A Significant Year

I gen­er­al­ly loathe such arbi­trary mea­sures of time, but the fact of the mat­ter remains that there were some fair­ly impor­tant things that hap­pened in my life with­in the last 365.

I had my first art gallery exhi­bi­tion. So far, I’ve sold 12 pieces, which I’m ecsta­t­ic about. I’ve also since become good friends with the gallery own­ers, Frédéric and Misun.

I start­ed — and fin­ishedpyscho­an­a­lyt­ic ther­a­py. After my crip­pling pan­ic attack exact­ly one year ago, I was encour­aged to seek some help, and this ther­a­py end­ed up going much, much deep­er. I was­n’t scared in my rela­tion­ships because I did­n’t real­ize how much bag­gage I had. But now I know.

I got my sec­ond tat­too. This sig­nif­i­cant thing about this is that it’s prob­a­bly my last tat­too. After the first one, I final­ly feel com­plete (and sym­met­ri­cal).

I got a car. And I’m lov­ing the free­dom. After buy­ing my house and being gain­ful­ly employed, a car was the only thing left. This means I can buy large items, I don’t have to depend on friends to get me places inac­ces­si­ble by bus, I can go home from par­ties when I want, and awe­some road trips out of town.

I kissed her and she kissed me back. Sometimes, there’s noth­ing more impor­tant than hav­ing the right girl kiss you the right way.

I released ver­sion 10.0. This was by far the most pop­u­lar design of my site, being fea­tured at places like Perishable Press’s Web Design Showcase and at the top of Crestock’s 13 Minimalist Blog Designs You Really Should See. Unfortunately, this also meant I high­er pro­file, and more attempts by peo­ple to copy it.

I went through a course of Isotretinoin. This effec­tive­ly end­ed my acne, which became a pret­ty big prob­lem in the last year. It’s a won­der­ful feel­ing to wake up and not have to wor­ry about what my face was going to look like.

I got this let­ter from a read­er. I receive many let­ters and com­ments, which I great­ly appre­ci­ate, but this one real­ly stuck out because some­thing that I cre­at­ed had affect­ed some­one in an intense­ly pos­i­tive way. I hope to be able to do this again some day.

8 comments

  1. Quite a sig­nif­i­cant year, and the ther­a­py is one achieve­ment that has long last­ing effects. Happy new year.

    • Of course, it could always be said that in a way, every­thing has long last­ing effects. :)

  2. Jeff, I’m glad I dis­cov­ered your blog this year. I’ve read many of your past entries. I love your writ­ing, pho­tog­ra­phy and design. I wish you an even bet­ter year in 09.

    • Thanks for your com­ment and well-wish­es. Like you, I’m glad we found each oth­er too.

  3. It was huge, was­n’t it. Sorry I haven’t been writ­ing as much on my own. I’ve been rather at sea all year. I shan’t wish you hap­py new year until the 26th of January though. : )

    P.S. I just have to add after look­ing back at the tatoo links that your wrists are just so frig­gin cute.

    • Certainly, a lot of news has made head­lines this year. It def­i­nite­ly was­n’t a big year for only me.

  4. Happy New Year man. All the best from me and Steph :)

    • Thanks man, and a hap­py new year to you guys too.

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