2006 Comes to a Close
As 2006 draws near an end, I just want to take some time to reflect back on everything that has happened over the past year - and it's a lot. It has been a year of many new things, many exciting things, many happy things, and some very sad things. If you ask me, the year has been too busy, and I'm really looking forward to a much more relaxed 2007. Here goes the whirlwind that was 2006:
After spending three months with my "adopted grandmother," Jeanne, down in San Jose while transitioning out of the film industry, I moved back to San Francisco in February and started a new job at UC Berkeley at the same time. I moved in with my good friend from church, Mike Huxley, and one of his former roommates, Don Homewood. The job has been great so far - I couldn't ask for a better environment or better co-workers.
In March I made my second trip to Australia for my dad's wedding. Long ago I promised tales from my trip down under, and these have yet to materialize. It's unlikely that they ever will, now, but we can always pretend that I might put them up here at some point in time. This was just the first of what would turn out to be 7 weddings for the year. I guess it is that time of my life when people are getting married. I traveled out of state for two other weddings, one in Kentucky and another in India. The Indian wedding sets a new benchmark for weddings to beat. And these weren't for weddings, I made another trip out of the country to Germany, and two trips to Notre Dame (Trip 1) (Trip 2).
Somewhere around April or May, my friends Greg and Elia helped me to transition the leadership of the St. Dominic's Young Adult Group to ourselves. My good friend Leilani, who had previously been running the group, got engaged and stepped down from the role. Joe Bernabe took over as an interim leader, until Greg, Elia and I stepped into the role. Things have been running smoothly with the group, and I'm proud that we've done as good a job as we have.
In May, I also discovered that some people don't know how to treat the disabled correctly on public transit, that the State of California has a lot of red tape when it comes to getting a driver's license or contesting a parking ticket (the ticket was ultimately overturned).
June saw a wonderful trip to wine country with some friends. In fact, the entry from that trip got the attention of one of the winery owners who wrote to me and invited me back to the winery for another tasting. I took him up on the offer in September. It was also in June that I experienced the first earthquake that actually woke me up during the night.
July was a pivotal month for me, as I came to a very important realization about my life: I realized that one of the things I wanted more than anything in the world was to get married and have a family of my own. It was partly because of this realization that in July and August I looked into buying a house in the Bay Area, but ended up not going through with any deals for various reasons. For the better part of the last quarter of the year, I actually believed that I might have found the person that I would spend the rest of my life with, but that deal seems to have fallen through, as well. It would seem, that, based on a survey I took in September, I have already experienced 68% of what life has to offer, which is more than most people ever get - so getting engaged and married aren't looking too likely, according to that quiz. God, I hope the quiz is wrong!
In August I tried two new things: I played the lottery for the first time (I didn't win), and I tried my hand at increasing the number of meals that were vegetarian in nature. I am still trying to reduce the amount of meat I consume in my diet, but I am by no means a vegetarian.
In October, I posted a Solicitation for Prayer here in the journal as my grandmother was admitted to the hospital with complications from surgery. Sadly, on November 26, the Sunday after Thanksgiving, she passed away after spending 8 full weeks in the hospital - almost entirely in the Intensive Care Unit.
November saw me fall out of love with California politics after I learned the results of the mid-term elections. This is why I hate politics - particularly in Democratic states. December was a particularly busy month - more so than usual - with parties and concerts and all such social events.
Now with 2007 on the way, I'm starting to feel tired from my social lifestyle this year. 2006 was an experimental year in many ways. Prior to the very end of 2005, I had never been a very social person. I had friends and did some things, but I was never booked solid. For most of this past year, people had to book me at least a month in advance to get any time on my calendar. I'm pretty tired of trying to be so active all the time, so I'm looking to make 2007 a much more relaxed year - I just want some time to live and enjoy the moment. In fact, I've already started reducing the number of social bookings I'm making. Here's to a great new year in 2007!