The ‘Before’ post: 2005 in Retrospect
Not to be confused with special issues and centrespreads that newspapers and other media come up with at year end. This one is entirely self-centered and of very little interest to the general public except to myself and a select few who’d better be interested (under threat of bodily harm) if they knew what was good for them.
Disclaimer: A long post, brace yourself. Go make Milo to fortify yourself or something. Otherwise if you think your constitution is too weak to take it, give up now and come back next year when I will make a resolution, especially for you, to be less verbose. After which I still make no promises to keep my word, understood? Good.
First things first, how do you write a retrospective if you don’t intend to give away details? Sometimes I think I wax too philosophical (which I rarely do in real life because I’m too shallow and too lazy) in posts because I can’t spell out the nitty-gritty.
Anyway, here goes.
It has been a year of the lowest low and the highest high I’ve ever experienced and these are the things that will live on in my (increasingly unreliable) memory:
The year began with the acquirement of The Car and a deepened understanding of the words freedom and scared shitless (I hadn’t driven in approximately 10 years, what do you expect??). Am happy to report that only freedom has remained and it’s the other drivers on the road that I constantly endeavor to instill in a greater understanding of the term ‘scared shitless’.
Then came The Nightmare, an episode that knocked the wind out of me and froze my heart with a mixture of disbelief, grief and guilt. It made me realize what a naïve fool I’d been for thinking I knew who to trust, how to take care of myself and those around me and the control I had in any given situation. It became clear after the fact, the amount of risks I had taken and the danger I’d put all of us into, a danger in the end that did come to pass because I realized too late. The effects though lessened with time have had far reaching consequences.
The Accident happened shortly after The Nightmare, further compounding my already depressed state and involved The Car. It was relatively minor but unfortunately was This Drivers fault hence resulting in a sizable amount of The Money going down the drain.
The Diving Adventure was a much welcome diversion after the string of bad incidents. Funnily, at the start, it seemed doomed to actually add to the list of bad incidents, but it all worked out in the end for this newly certified diver who’s immensely proud to have bogey-ed with Spongebob Squarepants at the bottom of the sea. Heh. Strangely, people keep telling me that my meeting with the personable yellow sponge was the result of nitrogen narcosis, a state characterized by foolish behavior not unlike being drunk. And to this I say: Bah humbug! They’re obviously jealous.
The Blog, one miniscule, insignificant blimp in cyberspace but one huge leap for myself. I have much to thank this blog for: The chance (though sometimes also a torture) to write and be read regardless of the volume of both the writing and the readership. Something I’d always wanted to do but never quite did anything about.
The Man……
Sadly, this is as far as I got before the ‘real’ world interrupted - the ‘real’ world in which I’m a totally lazy ass and a damned efficient procrastinator. I had the sincerest intention of posting the above (completed of course) last year. I mean like really. Sigh. And now…
The After(math) continuation post: What the hell? I missed my stupid deadline!
The tally? Hoegaarden, Jim Beam, wine, Carlsberg, Midori (don’t ask).
The result? Only the slightest hangover. Nothing to do with tolerance unfortunately, more like variety vs. volume.
So then, it feels like any other day, any other year. In fact the New Year feels too much like a letdown. I preferred the nostalgia, sentimentality, pensiveness and contemplation of the end of last year to this. Anti-climatic I suppose.
Here’s where I should start soliluquising about my hopes and dreams for the rest of the year ahead. But, nah, I’ll keep my resolution on brevity and just say I hope the way I started out the year will set the trend for what is to come.
And no, I’m not referring to the alcohol ;)
PS: The Man deserves a post (or more) of his own. (That’s not an excuse darling. Or maybe it is, just a tiny bit. Heh.)
Not to be confused with special issues and centrespreads that newspapers and other media come up with at year end. This one is entirely self-centered and of very little interest to the general public except to myself and a select few who’d better be interested (under threat of bodily harm) if they knew what was good for them.
Disclaimer: A long post, brace yourself. Go make Milo to fortify yourself or something. Otherwise if you think your constitution is too weak to take it, give up now and come back next year when I will make a resolution, especially for you, to be less verbose. After which I still make no promises to keep my word, understood? Good.
First things first, how do you write a retrospective if you don’t intend to give away details? Sometimes I think I wax too philosophical (which I rarely do in real life because I’m too shallow and too lazy) in posts because I can’t spell out the nitty-gritty.
Anyway, here goes.
It has been a year of the lowest low and the highest high I’ve ever experienced and these are the things that will live on in my (increasingly unreliable) memory:
The year began with the acquirement of The Car and a deepened understanding of the words freedom and scared shitless (I hadn’t driven in approximately 10 years, what do you expect??). Am happy to report that only freedom has remained and it’s the other drivers on the road that I constantly endeavor to instill in a greater understanding of the term ‘scared shitless’.
Then came The Nightmare, an episode that knocked the wind out of me and froze my heart with a mixture of disbelief, grief and guilt. It made me realize what a naïve fool I’d been for thinking I knew who to trust, how to take care of myself and those around me and the control I had in any given situation. It became clear after the fact, the amount of risks I had taken and the danger I’d put all of us into, a danger in the end that did come to pass because I realized too late. The effects though lessened with time have had far reaching consequences.
The Accident happened shortly after The Nightmare, further compounding my already depressed state and involved The Car. It was relatively minor but unfortunately was This Drivers fault hence resulting in a sizable amount of The Money going down the drain.
The Diving Adventure was a much welcome diversion after the string of bad incidents. Funnily, at the start, it seemed doomed to actually add to the list of bad incidents, but it all worked out in the end for this newly certified diver who’s immensely proud to have bogey-ed with Spongebob Squarepants at the bottom of the sea. Heh. Strangely, people keep telling me that my meeting with the personable yellow sponge was the result of nitrogen narcosis, a state characterized by foolish behavior not unlike being drunk. And to this I say: Bah humbug! They’re obviously jealous.
The Blog, one miniscule, insignificant blimp in cyberspace but one huge leap for myself. I have much to thank this blog for: The chance (though sometimes also a torture) to write and be read regardless of the volume of both the writing and the readership. Something I’d always wanted to do but never quite did anything about.
The Man……
************
Sadly, this is as far as I got before the ‘real’ world interrupted - the ‘real’ world in which I’m a totally lazy ass and a damned efficient procrastinator. I had the sincerest intention of posting the above (completed of course) last year. I mean like really. Sigh. And now…
The After(math) continuation post: What the hell? I missed my stupid deadline!
The tally? Hoegaarden, Jim Beam, wine, Carlsberg, Midori (don’t ask).
The result? Only the slightest hangover. Nothing to do with tolerance unfortunately, more like variety vs. volume.
So then, it feels like any other day, any other year. In fact the New Year feels too much like a letdown. I preferred the nostalgia, sentimentality, pensiveness and contemplation of the end of last year to this. Anti-climatic I suppose.
Here’s where I should start soliluquising about my hopes and dreams for the rest of the year ahead. But, nah, I’ll keep my resolution on brevity and just say I hope the way I started out the year will set the trend for what is to come.
And no, I’m not referring to the alcohol ;)
*************
PS: The Man deserves a post (or more) of his own. (That’s not an excuse darling. Or maybe it is, just a tiny bit. Heh.)
3 comments:
happy new year to u too dear
so can i assume that the lack of updates is due to u devoting too much time to The Man?
;p
That is correct Sherlock ;)
(Now I'd better hide before I get punished for blaming him!)
tsk tsk..
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