'08-in-Review

Oy, what a year.

Hard to believe it's nearly the New Year again. Seems just yesterday we were auld lang syne-ing it up for 2007, and now '08 is passing us by. Been an eventful 365 days, eh? I know it has for me.

Started the year in Colorado with 50 feet of snow and the best slacker job ever. Moved home in April and got an apartment in Knoxvegas with Travis and Drew. Spent the summer moping around and getting seriously sucked into some wild conspiracy theories and other nonsense. I didn't actually have a job from April until November, so I burned through some major savings keeping myself alive and fed. Well, that and other expenses. Bought a motorcycle in late June I think it was, and enjoyed that for the summer, taking a few trips here and there and saving a good bit of money on gas prices that were frankly astronomical.

For much of the year, I was struggling mightily with existential and spiritual questions that would not let me be. I was incredibly lucky to have the resources to hash these out on my own time, and I ended up with answers that were even better than I could have imagined before. In August I had a life-changing spiritual experience that very likely will powerfully shape the rest of my life; I know it has affected the last 4 months in ways I still can hardly believe.

I met a girl this year. Sarah is wonderful. She grew up very differently than me and my conservative, sheltered childhood. She has a 7-year-old son to care for, and multiple tattoos, but she also has the most beautiful soul, even though she usually doesn't want you to know it. I think she is amazing.

Not having a job for 7 months, at 25 years old, was by turns wonderful and incredibly stressful. Expectations from the World Around Me had me believing I was shiftless, lazy, and incapable if I didn't have a job. My soul told me I shouldn't work if I didn't have to, so I was torn between the two sides for much of the year. 2008 was quite a learning experience, one I am very glad for having gone through, but also one I don't really want to experience again.

::edit:: All this and nothing about the 2008 craziness of the World Around Me? How could I forget? Economic crisis, the Olympics, presidential election cycle, war, scandal, triumph and defeat... This was certainly a year for the history books.