Exit 2008...

'Tis the last day of 2008. One can't easily escape the temptation of the traditional year's end balance, so here it goes...

Overall, this has been a very good year. First of all, of course, love. I met Marisa in the last days of 2007, and a month later, when I went away on vacation with a couple of friends, I discovered I'd already grown used to her, and even as I had lots of fun and traveled through wonderful landscapes I couldn't help missing her. Nearly one year after that, I still feel her absense when we stay apart even for a few days. And so my quest for a place to live on my own also turned into a better kind of expectation — rather than getting away, getting together with the one I love.

It was also a good year on the work side. I didn't get a raise or a higher post or anything like that — if everything, I'm doing extra work for the same pay. But the new administration does things quite differently. Back then I was doing boring repetitive work, and almost completely pointless as well (the signing of tireless forms for the archives of dust, as Borges would say), while now I'm doing more of what I like, meeting new people, and being consulted on what I know. I was quite prepared to leave my safely stable, futile job last year; now I'm willing to wait until I get the monetary recognition I need.

This was a year for travel, too. I spent two-and-a-half weeks touring what I consider the most beautiful part of Argentina (so far), the desertic part of Mendoza and the forests and lake of southern Neuquén. Then I had my first try with Marisa (a week together, visiting Córdoba), in late March. In September we went to La Rioja for another week. And then, despite our conflicting schedules, we somehow managed to squeeze in an escapade to Victoria and another to Tigre. Now we're planning a trip to Uruguay on the first half of February. Always tight on cash, but ready to take any opportunity.

What else? So much! I was stranded in Villa María and survived. My office was moved and I actually got my own little space as "the computer guy". I had some of my photos of Rosario chosen for an exhibition. I sold a piece of software for good money. I resumed jogging and then stopped again. I sold a few pictures. I got scared shitless because of my liver's misbehaving and got well. I started a personal blog and a blog on religion and actually got some people to read them. I left Japanese class and regretted it a bit. From Marisa I learned not to set the alarm clock when I have no reason to wake up at a fixed time. I picked up some cooking from Marisa and her mother. I read a lot of books in English. I joined an atheist group and got my picture on a newspaper. I got some of my long-neglected teeth fixed. I bought gifts for a lot of people, and got many gifts myself. I acquired a few more white hairs. I kept my beard and my 5-year-old cell phone. I learned to let go of some cherished personal myths and hobbies.

Not much will change tonight at midnight, but even as we're all "work in progress", it's a special night. So everybody, have a nice year's end and a happy beginning for 2009!

Countdown starts

39 days
till vacation

I'm designing a small website for a firm that organizes conferences and marketing events. It's a little business and they only need some static content online to show their potential customers, so it's short work. Now why do I get these things at the end of spring and not, say, during the coldest part of winter, when I'd be happy to stay coding indoors all the time, a cup of hot tea on my desktop?

Anyway, the job is good for some extra cash, and I'm going to need that cash. I'm going to a palyndromic place in January and, though I initially planned on taking 2 weeks off work and staying 12–13 days, I've been wondering it might be better to use the full 3 weeks I have available and just stay there until I have to go back or run out of money, whichever comes first (my travelmates so far agree with me). Neuquén City is not specially touristy, I reckon, but as you go west towards the Andes and into the Lake District the tourist traps multiply, and since the place is stunningly beautiful, everything is bound to be priced for Europeans.

The events firm guy says if the website comes out OK, he'll hire me to do small portals for three upcoming events early next year. In the heat of summer, alas, but I can't afford to reject Mammon's advances for the time being. I intend to do some more travel during the long Easter + Memorial Day weekend (March 20 to March 24) so I need to save up.

As December approaches, the usual end-of-year gatherings are being planned already. I've just rejected an invitation to attend my office's end-of-year dinner; I have no quarrel with the people in my office but the party is quite plainly a farewell party intended celebrate the administration of my outgoing boss (I can't name him, but the hierarchy goes approximately Governor — Health Minister — my boss), so all sorts of people I don't know or care to know will be there, and there'll be speeches and toasts: the horror!

I'm counting the weeks and days left this year. November I've felt as very, very long, for good reasons mostly, but I want it to end, and I want the December holiday madness to go by as swiftly as possible.

Old Year's balance

I can gratefully say that, of all the important things that happened to me during 2006, most are good things. In roughly chronological order:

1. I spent 10 days in Mendoza (you have to know the place to understand how much this means) and I made a true friend of one who had so far been only a funny acquaintance.
2. I got changed from one office to another — farther from my boss, and closer to good workmates, who remember your birthday and spoil you with medialunas.
3. I got myself a broadband connection!
   
4. I turned into a manic amateur photographer right after getting my digital camera, and I loved it.
   
5. I travelled to Córdoba City for Easter's long weekend with friends and noticed a few nasty things about myself (yeah, learning hurts but it's good).
6. I went to lovely little Colón, Entre Ríos, and though I arrived alone, I didn't feel alone at any time while I was there, thanks my host and several wandering folks like myself.
7. I started this blog, and several interesting people actually read it!
8. I went to a wedding party in Concordia, Entre Ríos, and because of someone else's bad planning I ended up having a whole day to walk around the city.
9. I got a salary raise and was finally taken out of a bizarre "temporal employee" category where I'd been for 3 years.
10. I took the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, Level 3, in Buenos Aires, and it felt quite easy, plus the bus trip was funny.

In general, I went to new places, and I did the social circle dance — made friends, said good riddance to some. In comparison, the bad things were few and scattered and mostly they didn't happen to me, but around me. The really bad things had to do with ideas that have been rotting inside my brain for years, and I'm taking care of them (I think). Bad things that did not happen to me were:

1. I didn't get mobbed because I don't care for football.
   
2. I didn't get ripped off because I refused to.
   
3. I didn't get forbidden from smoking because I don't smoke.
   
4. I didn't get blacked out much.
   
5. I didn't get blockaded though I may have.
6. I didn't get preached.
   
7. I didn't get hailed on out of sheer luck.
8. I didn't get pesoificated because I've never had dollars in the bank.

The bad thing right now is the heat, almost 34 C and it's only ten minutes to 8:00 PM. That will be solved in time... Everybody, have a nice New Year.