I am so proud of myself today. Even before 2008 descends upon us, I have started going to the gym. Perhaps it's a little too early to proclaim this, but I do have a greater incentive than most to keep to this particular regime (entirely connected with having to fit into a dress when I return to Singapore in just over two months' time).

As it was my first time in a gym in a long time, I decided to keep things simple by sticking to cardio, doing about 20 minutes on the elliptical training, five minutes of cool-down, followed by an impromptu hip hop dance in the deserted gym as one of my favourite songs to dance to of all time, Aaliyah - Try Again, started playing. I'm proud to report that even though I'm really out of practice as I haven't danced in ages, I rocked that tune. Heh.

I'm really looking forward to next year. There're so many acts I'll be doing my best to catch with Underworld, DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist and Shlomo and DJ Yoda all performing in London in the first quarter. When you couple that with a trip home for a good friend's wedding, I don't think it can get much better than that!

I have probably proclaimed this a heck of a lot more than once on my blog but I don't care. I absolutely madly love Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas (Is You) (made even better in her 2004 performance at Disney World with all the great bits of Disney magic thrown in) and will never get tired of listening to it, regardless of the time of year.

So here I sit, far away from home and it's freezing cold with fog outside and the sun is due to set in less than four hours and I am wonderfully ecstatic. I think this, quite truly, could be one of the happiest festive seasons I've had in a long, long time.

Merry Christmas and have a smashing New Year, everyone!

This post may serve to confirm everyone's long-held (and never denied) suspicions that I am truly a workaholic, and that my job, in many ways, defines who I am. But I don't care. I'm so happy that I have to share this.

I was awarded the highest rating by my senior managers for my performance in 2007. What does that mean? Well, it means that I was rated the highest among my peers in Asia for my particular function.

I expected it. Truly, I did. After all, I worked my butt off this year (almost literally, given the weight I lost). I did the job of two people, and I did them well. And I kicked ass in all of my additional duties. And while I didn't doubt that I would get that rating, the moment I saw confirmation of it when I received my performance review, the biggest, widest grin ever popped onto my face.

To be more specific, only the top 10% of my peer group get awarded that rating, and there is usually a large amount of discussion by senior management about who should go into that 10%. Apparently, so my manager tells me, there was no such debate regarding me. The moment my name came up, everyone agreed that I should be the benchmark by which everyone else would be measured by for this year.

I'm not writing this because I want to brag. But having started out in a company which did not appreciate all my hard work in any way, I am that much more grateful that I am now in a firm which has given me countless opportunities and has rewarded my contributions.

It's definitely going to be a challenge to maintain that rating now that I have moved to a much bigger playing field... but I certainly will be doing my best to achieve that.

I'm still alive.

I've just been busy with first, looking for a place to stay, and then, finding stuff for the aforementioned place to stay. I have not yet completed settling in and setting up, so it may be a little early to say this, but I am thrilled with my new flat as it's got security, a great location and a fair amount of space all for a fantastic rental (especially given London rents). More to come on this in later posts, but just know that posts have been incredibly intermittent because I do not yet have access to the Internet other than at my workplace, which is why I have been pretty much off the radar of late. In fact, if it weren't for Facebook, my friends would probably not have a clue about me or what I'm doing now.

Anyway, the main reason I'm posting right now is because of this exchange which took place on the trains yesterday. The background behind this is because my parents, particularly my father, loves new gadgets. Not in the technology sense, but more in the kitchen and homeware sense. So when I spotted these, I made a note to tell my parents about them. My brother was less convinced. This is the exchange which ensued.
Me: I saw these devices which you put in the dryer to replace the softener sheet. They're pretty affordable, and they're environmentally friendly.
Dad: How do they work?
Me: You just put them in instead of the sheet.
Dad: Sounds good. (To my mum) Let's go take a look.
Me (delightedly and loudly to my brother): See? Told you they'd like dryer balls!

At this, my brother stares at me, and only then do I realise how this must have sounded to the rest of the train. Hee!