And there goes 2014. As usual, I’m doing a year-in-review and planning the next one. Setting some simple goals, some signs to remind me of where I am headed. Even so, today — December 31st, I like to write and remember how the year was, it’s always good to look back.
2014 will be marked as the first (and I hope only, for a long time) year that I didn’t see anyone from my blood family in person. I didn’t hug, touch or feel them… it’s a very, very complicated experience.
In 2014 my diary was Instagram. I really like to take and share photos and I’ll point out two reasons for doing it:
- Living so far from my parents, this is the way I “share” my life with them. This is how they get to know my house, visit places with me. With me — in my pocket — I carry “the eyes” of my parents, sisters and a handful of dear friends with whom I share, online, what I used to share sitting at a good restaurant in Curitiba;
- The second reason is that I can use Instagram as a diary, look back, see what happened. Through my Instagram I see that:
In 2014 I cut my hair in 4 different ways, shaved my beard in many different ways and let it grow like never before;
In 2014 I started the year living at the beach, finishing in the city. In between I received visits, friends, dinners, board games, we went to Disney, to medieval knight dinners, drank beer, wine, champagne, juices, teas, ate well, hosted a few dinners at home, and finally we have a 6-seat table that as a “bonus” earned a fantastic Christmas dinner made by Joana.
In 2014 I played keyboard and guitar again, and after a long time, it wasn’t just by myself.
In 2014 my girlfriend and I rode bikes, drove cars, took a “bike-powered cart,” flew on a cruise plane, froze in Chicago, had dinner “at the top” of San Diego, saw paradise-like landscapes in Portland, Chicago, La Jolla, Malibu and even in our own dining room. To top it off we saw the snow and all that Christmas landscape with green pine trees loaded with snow… ah, this year we rode in a single-engine plane for the first time, flying over Los Angeles and recognizing the city!!!!
In 2014 I went to a Toby Mac show, one of the lead singers of the best Christian band that has ever walked the earth. Also in 2014 I went to a Paul McCartney show — the best showman that has ever walked the earth.
In 2014 I drove old cars, new cars, rented several different cars but the ones that stand out were the Dodge and driving a Ferrari at the racetrack… what an incredible experience!
In 2014 I had a lot of fun with sports. I watched the Bulls in Chicago, the Lakers in LA. I cheered and suffered while watching Ituano become São Paulo state champion (Congrats Dick!). I went to the MLS final (US soccer league) and saw the city’s team become national champion in a super-mega well-produced event.
In 2014 I was an even happier nerd: I assembled my first Lego, a DeLorean! — I also assembled my own retro game console, using chips and a bit of programming. I read some adventure books, and also finished 2 video games, watched the Star Wars trilogy, Blade Runner and started having fun with Battlestar Galactica, all of this drenched in many many podcasts.
In 2014 I worked more than I should have, again. Read a lot of technical books. I went to two of the best conferences in my area: Ruby and Rails Conf. I started two new companies, left one of them before even getting in, and meanwhile, changed the name of my old company and we started redesigning its next objectives.
In 2014 I got pretty sick in June, also got sad, very sad with soccer, its politicking and the Brazilian’s willingness to humiliate and demean himself, I cried with that, cried with soccer. I also smiled with soccer, and one more defeat for Argentina.
In 2014 I watched many sunsets and sunrises, several, of many different colors, swam, surfed, biked, ran my first 5k, played soccer, lifted weights and played a lot, a lot of tennis.
In 2014 I waited….
I’m not very good at waiting. I rarely manage to wait for something without doing something else while waiting. I find waiting boring and unproductive.
I don’t like to wait for a show to start on TV. If it’s going to take 5 minutes to start, I set it to record and go do something else, come back to watch when I want.
Waiting for the bus doesn’t appeal to me. If it’s going to take 10 minutes to come, I’ll walk to the next stop.
To wait for my wife to shop I really need to have brought either my phone or a book.
I have 3 minutes waiting for the pizza to heat in the oven? Going to check my Twitter timeline. Wait for the plane? I’ll read a book, listen to a podcast.
This ease of accessing information anywhere usually makes the information either disposable or not so necessary. Nothing important happens in (my) world every 5 minutes. But even so I keep checking to make sure of that.
This ends up reducing the time I have to meditate. I really like to meditate, but I’m not a good practitioner. Ruminating on ideas, book passages, movies, concepts… that is very good and makes us enjoy life better.
It’s always good to look back, see everything I did. Each day that passes I realize that Happiness is less a goal and more a path. There are still many things I’m waiting for in life, but I have learned (the hard way) to live while I wait.
May 2015 be a year as good as 2014 was, which was incredible, and may I learn to be less multi-task and to enjoy each wait well.