Post Birthday Blog

For some reason birthdays always seem to make you think about the past... the things you've done and the ways you've changed. I turned 27 last Sunday and the few days preceding my birthday I had been thinking a lot about the past year and where my life is headed. As many of you know, I've made some fairly big decisions in the past week or two, which probably only adds to my thinking about these things :). So... what better thing to do than write my past year (from my perspective) here on my blog?

A lot happened this past year, a lot more than normally happens to me. Last year at this time I was working at SFU as "Special Projects Manager", doing my MSc in CS full time, starting to ramp up a bit of contract work, and of course, living on Burnaby mountain with Ariane. Over Christmas I had a short break from fall intensity (for some reason fall is always the most intense season for me) and realized, somewhat unbelievably I know, I still really didn't like working at SFU. That, and I figured I could make more working for myself doing freelance. In January, while still on vacation (so they'd know I was for real), I went into work and handed in my letter of resignation. I ended up dicking around there for another 6 weeks (half time) finishing things up, giving people demos, and writing documentation that no one would ever read, before going full time with the freelance thing.

Freelance went really well. By July I was earning what I was at SFU when I left. It was a little surreal being able to earn a living on my own. By October I was making more than my old boss at SFU... unfortunately I'd also stopped enjoying it.

Over the past year I've met a lot of new people, many who I consider good friends now. In February, Ariane and I broke up and we both subsequently moved downtown. I don't know what was up with this year, but every week or two I'd here about another long term relationship ending. What gives? A lot of the people I now call friends ended a long term relationship this year too. I think as a side effect a lot of people started hanging out more with people they didn't in the past and many new relationships were formed. Kind of a silver lining I suppose. I've also become a lot closer to my older friends who I've seen a lot more since moving off the mountain.

Food was another big thing for me this year. Mike (my brother) bought me the Omnivores Dilemma for Christmas and I started reading it after I finished work at SFU. It really inspired me to start learning more about where my food comes from and actually care about buying fresh and locally grown. I started going to the farmers markets (would someone please make that website better?) and decided to give the 100 mile diet a try, which failed miserably when all the yummy Okanagan fruits started showing up. But the whole fresh food thing really gave me whole new outlook on food. Something that would be awesome, would be to organize a dinner night for all us downtowners, maybe to coincide with hot tub night, it's so tough to cook for one all the time.

I guess the whole local food thing kind of led me down a path of wanting all local things. I started getting into music again (something I haven't been into since the napster days), especially trying to find good local musicians. Hopefully I'll blog more on that some day :). Oh yeah, and I started doing critical mass too, a bike ride the last Friday of every month that runs through downtown Vancouver in an attempt to raise awareness for bike traffic and encourage people to stop using their cars.

In addition to work, friends, and food, my other major activity of the year was partying. I think I partied more this year than in second year university, which is crazy! Ok, maybe that's not true, but I had to have been pretty close. Though, I never posed for pictures wearing lingerie or cowgirl clothes in second year. A few months back Parv and I started going for brunches every Sunday as we were generally hung over from Saturday night. This quickly turned into a ritual... and now generally Saturday and Sunday, regardless of hangover. Weekend bunches pretty much rule. You should join us. Maybe we should make a facebook group ;).

September's notable activity was going to Drupalcon in Barcelona, I stayed with the Bryght guys in a condo there... the one week trip was amazing was easily the highlight of the year. Before I left Kris was talking about how "Drupalcon will change your life"... in my case it turned out this was true for several reasons. The two other fun trips I went on this year were a three day stay at Whistler in January (thanks Mom and Dad!) and a week and a half trip to Calgary/Red Deer. No camping though... something that will definitely be rectified this year, mark my words!

So, what's the point of this stupidly long post? There isn't one (do I ever have a point?), I just felt like brain dumping my year. This is the first year in my life I feel like I'm not the same person I was when I was 18 (well, first year since 18). I've learned a lot about myself and my friends and I'm expecting 27 to be an even more exciting year than last. nnnst!