... it's time for the sixth (!) annual "best of" list for the year that is ending. By next week at this time it will already be 2016, and so today is the day to start the reflection that accompanies my favorite holiday each year (yep, I'm a huge fan of watching the odometer turn over each new year's eve).
As in years past, this list will be alphabetical ... so here are the 15 things I'll recall fondly about 2015:
1.) BURGERS: Numbers 10 and 11 of my quest for the 25 best burgers in the country were eaten this year (New York and Atlanta respectively). As much as I enjoy travelling as if it were my second job, travelling to a city where I can cross another burger off the list is icing on the cake. Or bacon on the patty, more accurately (especially the double coronary bypass burger from the Vortex in Atlanta).
2.) CASANOVA and OZZIE and MURDER: The rescued pit bull puppies turned two just yesterday, and they continue to be the cutest, smartest, lovingest, bestest additions to the family ... not to forget their older "sister" Murder, who remains the last cat standing from the feline era. No bad mood can withstand their hugs and kisses (and headbutts).
3.) EMPLOYMENT: Last year at this time, I was wrapping up a career with Kaplan Test Prep, then with the Graduate/Pre-College division, facing the third day of the new year as the day when UNemployment started due to mandatory lay-offs. By applying the lessons learned on how not to burn bridges, by the second week of February, I was back to work ... at Kaplan Test Prep ... this time with the Health division, which was coincidentally headed up by the same guy who originally hired me into the company eleven years earlier. Kismet. Kaplan kismet, I say.
4.) EVENTS OF DEC 3: For the full story, tune in near the end of September in 2018, during the Flashback Friday series. For the abbreviated story, we did what Jeff, Ellie and Phil told us to do back in 1964.
5.) FAMILY VISITS: Walt and Dolly in the winter, Sherry and Eric in the spring and Shirly and Eddie in the summer. Looks like there's an opening in the fall (first come, first served ... with notice, of course). After all, what's the fun of living full time in sun-soaked paradise if you can't share it with folks?
6.) HOUSING: Of course, those visits only work when there's a place to visit. To show how challenging the start of 2015 actually was, in addition to the (um)employment hiccup, there was also the fact that the landlady of the first house rented here in Florida ("for a long time", she said) decided to move back in to her home in March. More good luck prevailed, though ... as another house in the same 'hood became available at just the right time ... with a nice back yard for the dogs.
7.) LOREM IPSUM: You may not be familiar with my ongoing "short" story (currently in Chapter 23), but it's something I had wanted to do ever since joining the Facebook ... to tell a story in small nuggets one day at a time. I've had to take breaks every now and then, but it's been most consistently on track this year, and the adventures of a college aged boy who discovers that he can take away the pain of others with just a simple touch continues daily. PLUS ... I moved it to its own blogspot now, so it's easier than ever to get caught up or catch what you may have missed!
8.) MARY IRENE: Also known as ... my mother. She collected a lot of different last names over the years, so, for the reference here, I'll just call her by her first and middle ones ... and mention that she passed in July of 2015, somewhat unexpectedly, after a short illness. She and I did not have any traditional relationship or any kind ... and now that chance has passed ... but there's always the memories.
9.) NEW ORLEANS III: Whilst living in Chicago, southern Florida became the go-to vacation spot. But now that the domicile is in southern Florida, the question was ... where will the *new* go-to vacation spot be? Turns out the answer is New Orleans, which was visited for the third time in nearly as many years. Here's hoping it can become an annual Christmastime tradition ...
10.) NEW YORK: But New Orleans wasn't the only city starting with the word NEW that got visited in 2015, as the "chasing the Super Bowl tradition" continued (it's where we go to the city that hosted the Super Bowl the year before to watch the Super Bowl of the current year, when all the hotel rooms are much much cheaper). It was a snowy icy time (actually, we got stuck there an extra day) ... but it was an opportunity not to be missed to get to visit somewhere iconic.
11.) PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES: I'm a student of politics ... and students of politics were rewarded this year with the run up to the election next year consisting of debate after debate, ostensibly to get to know the candidates. Of course, with the batch that are currently in the running, that also meant hours and hours of pure entertainment. Eventually, things will get serious (maybe? hopefully?) ...
12.) TWELVE and a HALF POUNDS: Spurned on somewhat by the events of #8 above, I recommitted to an exercise program (somewhat derailed at year's end with bum knees that couldn't keep up with my plans), but insisted that it be about changing habits and developing new routines and that it be a long game (with a final target aimed at October of 2016). Six months in ... and 12.5 pounds are gone ... with many more to go.
13.) VEGAS IV: For the fourth time ... and all four times because it was the location of a work meeting ... I also spent time early in the year in Sin City (where I may or may not have sinned). Ironically, it was actually the first day of work in my new division (as explained in #3 above) ... and since it was a surprise trip, I didn't have any time to plan anything on the side (which will not be the scenario for Vegas V in a few weeks ...)
14.) WHITMAN WEDDING: In 2015, there was one more time that I got in an airplane (in addition to New York, Vegas and New Orleans) ... and that was for a fall weekend flying to Atlanta, and then driving to the hills of Tennessee to get to catch a glimpse of the youngest Whitman boy getting married (despite getting lost in those hills, I did manage it make it ... eventually). It was a full circle moment, having been to all the other Whitman ceremonies over the years, and a (brief) chance to see PA family in a place other than back home in PA (where I did not get to visit this past year).
15.) YOU: It's kind of an honorary spot on this annual countdown ... but whether YOU are catching this on the blog or on the Facebook, if YOU made it this far, that means YOU cared enough to spend some time with me looking back at my year. And no list can be long enough to cover everyone with whom I shared great moments this year (like catching up with Gully while in Atlanta, or with my nephew Ryan while in Nashville, or with Kristi remotely via a care package full of PA goodies that arrived at the new house). But just know that no retrospective look at the year that is ending is complete without pausing to be happy that YOU are in my life, one way or another.
And so another year is in the record books ... and a new one is waiting to begin. I couldn't be more excited to see what adventures lie in store for 2016! So from all of me and mine to all of you and yours ... Happy Almost New Year!
THE CUTEST THINGS EVER ... WAITING TO BE YOUR FRIENDS:
https://www.facebook.com/thecasanovajames/?ref=hl
GET CAUGHT UP OR START OVER AT THE BEGINNING (NOW EASIER THAN EVER):
http://www.loremipsumarchives.blogspot.com/
MY MOST VIEWED POST OF 2015 (ACCORDING TO THE GOOGLE STATS PEOPLE):
http://capcognition.blogspot.com/2015/06/random-memorial-for-monday-61515.html
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