2008 "Year In Review" Entry / Happy New Year!
Well, here I am yet again, at the end of another year. As I do every year, I'm going to recap some highlights from 2008 and then get all depressed about 2009. Bon voyage!
In January, we began to witness the earth-shattering breakup between my sister, Val, and her financé of 14 years, Franko. I also began my Tiny Toons framed production cel art collection. February saw the breakup get even worse while my father and I built a media center computer which would become the backbone of our future-tech home entertainment. In March, my Geo was out of commission for a while as the starter went out. Sometimes, my little car is all the family has to make short hops here and there, so if I remember correctly, it was a rough couple weeks. In April, I decided to spend May in Boise looking for work. This meant I had to spend the month of April feverishly helping the parents with home improvement projects such as painting the entire interior of the house and adding new trees around the yard.
May was a huge month. Jaci invited me to be her roommate and look for work in Boise, Idaho.In late May, I worked the Boise primary election for some extra cash. It was a lot of fun to finally have some real quality time with Jaci for the first time since before I graduated college in 2004. In fact, I think that's the most amount of time we've spent in one place together since before she graduated in 2002, during those short months we had between when we met and when she graduated. It was like old times, except this time around, we weren't a couple and we both had some pretty big responsibilities. In June, I was asked to drive to Fargo, North Dakota, and help my brother drive home to Portland from college for summer break. This meant I had to give up on my job hunt in Boise, but it had been fruitless anyway. The drive to Fargo was unique in that I didn't stop for more than the time it took to gas up. I was on the road for 22 whole hours without sleep driving 1,100 miles. After spending a few weeks in Fargo helping my brother pack up a bunch of his stuff in a U-Haul, we made the slow return back to Portland. July saw more fallout from my sister's breakup with Franko as she moved back into the family home. For the first time since maybe before 2000, everyone in my immediate family (All five of us) were officially living under one roof. July also saw my mother's first visit to Fargo after years of anxiety not allowing her to make the trip to her family's native home there. August saw me using some of my audio recording skills for my friend, Ava, while the Olympics glued me to the TV.
In September, my dad and I together built a major addition to the shed in our backyard. That took nearly all month of being out there every day. The US Presidential Election of 2008 also began heating up. In October, I voted for a new president and caught a Weezer concert. I also was asked to go back out to Boise for Halloween so I could be Jaci's date. Why not? In November, since I was still in Boise, I worked their general election. I spent a couple weeks out there being a good friend to Jaci as she dealt with her boy troubles before returning to Portland (Along the way, stopping in at EOU for the first time since 2005) to participate in NaNoWriMo, which I eventually succeeded at in the final hours of the month. Finally, this December, I completed work on my second Tiny Toon animation cel framing before watching my entire family leave for Fargo to see my brother graduate college. I was left here alone to watch the house and animals when the most impressive snow storm in many decades hit the area. With everyone barely making it home in time for Christmas, the year is finishing up kind of in the same place it began, except now my brother is back from college and living at home indefinitely as he plots his next move.
2009 will be an incredible year of change. Have no doubt. Since I graduated college in 2004, I haven't exactly accomplished much. Some would point to my journal and all these journal reviews and say that 2008 was a huge year for me, and while that may be true, I still don't feel like I'm contributing enough to the world around me. That starts with getting a real full-time job and moving out. Like the song goes, "You'll never do/The things you want/If you don't move/And get a job."
Last year, in my 2007 Year In Review journal entry from December 31st, 2007, I used the final paragraph to think aloud about December 31st, 2008. At the time, I was sure 2008 would be radically different than 2007 and I mused about looking forward to reading my 2008 Year In Review entry (Which you're reading right now, you time traveler, you). I feel weird looking back at myself and knowing that's what I was thinking at the closing of the year. This year, instead of blah resolutions or false-hope predictions, I'm just going to end this Year In Review entry as I always do, but with a slight addition:
Happy New Year, everyone! And here's to 2009. May it not suck.
In January, we began to witness the earth-shattering breakup between my sister, Val, and her financé of 14 years, Franko. I also began my Tiny Toons framed production cel art collection. February saw the breakup get even worse while my father and I built a media center computer which would become the backbone of our future-tech home entertainment. In March, my Geo was out of commission for a while as the starter went out. Sometimes, my little car is all the family has to make short hops here and there, so if I remember correctly, it was a rough couple weeks. In April, I decided to spend May in Boise looking for work. This meant I had to spend the month of April feverishly helping the parents with home improvement projects such as painting the entire interior of the house and adding new trees around the yard.
May was a huge month. Jaci invited me to be her roommate and look for work in Boise, Idaho.In late May, I worked the Boise primary election for some extra cash. It was a lot of fun to finally have some real quality time with Jaci for the first time since before I graduated college in 2004. In fact, I think that's the most amount of time we've spent in one place together since before she graduated in 2002, during those short months we had between when we met and when she graduated. It was like old times, except this time around, we weren't a couple and we both had some pretty big responsibilities. In June, I was asked to drive to Fargo, North Dakota, and help my brother drive home to Portland from college for summer break. This meant I had to give up on my job hunt in Boise, but it had been fruitless anyway. The drive to Fargo was unique in that I didn't stop for more than the time it took to gas up. I was on the road for 22 whole hours without sleep driving 1,100 miles. After spending a few weeks in Fargo helping my brother pack up a bunch of his stuff in a U-Haul, we made the slow return back to Portland. July saw more fallout from my sister's breakup with Franko as she moved back into the family home. For the first time since maybe before 2000, everyone in my immediate family (All five of us) were officially living under one roof. July also saw my mother's first visit to Fargo after years of anxiety not allowing her to make the trip to her family's native home there. August saw me using some of my audio recording skills for my friend, Ava, while the Olympics glued me to the TV.
In September, my dad and I together built a major addition to the shed in our backyard. That took nearly all month of being out there every day. The US Presidential Election of 2008 also began heating up. In October, I voted for a new president and caught a Weezer concert. I also was asked to go back out to Boise for Halloween so I could be Jaci's date. Why not? In November, since I was still in Boise, I worked their general election. I spent a couple weeks out there being a good friend to Jaci as she dealt with her boy troubles before returning to Portland (Along the way, stopping in at EOU for the first time since 2005) to participate in NaNoWriMo, which I eventually succeeded at in the final hours of the month. Finally, this December, I completed work on my second Tiny Toon animation cel framing before watching my entire family leave for Fargo to see my brother graduate college. I was left here alone to watch the house and animals when the most impressive snow storm in many decades hit the area. With everyone barely making it home in time for Christmas, the year is finishing up kind of in the same place it began, except now my brother is back from college and living at home indefinitely as he plots his next move.
2009 will be an incredible year of change. Have no doubt. Since I graduated college in 2004, I haven't exactly accomplished much. Some would point to my journal and all these journal reviews and say that 2008 was a huge year for me, and while that may be true, I still don't feel like I'm contributing enough to the world around me. That starts with getting a real full-time job and moving out. Like the song goes, "You'll never do/The things you want/If you don't move/And get a job."
Last year, in my 2007 Year In Review journal entry from December 31st, 2007, I used the final paragraph to think aloud about December 31st, 2008. At the time, I was sure 2008 would be radically different than 2007 and I mused about looking forward to reading my 2008 Year In Review entry (Which you're reading right now, you time traveler, you). I feel weird looking back at myself and knowing that's what I was thinking at the closing of the year. This year, instead of blah resolutions or false-hope predictions, I'm just going to end this Year In Review entry as I always do, but with a slight addition:
Happy New Year, everyone! And here's to 2009. May it not suck.