The dawning of the new year has caused me to pause and reflect on all that has happened to me in 2008. There have been many changes, including some important life-changing ones which I had been pining for over the years. It was a wonderful year.
The biggest and best change of the year (not to mention my life) was getting engaged and married. It is strange how it seems so long ago, even though many weeks tend to fly by. My beautiful wife has made me so very happy. It is hard to imagine life without her now.
The other big change for me was getting laid off and finding a new job. Career-wise, this year has been a veritable roller-coaster! But I think I have been improving my skills along the way. Along with things I've been learning at work (like iPhone app programming!), I've also been working on my own projects and learning from there. Work has also brought about little things, like when I really got into using wikis.
Another change I've experienced is regularly going to the gym. Off and on over the years I've tried to be good about exercising, but in 2008 it actually happened over the whole year. That's another thing that I have my sweetheart to thank about.
Last year brought many good times in the way of games. At the beginning of 2008 I was still riding the wave of Gamevember 2007, playing Mass Effect and Assassin's Creed. Rock Band has been a lovely year-long experience. It is one game that my wife enjoys, and we've built up a decent collection of songs now. Then Rock Band 2 made it all the better. I've also enjoyed Spore, Castle Crashers, and others! There have also been some great non-video games such as Mexican Train and Quiddler.
It has also been a great year for music and movies. Between my wife, Rock Band, and Pandora, I've expanded my music selection quite a bit. For movies, I very much enjoyed Iron Man, The Dark Knight, Kung Fu Panda, and Wall-E (which I finally saw over Christmas). I also experienced some great older movies, like when my good friend gave me Yojimbo and Sanjuro.
Playing D&D with my friends has been just plain awesome. The game is very fun to play, and I've enjoyed being the DM. But it has also been really fun to be able to regularly get together with my friends.
Recently I've started reading again. I hope that this is something that I can carry over into 2009. There are always so many things that I want to do (including writing on this very blog), but I should try to make sufficient time for reading.
The 2008 holiday season was a joyful time spent with family. I love and appreciate my family so very much. I have especially enjoyed watching and playing with my nephew during his first year. It is fun to be an uncle.
Now looking forward, I'm excited for the things which the year 2009 will bring.
