looking ahead...

A new year has dawned and promises to be better than the last. I will be in the Maldives for six more months, and I'm ok with that. It's true that life here is not and has not been an easy one for me, I am truly looking forward to leaving, but God has shown me that this is where I am to stay for now and so I am content. (Or will try to be.) The path is clear, and there are a number of stops along the way to my next destination. The worst is behind me (I hope...since eighteen months are gone).

Thank you all for the cards, notes, photos and even packages of support and good wishes. I have tried to respond individually, but my depression based apathy has really killed my will and motivation to expend energy. This has been coupled with more difficulty accessing the internet, as I no longer have access on my island and can only access the net by going to my office on another island. I am sorry that I have not kept in touch. I only hope that the situation will improve this year. Thank you for your patience. This will be a more exciting year with long awaited changes(at least in the second half) :-) The excitment will really begin in May, although I'll have a couple of smaller adventures in February and April.

Now, looking both forwards and backwards, here are my New Year's resolutions...

1. I promise to be nicer to my liver. If not everyday, then at least as a collective average over the course of the year.
2. I swear to my body that I will drink more green tea. Yes, this is in support of resolution #1.
3. I will reduce the amount of luggage I need to carry. This one is a bit tricky. I have a grand scheme to scan the majority of my resources so that I can carry them in electronic files instead of paying excess baggage for 40 kilos of books. This of course brings up the question of copyright issues and illegal copying, but since I actually bought the books and these would merely be making them electronic for my own private use, I'm hoping that I'll be in the clear. (note: this will also involve a lot of time and effort: 40kg is a LOT of books!)
4.I...hmmm, I uh, mentioned my liver? Oh, right. Um, in that case, I don't promise, but I carry the hope that this year I will end up in fewer shall we say, uh, "less than dignified" situations. This one is especially poignant as I remember New Year's Eve a year ago in Borneo...the barbed wire fence (I still have the scar), the drag club, losing my shoes, hailing a car (not a cab) to take us back to our hotels (this was actually Marsha's doing- but I was in no shape to argue), the old man trying to put me into the wrong room at 4am when I wandered out of my room and fell asleep in the hall on the way to the toilet...oh dear...the hangover as I left at 7am for trekking and adventures deep in the jungles for the next few days...it doesn't matter that there were no witnesses that could testify. I know Please God, make me less stupid once I'm 30!
5. I promise to see something through that I've been putting off for nearly four years. Ultimately, this was actually the reason I'm finishing my contract. It was made clear to me that until I followed through on this thing, I would have no peace. Ask me about it next New Years and I'll tell you what happened. ;-)

I hope all of you had a wonderful new year and happy holiday season, whichever holidays you chose to celebrate. Thank you again for all of your prayers, emails and happy thoughts. They lifted me more than you could know.
Peace be with you and yours.