Resolutions
Normally, I think New Year's Resolutions are a crock. In fact, I think the celebration of the New Year is about as ridiculous as celebrating Cinco de Mayo (unless you are a Mexican living in Mexico in which case the latter is relevant). However, 2010 is scheduled with enough milestones that it merits a retrospective of 2009 as well as an anticipative reflection of things to come.
Retrospective:
2009 was not a good year for me financially speaking. My financial situation near suffocated me. In fact, I had to stop my martial arts training and other non-necessary activities for a third of the year. Fortunately, I was able to come up with a plan that worked for the dojo that allowed me to come back and train. Because I promised not to, I won't discuss the details here lest I get a slow, painful beating when I train on Tuesday.
My career did not progress like I thought/hoped it might. I have spoken with HR reps and networked to the controllers' office to no avail. I was finally given some advice that may end up paying off, so we shall see. Since I am 32, I have really focused on career progression within the very broad confines of my employer. I applied for jobs all over the country. Not a single call back. It turns out that my employer is happy to move a guy into a different or more advanced field if all he has is education, but the problem was that since I am still in school they wanted to know what classes I have taken. fair enough - the changes are made. There is now an outstanding application for a higher position, so we will see if I get a call from a recruiter. I should considering the recruiter for this position is the same guy that told me to make the changes I made to the resume.
On the plus side, I am still gainfully employed and I am very thankful for that. Additionally, I have another year of operations under my belt which will come in handy should I use my forthcoming accounting degree to continue working in the equally quantitative world of corporate operations.
In 2009, I rekindled my inner muse and joined a band. It was a short-lived affair due to the drummer flaking out on us. I wasn't really too surprised though. Flakiness comes standard with the purchase of every drummer. However, this unpleasant event brought on a welcome change for me. As lame as this may make me sound, I developed some drumming credibility with Mike (Bahr) by way of the Rock Band video game series. From what I have heard, I was the only on that did the drums justice and pretty much the only one who used his electronic kit. To that end, the end of Flapperwax ushered in a new era for me. I am now playing drums in a new music project with Mike and a mutual friend, Jay. This started right at the end of 2009, so it merits mention in the retrospective section. Mike went out and bought a set of drums and he is playing bass using my equipment. It has been since high school that I have had regular access to some skins, but I haven't lost much of my meter thanks to Rock Band. In fact, I am almost performance ready on a couple tunes which is reassuring I am sure for all involved.
Other pleasant events of 2009 included a trip to Utah to get in some much needed outdoorsman activities, the much anticipated baptism of my oldest child, two visits by my friend Mike (Seppy), and a fantastic family trip to Disneyland. Oh, and I should mention that my quest for mid-section weight loss is working out nicely. I am constantly needing to adjust my belt and the tightest setting is not tight enough. Yay me!
Of course, I expect 2010 will be the same as 2010 in that I will continue to surround myself with a loving family and supportive friends. I want to publicly thank all of you who have helped me turn lemons to lemonade. Even if you don't realize it, sometime your very presence is enough. By simply taking my mind of of what ails me for a couple hours has been therapy I could never put a price on. Ok, so I am in a sappy mood today. Sue me.
Anticipative Reflection
I have three major events coming up this year. In no particular chronological order:
Retrospective:
2009 was not a good year for me financially speaking. My financial situation near suffocated me. In fact, I had to stop my martial arts training and other non-necessary activities for a third of the year. Fortunately, I was able to come up with a plan that worked for the dojo that allowed me to come back and train. Because I promised not to, I won't discuss the details here lest I get a slow, painful beating when I train on Tuesday.
My career did not progress like I thought/hoped it might. I have spoken with HR reps and networked to the controllers' office to no avail. I was finally given some advice that may end up paying off, so we shall see. Since I am 32, I have really focused on career progression within the very broad confines of my employer. I applied for jobs all over the country. Not a single call back. It turns out that my employer is happy to move a guy into a different or more advanced field if all he has is education, but the problem was that since I am still in school they wanted to know what classes I have taken. fair enough - the changes are made. There is now an outstanding application for a higher position, so we will see if I get a call from a recruiter. I should considering the recruiter for this position is the same guy that told me to make the changes I made to the resume.
On the plus side, I am still gainfully employed and I am very thankful for that. Additionally, I have another year of operations under my belt which will come in handy should I use my forthcoming accounting degree to continue working in the equally quantitative world of corporate operations.
In 2009, I rekindled my inner muse and joined a band. It was a short-lived affair due to the drummer flaking out on us. I wasn't really too surprised though. Flakiness comes standard with the purchase of every drummer. However, this unpleasant event brought on a welcome change for me. As lame as this may make me sound, I developed some drumming credibility with Mike (Bahr) by way of the Rock Band video game series. From what I have heard, I was the only on that did the drums justice and pretty much the only one who used his electronic kit. To that end, the end of Flapperwax ushered in a new era for me. I am now playing drums in a new music project with Mike and a mutual friend, Jay. This started right at the end of 2009, so it merits mention in the retrospective section. Mike went out and bought a set of drums and he is playing bass using my equipment. It has been since high school that I have had regular access to some skins, but I haven't lost much of my meter thanks to Rock Band. In fact, I am almost performance ready on a couple tunes which is reassuring I am sure for all involved.
Other pleasant events of 2009 included a trip to Utah to get in some much needed outdoorsman activities, the much anticipated baptism of my oldest child, two visits by my friend Mike (Seppy), and a fantastic family trip to Disneyland. Oh, and I should mention that my quest for mid-section weight loss is working out nicely. I am constantly needing to adjust my belt and the tightest setting is not tight enough. Yay me!
Of course, I expect 2010 will be the same as 2010 in that I will continue to surround myself with a loving family and supportive friends. I want to publicly thank all of you who have helped me turn lemons to lemonade. Even if you don't realize it, sometime your very presence is enough. By simply taking my mind of of what ails me for a couple hours has been therapy I could never put a price on. Ok, so I am in a sappy mood today. Sue me.
Anticipative Reflection
I have three major events coming up this year. In no particular chronological order:
- Moving into the last phase of my kyu ranks in To-Shin Do. Kyu ranks are the sub-black belt levels. I really need to step up my intensity and confidence. I am getting to the place now that I was when I injured myself back in early 1998. My goal this year is to overcome certain reservations I have with performing/receiving techniques. I sometimes hold back when performing techniques because I am afraid I will go too fast or too strongly and hurt someone. I have, afterall, broken a woman's ribs on the mats as recently as 23 months ago. However, my entire class is at a level where they can receive what I bring without being hurt. My holding back is essentially telling them that I do not trust my fellow students to take the hit/throw/lock well enough to avoid injury. I respect and trust every person in the class, and I will not insult them anymore (whether or not they look into this quite this deeply is another story). Additionally, I plan to work on my fears of receiving techniques with particular emphasis on the one that put me out for nine years. I think this is the real reason why I pull my punches as it were with other students. I need to get my "A" game together because once I enter the brown belt levels, graduations become tests and one never knows when one will move on to the next level.
- My fourth child will be born this year. While I do not disclose my children's names publicly, I will say it will be a girl. This has obviously made no small impact on my resolve to further every aspect of my life - especially the career side. Maybe this child will actually look like Kristin. Possibly have my darker features with her expressions. That would be beautiful.
- I will finally get my degree. Yes folks, miracles can happen. Assuming all goes according to plan, I will be done with school by August or early October - depending on whether Grand Canyon University continues to move my classes around. We will see how much my degree means once I get it. Hopefully, I am either already working in accounting or I have moved up in the world of operations. Perhaps I will find a home in project management. It is really hard to say. As I have mentioned, an accounting degree is a quantitative one and doesn't limit a person to the accounting field alone. Obviously, whatever I end up doing after I get my degree will dictate the nature of my masters degree later.
posted by Aaron \m/ at 9:49 PM
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