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Time for an update I guess
10 years ago
Well 2015 has come and gone and I thought it might be time to do a little status update and look back on the year before I get any further into the next one. Dumped a few photos too so check those out if you want.
This is a pretty long journal. I don't care if anybody reads it. I think I usually tend to write these things more for myself than for anybody else anyway.
2015 had some really big ups and downs, but all in all was probably the best year of my life so far when I look back on it.
Ups:
-Stepped up my kayaking a lot! Ran a ton of waterfalls for the first time, and got comfortable running much harder whitewater. Made some awesome friends in the river scene.
-Got to experience what it's like to be in a truly awesome relationship with someone. Although it wasn't meant to last forever, I'm left with some truly amazing memories and incredible experiences and this has given me a new standard for what my love is worth.
-Continued my job doing repairs at the data center, I've been there for nearly two years now and have picked up a wealth of training and experience that should come in handy if and when I end up back on the job hunt.
- 2 awesome fur cons! Had a blast at both FC and RF!
- Commissioned a fursuit a little over a year ago and it will hopefully be done really soon! Can't wait!
- Got a truck! My Subaru bit the dust at the beginning of 2016 and I've replaced it with another awesome adventure mobile! Stoked!
Downs:
- Put well over 7K into fixing and maintaining my Subaru, and then wrecked it. Welcome to being an adult I guess...
- Break ups are hard. Adjusting to single life and loneliness is hard. Time to focus on pulling my life together and try to gain some better stability and reconnect friendships I've neglected before I jump into another relationship.
-Although I've gotten nothing but good feedback in the two years I've been at my current job, it doesn't look like they will be able to offer me a permanent position before my contract ends in a few months. As a contractor, the length of time I can spend on contract is limited, and in a few short months I will likely be required to take a 3 month break from the company before I can begin a new contract. Silver Lining: I should get some decent unemployment benefits so that could be fun. It will be a good time to do some traveling and go paddle some new rivers and visit friends in other parts of the country.
- I didn't get to do as much furry stuff this year as I would've liked. Lots of reasons for this: living far from any other furries, work schedule that didn't line up too well with anybody, lack of money due to excessive car repairs and maintenance, dating a non-furry for much of the year, etc. I'm conflicted. I love living where I do, and leaving to go someplace else would be complicated and would have no guarantee of making me happier, even if I was living closer to other furs and able to get more involved in the community. I don't really see any way to get more involved without sacrificing other aspects of my life that have also become very important to me. I guess I need to wait and see what happens with my job in the next couple months and then go from there. There are some things about my living situation that I currently dislike, but all in all, there are a lot of other really good things going on and it's possible that things could improve further, so I'm not ready to throw it all away and start over anytime soon.
I'm not much for resolutions, but here's a few of my goals for 2016
-Make it to BLFC! Hopefully will be able to rock a new fursuit when I'm there!
-Get out of debt! I've had a rough last few years between medical bills and car stuff but hopefully this year will go smoother and I can finally finish paying everything off.
-Start saving! If I can get out of debt this should be possible!
-More Kayaking! Hoping to keep progressing and pushing myself and improving my skills. I've got a big list of rapids and rivers I'm hoping to knock out by the end of the year.
-Stretch more! I've had very little trouble staying in good shape so far and I'm proud of myself for that, but the last 11 years of raft guiding and all sorts of adventures have started to take a toll on my body. I can tell I'm going to need to make a bigger effort to stretch and keep myself loose as I get older.
-Cook more, eat out less. I get 3 healthy meals a day, 5 days a week at my current job, which saves a ton of money and is great for my body, but since I don't buy any groceries during the week, I've found I still sometimes spend a lot by eating out on my weekends. If this job ends like I think it might, I'm going to need to make a much bigger effort to cook meals at home and keep my spending down.
-More music! Music has been more of a backburner hobby the last couple years, which is fine because I've used this time to develop a lot of other skills I'm proud of, but i want to make more of an effort to play this year for sure. I performed at an open mic pretty recently and it was probably the best solo performance I've ever had, and I got a lot of really good feedback so I've got a new list of songs I'm working on and will hopefully be ready to perform some more soon.
-More art! I've had some ideas for other characters I want to create/draw, and I'd really like to keep progressing with my art and improving.
-Cut down on social media. I get a lot of satisfaction from the chats with friends and sharing my adventures online, but I often find myself just killing time browsing things like Twitter and Facebook when I could be working on music, art, or taking care of my body by stretching or exercising. I feel like I already make pretty productive use of my time but I still have much room for improvement so I'm going to put more effort into that this year.
-Cut down on drinking/drugs. I've already made substantial progress on this so far in 2016. I have no intention of quitting anything, I love my vices but there are a multitude of good reasons to cut down my intake and I'm starting to notice some positive changes in myself since I started this effort. I have more money, and although I didn't at first, I'm starting to feel healthier and maybe even happier in some ways.
-Going to bed earlier, getting up earlier. Sometimes due to projects or adventures or good times with friends, staying up late is unavoidable, but often I have no real reason to stay up as late as I do. I guess my rule needs to be: If I'm staying up late, I better be doing something productive!
-Get better about keeping my living space clean and organized. I've been kind of a slob over the last year, and I really want to get better about it. I'm great about keeping the rest of my house clean, but I need to start taking the same care with my personal space.
-More traveling and furry adventures! Hoping that I'll be able to do more cons/meets and have more adventures and travel to see more furry friends than I did over the last year. Planning to stay single for a while so that might make this easier.
Not going to beat myself up if I can't do all this stuff but it's always good to have goals to work on!
Anyway... that's the latest guys. Wishing you all the best in 2016!
-Blizz
This is a pretty long journal. I don't care if anybody reads it. I think I usually tend to write these things more for myself than for anybody else anyway.
2015 had some really big ups and downs, but all in all was probably the best year of my life so far when I look back on it.
Ups:
-Stepped up my kayaking a lot! Ran a ton of waterfalls for the first time, and got comfortable running much harder whitewater. Made some awesome friends in the river scene.
-Got to experience what it's like to be in a truly awesome relationship with someone. Although it wasn't meant to last forever, I'm left with some truly amazing memories and incredible experiences and this has given me a new standard for what my love is worth.
-Continued my job doing repairs at the data center, I've been there for nearly two years now and have picked up a wealth of training and experience that should come in handy if and when I end up back on the job hunt.
- 2 awesome fur cons! Had a blast at both FC and RF!
- Commissioned a fursuit a little over a year ago and it will hopefully be done really soon! Can't wait!
- Got a truck! My Subaru bit the dust at the beginning of 2016 and I've replaced it with another awesome adventure mobile! Stoked!
Downs:
- Put well over 7K into fixing and maintaining my Subaru, and then wrecked it. Welcome to being an adult I guess...
- Break ups are hard. Adjusting to single life and loneliness is hard. Time to focus on pulling my life together and try to gain some better stability and reconnect friendships I've neglected before I jump into another relationship.
-Although I've gotten nothing but good feedback in the two years I've been at my current job, it doesn't look like they will be able to offer me a permanent position before my contract ends in a few months. As a contractor, the length of time I can spend on contract is limited, and in a few short months I will likely be required to take a 3 month break from the company before I can begin a new contract. Silver Lining: I should get some decent unemployment benefits so that could be fun. It will be a good time to do some traveling and go paddle some new rivers and visit friends in other parts of the country.
- I didn't get to do as much furry stuff this year as I would've liked. Lots of reasons for this: living far from any other furries, work schedule that didn't line up too well with anybody, lack of money due to excessive car repairs and maintenance, dating a non-furry for much of the year, etc. I'm conflicted. I love living where I do, and leaving to go someplace else would be complicated and would have no guarantee of making me happier, even if I was living closer to other furs and able to get more involved in the community. I don't really see any way to get more involved without sacrificing other aspects of my life that have also become very important to me. I guess I need to wait and see what happens with my job in the next couple months and then go from there. There are some things about my living situation that I currently dislike, but all in all, there are a lot of other really good things going on and it's possible that things could improve further, so I'm not ready to throw it all away and start over anytime soon.
I'm not much for resolutions, but here's a few of my goals for 2016
-Make it to BLFC! Hopefully will be able to rock a new fursuit when I'm there!
-Get out of debt! I've had a rough last few years between medical bills and car stuff but hopefully this year will go smoother and I can finally finish paying everything off.
-Start saving! If I can get out of debt this should be possible!
-More Kayaking! Hoping to keep progressing and pushing myself and improving my skills. I've got a big list of rapids and rivers I'm hoping to knock out by the end of the year.
-Stretch more! I've had very little trouble staying in good shape so far and I'm proud of myself for that, but the last 11 years of raft guiding and all sorts of adventures have started to take a toll on my body. I can tell I'm going to need to make a bigger effort to stretch and keep myself loose as I get older.
-Cook more, eat out less. I get 3 healthy meals a day, 5 days a week at my current job, which saves a ton of money and is great for my body, but since I don't buy any groceries during the week, I've found I still sometimes spend a lot by eating out on my weekends. If this job ends like I think it might, I'm going to need to make a much bigger effort to cook meals at home and keep my spending down.
-More music! Music has been more of a backburner hobby the last couple years, which is fine because I've used this time to develop a lot of other skills I'm proud of, but i want to make more of an effort to play this year for sure. I performed at an open mic pretty recently and it was probably the best solo performance I've ever had, and I got a lot of really good feedback so I've got a new list of songs I'm working on and will hopefully be ready to perform some more soon.
-More art! I've had some ideas for other characters I want to create/draw, and I'd really like to keep progressing with my art and improving.
-Cut down on social media. I get a lot of satisfaction from the chats with friends and sharing my adventures online, but I often find myself just killing time browsing things like Twitter and Facebook when I could be working on music, art, or taking care of my body by stretching or exercising. I feel like I already make pretty productive use of my time but I still have much room for improvement so I'm going to put more effort into that this year.
-Cut down on drinking/drugs. I've already made substantial progress on this so far in 2016. I have no intention of quitting anything, I love my vices but there are a multitude of good reasons to cut down my intake and I'm starting to notice some positive changes in myself since I started this effort. I have more money, and although I didn't at first, I'm starting to feel healthier and maybe even happier in some ways.
-Going to bed earlier, getting up earlier. Sometimes due to projects or adventures or good times with friends, staying up late is unavoidable, but often I have no real reason to stay up as late as I do. I guess my rule needs to be: If I'm staying up late, I better be doing something productive!
-Get better about keeping my living space clean and organized. I've been kind of a slob over the last year, and I really want to get better about it. I'm great about keeping the rest of my house clean, but I need to start taking the same care with my personal space.
-More traveling and furry adventures! Hoping that I'll be able to do more cons/meets and have more adventures and travel to see more furry friends than I did over the last year. Planning to stay single for a while so that might make this easier.
Not going to beat myself up if I can't do all this stuff but it's always good to have goals to work on!
Anyway... that's the latest guys. Wishing you all the best in 2016!
-Blizz
I'm totally with you on the cutting down drink/drugs, & cooking & eating healthy & should probably spend less time staring at Twitter too...
Good luck for 2016! Hope to see you at BLFC so we can catch up!