2011--->2012

2012


2011

There are probably no short summaries of last year or no easy lists of hopes and aspirations to be made of 2012. Nope. Last year was all breaking points and big words. This year, 2012 and holy crap does that sound like I should be wearing a jet pack on the moon, is even bigger words with exclamation points.

Let's get one thing straight here though: I don't often go into terribly vivid details about what goes on inside my head, mostly because it can get kind of dull. Since it's the new year and all this traveling stuff is to make me understand things better, learn myself and appreciate myself better, this might get a wee bit... heavy. If I have the time I'll post a silly picture under this post at some point. Otherwise, you have been warned.

2011. It was. It was a whole lot of things. There was a job that was never intended to last as long as it did and there were people there who though good in their way, only served to keep each other small. There were bruised bodies and over-sized clothing. There was a family renewed and old grudges laid to rest while some old friends had to be let go. There was an exception that proved that the rule was indeed right.(And I'm SO never again sleeping with people I don't like. Not worth it, not one bit.) There was a new perspective, a plane ride, a warmer sun and the start of a new life. There was a mystery stalker, a cabbage patch kid, a junkie and a 60-year old who tried woo me.. because my love life is still a complete disaster. And in the final days, there was also a new job. Oh yes, I actually have a job that I love... even though I barely speak the language. Hey ho, I guess you learn while you go. :D
On that note, I can't actually tell much about the job quite yet. It might or might not affect taking spanish lessons and I might or might not have a week off right now. Yeah, it's all a bit hazy still. But when I can, there'll be exposition. New job does, however, require me to learn how to use Illustrator. Which is nice. Now if I just had the time to install it...

On 2012. Man, I don't even know where to start. It's a brand new year. 365 days (well, 362 as I'm writing this... 361 days +2 hours) for all the shenanigans. Ever. To work in a job I love, to make new friends, to get into a university and learn. To shed those last remaining bits of my old skin. 365 days of being completely myself, inside and out. What an enormous freedom. Most of the shenanigans for this year are basically down to working very hard, now that I'm learning how to work right and how to use my energy the right way. But there are a handful of things I can't create for myself alone: I wish to keep on working in jobs I love. I wish to enjoy my friends. I wish to spend next New Year's with people I love, in Times Square, in non-sombre moods, kissing a man I love until his brain falls out of his nose. I wish for my skin to heal. I wish to be wiser and draw better. I wish for my friends to be healthy and happy. And I wish that I would stop attracting advances from 60-year olds (unles they're Sean Connery) and junkies and stop whatever it is I do (emit radiation, probably.. which would beg the question "what sort of radiation?") that makes the people I have a crush on deathly scared of me.
Maybe it's a body odour thing.
Anyone want to test that with me? Anyone? Bueller?

On account of having Teh Dumb, I also have a basic reading list for 2012. Still debating whether to include 100 Years Of Solitude in this, or would the irony crush me. Otherwise, this is what I'm using my weekends on:

Olive Schneider: The Story Of An African Farm

Sven Lindqvist: Tappakaa Ne Saatanat (Exterminate All The Brutes)

On the history of genocides and Euro-centric thinking.

G.M.Gilbert: The Psychology Of Dictatorship

Pretty much what the title says.

Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Scarlet Letter

Minna Ahola – marjo-Riitta Antikainen – Päivi Salmesvuori: Taivaallista seksiä, Kristinusko ja seksuaalisuus (Heavenly sex. Christianity and sexuality)

Joe Sacco: Palestine

And then a bunch of other books that I've failed to write down for some reason or another and need to look up again. Now if I could just learn to write things down as they come to my head...

2012? It's gonna be a trip. :)