November 12 is my birthday, and that means another year has come and gone. Looking back on this past year, I feel like I’ve grown a lot and I’ve learned quite a few things. I’ve heard it said that you learn something new every day. I hope that has been true for me. As an exercise in that frame of mind, I once again put together the “Top 40″ things I’ve learned this year.
This year I learned:
- a lot about overcoming unexpected obstacles on the Ann Arbor to Chicago Bicycling Trip.
- how it feels to be chased by zombies!
- what it feels like when a tupperware full of soup opens in my book bag
- what fun dancing through downtown Ann Arbor in a kilt is
- that there are “three marvelous deeds: to forgive wrongs done, to amend everything possible, and to refrain from injustice. “
- how good Work for Wings sounds at the Water Hill Music Fest!
- that bike shoes and khakis don’t exactly work as an ensemble (when I forget a pair of dress shoes)
- what African drumming at 5am sounds (and feels) like
- that racing cyclocross is really hard, but really fun!
- what my Top Five Strengths are and also how to develop them
- that “Peace is not something you wish for; it’s something you make, something you do, something you are, and something you give away.” ~Robert Fulghum
- about I Draw Slow’s Goldmine
- what an amazing and beautiful town Saugatuck is
- that worrying is just a wanton waste of a wonderful imagination
- what Jesse Manibusan sounds like live
- a lot more about what I’m good for
- how Goitse sounds live (and it is good!)
- how to eat two twinkies during a 5k run
- that “forgiveness begins where the hope for a better yesterday ends.”
- that Baubau can be really annoying when she wants to be
- that FEAR = Forgeting Everything’s All Right
- that the heart knows its own bitterness, and in its joy no one else shares
- how it feels to run up a mountain at The Dirty Dog Dash
- that “life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction.” ~Antoine de Saint-ExuPery
- how to find a new roommate and the perils involved with such an undertaking
- about Korean culture at a Great Chuseok Party
- how much fun indoor soccer is, especially when the team is made up of great friends
- how to Let Sleeping Bears Lie
- a few new things about planning and enjoying The Winter Sports Crawl
- about Yak Traks
- how to play racquetball and bowl left-handed (among many other things) due to my biking accident
- that one should “hold on to what you believe in the light, when the darkness has robbed you of all your sight.” ~mumford and sons
- how it feels to be at the first ever Big Chill at the Big House
- that this life, Ca c’est bon
- once more how cool it is to be a godfather to another nephew
- what fun the RTH Christmas Spectacular was
- that “though I think I am judging people, I am really just judging myself. I am either inferior or dominant, but never comfortable with who I am and where I am…”
- how much fun a hotpot is
- that “We don’t see things as they are; we see them as we are.” ~Anais Nin
- what it’s like to ride the train at night
