New Year’s Resolution?

Posted: January 1st, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , | Comments Off on New Year’s Resolution?

calvin & hobbes new year's resolution

While I’m pretty sure that I’m not “perfect”, I’d wager I’m somewhere on the positive end of that bell-curve. Regardless, it’s New Year’s Day, and today is supposed to be about resolutions and setting a new tone for the next 12 months, right?

Well, I could say I plan to “work out more”, “eat better”, “be less of an arrogant bastard”, but really if I improve on any of those fronts, imagine how rough it’ll be for every other dude out there. I really don’t want to make the other bro’s look bad, and plus I’m not in the mood for lying to myself and making empty promises.

Instead, let’s talk about how I’ve spent the last year:
– Traveling. They say that travel expands the mind and I can tell you that the places I saw, the history I took in and the environments I experienced in the past 12 months will always stay with me. It’s a bit awkward that I really want to talk about these places but haven’t figured out a way to do that without sounding like I’m bragging. Perhaps the best way to do so is just to encourage folks to travel themselves. Yes, I do want a bigger TV for the living room, but I’d be willing to sacrifice that upgrade and put the same money towards a flight back to London and a hop over to Spain. In the end, will your grandchildren want to hear about your 55″ LCD you used to own, or about the adventure you had in Barcelona (especially if that’s where you meet their hottie of a grandmother…)
– After a great friend introduced me a professional writer, I took their advice and made the leap into guest posting this year, with work accepted at sites as diverse as Bloomingrock.com & worldofmatticus.com
– Though we started in the last half of 2010, this project didn’t really hit it’s stride until Jan/Feb 2011, but boy am I glad it did. The time invested into the gaming podcast I cohost has been some of the most rewarding activity I’ve done this year. Not only is doing a podcast loads of fun (at least the way we do it), but the people you get to meet in the community, the folks you interact with, the fictional barriers of popularity that can be torn down… long-story short, I’ve met and befriended some great folks who I’d never have expected to get to know if I wasn’t a part of the podcast. I know that it’s not for everyone, and we don’t really try to be the most universal. We do what’s fun for us and our guest and we hope other people enjoy it.
– Career Change. As horribly cliche as it sounds, when one door closes, another one opens. Over the past decade, I’ve put-off going back to school and have only looked for other employment once, largely because I was satisfied with the job I had and felt it was stable enough to anchor my life around. When that option came to a screeching halt last July, I figured there was no better time to see if I couldn’t make the leap to a field I really wanted to be in. Turns out, one doesn’t always know all of one’s options, and luckily I was able to land a new position that is so challenging it’s rewarding on it’s own.

Ryan