Wednesday, December 17, 2008

the year 2008

Before I disappear into the uncharted backwaters of incommunicastan on Friday, let me review the old year a little. It's been nuts on a global scale. No one will argue with that. Before I comment, I want to go back to my New Year's resolutions post and have a look at this past year from a personal perspective. What have I achieved?

  • Run a marathon.I did, though it could be argued I only ran for the first half of it and limped sufferingly through the second.
  • See a new country. – Jordan and Syria have been added to the list, a whole new world.
  • Write more. – It can't be denied that I've written more than average in the last two or three months. Whether I can be proud of this is another question. I oftentimes suffer from vague thoughts and don't even come to close to writing down what is traipsing around my brain. I have added nothing to my website.
  • Learn Spanish. – I went to a Spanish class for a few months but got bored with it. I understand the language fairly well. To speak properly, I'd have to immerse myself. Who's joining me on a half-year sabbatical in South America?
  • Find a job in Germany. – That was mentioned jokingly. I didn't want to leave London but had it on the radar for 2010. More on this in due course.
  • Live happily. – The year had moments of overboiling happiness but also of profound sadness. Happiness eclipsed sadness most of the time. It was a good year.

The original resolutions post ended with a video from the Iowa caucus and the warning that we weren't there yet. Well, now we are. Hope is back in the world of politics, but it seems to have vanished from most quarters associated with the economy. There was only one way this year, down, down, down. Being an optimist, this makes me think that it can only go one way in 2009 as well, up, up, up. This would be one for the New Year's post, though, whose time hasn't come yet.

4 comments:

Sean said...

Hey Andreas, just letting you know that I read every post and thoroughly enjoy most. Have fun over the holidays in Germany. Tell your family I said hi.

P.S.- Did you watch the video I sent the link to? I am curious what you thought.

Dee said...

Interesting new goals--a job in Germany hmmm
Happy new year when it comes
:)

Blue girl said...

Merry Christmas, and a great new year 2009! :-)

Andreas Förster said...

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, Sean, GC, and Blue Girls. I'm so happy you keep coming back to read my blog.

All the best.