Out with the old. (2011 Retrospective)
2011 is coming to a close. It’s been a year of travel, adventure and new connections. I’ve started to build community, and have new friends who are close to my heart.
Travel
This year saw me boarding a plane to Indianapolis, Chicago, Houston and Anaheim. I saw travel delays, TSA agents, and exotic airport vendors along the way. I took shuttle buses, stayed at the Hyatt, Marriott, Hilton and with family. I was down in Portland half a dozen times, with trips ranging from a little over 24hours to a full week.
I’ve heard tell that whatever you do on New Years Eve is what you end up doing through the New Year. I’ll be traveling New Years eve, training up from Portland to Seattle. I wonder what that foreshadows for the New Year?
Adventure
Part of my adventure this year has been rediscovering family, meeting new friends, cultivating new relationships.
In March I competed in a business case competition with 2 classmates. We didn’t get first place, but we made a name for ourselves. I learned a lot about presenting in a professioal context, and I know how to approach a business case now. I also became closer to my classmates and have formed one of those friendships that will last, even after the program ends.
In August I flew down to Houston and watched my cousin get married in an beautiful ceremony. Everything is bigger in Texas and the event highlighted for me how big my family is, and how generous they are.
Also in August, I took a road trip with Sunnie where we tackled Glacier National Park and nearly hit cows in the wilds of Montana.
Instead of attending PAX this year I was on vacation with Sunnie. This meant when my Portland friends Jason and Car came up I only had a couple of days with them, a chance to meet and get acquainted, the kindling of a friendship that is helping anchor my community in Portland.
I hit the convention circuit in August, hitting 3 conventions in a row. GeekGirlCon’s inaugural event, SteamCon III and then Blizzcon. All three were amazing in their own right, from awesome musical guests at SteamCon and GeekGirlCon, to awesome costuming, and simply awesome people. While Blizzcon may not have been the networking event i meant to make of it, I did meet new people. I will be visiting Disneyland in March in attempt to get to know one of those new people better.
Community
Who do you hang out with, what corners of the world do you call home? I’m spending more time in the company of academics, muscians, writers and gamers. I’m attending game days, have a regular homework date with a favorite classmate and attend the occasional concert. I have offers to collaborate on conference papers, I have friends to cook with, and I have friends ready to teach me most any game I want to learn.
So the year has been crazily social and It’s a good way to be. There are some twinkling stars in my social landscape, people who made this year amazing. My Partner in Crime (Ryan) and his attitude of adventure , Jason and Car’s unfailing hospitality in Portland. Kim and her patience while attending class with me weekly (and taking me to Blizzcon!). That’s just to mention a few. This year would not be the same without Smrit, Peter, Betse, Joseph, Marc, Susan, Leah, Sunnie, Jasmine, Norma, Patrick.
The usual suspects this year, those ones leading me down the path to adventure and awesome include the following folks.
Kim and Hector, Sunnie, Aron and Ryan.
There were others, but I am sadly lacking photos of them. If you see these people, be ready for awesome.
2012
What does 2012 hold for me? Well like I mentioned before, there is more travel. Back down to Portland for regular visits, hopefully a trip to the Bay area as I look at employers, and the aformentioned trip to Disneyland. I’d like to go to Victoria with Aron for my birthday, and am planning on Alaska with Sunnie in a continuation of our adventures. I’d also like to visit Chicago again. (I’ve found that many of my friends are planning trips to Chicago over the summer for various convetions. I’m not interested in going with, but feel weird about them exploring my home town without me. )
I’ll be finishing my degree in June. This will involve a giant project done for a corporate sponser, a poster session and a 30 second presentation.It’s a big deal, and I’ll share more about the project as it happens. I’m working with Yahoo and a team of students in Texas. The project manages to challlenge my tech skills while appealing to my project management expertise.
By August I’ll know where I’m going to be living for the next few years, and be able to plan further adventures from a new base of operations. Ideally this will be Portland, Seattle, California (Bay area or Irvine) or Chicago. Listed in order of preference, with some metro areas extended, though if I end up in CA or Chicago I don’t have much of a social circle built up and will need take that into account when accepting an offer. My goal is to take have a challenging job that uses my skills and makes me feel valued.
As I face the new year I’m fresh faced and optimistic.
It’s been a happy 2011 and I hope for more of the same from 2012.
Originally published at Originally posted at Seattlejo.com. You can comment here or there.