2008 for me
2008 has come and gone, and I think I will label it my best year yet. It had some low points, but overall a massive improvement over previous years, and a good indicator of things to come.
The good
The good
- I moved to a real city. Never again will I have nothing to do on a Sunday or at 3AM on a weekday morning. Quite the opposite, some days my social calendar is so packed I can't read the individual items. A real public transit system, top notch entertainment options, and local gatherings of virtually every niche community that I am a part of make Atlanta a great place to live. I started on the outskirts, moved ITP a few months ago with some good friends, and am already contemplating moving downtown in 2009.
- I am doing tech support again. Not my dream job, but the pay is decent, the benefits are good, and there are good advancement opportunities in the near future, possibly even including some development positions.
- I am closer to some old friends, and have made more new than I ever had before.
- I picked up a few new hobbies that combine my skills, aptitudes, and interests. Practice with electronic circuitry is growing into a serious undertaking, although responses to my first few attempts have been positive. Shibari expands on my enjoyment of geometric art previously explored in origami with the added bonus of involving [semi-]naked women.
- I made it to first base for the first time, rapidly followed by second and third. Hopefully I won't be stuck there for as long as I was stuck at the plate.
- I got to audition for 'Beauty and the Geek', making it farther than I expected. I was recently invited to try again, but the timing was unfortunately poor.
- I got involved in politics for the first time, making more than my share of impact in a hopefully positive way. This exposed me to a lot of people that I would otherwise not get a chance to meet, and taught me a lot.
- I moved away from most of my old friends. The only reason I miss Clarksville and Nashville is for the people. Thankfully most of them visit Atlanta on a regular basis, and Nashville is not too far away to visit.
- My first attempt at a permanent living solution in Atlanta failed for a number of reasons, some due to location, some due to persons, and some financial hardship was involved.
- I have close friends. I have friends. I have acquaintances. I have people that I do not dislike who I know dislike me. This year I was forced to add a new category, for a single person that drove me to dislike. And then, to completely eclipse that, I had an unfortunately long run in with the first person I would classify as "fuck off and die in a fire", involving the previously mentioned financial hardship.