What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?

I’ll be cozying it up at home, with a warm drink and a movie. If I can stay up long enough 🙂

2014 – Looking Back

It’s been quite an eventful and somewhat tragic year. The unclosed chapters of MH370, MH17, and Air Asia QZ8501 continue to bring grief to entire nations. The civil war in Syria is fast approaching its fourth year, and with more than 9 million people displaced, is perhaps one of the worst – if not the worst – humanitarian crises in recent history. Violence in the name of religion continued to dominate the headlines, with ISIS, Boko Haram, and the recent Taliban shootings in Peshawar shocking people worldwide. The protests in Ferguson, Missouri, reminded everyone that racial tension is very much alive in this day and age. The umbrella became a symbol of defiance and resistance in the fight for democracy, as protestors in Hong Kong shielded themselves from pepper spray and tear gas with the humble object once synonymous with Rihanna. The Berlin Wall fell 25 years ago, yet the West’s Cold-War-like suspicions of Russia, and Putin’s mission to regain the glory days of the Soviet Union, have climaxed into what is now the Crimean crisis. And what would a year be without an epidemic crisis? In years past we had the flu, cholera, whooping cough, and bird flu, to name a few. This year, the dreaded and deadly Ebola virus spooked us.

Life In Transition

A new year is upon us.

And there have been a few changes around here.

TheHiatusBlog is now Perfecting Asam Pedas.

Why the change?

Because my life has moved in a slightly different direction. The hiatus has been extended. Basel will be our home for another two years. And as a result, I have had to leave my job permanently. I was on unpaid leave over the past two years, you see, and because my absence will turn out to be longer than initially expected, I had no choice but to tender my resignation. So effective yesterday, 1 January 2014, I have been officially and unequivocally unemployed.

2012 – The Year That Was

Time flies. We’re already at the cusp of the new year. By the time some of you read this, you may have already welcomed 2013. The rest of us need only wait a few more hours.

So what will 2013 bring? A great many things, I’m sure. Different things for different people. For some it may bring a radical change, a new milestone, a surprise, new people entering their lives, anything. Some changes will be the result of carefully laid plans, while others will be determined by powers beyond our control. Whatever the new year may have in store, a great many of us can’t wait to see it.

But to look into the future, you need to have a reference point. The future only exists in relation to the present, and also, the past. In this context, the value of what lies ahead in 2013 can only be understood in relation to what our lives were like in 2012. Or any time prior to 2013, for that matter.