The start of a new year is often a time of reflection on the past year, as well as a time to look forward to the year ahead. Here’s a summary of my 2008:

• January 2008

Shanghai was blanked with thick white snow. This was a series of snow storms that affected large portions of central and southern part of China, the worst winter storm in five decades!

Shanghai Financial Center finally completed, was planned to be the tallest building in the world when it was first designed before Taipei 101 popped out.

We arrived in Malaysia, my In-Laws place to celebrate CNY. We booked AirAsia, an award winning Malaysia budget airline who just launch it’s first flight from Hangzhou to Kuala Lumpur.

• February 2008

My first time giving Hong Bao during CNY!

There were rumors saying that Microsoft intent to buy Yahoo! for $44.6 billion.

• May 2008

Superman spotted in Shanghai metro.

7.8 magnitute quake hit Sichuan province, was worried and can’t contact my sis, a former Beijing Expat in Chengdu.

The Olympic torch is finally in town, and the Goverment warn foreigners to carry passport around Shanghai. Pudong International airport new terminal was completed for the summer games.

• June 2008

After Superman spotted in Shanghai metro last month, here comes “Man in Pink“.

Was traveling and manage to update the latest airport shuttle bus schedule in Pudong airport.

There’s a new icon in Pudong, a supertall skyscraper was approved for construction and scheduled to be complete in 2010, might be in time for the 2010 World Expo.

It was Bill Gates’s last day in Microsoft.

There were rumors said Disneyland will be build in Shanghai in 2012?

• July 2008

The construction of Beijing National Stadium aka The Bird Nest is completed. The design was lead by Pritzker Prize winning architects. While the whole China is concentrated on Olympic, Shanghai has launched World Expo exhibition at HuaiHai road.

It was super hot in Shanghai but I love to shop in these English bookstore. I dreamed I’m pregnant and encounter some weired stuff, the crazy guy giving speach in subway, people ate lychee and spit the seed back to the basket of lycee selling in Carefour, the disgusting toilet theme restaurant, and another weirdo in Shanghai metro.

Visited Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Base and the cuddly bears were unaffected by the May 12th devastating earthquake.

• August 2008

Olympic flame finally reach Beijing. There are places that provide big screens for people to watch Olympic, and for those who would like to watch it online. We were at Nanjing Lu and after that proceed to Xintiandi. Liuxiang limped away from race…

Shanghai ranked #27 for the most expensive cities in the world where I renew my Chinese Visa and bought a Nokia E71, feel regret and thought of orphan sponsorship.

• September 2008

Went to Maldives for our Honeymoon and have lots of fun. We received a free underwater disposable camera and a surprise by Malaysian Airline. I get to design my own t-shirt, and we snorkeled in the middle of the Indian Ocean! Can’t believe I’m back to Shanghai again…

• October 2008

Marks & Spencer finally open its door in Shanghai Nanjing Road. Unfortunately an accident happened on the 4th day of their opening.

My mom visited us in China, attended 2008 China food festival and met our friend – Panda at the research center.

Update Pudong International airport long distance bus schedule.

Another weirdo in Shanghai metro – Mummy.

• November 2008

I turned 30 years old and celebrate our 1st wedding anniversary!

• December 2008

Wrote down my personal goals of the month and found out something is wrong… and China SMS scam got me crazy…

Updated this blog to Wordress 2.7. It has cool interface and I love it very much!

I was interviewed by Cebu Pacific Air about views on Shanghai.

Before the final few minutes of 2008 is over, I have to say, to all my true friends and families who stood by me when I needed you most, thank you. To all my business associates, thanks for the precious opportunity to work with you. To all my readers whom I never met and whom I met, thank you for reading my blog and I appreciate it.

Goodbye 2008!

Happy new year people!!

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Last week, I was interviewed by a Singaporean Journalist of in-flight magazine, Smile, published by Cebu Air Pacific in Singapore. She’s writing about Shanghai for the upcoming regular called International Destination Guide and would like to get my opinions, advice and tips.

She requested that my answer do not have to conform to any tourist-book type recommendations, they could be off the beaten track or anything wacky, unusual or unheard of… and of course, based on my experience, so this is pretty much free-style.

If you are flying on Cebu Air Pacific next month, January 2009, be on the look out for my interview!

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I’m sick of this SMS thing! I received many of them, from donate money for a good cause, or call the bank at a number they provided to confirm that you have spend XXX amount of money a few days ago, or call a number if you are interested in getting a loan at low interest rates, to miscellaneous lucky draw… whatever!! Another SMS scam that I received this afternoon… The scams tries to get you to respone to their message. Once you call back, they will try to work their charm to convince you to part with your money!

Translation:
“I am leaving today. I thought about it for a long time but still could not find the courge to call you. Call this number 125905869 and press 1 to listen to the song I have dedicated to you. There is a message for you at the end of the song. Do not call this number to find me as I borrow this phone from someone else.”

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I have finally upgraded my blog to WordPress V2.7 – The Coltrane. The new interface is cool and fully customizable. My upgrade went as smooth as a baby’s butt, and all plugins are working fine.

The first thing when you log in, you will notice the awesome dashboard that you can arrange with drag and drop to put the most important tools on top of the page, quickpress, the ability to reply comments and install any plugin with a single click from your dashboard. Nearly every task you do on your blog will take fewer clicks and be faster in 2.7 than it did in a previous version.

Here’s a video to show you how…

Digg further here…

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This happens in the city of Shanghai when a Chevrolet Captiva driver left the tow truck driver in despair! After much arguing, the poor truck get towed by Chevrolet in Shanghai… lol. Lesson learned, don’t argue with a Shanghainese girl…

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It reminds me of this post I wrote. What do you think when you look at this photo? It worth a thousand words…

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I’ll be setting up a couple of goals for myself and hope to get more done this December! I thought it would be a good idea and I always feel so much more organized when I write things down. December would be another busy month… online or offline.

1. Try to exercise more.

I used to go to my apartment’s gym for an hour treadmill workout twice a week… then I got so lazy during the winter and marinated myself instead. I’m also trying to walk more or stretches everyday.

2. Eat healthy.

Try to eat 5 vegetarian meals, 2 fish meals plus a meat meal a week.

3. Look after my skin.

Use more moisturiser during the winter.

4. Try not to be too busy.

Spend time with my hubby. We have been dining out at least twice a week in a restaurant for the pass few years. For the last 2 months, we have been fine-tuning the quality of our weekend date and try to spend less money.

5. Trying to conceive.

Baby making project…

6. Create a new theme for this blog.

I wanted to create a new theme for this blog since two months ago. I’m trying to spend more time to redesign my blog for 2009. A Chinese theme…? A personal blog theme…? hmmm… I’ve no idea at all…

7. Build a static website.

I’ve got the ideas and the domain name for a year already but haven’t gotten around to building them.

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