2012: Year in Review

2012 has come and gone. Can you believe it? Where did the time go? It seems as though it was yesterday I was making my first New Year’s resolution.

In 2012 I resolved to try something new every month. I think I succeeded.

January: rode in an ambulance and got CT scan

February: went on a date with a complete stranger (in NYC no less!)

March: applied for a job I didn’t have a chance in getting, but landed among the top 3 candidates

April: signed up for the Bar Method’s 90 Day Challenge

May: took a leap of faith

June: applied for my first out of Province job

July: attended a wedding solo where I'm not really tight with anyone other than the bride and groom (Yes, it’s just as awkward as it sounds)

August: went to my first music festival

September: took my first overnight bus trip from Ottawa to NYC and back

October: joined the FHFF team/started shamelessly promoting myself to strangers in Ottawa to get a job

November: started my first French novel (I’m still reading it…)/met 1-on-1 with the Associate of my department/submitted my first article for print

December: did the bone luge at Wildebeest

2012 was a bit of a tough year for me, but it's ended on a solid, good note and I can't wait to share it with you. 

Did you manage to keep your 2012 resolution? What are you resolving for 2013?

Have a happy and safe New Year! See you in 2013!

On Happiness & Working Better

I want to start sharing some great things with you. I want to encourage discussion. And what better way than with TED? Regardless of your stance on TED (ahem, Raul), it's a great tool to facilitate discussion; discussion that can stay safe or become as provocative as you want. We need to encourage the creation of ideas, discussion, knowledge, and critical thinking. With so much technology at our fingertips, it's easy to lose sight of this and take things at face value.

Today, I bring you Shawn Achor and The Secret to Happy Work - one of my favourite TED talks of all time.

Let's change the way we think and enjoy the journey.

Ear Candy

I don't often ever post about music, but this is really too good not to share.

The Head and the Heart - Rivers and Roads

Committed

I'm currently reading Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage by Elizabeth Gilbert, the follow up to Eat, Pray, Love. It's been a slow process, whereas I devoured Eat, Pray, Love (likely caused by the fact that I was, indeed, reading the book on sloooow Italian trains).

Prior to the movie coming out this past summer, I had read a lot of blogs from travelers who generally disliked EPL for whatever reasons. The reasons that stuck with me though, is that her writing is narcissistic, her story is narcissistic/unrealistic/etc. These were things that I never experienced while reading EPL. But, I can certainly see in Committed how her writing can be narcissistic. In fact, there are times when Gilbert's writing just starts to grate on my nerves. Perhaps that's why I've struggled to get through this one.

But, for all the times that I just want to punch Gilbert in the face, she manages to redeem herself with some really great passages. And while it's auto-biographical and the insights aren't particularly revolutionary or earth-shattering, it is nice to see that Gilbert can take old cliches and apply them to her own life. Rather than being preachy, Gilbert comes off as a friend giving you guidance and advice (that occasionally you want to punch, hard).

All in all, I'll be glad when it's over (I can't wait to get to The Lost Girls!), but I'll be glad to have read it. And it may become useful for when I get married? Maybe?