So...how was 2011?

In My Humble Opinion
1

For me the year seemed to pass in a blur…and I don’t know if thats a good thing. I continued to be fully employed at a job I liked less and less each day. I earned a decent paycheque. My weight continued to fluctuate at about 20 pounds higher than it should be, though my health is still strong. I finished a computer class, and spent many hours reviewing my high school math. I enrolled in a calculus class with the hopes of finishing it in 2012. I moved twice in one year. I still rent and am frustrated with it. My relationship with my girlfriend is stronger than ever, and we’ve learned how to handle her overbearing family. I learned just last week my father has some sort of growth in his colon. I seem to be working constantly, and wonder if I’m missing out on the finer things in life. I still don’t know what the hell I want to do with the rest of my life.

So was it a good year? I think so…more of a transition year though I think. In 2012 I hope to quit my job and move home (finally), and maybe go back to school.

How was your 2011?

2

Metric fuckload better than 2010.

9.5 year relationship died at the start of 2010 and I spent the rest of the year getting over it. Beginning of 2011 I started dancing Lindy Hop and it pretty much took over my life. For example, for the first time in years I won’t be spending New Year’s Eve getting hammered, I’ll be here instead. I’ve made some great new friends due to it as well.

3

Pretty good. I spent the whole year working someplace I’m happy and stepped into a new role that I mostly like.

New apartment in July - I love it. Lots. :slight_smile:

The start of a social life with people who aren’t from work - I’ve moved so much that I’ve never really let this develop. But I’m seeing it start, late this year at least, and I’m really happy about that. Heck, I have NYE plans for the first time in nearly a decade.

Mostly, 2011 was a year that showed me that decisions I made in 2010 were the right ones - I was pretty sure they were, but this year I got confirmation. I’m hoping that 2012 continues that trend

4

We had a good year. As in another good year. All our years turn out good. Knock on Formica.

5

It was a great year financially. I got into a HUD property for 20% of the value and ended the year with way more money then I started.

Health-wise, numerous problems continue to close in on me. I can’t seem to turn the clock back like I want.

Ugly? Well, I don’t score many points for style. Let’s just say that. I make up for it in functionality. Like Red Green said, “If you can’t be handsome, at least be handy.”

6

All in all, I had a great year. Had an amazing two week trip through Italy in March, bought a new (used) car in July, had an amazing one week trip through Iceland in September, and just generally cruised the rest of the time. I’m leaving 2011 having gone places I never thought I’d go, done things I never thought I’d do, experienced things I never thought I’d experience, and having met a great group of people along the way that I’m privileged enough to now call friends. What more could I ask of a year?

If 2012 is half the year that 2011 was for me, I’ll consider it a victory.

7

2011 was better than 2010 which was way better than 2009.

Worked overtime for a good 3/4 of the year 40 hr weeks the remainder, looks good for next year.
Bought a few new toys.
Not enough paddling trips.
Turning into more and more of a hermit/recluse. A little worried about that.
Lost one old friend.
Mom continues to stay in good health for 80.
All in all, not bad.

8

I got a great new job, which has caused the second half of the year to pass by at like crazy-speed.

But that change in circumstances also caused me to gain a little bit of weight, which, as I have never gained weight in my life before, has confused me somewhat, and I’m not sure how to proceed. I’m attempting just getting back to how I used to behave, dietarily, as that seems the least potentially exhausting.

9

2011 started off awful and slowly improved except for a few hiccups in the fall (which were also awful). This last month has been the best part, and it’s been great. I’m hoping 2012 will keep up the ‘good’ thing.

Best parts of 2011: June trip to the Central Coast that included seeing best friend, Weird Al concert, and 20th HS reunion. And December, the best Christmas ever because everyone in my family is employed.

10

At start of 2010 had ended a long-term relationship (amicably) that just wasn’t going anywhere. Within months had entered a new one that is. Summer trip to Iceland, winter trip to Turks and Caicos. Now working on moving to be together (currently live two time zones apart), which may or may not involve getting a new job.

Took all my vacation this year. Haven’t done that in a while.

So, generally OK. There are still unmet challenges, but I’m concretely moving towards meeting them.

11

This is going to be long and rambling but I need to vent: 2011 has been the most hellish year of my existence.

No, I’m not kidding or exaggerating. Well, maybe a little. I actually start the clock of my Annus Horribilis in Nov. 2010 when my Grandmother died. Unfortunately, the emotional pain of her loss wasn’t enough and I’ve also had to deal with the worst chronic, physical pain I could ever have imagined.

It started an impacted wisdom tooth causing me pain, leading to a gum infection, leading to multiple surgeries. More detail in this post. Just as I was finally feeling better, I severely strained some muscles in my upper back and shoulder while doing yard work. This was after having spent 3 months as a couch potato recuperating from my dental issues. Note to self: Always do warm up exercises.

Anyways, after a couple of months of more painkillers, muscle relaxants and physiotherapy, my back and shoulder were feeling better but then I started experiencing renewed pain at the wisdom tooth extraction site. So, I went back to the dentist. Who couldn’t find any problem. So I went to another dentist. Who couldn’t find any problem. And then an endodontist and a hygenist who also couldn’t find any problem. And then, FINALLY, after months of pain, frustration and worry, with nobody being able to tell me what the problem was, the periodontist has pinned the problem.

Apparently, I have either a periodontal infection and/or complications arising from a lack of bone mass. I have to have gum surgery in the new year which may or may not require a bone graft. I never thought I’d look forward to surgery but, as far as I’m concerned, this beats out Christmas by a long shot.

And to top it off, my father was diagnosed with prostate cancer. It’s not particularly aggressive and survival rates for this form are very good, but he’ll still have to struggle through long, tedious radiation treatments and their after-effects. Thank god surgery isn’t necessary.

To sum up: FUCK 2011.

Amen.

12

It has been truly awful for the most part but there’s a glimmer of hope that it will be much better this new year.

13

Not bad for the first full calendar year I’ve lived in the US since 1985. We bought a scraper, and in the midst of framing our dream house now. Work has gone well. I switched positions but in the same broad group and it’s good work with a good boss. Eldest daughter loves middle school and has had no transition problems. Youngest started ABA therapy in Febuary and has made great progress. Middle twin is a happy firstgrader with lots of play days. We caught dozens of dungeness and red rock crabs (including the very last one of the season today!) and became crabbing experts off the public piers in the Puget Sound. And my wife and kids all learned how to boogie board before Xmas in Maui.

Let me upgrade that to a very good year.

14

Last December I flew cross-country for what I hoped would be a couple weeks. My mom was sick. I waited in the hospital while she had surgery, drove her to follow-ups with the surgeon and the oncologist, then six weeks of chemotherapy. I was with her in the doctor’s office when he told her that the tumor was bigger than ever. I arranged for hospice, and then a nursing home. She died in July. I had her cremated and planned the memorial service with her pastor.

My landlady needed my apartment for her son and his girlfriend, so I came back to Boston for a week to put my stuff in storage. Back to Tacoma for the service. Then I tracked down her lawyer, got the will filed and me appointed executor. She saved for her retirement and then never retired. She had a dozen different accounts in a dozen different place with a dozen different rules. I think I’ve got most all of it squared away by now. I’m keeping a little money in the estate account to cover taxes in April.

My brother is getting the lion’s share of the estate; mostly on purpose, and partly, I suspect, by accident. There’s still enough for me to live on for a dozen years or so. I might go back to school if I can think of something I really want to study. If I’m just halfway smart about it, I should never have to work a job I don’t like ever again.

I’ve been back in Boston a few weeks. Just signed a lease on a new apartment and I’ll start moving in in a few days. And I can feel myself developing a crush on someone I met today at the curling club.

I send a fond and grateful “hello” to all the Dopers I met at the Seattle trivia nights. But 2012 can’t get here soon enough for me.

15

The last quarter of 2011 was better than all of 2010, so I call it a win.

16

One of my best ever. I feel a little guilty with happiness just thinking about it. We added a brand new healthy baby to our house after years of infertility. Charlotte is amazingly cute. She was a pretty easy labor, too at less than 12 hours with no c-section thank god. My work at home freelancing career earned me a nearly six figure income this year despite having a baby. My husband finally got the wifi to work so I can work anywhere I want in the house without being chained to my desktop. I sent out a non-fiction book proposal to two dozen publishing houses and one said yes. Our income investments are doing incredibly well. I’m in my 40’s and it’s a lot better than I ever expected.

The only disappointment is that I haven’t lost as much of the baby weight as I wanted. But otherwise a truly fantastic year in so many ways.

I hope everyone who found 2011 wanting finds 2012 far better.

17

Negatively, my mom died.

On the plus side, I celebrated my first wedding anniversary, the birth of my son (second child,) first Christmas with a kid who’s conscious of it, and my income is* triple *what it was in 2007, when I reentered the workforce after giving up on the whole “self-employment” thing, which was increasing indistinguishable from unemployment.

On balance, a very good year. (Sorry, Mom.)

18

Just another domino in a long string of dominoes. I’ll be eligible to retire in two years so I’m just ticking the years off.

19

It’s hard for me to separate the personal from the public this year. Personally, I got to stay on for another year at a job I’m finding challenging, educational, and at times even fun, which is great. I have the people I care most about with me, and we’re all in reasonably good health. Financially we’re doing well, and finally got the new, larger car and the remodeled bathroom we’ve been dreaming of for years.

But publicly, from Tunisia to Egypt to Yemen to Norway to Libya and Syria, the world has lost too many young people this year whose only “crime” was wanting to make a positive difference in their world. That needs to stop now.

20

2011 was a pretty good year for me. Prolly the highlight of the year was back in October, when I became part zombie.