Hello 2018. With dark clouds that weren't merely threatening to dampen this celebratory mood looming outside, I was armed with a powered vacuum cleaner doing one last clean out for the year. I thought to myself that the weather these days is nothing short of felicitous but I will crash into the new year energised like the ball of sunshine I am, albeit underlying with ambivalence. In retrospect, 2017 had been a pretty good year. It was less tumultuous than the many worst-case-scenarios I had adumbrated in this quiescent mind. And it was filled with mostly positive energy and good news. 1.  I travelled not once or twice but three  times. The year kicked off with a week-long vacation to Seoul where I spent some of my coldest days. Followed by yet another chilly holiday to Canada in May, and ended with a short getaway to Bintan in December. Seoul was a beautiful place, but I will never torment myself by traveling in winter again. It was not just my first time in Seo...