2001 helluva year in review
Jan. 1st, 2002 02:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
psipsyIt's been a strange and wondrous year, full of all kinds of suprises, ups and downs.
January: Overtime at old job starts dropping.
Februrary: Went to Katsucon 7, entirely unprepared, and had fun doing so.
March: No overtime at old job at all, and coworkers getting jumpy.
April: Got a new hard drive, upgraded from 4.5G to 20G. Laid off from work, and on a Monday.
May: Animazement 4, first con I went to that was all but paid for by someone else.
June: Drove out to Michigan with Eric to visit Mike and Corey, then went to Anime Mid Atlantic for just a day.
July: Bored, went to a porn site and a pop-up ad caught my eye for a job search service, which also advertised job fairs...
August: Went to Otakon, then the weekend after went to Six Flags with my friend who prefers to go by the name of Aeris. Was running on only three hours of sleep, and still managed to outrun her. I probably did less walking at Six Flags than Otakon.
September: The infamous 9/11 attacks. Went to Anime Weekend Atlanta, another sponsored convention.
October: Helped run AnimeUSA. Tested, interviewed for, and accepted Northrop Grumman position, which didn't come at all too soon because the unemployment pay had effectively run out. The lack of functional money was a rather spooky prospect.
November: Started work on my birthday, which really was an appropriate gift to me.
December: Got a whole week off from work for Christmas. Just what I need, more time off. Once again, spent much more on other people than was spent on me. Guess that comes with the territory of making more money than the rest of my family. But this year I had better luck with picking out gifts for other people.
Out of 52 weeks in a year, I didn't work during 31 of them. But at least I got paid for 27 of those, which helped. So, if any of you readers reside or work in the state of PA, I should at least owe you a drink or a pizza or something for all the tax that you paid that I took in as unemployment, making my summer vacation a nice long one. Perhaps too long.
Many times during the year I questioned my own usefulness, and despite the vast amount of time I had to myself, I have yet to come up with an answer. But that's not to say I haven't come up with any answers whatsoever. I found answers to questions I could not yet even put into words. Answers, while remaining wordless as well, still able to bring me to my knees and the brink of tears, or able to make me smile and face another day.
I have come out of this year a changed man, having shed my old skin for new. I came into this year in a rut that once was a groove, and was only able to get out of it by the hands of others, teaching me that my life is indeed influenced by the outside world and the events of such. Looking for work taught me that perhaps I had indeed grown stagnant in my thinking and skills, and methodology for job-searching had indeed changed since I looked for work the first time, so many years ago. Yes, this past year has certainly caused me to be more different than I expected to be.
There goes another year. Probably won't see any others like it. Probably for the best, as well. Well, this is another year that didn't kill me. All that there is to do now, is look to the year we're in now. And try to make it at least a little better than the one we were in.
January: Overtime at old job starts dropping.
Februrary: Went to Katsucon 7, entirely unprepared, and had fun doing so.
March: No overtime at old job at all, and coworkers getting jumpy.
April: Got a new hard drive, upgraded from 4.5G to 20G. Laid off from work, and on a Monday.
May: Animazement 4, first con I went to that was all but paid for by someone else.
June: Drove out to Michigan with Eric to visit Mike and Corey, then went to Anime Mid Atlantic for just a day.
July: Bored, went to a porn site and a pop-up ad caught my eye for a job search service, which also advertised job fairs...
August: Went to Otakon, then the weekend after went to Six Flags with my friend who prefers to go by the name of Aeris. Was running on only three hours of sleep, and still managed to outrun her. I probably did less walking at Six Flags than Otakon.
September: The infamous 9/11 attacks. Went to Anime Weekend Atlanta, another sponsored convention.
October: Helped run AnimeUSA. Tested, interviewed for, and accepted Northrop Grumman position, which didn't come at all too soon because the unemployment pay had effectively run out. The lack of functional money was a rather spooky prospect.
November: Started work on my birthday, which really was an appropriate gift to me.
December: Got a whole week off from work for Christmas. Just what I need, more time off. Once again, spent much more on other people than was spent on me. Guess that comes with the territory of making more money than the rest of my family. But this year I had better luck with picking out gifts for other people.
Out of 52 weeks in a year, I didn't work during 31 of them. But at least I got paid for 27 of those, which helped. So, if any of you readers reside or work in the state of PA, I should at least owe you a drink or a pizza or something for all the tax that you paid that I took in as unemployment, making my summer vacation a nice long one. Perhaps too long.
Many times during the year I questioned my own usefulness, and despite the vast amount of time I had to myself, I have yet to come up with an answer. But that's not to say I haven't come up with any answers whatsoever. I found answers to questions I could not yet even put into words. Answers, while remaining wordless as well, still able to bring me to my knees and the brink of tears, or able to make me smile and face another day.
I have come out of this year a changed man, having shed my old skin for new. I came into this year in a rut that once was a groove, and was only able to get out of it by the hands of others, teaching me that my life is indeed influenced by the outside world and the events of such. Looking for work taught me that perhaps I had indeed grown stagnant in my thinking and skills, and methodology for job-searching had indeed changed since I looked for work the first time, so many years ago. Yes, this past year has certainly caused me to be more different than I expected to be.
There goes another year. Probably won't see any others like it. Probably for the best, as well. Well, this is another year that didn't kill me. All that there is to do now, is look to the year we're in now. And try to make it at least a little better than the one we were in.
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no subject
Date: 2002-01-02 12:22 pm (UTC)thorougly and couldn't agree with you more.
I hope you have a wonderfull new year.
no subject
Date: 2002-01-02 03:12 pm (UTC)Thank you, and I hope that 2002 will be a much kinder year to you as well.
Where is my pizza?
Date: 2002-01-03 04:59 pm (UTC)