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

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
41

Overall I’d have to say that 2008 was decent–more good than bad.
The Good:
1 - My daughter made the grades and was able to stay at her magnet school, despite her bitch-from-hell teacher.

2 - Left my great-and-interesting job working for an asshole boss and got a GREAT-and-INTERESTING job working for an AWESOME boss (and I got a raise too!).

3 - An entire calendar year passed during which I received all the child support, and on time.

4 - Got to spend every holiday with my daughter and all of summer break because the ex did not exercise his right to visitation (great for me, bad for her)
The Not Bad but Not So Great:
1 - Another entire calendar year without a date :frowning:

2 - My sister miscarried

3 - Two is all I can think of

42

I am wary of saying 2008 was good or bad with 30 days still to go. My mom is having surgery tomorrow, and I have a cross country trip at the end of the month.

I will say that, so far, this has been a fantastic year. My husband and kids are healthy & happy. I had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to open a new library. I know that sounds lame to some folks, but I was in from the ground up: layout, furniture, colors, all the supplies, and I hand picked the beginning collection of 7,000 books, all the periodicals, the reference collection, and the AudioVid collection. I love my job.

I spent time with my family and friends that was awesome and totally fun. I’m mentally prepping myself to send my oldest son to college next fall, and I’m just generally having fun being a girl/mom/daughter/friend. My first grader is enjoying school and doing well. My eighth grader is doing well, also, and has managed to keep a good attitude despite being 14. My husband is finishing up his 3rd semester in law school, my extended family is doing well, and without incident or accident (currently).

Oh, and we paid off all our credit card debt in 2008. The cars are both paid for, too! My savings account actually looks like something, although I know it won’t last, since I’m about to have a husband still in law school AND a son in college. I’m going to enjoy it while it lasts, though!

I’m looking forward to a sweet and sentimental holiday. I wasn’t really focusing on it, yet, but typing all this out has made me realize how fortunate we are, and that things are looking pretty bright for us if we continue to keep our wits about us. This place we find ourselves in now is the result of a few years worth of blood, sweat, and tears.

43

I have had a year full of change, of which I’m not particularly fond, but some were good changes: We moved from a shitty-ass apartment to a cute little house, we got two kitties, one 8 months ago and one last weekend, I got my normal raise, I QUIT SMOKING!!, I turned 40, my youngest son became a latchkey kid. Yay! I also didn’t have sex all year long, got depression (related? surely), and had a lot of financial stress in the spring. Since then I’ve become much more solvent (no cigarettes or daycare helped immensely with that), but still haven’t had sex. So you take your good with your bad and you hope for more sex next year.

44

Good

  1. On January 15th I gave birth to a beautiful and healthy baby boy.

  2. Became closer to my neighbors, who have become invaluable friends.

  3. Obama won.

  4. I unexpectedly became pregnant with another healthy baby boy. We are expecting him in late March or early April of 09.

Bad

  1. Becoming a Stay at home mom has been challenging. It’s been almost eleven months and I am just now starting to feel like I got it down.

  2. Finances are tight.

  3. I’m finding being a mother very rewarding, but I am also bored. And guilty for being bored.

  4. The sinking realization that I am becoming one of those mothers whose whole existence revolves around her kids. But I honestly don’t have anything else.

So it’s been a mixed bag, but the arrival of my son makes it the best and also most challenging year of my life. :smiley:

45

Ask me in a month. It’s been a very up-and-down year, especially over the last four months.

46

Plusses:

[ul]
[li]We’re were able to get out of our house-from-hell and sell it quickly, thus finally paying off the last we owe to my beloved Mommy Dearest, Shitler.[/li][li]Which led to the bestest part, buying an older home in a nicer neighborhood that wouldn’t sink us financially and that we both adore.[/li][li]I’ve found a love for cooking and I’m learning (too slowly, but still).[/li][li]I, my pets and my loved ones are all for the most part physically healthy.[/li][li]The Other Half’s job is becoming perfect.[/li][li]Online, I still have my closest friend of almost 8 years, this place and all its wonderful people and my creative outlet at Thinkdraw.[/li][li]My heart continues to belong to Alice.[/li][li]Closer to the [step] son for both of us.[/li][li]Obama!![/li][/ul]

Minuses:

[ul]
[li]The Other Half’s back is still pretty messed up and there’s nothing short of losing a ton of weight and surgery that’ll fix it.[/li][li]After my second nervous breakdown in '06, I continue to struggle terribly and see no end in sight.[/li][li]Since we were past scraping the bottom of the barrell, we’re doing alright. However, student loans are looming and we have nothing keeping us safe (at all) paycheck to paycheck. And the insurance deductibles just keep getting higher, his truck more problematic.[/li][li]Just passed the first anniversary of my brother’s death. I still miss him something awful. :([/li][/ul]

That about covers it. I’m cautiously optimistic about next year and to those who’ve had a really difficult time (especially Redfrost – I’m so sorry about the loss of your son), I pray that everything will improve swiftly, dramatically and permanently. As always, you guys are in my thoughts. Oh and to those who had a terrific 2008, many heartfelt congratulations. When it’s really bad it makes me feel better to know that folks I care about (even if it’s “just” over the internet) are doing well and there’s plenty to be joyful about. Doesn’t matter if it’s vicariously or not. :wink:

47

Good idea for a thread.

This year has been good overall. I quit my job as a retail manager last April to focus more on school, and am so glad that I did. I’ve been able to spend time with my husband and son, my parents and sister, and friends as well. Working retail I missed out on a lot because I often had to work weekends, evenings, holidays, and so on. Now I have a part-time job that I love.

I need 90 credits to get an Associate degree and have 66 right now. I should be done by next spring. Even though I didn’t go back to school until I was nearly 40 I’m glad that I did. I hope that it will open more doors for me. Right now we aren’t doing so well financially but I hope that will change soon.

My husband and I get along very well now - for a while in 2007 I thought we weren’t going to make it. My daughter needs to get it together and has caused us a lot of worry and stress in 2008. She hasn’t spent much time at home, and when she is home she is often hostile. I miss the girl that we once knew. On the other hand, I hope that our son stays as nice as he is right now.

All of our family members are in good health. I’ve stayed mentally strong (no anxiety attacks), which is wonderful.

I start a new internship soon, and am nervous about it.

Other than financial worries and daughter worries it’s been good.

48

Unless December brings something fan-fucking-tastic, 2008 will go down as the shittiest year of my life.

[ul]No romance/dates/sex of any kind, whatsover.
[li]Still working my crappy job.[/li][li]I dropped/flunked out of grad school (technically, this was in 2007, but I “officially” fileld out the paperwork in 2008.)[/li][li]Got numerous rejection letters from the jobs that I wanted.[/li][li]Got a rejection letter from the grad school I wanted to attend.[/li][li]Had roommates that owe me over $1000 in rent and utilities, and stole over $500 in cash and several hundred dollars worth of DVDs, kitchen appliances, and electronics from me.[/li][li]A whole bunch of stuff went wrong with my “new” car (it was used, but new to me,) including: muffler/exhaust, two flat tires, ball joints, struts, and other whatnot for both front wheels, one headlight break and my headlight alignment get so far off that my highbeams are as good as most people’s lowbeams, the sunroof stopped working, and the radio can’t pick up a radio signal to save it’s life.[/li][li]Got even more out of shape.[/li][li]My health problems got worse (they are quite minor ones, just nuisances, really…but still, a nuisance that got worse is worse than if it didn’t!)[/li][li]Had to move back in with my parents (at 26…:() because of many of the reasons listed here.[/li][li]Lost my health insurance from no longer being in school, so I can’t address the health problems (kind of why they got worse) and I’m fucked if anything serious happens.[/li][/ul]

Edit: Although my things do seem tame in comparison. I didn’t have any large deaths this year, and I should be happy I have some sort of job, right?

49

I understand what you’re getting at, but that would be much, MUCH worse for me. I am a die-hard Dodger fan, and I have a season ticket package sitting around a bunch of other die-hards that I’ve gotten to know over the last three years, so me showing up looking like I was actually rooting for the opposition at a Dodger game would be far worse than showing up on some random day wearing Angels gear. As it is, I’ll never hear the end of it.

Still, if that’s at the top of my “bad” list for the year, I’m not doing too poorly at all.

50

  • Invested savings took a major hit, but that’s hardly unique this year. Since we don’t need any of it now and we’re not looking to move anywhere, we’re basically hunkering down, waiting it out, and maybe looking for some buying opportunities when things look like they might be recovering.

  • Had another brief cancer scare, but it turned out to be a false alarm.

  • Company wasn’t doing well during the first half, but more than made up for it in the second. Big bonuses for everyone.

  • Decided to get more serious about health and nutrition at the beginning of May. Stopped buying lunch at convenience stores and restaurants, and started commuting by bike every day. Lost nearly 20lbs, weight is now holding steady at a healthy 175, resting heart rate under 60, and haven’t gotten a cold yet (probably because of much less time spent locked in a metal box with 500 other people). Have my first bike race in two weeks.

  • Son entered his terrible twos with full enthusiasm, seems to be doing just fine, loves books, trucks, buses and trains.

All in all, lots of things that looked daunting at first, but turned out not so bad. An ok year.

51

This is pretty much how I view every year, no matter how much sex I have had during the current year.:stuck_out_tongue:

52

Thanks to everyone for the kind words. I don’t know if I should look forward to 2009 or fear it. I guess I’ll just take it as it comes. Congrats to everyone who had a wonderful year. To those of us who had a shitty 2008, I’ll drink a toast on New Year’s Eve to you and me with a hope in my heart for a better 2009. Hell, who am I kidding, I drink a toast this weekend. In fact, I might drink several toasts.:smiley:

53

Everything has felt like shit lately so I expected to come in here and drop a litany of woes, but when I look back I can’t see that much to complain about in 2008. No love, no sex, no career changes, nothing like that, but on the other hand…

[ul]
[li]I ran my first marathon and followed up with a better performance in a 30-kilometer cross-country race.[/li][li]This was the year I started writing again. I now view it as a job and do it every day I can.[/li][li]I haven’t had to spend a single night in the hospital. This may not sound that great to the ears of normal people, but since I averaged three stays with a combined total of 64 days during the two previous years, this is a notable fact.[/li][li]I was the best man at the wedding of a childhood friend.[/li][/ul]

I guess I can’t complain about the year. Doesn’t improve things right now, though.

54

  • Lost a job I loved. That was a mule-kick in the stomach. (“Oh by the way, we’re shutting you guys down. You have two weeks.”)

  • Got a job I already hate. (“Oh by the way, your workload is about four times what it was at your old job. And there’s death threats against your employer from people who may or may not have actually committed the act in the past. Enjoy!”)

  • Been happily married for a week and four days now.

  • Steadily working my way out of debt.
    Never a dull day. I can’t complain.

55

An annus horribilis.

Death, destitution, divorce, dumpage, depression.

It’s getting a bit better now, but roll on 2009. Please.

56

This year I finally graduated, I got a haircut and a job, and I also found myself with a new girlfriend.

The bad thing is that I suspect myself to grow up. But I can’t stand for that, so blblblblblblblblblblblbl! I have to get myself a really ugly tattoo to square things out :wink:

57

Daughter was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes on March 10. She may be on insulin the rest of her life, but because of that diagnosis, she has a chance at life.

I almost had to leave my job (that I love) because of gas prices and the commute. They gave me a raise after I talked to my boss.

We had to move in with my mother-in-law because she needed someone there with her. It helped with our bills, too.

Both children passed to fourth grade. Our daughter has made A-B honor roll both 6 week periods. Our son, who has a slight learning delay, got an A in Science and did not fail Math.

We got to take a family vacation to Atlanta. We saw the Aqaurium, the Zoo, the Coca-Cola Museum, Fernbank, the Cyclorama and got to go on the CNN Studio Tour. We also got to spend time with family that we don’t see very often.

We’re getting rid of the Cat From Hell.

The year had its share of dips, but it wasn’t too bad overall.

58

The only really notable events this year have all been quite recent, and the one common factor is that they all are steps towards A) finally getting my damn degree and B) having a workable plan about what to do after graduating. Also, my parents adopted the sweetest, friendliest puppy in the world over the summer, so that’s fun.

The bad is that I have not gotten over my immature need to studiously avoid making any meaningful contribution to society as a function adult, because my aforementioned plans are A) go to grad school or B) go bum around foreign countries for as long as I can get working holiday visas/under-the-table work for…and then go to grad school.

So the bad news is that I still refuse to grow up, but the good news is I’m at least planning out how to avoid growing up.

59

The Bad -

Had to leave the US because my visa was expiring and getting an H1B was way more hassle than it was worth.
Had to move back to Seoul and take up my old job of teaching English to spoiled rich kids.
Was semi-engaged but after moving to Korea discovered that The Guy lied to me about making a clean break with his ex (he was living with her!).

The Good -

Making new friends at work.
Making a salary that allows me to enjoy the nice things in life.
Being near my family again.

The relationship issues kept me miserable for most of the year. But now that it’s all over the angst and heartbreak is slowly fading. And my problems seem rather trivial compared to what a lot of others here have gone through. Still, I’m hoping that 2009 will be better.

60

2008 has been pretty good to me.

I:
-landed an excellent internship for the summer in March
-got recognized as an outstanding student by my department/university
-worked the excellent internship and got out with a job waiting for me when I graduate
-started my last year of college
-made excellent friends
-turned 21, and enjoyed the corresponding fun
-got more academic accolades thrown at me
-was maid of honor in my sister’s wedding to her long-time boyfriend

The Bad:
-various hard times for family members (surgery for grandparent, cousin in already bad health attacked, trouble finding a job for new brother-in-law)

I’ve been extraordinarily blessed/lucky throughout my life, and this year too. I fully expect to be hit by a bus at some point in the future.