Well, I’m not at all sorry 2007 is over. An almost infinite improvement on 2006, but still a way to go…
I spent the entire working in a job that is, without a shadow of doubt, the worst I have ever had. To be fair, this is as much a reflection on all my previous jobs (I’ve never previously left a job out of discontentment) as it is on this job. The irony is that, as a job, it was actually quite good. Reasonable pay, interesting work, essentially got on well with colleagues (and very well with one of them).
I don’t really want to be negative, so I won’t go into details. But I have learnt the importance of having a good working relationship with one’s boss, something I have been very lucky with in every other job I’ve done. Don’t get me wrong – my ex-boss is a very nice chap, and we got on very well socially. We just didn’t see eye to eye on how the business should be run. At the end of the day it’s his company to run how he sees fit, and I genuinely wish him all the best with it.
So positive things from 2007?
Well, I’ve hugely enjoyed doing the youth group at church. I feel like I’ve got to know the teenagers well over the last year or so. They might drive me mad with exasperation from time to time, but I love ’em to bits!
The missus got back to full fighting fitness again, after a spell of being off work, which is absolutely fabulous.
I had a brilliant trip to Boston MA (which I’ve mentioned elsewhere) – which again ironically was a work trip in the context of a job that even at that stage I was finding frustrating. Then an (almost) all expenses paid trip to Madeira, which was a lovely holiday (also mentioned elsewhere).
The summer was lovely. We went camping near Ripon, had a week in the Lakes (climbed Catbells!), and visited the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Bolton Abbey, and the National Railway Museum.
Of course, there was Deathly Hallows – very pleasing closure on the Harry Potter thing. That was a lovely day, devouring a book the day it was published!
Got my bicycle up and running again (and not too soon – going to be cycling to work!! Yay!!) Discovered Facebook (101 friends – Yay! They’re all people I know too…). I dusted off the vision mixer and it saw use for the first time in about 5 years. I also had a non-Skype foray into VOIP (very impressed).
Low points. Well, a job that sucked, obviously. Waving farewell to the crazy ordination thing for the foreseeable future (not something we’ve entirely worked through yet). On the plus side, I’ve discovered contemplative spirituality in a new way, and in general we are both deeper and more interesting people as a result of the last couple of years.
And, lest we forget (and in direct contradiction to that last sentence), we got a Wii! It’s awesome!!! SO MUCH FUN. It’s good for my pride too, being whipped in ten-pin bowling by a three year old (208 was his score last game. Two Hundred and Eight!!! That’s more than I’ve ever managed to score. My best Wii score is 176, which is still substantially more than I’ve ever managed for real, but still…). It was a little reckless buying a games console give our circumstances – but we have quite a few things to celebrate moving into 2008, so the missus gave in to my relentless nagging. 🙂
So here’s to 2008. May it be brighter and better than 2007.