You know, it’s really hard to pinpoint what the exact moments are that really define a year. Our cover story comes close, but why is it lacking the tear-jerking, inspirational quality of those fancy Google zeitgeist videos? Maybe it’s the fact that magazines can’t play really bad soft rock as you read them—yet. Or maybe it’s the fact that we focused on Thailand, a quiet, boring nation.Take dying. We suck at it. Steve Jobs, Osama bin Laden, Elizabeth Taylor, Christopher Hitchens, Muammar Gaddafi, Amy Winehouse, Kim Jong Il—most countries have put in serious efforts on the celebrity deaths front. Here, and we don’t know if it’s the Sangsom or the tuktuk exhaust fumes, we just seem to live forever.Then there’s our ho-hum politics. Unlike politically-troubled Arab or European backwaters, there were no coups, riots or revolutions here. Just a democratic election, and a new female PM. Seriously, Bangkok is starting to feel like Helsinki. Look at Greece, where protesters kicked the shit of out protesters, leaving cops protesting that protesters were stealing their jobs. We never get that kind of fun in our streets, where snipers usually preclude any need to kick.Most glaringly, we had no natural disasters to speak of. Japan had the earthquake-slash-tsunami; Brazil and half of Asia were flooded. But here in Thailand, there are strict rules about erasing natural disasters from our collective memories within 60 days. Floods in 2011? Nope. Never happened. See you next rainy season when—oh wow, can you believe it? Pinch me I’m dreaming!—Thailand is hit by flooding. Didn’t see that one coming, did you?Really, our only shot at making world headlines would be a royal wedding, like the one they had in England. Seven is considered the age of reason in many cultures and we could really use the tourism revenue... No? Not happening? Oh ok, then.But hey, who cares if we’re not in the spotlight? Are we Bangkokians not still heroes, just because CNN overlooked our achievements? We survived the mobs at Terminal 21 and Ikea, we ate our share of spaghetti mentaiko in support of Japan, we donated our pre-Uniqlo wardrobes to flood victims. And we lived to Facebook every last detail of the tale. Surely, there’s some heroism in that.Don’t drink and drive. Have a great year-end. And see you in 2012 (Jan 6, to be precise).