Cynthetiq

This year has been a very different one for many people. Many of our members have grown in different directions, some have moved on to greener pastures.

If you could make a tagline for your year this year, what would you call it?

For me I've had some incredible achievements and some incredible lows and setbacks. But all in all, I've done some things that I never thought I'd be able to. My crowning achievement was to travel this year.

I dub my year this year, Cynthetiq & Skogafoss Jetsetter 2005.

Skogafoss and I travelled to more countries, Spain, India, Philippines, UK and finally flew around the world 1 whole revolution.

How about you?

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I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not.

snowy

Yes, it has definitely been a year of some low lows and some high highs.

I shall dub this year the Year of Rebirth: in it I learned a lot of lessons about myself, experienced many failures as well as successes, and met the love of my life. The last is the most important thing to me; together he and I are stronger, and I am stronger as an individual because of his love and support. Without him starting over and finding a new path would have been much harder. I can only hope that the support I give him makes up for everything I have received from him.

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If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau

maleficent

The Year that sucked eggs...

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rlynnm

Hmm...this year shall be deemed The year that I've begun to grow the fuck up.

Some people who know me well would say that would be an ironic title...
For once I realized I was more flawed than I ever thought. This year I came to terms with the fact that I wasn't as good a person as I had always thought. This year, my heart was broken in many ways by many people and it all seems to be unmendable.

I made mistakes this year, heavy mistakes to which I will spend a very long time trying to make right. This year I realized my life has stayed complacent, very constant and unmoving and that I need to get the fuck off my ass and do something. This year I realized I wasn't getting any younger and that aside my individual goals, I need to look at settling down.

I realized that I have a long way to go in improving myself.....

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The hardest thing is to be honest with yourself, especially if that means completely redefining the world you've come to know.

Don't look too hard, I'm right in front of you.

genuinegirly

This year has been An utter tumult of insanity.
Yeah.

Jan - March - boring job with a company that I loved. Went to school and was happy.
April - May - backpacked through Europe with Turbotom. Awesome time.
June - July - Shakespeare festival work, a bad idea overall. Good and horrible memories.
August - December - Underappreciated at a crappy job making very little, but getting necessary experience to move on. Was raped by an insane ex-boyfriend. Was proposed to by Turbotom (dreamboy), told him to hang on a couple of years.

Today - just got hired at a crappy job with an ideal company. We'll see how things go from here.

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"Sometimes I have to remember that things are brought to me for a reason, either for my own lessons or for the benefit of others." Cynthetiq

"violence is no more or less real than non-violence." roachboy

superiorrain

Highs and lows like all. But this year will be remember for my graduation from university and my return to university where does that leave my year.

the year of eternal education with some spice.

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"The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible." - Arthur C. Clarke

laconic1

This was The Year of Unmet Potential.

Could have been a lot better than it was.

Poppinjay

I have to say I love the juxtaposition of onesnowyowl and Maleficent's posts.

For me, I would call it the <b>High/Low Rollover Year.</b>

From January-June, I was making great career strides and won bunches of awards, however, my wife became unemployed after getting her Master's degree.

From June-October, we were seperated as she took a job in DC while I made the decision to job hunt long distance.

Then came November. The weekend visits usually ended in fights. I was miserable back in NC. And I had no place to live. So I said, I'm quiting, and I'm moving up. My last day, I felt the lowest I've been since a family death.

After three weeks of pounding the streets, I have two jobs and interviews are still being offered.

I wish we had taken this gamble earlier, but you play the cards you're dealt in best order you can figure out.

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I think the Apocalypse is happening all around us. We go on eating desserts and watching TV. I know I do. I wish we were more capable of sustained passion and sustained resistance. We should be screaming and what we do is gossip. -Lydia Millet

ratbastid

I like where you're looking onesnowy.

This year I've re-examined myself from every angle and discovered, to my utter shock, that I like who I now am. I've been as low as I've ever been, as high as I've ever been, and many, many places in between. I'm ending the year with confidence and power to move forward in my life, and a commitment to resolve the outstanding issues that are holding me back.

I declare 2005 to be ratbastid's Year of Death and Rebirth.

Rodney

The Year that Reality Sank In.

I went back to school for a new career, tried to get started in it professionally this year ... and found out that I didn't like it, not as a day-after-day thing. I chose my new career not based on my actual personal preferences, but who I thought I _ought_ to be, personally and ideologically. Well, I turned out not to be that person. And this is not the first time I've made this mistake.

I sometimes put down others for "following somebody else's script" through life, doing what somebody else expected of them even if it didn't make them happy. Well, I write my own scripts, but too often the hero is some version of me that doesn't actually exist.

So what I learned this year is to accept myself as I am. I will never be dynamic, never especially assertive, never somebody who's ready to take quick action or make a quick decision. I will always be thoughtful, consensus-oriented, somewhat shy, willing to lead in the pinch but not forever, and happier doing brain-work at a desk than leading meetings. It's actually good to be me, and I'm going to be satisfied with that from now on.

Now I'm trying to revive the shreds of my previous career and get some money coming in. Doesn't help that the wife is losing her job as well.

Still, I don't want to make the year sound incredibly bad. It wasn't. Too stressful, yes. But anything you learn from is a net win. And I've seen and done some things this year that I never would have done otherwise, and learned how I reacted in certain new situations.

And the wife and I are doing well together; when I walked in and said essentially "You've been supporting me toward this career for two years, and ... I can't do it," she was very supportive. And I'm supporting her in some ventures that 1) might turn into an independent business and 2) are incredibly satisfying to her personally even if they don't.

MageB420666

I would label this year The Year I Wish I Could Have Skipped, except that now at the very end it seems to be making something of a comeback.

Jan - May: School sucked, I had to drop half my classes and still wound up failing a couple that I kept, but otherwise things were good.
June - Aug 13: Things were good, had a new job, was making money.
Aug 14: The single worst day of my life. I was dumped by my girlfriend of over 3 years. Came from nowhere, totally did not see it coming.
Aug 15 - Oct 18: This time span really sucked ass, I considered ending it all many times, but didn't, I'm still not too sure why...
Oct 19 - Present Day: I met my present girlfriend, which has been really good, but she's been sick with different ailments for the past 2-3 weeks, so that's been pretty bad.

So now I'll just label this year, The Year I Hope to Never Repeat

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Apathy: The best outlook this side of I don't give a damn.

barenakedladies

the year just like last year... except that i got married.


yeah... that about sums it up.

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Rlyss

My year has been <b>The Year of Change</b>

This time last year:
- I was just out of a long-term relationship
- I was living with my parents
- I didn't get along with my brother and sister
- I was fresh out of university with no job and no money

Right now:
- I am literally on the other side of the world
- I am getting along great with my brother, sister and parents
- I am in a job that I absolutely love
- I have more money than I know what to do with

stevie667

The year of the sloth

What i have accomplished (learning to drive/dive/not trust people, going back to college, becoming best man) has been vastly outweighed by the 6 months where i did absoloutly nothing and spanked all my money up the wall on complete and utter crap after quiting a job that had i stayed in, i would be well on my way to middle managment by now.

I did however write most of my book, though because i started last year, and i will finish it next year, thats still not really an accomplishment.

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maleficent

oooh I dub this the year of Rlyss

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spindles

For me it is the year of the never ending court case (or perhaps year of the uncertain judge...).

Hopefully everything with my ex-employer will settle soon (like 2010 )

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who hid my keyboard's PANIC button?

Eweser

Year of the Roller Coaster?

It started out okay... Emotionally Stable, but then we found out my husband had prostate cancer. Devastation.

I made up my mind I was going to get him (and us) through it. Emotional Uplift.

He had a couple of biopsies, then decided to do the surgery. Up, Down, Up, Down. That was a couple of weeks of....stress. It could have gone two ways: we split up because we can't stand each other any more, or we get a lot closer........And we did the second. Emotional Soaring.

I'm sure there was other stuff, but since that happened in the last month, that's what is foremost in my mind.

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"Whoever wrote this episode should die!"

Gilda

I'm going to borrow a Star Trek Voyager episode title:

Year of Hell

Not the most original title, I know, but it feels appropriate.

Also, this is feeling like A Long December

Gilda

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I'm against ending blackness. I believe that everyone has a right to be black, it's a choice, and I support that.

~Steven Colbert

flamingdog

The Year of the Never-Ending Wait.

Not sure 2006 is looking much better, either.

serlindsipity

I'd call it the Year of Growth and the biggest Self-Reality-Check-Ever. Im doing what ive always wanted to do -but with conviction- and also setting a path to go somewhere.

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My third eye is my camera's lens.

Psycho Dad

The year that sucked balls
One of my son's attempted suicide.
My wife's brother-in-law was killed by an IED in Iraq.
Another son got deployed to Western Iraq, got bombed by an IED and saw shit that no 20 year old should see.
My mother-in-law had elective surgery and went into a coma that she likely will not come out of.
My mother just fell over dead.
My dad has got to the point that he can barely take care of himself and put his car into a gaurd rail.

I am not joking when I say that the next person to tell me that God doesn't give you any more than you can handle will get kicked in the balls.

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Don't always trust the opinions of experts.

dogzilla

Madness and Milestones

Jan - May: Scramble to complete development and test for a small product and start to learn another at the same time.

Jun: My manager tells me I'm now dept team lead for both products plus co-ordinate work on a small open source software project

August: Wrap up the latest release for one product with much scrambling and last minute testing. Bicycle crash at end of month, bike is totaled, insurance buys me a new bike, a couple weeks in pain.

Jun-Dec: Try to pull together development on 2nd product, which runs later and later every week. Much overtime and madness.

Oct: Wife has minor foot surgery which keeps her off her feet till the end of the year, so now I get to take care of her & house on top of crazy project.

Dec: 25th year anniversary for me at work, same day. I was hired the day John Lennon was shot. Finally hand off final copy of software for crazy project. Close to complete the current cycle on the open source project I coordinate. End of December is vacation for a couple weeks. Maybe I can sleep then.

Somebody once made the comment that trying to manage programmers is like trying to herd cats. They were right.

alansmithee

2005: One year closer to the end.

Same as last year, same as next year.

KellyC

The first half of this year was awesome, but every thing went down hill since June and has slowly pick up again recently, but I still do not like it. I fucking hate this year and wishes the next year to come ASAP.

On a positive note, I've learned a lot of things and has matured greatly as well. I learn to not rely on people all the time and depend on myself in troubled times. It turns out I was capable of pulling it through all by myself, with or with out support of my loved ones. I can't imagine how many times I wanted to ask for advice from TFP because I was so sad and depressed, but there's something that holds me back so I didn't and deal with it my self. Sure, it's hard, extremely hard, but I'm a stronger person now because of it, so I at least appreciate THAT.

Not sure if it's a good thing keeping things all bottled up though....

Edit: I forgot to name the year. I shall dub thee KellyC's half full/half empty cup year

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Him: Ok, I have to ask, what do you believe?
Me: Shit happens.

ophelia783

Mine is the year of majik

pun definitly intended

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~*~* He with a sharp tongue slits his own throat *~*~

rhaevyn

"The Year That Started Out Horrible, Got Worse, Got Better, Got A Lot Worse, But Looks Like It's Going To End On A Wonderful Note"

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~Alex~

You've come far, and though you're far from the end, you don't mind where you are, 'cause you know where you've been.

tspikes51

Year of Real Life

I got my first true taste of "real life" this year.

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"I'm telling you, we need to get rid of a few people or a million."
-Maddox

Seeker

I'll dub my year as the year I wondered: What is someone like me doing in a world like this?

I've never been so confused about myself and my place in the world as I have over this past year...

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To those who wander but who are not lost...

~ Knowledge is not something you acquire, it is something you open yourself to.

Martian

This year was my year of peace.

May I someday have another. Next year does not look nearly so promising.

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I wake up in the morning more tired than before I slept
I get through cryin' and I'm sadder than before I wept
I get through thinkin' now, and the thoughts have left my head
I get through speakin' and I can't remember, not a word that I said

- Ben Harper, Show Me A Little Shame

dksuddeth

that which does not kill us, will surely bruise the hell out of us.

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"no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free. No, not the rack, not fission bombs, not anything. You cannot conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him."

troit

I guess I have to call this the "Year of Travel". Unoriginal I know but I traveled more this year than I even have.

I started the year by attending a friend's wedding in Costa Rica during the later part of January. An absolutely beautiful country. One day you are hanging out at the beach and the next you are flying down a zip line in the rain forests or repelling down waterfalls next to an active volcano.

Next came my trip to Africa in August. Two and a half weeks. Lions, leopards, elephants, impala, hyenas, giraffes, buffalo...and that was only the first day! The trip of a lifetime - absolutely incredible.

Finished it off with another trip to Oktoberfest in Munich. I had been there a couple of times before but its always so much fun when you are with the right group. There were 40 of us - we had t-shirts made up, went to the beer tents at 11:00 in the morning and drank a shitload of beer until we were kicked out of the tents at the end of the night. Just a great week to get away from reality. But isn't that what it's all about? Busting your ass throughout the year so that when you do get some downtime you can truly enjoy life....

So what does 2006 have in store for me? My plan is to pop the "M" word and start a new chapter in my life.....good times...good times!

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I've yet to dephile myself...

raeanna74

The Year of Repair.

My body had so many things to fix.

Hernia surgery in January,
broken foot in March,
Thyroid problems and heart palpitations this summer and fall,
tubal ligation in August,
two more hernias repaired in September.

It is just simply nice to be able to end the year having finished an 8 week yoga class in one piece. I have no more heart palpitations, Thyroid tests came back normal recently, all my incisions have healed enough that I don't notice any pain from them unless the skin around them is stretch and the broken foot still has a chip in it but it rarely hurts anymore. I'm just glad to feel fairly healthy. I gained 20 lbs this year but what do you expect when you can't ride a bike or go swimming or even walk anywhere without some pain. The pain is pretty much gone. I'm hoping this coming year will be "The Year of Strength." I want to loose those 20 lbs and gain my strength and endurance back up to at least what it was a year ago if not better. I'm gonna be 32 - I want to be stronger than the average 32 yr old.

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"Always learn the rules so that you can break them properly." Dalai Lama
My Karma just ran over your Dogma.

fresnelly

My wife and I raised our son through his first year and I got a new full time job. I think I'll call it "The Year of the New Reality", or "2005: Year One".

Due our son's birth at the end of 2004, this year begins a truly new and distinct period of our lives. All of my youthful hang ups and concerns have dropped away, and I'm now completely focused on providing for my family, and doing my best to help us grow.

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Building an artificial intelligence that appreciates Mozart is easy. Building an A.I. that appreciates a theme restaurant is the real challenge - Kit Roebuck - Nine Planets Without Intelligent Life

Scorps

For me this year kinda sucked. Thats why im hoping for 06' to be the year!

Sultana

I'll call this my "Year of Living Dangerously" because I pushed a lot of boundries this year, did several things I hadn't done before. And not all of it was necessarily uplifting, in that it would give people warm fuzzies to hear of them. But I hope it's stuff that ends up contributing to my overall evolution as a person (and I sure hope it turns out positive, although getting there could be a slog through the mud).

Plus I think it's a catchy phrase. I seem to remember it was a good movie.

OK, I'll subtitle it The Year of the Arts. Or The Year of Hollywood. The Year of Getting Where I've Wanted To Be, Physically.
Not bad.

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"Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath.
At night, the ice weasels come." -

Matt Groening

My goal? To fulfill my potential.

Fire

I would have to call this one the end of bloody endings- Lost two people to suicide, one a mentor of over 15 years, the other a damn fine artist that I called friend, who was also the father of one of my best friends- my wife lost two family members, and my grandmother went insane after a stroke, while my other grandmother is loosing her vision rapidly, and fighting leukemia..... I met people that survived katrina, watched friends go off to war, and in one of the most sureal nights of my life, had to drive my best friend to his mothers place at 2:30 in the morning to deal with the sudden death of his only brother- many friends have broken up with signifigant others, sometimes creating remarkable ammounts of tension in our little circle of friends- so , overall it has been a year of bloody endings-despite this, my personal dreams are at least going alright, my busiiness is great, I now own a home free and clear (no debt) at 28 years old- and my wife and I are doing great- so, to quote a song, maybe we will find better days..............

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Thought the harder, Heart the bolder,
Mood the more as our might lessens

la petite moi

The Year of Change.

This year, I got into a car accident, adopted my first kitten, saw a gynocologist for the first time, saw a chiropractor for the first time, moved in with nwlinkvxd, moved to a different city (almost four hours away from my hometown) and out of my parents home, questioned my relationship several times, attended two different community colleges, faced letdown after letdown, got insanely plastered from alcohol for the first time, gained ten pounds and have done nothing to lose weight, changed my major (not offically, though) from International Business to French, and transferred from one job to another.

Suave

Playing off lpm: The Year of Strange

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"Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions." - Albert Einstein

"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something." - Plato

rlynnm

Wow raenna I must commend you for your perseverance. That's a lot to take on in a year, not just physically but I'm sure emotionally as well. I imagine you'd have no trouble losing the 20 lbs since you seem so ready to become active again. Wish you all the best with that.

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The hardest thing is to be honest with yourself, especially if that means completely redefining the world you've come to know.

Don't look too hard, I'm right in front of you.

ScottKuma

2005: Joy, guilt, stress, and grief...

Joy: My son Evan was born.

Guilt: Evan's birth defects have caused my wife and I to (misguidedly) blame ourselves and to harbor un-needed guilt.

Stress: Insurance wants to push Evan out of the hospital where he is receiving NECESSARY care.... Thank God the hospital is fighting right alongside us. Also, my work has had me travel every week that I could possibly travel since Evan's birth.

Grief: My cousin David died in a skiing accident 10 days ago. Although I didn't know him as well as I might have, due to distance and family strife, his death came as a complete surprise. Has me contemplating my own mortality a lot lately. *sigh*

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A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take from you everything you have.

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