Every year at New Years my family has a tradition: reflect on the year with a series of preposterously invasive questions about the ending year that only my mother enjoys asking or answering. At least, that’s what I used to tell her. My mother has always been a good sport with her children’s irrational reaction to family traditions and discussion. Fortunately, it didn’t take long for her poisoned genes to take root in my warped brain. It’s been her plan for the last 25 years to weave targeted pathways in my cerebrum with her genetically engineering Trojan horse of a chromosome set. All so that she had somebody else to derive pleasure from these twisted games. And I love the evil genius all the more for having succeeded.

Honestly, I’ve found that I’m already forgetting more about the past than I care to admit. People, places, experiences and conversations seem to slip by more and more every year. At this point my brain is so filled with technical gobbledigook that it’s a wonder anything else sticks. So when I look at the tradition now it seems like an amazing way to capture just a small slice of each year. Everyone is so focused on the new year that no one seems to bother putting the entire last year in perspective, or comparing your experiences to those of previous years.

I strongly encourage you to try these questions out for yourself. Be honest, be thoughtful, and be clear in your responses. If you feel bold enough to post them in a comment or on your own blog, I encourage you to do so. Otherwise, please email me if you’d like to share your answers with someone else. Until then, I hope you enjoy a snapshot of my year.

The most beautiful place I saw this year :

I walked out on a dock on the end of Tilghman Island, in Black Walnut Cove, absolutely beautiful.

Something I was glad I did but hope to never have to do again this year:

Sometime in November I started working at 9am on Thursday and worked until 5pm. Then I went home, talked to a friend, had dinner and started coding at 9pm. When I finished up around 5am, I decided that sleeping was a bad idea. I took the first bus in to work from 7am to 4pm before coming home and worked another hour or so. The final tally was around 25 hours without sleeping. I was surprised how easy it was to do, but it wrecked me. I’m proud and stupid, and I won’t do it again.

The person I most enjoyed meeting* :

I met a couple of COMPLETE nerds at a barcraft event. They made me feel like Mitt Romney, no joke. They were some of the nicest people I’ve met in DC and hope to see them again someday. I think I’ll try to do more of those kinds of mixers this year. The subject matter is lost on me, but it’s nice to create new nodes in “the network” (i.e. work people get boring too).

The day I would most like to repeat from this year* :

In early November, I took my first “complete day off” in about 15 months. It was just a Friday, but it was pure bliss for me. I finally separated myself from work to have some fun and enjoy the city. I think the fact that I “spent a day” on myself was the most magical part of it. I could have done the exact same thing on the next day…walked the same route, ate the same food and carried the same camera bag. But it wouldn’t have been as good or as sweet or as easy of a burden.

Someone I would like to get to know better in the new year* :

This is the year that a good friend’s little girl starts to really talk it up. I’m so excited to meet her in words, having visited her in the hospital for the first time two thanksgivings ago for the first time. They’re a good family with lots of love and lots of joy, and I’m ecstatic to learn more about how their daughter has learned from them.

The thing that I got better at during this year :

Making curry! Specifically, my chickpea and tomato-based curry. I’ve been trying for some time to eat less meat, and it worked better and better over time. In fact, I’ve got some chickpeas soaking as we speak. You’ve got to use the garam masala in great quantity!

The thing I would most like to accomplish in the new year:

I would like to build a project up in my spare time. It could be anything from a piece of inventive-but-useless software to an organization.

The thing I am proud to have accomplished this year is*:

I survived an earthquake and a hurricane! Contrary to popular belief, the earthquake on the east coast was quite “disturbing” (you’ll pardon my dry sense of humor). The fact that I came through a flooded apartment with my wits about me and without much outside support (save for the support of the carpeted floor of a generous friend). Of course, much credit goes to my wonderful friends who laid out a large net beneath me in case I did fall. Something from a past life, it seems, has continuously blessed me with some of the finest friends that money can’t buy.

Something new I would like to try in the new year is:

I always think extreme with this question. I think I’d like to ride in a hot air balloon. I saw Stephen Fry do it, maybe I’ll follow in his footsteps? Fall in nearby Appalachia looks to be gorgeous.

The Scripture verse/passage that meant the most to me this year was:

Proverbs 17:1 Better is a dry morsel and quietness with it,
Than a house full of feasting with strife.

A place I would like to visit in the new year is:

The northeast. I’ve been on the east coast and a mere train ride away from the greatest metropolis in the United States, and a few more hours from a place I’ve always idealized as perfection incarnate. I would love to travel the rails to Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Vermont and Maine. I have enough vacation to do it, the finances to support it, just no final motivator. Maybe I should start planning for after my “new job”.

My favorite outing/trip/visit was to:

I went to the Eastern Shore with a friend of mine. It was a great day of fun and driving. I’d gladly go again.

I most enjoyed watching the following change this year*:

I think that 2011 was a great year for normalization for me. I moved into my second place on the east coast, and shed a lot of garbage that I still had from college days. My hobbies started to drift from intense wastelands of too much sunlight to a mild biosphere of mixed interests. Photography came back, music became a quieter but more ubiquitous backdrop, and cooking is now a regular activity full of diversity and fun. I became the most socially active of any year in my life, I started attending a huge number of concerts and events relative to any previous year, and my sphere of friends swelled significantly. I began reading again after a far, far too long hiatus. I think it was 6 years since my last non-academic pleasure read, and this year I went through about 25-30 books. I don’t think “I changed”, but I think my circumstances allowed me to let natural urges find a home instead of forcing one objective or another. Definitely a good change.

One thing I wish I could change this new year:

This year I discussed the idea of volunteer work with a few friends. We talked about collaborating on a technical project for a non-profit, but have been unable to find the time to get the kick-off that we need. I hope that this year affords us the opportunity to follow through on a good idea in order to help a local group. I’m always looking for people to help me make that a reality.

A special prayer answered this year:

I was really seeking out some validation of the quality of work that I had been contributing on the job. At the end of the year I received my first performance review and it was better than I could have imagined. I’m very grateful to be in a job that I can do well with people that help me to do well.

My favorite special event this year:

I absolutely enjoyed the Cloud Cult concert at Black Cat in DC. I went with some of my favorite people in the world, the music was fantastic, and I got this great painting. How awesome is that?! I really couldn’t have asked for more.

My favorite holiday memory this year:

When I arrived in Phoenix my father met me at baggage claim, and I gave him a huge hug. My brother was waiting in the car, and when I loaded my bag up I gave him a hug so immense that I lifted him off the ground and made the fellow arrivals guffaw at our silly display. I hadn’t seen either of them in over 14 months. As we drove back to my parents house in Phoenix it took us 10 minutes to start each other laughing so hard that I was crying. That was my favorite holiday memory.

Someone I missed seeing this year:

I had a very good friend for many many years of my life. I was very sad when 2011 ended with nothing more than an awkward 2-minute conversation on the phone that contained all the warmth of a metal bench. I’ve tried to communicate several times, but I haven’t had any luck. I miss him very much, and it will be sad if 2012 ends the same way that 2011 has.

Someone I hope I can visit this new year*:

I would love to visit my friends in southern Wisconsin. It’s been over 3 years since I saw them, and I’ve yet to meet their young son.

The scariest thing that happened to me this year:

I received a phone call early in the morning from a friend of mine who was panicked. He had gotten caught in a bad situation (after a carefully orchestrated series of normal decisions), and was too wound up for me to be able to calm him down. I spent the next few hours trying to figure out how to help him. The situation was resolved by mid-morning without any problems at all; it couldn’t have been a better learning experience. But I remember waking up groggy and immediately hitting 160 BPM when I heard his voice.

My favorite possession of this year:

Just before Thanksgiving I picked up a new camera and have had no end of fun with it. I crossed the 10k photo mark on my Christmas vacation.

My most satisfying accomplishment this year*:

Granted, I think it’s the easiest instrument in the world, I’m very glad to have taught myself the penny whistle. I play frequently now and enjoy coming up with new tunes or finding old ones. I’m no master, but I can kick out campfire songs like nobody’s business.

Something new I learned realized about Faith :

I learned that I’m worried when people believe that conversion can happen, and indeed must happen to avoid despair, but don’t care about their fellow man enough to share this fact with all they meet, out of love and concern.  I learned that those who hate it so much that they lash out at their fellow man are not to be trusted, and those who love it so much that they forget about their fellow man frighten me more than anything.

I experienced personal joy when I remember:

I really experienced joy sitting on the national mall and watching people take pictures of each other in front of the capitol and the monument. It’s a beautiful place to go and sit and watch a carefree world spin around you. If you haven’t done it then come to DC and let me be your footman.

The hardest thing to let go of this year:

I’d like to preface this with my favorite quote from Neil Gaiman’s stories: “You get what everybody gets – you get a lifetime”

This year I lost a colleague at work. We weren’t best friends, he was many years my senior, but we talked. I advised him on some of his projects, and he provided me much more advice on my career and future. He was a kind man, and a good man. He treated me with respect and dignity just like anyone else in his life, and he died before his time. I know it’s not a good way to feel; I know it’s selfish. But I’ll still miss him.

I really felt at peace when I:

I spent one afternoon sitting on my parent’s patio with the Phoenix sun on my face and music in my ears…without a care in the world. I should like to say there are few times I have felt so truly at peace. Perhaps rivaled only by the times when the weather was just right and I’d open windows on both corners of the room and lay in bed with music on. It’s the simple pleasures in life like a warm sun or a cool breeze that really relax me.

The most embarassing moment of this year was when I*:

I hosted a party at my place last year just before I left for the new spot. Lamentably, I was not the most gracious host toward the end of the evening. Let us just say that there are very few times where the spirit of the evening overwhelms my senses, and in this case my best friends caught my fall rather graciously, if I don’t mind saying.

I am really looking forward to :

I’ve got an interesting opportunity to exchange with another company this year. If all goes well it will be one of the most challenging and informative experiences I’ve had yet.

Something I tried for the first time this year:

This year was the year I sold my vehicle (beloved Jack, a 1998 Honda Civic). Instead of replacing it, I opted for a car-free lifestyle (pun-intended). I have lived for 5 months without a vehicle and haven’t looked back.

I hope I get to do this again this year:

One of my favorite joys has been a very good relationship with my two dearest friends in the world. I hope that this year yields many opportunities to dine, talk, and experience the world together. They are a truly wonderful part of my life, and I’m so glad to have gotten to know them and to learn from them. That is my highest hope for the new year.

Something I have been working on but don’t expect to complete this year:

Personal health goals have been on my “in progress list” for a while. My occupation doesn’t exactly sponsor healthy living, so I’ve been trying to eat healthier and choosing hobbies that will get me more active on a regular basis (photography is a great example, I’ve hoofed around 50 miles this year to take pictures).

If I could name the year just passed, I would name it the “Year of the _____________”:

Big Waffle.

Just one more time I would like to:

Have lunch with Scott and Aaron and Andrew. Did it happen last year? It must have! Three work colleagues (one who has moved on) whose passion for their craft invigorates my soul.

In the new year, my wish for you:

My wish for you is that you live outside the spectrum of “alright” to “pretty good”. I’ve discovered that I have a passion for trying things that will definitely fall outside of that space, and I hope to continue to do that.  It’s better to experience “terrible” or “bad” a half dozen times if it means having 1 or 2 “fantastic”s or “earthshattering”s.

 

 

The last item that I forgot to mention is that the list can grow. Can you think of a question you’d like to add to this list? I can!

If I built a timeline for the year, it would contain these events:

February – A school friend joins me at work

March – Moved into new flat

April – Eric comes for a visit in the season of the Cherry Blossom

Mid April – The roommate comes to join me!

May – Cloud Cult + Painting  = Joy

August – Earthquake!

September – Refugee returns home

November – CAMERA  + Day Off  = Ecstasy

December – Family in Phoenix means Frolicking Fun in the Florescent faded fauna. Fail fickle, Fenrir!