Larocque and Roll

The New Year’s Post

Okay, it looks like I wasn’t on the ball about getting this up sooner, but the honest truth is that I was trying to avoid the crush of New Year’s posts from all the other blogs you read ¹. This way, you’re still in the New Year frame of mind, but aren’t sick to death of everyone and their maiden aunt blogging about how this year, they’re really going to use the treadmill this year. Or go out and start that fantasy roll-playing league they’ve been talking about doing for years. Or traveling to exotic locations like Sarnia or Markstay-Warren. ²

I had started a post on the weekend about how I spent the last ten years, following the keen examples of both Dr. Beth and Sarah. However, in retrospect, I’ve had a mostly dull past ten years, with the exception of 2000 and 2009.

2000: I was a semester into grad school, and loving it. Not so much with the stomach cramps and weird bouts of internal pain, which would eventually be diagnosed as gall stones, necessitating the removal of my gall bladder in May. I spent my summer working in the Department of Medical Informatics at Dalhousie ³ I traveled to Edmonton and Jasper, and got to see the tall ships in Halifax. I attended an epic Halloween party and a truly epic St. Patrick’s Day party. I was the person in charge of the Orientation Week activities, and managed to pull off a 99% on an assignment. ⁴ Unfortunately, I got bronchitis in October, which lasted until the end of December.

2009: I was one of the planners for my section at a major conference in Toronto. I traveled to exotic Washington, DC for another one. I bought a new car, and realized that the cracking paint in my office? Was actually evidence that my roof was leaking and would need to be redone. I picked up yet another hobby, complete with expensive toys: spinning (as in “wheel” and turning straw into gold.) ⁵ My adorable niece was born, bring the total niece/nephew count to 2. I started an exercise habit and actually stuck with it.

This year, I haven’t really made any resolutions, except maybe to stick with the ones I made last year. Maybe actually finish a few of them. ⁶ I do have a few ideas for things to do this year, and once I get them fleshed out, I’ll pass them along.