2009 Review. Whatsit for 2010.
Time for my personal yearly review. 2009 was my first full calendar year in Seattle making 1.5 years here. The year seems to have gone by very quickly but there was a lot packed into those 365 days. There is a lot I just won’t write about and then there is the typical crap that one puts into these types of posts.
I learned a lot in 2009 mostly things about myself and life which is always nice. I think it will help for future planning. When I step on the scale I see that I went the complete opposite direction I vowed to go last year which sucks but that’s life. I suppose I can blame that on mitigating circumstances. I also didn’t read nearly as many books as I had vowed to read. In fact I will have only read three books by tomorrow (one of which was an audiobook - Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand [1200+pages]). That’s more than I read in 2008 so a bit of a win there. Thinking about getting a Kindle to help me read more but someone I know keeps reminding me that I don’t really need it (thanks!). They say that 2010 will be the year of the e-book reader. I suppose I should tackle the paper versions first maybe some more audiobooks.
I managed to get to the mountains a bit this year; however, I didn’t do the hiking that I wanted to. Saw Mt. Rainier and camped there once. Survived a damn heat wave in Seattle which made me appreciate air conditioning. Ended the year with less money in the bank than I started which is disappointing. That won’t happen in 2010. I was also robbed for the first time which sucks. Luckily I only lost my old Zune just weeks after getting a new Zune HD. Win/Loose. Oh, I almost forgot. I survived the Swine (H1N1) flu. That was pleasant. Vaccinated the hard way.
Travel. I spent time in South Carolina, Florida Keys, and Iowa. Two major road trips one from Seattle to Michigan and another from Seattle to Iowa.
Politics. Well, screw politics. That’s what 2009 taught me. Got involved in the early Tea Party movement and as usual it got annoying after a while. Just like the other political activities that I have been involved in in the past. There’s always way to many chiefs and never enough Indians which makes it all…politics. 2010 brings midterm elections and we certainly need to mix things up because we are still on a downward spiral. Hopenchange isn’t all it was cracked up to be I guess.
Tech. Social Networking yay woo hooray *sigh* *yawn* whatever. Twitter provides more information than anyone needs and allows more people to put more information out there than they should. I’m guilty. I slowed down on twitter a lot over the summer because I came down with a bad case of early adopter syndrome as I do with many tech things. I’m back and twitter now. Another year I lived without MySpace, bane of the Social Networking world. Facebook is the hub of the damn universe. Started mini-blogging at Tumblr (myifdn.com) and turned my blog (zach.e53.org) into a landing page for lil ol’ me. I’m considering a few things to put on zach.e53.org but that’s not even worth discussing at this point. I built two big desktop machines and didn’t use them. Waste of money. Sold them both. Totally went blu ray. Stopped buying movies. Still use Netflix <3
So, ending 2009 I know more, a lot more, about myself than I did at the beginning of the year. I know a lot more about people in general. I know where I need to be and where I want to be and where I shouldn’t be. Even then I have no idea where I’m going which has its pros and cons.
What the hell am I going to do in 2010? Pff, got me. I want to cook more which may have me doing some cooking classes. I want to travel but that requires a lot of money so I will probably just hit a few places. Vegas and fishing in Minnesota are likely with Washington DC and New York City (or maybe San Francisco or San Diego) as back-ups. I’m going to get certified on Microsoft Exchange 2010. I am going to read The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand and study Atlas Shrugged in more detail. I’m going to ignore an election cycle. I’m going to do my best to grow new friendships and clean up old ones. I’m not going to eat a single fast-food hamburger. I’m going to go salmon fishing and clamming and maybe even crabbing. I’m going to go to Canada. I’m going to listen to the horoscope I just received in my email “Better to risk embarrassment than to wonder always what might have been.” I’m going to live and understand the quote my grandma put on the pillow she gave me for Christmas, “It is what it is.” I’m going to find a balance between myself and those that I care about. I’m going to get rid of Cable TV. I’m going to take in more concerts. I’m going to drink more damn coffee. Right NOW.
Cheers. Happy New Year.
“Human beings do not live forever, Reuven. We live less than the time it takes to blink an eye, if we measure our lives against eternity. So it may be asked what value is there to a human life. There is so much pain in the world. What does it mean to have to suffer so much if our lives are nothing more than the blink of an eye?
I learned a long time ago, Reuven, that a blink of an eye in itself is nothing. But the eye that blinks, that is something. A span of life is nothing. But the man who lives that span, he is something. He can fill that tiny span with meaning, so its quality is immeasurable though its quantity may be insignificant. Do you understand what I am saying? A man must fill his life with meaning, meaning is not automatically given to life.
It is hard work to fill one’s life with meaning. That I do not think you understand yet. A life filled with meaning is worthy of rest. I want to be worthy of rest when I am no longer here.”
— Chaim Potok (The Chosen)
