The Year in Review...

The Year In Review.

No big fancy news of the year or anything like that. Just a few key events here and there that come to mind when I sit and think of this year overall.


January 2008
*Happy New Year! Having just moved into a higher end neighborhood, I get to experience the Times Square fireworks display from my own backyard. It's awesome
*I was still high off my previous Canada trip and couldn't believe my paycheck - I had two full weeks of vacation! So I was the craziest person in the office when I applied for ALL of my vacation days at once during this month.
*I was really focusing a lot of extra time into the book. Several chapter outlines and basic summaries were produced but never written in full...
*In Memoriam

February 2008
*Happy Birthday to lots of people!
*I attended maybe three birthday lunches in ONE WEEK at work this month but a bunch during the entire month overall. This is a good thing because there were many many birthday lunches the rest of the year, and in this month I learned which places to never eat at, and which ones were excellent.
*February 15 is also a monumental day for Randy Pausch, as he proudly holds a newspaper in a photograph and shows the world that it is exactly 6 months to the day he was told that he only had 'three to six months' left. I frequently find myself looking at this picture, reading his blog post on this day, and being inspired. When I felt that it was time to give up or I just couldn't make it to the finish line, I'd go back to this and see him, and see that even death's timeline - the one sure thing that we all have in common - was something that he proved he could take on and win.
*After reading Real Life Comics for 7 years, I finally get to meet Greg & Liz in person, and I discover where Lockhart, Texas is on a map.

March 2008
*Car repairs. Lots of them.
*Lots of prayers for Randy, as he reports his rollercoaster health for this month.
*Happy Birthday to a good friend of mine that, surprise surprise, I met online. She's been one of my closest friends throughout the years. At this time I hadn't seen her since the summer of 2007, so we bonded over Wii Bowling and anime, and our traditional Taco Bell & Mountain Dew.

April 2008
*Randy Pausch's 'The Last Lecture' is finally released in a book format. I buy it on release day.
*Easter! The days off work give me the opportunity to go spend some time with a dear friend out of town. I also, after passing it hundreds of times over the years, actually STOP for the first time ever and take a tour of the Giant Sam Houston statue.

May 2008
*I use my first sick day of the year for a legitimate reason - a doctor's checkup......... but then I use another one shortly later for a fake-follow up appointment, only to actually go out of town to a convention because I was stupid and already applied for [and got approved for] blowing all my vacation days for a trip at the end of the year... And one of my coworkers as well as several friends convinced me that 'sick days are extra vacation days in disguise'. I had a blast at the out of town three day weekend trip, but came back to work sicker than a dog.
*Randy Pausch gives his last public speech for the graduates at Carnegie Mellon. His words are more powerful than the 'last lecture' that I saw last year, because he says this: We don't beat the reaper by living longer, but we beat the reaper by living well. Find your passion. You will not find that passion in things or money - the more you have, the more you will see someone with more. It took me until I was 39 to get married because it took me that long to find someone whose happiness was more important than my own." Those words inspire me to re-evaluate why I'm still at work in a job that I really don't plan on making a career and retiring from. I have no passion for anything at work other than the paycheck. The friendships that I have are something that I can have whether I work there or not.
*I learned how to ride a motorcycle.

June 2008
*I decide to be bold and take another fake sick day at work... but then I get sick for real again and have to take a real sick day.
*I almost quit because I was so sure that I had got another job. I did get it but it wasn't enough money, and they put it simply: We can't meet your payment requirements and we don't offer the benefits you currently have so why would you work here?
True, so very true.... So I don't quit.
*Surprise email from a friend reveals an engagement! Congratulations!

July 2008
*The job hunting continues
*Interviews and appointments are lined up in Canada in preparation for the trip
*Lots of prayers for Randy, as his blog has suddenly become silent
*July 25th - After fighting pancreatic cancer and inspiring millions across the world, Randy Pausch ends his fight against the disease. He passes away at the age of 47.

August 2008
*After years of anticipation, the 2nd X-Files movie is released.... and to my big surprise, lots of people are angry that it's not as 'sci-fi' and 'extra-terrestrial' as most of the series was.... But does anyone not remember that a lot of the cases Mulder and Scully investigated weren't *all* alien oriented? Anyhow its a movie that I get to go see with one of my best friends. Thoroughly enjoyed it actually... We also go see Mamma Mia!
*I found a job in Canada, typed up a resignation letter... and just as I was about to hit "send", I get a friend to proof-read it. Then the new boss doesn't call me back, and I can't go see him in person until the day after the flight... So instead of chancing that, I return back to America and back to work, and no one knows [except for three coworkers] that I wasn't supposed to come back. Misery hits all over again and I once again resume looking for another job
*Bernie Mac passes away at 50.

September 2008
*Almost impulsively quit again at work
*Type up lots of resumes, do lots of emailing.
*Use another fake-sick day but this time I don't get sick because I ask God for permission first.
*Packing because my lease is up
*Tax time! Hello Tax stimulus and bye bye refund.... but hello to paid off student loan. I think my credit score went up all of 5 points for having that paid off.
*We're actually the only people in the world that were filing our taxes as hurricane Ike began to make landfall.

October 2008
*Craziest month of the year.
*Moving
*Garage Sale
*Another almost-quit day
*more car repairs
*Happy Birthday to Randy Pausch. He would have been 48
*In Memoriam

November 2008
*The car is officially gone. It is repairable, but it becomes too expensive to repair it.
*Happy Thanksgiving
*Freak accident almost causes me to lose my hand. Extremely thankful to God this month.

December 2008
*New car!
*Merry Christmas!
*I make a promise with God unlike any other promise that I've made, and I give a total stranger 100 dollars.

Just a few highlights... Its interesting to see what I started, what I did, and what I never finished..... Definitely going to use this list tomorrow as things I need to focus on more for the new year.

I think its kind of bad that almost every month out of the year I contemplated quitting my job or looked for other jobs. hahahaha

The Year of Randy Pausch, if I had to name it anything.

Happy New Year to All!

Here is your last fortune for 2008:

ONE WORD FREES US OF ALL THE WEIGHT AND PAIN IN LIFE. THAT WORD IS "LOVE"