2006: Success (?), Failure, 30, Apathy. (k3nshi)

After a slow start and severely depleted funds, 2006 picked up towards the middle. It then rapidly plummeted down a pit.

Paid work with some "interesting" dynamics had a dramatic effect on my Quality of Life towards the latter part of the year. A massive increase in unnecessary stress saw my health suffer, and I piled on the pounds I worked so hard last year to lose. Meditation went out the window. Plans to run the Nike Run London 10K dissolved into nothing. Despite this, I made some new friends, relearned a few old skills and gained more confidence having survived a pretty harsh project.

I hit 30 in August. I went emo about it for a week. I'm probably still emo about it now. Thirty. A brighter part of that was I bought a mac mini as a media center and its working out just great. 2006 is the year I came to detest Windows. It really isn't good enough, and if Windows is the disease, I doubt Vista is the cure.

Family life in 2006: Better. Worse. Complicated.

Gaming was something that was largely not a part of my life in 2006, but that changed this week when I finally bought a 360 after much pressure (Hi Shimmy). Its looking increasingly likely I'll buy a PS3 at some point too. So much for only buying one console this generation.

I only tried a few new things this year, and failed to take on any of the big challenges I had considered at the end of 2005. At the end of this year, I can safely say I am very tired and somewhat apathetic. A trip to Dubai provided some necessary respite, but even that started badly as visa issues meant I was stuck in the airport for an entire day. Not fun.

I still feel tired and apathetic as 2006 trickles away. Here's hoping 2007 brings a lot of energy, focus and success.