Short Term Retrospective

[bigscary]

I'm not going to talk about the past ten years -- it's more than a third of my life, and that much is hard to grapple with (the starting-2000 me hadn't yet picked a major, was considering serious research as a life choice, and didn't really see anything beyond deciding where his schooling was going). I'm not even going to talk about the last year -- it kind of sucked, in a few, mostly related, ways (the only good thing to say about was it was my first calendar year admitted).

What I would like to talk about is how 2009 ended on, in pretty much every way, up-notes for my life.

Employment outlook warming up.
The sword and doom hanging over me all of 2009 was removed (it lasted almost exactly one year, having come fully into existence in mid-December 2008, and ending the last week of 2009).
I faced a soul-destroying, evil-endorsing, "self-help" program that sought to make me hate myself so I'd be someone else (who would then pay them money after money after money to be that new self harder), and came away pleased with myself and with a new confidence and consciousness about why I do the things I do.
Closed out some financial matters.

Comments

[barking-iguana.livejournal.com]

I take it you don't want to say more here, but I'd like to hear more about the next to last and next to next to last paragraphs, when we get a chance.

[lizzatherussian.livejournal.com]

I am a huge fan of self-help and self-directed change, but really, I love you just the way you are, for the way you are, and it would be awfully sad to see you become someone else.

You didn't need to go through a soul-crushing self-help program to figure out that there's nothing wrong with you, but sometimes we need to take the hard way to the truth, I suppose :-)

I would also be happy to talk to you about anything relating to that, and the previous paragraph too. I'm just sorry I didn't realize there was impending doom in your life, or I would have offered to talk about it sooner.

[bigscary.livejournal.com]

I like self-help too, but self-help seminars (and their notorious tactics) rub me the wrong way, and this one was particularly objectionable. Next time anyone's in person, I'll discuss it more, but they're known to be litigious about publication of negative things about them.

As far as the impending doom goes, I worked very hard to make it non-obvious that something so bad was going on (as I was fairly confident that it would end exactly how it did). Again, I'll happily discuss it in person or over a one-to-one or one-to-few communication mode.

[shell524.livejournal.com]

Happy birthday.