Oh you fancy, huh?

In which I judge how I did on this year's resolutions

Relationships
1. Finish the year proud of the relationship decisions I've made.
I didn't get a girlfriend or a date or any of that, but that wasn't the goal this year. I had to sort out of a lot of other things in my life and not let other distractions get in the way of that. And I didn't, getting some confidence back and a better head on my shoulders in the process. Certainly something worth being proud of, and something to build off of for sure.

Experiences
2. Take a new pineapple picture
If you insist.

3. Attend an NHL game
All right, I know it's sort of a cop out, but I'm going to give myself half-credit on this one. No, I did not make the trek outside of Wisconsin to catch a pro hockey game in 2010, but my parents did give me tickets to the Tampa Bay Lightning-Minnesota Wild game in St. Paul for my birthday. So I at least got tickets this year, even if I won't go until April of next year. Assuming I'll get to wrap it up into an MLC trip weekend, it might be near the top of the growing list of things I'm really looking forward to next year.

4. Watch the DVD of "Hotel Rwanda" that I own
Just watched it yesterday! It's been sitting on my desk literally all year, and I always put it off assuming I'd eventually find the time. It was a good film. It was quite moving at parts, definitely pretty heavy in a lot of ways. Don Cheadle had a very impressive performance. Also, it's probably like the first time I've ever watched a movie alone.

5. Drive in a state that I haven't driven in before.
I actually bagged two new states this year, running my total up to seven. I drove in Iowa for the first time, from Des Moines to Davenport during my summer road trip, and I drove in Colorado on the drive home as we picked up Evan from New Mexico at the end of summer. Colorado especially was kind of interesting, getting to drive in a mountainous region, and also navigating our big conversion van through Denver. I really liked this resolution, since it forced me to bat around ideas of road trips, so I may very well make it a part of 2011's.

6. Celebrate Stabby the Green Pepper Day
It's second nature now.

Personal Improvement/Achievement
7. Get a legitimate summer internship with a legitimate company.
No dice. I didn't put in nearly the effort to get an internship this year as I had the year before, but it's a different story when you have the safety net of a job. I worked full time all summer at Target and that worked out just fine, as I got good hours (8-4:30 all week) and flexibility on my days off, something that clearly came in handy for watching world cup games and other social events.

8. Play soccer competitively
Not surprisingly, this never went down, as I was just too busy for it. I got to play a few pickup games while the weather was still warm, so hopefully I'll be able to keep that up.

9. Do something creative on a large(r than usual) scale
I didn't really get a chance to do this in 2010. Well, my friends and I continued our series of nonsense Saw parodies that started in like...2004, and "Saw IV - Rise of the Vice-BROsident" most assuredly has potential, but it was more screwing around than something on a larger than usual scale. I just don't have the motivation or time to devote to it that I used to, and I'm not the type whose creativity simply bursts at the seams if I don't have an outlet. Maybe I just used it all up on Loaded Questions answers.

10. Serve the Chapel in a capacity that I have not yet served
Yep, I've been a housefellow for a few months now, which has led to all sorts of service capacities. It's been a good experience thus far.

11. Go Running
...Not enough to be able to count it as a successful resolution. If I would just run to class, but that presents its own problems.

12. Swear less
I would say so. Darn straight. (See??)

13. Pay off my sophomore year student loans
I was unable to do so. I came awfully close, and a few decisions like going on a summer road trip probably made the difference, but that's all right. I'm barely in debt, especially when compared to most college students, and it's better to make memories like that while I still can.

14. Accomplish at least half of my New Year's Resolutions (8.5 out of 14)
Yeah! And this year I didn't even need to use the loophole of the last resolution to do so!

Original Six

...a bygone era which produced gems like this. My dad loved that commercial.

Well, it's that time of year again. December 12th, the day that the otherwise infrequently-updated Flight 109 gets pulled off the high shelf in the garage, dusted off, and given one or two tweaks just in time for New Year's.

I recognize that it's a bit strange to celebrate the longevity of a blog that is, for all intents and purposes, barely breathing. However, every time I think back to the lifespan of this bad boy, I can't help but get a little nostalgic about the six(!) years chronicled on this orange and blue database of all things Blake. While I don't do a very good job with the upkeep of this place, I love it too much to just let it die now. I know that I often come off as mostly even-keel and unaffected (unless Michelle Branch is playing at a party), but I'm such a sentimental guy at the heart of it...therefore I'm so thankful I've been writing here as long as I have, so I can keep looking back at all the memories, good and bad, since freshman year of high school.

So forgive my inconsistency, but here's to the sixth year of Flight 109 - with a sincere hope that I'll be writing about year number seven a year from now.

I should probably write a few things about what's been going on in my life since my crushing Iron Ned defeat on July 15th of this year. Let's see if I can summarize a few of the points for the sake of history keeping.

-August brought a weekend road trip with 3 others to St. Louis and Kansas City, resulting in a lot of soccer watching and some of the best barbecue in the country. It was so much fun...I just like to travel for the sake of traveling, but the combination of great food, great friends and new exploration has us trying to plan out our next road trip. Such a blast.

-Soon after, I moved into the chapel and began my time as a resident house fellow. I get to live here for free in exchange for several hours a week of reception, maintenance, and various other odd jobs. It's been a really good experience all told. The digs are pretty nice and I mostly get along with the 7 other guys on the job.

-School has been way busy. My economics studies are going fine, and I'm perfectly okay with sticking to this major for the remainder of my time here. However, it doesn't change the fact that I can't wait to be done with college.

-That said, I've had more to get excited about this school year than in some years past, especially last year. One of the highlights of this school year has been going to my first two Badger home football games since 1999. I had the honor of getting to attend our victory over the then-#1 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes, as well as our clinching of a Rose Bowl berth. Two games in ten years, two field rushes. I like to get the bang for my buck.

I think that's pretty much it for filling things in. Obviously I glossed a whole lot of items, but what are ya gonna do, hey?

My favorite thing to do (blog-wise) around this time of year is to turn the clock back a year and compare my standing in life now to where it was back then, head-to-head.

I'm gonna go ahead and take 2010 in a landslide.

Last year's anniversary post was titled "Five Alive" and is one of the shortest posts I've ever had. I remember vividly the circumstances surrounding it. That semester was part of probably the hardest six months of my life, and it culminated in my emergency appendectomy right before finals. I managed to keep the mood fairly upbeat in that post, despite the fact that I still had fresh scars across my stomach and I hadn't eaten solid food in 2 days.

I followed up that post with a detailed recap of my appendicitis episode, which was in turn followed by a mention of the year's last sucker-punch - the passing of my grandma. But if you keep reading, you'll find that life gets better almost the moment the clock strikes midnight and 2010 begins.

2010 starts with a new set of resolutions, a trip to Tampa which qualified as my most refreshing vacation ever, some excitable posts about job searching, the Winter Olympics and an all-nighter, a spur-of-the-moment Bible study, my favorite post ever, a couple about the state of the summer, and a post talking about how much better 2010 already was than 2009.

All of that stuff, combined with the brief recap I've tossed at ya at the onset of this post, has made for a much, much better year than 2009. While I acknowledge that you had the easiest act to follow ever, ya did good, 2010. You didn't have the soaring highlights of, say, 2008, but your challenges were easier to handle than 2009's. Maybe it's because I'm a year older and wiser, maybe it's because I've learned how to temper my expectations, maybe it's because I'm listening to a really good song right now, but I think I'm always going to look back at 2010 as the year I got back on track.

That leads me to have high hopes for 2011...now that I've got my down year and my comeback year behind me, here's where I can hopefully put it all together. I've met and grown closer to a lot of new people in 2010, some of whom I really hope will play bigger roles in my life from here to come.

I've always seen myself as a hopeful person. My worst moods can get me sounding cynical and fatalist, but deep down, I've always gotten by on the hope that things will get better. Maybe that's why I feel so good about this past year as it comes to a close. A lot of my goals remain unaccomplished - I never got that internship, I've been single for over 2 years - but I am in position for some of these things now! My confidence is on its way back. 2008 had me as cocky as could be, 2009 made sure I stopped being so full of myself and humbled me in so many ways, and 2010...well, 2010 may have just helped me strike a balance. So overall, my year wasn't perfect, but I sincerely believe that, years from now, I will look back at 2010 as the year that made 2011 great. As a transition from growing pains to adulthood.

And I know that 2010 isn't over yet either...I've got 5 finals in the next week, then my birthday, Christmas and my favorite holiday - New Year's. It's a chance to make a fresh start. It's a symbol of hope.

I like New Year's so much that I actually post around then every year. I obviously won't have time to update until then, but in a couple weeks I'll be back to take a look at whether I accomplished at least half of my 2010 resolutions (It's gonna be close!) and I'll pick a bunch of new resolutions for 2011. They're gonna be good ones. Good resolutions for a good year.

Here's hopin', at least.