as is tradition..

..we do a year-end post.

Only we procrastinate, and then it becomes a new year post.

I like the new year day, even though I agree that its just another date. I like the feeling of being on the edge on one year, reflecting on all the events that happened, and then on the dawn of the next, hope alive for all that you wish for.

2009 has been a BIG year for me. Landmark, direction-changing, preserved-forever-in-the-memory kind. Come to think of it, the marriage has been such a huge event for me, I struggle to remember what else happened in 2009. It seems to have overshadowed all else that in an otherwise marriage-less year, would be deemed blog-post worthy.

So let's see: January. Ah, how could I forget? See I have this crazy set of friends at work. By crazy I mean awesome crazy :) A couple of them decided it was time to do something .. well, creative. That couple inspired (and bullied) the rest of us into the scheme. We then thought of the kind of performances we wanted to do - dance, drama, music (we even had the popular 'miscellaneous' category ;))

We practiced day and night. Well we practiced in the early hours of the day, worked in the sane hours of the day and dreamed about it in the night. We tried our hands at things we'd never thought we'd do before. (To give you an example, I sang.) We co-ordinated an entire event from scratch, booked a place, organised a caterer, timed performances, created a schedule. And then we just did it! We performed in front of a 'select' audience, and never felt better. I have to use the word 'crazy' again because this is one of those things that other friends still tease us for (self-inflicted torture or something, they said :D) but it was one of the best things I've ever been a part of. The bonding, the fighting, the re-bonding, the struggle, the learning, the mastery (well sort of) - I wouldn't take it back for anything!

February and March were a sort of repeat : we held a similar event at work. We had more of the fighting here unfortunately :( but then we sorted it out. The event was a big success, I got to dance again, and thats all I need.

Come April and I had the best birthday ever! Beyond April was a very difficult redefining of relationships around me. I realized that the roles of every relationship around me were so tightly defined that a change in them brought about a lot of resentment. It brought out uneasiness even from those not directly involved. But well, such is life. More on that later.

May and June started off the whole marriage thought process. Ashish is a big worrier, and I am the don't-look-problems-in-the-eye kind of person. He is the cautious pessimist, I am the foolhardy optimist. It was in our face that the kind of marriage we wanted to step into wasn't going to be an easy one. Our families were/are very different : culturally, socially, geographically..you get the drift. We both also had traces of those differences. There were many questions with regard to this that we both had to answer. We answered some, we left some unanswered. And then we went ahead with it anyway. Everything went extremely well, rocky at first in some areas, but smooth at the end (oh right, the beginning ;))

Cautious Pessimist: 0, Foolhardy Optimist: 1

Maybe I should give him like half a point here. You see, he thought of all possible situations in which there might be trouble between us or the families, so we were all prepared for much of it and didn't get too much of a culture shock.

Cautious Pessimist: 0.25, Foolhardy Optimist: 1 :)

Anyway, away from score-keeping and back to reflections. So that and that in a nutshell, was 2009.

Which brings us back to 2-0-1-0. Wait, do you say two-thousand-ten or the very yankee sounding twenty-ten (twennyten)? I came across this condescending comment on the web about people using the former. "Its as if they don't want to be in the future," it said. Me no like.

Or ooh, are you a two-oh-one-oh ;) ?

In 2010, I'm trying to be more in touch with the people who I think are special to me. Also, in general, more out there. I'm not sure if that is a good thing or a bad one, its just something I want to try for a while and see if it fits.

In 2010, I want to restart dance classes. This isn't a very hard thing to do. Its just an example of procrastination: that first picking of the phone, making that inquiry, committing to spending more than a couple of hours each weekend (including travel). But I do know, that once I cross these hurdles, I'll have a lot of fun.

Current status on this one: I got 3 numbers of the same place, called all of them. "Switched off", "doesn't exist", and "incoming calls on this number barred"! That's how far I have gone till now.

In 2010, I want to have a lot of water. On a regular basis. Everyday. Current status: A. made me keep a glass next to the bottle of water at my desk. So far its working; for the last 3 workdays this year I've had a lot of water for my standards :)

So there you have it. If you're still here, I congratulate you on the ability to bear with me. You have what it takes to be my friend. Ping me sometime.

In conclusion, may 2-0-1-0 be, in the words of Barney (yes I finally am catching up with HIMYM)

LEGENDARY

for all of you :) I'm looking forward to all the newness in sight :)