MetaChat - Hooray for the end of 2009! May 2010 be a better year!

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31 December 2009

Hooray for the end of 2009! May 2010 be a better year! →[More:]
2009 sucked. I'm sorry, it just did.
-- My only employee at work left to go to grad school, and due to the economy I was not allowed to replace her. And, while handling her job duties plus mine, even more responsibilities were placed on my shoulders. To say work was stressful would be an understatement. Neither my husband nor I got raises, although we are definitely grateful to be employed.
-- Our rescued kitten got really sick and spent 5 expensive days and nights in the hospital with a mystery illness. She's better now, but our bank accounts are not.
-- Our beloved greyhound got sick, we spent even more money on veterinary treatment, only to find out she had lymphoma. She died this fall; she was my first dog and my heart and my joy.
-- My father-in-law got renal cancer and died 10 days before Christmas. He was only 62. It is devastating for my husband, who lost his mom about 15 years ago.
-- I know too many people that have lost jobs, pets, and loved ones.

So, let's talk about what's going to be *better* in 2010! I'll start:
-- My husband and I, despite the financial setbacks of last year, are going to buy our first home.
-- I am currently looking through resumes to hire someone. I will hire a new person and finally have a reasonable work load. In the process, they let me re-write my own job description to capture more of the stuff I enjoy doing. I am hoping I might even get a raise.
-- My husband and I are going to do even more cycling, hopefully getting several centuries and even 200k rides under our belts.

post by: misskaz at: 11:03 | 49 comments

misskaz - sorry 2009 was such a downer. Hopefully you got all of the crap out of the way so 2010 will kick ass.

posted by Slack-a-gogo 31 December | 11:32

My 2009 sucked too - for Christmas we got a good MRI on Vivienne's cancer, but by January 17 we had bad news and on February 17 she died. We had some other bad things happen, but that takes the cake.

My hopes for 2010:

-Quit smoking, the whole family
-Defeat infertility by becoming pregnant through a surrogate
-Hard reboot our lives, to find hope and joy again
-Get back into exercise, being outgoing, stop the whole depressed hermit best friends with my xbox thing

posted by bunnycup 31 December | 12:01

((mizzkaz))
((bunnycup))

These have indeed been difficult years for you both. I wish you a 2010 full of life, hope, new joys, and the lessening of grief.

posted by Miko 31 December | 12:18

(((misskaz))) Glad to hear you're enjoying cycling, really!

Personally, I'd like to just dump the entire past decade into a giant blackhole of FAIL and wash my hands of the whole bloody lot.

The biggest positive for me: about six months ago my batshitinsane mom finally!! got the CBT and medical help she so desperately needed for her mental health issues (including but not limited to): bipolar disorder, OCD/hoarding tendencies / hypochondria and social isolation/agoraphobia. Over the past fifteen years or so this has ruined her career, alienated her friends, and destroyed her relationship with me (her only child). Things are looking tentatively positive for her future, or, well, what's left of it (she's 69 come June). But! she actually signed up for, and is regularly going to, yoga classes! this is a big deal for a woman who used to spend entire WEEKS cowering in bed and who pretty much couldn't be arsed to arrive at any appointment within an hour and a half tardy.

on preview, yea what Miko said.

posted by lonefrontranger 31 December | 12:23

Oops - back to threadtopic. Better for me in 2010? Employment - mine is better, and I hope it will better for both of us soon, and I know my brother would like a new job,. Housing - will likely be moving to a new and hopefully a little roomier place with a shorter commute for me, on the train line to Boston.

posted by Miko 31 December | 12:25

2009 was intensely stressful and overwhelmingly positive in the same moment. I crossed a bridge that I had been building subconsciously for years, if not decades and the far shore was far better than I could have imagined.

Hopes for 2010:
- more projects
- a job that connects me to my community, is very visible, helps others in crisis, and has me doing a lot of work on myself to do it well.
- music, music, music! Where is the Roxy Music new release we were promised at the start of 2009????
- published poem/story/start on my screenplay
- RPM Challenge completed in February
- learning Italian and/or Swedish
- seeing if I can shrink down to 175 lbs and keep it strong there.

2010 is going to be electric, prolific, high-energy and as fascinating as watching a rocket launch from the base tower. All sound and fury, signifying everything....

posted by Lipstick Thespian 31 December | 12:32

2009 started off badly for me - I didn't get a promotion I applied for at work, the person chosen was, to say the least a surprise choise, having just come back from a month off due to stress, and with experience and performance way below mine.

The year hasn't ended well either, with a flood on Christmas Eve ruining my flat.

I'm feeling sad and lonely tonight, and might well get dressed up later and go out to a party I know is going on. But I hate, HATE, coming home at 2am on New Year's morning to an empty flat. I don't know which is worse, spending the evening alone, or going to a party which will reinforce that I am by myself.

I've always hated New Year.

2010 will bring some changes, if the plans I have in place come off. I can only do the best I can, the rest is out of my control.

posted by essexjan 31 December | 12:34

~~choise~~ choice

posted by essexjan 31 December | 12:35

essexjan: maybe you could, you know, go home with someone else? To avoid that 2 AM moment? just suggestin'....

posted by Miko 31 December | 12:40

yeah, no doubt. Here's to Eedge going home with Mr. Right or Mr. Right Now, Rowr! in 2010.

posted by Lipstick Thespian 31 December | 12:56

Er, no, Miko, I'm kind of picky about who I let into my life.

posted by essexjan 31 December | 13:00

I started 2009 thinking that things couldn't get any worse, and then they did.... I won't enumerate all the suckage that has taken place this year, but 2009 has sucked royal donkey balls, and I am grateful for it, and this whole damn decade to end. There is a lot of death and dying around me right now (I literally have three terminal loved ones, but enough about that), and I know that magically at the stroke of midnight tonight, everyone won't get better or shuffle off this mortal coil, peacefully, once and for all, but at least I can put a fresh perspective on the new year and new decade.
I look forward to having a peaceful and quiet, drama and illness free 2010. Just me, my husband, my kid and my dog. Happy new decade, everyone!

posted by msali 31 December | 13:02

I'm hoping today puts the whole damn decade to bed.

posted by mudpuppie 31 December | 13:07

*whuffles for everyone*

2009 seemed to suck so very hard for so many people. It had ups and downs like all years, but seemed to average out to an up for me.

Better for me in 2010: More dancing, more taking care of myself, more independence.

posted by sperose 31 December | 13:23

Er, no, Miko, I'm kind of picky about who I let into my life.

Well heck, there's your problem right there!

posted by Miko 31 December | 13:35

I'm so sorry for the pains that others have suffered, and hopeful that your burdens will lift in the year to come. Mine, too.

I hardly know what to say about 2009. This year more than most, celebration and grief have intermingled inextricably in my life, and I guess that sums up my feeling about life: that we have great love and kindness, and terrible cruelties that rain down, and if you can bolster yourself and your loved ones with the first, the second seems less devastating.

posted by Elsa 31 December | 13:56

Yes, whuffles to all. I think this year has really sucked for many people.

I'm lucky. It hasn't sucked for me basically at all. Compared to some of the earlier years of this decade, 2009 has been a veritable joy. Actually, even without comparison it has been. I've had some majorly awesome things happen, and I'm looking forward to seeing where life takes me next. I feel guilty, actually, knowing it's been such a bad year for so many good people.

Here's to 2010! Onward and upward!!

posted by Stewriffic 31 December | 13:59

I'm sure your remarks are tongue-in-cheek, Miko, but what's even worse than (a) spending NYE at home with my cats or (b) going out to a party and coming home to an empty flat would be (c) waking up with some stranger tomorrow morning and wondering how the fuck I'm going to get him out of my home.

There is nothing quite so desperate as the one-night-stand of a middle-aged woman, and I am most definitely not desperate. One thing I have in abundance is self-respect.

posted by essexjan 31 December | 14:02

I'm so sorry this year has been so hard on so many. Big hugs to you all. (And bunnycup, I think of you and Vivienne every time we contribute to St. Jude's.)

posted by jrossi4r 31 December | 14:15

Oh, I'm totally joking with you, EJ, and I've no doubt you have loads of self-respect. I definitely don't mean to imply any desperation - and not every one-night stand is an act of desperation, after all!

I encourage you to go to the party - it's actions like that that lead to new connections and new pathways opening up in life - and that you see if you can feel some other way than lonely this New Year's. You have a wonderful, rich life, lots of friends, the ability to freely travel, your health, a professional career, and you're not stuck in a dead-end or unhappy relationship. There's lots to be joyful about going into 2010.

posted by Miko 31 December | 14:23

I'm already in my jammies and fluffy robe, wrapped up like a big teddy bear, and all set to stay in tonight. My throat has been bad all day, so I think it'll be just me and the cats snoring at midnight. But there's a big event going on in east London tomorrow, so I'll probably head over to that, catch up with people I haven't seen for a while.

I feel exhausted tonight. I think all the upset around the flood caught up with me. I also heard from a friend today that another friend is upset with me because, when she phoned on Christmas Eve afternoon to see when it would be convenient for her to drop the cats' Christmas gifts round (yes, you heard right, the cats' gifts, she only buys for the cats), I was a bit short with her and told her that, as I'd been up since 2.45am and was still mopping up water nearly 12 hours later, the last thing I could give any thought to at that moment was the cats' Christmas presents.

The cats did not get their presents. They don't care.

posted by essexjan 31 December | 14:33

I've sort of marked my dad going into nursing care and then assisted living as the low point, so the bad year was roughly May 08-May 09 (which included my own health crises -- a diabetic crisis and getting clobbered with a 2x4). The rest of this year has been extraordinarily difficult as we've struggled to right the real estate ship, and my mom filed for bankruptcy, in which I play the lead since she never participated in the financial stuff.

I did start participating here and on Facebook and Twitter a little more and began biking, eventually with a local club. I haven't lost enough weight and I need to keep pushing. My goal in 2010 is to do the Dane County Centurion, at least the 25-mile route. Hope (and need) to make big progress on the rental properties -- with six apartments filled we could be paying off debt like nobody's business. (My dad, even before the dementia, habitually left a whole apartment unrented for storage.) Sure hope the court lets us do that.

posted by dhartung 31 December | 14:43

Oh, and I am (mostly have) winding down the stilicho persona. It was deliberately a form of retreat and I'm no longer about that.

posted by dhartung 31 December | 14:44

Also, apologies, Miko, I didn't mean to sound snarky. I'm just tired, I think.

posted by essexjan 31 December | 15:08

No worries. Sounds like you have a very cozy plan for a night in + celebrating tomorrow. Since your holiday has been kind of a pain, you're more than entitled to the joys of rest.

posted by Miko 31 December | 15:19

I am not looking forward to 2010 at all.

posted by Ardiril 31 December | 15:26

I am so looking forward to 2010.

bunnycup, I'm so glad you are here on Metachat.

2009 was not bad but a blur. My hope is less blurriness.

posted by LoriFLA 31 December | 16:02

I hate NYE, and when I celebrate, it's low key. The weather is really bad, so it's just me and the dog, books & teevee, Chinese food, and maybe some wine. I like being snuggled in front of the woodstove in a snowstorm. If the power goes out, as it often does, I have a couple lanterns and can still read, and the dog is good company, as well as being as good as a hot water bottle.

I haven't met anybody I'd want to bring home/go home with, in a while. I suspect my flirting skills are rusted. But, I have a good feeling about 2010. Let's all chatter the evening away.

Having MetaChat makes life better; thanks every one of you, and Happy 2010!

posted by theora55 31 December | 16:20

theora55, can you recommend a really good local Chinese restaurant? I've never found one.

(Or maybe we're not local to each other since you bought your house.)

posted by Elsa 31 December | 16:25

Well 2010 is the year we made contact right, so how can it not be better?

2009, was an interesting year for myself. I've kind of kept myself distracted from aspects of real life through various passions that have gripped me most of my life. Sometimes though my passion for something will wane and for really my whole life when that happens I've tended to move on to something else. Well this year it all sort of collapsed. It didn't ruin me or anything but I felt (and still do really) rather adrift. However I've come to realize that my primary passions will never really wane, but my relationship to them has changed. It sustains me, but it is not all, far from all. So for next year, time to engage the world in some different ways. Now to just figure out what those are...

Happy new year to all.

posted by kodama 31 December | 16:51

Hugs all around.

2009 wasn't too great for me. Broke up with girlfriend of 3 years in February (we probably should have broken up in 2008) and my Dad died in September.

Looking back, I really haven't accomplished much. I had one book review published, and jerked around on a book project that is due in 2011. I didn't take nearly enough pictures of army men.

I've got a lot to be happy about though. Today I had lunch with one of my best friends in the world I don't get to see often enough, tonight I'm picking up a guy on a pass out of prison and taking him to a 12-step meeting. Tomorrow I'm grilling steaks with my mom and my brother.

Whether your 2009 sucked or was great, I hope your 2010 is buckets of better.

posted by Marxchivist 31 December | 17:38

2010 is going to be an interesting year for me. I'm going to finish the house I've been building for the past 2 years and my family will get to live in an actual house again like civilised folk. Huge changes are coming up at work on this very day next year, as our department gets taken over by the commonwealth government - I'll be at the forefront of managing that transition, so well positioned to take advantage and come out with a good job. Otherwise, I'll think more seriously about a friend's suggestion that we go into business together as consultants.

2010 is the year things come together for me, if I've got anything to do with it. Look out year, here I come!

posted by dg 31 December | 17:41

After reading through the comments here, I feel doubly blessed at the moment. A good part of the decade for me was pretty "meh" but the last couple of years have me looking up. Reasons: 1) I have a job; 2) That job does not suck, in fact it is often enjoyable, and never boring; 3) I have been able to save meaningful amounts of money for the first time in, well, forever. My internal life is boring, but at least it's not stressing me out.

For those of you who had a sucky year/decade, I have been there. I can't say it's going to get better, but I'm wishing you the best coming year/decade possible. Cheers!

Well 2010 is the year we made contact right, so how can it not be better?

At a company dinner a few weeks ago, out of the blue my boss made the statement "2010 is going to be in HD." He was referring to the movie coming out on BluRay, but without context, it sounded to most of us listening that he was making a cryptic prediction about the future.

posted by deadcowdan 31 December | 17:58

I see the MetaChat bunny is also very much looking forward to 2010!

posted by Miko 31 December | 18:04

2009 was not bad but a blur. My hope is less blurriness.

I love this, and I second it.

posted by occhiblu 31 December | 18:55

"2010 is going to be in HD."

Ha! 2010 is definitely going to be in HD.

An addendum to my post: The last decade for me overall wasn't bad, I stayed in the same job throughout and am (thankfully) still employed there. Got to spend all my time pursuing things that really interested me. Saw a lot of shows, read a lot of books, learned to play music, wrote a lot of webpages and so on. Really it was only last year as a lot of my good friends moved away, had kids, yadda, yadda, yadda and as a lot of my hobbies began to occupy me a bit less, that I began to wonder, what am I doing with my life? But certainly in the overall big picture, not all that bad, certainly in comparison to most of humanity.

posted by kodama 31 December | 19:02

I am waxing and waning in my excitement for tonight, and just popped in to Metachat to see what the what was here. I see so many kind hugs and good wishes.

Thanks guys, gals, bunnies, all.

posted by bunnycup 31 December | 19:20

I'm still slightly boozed up, so I'm just gonna wander around the thread and randomly hug people. 2010 is going be about fun, I think. Yay!

*grabs random Mecha person and delivers thorough squishy hugging*

MmmMMmmmMmm...love you!!

posted by ninazer0 31 December | 20:59

YAY! I love random hugs. Am big on human contact. HUG ME MOAR!

posted by Stewriffic 31 December | 21:03

OMG I AM HUGGING YOU BACK SO HARD!

posted by Elsa 31 December | 21:10

Elsa, the Chinese restaurant near the mall has excellent cold sesame noodles. I had potstickers from the place at Woodfords. Not great, but like pizza(and sex), even bad potstickers are pretty good.

posted by theora55 31 December | 21:25

OMG NOW I AM HUGGING YOU, TOO, PARTLY TO GET CLOSER TO YOUR POTSTICKERS!

THAT IS WHAT THE KIDS ARE CALLING THEM THESE DAYS.

posted by Elsa 31 December | 21:47

I HUG EVERYONE ALL DAY OK EVERYONE? EVERYONE!!!

posted by Stewriffic 31 December | 22:17

Well, I hope you know the appropriate response to that.

I HUG YOU!

So there.

posted by Elsa 31 December | 22:35

MOAR! (hee. i love hugs so muchhhhh)

posted by Stewriffic 31 December | 22:52

Oh, is this a hugging thread now?

HUGS

(Had to go back to the vicodin today. I'm quite buzzed. I can see how people get hooked)

Anyhoo, 2009 has been one of the better years this decade (2005-2008 sucked donkey balls) and I'm hoping/gonna make 2010 kick ass.

posted by lysdexic 31 December | 23:07

2009 was up and down for me, mostly because of the fact that I've finally broken a mental barrier in my therapy sessions and have actually finally started getting to the meat of the issues. The main reason I started doing this is that my frustration and unhappiness bled over into my work and it also resulted in a month or two where I really, really wanted to make sure I had my period.

2010 is starting off on an uneven foot because I lost my cell phone in the cab that took me home from the impromptu MeFi party at vrakatar's place and I'm going to have to hunt it down today with the use of pay phones and buses. At least I know where the cab dispatch center is now...

posted by TrishaLynn 01 January | 08:49

2009 was pretty tough. 2010 will be much better.

LET'S HUG SOME MOAR PLZ YAAAAAAY

posted by Specklet 01 January | 10:23

Popping into my thread to HUG EVERYONE. I don't comment here as much as I'd like to but rest assured I read every post and almost all the comments! I feel better knowing there's this happy little corner of the internet, even if I am only mostly an observer. Thanks guys.

posted by misskaz 05 January | 11:48

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