Today was a pretty good Christmas. Got to relax most of the day and even had Grandma Jo join us for a few hours. One benefit of holidays is the ability to nap. In my case.. my multiple naps today has led to sleep tonight being elusive at best. If I didn’t have to work in the morning this wouldn’t be a huge deal but, this time, I do. And 7 am is coming quickly. C’mon.. Let’s sleep.

My brain is wild with dreaming at the moment though. Thinking about what’s next for me. Where I want to go. What I want to achieve. Definitely on that list is continuing my progression to a healthier body and life. As things are finally starting to settle after a new job and moving.. the ability to get in a routine is near and I am really looking forward to it.. to have some consistency. Time to make some changes. I’m stoked. Let’s do this!

So I was browsing FaceBook one fine day and a friend from college did this cool thing where every year she answered the same set of questions. I thought it was a mighty fine idea and decided to steal it . Thanks Leslie aka “Sista”!

1. What did you do in 2010 that you’d never done before?
Rock climbed with the newlife Klahowya team. Redid the network at Hospice with virtual servers and SonicWALL network equipment which was all pretty much new technology for me. Rebuilt the Audi’s transmission with my dad.

2. Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don’t really like making typical resolutions because I will just ignore them. I got out of debt so that was a big one.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Nobody super close. Tons of people at newlife though!

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Maggie Williamson. I had the honor of knowing her for just over 6 months at Hospice. Her life will forever have touched mine and will always make me take joy in life no matter what the circumstance. Maggie called herself handi-capable. Life definitely threw her a curve ball but she took it with such joy. She will be truly missed!

5. What countries did you visit?
Made it to Hermiston, OR during summer camp.. that was the farthest I got all year.

6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?
Genuine relationships with people. A date!

7. What date from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
March 19 – Date I paid off my debt at Citi.
July 1 – My birthday party at Hospice which was the last time I saw Maggie.. when she sang me Happy Birthday in German?? which started off with ow, my knee! We all almost died of laughter.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Getting out of debt.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Not getting into shape.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I had a pretty healthy year. Maybe a cold or two early in the year but that was it.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
My laptop. Apple MacBook Pro 17” (Mid 2010). Most valuable purchase ever.
Second one would be my epic cabinets from IKEA which are all wired up with LED lighting and a ton of technology including 4TB of storage, a printer, and a battery backup. Yeah.. I’m a geek .

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Myself.. getting past my passive aggressiveism.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled?
Myself.. being passive aggressive.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Paying off debt, Taxes to Uncle Sam, stock market and laptop.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Paying off debt, new laptop.

16. What song will always remind you of 2010?
Iridescent by Linkin Park.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: happier or sadder?
Probably happier. 2009 ended with exhaustion.. moving out of the apartment in Silverdale. A lot of lessons learned there that I will never go through again. Moving back into my parents house was good (free rent) and bad (lack of independence).

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Spent time with people. Got into shape.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Watch TV. Granted I really needed the detox time of zoning out. I definitely wasted a lot of time though.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
Well it’s over now but Christmas Eve was spent at newlife from 5p-2a. Then went home to sleep and had dinner at my parents. Great memories with Grandma Jo this year. Such a crack up!

21. How will you be spending New Years?
Eve was at Jenna’s house with Nathan. Watched some movies and had a good time. New Years day was at my parents playing cards with Darrel and Mary Jo.

24. What was your favorite TV program?
Haha.. this is a tough one. I watched quite the collection of shows this year. To name a few: House, Chuck, Burn Notice, Blue Bloods, CSI x3, Community, Dexter, Big Bang Theory (thanks Nathan for getting me hooked!), Fringe, Human Target, Leverage, Lie to Me, NCIS x2, and of course Top Gear.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
I’m not really one for ‘hating’. There are people I prefer to avoid for various reasons.

26. What was the best book you read?
Hmm.. well the only book I really read in 2010 was Soul Cravings by Erwin McManus. I read half of it a few years back. One day around October I was looking at my bookshelf and saw it. Picked it up and started off where I left off. It was exactly what I needed to hear.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Rush Coil’s 8-bit Christmas.
Linkin Park’s A Thousand Suns.
Owl City & Port Blue.

28. What did you want and got?
Pretty much everything. Haha. Consulting paid for a lot of toys this year. The laptop would be #1.

30. What was your favorite film of this year?
Kick Ass

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
24 this year. I don’t really remember exactly what went down. I have a horrible memory.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Cut back on TV and spend more time with people. Make memories.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010?
Hurley & Volcom shirts, jeans, etnies shoes. Nothing exciting.

34. What kept you sane?
Literally Iridescent by Linkin Park. That song came out during a really tough time and when I first heard it I started tearing up. It described exactly where I was at in life. That song provided me so much relief. The Audi was down for a few weeks while we replaced the heater core. I ended up borrowing my sister’s Impala and having the sound system in there to listen to this song with really helped me. Seems crazy but it was like a perfect situation even though it sucked to not have my car.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Not really my thing. I did some research on Warren Buffet and he seems like a pretty stand up guy.

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
The president and the so called health care reform. Oh and the ridiculous so called budget cuts. Yeah it sounds great when you say you are cutting millions from the budget but when we are aready billions over budget it doesn’t really matter does it now??

37. Who did you miss?
Maggie, Gunnar & Grandma Lind.

38. Who was the best new person you met?
This would actually be a group of people… the staff at Hospice of Kitsap County. Especially Kandee Jenson!!, Robin Jensen, Bev Hokkanen & Lisa Theobald. We have had so much fun together.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010:
Life is going to mess you up, throw you curve balls and ultimately try to drag you down. You choose how you respond to life. You can play victim and be all depressed but what good does that do. Choose joy. Maggie had gone through so much and I ALWAYS saw a smile on her face and she would always make me laugh with her crazy stories. I want to be like that.

Bring it on 2011!

Eric