2005: The Year in Review
Sat Dec 31, 2005 16:34 (UTC -5)Originally, I had said that I wasn’t going to redesign the site until I upgraded to WordPress 2.0. Then I decided that I would launch the new design on January 1, no matter what. Well, WordPress 2.0 was released today, and so I upgraded without many problems (surprisingly).
The year 2005 is over. I know I always say it, but this year really has gone by fast. It hardly seems like it had a chance to breathe, and now it’s on its way out the door. Amid all the end-of-year lists, I present once again my own personal Year in Review. Enjoy.
- January 1 – I attend my great-aunt’s wedding.
- January 3 – I upgrade from posting the manually to using WordPress.
- January 6 – I get notified that I’ve lost my job.
- January 8-9 – I go camping with my friends.
- January 16 – My friend Kevin celebrates his birthday at Benihana.
- February 3 – I see Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood.
- February 5 – I go to my old school’s spring festival with my friends.
- March 4-5 – I participate in a 24-hour fast and make a short documentary out of it.
- March 24 – I spend a day at the beach with my friends.
- April 5 – Bomb threat at school.
- April 6 – TWoS turns two.
- April 7 – I get certified in CPR.
- April 8 – I observe a partial solar eclipse.
- April 10 – Youth Group Comedy Nite.
- April 14 – My parents get rid of the Volkswagen New Beetle and get a Chevy Impala.
- April 20 – A rather prominent member of my church is arrested on a charge that he molested a teenager.
- April 28 – I help my friend Andrew by backing him up at the school variety show; he had asked me to replace his friend a week before the show.
- April 30 – During the day, I lose a math competition with my friend Mark; that night, I lose a card game at his house.
- May 14 – A friend of a friend begins filming a Sherlock Holmes spoof, and I play Watson.
- May 19 – I get to tag along for free on a multi-class trip to a distant zoo. During the outing, I get to know my classmate Nacole better.
- May 20 – I go to a drive-in theater for the first time, but we almost don’t get in due to a scuffle.
- May 24 – I begin learning Esperanto again.
- May 26 – I take home awards for history and math at the eighth annual Nerdies.
- May 28-30 – Vacation at my great-aunt’s condo. It’s the first time in a long time that I go on vacation during the school year.
- June 2 – School’s out for the summer (but not forever).
- June 5 – I begin to try the No S Diet.
- June 11 – Kevin takes his French foreign exchange buddy Quentin (and my sister, me, Lisa, Katherine, and Sean) to Islands of Adventure.
- June 18-24 – Family vacation in the Florida Keys.
- July – I manage to post every day of the month.
- July 5 – I give up on the No S Diet.
- July 8-9 – Hurricane Dennis passes by.
- July 10 – I have dinner with my friends to celebrate my birthday.
- July 13 – I turn 16.
- July 15 – Katherine, my sister, and I make butterbeer to celebrate the release of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.”
- July 18 – A sociologist presents me with a questionnaire about blogging.
- July 29-August 1 – Family vacation in northern Florida to visit my aunt.
- August 4 – Two years of actually blogging.
- August 8 – School is back in session.
- August 14 – VRT, my band of four years, plays its last gig.
- August 24 – I ask Nacole out to a football game. Emotional rollercoaster up!
- August 25 – Football game cancelled due to Hurricane Katrina. Emotional rollercoaster down!
- August 25-26 – Hurricane Katrina hits.
- August 28 – I’ve been friends with Casey for 10 years.
- August 30 – Emotional rollercoaster up!
- September 1 – Down!
- September 3 – Way down!
- September 5 – 500th post.
- September 6 – Down some more!
- September 16 – Emotional rollercoaster levels out. What a ride.
- September 17 – I watch the Improv All-Stars perform and manage to get my picture taken with Drew Carey, Chip Esten, Jeff Davis, and Greg Proops.
- September 20 – Hurricane Rita hits.
- October 12 – I take the PSAT again.
- October 16 – A member of the church stands up to voice his opinion about the Gabriel/O’Leary scandal. My parents take me out of church before the mass is over.
- October 23 – A second and final day of filming on the Sherlock Holmes spoof.
- October 24 – Hurricane Wilma hits. School cancelled for two weeks.
- October 30 – I try the No S Diet again and have dinner with Reid and Casey.
- November 7 – School reopens.
- November 17 – Mrs. Vazquez’s last day as European History teacher.
- November 19 – I make a shovelglove so I can get some exercise.
- November 27 – Protestors at church/school.
- November 28 – I hurt my arms from using the shovelglove.
- December 15 – Zamenhof Day.
- December 16 – For the first time since May 23, 2003, I have to go to school on a Friday.
- December 17 – Youth group Christmas party.
- December 20 – Redesign of The World of Stuff announced.
- December 23 – Ice skating with friends.
- December 25 – Christmas.
- December 31 – The World of Stuff is 1,000 days old.
Yes, you read that right. Today the site turns 1,000 days old. I wouldn’t have known it if I hadn’t been calculating some meaningless posting statistics the other day. (Here’s a meaningless statistic for those who think that I post less often nowadays: there were 227 posts in 2004, and this is the 227th post of 2005.)
I’ve already gotten several “Happy New Year” greetings. I mean, that’s nice of everybody, but they seem out of place if it’s not the new year yet. Does that bother anyone else? Oh well. Tomorrow I’ll wish you all a happy new year. Happy New Year’s Eve!
One year ago: “2004 seems to have been a very short year, which is funny because it was a leap year and thus actually longer than 2003.”
Two years ago: “I can’t believe 2003 is over. The year’s gone by faster than… something that’s fast. It’s been a fairly good year. Not as good as 2002, mind you, but still a good year.”
