2008 has been a pretty life-changing year. As a matter of fact, I'll probably consider it among the most memorable years of my life someday. Heading balaclava-clad face first into the fourth real winter of my life, I'd like to reflect on what happened, not necessarily in chronological order:
1. I dated a hot mom (that might have been all last year, my memory is a little fuzzy)
2. I lived in a posh apartment in the Rich Whitey District of Pittsburgh
3. I moved to a new apartment across the street from a tow lot, in a neighborhood thought to be one of the city's most dangerous
4. I built and sold two bicycles of very different styles to people new to the idea of riding, and ran into both on the road months later
5. I stormed out of a job I didn't even realize I didn't enjoy, causing a crippling period of financial difficulty for myself that I'm still climbing out of, which made me happier than I've ever been
6. I started living for myself, instead of living to make meals for strangers who rarely appreciate it
7. I worked in a mall, whitening peoples' teeth on commission
8. I got my first office job, and love it
9. I made my longest bike ride yet, and hope to triple it next year; I raced seriously for the first time and won a prize; I learned to trackstand and skip stop; I learned to true a wheel, install a headset, remove and attach cranks, overhaul a hub with cup-and-cone bearings, and properly adjust chain tension
10. I bought my first bottle of wine, which was a Beaujolais; I bought a much better one weeks later, which was a Malbec from Argentina
11. I worked harder than I've ever worked in my life, and then hardly worked at all
12. On the first day of my vacation early in the year, I was hit by a car; months later, I was physically shoved off the road by a Mercedes; even more recently, a city police officer nearly hit me from behind and yelled at me to "get the fuck off the road"; I realized most people have their foot on the wrong kind of pedal and started doing what I can to advocate alternative means of transportation
13. On the subject of politics, I was charged almost $900 for a two-block ambulance ride and $400 for a bandage and a neck brace (and that's with a 15% uninsured discount) and became way more aware of ridiculous American issues that put us 30 years behind the rest of the world
14. I voted
15. I became ecstatic when gas prices reached record highs, and was pissed when they dropped again
16. I met someone I'm so fond of that I went to mass with her mother on Christmas morning
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