The Obligatory 2010 Wrap-Up & New Year Resolutions

Annual Summary

January
Wrote about visiting an orphanage in Cambodia, and night navigation training in Marin County.
February
Turned 29.  Despaired.
March
Moved to Los Angeles and had my first taste of mountaineering in Tahoe.
April
Not much.
May
Failed to talk to the girl in the coffee shop and went to the Living Desert with my Parents
June
Visited Santa Cruz for a close friend's birthday.  Chaos ensued. Started a fiction series that sucked.  And sucked.  And sucked again.
July
Multi-Day Backpacking trip with a band of ninjas and samurai.
August
I stabbed myself with a Masai Spear, and then summited Mt. San Gorgonio with Les Champ.
September
My cousins from NY visited.  I learned what it would have been like if Bryan had been a sister.
October
My friend Alison visited from the UK.  We made and ate dessert every single day.  We visited Santa Cruz and San Francisco, where Alison almost had a fistfight with "The Fury of Me."  I made soap.  I then got 2nd place in a travel writing contest.
November
I wrote a 3-part How-To guide for Amateur Boxing competition at the Art of Manliness.  Spent Thanksgiving with my Parents and family in Palm Desert.  Visited Hong Kong to discuss a new job opportunity.
December
Accepted new career offer, watched my Brother in his first MMA fight in Watsonville, visited Joshua Tree, spent Christmas with my family, and rang in the new year with my beautiful girlfriend.

2011 Resolutions

• I will write in my journal everyday
• I will finish paying off all of my debt
• I will achieve conversational level of Spanish
• I will live off 50% of post-tax income
• I will drink 1 gallon of water a day
• I will sleep outside as often as possible

Thanks to everyone who followed along and commented over the course of the year.  A special thanks to the following constant readers:

Riley at Wayfaring Warrior

Hanley at The Fury of Me

Barnes at Gaijin Ass

Aaron at Les Champ Elysees

Venom at Venom, Secrets and Lies

Alison at some Muay Thai gym across the Atlantic

Allison at Webster's Law

Katrina Kay at Gimme Fantastic

Juliana at Night Writings

Cheryl at Starbucks Break

Linda at Curious Notions

KC at Word
Annabelle at I'll Tell You Anyway

Clara at My Odyssey to Moderation

Bryan, Mom and Dad

Happy New Years to everyone.  I hope that 2011 is a year of adventure, experience, humor and joy.

2010 - A Year in Pictures

Along Bishop Pass


From the top of Pyramid Peak


Sunset over Joshua Tree


Touch me


View from the trail of Mt. Ryan


Storm clouds over Joshua Tree


With close friends in San Francisco


Top of San Gorgonio with Les Champ


Sunset over Dusy Basin


Reflections over the lake


Hobbiton


Just below Bishop Pass


Fuck you, I'm a Marmot!


Game-planning


View from our campsite


Snow-capped mountains


Lakes below Bishop Pass


Taking a breather


Con Caracter!


BBQ at Jenny's in the summer


Ted and Clara at the op of Pyramid Peak after an exhausting several hours


More rocks

2010 Reading List

My goal for 2010 was to read 40 books.  I'm at 36 right now, so got to get cracking these last few weeks.  Here's the current list and I will update if I finish anything else.  Interests seem to have changed a bit since 2009.

EDITED





Philosophical
"Hamlet's Blackberry," by William Powers
"What I Talk About When I Talk About Running," by Haurki Murukami
"The Cult of the Amateur," by Andrew Keen

"A Place of My Own," by Michael Pollan

"The Circle of Simplicity," by Cecile Andrews
"Vagabonding," by Rolf Potts
"Shop Class as Soul Craft," by Mathew Crawford

Political and Societal
"3 Cups of Tea," by Greg Mortensen
"Nickeled and Dimed (On Not Getting By in America)," by Barbara Ehrenreich

Adventure
"The Lost City of Z,"by David Grann
"Soul, Sweat and Survival on the Pacific Crest Trail," by Bob Holtel
"God's Middle Finger," by Richard Grant

Fiction
"Spartina," by John Casey
"Island of the Blue Dolphins," by Scott O'Dell

"Beat the Reaper," by Josh Bazell

"GoWith Me," by Castle Freeman

"The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time," by Mark Haddon

"The Power of One," by Bryce Courtney

"Shardik," by Richard Adams

"Watership Down," by Richard Adams

"The Catcher in the Rye," J.D. Salinger

"Factotum," by Charles Bukowski

"The Bonfire of the Vanities," by Tom Woolfe

"Rain on the River," by Jim Dodge

"Shantaram," by David Gregory Roberts

"Stone Junction," by Jim Dodge

"Fup," by Jim Dodge

Finance

"The Cheapskates Next Door," by William Yeats

Biography/Autobiography
"The Thoreau You Don't Know," Robert Sullivan
"The Life and Crimes of Dong King," by Jack Newfield
"I Hope they Serve Beer in Hell," Tucker Max
"Atlas - From the Streets to the Ring," by Teddy Atlas

"Sweet William - The Life of Billy Conn," by Andrew O'Toole

Non-Bio Combat Sports
"The Boxing Scene," by Thomas Hauser
"Four Kings - Hagler, Leonard, Hearns, Duran," by George Kimball
"Sorcery at Ceasars," by Steve Marantz
"The Fighters Mind - Inside the Mental Game," by Sam Sheridan

Business
"Making it all Work," by David Allen

One Moment

I am signed up for Reverb's "Reflect and Manifest" project for December.  They provide a writing prompt every day during the month for bloggers to write about.

December 1 - Moment
Pick one moment during which you felt most alive this year. Describe it in vivid detail (texture, smells, voices, noises, colors).

The last sliver of golden sun hung over the mountains, and we watched it disappear.  The transition from light to dark seemed more sudden here than in the ordered routine of our normal lives, and it was almost as dramatic as someone turning out the lights.

We were sprawled on a slab of solid granite, assembled on loose boulders for chairs and our legs were stretched out in front of us.  I passed out Dominican cigarillos that I had bought at the Duty Free store of some forgotten airport, and we lit them with matches.  The flask went around a few times.  Lies were told, stories were embellished and perfected, and we soaked in the dirt and the fatigue and the peace and the calm. 


The stars began appearing, more and more by the minute, a thousand thousand jewels sparkling and shining, so clear and perfect.  It was painfully and perfectly beautiful.  I felt calm and alert and completely comfortable.  High in the eastern Sierras, surrounded by close friends and family, I felt alive.

One Word

Due to a strong case of writer's block, I am signed up for Reverb's "Reflect and Manifest" project for December.  They provide a writing prompt every day during the month for bloggers to write about.  I am starting this 5 days late.


December 1 - One Word.
Encapsulate the year 2010 in one word. Explain why you’re choosing that word. Now, imagine it’s one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2011 for you?



This may be laughable to those who know me well, but 2010 was a year of Maturity for me.  For the first time in my life I made conscious decisions with the future in mind, AND followed up with the appropriate actions.  For a long time I have been somewhat split between the idea of succeeding within society and the contrary view of completely leaving that society.  I would often bounce between the ideas of moving my career forward and just selling all my shit and walking across China (or something similar).

I think a significant contributing factor to my decision to make financially-sound choices is witnessing friends and family who are struggling later on in life, and seeing just how limiting the lack of money can be.  Fear not, I am not developing a "Greed is Good" Wall Street mentality.  I still have inexpensive tastes and consider myself anti-materialistic.  As money never really mattered much to me, it was easy for me to spend it.  Buying rounds of drinks for friends, eating out whenever I was too lazy to cook, and other wasteful purchases kept me merely breaking even, even as my income went up.  This year I began contributing to my retirement savings again, saved up a solid emergency fund, and started an account for a down payment on a home.  If things continue as they are, I will be completely debt-free at the end of the 1st quarter 2011.

This has made a huge difference in my stress levels.  If something needs to be repaired on my car, I can just go do it instead of hoping things dont get worse while I save up the money.  Better yet, I can get it fixed properly rather doing whatever is cheapest (and most likely to cause more problems).

I believe I have matured in my personal relationships as well.  I have always been a selfish person in past relationships. My interests, goals and plans were priority #1, and it was usually time and attention to friends/ family/significant other that would suffer for it.  Really thinking about what I want out of life has helped me focus more on the people in my life, and my relationships are stronger for that.  It has allowed me to start a relationship with an incredible woman who challenges me and helps me grow, and I am not shooting myself in the foot by ignoring her for boxing practice or personal reading or whatever else.  My interests and fitness are all major priorities for me, but it is good to have a proper perspective about it.

2011 promises to be a pivotal year.  I have started my own company, a sales and marketing consultation business for overseas manufacturers, and it will require a tremendous amount of time and energy.  It would be very easy to become a workaholic and neglect the people and personal interests in my life.  Because of this, I hope that my word for 2011 is Balance.  There were a lot of times in 2010 when I felt that I did not have enough going on.  That is no longer the case, and I want to give myself wholly to my family, my friends, my girlfriend, my business, my health.  Maybe 2012 will be the year of Sleep.