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As tradition in the webz, here is a short review of the year that has passed. But first, a JibJab video!

Now that we got that out of the way, let’s talk about my world.

The first half of the year was stormy. Two of my closest friends, who happened to be my co-workers, got laid off. Awkwardness, sudden loneliness, what-ifs and all sorts of confusing thoughts and feelings took place.
Luckily, they’ve both recovered from the unexpected blow gracefully, and are doing quite well. I miss working with them.

2008 was also the year of some athletic prowess. The Reno-Tahoe Odyssey  was an incredible new experience, and the Great Ski Race was more fun than the last year. I picked up a road bike from CraigsList, and I’ve put several miles on it. I’ve commuted to work at least half of the days I’ve gone to work, and I’ve discovered the joy of road biking.
I also was finally able to put together a volleyball team for the NCVA, and it’s been a rush to get to play competitive 6-man volleyball again.

I affected the lives of over a dozen AFS exchange students, those that left in June and those that arrived in August.

I visited new places, like Yosemite and Lake Powell, and learned a little bit more about the world.

My photography hobby improved in quality, from shitty snapshots to occasionally good-looking shots that I’m proud of.

I moved into a house with 2 friends, one of them being one of my best friends. Going from living with a landlord to living with people you can share things with has been a very welcome experience.

I got an xBox 360 and RockBand, a video game that not only has kept me busy for many hours, but has also been a great excuse to have friends come over to the house and entertain us all.

I went to Burning Man for my 2nd year in a row, and took active part in putting together a theme camp on the Esplanade. I can’t imagine not going to Burning Man every year now. It’s something that I want to do for as long as I have the chance of doing it.

I finished a 4-semester long class at TMCC, and I learned a lot about computer networks.

I made a few new friends, some through work, some through the marvelous world of Twitter.

And lastly, I fell in love. Head over heels. For a woman that has been my friend for years. She makes me incredibly happy, and I seem to do the same for her. It’s good great.
Because of her, 2008 ends in a very high note. It’s likely that I’ll be explaining more later on, but that is a blog for another day.

Because of everything else, 2008 was a good year for me. I have learned to look for the positive side of the things that happen around me, and I think that no matter what, I would have a positive year.
But finding the positive side of most things that have happened in the last 365 days hasn’t been hard, since they’ve been right in front of me.

Sure, some things took place that I wish hadn’t. But I learned my lesson, cut my losses and moved on.
I also try not to worry too much about the future. My philosophy is that if the present is good, all you have to do is focus on maintaining the status quo, and the future will be alright.
And that’s the funny thing about the English language, that the word Present has two meanings. And my current present is indeed a present, one that I cherish and I long to maintain, because I’m happy.

If you’re reading this, chances are that you’ve had an effect on my life in the last year, in one way or another. Thank you for that. 
I hope that when you look back at the year that ends, you find the positive things of it and hold on to those, and that you get something good out of the bumps on your road. Let those things help you make 2009 a better year for you.

Cheers!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 31st, 2008 at 3:47 pm and is filed under Nico. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.