Just a short one... I started 2007 living by myself in a one-room studio in Hong Kong - unemployed and feeling unemployable. A couple of months later, I was still unemployed, close to broke, with a slightly dented heart but very single. As this year ends, I am living in a decent apartment, sharing with a friend, I am employed, I have some cash in the bank, and I am no longer single. These are all good things.

Amongst other things, this year I have been to Macau a few times, to Australia for linux.conf.au, to the UK and to Spain for my cousin's wedding, and over the border to China for the first and second times. Having had my Hong Kong residency lapse last year, I am now legal here again, and starting to worry about the lack of empty pages in my passport. I have been ice skating a few times, taken a salsa dancing course, been drum jamming, seen some good - and not-so-good - movies, and been on 3 junk boats. I have met a lot of people - most of them amazing in one way or another - made some new friends, got somewhat plugged-in to an emerging hobbyist/professional tech community in HK, and bought an Eee PC, which I'm typing on right now. In a few minutes, I will go and meet my girlfriend to go to dinner with some reasonably random friends, then go see in 2008 in a pub at the edge of town with some other friends. These are, pretty much, all good things.

As the cliche goes, it has been a year of ups and downs. One or two of the downs were rather low downs - but looking back, there were more ups, and they were far bigger than the downs. To be honest, it's a lot more fun to think about the ups. 2007 is ending on a high for me, and a couple of potential wobbles aside, I expect the upward path to continue into 2008 and beyond. This is a good thing.

To all who read this: I sincerely wish you a happy, healthy, loving, prosperous, and exciting year, in this fascinating world filled with incredible people and places. Go and enjoy it - that's what it's there for!