2005 in retrospect

Things I did

• Published first book – buy it.
• Traveled through Spain and visited Paris, the world’s largest amusement park.
• Spent more money in one year than I earned in five previous.
• Switched to a Mac. Partially for the cool factor, partially for the interface, mostly for the brilliance of design.
• Switched jobs, thereby moving up the ladder in what I think I can accomplish.
• Lobbied from the inside, lobbied from the outside.
• Wrote a lot that in 2015 may not mean anything.
• Watched movies that pushed my own boundaries of understanding of the size and complexity of society.
• Visited another country without direct permission of that country.
• Used my unconscious individual rebellion to take back what I thought has been stolen from our society.
• Used my conscious individual rebellion to wear my values with pride on countless buttons.
• Used my unconscious collective revolution to participate in three days of music and life in its fullest in Victoria Park.
• Used my conscious collective revolution to see change for the minimum wage for the poorest of the poor in the province.
• Eliminated many elements of celebrity from my view of what is power and what is important in fame.
• Made amends with who I am and who I want to be, partially.
• Found those little packages of life that make the hard moments more pallatable.
• Understood family much better.
• Understood beer much better.
• Gave myself the break I needed from the justification of daily life and the pain we consciously and unconsciously inflict on the world around us.

Things I didn’t:

• Visit South and Central America. Yet.
• Explore the full range of vegetarianism. Yet.
• Fully appreciate the ability of my money and its power. Yet.
• Fully exploit what insider influence I hold. Yet.
• Fully learn how to use my Mac. Yet.
• Fully get rid of my idealism for so much, including the format I store my music, the methods of transportation I prefer, the food I eat, the clothes I wear, the values I hold and the causes for which I lobby.
• Give up on life, because it has the potential to do so much and show so many what wonders there are out there.
• Write a novel of fiction. Yet.
• Complete my painting of my island of happiness. Yet.
• Figure it all out, you know, that destiny map la carta thing. Yet.

All in all, a pretty good year.