2009 Recap and 2010 preview...

You know, there are things I really don't look forward to when I come home to Texas. For instance, I see all these familiar faces that I haven't seen in a while and they all have the same questions--about school, about graduation, about girlfriends and marriage, and work. When my responses are usually "No idea", "No progress", and "Plasma donation", some of them possibly think about what a loser I am. Ultimately, what a regular guy. I mean, it's been two and a half years since the mission, and I don't have much to show for it. All the people my age from the old stake are married off and heading in the direction that their lives seem to need to go, and here I am, the one who never changes.

Well, it's about New Years, so it's that sentimental time of looking back on the year and reflecting on the good and bad of 2009, and what truly did change.

First and foremost, there are changes that occur that you, the audience, will never be aware of. My family often speculates that there is some secret love, but I assure you, this is not the case. Yet. I am referring to the types of experiences that occur with weekly attendance to the temple, too sacred to impart. One thing I learned is that our understanding of each other here on this earth is very shallow. It seems ironic that these most defining events of my life, and most people's lives, are things that are between the individual and their god. These are the things that I don't tell the people who wonder, and because they happen, I don't feel so bad about being the same person in their eyes.

School happened too, and very little of it this year. From part time to barely full time schooling, I feel I'm still in that transitional period between majors, and between deciding what I want to do for the rest of my life. Again, when I say that my major is Print Journalism of all things, I'm sure there are some who doubt that I have a future at all (what with the dying industry and all). How little they know about my plans... and how little I plan about my future.

The summer was almost a carbon copy of 2008's summer, but with more annoying orientation videos. Yes, EFY didn't turn out exactly as I planned, but I still managed to coast through with wonderful experiences and a bit of cash to spare.

And everybody experiences their hard knocks. Fortunately for me, the hardest of knocks were bad test grades, parking fines, and the passing of my long time feline friend.

Now here I am, back in Texas awaiting the family football game on New Years and being so bored in the meantime that I write lengthy blogs about my narcissistic self, while the family watches cheesy ABC family movies in the next room. The good thing is that it's noon, and I know there is a refrigerator here packed with glorious morsels that I only dream of back at school.

Cheers for the New Years, everyone! I hope that you all had as stellar a year as I did. Let's eat some cake.