2010
Damn, 2009 was hard. Really really hard. I mean if there is one word that characterizes this year for me, it has got to be “tired”. Last year got me soooo tired, that after a three week vacation I still wake up in the morning with the energy of a drunk hamster. I’ll optimistically try to blame it on jetlag, but I’m not really fooling myself with that. Anyway, glad 2009 is over, I’m not going to lie.
Then, it was really weird as far as people went. First half of the year, everyone was fighting with everyone. I wasn’t talking to two of my closest friends. Two other dear friends of mine were having an all out war of sorts that I somehow got caught in the middle of last Christmas. But eventually, after a lot of hard work, slowly things fell back into place and by the end of 2009 smiles replaced frowns and laughter replaced shouting. Cool! It still doesn’t make any sense, but at least now it’s all good.
Then there’s the rest of the world of course… if it’s not “the economy” it’s the swine flu. Oh and global warming, wars, hunger, disease and political BS… the usual. Will it ever end?
And other bad and good things happened in 2009… it had its share of love and hate, good times and tears.
A sad thing was the passing of my grandma… losing your grandparents suddenly makes you feel a whole lot older. But, such is life..
All in all, I wouldn’t call it a year like any other, there’s definitely a shadow floating with it, but I don’t want to call it a bad year either. After all, many good things happened in 2009 in all aspects of my life. I guess it all balances out really in some complicated universal equation… or something.
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Well, I generally hate “New Year resolutions”, but this time I might make an exception. After all, a new “Year” is as good as time as any to stop and think about where you’re going with your life. So, 2010 resolutions? Yeah I got one: slooooow doooown! Spend more time to enjoy the world around me, the moments, the people. Live, stop running.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve tried to do more and more with my life. I interpreted “carpe diem” as a need to do something each moment. I think I was wrong… For the first time ever, this year I am going to try to do less. There’s a famous quote among bikers that says “Never ride faster than your guardian angel can fly”. Well I’m going to take that and give it a small change… “Never live faster than your guardian angel can follow”.
And I’m working on a plan for my resolution. I know what I want it to be. So maybe, by December 2010 I will have reached this objective. You see, the problem with these resolutions (and the main reason why I hate them) is that people don’t do them right at all. These “resolutions” are really just ideas. They are high-level concepts, not plans. Saying “I want to be a better person” doesn’t really mean anything practical. There’s nothing implied in that. What exactly are you going to do that will result in you being a better person??? You got no idea, but you set out to be a better person. Fantastic, see you next year. That’s why people fail to achieve their new year ideals, because they only come up with the concept, but not with the plan. Anyway, I’m building my plan… and it looks like I’m getting somewhere.
Well that’s that for now. Happy New Year everyone and my sincere and deepest thanks, hugs and love to all the important people in my life (you know who you are!) for putting up with me, for being there when I needed them and for all the love they share. I would be nothing without you and you know it.
Reflections
I’m not really a big fan of new year resolutions. I have daily resolutions, I always make plans and improvements and I don’t think December 31st is a better choice than any other day for this purpose. But this year was a bit more interesting. I spent most of the last days of 2008 and first of 2009 analyzing two very dear friends of mine and thinking (together with others) of ways to try and help them get their lives back on the right track. But in doing this I ended up analyzing myself a lot also. What do I owe and to whom? Have I paid my own debts? Are my plans for the future realistic? Have I taken offense or played the victim where I wasn’t really offended or a victim at all? Am I any better than the ones I am trying to help?
Many such questions initially meant for other people turned around facing me. Answers were interesting to say the least.
So, New Year resolutions? No, still none. But many questions and many answers to give. I had a great time passing into 2009 (for a change) and even if the morning TV showed the same sad and disturbing news it always does, I hope this year will be better. No wait. I KNOW it will be.
So here’s to you, all the great people in my life that make things happen! I love you all, you’re wonderful, thanks for being there when times were hard and I’m glad we were still there when it was time to leave it all behind and have fun!
08-09
2008 was a weird weird year for me and it continues to be weird even through its last week. Still interesting, but weird.
Bad things happened. Death, illness, friends stopped being friends (yes, it turns out you can actually somehow decide to just stop being a friend one day after many years) and many more such things darken my memory of this year.
Good things also happened. Some friends got reunited, faces that used to be sad became happy, people pulled through hard times and did well. I made brownies and didn’t burn the kitchen down.
I also did many other things worth mentioning… Let’s look back on that together for one minute.
I went back to a healthy active lifestyle and mostly as a result of that, 2008 is the first year of my life in which I was never sick (although I still have a few more days to mess that record up…hopefully not). I worked my first full-time job as a software engineer with AOL and I loved it. Ditching dorm life, I got my first apartment. By the end of this year, I will have flown 15 times on 11 different trips in the past year (wow). I made some people happy and I made some people sad. I visited the orbital space station. (no, actually I didn’t, I just wanted to make sure you’re still paying attention). I beat my own record of hours spent in one continous block on a single project (19) and many more such fun things.
2008 was an year of transitions and it will be a while before I can tell whether these were mostly good or mostly bad. Either way, it was a big leap forward and that’s always good even when some tumbling and tripping is involved because of the distance being leaped. I’m getting ready to be on my way to end this year with style (and for me that usually involves slopes and some form of quick – and mostly gracious – descent) but… before I do that, I just want to send out a cheesy message.
Here it goes…
I would ask everyone to try and give a little bit more kindness and understanding to the ones around them (yes, I know Christmas has just passed, but it should be an example, not an exception). We can do so much with just a little extra understanding.
I also want to thank everyone who’s reading my blog for their time spent here and even more to those who comment. You make me happy, thank you for that!
I hope everyone is going to have a great time in the following days (remember: work hard, but also party hard!) and may 2009 be a better year for all of us! That’s about it from the cliche department here, see you all in good health in January!
Happy New Year!
