Welcome to 2010!

A friend of mine always does year end blogs and I think I'll follow in his footsteps this year. 2009 was one hell of a year for me (and also for Leigh, I think) so it's worth a recap.

Career:

Well, 2009 started out the same as 2008 working at PSS in Buffalo. Then I moved to NYC and worked as a personal assistant to a very, very upper east side child psychologist for about 2 months. While studying for the Bar Exam with BarBri I worked as the BarBri Course Administrator. As Leigh says, I got paid to babysit my classmates and press "Play" on the DVD player. I also had to run really annoying errands and work via telephone for a royal bitch of a woman who was based out of Seattle. I also worked for my grandparents' organic farm in Washington State and sold their products at farmer's markets in Seattle, which was awesome. Now I'm working as an English assistant at a lycee in the south of France, which is also awesome and allows me to postpone growing up completely for another few months.

In more substantial career-related news, I finished law school in May (woohoo!) then ran off to Anchorage to study for the Bar Exam, which I passed (double woohoo!) in July. Now my application is pending my being sworn in once I return to the US. In 2010 I'll return to Alaska (with Leigh in tow) to [hopefully] find meaningful work as an attorney and start my life as an adult.

Health:

Overall I was in good health this year, though I caught more colds and coughs that turned into laryngitis than one person should in a given year. While I lived in NYC I spent between 3 and 6 weeks suffering from various airborne illnesses ranging from the sniffles to a flu to laryngitis that paralyzed my vocal chords. I lost my voice completely again for 3 days last week while Leigh and I were traveling between Switzerland and the Netherlands. Luckily this hasn't done any long term damage yet, but I think I might see a specialist when I get health insurance.

Since moving to France I've dropped some weight, mostly from eating less and exercising more. Plus what I am eating is more substantial and richer, so I get fuller and that satisfied feeling sooner than with American foods (wine, chocolate and stinky cheese, anyone?). It's been a great way to get healthy because the foods I'm eating don't taste like health food, but when they're a regular part of my diet they cause me to slowly lose weight without noticing any big changes.

Housing:

During 2009 I lived in my own small apartment in Buffalo for a few months, then rented a room in Spanish Harlem in NYC, then lived with Leigh in her apartment in Buffalo for a few months, all of which were perfectly acceptable. I learned to live with only the items and clothes I really need for a given period of time because I was moving a lot and often could only pack whatever fit in a suitcase. Then I moved to Anchorage for a few months and rented a room from a retired couple. It was not the best situation for many reasons, mostly that I was lonely and stressed out, but it served its purpose and I was able to accomplish my goal of passing the bar exam! In October I moved to Antibes, France. First I lived in a pool house at a villa, which really sucked, then I moved in with two colleagues to a beautiful apartment very close to the town center and have been there ever since.

Friends:

During 2009 I made a lot of new friends, mostly "little while friends" when I was living in various cities, and said goodbye to school friends when I graduated from law school. I also was very lucky to quickly make friends in Anchorage, which will make moving there much easier if I end up finding work in that area. 2009 was a good year for me to branch out socially though, mostly because I was not in a couple for the first part of the year (see below) so I had the time and motivation to get to know my classmates and workmates more. It was nice to meet people on my own as an adult, since the last time I had been single I was in high school. Happily, even now that I'm in a couple again, I'm still making the time and effort to make friends on my own and cultivate those relationships because I know how important they are.

Family:

Family stuff stayed pretty much the same this year, if not got better due to more frequent visits. I stayed close with my dad and step-mom, which is great, and became closer to my cousins and uncle on my dad's side of the family while I lived in NYC. I also spent a lot of time with my maternal grandparents in Washington over the summer while I was working with them.

Relationships:

This is the tricky part. During the latter months of 2008 Leigh and I broke up after more than 6 years together and we stayed broken up for about 7 or 8 months. During this time we both branched out socially and made new friends individually, which was good for both of us, and we both contemplated/attempted dating other people, which I think we both agree really sucks no matter how you cut it. When you've been with one person so long and you know them really well and really care about them it's a near impossible task to imagine going on a crappy date with someone you're not that into just for the sake of dating.

While we were broken up we still saw each other sometimes and we talked on the phone a lot. In the end we worked out all the problems we had been ignoring for a few years, dealt with some issues, and realized that we are truly best friends and want to together after all. That happened around the time I graduated from law school in May. Things have been really good ever since. We even figured out a way for Leigh to stay with me in France for 3 months so we could travel together and share these important experiences, which has been really good for us.

Travel:

I have traveled A LOT this year. I traveled in the US quite a bit- all over New York (Buffalo, NYC, Long Island, Putnam County), to Boston, to Virginia to visit my family, Leigh and I drove through the southern states to see the sights and wound up in Florida to visit my brother. I flew to Anchorage and stayed for about 2 months for the bar exam, then was in Seattle for just over one month to work with my family. Of course, while in Buffalo, I went to Ontario a few times (Niagara Falls and Toronto) on day trips. Since coming to Europe I have visited several communities around Antibes. Leigh and I have been to Italy, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and we were just in Paris over Christmas.

Misc:

2009 was a big year for me and for Leigh. Our lives have changed so much and we have had so many experiences. It seems like every month or so we were looking ahead toward yet another big change and something to be excited about and plan for. 2009 has also been a transitional sort of year for me (and both of us). I closed a very big chapter of my life (school) and chose to take a gap year before opening the next big chapter (career). I don't know what I'm going to do long term for work, but hopefully with enough diligence and faith something meaningful will come along. In the coming years we are planning to make provisions for a decent home, a savings account, a dog and maybe a baby pretty soon!

Well, that's all for 2009. I hope 2010 is similarly exciting but also more stable, as I'd like to have a single address for a while and a job that lasts more than a few months. A few of my New Year's resolutions include finding a second job here in France, visiting a few more countries, getting serious about finding a job in the US when I get home, and being more diligent about getting exercise aside from walking to and from the bus. I suppose I should also get serious about learning to speak French!