new manager starting in Feb / March so this will need to be defined more at this point.
• Send Christmas Cards – every year I think about doing this too late.

Naturally Mr Shallot and I have our rolling five year plan too which is also under review at the moment and seems to have more detail than my individual plan!

* Thanks to the Beastie Boys for the title to this post.