Blog Year #2 Wrap-up

Oh my heavens, we've actually made it here. 200 blog entries in 2008, even if I did have to write over a quarter of them in the last month. And now, the entry that is supposed to sum up Blog Year #2 in a profound way.

I just re-read the wrap-up of Blog Year #1, and in some ways it made me feel like the last year was not as exciting. I didn't move cross-country or go to places that I'd never been before; instead, I stayed in one place and traveled to places that I had been before. I didn't read as many books (though in my defense, I did read longer books) or see as many movies. It almost doesn't feel like I've done anything new or exciting.

Of course it was a big year that the simple stats don't reflect. I started a new job, met new people and reunited with old friends, and lived in a place quite different from where I had been living before. I finally met a stylist that I trust to cut my hair on a regular basis. I kept something alive for eight months (my fish). I got to see the person I trusted most to lead the country elected president. But still, even with all that…those things just look small compared to everything that happened to me in 2007.

But the more I've been sitting at the computer staring at this entry, the more I'm able to realize that 2008 was in fact a very big year for the simple reason that I'm a lot happier than I was in 2007. Not that I was extremely unhappy in 2007. I can just tell that I'm much happier now, in ways that probably aren't captured completely on the blog because I was likely off enjoying something. And that's probably why I blogged so much less throughout the year…I was off doing exciting and interesting things and was too busy or too private to write about them. Or they were the kinds of things that just aren't easy to put into words, especially on such a clumsy medium as a blog.

That's not to say that the number of blog postings is in any way proportionate to my emotional state, for there were certainly plenty of weeks where I was too miserably overworked and stretched in too many directions to even think that much of personal hygiene, let alone blogging. And some of the times I was happiest -- like my cousin reunion in October -- have plenty of entries associated with them. I'm just trying to say, if only to myself, that even though the year doesn't look riddled with accomplishments on my first glance at it, doesn't mean that it wasn't a completely fabulous and full year.

And here's to 2009 being even better.

Blog Year #1 Wrap-up

Well, we’re finally up to the 200th entry of the blog, as well as the last entry of 2007. It’s been a big year for the blog, and a big year for me. A year ago, I wouldn’t have been able to predict any of the things that ended up happening, which I guess just goes to show…something profound. Fill in the blank yourself.

When I started this blog, I lived in Seattle. Over the course of the last year, I made the decision to pick up my life there and try something new. It was probably one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made in my life, to pick up and pack up three years of life for the unknown. I quit my first real job. I had to say goodbye to a beautiful city and some good friends, but I’m glad that I knew when it was time to go.

I entertained about a million different options for where to go next, and to even my own surprise, I’m moving to Atlanta in twelve days. Atlanta was a very late entry in the “where should I move?” contest, and hopefully the fact that I got a job about a month after I started applying there is something of a sign that I picked the right place.

What else? I drove cross-country. I went to seven states that I’d never been to before. I left the country once (Canada). I saw the Grand Canyon. I lived with my parents for two months. My brother got married. My grandmother died. I sprained my knee and got new glasses. I read 32 books and approximately 150 magazines. I watched 79 movies. I went to concerts. I went to parties. I met the governor of Washington. I turned 25. I bought a car. I worked at my dad’s law office answering phones. I went on two job interviews and got the second one.

When the blog started, only one person knew about it, and it was mostly just things I ate or drank, spam emails that I thought were funny, and books I read. Now it is oh-so-much more than that. I watched who-knows-how-many Bryan Adams videos and wrote ten stories about goats dying. There were two special guest bloggers and a special event week called BAM(H)! POW! SOB! At one point, I posted once a day for 47 days in a row, but you can’t tell anymore since I moved the blog over from pacific time to eastern time.

So, yes, a big year. A year that I thought would be fairly stable ended up being pretty dramatic, so it’s hard to say what next year will bring. Obviously, it’s a new beginning, but how that will actually shake out, it’s hard to say. But anyway, the blog is coming along for the journey, so be sure to check back next year.

Happy new year, everyone!