2026

Twenty-twenty-six.  Truly a wild number.

There's not really much to be said here that hasn't been said already, to be honest.  Mostly yesterday, but also, in a way, similar to the start of 2025 and 2024 as well.  I have goals, sure, but at this point they're so numerous and multifaceted that, if I even end up achieving a few of them — ideally, from among a key few — I'll be satisfied.

At times, it's a bit overwhelming, though.  Having so many irons in the fire sometimes seems like it may contribute to a lack of direction, but everything kind of interplays into one overarching trend toward the new phase of life I'm building.  So I guess, to the extent I'm inclined to set any sort of renewed intention for the year ahead, it's to stay directional with everything I set out to do… even if there are, in fact, many, many directions at once.  ;)

After all: Things change, and we can only move forward.  Things evolve, and we must evolve with them.

It's the second quarter of the century, after all.

Random tangent: In addition to the traditional Eastern Time countdown and their now-usual Atlantic Time and Central Time countdowns, ABC introduced a live Pacific Time countdown for the first time last night!  And yet… they didn't actually broadcast it live coast-to-coast and still delayed the entire proceedings for western time zones.  Methinks this was a bit of a tiptoe experiment in evolving the broadcast for a more modern age, and I think it went well.

2025

Hmm.  If I felt as though 2024, at its outset, was shrouded in mystery, what then is 2025?

In spite of the significant setbacks I faced throughout 2023, I started 2024 with a pretty clear sense of purpose and direction.  But life had other plans.  By March, efforts to try to smooth out the previous year's sine wave were stalling out increasingly often, but I was still maintaining a positive and hopeful attitude without too much trouble.  Then the second quarter walloped me pretty hard.

Family deaths and the associated grief will tend to do that, of course — two of my three remaining grandparents passed away just over a month apart (my paternal grandfather on 8 April and my maternal grandmother on 9 May).  But once one already has enough to mourn, every additional little thing can really just compound the sadness and grief, in all its stages and forms.  And while repeatedly processing grief alongside family does, itself, entail more than its fair share of those "little things", often the world doesn't think to hold off on adding just a few more.  By mid-June, I found each proverbial straw increasingly straining, and it was becoming clear that it was about time to disconnect and reset.  Somehow.  Whatever that means.

Sometimes though, it seems, you really do have to try turning it off and on again.  Even as a loose metaphor, it can be an enlightening exercise.  Although I have long known full well that it rarely actually solves any underlying issue, it can definitely provide new perspective — or at least just buy a little extra time to deal with it all and gather more data to better inform next steps.  I feel very blessed to have been able to provide myself the opportunity for such flexibility.

Now I've not usually been one to rush toward shedding aspects of the Old Year, and I'm not about to change that, but I've definitely used this reset so far to be a lot more intentional about how I plan to bring certain things along moving forward.

In doing so, I seem to have bought myself just enough space to regain the confidence to approach the rest of 2024 from that slightly different angle I needed — still quite gingerly, but ultimately stumbling upon some new pathways.  And, in a sense, that extra breathing room has helped me make effective use of the recent autumn months, setting myself up to more readily benefit from any more favorable circumstances that could arise in 2025.

Ya know.  Despite … (sighs and gestures broadly) … everything else.

So, although I probably now have an even fuzzier 12-month horizon than the fuzzy one I thought I had a year ago, I nevertheless enter this New Year quite grateful: For old friends who reached out to connect me with something new or to help distract me with a smile on some of the more painful anniversaries, but also for new friends who are helping me to finally start expanding that fuzzy, fuzzy horizon.  And since "adapting" might as well be the word of the decade and the only real constant is change, my true priority remains simply to honor myself and my experience with kindness throughout each twist and turn.

And at least in that regard, come whatever may… I think it just might be a good year after all.

Aw, man, I did the thing again where yesterday's retrospective post leaned a bit heavy on the prospective side, and now this one's gotten kinda sappily vice-versa.  Oh well.  I never promised consistency.

Random tangent: For most readers, 2025 is the only year in our lifetimes that can be mathematically expressed as the square of an integer (in this case, 45²).  The last time was in 1936 (44²) and the next won't be until 2116 (46²).  Somewhat more uniquely, one can accurately write (20 + 25)² = 2025.

2024

2024 is going to be another one of those years, huh?

One of those years like 2011 or 2017 when, sitting here on 01 January, it feels like everything ahead is shrouded in complete mystery.

Back then, it felt a little daunting.  And truthfully, it still does a bit.  But this time, it feels more exciting.  (Though maybe that's the nice, even number talking.)

This year will continue to represent an era of major change as I continue to recover from the setbacks of 2023 and — perhaps because of that — more than usual, it feels like something worth embracing.

It does mean, though, that I don't have much to write.  (What else is new?)

But at least the old strained "hopefully" from the pandemic years has turned into a modicum of genuine hope, I think.  Even if I don't know where things are headed, it's a nice feeling that has been missing for too long.

Anyway, as it pertains to my annual doodle, among the more minor setbacks of 2023 was losing access to an Adobe license on any computer that operates faster than molasses.  So instead of Illustrator, I whipped this one up a bit more economically in PowerPoint instead.

Just try to ignore the fact that all of these colors are from the default Microsoft Office palette.  I bet you wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't told you.

Random tangent: My parents are in the midst of renovating their downstairs half-bathroom, and the new tile went in yesterday.  Although there are still several steps before the fixtures can actually go in, the long-awaited visible change led my brother to proclaim "new year, new toilet."  I'm sure that's not how it works, but I appreciate his enthusiasm nonetheless.

2023

For the last couple of months, it definitely felt like 2022 just started, and yet now it's over, and 2023 has begun.  I guess that's partly the general pace of life getting back to normal, which of course entails a lot of the mechanics of normal, even though nothing feels normal about how it's getting back to normal.  "New normal", I guess.  (Bleh, I do hate that phrase, but occasionally it's apt.)

Anyway, 23 has long been my favorite number, so despite any awkward feelings, I'm determined to make 2023 a good year in at least some ways.  And as I start to ease out of vacation mode (and down from the overstimulatory sugar high), I'm already setting it up for a good start, I think.  Still: Approaching cautiously.

Like in 2013, I leaned toward a serifed three for today's doodle.  I think it's a good reflection of where I'm at and where I'm heading.  It doesn't so much reflect the old strained "hopefully" anymore, but rather — really — genuine hopefulness.  And that feels good.

Random tangent: Realizing in the waning days of 2022 that my parents didn't yet have a calendar for the new year, I picked up a Dayspring "Kittens 2023" calendar while passing through a Wal-Mart.  Only when I put it up behind the old calendar did I then realize that the old calendar (which I hadn't bought for them) was a Dayspring "Kittens 2022".  Kitties!

2022

Well it sure isn't March 2020 anymore, but I still don't know what it is.

Yeah, the calendar says January 2022, but oof.  That's weird, man.

If last year's New Year's Day feelings were "novel", this year's are really stale.  Hopefully things would soon be better.  Hoooppefulllllyyyy.

We'll get there.  Somehow.

At least I correctly pegged 2021 as long and transitional.  So far, prospects for 2022 feel about the same.  But progress upon progress adds up, I suppose.

Just two glyphs for this year's doodle; had to find a good font for twos.  I have a feeling that, with their increased prevalence, my handwritten ones (by which I mean twos) will soon decline in quality.  I think I'll manage.  And given that this year is starting out feeling much the same as the last, it's not surprising that I landed on a similar design.

Whatever last year's "checklists" have even become these days — gosh, it seems nothing is ever over anymore — here's to progress, whatever that may ultimately mean.

Random tangent: After last night's unusual thunder at my parents' place, this morning saw an unexplained noise around Pittsburgh at 11:24 ET! Theories quickly converged on a small meteor breaking up in the atmosphere. 2022 is already coming in with a bang!

2021

So, like, this is a novel combination of New Year's Day feelings.

For one, as I mentioned yesterday, it genuinely still feels like March 2020.  Given, though, that vaccine distribution, while it will (hopefully) ramp up in due course, will undoubtedly be continuing well into the second and third quarters of the coming year, I suspect the pall of March 2020 won't really feel truly lifted until April 2022 when (again, hopefully) we'll be able to do real "April" things again.  Insofar as anyone can really make "plans" these days: What are those?  (Every past year's me simultaneously shudders at the thought.)

On the other hand, New Year's Day is, fundamentally, just the day after the last, like any other.  Nothing terribly earth-shattering has happened.  Twenty-twenty-one is a continuation of twenty-twenty in so many more senses than usual.  Twenty-twenty, part two.  There's a temptation to affix a roman numeral and call it "2020-II", but that would be too easily confused with the proper name for the following year, when (hoooppefulllllyyyy) far much more of this can be aptly described as "behind us".  In the meantime, perhaps more resonant, if a bit defeatist: twenty-twenty came for us, and twenty-twenty won.

Of course, for most of us, it didn't actually.  We've adapted, as humans have done through the ages.  It's still important to make plans and to set goals.  The key has been to remain supremely flexible in throwing out plans and goals — often repeatedly — and picking something else that ends up suiting the present moment better.  As you can inevitably understand, this is undeniably easier said than done.

And so, a lot of us have been continually deferring things, which has meant that a lot of us have been talking about 2021 as this bright, rosy thing for quite a while now.  And I think it's pretty clear it will have a lot of rosiness throughout, even if the exact timing and nature of those positives isn't yet known.

But let's not be naïve: We're pretty far down in the depths right now.  It will take time to work our way out of that, both individually and collectively, and there will be setbacks along the way.  Remember in March when there seemed to be this conviction that we'd be through this in just two months?  Postponing events just to ultimately have to postpone them again?  That's not likely over.  And that sucks.  It's real rough in both a logistical sense and an emotional sense.

Yet all this clearing of space can still — somehow — offer opportunity.  For my part, in a year when most normal journeys have been curtailed, I've spent the last five months or so embarking on the latest of my series of journeys of self-discovery.  Some of those have been bigger ones, some smaller.  Some I've shared (albeit not here; I'm a terrible blogger) and others I haven't.  I get the sense that this one is on the more significant side of the scale, which has been daunting at times.  But I also feel much better equipped for this trek and I definitely know that I'm far from alone.  So that has been helping a lot.

So when it comes to my goals this year, I honestly — and uncharacteristically — haven't got a clue about the "how" that's ahead of me.  Nevertheless, the usually-nebulous hope and confidence that I have actually feels more concrete and tangible than ever.  In other words, I think I've got some good leads, guys; and ones that I can probably make real progress on despite the current state of the world.  It's quite appropriate, then — though not at all unique — that the name "twenty-twenty" is carried forward as part of twenty-twenty-one, and on through the rest of the decade that lies beyond.

Not to distill it too far, but this year's gonna be less of a datebook and more of a checklist.  "Whenever" is fine.  It is Absolutely Fine.

And while no grand checklist is ever complete, hopefully — can you hear the strain in my voice? — enough boxes will be filled that 2021 will be full of fond and rosy memories.

Hopefully.

2020

Twenty-twenty.  A new decade.  Yes, even in a technical sense.  No, I don't remember having this same argument ten years ago.  I'm not sure why it's even a matter of debate.

Just like last night, I'm really not sure what to write here today.  I'd love to mark the occasion somehow, but for a number of reasons — not least of which is some work deadlines I have to resume tending to in a few hours — I have not felt up to the task.

One thing I do know is that I'm left with a similar sense of je ne sais quoi right now as I had when I embarked on the last decade.  (Although looking back, I guess it was nine years ago that I wrote that.  Bah.  The convergence of math and culture are hard.)  In the latter half of the decade now past, I embarked upon my career, so inevitably questions now arise such as "What more am I going to do with it?"  And since I'm about to reach a power-of-two birthday, I'm also thinking a lot about life more broadly.

Not that I'm itching to change all that much.  Not right now, and not all at once, certainly.  After all, just like I wrote then, today is little more than the day after last.  But years and decades are long spans of time, and I certainly don't want to stagnate.  (Looking far back, I'm reassured that I didn't actually stagnate as much in as many aspects of my life these past 9 or 10 years as the day-to-day myopic view has often convinced me.)

In any case, 2020 certainly feels more momentous than 2010 (or even 2011) did.  Maybe that's just because it's been talked about for literal years, much like 2016, since basically the day after the last US presidential election.

Or perhaps, as you may have guessed from my doodle, it just has that Barbara Walters ring to it:

Whatever the case may be, I know there's a lot to come in this year and this decade.  Here's hoping it's mostly for good and growth.

2019

I have to admit, the nineteen is throwing me off a bit.

Even though, at work, we've been in the 2019 Fiscal Year for six months already, that largely exists in one partition of my life.  There's something a bit different about everyone else using it all of a sudden.

It wasn't helped, of course, by the branding of Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve '19.  Because even though it's been nearly two decades since the last time those two digits appeared together in the year, there are still enough personal milestones, relevant family dates, and the like in my memory that my natural reaction to "nineteen" in such a context is to wonder — "nineteen-what?"

I suppose one could answer "nineteen-wonderful", if one is a fan of Rudolph's Shiny New Year.  Interestingly, though the family has more-or-less settled into a holiday routine in terms of our television consumption, we somehow missed that particular special this year.

Nevertheless, alas, the concept of dealing with "what-nineteen" instead is messing with me, numerically, a bit more than other years have.  And it means that 2020, which has often been a nebulous, intangible, futuristic year, is just around the corner.  Politicians are already throwing their hats into the ring for the next cycle.

I'm back in Pittsburgh now and, while working on my annual doodle, I've been assessing how I'm going to tackle the first few days of the year.  The advantage of the short work week ahead, especially having followed the long holiday, is that I basically have my priorities there pretty well planned out already — with room, of course, for adjustments as necessary.  But, with an unreliable phone battery, having left the bag containing one (or both!) of its wall chargers at my parents' house — thank goodness for power bricks! — and arriving to a bit of mildew on the sheets in my darkened bedroom, the domestic chores are also going to be pretty high on the list.

Here's hoping I find the return to work energizing enough that I can start chipping away at it with aplomb, leaving just enough time to celebrate my birthday on Friday.  "Get through the week" isn't the most exciting resolution, I suppose, but it'll do for now.

Random tangent: I think the "9" kinda looks like it's smiling, don't you?  It's half the reason I left it the way I did.

2018

Okay, real talk: The concept of twenty-eighteen is just boggling me.  It kind of has for a while, and it really is now that it's here.

As I've noted in the past, I tend to take the onset of even-numbered years more in stride and with a more generally positive outlook.  My mother often makes similar remarks at New Year's; to her, even years "just feel right".  And on an intellectual level, yeah, it makes sense.  It still manages to jive somewhat on paper, despite feeling like an astronomically big number and yet literally not being that much larger than anything else we've dealt with recently.  But really, less than a day into it, something about 2018 just feels… off.

It certainly wasn't the first day itself.  It was a perfectly reasonable holiday, prefaced by traditional New Year's Eve Nachos, and ringing in the new year with my parents at their house, although my brother was out attending a party elsewhere.  After indulging in staying up somewhat late, I slept in a bit, but not unreasonably so, spending most of the morning helping my mother take down a few Christmas decorations and gathering up all of my belongings from my extended holiday stay to prepare to return home to Pittsburgh.  And then a bunch of the extended family assembled once more for one last Christmas hoo-rah! before dispersing for the season.

But somewhere in there, I think — maybe — I've cracked the case.  At least kinda.  As it happens, part of today's hybrid holiday celebration included a cake (delicious and raspberry-filled from Wegmans) in celebration of my upcoming 30th birthday later this week.  And now that the custom of starting our years with "two"s is itself old enough to be an "adult", it all just feels a little… odd?  Even if it's even.  (Heh.)

That and, with the benefit of nearly a decade's hindsight, 2008 and 2009 were both quite formative years in my life and self-discovery at the start of my twenties.  So the similar-looking 2018 and 2019 just seem like they already have high expectations for my thirties?  It's interesting, anyway, how the numbers we grow up around leave their lasting imprints on us over time, even when they come up in different ways.  Or maybe that's just me.

Anyway, I really never go into any real detail about any of the symbolism behind my yearly New Year's doodles, and to be honest, a lot of the choices are just avoiding overt reuse of past designs.  This time, though, I knew pretty early on today that these greens would feel right.  It's a hope for a year of renewal, perhaps… forward-thinking, looking ahead.  The "eight" — as well as the "nine" to come — simply acts as melodic tension as the chords of life naturally resolve toward the next decade.

Of course, nothing about life actually resolves itself so neatly like that, and the whole symphony, broadly defined, doesn't really ever end.  As it is, I'm about to enter my fourth decade of life, and by that frame of reference I could just as easily make a similar argument about the two years just past as the two forthcoming.  Round numbers tug at our hearts and tell good stories, or something like that.

But between the onslaught of world news and politics, increased responsibilities at work, and shifting aspects of my social life, a lot of 2017 has been a near-constant struggle to stay simultaneously well-informed, personally productive, and mentally well.  The old adage, adapted for the modern era, is that you can only really have two of those three at a time, and certainly in any given month the winners and losers have varied.  I think I've been managing mostly not to neglect any one of them for too long, but it's been hard.

And so, if 2017 was a year in which I felt somewhat downtrodden and laden with various burdens of life, 2018 is a year in which I hope for some "fresh air", whatever that might mean for me in the months that lie ahead.  A year in which I'm more intentful in actively adjusting my lifestyle to suit my style and set my course.  Maybe those actually are high expectations, but at least they're truly self-imposed, and I'm actually pretty confidently in a good place for once… so let's keep going.

See?  I knew I could turn it all into a positive.

2017

I'm not quite sure how to start things off.

That about sums up my feelings on this blog post, as well as this year.

Just like I felt at the dawn of 2011, with literally nothing bearing down on my life's calendar, 2017 is starting off as its own enigma. Maybe it's something about prime-numbered years (I doubt it).

Six years ago, I took that relative freedom as an opportunity to reset my bearings and chart a new course. Where I'm at today is the complex result of that journey. It's not exactly where I was aimed at the outset, but it just might be a better place.

Similarly, this year I recalibrate and adjust, having reached enough of one set of goals that it's time to start forming the next. It's an opportunity that ought to be taken, even if tomorrow feels the same as today, since life doesn't typically allow for such compartmentalization.

But I think my next major goal, life-wise, is better decompartmentalization.

To wit, I finally managed to get my hands on a piano a few times over this holiday season, and it felt really good. Here's to trying to restore music, which has often had to take a back seat the last couple years, into my natural balance.

This ties into thoughts I have about my general health and fitness, getting more cleaning done around the apartment (a chronic struggle!), and more intentfully fostering friendships both new and old. I've never been one for resolutions (certainly not in January), but I think most of this stuff is in the scope of typical American resolutions and is stuff I'd be interested in working on anyway. So, eh.

And maybe I want to get a little better at graphic design for these annual doodles. ;) I never want to get to the point where this post just feels like "another year, another doodle." I was a little rushed this evening, as I was actually, ya know, enjoying the day… but I think I keep doing alright at making this meaningful, if for no one else but myself.

Anyway, now that I've gotten out of the instability of the past few years and moved onto a pretty stable work situation, the sorts of "life goals" I have this year seem a bit more actualizable this time around… even if I have no clue what the end result might be, or if "I'm not quite sure how to start things off."

I'm pretty sure I'll figure most of it out.

Random tangent: Compared to other years this decade, saying "twenty-seventeen" seems a little long and unwieldy, but it really isn't. I pointed out in 2007 that "two thousand seven" was the same number of syllables as "nineteen ninety-nine". Not only is "twenty-seventeen" also just five syllables, but those syllables have the same accents and emphasis as most years in the 1990s (apparently, a trochee and an anapæst, now that I look them up). We'll be fine.

2016

Twenty-sixteen.  A year that has already been so often talked about, by now it just rolls off the tongue.  You can thank long, drawn out US political campaign cycles for that one.

Actually, because it's a presidential leap year and Election Day isn't until 8 November, there are still 312 days left to go in the US presidential campaign — the longest possible period that can lie ahead of general elections while still technically being in the same year.  Oof.

In a slight, but otherwise unnoticeable break from tradition, this year's doodle was made in Illustrator instead of Photoshop.  It's technically the more correct tool for the job — graphic design and all — and since I happened to have occasion to learn a little of it in the last few months, I figured I'd continue to put that knowledge to good use here.  (Or something like that.)

This evening, I shared a lovely dinner with a good friend who was in town, and as we discussed our lives, he confessed that although he had seen my retrospective blog post from last night, he hadn't read it.  I, in turn, confessed that it didn't really delve into many relevant details — arguably, this blog never has.

To be honest, I think that's more than a bit of a shame.  There have been reasons, to be sure, for most omissions.  But, as 2015 gave me much more clarity and calm about my daily life, perhaps in 2016 I can begin to sort out what bits of my life are best shared here and more intently post about them.  And while I won't (intentionally) dredge up the old stuff — most of which would require years' worth of context to fully cover anyway — I can certainly be more mindful of times when I can share relevant parts of my experience more easily.

Or, maybe, ya know, I'll just get busy again and forget all of this.  Words are cheap… but at least I keep coming back.

2015

Here we are, halfway through the decade of the twenty-teens.  Time flies when you're having fun... or when you're in grad school.

At the outset of last year, I noticed that I've tended to have a more positive outlook going into even-numbered years than odd-numbered ones.  That cyclical trend is definitely continuing.

It's not that I don't have a lot to look forward to this year; I definitely do.  But I'm certainly quite a bit more worn down from 2014 than from previous years.  I've appreciated having the last few days to sort things out and plan various adjustments for the new year.  With everything starting back up again on Monday 5 January, though, I fear I'm not quite going to be in full swing in time.  But are we ever?

I'll get back with it soon enough, I'm sure.  Writing here more may become a part of that, but we all know how that's gone.

In the meantime, my traditional New Year's Day doodle above attempts to encapsulate my positive self-visions for the upcoming year.  I'm up for the challenge!

Random tangent: Mom got a Chromebook for Christmas and has had all week off, so she's been getting totally addicted to Angry Birds, 2048, and Tetris.  And she's been hilarious.

2014

Here it is: The first post on this blog posted in a year ending with a "four". And that completes the cycle. I can now officially say that this blog will be turning 10 next year, which is... interesting.

I don't know why, but I think I'm going to be okay with it being 2014 this year. Last year, I wrote about how it was going to take some work to wrap my head around 2013. And indeed it did. Consider that I still wasn't quite comfortable with it being 2013 even yesterday. Case in point.

My mother says she's always preferred even-numbered years, that they've felt more "right" or "comfortable" than an odd-numbered year. I've generally regarded that as silly, but now I'm starting to think there might actually be something to that. Or maybe I'm just more comfortable going into even-numbered years because I tend to be more positive heading into them? I have no idea if that's actually a long-term trend in my life, but just thinking back to where I was at this point in past years, I think it's safe to say that it's been true since at least 2010.

Maybe that says something about the cycles experienced by my emotional state. Maybe it's just that certain things happen in certain years, and it all sums up to one big coincidence.

Regardless, it's that time again when I spend a little while trying to remember where everything is in Photoshop to create a doodle capturing my hopes for the new year. Twenty-fourteen, like its predecessors, has a lot of unknown ahead for me, but I'm excited!

Random tangent: I've really been trying not to get hooked on new television shows lately, but holiday breaks always have the possibility of ruining that. Reruns of Brooklyn Nine-Nine help, too.

2013

It's one of those years that's going to take some time to get used to, I think.  Unlike 2011 and 2012, which I was able to take more in stride, this year is already shaping up to be more like 2010 in that I just can't quite get my head around the fact that it's here.

Of course, I'll get over that feeling soon enough, but I think a big part of why I feel that way is that I spent so much of last year racing forward to what was next that it was over before I knew it.  At its outset, 2012 seemed to offer myriad possibilities.  That was certainly true, in a sense; in reality, though, my 2012 — not discounting all the personal and professional progress I've made — was primarily to set the groundwork for what is shaping up to be a great 2013!

And so, in continuing a long-standing tradition, I dust off the cobwebs on this blog for a second consecutive evening to present my doodle for 2013, which is interestingly the first year in my lifetime to have four different digits.  They don't take too long to create, but it's important to me, because I always take care to inject a small bit of both my general sense of self at the time as well as my hopes and dreams for the coming year — even if I'm rushed, and even if I never make those thoughts explicit here.  And I enjoy looking back at how those aspirations have developed; how many have been achieved while others remain unmet; and how, with another year's experience and the benefit of the hindsight it brings, I'm becoming a newer and better person week after week, year after year.

To be sure, I can't wait to do this again in another year... but in the meantime, I'll strive to enjoy 2013 to its fullest!

2012

Time for another New Year's Day doodle to get me revved up for the year ahead: Twenty-dozen..., er, -twelve.  This one was done a bit simpler, since I had to do it in Photoshop on my father's computer (which crashed three times in the process of making this), but I feel it encapsulates the emotion (or "artistic vision") that I'm trying to convey.  Or something like that.

Last year, I'd said that the blank slate that 2011 held was both "refreshingly inspiring" and "paralyzingly daunting."  Well, I obviously got through it alright.  Now, for 2012, I've at least got some sort of plan... now I just have to execute it well in order to make this the best year it can possibly be.  Talk about potentially daunting!  But I'm up for the challenge!

Currently, I'm packing up my stuff to head back to Pittsburgh tomorrow morning for the new semester which begins on Wednesday 4 January.  Thankfully, I was able to get this done in between other tasks.  But it also means you'll have to wait a bit longer for "real" stuff.

Oh, well.  I think you'll be fine.

2011

Now that it is officially 2011, it's time for me to present my annual doodley thing for the year. I must admit, it was notably harder this year because of the two "ones."

I noted a year ago that we typically spend 31 December overly romanticizing the coming year, while we spend 1 January getting used to the fact that the first day of the new year is, in fact, exactly like what we'd already been used to. For 2010, it took, at most, a few hours for me to get acclimated to that. Just a flaw of human nature, I guess.

But so far this year, I really haven't had that problem. Honestly, today, the first day of 2011, has felt a lot like a continuation of 2010. There are probably a number of reasons for that:

1. It's still the holiday break, and my brother is still home.
2. Today started, unfortunately enough, with some of the same gripes that many a day in 2010 did.
   
3. I didn't do much different today from what I did yesterday. Mostly watching football, blogging, and doing year-end website stats.
4. I'm still closing out my post-graduation list of things I'd put off doing.
   

Still, it's important to look forward. While I'd always known that 2010 was at least going to bring the end of my undergraduate career, 2011 is effectively a blank slate. There is absolutely nothing on my life calendar which is more-or-less guaranteed to fall in 2011, and there hasn't been. Whereas at the dawn of previous years, there was always something somewhere on the horizon, I simply don't have that this year.

In some ways, that's refreshingly inspiring. In others, it's paralyzingly daunting.

But I'm looking forward to it. Who knows what 2011 will bring? It's exciting, in a way. I have some ideas of how I want to shape this year (in ways both big and small), but who knows where exactly I'll end up?

I've already set my bearings. All that's left to see is how far I go. ;)

2010

Well, it'll still take a bit more time before I'm fully comfortable with it being 2010. I'll give it about a week. Once I start writing it down at the beginning of every class, it'll sink in quickly, I'm sure.

I feel that my annual doodle is somewhat reflective of my mood and optimism for the year. Of course, a lot of the glamour of the new decade has faded since midnight. We romanticize the coming of the new year to end, and a somewhat mystified once it finally arrives, but after about a day or so we quickly realize that everything's pretty much the same.

And the next year, we do it all over again.

Still, even if 2010 doesn't lend us a complete escape from the negative aspects of our lives, it still provides a clean slate of sorts. And it's kind of refreshing.

I rang in 2010 in a much more normal fashion compared to last year, which for me meant sitting at home in the living room and counting down with the family. At midnight. Not at 03:00.

Earlier this evening, I made New Year's Day Cheese Sticks, and while I was perfectly satisfied not making it a new "tradition" like the Chips-'n'-Salsa and Nachos, my brother insisted otherwise. Let's just hope he remembers all these things next year.

And right now, I'm watching Florida beat Cincinnati in the Sugar Bowl, which is making me very happy, for a number of reasons. (None of which involve any animosity toward any of my friends who happen to live in the Cincinnati area. I love you guys.)

Anyway, I'm going to declare a moral victory over my 2009 blogging resolution. Although I did post more than in 2007 or 2008 due to attempting BEDA and my trip to China, I completely failed at even providing a basic update on my life for nearly three months toward the end. I'd like to move past that so that I can get beyond mundanes and actually write something meaningful from time to time.

So for 2010, I resolve that I'll make progress. Progress in writing more often, both for this blog and for myself. Progress in school. Progress in whatever comes after school. It's a lot of unknowns, but part of me thinks that that's what makes me so hopeful.

Best wishes to all for a happy and blessed Twenty-Ten, in whatever forms it may come!

2009

Continuing a tradition going back to 2006, it's time to ring in the new year on Randomness with a little token of well-wishing in the form of something somewhat creative.

Happy 2009!

I was indeed on a bus as the ball dropped in Times Square, somewhere between Pittsburgh International Airport and the Petersen Events Center in Oakland. I have a general idea of where I was at the exact moment, but I haven't yet been able to find it on a map and Street View isn't being much help.

But I will find out. Even if it means catching a bus that'll go past that spot, GPS in hand. That, I can assure you.

One thing I do know is that I started writing my last post 43 miles (70 km) northeast of Kansas City, Missouri and finished it 25 minutes later, 8 miles (13 km) northwest of Decatur, Illinois. So yeah, I was right about Central time.

Since we didn't actually go into the airport after landing, I wasn't able to get a wireless signal, so I had to wait until we were back at the Pete to upload the post. But even though we didn't get there until 00:19 EST, and I uploaded the post at (according to Blogger) 00:44:53.639 EST, it still contained 100% raw, unedited, word-for-word 2008-me.

And now 2009-me can point and laugh, I suppose. But that would just be mean.

After collecting my checked luggage (and discovering that its handle had been completely snapped off during its handling), I got to the hotel at around 01:45, and was flipping through channels, about to doze off, when at 02:00, CNN and Fox News started rebroadcasting their Times Square coverage for the West Coast crowd.

So, naturally, in an effort to achieve some sense of normalcy by ringing in the new year properly, I stayed up until 03:00 EST (00:00 PST) to watch the ball drop on tape delay. And then I went to bed.

This morning, a friend who was heading to Binghamton, New York picked me up (along with several other bandies), and took me most of the way home, since she was going that way anyway. So I was home by 13:30 and it saved my parents three out of four hours of driving. That was good.

It's been a fairly busy day, with parents wanting to see my pictures (I promise they'll be posted soon) and football-watching and the like. Friday is the last business day before I go back to Pittsburgh, so I need to deposit all of my Christmas/birthday money so I can buy books and pay for the China trip!

Have a happy 2009, everyone!

Resolved: That I'll blog more this year. In each of the last three years, I wrote a post 74, 36, and 18 times. That needs to change. And it needs to change now.

2008

527,040 minutes: How do you measure a leap year?

No Photoshop doodle this year. Instead, I'm letting my creative juices flow in another way. Can you tell Mom, David, and I played Uno the other day?

There's just something about 2008 that seems neat and orderly. Unlike a year with a "sloppy" seven on the end. Yes, I know I said seven was a great number, but eight rhymes with "great." Beat that!

School starts back up on Monday 7 January, and we still haven't decided when during this coming weekend I'm going back down. Probably Sunday, though. My birthday is on Friday, in case you've been forgetting, so I'll be home this year to celebrate.

David goes back tomorrow, as we've been reminding him throughout his break, though despite this he insisted this afternoon that he wasn't to go back until 3 January. We had a hard time convincing him otherwise, but eventually proved it to him. He's sleeping now.

Speaking of which, I'd better get back to normal sleeping hours soon. Another 08:00 class this coming term... yay...

Of course, a big thank you to those of you who keep coming back here because you'll read what I have to say no matter what it is. Through thick and thin, I blog to preserve memories. Any subset of my memories, good or bad, would not suffice to summarize the whole thing. Alas, I can't blog everything, but I continue to do what I can because you care enough to keep me going.

A thank you to those who came here through my campus celebrations video, giving me an unexpected boost on 2 and 3 December, as well as to Robert, who made my day on 17 September.

Here's to a happy, healthy, and fun-filled new year!

Random tangent: The first commercials aired on ABC in 2005 and 2006 were for Vytorin. In 2007, it was for Zetia, which is half of Vytorin. Apparently, we all needed to resolve to manage our cholesterol. This year, however, the first commercial was for Gardasil, which means lots of resolutions against cervical cancer. Just thought you ought to know.

2007

That's right. Two double-oh seven. Sounds sort of... James Bond-ish. With a similar concept to last year's Photoshop doodle, here is my Photoshop doodle of the year.

I like seven. I think it's a great number. It's quite a nice number to end a year, save for the extra syllable we'll all be subjected to for the next several months. But just remember, "two thousand seven" has the same number of syllables as "nineteen ninety-nine" did, and no one complained then!

School is fast approaching. David goes back to high school tomorrow morning, and I leave for college tomorrow afternoon. Second semester, here I come! Let's make it as great as the first.

I tried out for Pitt's concert band before I left, and the audition results will be announced on Wednesday, the first day of classes. Rehearsals begin Thursday, which is my birthday... my first birthday away from home (sob).

Right now, my dad is making some shelving for my dorm room out of plastic milk crates we just bought at Wal-Mart and some plywood. Which'll be awesome because I've been finding horizontal space... well, hard to find. My brother has gone to bed in preparation for school. Mom and I are just starting to watch Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006), a DVD we rented, while I divide my attention between the movie and my blog. So not too much is going on here.

Just so you're aware, this is my 100th post on Randomness. And so it would be quite remiss of me to forget to thank all the people who have visited my blog in the last year. You're the reason I keep doing this. I hope that 2007 will be filled with many great things to come, and I'll be sure to blog about them as my schedule allows! So stay tuned for more exciting adventures from the realm of Randomness!

Random tangent: My brother got angry at my mother for getting sparkling red grape juice for our New Year's celebration rather than the traditional sparkling white grape juice we've had nearly every other year. Oh, well. My guess is 2007 will be just as good as 2006.