A Very Good Year
Two weeks into the New Year, and four weeks since I got back from Thailand, I finally get round to updating this thing. By “updating”, I don’t just mean posting. Gojira the One-Lung Webserver has had an overhaul as well: I’ve added some more RAM, caught up with the last couple of months’ worth of Windows 2000 patches, updated to the latest versions of PHP, MySQL, WordPress, and Cygwin. (Tip: If you’re running PHP and MySQL on Windows, be sure to get rid of the libMySQL.dll that comes with PHP — because it’s crap — and to use the version that comes with MySQL instead.)
So… 2006 was a pretty decent year, with a number of positive changes:
- I got to see my daughter grow up some more. She’s just more amazing every time I see her.
- I got out of the hell-hole of a house that I’d lived in for 3 years. I must admit that I had some mixed emotions about that. I’d lived there longer than I’d lived anywhere since the early 90s. My only child came home to that house when she was born. But I had to get out. I’d become a target for increasingly frequent occurrences of theft and vandalism. My parents were concerned that the time would come when someone wouldn’t bother to wait until I wasn’t home, and would simply “take care” of me if I happened to be round at a time that wasn’t convenient. They were probably right. My current digs aren’t ideal — mostly due to location and the fact that I don’t really need a 3-bedroom condo to house myself and a few computers — but it’s a much nicer place than where I was, that’s for sure.
- Speaking of computers, I got a second laptop PC. (Another Acer — this one’s got an AMD64 processor and will soon boast 2 GB RAM. It’s dual-booting OpenSuSE 10.2 and WIndows XP Pro, both 64-bit versions.) I’m definitely set up for mobile computing.
- Including my December 2005 trip to Stockholm, I visited 7 countries (Sweden, Thailand, Singapore, Italy, Germany, Malaysia, Cambodia). I really enjoyed Thailand, so much so that I ended up spending a total of about 4 months of the year there and even started learning the language. Something happened to me in Thailand. I’m not sure exactly how to describe it, but my life and my frame of mind improved greatly while I was there. A big part of it was having a better routine and establishing some boundaries between my work and my personal life. Another very big part of it was that I made some good friends there. I miss them. I hope to see them again soon.
- I got some more work done on my teeth. I didn’t appreciate how much trouble they’d been to me the last few years until I started getting something done about them. Having teeth that aren’t a constant source of discomfort and embarrassment is nice.
- I got my head sorted. I don’t know if I can say that I got my head completely sorted, but it’s certainly in much better shape than in a very long time. I let go of some things that I’d carried round with me for a long time. I learnt to accept some things. I learnt to accept myself, and even to like myself a little. And I think that I found some things to believe in.
As for this year, I’ve actually made a few resolutions, most of which I’ve already started acting on:
- Treat myself better: eat better, get more exercise, maybe drop a couple kilos. Maybe get out and live a little while I’m at it.
- Do something about getting out of Brisbane and closer to where my daughter lives. I’ll get to spend more time with her, and I’ll save money on renting a place that’s much bigger than I need and all those car rentals/train tickets/etc. Maybe it will help me to be a bit better in the Being A Dad department as well.
- Continue to progress in my career, which for now means mostly just keeping my job with MySQL AB (which is simply one of the best things ever to happen to me), and maybe writing a few articles on the side.
- Further my studies in Buddhism, and see if I can’t live it as well as learn it a bit more and a bit better. (Starting with a temple retreat I’m hoping to attend in Bangkok next month.)
- Spend some more time in Thailand and learn some more of the language.
- And there’s one other thing, but I’m not saying what it is — I don’t want to be embarrassed if I blow it. Let’s just say that it’s another thing that’s been part of my life for way longer than need be, and it’s past time that I chucked it. It’s not going to be easy, either, but it really needs to happen (or maybe it’s more accurate to say that it really needs to quit happening).
Anyroad, enough ruminating, except to say that if I can accomplish all these things — or even just most of them — then 2007 ought to be a very good year indeed.