2009: In Retrospect

The finish line of 2009 is just slightly visible over the horizon as we all hover towards it in slow motion, nanosecond by nanosecond. And as the particular second that marks the transition from 2009 to 2010 looms nearer, most of us reach a point where we need to take a minute or two, gather our thoughts and reflect upon the year gone by, and form a sort of closure with the year, like a final handshake or a goodbye hug of sorts.

And so we begin the Unfinished Business' traditional journey of analysing and scrutinising the year that was, 2009. It has been an amusing year to say the least (and once again for the lack of a better word - I should probably invest in a thesaurus for 2010 if I ever want to move forward in writing, hahaha) although in last minute desperation last year I had written a letter to 2009 asking her to be nice (why was 2009 female? - I have no idea) and amusing is not too far off. Reflection upon the year the last few days made me realise that despite the numerous complaints scattered among these pages, 2009 itself wasn't that bad at all.

Among the awesomeness of 2009 in no particular order:
1. Went for a mini vacation in Sarawak which brightened up the first quarter, and made a few fantastic buddies in the process. Forgot to invite my sister to join us though because of her then workaholic tendencies (she taught tuition during weekends, and  I figured she'd not want to reschedule her classes) and she still holds it against me. Big mistake. Never assume

2. Had an awesome 29th birthday celebration. It was a hard day's work in the kitchen, but well worth it.

3. Went forward and purchased the 'achievable' dream car (the old dream car has run out of fashion now, and probably out of production too!) which is formally known as Ketsbaia and jokingly known as Fatty.

4. Played "RISK" (the most intriguing game involving strategy - which I suck at, but still...) and bought a set (which unfortunately remains untouched till now)

5. Met in person someone whom I only previously "knew" and corresponded with for two years via the internet. As this is the very first time I did this, I suppose it deserves a mention... and in true TerraShield fashion, I had embarrassed myself by saying "So, we finally meet" as I shook hands with him outside the bookshop where we met. I don't think he noticed though... Two years prior to that I had unintentionally insulted him via e-mail- something to do with Dexter's laboratory vs Dexter the blood splatter analyst.

6. Read, read and read... went a bit book crazy during the Penguin sales that we have about 2 boxes worth of books I haven't read.I should admit though, that it has reached a point where I can't seem to read books anymore due to 'over reading' towards the end of November, early December (except for kids stuff, like Roald Dahl)

7. The trip to Japan - although it consisted mostly of training, but I still got the opportunity to visit places I couldn't visit otherwise. And in the process, I got to know my colleague better, and found another kindred spirit in the process engineer from the next door company. What was awful though was that after my return from Japan, I had fallen into some great disarray due to having to catch up with stuff I missed over the 3 weeks...

8. Bonded with the cousins a fair bit

9. The road trip to Tanjung Tuan... could have done more but hey, at least one road trip is better than none.

10. Managed to almost consistently stick with the exercise regime in the gym. Never felt better, except when I was sick, of course.

And the not so awesome things include:
1. Mom's operation - although it was a simple procedure technically, it made everyone at home very, very depressed and lonely. This year alone, about three family members had gone under the knife... mom, an aunt and an uncle. But even this has a silver lining because I got to see some long lost cousins (1st cousins, no less) after many years. My ten year old cousin has the most adorable laugh in the world.

2. November - pain.

3. Didn't do the few things I set out to do to 'get my life back' like going to a concert (didn't get the chance, I guess), the postponed Cambodia trip...

4. 10 year project is still there... :(

5. Missed both my primary and secondary school reunions because I was feeling anti-social. And no, I do not regret not going for those events.

2009 was another one of those years that sped by... I don't know, could it be that years speed by once you get older? Movie watching was erratic as usual, I managed to quit coffee for about three weeks before I sunk deeper into it's clutches, I have no idea how the current music scene was, watched a fair bit of TV, still am awed by explosions on mythbusters, lost interest in politics, gained interest in the economy, etc.

So, as you can see, the awesomeness seems to have overtaken the not-so-awesome, which makes 2009 mildly pleasant that I'd give it a 7/10 in the "How the year went" scale... one of the better years, despite the sad beginning (the blog tells me - and clearly shows how miserable I was in January) and the occasional bouts of depression spread throughout the year (my drafts section tells me this) Besides, I've decided to be a bit optimistic (me being away from work at the moment could probably have something to do with this)

What's your take on 2009?