End-of-the-year roundup: how'd 2008 go for you?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

Still employed, so that’s good.

I started the year with a heart problem. The first attempt to reboot it didn’t work, but the drugs my cardiologist gave me fixed it about the day before the second attempt, so I didn’t even have to go under. My wife’s retina is still attached, so that’s good also.

Married off my daughter at relatively low cost. She got a nice fellowship in grad school, her husband got into law school, and my other daughter is in Germany in school for the year, so the academics have turned up.

Got a special issue out, met the deadlines on my column all year, got the book reviews in on time, and got the same paper published in two different places, and even got an award for one.

The only big negative was I lost lots of theoretical money in the market, but that’s pretty minor as things go.

Plus Obama won. I can listen to our leader (soon-to-be, I suppose) without wanting to puke. Does wonders for my blood pressure.

22

Bad: I lost my job in August.
Good: I found a much better job and started working again Nov. 3rd.

Bad: My roommate moved out in June with very little warning and left me paying the bills by myself.
Good: I found a much better roommate who is far more responsible and pays her bills on time.

Bad: I’ve gained about 6 lbs in the last couple of months.
Good: I had lost about 60 lbs before that so I am still much better off than I had been.

Bad: My poor kitty got really ill and ended up costing me about $3,000 in medical bills.
Good: He is happy and healthy now and it was money well spent.

Good: I got to fly to TX to see my family twice this year.
Good: I met my wonderful boyfriend.
Good: By the end of the month I will have spent my first calendar year living in NYC and it has been an incredible experience.
Good Obama won!

Overall there has been far more good than bad. I hope I will be able to say the same about next year as well!

23

Redfrost- really sorry to hear about that.

2008 was a pretty good year for us. We bought a house and sold our old one in less than a week, kids love their new schools, and we love the house and the new neighborhood. I’m still employed and the company is weathering the economic turmoil. We’re healthy.

And in my rolller coaster life, all of that means that 2009 will probably suck sweaty donkey cock.

24

Things were mostly good, stable, feeling like I’ve got something to move on from now.

Work-wise, I’ve really started to feel like I’m settled in the schools I’m in, with some real successes, and now having worked with the same kids for a number of years.

Got a girlfriend.

Had a big psychiatric tits-up the past couple of months, which is a shame because I’d done so well for so long. The seasonal element is becoming all the clearer as the years go on.

Got offered a new job, but couldn’t get released from my present one, grrrr.
All in all, a real mixed bag.

25

2008 started out great-I was pregnant and happier than I’d ever been. I gave birth to a healthy baby girl in June, but ended up having an emergency hysterectomy due to massive hemorrhaging, which made her birthday the best and worst day of my life all rolled into one.

6 months later I’m still dealing with post-partum depression, which is probably linked more to my grieving over the hysterectomy than anything else. I’m sad and angry and have no one to blame for what happened to me, except God, which is such a chicken shit attitude. And my marriage is suffering because I am stuck in the “anger” phase of grief.

But on the bright side, I’ve lost most of the baby weight (am fitting into pre-pregnancy jeans!!), I have a decent job making decent money, my husband is able to be a stay-at-home dad and I am confident that I will get back to my old self.

My motto is “It’s all about 0-9.”

26

On a personal level, 2008 was a rollercoaster ride. Went to India, met my husband’s family, showed off our kid. Came back, got shingles. I also lost several people dear to me due to age. Right now, I just feel this kind of low-level, background malaise, part of it caused by yesterday’s difficulties traveling, partly because I went to a funeral a week and a half ago and am still sad over it and partly because of my job and a feeling that, despite my trying, I’m still kind of spinning my wheels. Also, my husband may lose his job. It’s something that we knew was always a possibility. That’s the price you pay for consulting. But the prospect of living on my salary alone, which isn’t bad, makes me uneasy just the same. And his work has already begun a round of salary cuts, so I don’t feel like I’m unjustified in being nervous.

Professionally, I quit a horrible, soul-sucking job and apparently started a domino effect - my former team is decimated due to poor management and I get calls weekly, sometimes more frequently, from people there who are miserable. I then got a new job at a different company. That job is proving to be interesting, and not always in a good way. I had reservations about it to begin with and now I feel that I should have trusted my gut. But given the economy, there’s not a lot I can do about it. Still, the product I’m working on is interesting and it’s an almost bearable environment.

I hope 2009 brings with it more certainty. Taking control of my situation, whatever it is, is up to me, but it’s much easier to do when it doesn’t feel like everything’s a little off-kilter.

27

Redfrost, what a terrible thing to have to go through.

I’ve had better years.

My 2008 started off with me working for the worst boss I ever had. Got laid off at the end of June and had to dip into dwindling resources I had dipped into the previous year when I got laid off. Found work in September that’s been going well, so that’s good. My two girls are doing well in Kindergarten and are as lovable and maddening as two little girls can be. With all the older people health crap happening around me, I’m really appreciating having kids later in life.

My sister unexpectedly entered the hospital in the summer for pneumonia and went into a downward spiral that she just couldn’t pull out of and passed away the morning of November 5. She’d not been doing well the past few years, in and out of hospital, and I think deep down nobody knew how she was going to make it out of this one, herself included. That’s pretty much the last thing she was able to communicate to me. I’m the executor of her will so now I’m having to go through all her stuff, financial and otherwise, sell her apartment, do something with her cats, bills for every damn thing, just a million loose ends, plus a grieving husband who doesn’t speak English that needs to move out. I’ll breathe a sigh of relief when I’m on the other side of this thing.

28

My condolences for the bad and congratulations for the good, everybody.

My year was okay. Some very good things happened and some not so very good thigns happened, culminating in my deciding to basically not have a relationship with my father anymore. I love him, and because I love him I don’t want to make him choose between me and his wife, so I’m just removing myself out of the equation.

On the other hand, I’ve become much closer with my best friend over the year and her house is a second home to me. I switched my major and I’m much happier in school than last year, and I’ve gotten to travel more than I used to. I think 2009 is going to be exciting and different and hopefully not too painful.

29

Good points - I got married. Bought my first house. I spent a week in Florida, a week in Magaluf, a week in Tenerife and a week cruising in the Caribbean.

Bad points - I spent just over a month unemployed. I left my fantastic job and moved town, as my husband was unhappy there. I now have a really shitty job.

30

Good idea for a thread.

Good points:

  1. I feel like my relationship with my wife is stronger than ever right now.

  2. We planned our 10-year anniversary trip for next year.

  3. I finally got a passport.

  4. I got a huge raise (see #1 under “significant but neutral”).

  5. I’ve started to practice not chasing after “friends” as much as I used to.

  6. My wife pulled us through what could have been a major financial crisis using some rather amazing skills and infinite patience.

Significant but neutral points:

  1. My small law firm was taken over by a huge (by my standards) firm.

  2. We’ve become a one-car, two-motorcycle household. We’re still adjusting to not having a four-wheeled backup around in case one of us is off with the car. But it saves on insurance and maintenance costs.

  3. Through the power of Facebook, a lot of folks from my past (mostly from high school) have tracked me down and I’ve reconnected with them. The jury’s still out on this one.

Bad points:

  1. I lost a bet with my sister-in-law regarding the World Series that will require me to show up to a Dodger game in Angels gear next year.

  2. My work environment has become less family-like and a lot more corporate, and the future of my career does not feel nearly as solid as it once did.

31

I’m going to go ahead and say shitty. Last year I stuck my neck out for some co workers who were getting shit on, lost my job over that, and well , I’m about 2 swirls from the bottom of the bowl.

32

**BAD **I’m still working but things are really slow, went from 10 hours OT each week to about 10 hours all this year. I’m going to end up making a lot less.
**GOOD ** Didn’t have to work so much!

GOOD Paid off my house.
BAD I’m going to have to move in the near future. Seems my house is standing in the way of progress.

GOOD Quit smoking.
BAD Can’t smoke any more.

Condolences, Redfrost.

33

Redfrost, I am so, so sorry to hear about your loss. I won’t tell you you’ll feel better soon; I just hope you do.

34

Oh my dears, some good times, lotsa bad it seems.

Became a grandmother–that was good. My eldest son and his new family (wife and grandchild) came to live with my youngest and me because eldest son left the air force and was going to school. I was thrilled to have them here. It lasted 5 months because son’s wife couldn’t bear being away from her family, so she went home on a “visit” and while there got a job, brought a big truck and her father back up here with her. Inside of a few days, she took her stuff and my beautiful grandchild away. About a month later when my son’s school semester was over, he was gone too. That was in May–I’m still not over the grief, although the anger’s died down.

Got a divorce–that was good–went fairly amicable too. Lost my health benefits–bad.

Had a falling out with a friend and haven’t made it up yet.

Dog died.

But, I have a job, my youngest is a treasure. we’re in good health and 2008 is almost OVER!

35

I meant to add that Election Night made up for a lot of bad this year. It was freekin’ awesome.
My mostly RW Republican family didn’t have much to say about politics at the Thanksgiving dinner table. I take a beating there most years.

36

Can you go to one of the so-called Freeway Series games when they play each other?
On paper 2008 has been a good year for me. I’ve been employed all year, my cats and husband are healthy and happy, but I’ve been fighting depression and I hatehatehate my job.

37

To paraphrase Norm Perterson, 2008 treated me like a baby treats a diper. Two pretty tough operations and a layoff - and I’m still out of work. (Although something should come through in December.)

I guess the good news is that I am taking my health seriously and walking for at least an hour - often more - every day.

But I am hoping that 2009 will be kinder to me.

38

Bad:
My horse had to be put down in February. I had owned her for 22 years.
My dad died in August. It was expected (lung cancer) but still very hard.

Good:
I went on some nice road trips over the summer, including a paleontology dig in Montana that was very cool.
I will graduate from college with a BS in geology in 20 days. I will be 43 years old. It’s been a long journey.

39

I’d say that 2008 turned out to be a pretty damn good year. If you’d asked me on January 1st 2008 to forecast the coming year, I would have been waaaaaaaaaaay off.

For the first time in my life, I left the US.

I saw with my own eyes for the first time (some encompassing the others) … The London Tube, The Roman Baths in Bath, Stonehenge, the Tower of London, Cleopatra’s mummy, the British Museum, Westminster Abbey, Picadilly, the Rosetta Stone, Elizabeth I tomb, the execution site of Anne Boleyn, the white cliffs of Dover, the Paris Metro, Moulin-Rouge, the Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Notre-Dame Cathedral, Sacre Couer, Montmartre, Normandy, Mont Saint-Michel, the Statue of Liberty, Ground Zero, Times Square, Central Park, Brooklyn, Empire State Building, Rockafellar Center, and the Brooklyn Bridge.

On my travels, I met a great girl with whom I’ve been in a relationship for eight months. I also made a bunch of friends I intend to stay friends with for many years to come.

Lost my cat Rachel to age and illness :frowning:

Started therapy to deal with my depression and lingering mental issues.

Found out I have another niece on the way.

Screamed along with a hundred thousand others in Grant Park in Chicago as Barack Obama was announced to be the winner of the election.

So there have been bad times and an overwhelmingly large amount of good things that came along with 2008. I can’t complain.

40

let’s see…

bad: nod the naughty had cancer and the vet had to make a house call.

good: found koritsa the kuddley 4 months later.

bad: malenka the miraculous’ tummy troubles over came her. she had a final vet visit.

good: on the way home (a week before malenka’s final visit) from church, a guy carrying a budwieser box offered me the kitten in it. lager the lovey dovey is one wild and crazy guy.

bad: laid off in august.

good: cousin moved in with me.

got to volunteer at the obama campaign.

new long term temp job with federal government.

i’m hoping 2009 goes a bit more evenly.