Goodbye 2009, Hello 2010

2010-Another year down, and the start of a new one

2009 was a pretty big year for me: 10 years living in Charlottesville, 5 years married to Laura, and the biggest event (for me, at least) that began in 2009 is still yet to come-we are starting a family! (If you haven't heard this news yet, it's because we only began telling people outside our immediate families over the past 2 weeks) This still several months down the road, in June, but it's a big event that is taking up a fair amount of my thoughts lately.

2009 also brought the first of what is hopefully the start of an annual event, a "guys only" trip with two of my closest friends, Nakia and Tim. This year we spent a long weekend camping.
I began taking pottery classes at the McGuffey Art Center, which I'm enjoying quite a bit and plan on continuing in the future.
An attempt at guitar lessons wasn't quite as successful-I enjoyed them but found that I don't have the determination to practice on a regular basis. When a gap of a few weeks between lessons hit, I stopped practicing and never started again. Maybe I'll find the drive in the coming year (I hope that I will).
I saw a number of concerts this past year-Metallica, U2, Municipal Waste, Bruce Springsteen, Phish, and several others, all of which brings my list of bands I can remember seeing to 233 (many of them multiple times).
I lost 25 pounds, then gained 10 back.
I didn't do all that much gaming this year-a fair amount of Rock Band/Guitar Hero, several board game nights with friends and coworkers, but only a few rpg sessions.
I started using Twitter, then stopped. I didn't post a single blog post. I spent a lot of time on Facebook in the first half of the year then trailed off over the summer, never really going back to it with the same determination to keep up. I lost track of some friends (online and IRL), hopefully we'll reconnect in the new year.
We went on a big vacation this year-a cruise to the Greek Islands, Croatia,  and Venice, Italy. A trip I'll remember for a long time to come, as we saw some amazing things I never expected to see in person.
I cut my comic book pull list down quite a bit, but I still find that I'm not really enjoying reading comics as much as I used to. I still enjoy them, but I'm finding that I'd rather read them in big chunks, full stories instead of 32 pages at a time in the monthly format.

So, 2009. Lots of positive, some negative, and a little neutral. I call it a positive year overall.

What does 2010 bring? Change, for sure. I'll be a new father, which I am very excited about, and very scared as well. More live music, hopefully. Maybe some more gaming, at least in the first half of the year. Increased communication with people I lost touch with over the past year. Bigger projects at work. A new start at the gym, and hopefully lose some more weight. More pottery to bring home and find places for around the house. Maybe I'll stop buying monthly comics and go over to all trades and collected volumes? I hope to make blogging a more regular thing (if I can find a theme that keeps me coming back to it). I want to read more, especially books that have been in my "to be read" pile for a long time. I'd like to spend more time outside-hiking, gardening, whatever.

Here's a short list of goals for 2010, something I can refer back to in the coming year and measure myself against. Am I just optimistic right now, or can I actually meet most of these? 

• Read 50 Books: only 20 graphic novels count towards the 50, focus on my "to be read" pile, not on new books
• Loose Weight: 15 pounds will put me at 185, my goal from last year
• Prepare for fatherhood: Lots of things here-combining the office and guest room, taking stock of what we have vs. what we need, deciding what I can get rid of to make more room, etc.
  
• Spend more time outside: hiking, walking, gardening, biking, whatever
• Pottery classes: Make more useful things, and less random bowls, flowerpots, and boxes
• Blog: find a theme? I need something that makes me want to come and write more-games, books, music, maybe reviews of the things I am reading/listening to/playing?
• Game more: I love playing and running RPGs, why don't I play them more?
• Paint 26 miniatures: finishing 1 miniature every 2 weeks should be doable
• Movies with Laura: I enjoy movies, Laura loves movies, yet we seldom watch the same ones. I'd like to make more of an effort to watch them together
  

That's 9 goals (so far) for 2010. Let's see how I do.


Currently listening to: the dog snoring on the floor next to me