A year in review

I'm flying to London for a few days of, as cousin Avi said, "bad food, worse weather, Mary fucking Poppins".

I am going to get drunk, speak with an Irish accent to my good friends, and on New Year's Eve I am going to smoke a Cuban cigar courtesy of Clyde Navin Neill, a newborn son of one of my colleagues.

Since I am going to be busy doing all that, this is likely my last post for this year. I am therefore inclined to give it a bit of a short review.

On the minus side:

- Worked like crazy all year long, with no end in sight. Only took one week of vacation out of four (seven, really, with three weeks carryover)
- Realized I might be in a wrong business
- Canceled a three-week Thailand trip
- Messed up a few things that could have been something
- Been dark, gloomy, miserable and alone most of the year
- Wasted enormous amounts of time simply doing nothing at all
- Did not exercise anywhere near enough

On the plus side:

- Got promoted at work
- Got a great camera and took a few nice pictures
- Attended two photography seminars
- Did a 7-day hike in Olympic National Park, the most difficult hike I've done to date
- Visited my brother in San Diego, took a few good pictures there, fell in love with Southern California
- Started (and continue today) studying guitar playing more or less seriously
- Went to a Mark Knopfler concert. Wanted to do that for ages. Loved it.
- Made some in-roads into the fascinating world of music and musicians
- Made three new friends

So there it is. Personally, this year felt quite dark to me, with a few bright spots.

Hoping for the mostly bright year with a few dark spots :)

Happy New Year, everyone!