In which I pause to reflect on withstanding another year.

Alright, so I’m a tad late in posting this, but I thought I would take a moment to reflect on the past year before I abandon it in a trash bin and move on with my life. What follows is a brief synopsis of the lessons/important points I’m going to take away from 2008. These are in no particular order, but I will say that I do think Number 1 is a particularly keen insight.

1) If you have a panic attack while driving on I-40, it’s best to pull off the road.
2) I’m a sucker for a man with a guitar, a nasal singing voice, and ridiculous amounts of tape hiss. (On the off chance he ever stumbles across this, I’d like to take a moment to formally offer my hand in marriage to John Darnielle. Just let me know John! I’ll be waiting!)
3) The fact that I had to actually utter the phrase “I’m not saying I’m against the restorative power of song” in one of my classes was probably the final nail in the coffin of what was left of my respect for social work.
4) More people came over to my house in the first two months that I had a Wii than in the entire year before the purchase. Yet another indication of where I place in the hierarchy of fun things to do. (And no, I don’t mean that in a sexual way. Mostly.)
5) If you make your Facebook status updates long enough, and update them often enough, they’ll eventually amass a following.
6) As evidenced by Obama’s win, real change can happen. As evidenced as by his selection of Rick Warren, it’s never as much change as I’d like.
7) Every single year (and 2008 was no exception), my ability to engage other human beings in a conversation drops dramatically. At the rate I’m going, by the time I’m 30 I’ll be communicating solely in non sequitors and saliva bubbles.
8) Certain members of the LGBT community need a real swift, hard kick in the ass… and I’m doubtful that Prop 8 is going to be enough for any real, sustained change in attitude.
9) If enough people bother me about something (i.e. not cutting my hair, starting a blog, etc), I’m apt to do it. Evidently, I’m remarkably susceptible to peer pressure.
10) I’m an old, sad, hopeless nerd. (Though I kind of knew this already, it was constantly reinforced to me throughout the year, so I think it’s valid to include it.)

Well, 2008 certainly was action-packed, wasn’t it? (Note to self: must find way to denote bone-dry sarcasm in blog form.)

As for 2009, I’m not really one for resolutions, as mine generally stay the same every year (which should indicate how much progress I make on them). However, I do think I’m going to try to take the advice of one of my professors. After the class I referenced in Lesson #3, she pulled me aside and told me that despite the fact that she was not my mother, she felt like she needed to tell me to “lighten up.”

So we’ll see how that goes. Anyone willing to guess how long it’ll last?