i dream of the day when i will like my job.

2009 has come, gone and left me a little worse for wear

at this time last year i was laying out a plan to see 2009 as my great year for contemplation and rejuvenation. HA! while i was finally escorted out of the situation of misery and paranoia that was the better part of 2009, it still does a great job of coloring my view of the past year as well as a number of plans for my future. my experiences in 2009 have culled any desire i ever had to remain a part of academia. I will not be returning to the ivory tower any time soon, i think. All in all, I am mostly just glad this phase of my life has come to a close. In a different environment it might have been different, but as doris day will tell you, "que sera sera, whatever will be, will be..."

Of course there were a number of highlights throughout the year including:

• Visiting Neetu briefly and getting a glimpse of the reality that in the right environment research can still be fun and engaging
• Bethany visiting and reminding me what its like to live in the real world, where people have lives
• teaching science to preschoolers and elementary kids at Epworth's awesome summer camp
• our mini honeymoon/1st anniversary trip to the outer banks ( and running into kati and esther there!)
• spending the last 3 and a half months working in a healthy environment and regaining the little bit of sanity i had to start with

And of course there was my gardening and composting experiments. i did succeed in growing a few things like bush green beans, one mal-formed cucumber and a bush tomato plant that grew 6 feet tall just to try and get a little bit of sun. There was very little sun to be had around the apartment and so the radishes never bulged and i was never able to grow any broccoli. I think the lettuce died more because of the squirrels than lack of sun, but who knows really. I killed many batches of red wigglers in the process of trying to vermicompost. very sad indeed. they did MUCH better when i moved them out from underneath the sink, but in the long run I wiped the final batch out as well. plus, we don't have enough space here to keep enough worms to make it a viable composting option.

So what is there to look forward to in 2010 then? a whole lotta lotta, that's what:

• I am planning to get certified to teach highschool chemistry!
• We are probably gonna be a movin' in the near future
• I have BIG plans for gardening in a new place and rest assured i will be looking for places that actually get some sun!
• once out of academia for good, i am going to find a good and healthy balance for all aspects of my life.

Yes its a short list, but I think the items pack a big punch so that's all I really have. Here's to 2010 having no chance of sucking as bad as 2009. I really can hardly wait for all the changes to start. I may also do a better job of stopping in and blogging more often, now that I'm not in a miserable, non-bloggable situation and I've regained most of my equilibrium. YAY 2010!