It is a day late, but a happy new year to everyone reading this post =) hope everyone had an enjoyable new year day, and wishing all a great 2011.

2010 has closed...and I think it was a wonderful, miraculous year for mi. Innumerable memories that I will remember forever and countless times, and moments that truly made this year beautiful. I just, want to write some small thank you here for some people who have made this year so special. It is a terrible small way to return my gratitude to the people who have colored in the illustration to my life, but I just want to say some small things to everyone.

To my family and my parents...thank you for supporting mi in many big or little ways, and for putting up with all the noise of piano and harmonica in the house all the time...I'm so sorry, I cannot promise you that I will reduce that noise...but I can do promise that I will try to make it nicer. But thank you for all the help and encouragement you have given mi, in all that I do, always being there for mi, my gratitude is with you always.

At the beginning of the year, through January and February...it was the road to ORD. 2 years of army life, that I fight through with my dear brothers in my company...we would never have made it to ORD without each other. We just saw each other again a few weeks ago though, and it was a great time too. Thank you, first, to Arthur, for being my most strongest team member in Taiwan, for looking out for mi and helping mi out in many different ways, I would have never made it through 72km without you. To Edmund, Kwok Hoe, Sunny, Yeow Hwee, Raeger, Andrew and Derry, for being my closest friends in the platoon...without you guys, army life was still bearable...but with you all, army life was memorable. Thank you for making my time in the platoon enjoyable and a phase of my life I will look back on with a smile and laugh.
To Shoban, my very first buddy in my first 2 months of the army...we were the best team in our platoon then, I say...thanks for all your support buddy! To Roderick and Zheng Yu, my Hong Kong brothers, thank you for the happy times spent in Hong Kong, and for being wonderful mates in training as well.
May the comradeship and bonds we forged through sweat and blood these 2 years remain strong over our lives...if you guys ever need mi, I will do my utmost to be there for you all, strength and honor, always.


Next, to the time I spent in Bedok Green, as a relief teacher. Thank you, first, to Tohby, for securing the place for mi even before my ORD, and to Mdm Tay, Ben's mother, for allowing mi into the job, and teaching mi many things about...teaching. Thank you to Leonard, Virginia, Xuezhen, Jasmine and the other full time teachers, for making the staff workroom full of laughter and funny moments, for the silly stories we all shared and the experiences we had with each other.
Thank you also, to my classes, for making my time as a teacher a memorable experience for mi. 3E1, 3N1, 4E1, 4E4, 5N1, all of you guys, are great people in your own right, and I believe in all of you as much as I believe in anyone else. Thank you for always calling out to mi when you see mi, you are all truly not students, but friends to mi. Look towards your goals, and go far!


Now to the people I have met in Japan, right after my job at Bedok Green ended.
Japan is a beautiful, enchanting country, full of wonders both natural and technological. I would have enjoyed it definitely even I had gone alone, or just with the good General. But with all of you, it was the most memorable holiday I had ever had in my life and this memory, this chapter of my life's story, I will treasure and look back on with fond thoughts. To Miki, Shun, Marcus, Sara, Shota, Kohei, Tomomichi, Yuma, Mr Yamanari and Mrs Yamanari and Miki's grandmother, Mr Kohara and Mrs Kohara, and Mr Kamakura...thank you for making the week we saw each other, a week where I felt the world is truly kind to mi. The short time we spent was like no other I have ever spent in another country and I will cherish these memories and moments always and always. Special thanks to Miki and Mr and Mrs Yamanari, and Shun and Mr and Mrs Kohara for letting us stay at your houses...your generous hospitality touched mi deeply and I will never forget it.
Some time, let us meet up again. All of you, wherever you are in the world, you are ever dear to mi...any aid you need, if I can offer it, you will find it in mi, always.


To my friends in school, in SMU, thanks for being good study partners...though I admit I prefer studying on my own, sorry for all the times I ran off. Thanks to Jun Zhi for sharing my interest in Japan and Japanese language, and for all the weird talks and funny times. To Zi Jun, for listening to my silly dreams of music and Japan and for sharing MRT rides back home. To Jesslyn, for trying to offer your help and ears, I'm sorry I preferred not to talk much then, but thank you so much for offering. Hope we both get the summer study programme! To Yan Ru, thanks for the help you offered at the start of my term and for all the advice you gave mi...we still haven't met up for lunch!

To my friends in my Bunka Japanese class, thank you for making the class awesome and fun...Elvin, Joshua, Dylan, Jiawei...hope to see you again at Bunka cultural events! And to my teachers, 正田先生と山本先生、日本語教えることにありがとうございます！僕の質問が多いから、ごめんなさい！でも、先生たちは本当にいい先生です！


Ben, the good General, thanks for being a great friend and comrade and brother in arms, and holiday partner and so many other things that I cannot list completely. It has truly been an honor to have you as a friend and my life would never be the same without you. Thank you, for all the excellent times spent in many places, Singapore, Japan...the first week of holiday we both spent touring Japan was full of laughter and fun. En Taro Adun General! May our friendship stretch long and forever.
Tohby and LEE, Generals too, thank you for being awesome friends and cool people, and for always supporting mi in many ways. You guys, along with Ben, have been my best companions and the moments of laughter and brotherhood I have enjoyed immensely, and there will be many more to come. Cheers, Generals.

To my best friends from NYJC, JB Woo, Shi Chie, Zheng Yuan, Math Blaster and Jackie Gober-lin, thanks for being good friends and for the outings we had, though they weren't alot but I enjoyed them very much as well as your companionship...thanks alot you guys, stay in contact!


The legendary YK Tan, thank you for being an excellent informant and chat buddy. We should meet up some time to catch up, food outing again or so! Thank you, to Qinqin, for your always concern and for asking about mi from time to time. Thank you to Jacqueline and Yang Zi, for also being good friends who always care...hopefully we get to meet up more often this year. To Hui Yuan, thank you for occassionally asking how I am, and always caring and being there though we haven't seen each other for a long time...we should change that some time. To Wang You, who as up till now, I have only seemed to talk with you on MSN or Skype. But thanks for all the funny and serious talks...let's meet up some time while you're still in Singapore.


To everyone else I have not mentioned in name, I am deeply sorry. But I have not forgotten any of you and all of you have made my life shine in many big or little ways...thank you to all of you as well.
Some things, some people, I should not outwardly mention here...but please know that, silently in my heart, I thank you over and over again, and my gratitude flows to you as an endless river of thanks.

Truly, every year, every month, week, day, hour, is special in its own right, if only because once it passes, it will never, ever come again. I treasure every moment and meeting, and 2010 has truly been one of miracles for mi, special even amongst the others, in many ways, through many people who I cannot thank enough.
I close the chapter to 2010 in my life's story, though I will frequently open to reread it again. I say once more, thank you so much, to all who have helped mi to write it. A life's story is never written by one person alone, but everyone's story entwines with another, and year after year they never truly end, and new stories are added to our own...but truly, the stories are all one.