Don't remember where I got this one, but it was interesting...

Go to your Calendar and find the first entry for each month of 2005. Post the first line of each entry, and that's your "Year In Review".

January: Hello 2005!!! With the new year, comes a new layout. [Ahh, how I love doing those layouts...]

February: Since I've been working my ass off at work over the last weeks, I haven't had much time to myself (i.e. surf the internet), so usually I just do it at home. [Referring to how I lost my internet for a night...]

March: I'm so pitiful. [I dunno, I think I start every post with that. But in this case, I was referring to how I run Ten on Tuesday and I never post it on my own site]

April: Has anyone watched the latest 'Bachelor'? [I did, for the whole season. I'm a loser.]

May: For those of you that enjoyed the original 'Virtual Bartender', there's a new version out, with twice the fun. [Something for the guys]

June: Just wanted to let y'all know that a new round of trivia starts today! Everyone has a clean slate and a chance to be in the top ten for the next month. [Ahh, Trivia, there are some people who are really obsessed over that *cough*RedpacandNoelle*cough*

July: I was discussing the temperature in the office with a coworker, and I asked him if he had T-H-O's. He had no idea what I was talking about. [Don't know what it is? Look it up!]

August: I'm off to New York City! [My job is 90% going to crappy places, 10% going to places as cool as NYC.]

September: With all this talk of the company being bought out (again) another question springs to mind. [With my company being sold again, I ponder what's going to happen to our Chicago office. So far, we're still here.]

October: I'm traveling for the first time in more than a month. [After a month hiatus, travel starts heating up again]

November: Greetings from Charleston, West Virginia! [My first time in West Virginia]

December: I got back yesterday at midnight from a horrendous trip back home from West Virginia. [How funny, it's almost like I spent the whole month in WV, but I didn't]

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Actually, I wanted to write a 'real' year in review as well.

My biggest challenge this year was work - as you may know, in 2004 my company was bought by a competitor, and more than half of our workforce was let go. Fortunately, I was kept on. But there were so many things that I needed to adjust to, it was so different working for a larger company where they had a completely different way of life than what I was used to. From little things to filling in a weekly timesheet (this was electronic where client time was itemized, before it was just a piece of paper where I just put 8s the whole week since overtime didn't really count) to getting 10x more emails a day, it was a hard adjustment.

Luckily, I had some great coworkers that went through it with me, and even though they didn't have the same job I did, they were there with me to listen to me complain and whine about how I hate change.

I had a new job title and new duties that had me away from home much more than I was with my previous title. I had to learn things fast and learn a lot on my own. There were times I was in a panic because I didn't know what to do. But in the end, I was able to find the strength in myself to figure things out on my own and each day give myself a little more confidence in what I was doing. Figuring out a problem that has been stumping you for a long time is the best feeling!

However, my company was once again bought out by an even larger competitor and once again, I have a new job title. The cycle never ends!

Home life has been good for the most part, but with some challenges. Dave and I had been trying to have a baby, but with my travel schedule and his resident schedule, it was hard to make that happen. I also felt bad that I was away all the time, so he was stuck with a majority of the home duties. The rest of my family life has been a whirlwind of emotion. As I've said before, nothing will be the same now that my mother, the glue that kept us all together, is gone. Drama after drama happened, using up my already low emotional resources. But in the end, we're all still here together, we're all still talking, more or less, and we're all together for the holidays. But it's been a challenge keeping everything together.

This has also been the year for life changes, not only for me and Dave (our lives haven't changed that much yet!) but also for friends. My good friends Jen and Mike came back from a year in China, with a new baby in tow. My cousin Trully had a baby, as did our friends Manny and Rachel. It's so odd to see this baby boom happen, and to see my friends having babies. It seems just like yesterday we were out at the clubs together getting trashed, dancing on platforms and not remembering anything we did the night before. Now they're parents and we stay home and play board games and have dinner parties. How life changes!

To tell the truth, though, I really have nothing to complain about. Life is good, and I'm happy. I'm surrounded by people I love and even though that occasional drama comes in, we always deal with it together. I know some people would kill to lead the life I lead and that I'm fortunate to have what I have.

2005 was good.

2006, now THAT'S something that's going to be interesting, don't you think?

Posted by Yano at December 31, 2005 12:06 PM

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