2009: Thankful For And My Life’s “Best Of”

2009 was a year of many changes for me.

Most are not physical. I haven’t lost any weight, in fact I’ve even gained some. I haven’t purchased many possessions, all the new permanent items I’ve purchased could fit in a backpack. I still live in the same place and I still do not have a car, which I am content with. I don’t require/desire what I don’t need (for the most part) and I am happy with that.

The most important possessions one can have cannot be owned or purchased.

Here is my personal list of things I am grateful for in 2009:

• Turning 31: After the shell-shock of turning 30 has passed, I am not comfortable in where my life is and the direction I wish to continue. I feel that I can achieve what I want from life. It is not so scary and uncertain, yet will be full of challenges and risk.
• Reception into the Catholic Church: Not something one would have thought 2 years ago, but here I am. On Easter Vigil in 2009, I received baptism, confirmation, and communion for the first time. I couldn’t be happier with this decision. I had a year before I could do this (my conversion story started on Easter 2008). This is the greatest thing to ever happen to me in 2009 and one of the best things to ever happen to me in my entire life.
• Joining the Knights of Columbus: This is a great organization. I love it. If you are a Catholic man, you should check it out (it isn’t just for old men).
• Friends: while I do live sort of an isolated life, I am grateful for the friends I do have. They may be few (mostly due to my lack of reaching out and making a solid effort to continue communication and such), but it is nice to have others out there that honestly care about what’s going on with you.
• Catching up on SciFi shows and movies: This one may seem sort of silly, yet part of my character and personality requires imagination fuel. I watching all of Star Trek: The Next Generation, all of Babylon 5, all of Deep Space Nine and season 1 of the original Star Trek series. I also watching other SciFi movies that I missed out on. While I still have two seasons of the original Star Trek series to watch, I can do it in 2010. I love imagination fuel!
• My health: true, I am overweight, but it hasn’t caught up with me yet. My complete physical shows I am in great health and even better than average. I still have never had a cavity and have no health issues. Hope to lose the weight in 2010 before it does catch up with me.
• My job: My employer is doing well, and so am I. The company is growing greatly, even more so in this economy and I am enjoying the ride along with it. With my job being a software developer that tends to make work processes require less humans, it does help the company grow without needing the scale humans at the same rate as revenue. I never meant to write code that replaces humans, but it is my job and it’s interesting.
• Social Networking contacts: I have met some really interesting and great people via social networking such as Twitter, Plurk and Facebook. While I may not categorize them as my real friends, it is a nice in-between of random people and friends. It is a community and I appreciate it. There is real value there.