2008 was great and 2009 will be better
Year 2008
Here are some recaps of what happened in Year 2008 for me in no special order:
- Redesigned this blog in XHTML5 and CSS3. It was fun until Yellow Death of Screen starts kicking in because of issues that I cannot control (more often than not, delicious feeds from Yahoo! that contain unconforming tags)
- Completed 42.195km full marathon. Not something that I would even dream of participating in the past. But this year I did and not only did I dream, I acted on it. Exercise, toughen one self and get to donate to people who need it at the same time, why not? Even though the timing was not made of win, the fact that I participated and completed it deserves enough credit for me.
- Joined Wego Travel Search, a company that does meta travel search engine, as part of their team of front-end web ninja(okay, I’m getting there) where I really enjoy working alongside colleagues who actually cares about Web Standards. It’s like a geek wet dream come true no less.
- Finished my 2 years NS stint in the Army in September and I can’t believe I actually didn’t blog about it. I guess it is just not a big deal once you’re done and over with it, besides it was good while it lasted. Go, 3SIR and 9SIG!
- Started fishing all over again and can’t get enough fishing already. It’s been a while since I’ve gotten my fish lines reeled out by the fishes.
- Finally started using Mac OS X for daily use at work. It is great experience by the way and the greatest advantage of using one is its user interface and ease of use–intuitive comes to mind when you use it. For the record, I still use both Mac and Windows–fan of Windows XP by the way. Hi!
- Got into photography as a hobby with a few friends. So many things to learn, so little time! So many items in the wish list and so little money!
Year 2009
And here are some possible plans for Year 2009, again in no special order:
- Go up Mount Kinabalu with a couple of friends
and plant my personalized flag. Great stepping stone to eventually getting to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro! - Partake in a full marathon again and complete with a better time every year until the year I’m lazy or manage to convince myself that I’ve reached the best timing I can ever achieve.
- Watch the Serengeti Migrations live with my own eyes. Trust me, this is the craziest idea in my life yet. My friend is still doing research on the details of the entire journey so I will say this plan is still in its very infancy stage.
Go to a Kelong or beach resort(Redang Island?) in Malaysia for my fishing frenzy. Also to chill, I like peace and quiet in my life.(completed: 260909)- Learn diving. Yes that is right, I’m considering diving when I haven’t even gotten my driving license, because I dive to places as a form of transport.
- Save up for a few luxury items (from most wanted decreasing order):
MacBook Pro 2.53GHz(bought: 080109), Canon EF 135mm f/2L USM Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM and Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM. Yes I have my burning desire for luxury items too, surprise surprise. BTW, if you’re feeling really generous any time of the year, you are always welcomed to give me a belated Christmas 2008 present or even early Christmas 2009! - Start learning to write PHP and JavaScript the proper and leaner manner. I’m thinking about OOP/MVC(Kohana framework) for PHP, and jQuery framework for Javascript for a start. I am starting from scratch so yes, it takes time.
- Procrastinate less and prioritize more with regards to many things in life. Friends, family, passion, hobby, work and fun. A healthy doze of right place at the right time with the right person for the right reason to be applied externally. Some things in life just aren’t meant to be so perhaps it’s high time to let them go and move on once and for all.
In a nutshell
So in a nutshell, the lists probably sum up what happened to me in the year 2008 and what may happen to me in the year 2009. I’m not saying I will do all the above mentioned this year but I figured it’s a good list to start a new year with knowing what you might want to accomplish in life and set off to doing them.
Merry 2009 to all of you! May you find your very own magical world soon too!