Not that I don't enjoy the holidays, I really do. It's a fun time of year, what with all the merriment and family time and gift giving (not to mention getting), the holiday parties, and the over-eating. All good things.
At the time of this writing I'm 28 years and 1 day old. I woke up early, made some coffee and a bowl of cereal, dressed up, and had a half day of work. Jonas hung out with his grandma for a few hours while Kasey, her brother Daniel, our friend Kat, and I all went out for sushi. Really, it's all we had time for.
This year has been a mixed bag of extremes. Occupying both ends of the spectrum, there's Jonas. He's grown into such a brilliant little man with so much personality. He gets prettier, smarter, and funnier every day. But he can also be the most aggravating force in the world. Sometimes you just want to pay attention to a movie, or a book, or anything for longer than five minutes, but mostly that just can't happen while he's awake. Going anywhere takes three times as much preparation, and staying out late is almost an impossibility. And I have never been as angry at anything as I have been at Jonas. But then, three minutes later, he'll do something tiny and hyper-adorable and all is forgotten and forgiven. If I was the kind of guy to categorize, Jonas would be placed squarely in the Best Thing Ever category.
My work situation started out as non-existent, moved to accidental employment in promotions, and then I got lucky. A company called Truestone called me up for an interview, and even though I ran out of gas on my way there and had to reschedule for the next day, they hired me. In terms of lucky breaks that happened this year, that one was probably the biggest. I love this company and my job; something that hasn't happened since I left Arizona. I'm the IT support guy for (as of just recently) two offices and over ninety people. Everyone is laid back, my boss is awesome, and there's this whole environment of mutual appreciation going on. When my boss couldn't give me a raise because of corporate policy, he wrangled me a bonus to make up for it. This job is definitely a keeper.
In contrast, my personal life has been... a challenge. It seems unless people are willing to come over to our place, we don't hang out with anyone. Most of my social interaction happens electronically. I know it's not true, and despite what Facebook says, it feels like I have no friends. Every week I start looking forward to the weekend, but when it finally arrives I'm more stressed and upset than I am during the weekdays. I could ask for help, or a break, or whatever, but I know everyone else is exhausted as well, and besides, if I have to ask that means no one really wants to do it.
I have gotten back into reading this year, and I wrote a bunch. I even got a short article published in a real newspaper, which was pretty damn awesome and surprising. We started teaching Jonas American Sign Language (which is probably the best parenting decision we've made so far), and after a couple books and a bunch of online studying all three of us have the beginnings of a decent sign language vocabulary. Including cusses.
Habitually I started to make a list of New Year's resolutions, but I'm so exhausted physically, mentally, spiritually, grammatically, that my heart wouldn't be in it. I would like to write for like an hour daily, and losing some weight would be awesome. I have this goal to start dressing snappier (think Joseph Gordon-Levitt in 500 Days of Summer, or Lee Pace in Pushing Daisies), but I need to lose this pooch before I can really pull it off.
Be safe out there tonight, and all the nights of 2011. Here's to the sweet and the sour, and many more new years after this one.
David
Location:Court St,Portsmouth,United States
My resolution is to take better care of myself (mentally, physically, spiritually, etc) and be more confident. Which goes hand in hand I think.
ReplyDeleteHere's to an awesome 2011!