Do years have legacies? Or are they forgotten in time once they calendar flips? Years are not like people, they are not conscious entities that make choices, they are merely man-designated, semi-arbitrary groupings of days that allow us to orient ourselves in the world. To be honest, the events of years passed do tend to blend together, and it often seems like years only have legacies if we decide to give it to them. However, I think that 2017 will leave a legacy to this world, and unfortunately I believe that it will be one of tumult in the world. 2017 featured one of the worst fires in California history, some of the most fearsome hurricanes that absolutely devastated parts of the country, terrible mass shootings that just seemed to come one after another in a string of death, was a year of intense political and cultural divisiveness, and even featured a debacle at the Oscars about which movie won best picture (thankfully, it was Moonlight that ended up winning). These chaotic events were not limited to where I lived, but echoed across the country and even, I suspect, through the world. 2017 will be remembered for these things and they will undoubtedly define the legacy that it leaves.
However, if the public sphere in 2017 was marked by chaos and tumult, my personal life was marked by a welcomed level of stability. 2017 was the first year that I didn't have to move residences (except for in the past two weeks, but more on that later), and while the roster of the place where I did live shuffled around a bit, being able to come home to the same place everyday for the first time since high school provided a level of comfort and stability that I have not had in some time.
At work, although I started off the year in a bit of tumult, working in digital marketing in what many would consider a great job with a decent pay. And while the job itself was good, the department was toxic and I made it a goal of mine to get a new job by the time March rolled around. In browsing for a new job, I found a new position at my company to work in the IT department as a Salesforce Administrator. I applied, and after some delays, moved to the new department in July with a 20% pay increase. My now boss taking a chance on me has motivated me to want to be the best I can be, and in the first several months in the position I could not be happier - the actual job is enjoyable, my boss trusts and supports me, and overall I have more energy at work and outside of it. I am incredibly grateful whenever anybody takes a chance on me, and this is no exception. The second half of 2017 has been the best period professionally of my life.
I got to attend my personal record of five weddings this year, a mix of college friends and current roommates. The trend in my life of 3-5 weddings a year has been one of the bright spots in my life, and I already have received a save-the-date for March of 2018. These five brings my adult total to twenty-one weddings since college.
Socially, in 2017 I continued to try to successfully traverse what post-college, young adult life looks like. I'm realizing more and more how difficult it is to make quality friends after college, to really get into the meat of people's lives and to be there as a resource for them. I have learned ways to do this, and learned that it requires really narrowing focus. Although I am there for everyone, really trying to invest in fewer people with quality time is important.
Creatively I challenged myself in two new ways in 2017, getting more into writing poetry in 2017, and trying my hand at writing some short screen plays. I actually even got to see the start of one screen play that I wrote with a friend, Justin, come to life as we cast it, directed it, and shot it. This was one of the things that required the most work of anything that I have ever done, including long nights, skipped meals, and cold shot set-ups. Overall, we did not get to finish The Instructor, as Justin moved and our lead actress quit, but it was an activity that taught me a lot and that I really sparked my interest in film making.
Additionally, I tried to host some events, utilizing the large house that I lived in. I hosted a potluck in July, which I cleverly titled 'A midsummer night's potluck'. We also BBQd several times over the course of the summer, which really helped to give those months a real 'summer feel'. More recently, I hosted a live amateur stand-up comedy night at my house, leading off with a set of my own. The prevailing notion is that the night went exceptionally well, and most were asking me when the next one would be.
Although 2017 was personally a year of relative stability, it ended with one of the most chaotic months in recent memory. December seemed to be just a conglomeration of several different factors: the Thomas Fire, which created a terrible air quality and put lots of people on displaced, burning hundreds of thousands of acres and causing intermittent blackouts. I am also moving with a few of my roommates (4 of us total), after several others moved out and we found ourselves in need of a place less expensive. These two combined have caused a general sense of chaos as stuff is spread between two different houses, neither of which really feels liveable at the moment. Many other people left for the holidays, with some coming back, and it almost felt like there was a rotating cast. Add to that that I found no fewer than four different friends are going through really serious breakups. Most of these things will be at least semi-cleared up by mid-January, and it has helped remind me of life's occasional propensity for chaos.
There were some other highlights from the year: I got to try two escape rooms, go to universal studios horror nights with my sister, visited San Diego for the first time, and got to take a nice long weekend trip to San Francisco in May. I had a nephew born (perhaps this should have gotten its own section, as in terms of importance it is paramount), which is exciting.
Overall, I got to think a fair amount about my life this year, understand more about who I am and what God is doing with me. It is never easy trying to traverse personal desires, being a quality man of character, leading others to know God the way that I do and even beyond that, and still dream. And that is what I am ending this year thinking about - dreaming. It is so important to dream and aspire, to set my sights incredibly high, as even if I never get there, it encourages me to continue to pursue more and deeper, and keeps the humdrum of life from overwhelming me.
I have a few goals for 2018 - I'd like to get back to processing through things, as life seems to fly at me too fast these days (part of the reason that I sat down to write this), I plan to finish my second novel (and probably still not get either published), and there are a few people in my periphery that I intend to invest in, all the while trying hard to keep in contact with those that God has placed in my life. I'm excited for this new year.
