Glee! Glee! Oh yes indeed!

New Year is around the corner and it's that time of year that you would reflect on what you've done or achieved in the past year, and look forward for things to come in the coming year up ahead. And let me get straight to the point here that I will not be making up new year's resolution and you shall not be expecting me to write a blog entry titled '2010 Resolution(s)'. Why? For the simple reason that I don't believe in making resolutions once every year. For me, I personally feel that resolutions need to be done when and where needed and when clarity of mind is at its brightest. Plus, it's kinda pointless to make resolutions when you're planning to break it on the 2nd day.

But I must say that I have a lot of things to look forward to in 2010! It'll be massive. Life-altering. And you know what? I can't wait to get the new year rolling (except for that massive heap of workload. Do you see it? Oh... you don't? It's right there on top of that pile of ssss.... *ehem*).

One of the things I'll be most looking forward to is THIS. And I've already set the balls in motion, taking full-advantage of some new schemes introduced by HR. (Glee! Glee! Oh yes indeed!) I just need to get some paperwork done, one very (very) important signature and I'll be free to start making travel arrangements!

(Glee! Glee! Oh yes indeed!)

And I've been doing some thinking... pondering... questioning the meaning of life(??)... and it led me to ask myself: What motivates me to do this? And I was surprised that it's not a matter of discovering the world, exploring new cultures and making connections with other people. But it's simply because I want to do something that I've never done before. Because... really, that's where all the excitement are.

So, this led me to another question: What are the things that I have never done before but had dreamt of doing? And it became easy for me to recollect all those fantastical dreams I had when I was much younger, and the sort of things that I was very hard-pressed on doing. One of those was performing volunteering work under Raleigh International. Let's name this a call of fancy, which occured to me when I was in secondary school and dreamt of going to Africa and doing humanitarian work. And it was something that I held tightly close to my chest right till I was in university, and now I can't remember what made me gave up so easily. Oh wait... I know... it was because I needed to raise at least GBP2,000 to go on a 4-weeks expedition to Africa. That was a lot of money that I don't have.

And I'm not saying that I have that amount of money now, but I realize that I have been presented with yet another opportunity here, before it's too late (FACT: RI expedition programmes is intended for those aged 17-24. Guess where I'm at?). And even if I can't make it for Raleigh, there are tons of other charity organizations out there that will always need a helping hand. And here I was thinking... Hey! Why don't we just kill 2 birds with 1 stone?

So now I'm considering this: Open Mind Projects - a non-profit organization that helps communities across Thailand-Cambodia-Laos-Burma borders. I'm sure someone out there will be thinking,"Why not do something closer to home?" But hey! 2 birds? 1 stone? Plus... the value of community works transcends currency exchange.

And I want to help a cause that I'm passionate about - a topic that needs a lot of self-reflection - and an organization that is legit and can contribute the most value to a community. So further research is required.

PS: If I do decide to go ahead with this and wants to hold a charity drive, will you help out and contribute? Just curious...