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2016: A Retrospective
9 years ago
2016 has been a rollercoaster of a year; I have had some of the best days of my life, and the worst. I was able to cross a few items off my bucket list, did plenty of travelling, and saw parts of the world I haven't seen before. I was even able to take vacations with long time High School friends.
My year started as I crossed into my second semester of college, and I did fairly well considering at the time I was working two jobs on top of an engineering curriculum. After the semester I quit the lesser paying of the two jobs. In May, I hopped on a plane and made my way out to San Francisco, California. If you have never been there, the first thing I can tell you is that it's much colder than you would expect. The warmest it got was around 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Now, I may hate the cold, but I did not let that stop me from exploring the city. Riding the famous streetcars and trolleys, I went down to the famous Embarcadero, from which you can visit Pier 39, which holds some fantastic restaurants and you can go to view sea lions as well as a Marina. Whilst in the city, I took a boat over to Alcatraz island, an old maximum security prison which at one point housed mobsters like Al Capone. I also viewed Lombard Street, the "most crooked street in the world" as well as the Golden Gate bridge, Chinatown, and SF Union square.
In July, I took a trip to Florida with some long time friends. We stayed in a beautiful waterfront home, which also had a swimming pool and Jacuzzi. Trips to the beach still became a near daily activity. On the 6th day of the trip, we visited Miami, a city I soon became enamored with. After a yacht ride and lunch at a fantastic Italian place, we ventured deeper into the city, where I attended a machine gun shoot.
As a Yankee of Pennsylvanian descent, the Southern heat, humidity, and sun was not something I was accustomed to. As someone who usually hates wearing shorts and would rather opt for Jeans, I soon realized the error of my ways. It became too hot, and I switched into the habit of wearing shorts, revealing my normally concealed, untanned legs to the brutal Florida sun. I baked like a potato in the sun and turned Red like a lobster.
My final trip of the year was to Manhattan, New York City, in August. My second time in the city, I knew I had to see the Intrepid. The USS Intrepid was an aircraft carrier that was decommissioned and is now an aviation and nautical museum, housing a Nuclear submarine, the USCG Eagle, the oldest ship in our Coast Guard's fleet, plenty of Aircraft: Including an F16, F4's, and a Lockheed A12, the predecessor to the SR-71 blackbird. The pinnacle of the collection, was the Enterprise Space shuttle. At first it was thrilling to see such a marvel of Engineering up close, but soon I became saddened, that even as a natural born explorer, I will always be restricted to Earth, and never really reach out to the stars.
My year ended as I returned to school to begin my second year. I soon became frustrated, as I had picked up 3 credits over any previous semester and was still working a part time job. Imagine working 10 hours a day, 7 days a week every single week without exception. The stress soon piled up, and I found myself in a hospital after passing out due to exhaustion. My good friend
XausR32 had slowly been trying to get me to join this fandom, and after my discharge from hospital, I finally gave in and made a character. Where will I go with it? Well, we'll see in 2017.
My year started as I crossed into my second semester of college, and I did fairly well considering at the time I was working two jobs on top of an engineering curriculum. After the semester I quit the lesser paying of the two jobs. In May, I hopped on a plane and made my way out to San Francisco, California. If you have never been there, the first thing I can tell you is that it's much colder than you would expect. The warmest it got was around 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Now, I may hate the cold, but I did not let that stop me from exploring the city. Riding the famous streetcars and trolleys, I went down to the famous Embarcadero, from which you can visit Pier 39, which holds some fantastic restaurants and you can go to view sea lions as well as a Marina. Whilst in the city, I took a boat over to Alcatraz island, an old maximum security prison which at one point housed mobsters like Al Capone. I also viewed Lombard Street, the "most crooked street in the world" as well as the Golden Gate bridge, Chinatown, and SF Union square.
In July, I took a trip to Florida with some long time friends. We stayed in a beautiful waterfront home, which also had a swimming pool and Jacuzzi. Trips to the beach still became a near daily activity. On the 6th day of the trip, we visited Miami, a city I soon became enamored with. After a yacht ride and lunch at a fantastic Italian place, we ventured deeper into the city, where I attended a machine gun shoot.
As a Yankee of Pennsylvanian descent, the Southern heat, humidity, and sun was not something I was accustomed to. As someone who usually hates wearing shorts and would rather opt for Jeans, I soon realized the error of my ways. It became too hot, and I switched into the habit of wearing shorts, revealing my normally concealed, untanned legs to the brutal Florida sun. I baked like a potato in the sun and turned Red like a lobster.
My final trip of the year was to Manhattan, New York City, in August. My second time in the city, I knew I had to see the Intrepid. The USS Intrepid was an aircraft carrier that was decommissioned and is now an aviation and nautical museum, housing a Nuclear submarine, the USCG Eagle, the oldest ship in our Coast Guard's fleet, plenty of Aircraft: Including an F16, F4's, and a Lockheed A12, the predecessor to the SR-71 blackbird. The pinnacle of the collection, was the Enterprise Space shuttle. At first it was thrilling to see such a marvel of Engineering up close, but soon I became saddened, that even as a natural born explorer, I will always be restricted to Earth, and never really reach out to the stars.
My year ended as I returned to school to begin my second year. I soon became frustrated, as I had picked up 3 credits over any previous semester and was still working a part time job. Imagine working 10 hours a day, 7 days a week every single week without exception. The stress soon piled up, and I found myself in a hospital after passing out due to exhaustion. My good friend
XausR32 had slowly been trying to get me to join this fandom, and after my discharge from hospital, I finally gave in and made a character. Where will I go with it? Well, we'll see in 2017.
My signature is simply, "D V 529". Initials, Race number.