2006 Year End Post

I know posts like this are silly now, but years later, they’re pretty good reminders of what happened. And being that I’m sure that I’ll lose my memory in the near future, this is quite important. So indulge me if you will.

2006 was a big year for Pup. There were some major ups and downs this year. The ups were highs that were hard to sustain, and lows that were difficult to climb out of. There was never a dull moment as I went from one big thing to another.

This was the year that I officially turned OLD. In the grand scheme of things, not really that old, but is an identification of old to me. This sounds silly, but I’ve never thought I’d hit this age.

I know I don’t have to act old and I’m not planning on acting old anytime soon. I can still out move some of you young’en as long as I don’t break a hip. I can’t escape the fact that I am old though.

I’m going to need some time to adjust as I don’t think I’m doing that well with it so far. I know it's all in my head, but it feels different.

Here are some of the things that I’ve noticed so far:

- Everything seems to smell a little worst. It’s kinda gross, but it does. I hope it doesn't get worst. I’ve never been a smelly person. Lately though, there’s some kinda old funk that’s sneaking through and that’s not cool. I don’t like where this is going.

- When you get older, naturally all your friends do too. Sadly, when you’re the only one that’s refusing to act older and do things old people do, it’s a bit of a bummer.

- The mind wanders more and more. I have all the thoughts of a young Pup, but now, there’s a whole new set of things to think about as older Pup. All this stuff in my head is causing general mental slow down.

- I want to keep doing all the fun things I’ve always done. I have more and more work and responsibilities now too. I’m going to be sleeping a lot less I’m afraid.

- In demograpic questions on age, I have to check a new box now.

Besides being old, this was a big year of transitions for Pup.

Big Red was retired after a faithful decade long service. We had some good times in Big Red. Everything from blowing out a tire from hitting a curb with 7 people in the car to numerous 7 hour drives for a weekend visit. Big Red was with me when we spun out in the middle of the street in Denver after a fresh coat of snow. After that, she took me home safely through a blinding blizzard in the middle of the night. She always got me where I needed to be.

In Big Red’s place came Lucy. A hybrid with a big ass/trunk. Hence her full name of Juicy Lucy. Lucy’s tried to get me killed once already, but I don’t blame her. I am happy that Lucy gets 48mpg. I can feel less guilty when I yell at people for car emissions and driving big SUVs.

This new job I took at the end of last year has been very educational. It’s a lot different than what I had been doing in my other jobs. I don’t think it will be what I will be doing forever, but right now, it works. I get to travel and experience a lot of different things. I’m just happy that I don’t have a commute, but I do miss working with people.

As a result of the new job, I moved back to the South. In my grand scheme of things, my plan was to move back to California (OC), but I dropped those dreams during high school. My fascination then became Seattle, and it still is. I’m not sure why I didn’t move up there, but in the back of my mind, I still think it’ll be my final destination.

Moving back to where I've spent the majority of my life has been a great choice though. A couple sets of my best friends also moved here at the same time. I’ve been moving around the country for a while and having to make new friends everywhere I’ve been. It’s nice to instantly have a close circle of friends. Having them so close has been great.

I bought a cute little house this year in a wonderful part of town. It’s by where I went to college. Kinda strange moving back to this area, but it’s a great part of town. The house isn’t much, but it’s mine. I’m slowly decorating, but it’s pretty difficult because I can’t make up my mind what I want the house to be like plus the fact that I’m too cheap to shell out for the nice stuff that I like.

I struggled with buying a house by myself. Not a monetary matter or anything like that. It’s that it’s not the way it was planned. It was suppose to be different. I had imagined how it would be looking at houses together, having endless discussions on comparing the houses, discussing how the rooms would be used and the house decorated, the shared excitement of buying the house. I know you’ll understand that I went ahead and got a house. When I find you, we can work on making this a home.

In the personal realm, there were moments of brilliance, and some very comical moments this year, but overall I think 2006 wasn’t the best of years. Maybe in the New Year things will work out better. I hope I'll seize the opportunity when it shows itself. Just a little nudge would be great though.

I’ve got a lot of things planned that I’d like to do. Hopefully there will be someone that’ll want to do them with me. Promise they’ll be fun.

Here’s to 2007. Cheers.