"A friend to all is a friend to none." - Aristotle
This is my 600th post. How crazy is that? And that only includes the entries after I moved from hosting my own site manually to Blogger. I can't believe I have kept a blog all these years (since 1999) and always go through these moments where I question why I keep one to begin with. I don't think it is only hubris, but there is something cathartic about putting your thoughts down when you have a lot of things on your mind. I'm sure a private journal would also suffice, but this outlet makes it feel more real. It is also an outlet that I often find myself in need of.
Now that Facebook has stopped automatic updates to my notes section when I post an entry, I haven't decided if I manually want to update my Facebook with my blog entries or keep this separate. Before, the update was automatic, so even if I drafted something I felt was too personal for FB, it posted it on its own anyway, so I didn't think much about it. My last few entries I haven't posted to FB, so keeping this separate is probably what I will do, even though less people will get to see it. The technicalities aside, I'm still thinking about it.
I kind of jumped the gun and made my previous entry my year in review entry, so I'll focus more on my holiday season. I got off of work for Christmas on Friday the 23rd and went home to the Valley to visit my family. My brother Abram couldn't make it because he went to spend Christmas with his fiance's family in Dallas. The idea of our family Christmas one day branching off into separate family Christmases is still hard to imagine, but that is the way of things. For now, we will all still gather together at my parents house.
I took my dogs with me on my trip and they behaved great except for the part where they covered my car in mud. It was raining during the trip and I wanted to make sure they got a chance to use the restroom when I stopped, but I had trouble controlling two wet dogs. I saw my cat Maddie at my mom's house and she had grown so much bigger during this past year. It was good to see and visit with my family during the break. I usually make an effort to visit friends and try to hang out while I am down, but I was down for such a short period of time, that I didn't get to. That is starting to happen more often than not and is something I need to work on.
Christmas was generally very nice. Nothing out of the ordinary. The family got together and opened presents and the kids had their fun. The siblings did a gift exchange which worked great. I got to visit more with all my nieces and nephews, though we had all spent Thanksgiving together so a lot of time hadn't passed. I tried to engage them in a discussion on agnosticism, but other than really frustrating my mom, I don't think I made much headway. You would think that, "I don't know" would be an easy framework to approach such lofty issues. That part was fun. Here are some photos from the trip I took with my new camera that I bought for myself for Christmas. http://www.flickr.com/photos/hyadus/sets/72157628611181755/ There is this one video I took of my niece Celeste singing that really made my Christmas.
I had to come back to Austin on the 26th for work and ended up working during the week that I had scheduled to be off. I was able to take a half day on my birthday, the 27th, but did go to work for the first time in my life on that day. My birthday didn't really feel much like a birthday, my brother came over, we had a beer and I spent the rest of my time with my thoughts instead of out with my friends. It was what I needed this year I think.
I was pleasantly overwhelmed by the people that wished me happy birthday, especially on Facebook. I know it can be a facebook reflex at times, but it meant a lot to me and really made my day to know that even for that small time that I was thought of. Time is one of those things where no matter how hard you try to hold on to it, it always feels like it is slipping away.
When I moved down from DC in 2007, I stored a lot of boxes at my mom's house and now that I have my own house, I tried to bring back as much stuff as I could. I collect a lot of things and some of the boxes I call my "boxes of memories." I'm talking about every movie ticket stub from ever date I went on in high school, college photos and books, old letters, cards, pictures and stuffed animals I was given as gifts. One day I plan to go through them and throw out most of the clutter in those boxes, but I sometimes have the problem of revisiting old memories with longing and sometimes it is easier not to think about them.
A lot of things have changed this year and the true test is how I come out on the other side. I'm writing this on New Year's Eve and even though I usually try to do something big for New Years, this year, I decided not to temp fate by being out on the roads and instead spent it reflecting on my year and thinking about what my goals are going to be for the following year. I know this wasn't exciting or entirely upbeat, but sometimes life isn't always upbeat. Nevertheless, it doesn't change my eternal optimism to have a great and wonderful 2012. I think a lot of great things are in store.
Now that Facebook has stopped automatic updates to my notes section when I post an entry, I haven't decided if I manually want to update my Facebook with my blog entries or keep this separate. Before, the update was automatic, so even if I drafted something I felt was too personal for FB, it posted it on its own anyway, so I didn't think much about it. My last few entries I haven't posted to FB, so keeping this separate is probably what I will do, even though less people will get to see it. The technicalities aside, I'm still thinking about it.
I kind of jumped the gun and made my previous entry my year in review entry, so I'll focus more on my holiday season. I got off of work for Christmas on Friday the 23rd and went home to the Valley to visit my family. My brother Abram couldn't make it because he went to spend Christmas with his fiance's family in Dallas. The idea of our family Christmas one day branching off into separate family Christmases is still hard to imagine, but that is the way of things. For now, we will all still gather together at my parents house.
I took my dogs with me on my trip and they behaved great except for the part where they covered my car in mud. It was raining during the trip and I wanted to make sure they got a chance to use the restroom when I stopped, but I had trouble controlling two wet dogs. I saw my cat Maddie at my mom's house and she had grown so much bigger during this past year. It was good to see and visit with my family during the break. I usually make an effort to visit friends and try to hang out while I am down, but I was down for such a short period of time, that I didn't get to. That is starting to happen more often than not and is something I need to work on.
Christmas was generally very nice. Nothing out of the ordinary. The family got together and opened presents and the kids had their fun. The siblings did a gift exchange which worked great. I got to visit more with all my nieces and nephews, though we had all spent Thanksgiving together so a lot of time hadn't passed. I tried to engage them in a discussion on agnosticism, but other than really frustrating my mom, I don't think I made much headway. You would think that, "I don't know" would be an easy framework to approach such lofty issues. That part was fun. Here are some photos from the trip I took with my new camera that I bought for myself for Christmas. http://www.flickr.com/photos/hyadus/sets/72157628611181755/ There is this one video I took of my niece Celeste singing that really made my Christmas.
I had to come back to Austin on the 26th for work and ended up working during the week that I had scheduled to be off. I was able to take a half day on my birthday, the 27th, but did go to work for the first time in my life on that day. My birthday didn't really feel much like a birthday, my brother came over, we had a beer and I spent the rest of my time with my thoughts instead of out with my friends. It was what I needed this year I think.
I was pleasantly overwhelmed by the people that wished me happy birthday, especially on Facebook. I know it can be a facebook reflex at times, but it meant a lot to me and really made my day to know that even for that small time that I was thought of. Time is one of those things where no matter how hard you try to hold on to it, it always feels like it is slipping away.
When I moved down from DC in 2007, I stored a lot of boxes at my mom's house and now that I have my own house, I tried to bring back as much stuff as I could. I collect a lot of things and some of the boxes I call my "boxes of memories." I'm talking about every movie ticket stub from ever date I went on in high school, college photos and books, old letters, cards, pictures and stuffed animals I was given as gifts. One day I plan to go through them and throw out most of the clutter in those boxes, but I sometimes have the problem of revisiting old memories with longing and sometimes it is easier not to think about them.
A lot of things have changed this year and the true test is how I come out on the other side. I'm writing this on New Year's Eve and even though I usually try to do something big for New Years, this year, I decided not to temp fate by being out on the roads and instead spent it reflecting on my year and thinking about what my goals are going to be for the following year. I know this wasn't exciting or entirely upbeat, but sometimes life isn't always upbeat. Nevertheless, it doesn't change my eternal optimism to have a great and wonderful 2012. I think a lot of great things are in store.
what do I want?
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