#52

Well, I've done it. With this post, at least.

It's the first time since 2012 that I've managed to write (on average) a post a week for the entire year. I gotta admit, somehow, that my heart hasn't quite been in it as it has been in the past. Think I'll try to keep going, though. It's good to have some sorta record of my life. For a while I was even keeping a physical daily journal, jotting down 3 notes a day about what I got up to. I should resume that.

So many "I should"s. Hrm.

This'll be my last year for the daily second video, though. While I still need to make the darn thing, I think the process has run its course. I think I captured three fairly formative years of my life (last year of school/graduation, a year in NY, and the first year of being a working stiff) and I manage to find and appreciate the little details of everyday life. I'd like to think it's made me a happier person.

2015 is done in about 12 hours. It was another good year, I think. Alas, I'm ending on a bit of a bad note as my health has taken a sudden swerve to the uncomfortable side. I haven't been this bad in years. It's all good.

I made one of those cheesy year-end letters that I gave to friends and family. Here are the (written) contents, with appropriate redactions to maintain this blog's self-imposed rules of semi-anonymity.

2015 has been pretty uneventful, but that’s exactly what I needed. After graduating from ____ with my Bachelor’s of Design in ___ and spending the better part of a year taking classes in New York, I was ready for some boring ol’ stability. So as of December of 2015, I’m proud to have completed my first year as a full time designer/junior art director at _____, where I’ve been working with clients like ___, ___, ___. I’ve been having fun, learning lots, working hard, and playing a bizarre amount of ping pong at lunch and after hours. 

Late last year I used  newfound my steady income to buy a hilariously unreliable 1987 Porsche 944. It’s awful in almost every single way, and I love every part of it. This summer I drove it all to both the ___ and ___ reunions, and it held up remarkably. Driving a Porsche and learning some auto maintenance has been a longtime goal of mine, and I’m having a blast. This one time, though, I decided to change the sparkplugs, and it somehow took me no less than three trips to the hardware store just to get the right tools. That part wasn’t so fun.

This fall I parked the Porsche and purchased a 1999 Honda Prelude to drive through the winter. It’s a great car and some of the features are wonderful (such as heated seats, a remote starter, and not breaking down all the time), but I’m already looking forward to the spring to get the Porsche back on the road. 

Another long standing goal of mine I started to work on this year was to take mandolin lessons. I used all of my graduation gift money to buy a higher-quality instrument to replace my beginner one, and towards the end of the summer I found a teacher. Progress is slow, but I’m enjoying myself and above all it’s been a great way to force myself to practice and play more often. Right now I’m learning the Huron Carol (so I can play a duet with Mary) and part of the the Stonehenge song from This is Spinal Tap (because my teacher is kinda awesome and kinda strange).

On the side I’ve been keeping myself extra busy with some freelance design work. I’m working on a medical consultation website service with a team based out of ___. I also made a website for a new events and promotion business, as well as edited together a commercial for the ___. I’ve been lucky to have a bunch of great opportunities to work on in my spare time, which keeps me from playing too many video games. They also help to pay the Porsche’s perpetual repair bill, which is nice.

Over the last few months I’ve also started dating a long-time friend, ___, who I worked with at ___ and ___. She’s an ____ hippie with both a ___ and ___ degree (I’m still trying to figure out how that works). She has a great sense of humour, does yoga and dance, is an awesome illustrator, and continually tries to introduce me to fancy organic foods that, quite frankly, confuse me. 

What will 2016 hold for me? It’s hard to say; I’m still trying to wrap my mind around getting paid to do something I enjoy, and using some of that money to do more things I enjoy. So if nothing else, hopefully I’ll be doing more of what I’ve started this year: steady employment, driving adventures (and subsequent auto repair adventures), mandolin lessons, and whatever other neat-o things I can squeeze in. Maybe I’ll even learn how baking works. 

It might be more entertaining to read that as a "fill in the blanks" exercise.

Anyways, that's it. Maybe that's more than it. Maybe... It's time to bring this whole blog thing to a close. I've made 477 posts across 10 years, and have had various sets of eyeballs create 13,000 total pageviews. Perhaps this thing has run its course. Hrm, indeed.

Let's see what 2016 is all about.
-Cril