The Year in Review

Well, my Renaissance Runnettes. I haven't written anything new on here for a while, so I figured I might as well start it off with my year in review.

The Good things of 2004:

I took up a new interest

Last January I signed up for a six weekend Hands-on Filmmaking Course. The course taught all the nuts and bolts of making a film such as directing, lighting, sound, using a 16mm movie camera, editing and even where to find funding for your potential blockbuster. The last few weekends were spent shooting and editing our own two minute black and white short film, which was a blast. Half of the fun of the course was being surrounded by people who loved quirky little films as much as I did. I followed this up in the summer with a five day directing course called "A week in the hot seat". Here we got to work with professional actors and learn how to give proper direction to bring out their best performance. I have several ideas for short films I want to do. Now I just need to get off my butt and do them.

My vacation in Cuba

Around the end of January, I had had it with the vicious cold snap in our nation's capital and suggested to my girlfriend at the time, "Let's go someplace sunny and warm". This resulted in a very enjoyable week at the end of February in an all-inclusive resort in Cuba, laying on the beach, swimming in the ocean, sipping rum drinks and even renting a car and tooling around the island. This was just what I needed to make it through the winter. It wasn't until after we got back to Canada that my girlfriend admitted she hated it there. The reason being she is more the staying in a hostel, living among the locals and losing ten pounds from dysentary type. I prefer my creature comforts, especially when you only have a week. This, plus a couple of other things resulted in our breakup. The trip did highlight our incompatibilities. I suppose it was better to find this out when I did rather than a year or two down the road.

My Brother got married

I should add to this by saying my brother got married to a wonderful and supercool chick, and I'm not just saying that because she bakes me lots of really tasty cookies. On top of this, I was the Best Man for the ceremony, which meant I had the honour of planning the debauchery of the bachelor party in Niagara Falls. Good times! The ceremony was great, and the party later that night couldn't have gone better.

I ran my first marathon

October 17th, a day that will live in infamy. In spite of the rain and -1 celsius wind chill, I'm still glad I ran the Toronto Marathon. At least I had on long running tights, a long sleeve running shirt and a wind breaker to provide some protection from the elements. I felt sorry for the poor saps who had decided to wear shorts and a t-shirt for that day. The last 10k were ran purely on willpower. My friends who cheered me on along the way were a big help in keeping my spirits up when fatigue was dragging me down. Plus the knowledge that my family were at the finish line to cheer me in and had gatorade and dry clothes waiting for me. Will I run another one? Perhaps.

I bought a mountain bike

To get in some cross training for my marathon, I decided to buy a mountain bike. It had been over a decade since I had ridden a bike, and rediscovered the simple joy of going for a bike ride. I also started going trail riding with a couple of friends. On my second trail ride I slipped on some pointy rocks and got a nice gash in my forearm which required 7 stitches in the emergency room. Now I have a manly scar on my arm and a mountain biking "war story".

The Bad things of 2004:

My job has gotten progressively worse

Our office moved from a ten minute walk from my apartment to a half-hour or more drive from my apartment. One of the main reasons I chose the apartment I'm now in was because I could avoid rush hour traffic, which I passionately loathe. The duties in my job were changed which made my job thoroughly less enjoyable. My staff was taken and given to a complete knob who happens to play golf with the boss. Now I find out that this knob will be the new boss by the end of the summer. I'm actively working at finding another job. Hopefully these efforts pan out before the douchebaggery becomes just too much to bear.

My summer girlfriend broke up with me two days after my brother's wedding

This former girlfriend and I are now friends. As a matter of fact, she even reads my blog from time to time. And while I don't harbour any feelings of ill will towards her for the breakup in general, I have to say her timing sucked. Could I have felt like a bigger loser for the next couple of weeks after this? I think not.

Overall, the year was pretty good. Now if I can just do something about this job, 2005 could shape up to be the year of Chris.