Since eraser hasn't posted in eleven months, I figured I would start the post this year.

2017: message_topic.aspx?topic=649505
2016: MIA
2015: message_topic.aspx?topic=646551
2014: message_topic.aspx?topic=643933
2013: message_topic.aspx?topic=639963
2012: message_topic.aspx?topic=632553
2011: message_topic.aspx?topic=620902
2010: message_topic.aspx?topic=605245
2009: message_topic.aspx?topic=584031
2008: message_topic.aspx?topic=552174
2007: message_topic.aspx?topic=506882
2006: message_topic.aspx?topic=447821
2005: message_topic.aspx?topic=375305

Career: A

Started new job in January. I've found myself both challenged and motivated by the new roles and responsibilities, which is awesome. My new boss is a little bit tougher than my old boss but also better about appreciating when work is done and recognizing it, so that is cool too. Being a manager has been both really cool and frustrating. Have a couple of great employees and two that really don't give a fuck or just do what they want. However being that they are state employees I can't just fire their asses.

Love Life: B+

Still married with our sixteenth anniversary approaching soon. Still really like each other. Wife has started a new job which means she has more stress and less time for just us so when she comes home she really just wants to crash and fall asleep. I even got snipped this year so we didn't have to worry about the stress of accidental pregnancy, but that didn't change much in the bedroom. Otherwise still very happily married.

Social / Friends: A

Made some new friends at new job and maintained friendships at old work and previous friendships as well. Even went camping in the mountains with an old college buddy and our kids earlier in the year.

Health: C

Nothing bad, but nothing great. Had some numbness and other aches and pains of getting older. I'm about the same weight as I was at the beginning of the year which was borderline overweight/obese so I really want to focus on my health next year. Seeing progress like NeuseRvrRat has made both are inspiring and make me feel like an unmotivated bum.

Hobbies: B+

Still enjoying photography and made some new friends doing that. I got a big ass new lens (Sigma 150-600mm Sport) so that upped my game a bit. Kids are both in Boy Scouts now and happy with the unit we picked so that makes it more fun for everybody.

Money: B

My new job was a huge financial boost for the family and my wife finally getting a job has made finances much better. We finally moved out of our shitty ass apartment and got a three bedroom house in the country (but still in CHCCS) so we now have peace and quiet and the boys have their own rooms. We paid off my wife's car (2008 Mazda5) and I bought a "new" car (2016 Mazda6) for myself as my other car is a 1995 Ford Ranger and in serious need of some work. My son wants to drive the Ranger next year when he gets his license so I am going to get that fixed up for him. Still need to pay off credit cards and stuff, but it was nice that Christmas shopping did not make an impact on our finances as we were able to pay cash for everything. So cool. Hopefully my tax return can pay off the credit card and then we can use them only as needed and pay them off at the end of the month rather than carrying a balance like we have had to do for years.

Overall: A

Overall it has been a really great year. Really looking forward to 2019 and hope things get even better. My biggest concerns would be that my grandparents are getting older (grandpa turns 90 early next year) and my dad hasn't been coping well with lost mobility due to his bone cancer surgeries. He's pretty depressed but doesn't want to hear from us about it. I think he should join a cancer survivor group or even see a shrink, but he's too good for that.

12/26/2018 10:11:12 AM

I just feel lucky and thankful that both me and my wife successfully finished the career transition one after another in the last two months of the year. I did in November. She did in December, to be more specific, in the past two weeks, right before 2018 ends. Her offer is on the way RIGHT NOW.

Dramatic! Thank goodness!

[Edited on December 31, 2018 at 5:42 PM. Reason : grammar]

12/31/2018 5:25:01 PM

Yeah, I've been slacking but I'm still here! Thanks for kicking it off Chris. As for your stuff, that's nice. I am glad that your year went so well. I am also in the photography hobby as well although I've been more focused on videography as of late. I know the stuff with the grandparents is rough. I recently lost the last of my grandparents and that sucks.

As for my year ...

The Suck (1) > [ . . . . . . x . . . ] < Awesome (10)

I'll give 2018 a 7.

Career:B+
Love Life: F-
Social life/Friends: B-
Health: A
Hobbies: B
Money: B-


[Edited on January 1, 2019 at 8:11 PM. Reason : ]

1/1/2019 8:08:55 PM

Career: B-

Joined an AI startup at the beginning of 2018 which I've wanted to do for a long time. Unfortunately the company was pretty trash and I left in May. I then joined a startup that I really like. Almost took a job with them in 2012 but they didn't have any funding yet then. The company culture, mission and team is fantastic. I work remotely full-time. Only problem is I feel like there's not a lot of room for me to grow. The engineering team feels about where my team at Kaplan was 3 years ago. So, I have very good sense of how to help them get to the next level, I just feel like I'm not personally going to grow much very much in the process. Need to figure out how to otherwise prepare myself for what's next.

Family: B

Continuing to adapt to what family life looks like since punchmonk and I separated. Fortunately we have been able to re-establish our friendship for the most part, and we still do "family" things pretty often. Kids are amazing as always. My oldest will enter middle school this year. mindblown.gif. We moved back to Cary in August and although I would have preferred to stay in NYC, it's been a blessing in some ways. amna's grandmothers were/are nearing end of life so it's been good to be closer to them now. my dad's had a lot of health problems the last X years and he had 2 operations this year (one of which was a few days ago) to try to address his continued heart problems. also I talk to and get to hang out with my sister a lot more lately so yay for that

Social life/Friends: C

I miss my social circle in NYC. Outside of family, haven't had too much success forming friendships in NC yet. Need to work on that. Been meaning to get up with some of you people too.

Love Life: B

Had to end a relationship when I moved away from NYC. I wasn't happy about having to do that, but sometimes life gets in the way. Told myself I'd stay out of a relationship for a long while after I moved, but of course life had to go ahead and ruin those plans too, so now I'm dating an extremely awesome woman.

Health: B

I never know what to do here. Every year I eat whatever the fuck I want, and still look/feel pretty decent. Yeah I could drop 10 lbs and I should work seriously on my cardio and strength but I never seem to get motivated to keep up the kind of regimen to do that "right." maybe this year! having split custody with the kids makes it a lot easier to find time to work out. highly recommended! otherwise no major health issues so that's awesome

Money: D

I still make more than I ever have before, and it's cheaper to live in NC than NJ, but the cost of moving this year was stupid. Also was a dumbass and put a bunch of money into cryptocoins. Hopefully that'll come back someday but I've already written this off so oh well. I really need to take this year to get organized again and get my long-term plans in place. Been thinking a lot lately about starting my own business at some point. Maybe in tech, maybe not. I want to take more risks and try to make up for lost time establishing wealth for my future.

1/2/2019 2:28:49 PM

Career:B+

Still have a good job, but ready for change. Have had some very promising prospects come along and have picked up a lot of good experience, certifications, etc. that should help me step up to a director-level position soon.

Love Life: F-

Another year with just some sparse hookups and no meaningful connections. Finding it harder and harder to meet new people.

Social life/Friends: B

Fortunate to have good friends and have made a lot of new ones from my doctoral program, but also losing time with others due to my/their other commitments, distance, etc.

Health: C-

Fell out of the habit of working out and running consistently this year. Have kinda been on and off with diet/exercise and I need to get back into a routine. I also feel age starting to affect various things. Tired during the day, phantom aches and pains, waking up with a sore ankle like how tf did that happen kinda stuff. I've also felt a lot more anxiety and depression-like symptoms than ever before. Injury has also been plaguing my efforts to get healthy (broke both tibulas running, developed tennis elbow/tendinitis rock climbing, etc. where it feels like it's one step forward, two steps back.

Hobbies: C

Still taking piano lessons but haven't put the time in that I should. Haven't played guitar or my other instruments as much, either. Traded "healthy" hobbies like rock climbing, lifting weights, etc. for less productive ones like video games. Need to figure out something more social and healthy like run clubs, cycling, etc. to meet new people and stay active. It's tough balancing the little time I have to myself with things that feel like more work than enjoyment, even though it's that work you put in the reaps the rewards later. Having a house to take care of by myself has really eaten into that time and my discretionary spending.

Money: B

Not much has changed here. Buying a house and then having to buy a new car has me saving less than I'd like. Hopefully, my next job will drastically change this.

Overall, fuck you 2018. Not a good year for me, our country/politics/economics, or our collective American culture. Don't want to soapbox here (or ever on TWW), but I'm hoping future years are better than the one we just had.

[Edited on January 3, 2019 at 10:34 AM. Reason : .]

1/3/2019 10:30:57 AM

Career: B+(Though it ended on a temporary "F")

I enjoy my job, and this year I reached the top of my more-or-less automatic promotion ladder, which has me making more than I expected to. Those are all positives, and strong ones. But while I love my own boss, the people above him have been getting worse, and going out of their way to fill us with dread about the future. I also don't really feel like I've grown as much in the role as the person who held it before did in the same span of time. But more acutely, I didn't really even have a job for the last few days of 2018, and still don't have one in 2019. Thanks, politicians!

Love Life: A (Though it also ended on a temporary "F")

Well, I mean, I got married in May, so I guess anything short of an "A" would be a bad sign. But for real, everything is pointing in a good direction at the moment. We get along great and our visions for the future line up. But, she spent her last couple of weeks in 2018 preparing to go on an extended work trip for Africa, which is a bummer. She leaves tomorrow; between that and the furlough, I can say I lost my job and my wife left me all in the span of a month.

Social Life/Friends: B-

We've got a handful of Peace Corps friends in town, but I've had trouble breaking out of that core group. Not that I want to leave them behind - we're very close - but on occasion it can get tiring, hanging around nothing but urban liberals. It mostly boils down to missing my North Carolina friends, around whom I could speak freely without inadvertently offending anybody.

Health: C

My feet keep giving me trouble, sometimes to the point of virtually crippling me, and no doctor so far has been any help with it. I do a piss-poor job of exercising, partly because of the feet and possibly because of my natural aversion to it. Drink a hell of a lot less than I did, but still more than the CDC wants me to. Thank God my diet is pretty healthy (one happy consequence of my only significant point of departure from the spouse, who would be a vegetarian if she hadn't shackled herself to this inveterate carnivore). The result is that I've got no muscle to speak of, but at least I'm not shamefully fat.

Hobbies: A

I still don't really have any hobbies, but if trivia counts, I fucking won Jeopardy! in 2019. And though I don't really approach cooking with any sort of methodology to define it as a hobby, the wedding registry largess of the last year helped me step up my game there as well.

Money: B

Jeopardy! covered my student loans, the culmination of wedding planning meant I finally had money to save for longer-term goals, and I got a raise. By my standards, I am positively awash in cash. Unfortunately, by the standards of housing prices in the DC metropolitan area, I am the lowliest pauper. We're still a couple of years away from being able to take that particular step.

Overall: A damn fine year for me personally. Less so for Western civilization.

1/3/2019 10:52:46 PM

Career: F... as In fired LOL (I have a new job now)
Love Life: there was a cute guy in the job I got fired from but I don’t think we would have actually dated... so, another F
Social life/Friends: B (average)
Health: C ... making good progress on losing the weight I gained now
Hobbies: A ... had a lot of fun watching movies and reading and Netflix
Money: B+ ... could be better but thankful for my current job ??

[Edited on June 19, 2019 at 1:09 PM. Reason : IPhone emojis show up as ??]

6/19/2019 1:08:24 PM