It appears to be New Years Eve, which must mean 2008 is pretty nearly over.

So what went down this year, anything cool?

Well, yes.

It’s been a big year for me, I finally graduated from UCL (with honours baybay) having spent what felt like forever studying the impossibly difficult but thoroughly fascinating subject of Economics, Business and East European Studies. Somehow or other I wrote a long and winding thesis on the trials and tribulations facing female entrepreneurs in Eastern Europe. I was mainly looking at the opportunities for women both during socialism and post-socialism, and how their business experience is affected by whether they were based in a CIS or CEE country. It was riveting stuff and if you ever find that the sleeping pills don’t work then I can email it over to you, you’ll be pushing zeds in no time.

Of course, being in a class full of beautiful oligarch offsprings led to some immense peer pressure in the shopping department. Over 2008, I increased my leather accessory collection to include some key staples from Prada, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Marc Jacobs and Bottega Veneta. By the end of the course I was a true Ruski. And I have to say I miss my European friends, with 99% having flown back to their various parts of the world.

I’m bloody pleased that unlike most of my graduating class, I didn’t go into banking. Many of my peers who worked their arses off to get to places like Lehman Brothers quickly found themselves jobless. If I hadn’t given up on Russian so quickly maybe I’d have gone abroad to work, but London has its charm.

Talking of work, 2008 was also the year I joined Globrix. It’s nice to work for a company you’ve always had a secret crush on. I love it there, even if I did have to work today ;-)

Hmmm, what else?

I turned 21, which was nice. I can now legally drink in the US, not that I’ve had much difficulty with that in the past!

I had some incredible fun with my crazy family, they’re all impossibly funny (especially Heather).

I also joined Twitter. And became addicted. Within a few weeks of joining I was already partying with @Zappos (Tony Hshieh) and @Zappos_Alfred (Alfred Lin) and a bunch of UFC fighters here in London. That was a *great* night. (More pics here)

I got really into video this year, with Seesmic, 12Seconds and the short-lived but much loved Snarky Girls blog.

I’ve also spent a large chunk of the past year being privileged enough to listen to my other half write pretty much the coolest album of all time. He rocks, literally.

All in all I’ve really loved 2008, I know people bitch about it but hey, I had a blast. That being said I won’t be out getting trashed tonight. I’ll be stuffing my face with Mexican food on my sofa at home, that’s got to be better than an overpriced overcrowded bar really, right?

Happy New Year Yo!

Last week, I flew home from Israel. I had a rather fabulous time I must say, the smug feeling of getting a tan whilst those back in London shuffle about in grey drizzle is hard to beat. And when it comes to nosh, Israel can’t be topped. Whether it’s a cup of coffee or a simple salad, it will undoubtedly be delicious.

Naturally, the Mac came with me on holiday. I wanted to use the time away to watch Lost Season 4 (which is bloody brilliant by the way) and I needed access to the interwebs because, well, ya know.

I was on the balcony looking out over the Jordanian mountains when a tweet from @BreakingNewsOn popped into my timeline. I soon found out that a few hours after we had driven down Route 12 in the Negev Desert, there had been a horrific accident.

The death toll eventually reached 24. I didn’t go back into the desert until I had to return home, but even a week later there was still evidence of the crash.

The majority of the trip I, unashamedly, sunbathed.

I planned to go to Masada, Petra and Ein Gedi, but in all honesty I couldn’t be bothered once I got there. I knew I’d be back fairly soon and the poolside was inviting. Besides, most of the trips I had planned would be better executed with Tel Aviv as a starting point rather than Eilat, Israel’s most Southerly tip.

Towards the end of my stay, Hamas ended the ceasefire with Israel. I have to say, I had no idea it would escalate to the tragic scenes we’re seeing right now so quickly.

A couple of years ago, I got caught up in a bit of a drama in Jerusalem myself. Some Palestinians had barricaded themselves inside a house which I found myself stuck outside. The army were there and it became clear that I wouldn’t be going anywhere for a while. I was absolutely bricking it. Needless to say, I escaped unscathed, but it was bloody scary.

On Saturday morning (the 27th) I was staying in Hove and was woken up by the sound of Press TV blaring out of the B&Ws. Since then I haven’t really been able to think about much else.

Twitter has become an amazing resource during the conflict, although I have to say that the amount of ignorant wankers I’ve seen shouting about one side or the other has made me really mad at the world. When I tweeted that Hamas had sent the first rockets I lost more than a handful of followers almost instantly.

Following the #gaza hashtag in Summize is pretty eye-opening, I think it’s fair to say that the majority of tweets are anti-Israel.

Let’s face it, if you’ve got half a brain cell you know that both sides have made some pretty big fuck ups. I’m not scared to say that Hamas is a terrorist organisation, it is. But Israel hasn’t exactly made life in Gaza a walk in the park.

I’m biting my tongue when it comes to this debate, I don’t need to talk about it on Twitter. I just hope it comes to a peaceful resolution soon that is acceptable to both sides.

Mike Butcher (@mbites) wrote a post today on TechCrunchUK which caused quite a stir, the comments were a fascinating/rage-inducing read and were well handled by Mike (bearing in mind he was trying to write about a startup). But I think @PaulCarr summed it all up better than I ever could…

Quite.