2009 and 2010
Personally, I had a damn great 2009. My marriage is the most wonderful thing in my life, and Tina and I hit our first wedding anniversary and our fifth dating anniversary. We also saved a bunch of money towards a house deposit, which might well be put to use during 2010.
I was given a promotion at work. Actually, I can't recall whether that was 2008 or 2009, but either way, work generally went really well.
I had a great time hanging out with friends and strengthening my existing friendships. Whether it was at conventions, weekends away, parties, small gatherings or just sitting down and chatting one-on-one, I always found those times to be incredibly valuable and rewarding, and 2009 was filled with them.
I had an amazing year in terms of weight loss, fitness and personal health, which was probably the closest thing I had to a new year's resolution. I lost around 17-20kg, brought my body-fat percentage from the low-20s down to 12% and generally improved my physical fitness and strength. I also started going to the gym, jogging, undergoing additional basketball training and played indoor beach volleyball. I'm probably the healthiest I've ever been in my life right now, which is really wonderful.
I played my first full season of basketball since breaking my ankle, and had possibly my best season yet as an individual player. I focused on broadening my skills and improving the weaknesses in my game, and think I was successful in doing so. The UCC basketball team also had one of their best seasons as a team, displaying a cohesion and degree of organisation we'd never really had before. We made it all the way to the grand final but narrowly missed out. I picked up the division's Most Valuable Player award, which was a great achievement.
Also on the topic of basketball, they finally started playing NBA games on FTA TV again, for the first time in about a decade. I'm now well-and-truly back into the league, following teams and keeping track of the season's progress. It's been awesome fun.
I bought a great new stereo setup - my first ever high-end, proper component system. I listened to stacks of great music and wrote a bunch of music-related stuff. I saw some really cool gigs as well.
I also decided to make a serious effort towards reading more often. I started buying books to ensure that I had a large supply of things I wanted to read immediately on hand, rather than relying on borrowing. I'm still a slow reader (and have pretty major problems with maintaining my focus and attention while reading), but I still managed to get through about 20-30 books since late 2008. For many of my friends, 20 books is probably a couple of months' reading material, but for me that's a hell of lot more than I usually read in a year.
I'm not sure if I missed anything. It was a big year. Lots of stuff happened.
2010 should be an interesting one. The big thing is the possibility of home ownership, which would be a huge and exciting step for me and Tina. It's also the last year where I'll be in my 20s for the entire year, which is pretty crazy stuff. I'm planning on going to my first WorldCon, which will also be my first trip ever to the eastern states.
To all of my friends and acquaintances, I hope you have whatever type of 2010 will make you feel most happy and fulfilled. Good luck!
I was given a promotion at work. Actually, I can't recall whether that was 2008 or 2009, but either way, work generally went really well.
I had a great time hanging out with friends and strengthening my existing friendships. Whether it was at conventions, weekends away, parties, small gatherings or just sitting down and chatting one-on-one, I always found those times to be incredibly valuable and rewarding, and 2009 was filled with them.
I had an amazing year in terms of weight loss, fitness and personal health, which was probably the closest thing I had to a new year's resolution. I lost around 17-20kg, brought my body-fat percentage from the low-20s down to 12% and generally improved my physical fitness and strength. I also started going to the gym, jogging, undergoing additional basketball training and played indoor beach volleyball. I'm probably the healthiest I've ever been in my life right now, which is really wonderful.
I played my first full season of basketball since breaking my ankle, and had possibly my best season yet as an individual player. I focused on broadening my skills and improving the weaknesses in my game, and think I was successful in doing so. The UCC basketball team also had one of their best seasons as a team, displaying a cohesion and degree of organisation we'd never really had before. We made it all the way to the grand final but narrowly missed out. I picked up the division's Most Valuable Player award, which was a great achievement.
Also on the topic of basketball, they finally started playing NBA games on FTA TV again, for the first time in about a decade. I'm now well-and-truly back into the league, following teams and keeping track of the season's progress. It's been awesome fun.
I bought a great new stereo setup - my first ever high-end, proper component system. I listened to stacks of great music and wrote a bunch of music-related stuff. I saw some really cool gigs as well.
I also decided to make a serious effort towards reading more often. I started buying books to ensure that I had a large supply of things I wanted to read immediately on hand, rather than relying on borrowing. I'm still a slow reader (and have pretty major problems with maintaining my focus and attention while reading), but I still managed to get through about 20-30 books since late 2008. For many of my friends, 20 books is probably a couple of months' reading material, but for me that's a hell of lot more than I usually read in a year.
I'm not sure if I missed anything. It was a big year. Lots of stuff happened.
2010 should be an interesting one. The big thing is the possibility of home ownership, which would be a huge and exciting step for me and Tina. It's also the last year where I'll be in my 20s for the entire year, which is pretty crazy stuff. I'm planning on going to my first WorldCon, which will also be my first trip ever to the eastern states.
To all of my friends and acquaintances, I hope you have whatever type of 2010 will make you feel most happy and fulfilled. Good luck!