EOY
I know it’s tedious to read about everyone’s end-of-year natterings, so I’ll keep mine brief.
Having just gone through a very difficult period, I’m naturally inclined to write 2005 off as just a series of very painful events. However, when I went to make a list of the good and the bad, I discovered a very surprising and substantial imbalance toward the good. This year in particular this list seems to really help keep things in perspective.
So here’s my lists:
The Bad The Good
- Puggle’s sudden death
- Inna’s hospitalization
- Abandoning my graphic design certificate program
- The damage done to my ceilings by leaks in the building’s A/C system
- Having to send back my new Dell laptop as defective
- The brouhaha with my bike shop over replacing my headset
- Early-season difficulties on the bike due to my back and seat
- I never had the time to get started in sea kayaking this year
- Got a new job and began making money again
- DargonZine went back into circulation, printing the first half of the long-awaited Black Idol story arc, our most ambitious collaboration ever
- Those included “Liberated Hope”, a two-chapter story of my own
- Made a ton of positive progress in incorporating Buddhist philosophy into my life
- Bought a very nice brand new road bike
- Realized a longstanding dream by taking the train up to Portland, Maine and biking from there to Augusta
- Had three pieces of artwork displayed publicly at my art school’s senior show
- Met several prominent personalities, including Benoit Mandelbrot, Greg Hawkes, Ajahn Brahm, and Terry Pratchett
- Had a tremendously enjoyable and successful Pan-Mass Challenge charity ride
- Attended a pleasant Dargon Writers’ Summit in Traverse City, Michigan
- Learned how to do my own artistic bookbinding
- Went for a schooner ride in Camden, Maine with my brother
- Began attending friendly scotch nights and picked up a rare bottle of Port Ellen at a local tasting
- Got back into the swing of playing Diplomacy and learned how to play the excellent game Settlers of Catan
- Got back into and put in a good showing at some friendly poker games, then had a very profitable blackjack outing at Foxwoods
- Got the bloaty-ohs attending my first Scooper Bowl: an all-you-can-eat ice cream charity event
- Bought an iPod Nano
- Joined the ACLU in response to the US government’s unabashed assault on human rights both domestically and abroad
- Had a fun time showing my friend Tasia around Boston
So that’s the scoop. As you can see, the positives far outweigh the negatives, even if there were a couple really, really terrible things that happened this year.