2009 wrap-up

I have been living in Portland for a year now. It's not one of the cities I ever imagined myself living in, but I dig it. I am not so connected to the city that I have to live here forever, but I am happy to be here. There's a lot going on and is all accessible by good public transportation - a must for me since I have never been able to afford to replace Gladys. While 2009 has not been one of the best years of my life, there were a lot of things that I am proud of myself for this year. Here they are, in no particular order:

I stuck by my job. I had a hard time getting a job when I first got here because I came when the recession was at its worst and competition for jobs was high. I ended up getting a job as an apartment complex manager. I admit, I took the first one I could get my hands on. It's not the job of my dreams. I am college-educated and make a dollar above poverty - and my rent comes out of my salary (contrary to popular belief, the apartment is not free). There is a lot of down time, and when I first took over the property, I had a lot to deal with in terms of cleaning up the messes that the previous managers made or did not clean up themselves. But, I stuck with it. I made the best of this property and acted on the potential. I evicted the worst tenants, recruited some great new ones, cleaned up the grounds, repainted the entire parking lot myself (by hand with a brush and painting tape to make the lines). My property started making money again. I used my creative skills to market and appeal to the current tenants to make sure they wanted to stick around. In other words, I did not want to let the fact that I am way out on the corner of Portland in a less-than-gorgeous place determine the kind of work I did. My boss loves the work I do, and I am setting myself up for future promotion. That is a big success for me because a couple of years ago, I let my unhappiness with my work affect the way I did it. Growth is a great thing!

I joined a gym again. There is a small gym half a block from where I live, and it's only $45 a month. I decided enough is enough with how shitty I felt all the time, so I decided to go again. And I decided to stick to it! I didn't focus on any long-term goals anymore; well, I did set long-term goals, but I didn't fixate on them to the point where I looked past all of the immediate successes. It became a simple thing: I liked how I felt when I did go, and didn't like how I felt when I did not go. I loved that I looked forward to going, and loved how refreshed I felt. I would feel a lot better about my successes if I ate better, but that's a new success to be reached. I feared it for a while and hurt when I used muscles I forgot I had. But all of that fear lives in my head, and it's easy to overcome. The bottom line is, no one is paying any attention to me there, and I don't need to look good or show off for anyone. I am there to be me, to have fun, and I do just that. This is one of the best things I have done this year, for sure.

I learned to appreciate being thrifty. I don't necessarily look down my nose at places like Goodwill, but I don't necessarily enjoy them. I can't stand the way they smell. That's because people donate stuff that isn't clean, and the store doesn't clean them before they put it out. However, my mother has always said places like Savers and Goodwill have gotten her through a lot of the times where she had very little to make a life with. I finally learned to appreciate that from her. I used to get everything from Target and considered Old Navy being thrifty. This year, I got almost everything second-hand from thrift stores. Not all of it is shit, either. A lot of it is fantastic stuff that I was lucky to stumble across. I got my espresso machine for $7.50 and I use it daily. My coffee machine was $10, my dinette set was $60, my dresser $30 (before paint and new handles). My sofa is borrowed from my mother, my tables were all donated, and my bed is brand new (can't compromise on a comfortable bed). I love the way it all works for me, too! I spent maybe 25% of what the stuff is worth brand new, which allowed me to get other things brand new without having to feel like I am going broke making a comfortable home. Now when I am looking for something, I check out thrift stores before I go anywhere else. I can luck out and get a crock pot for $6 and a brand-new mountain bike for $25. I still can't stand how they smell and can't bring myself to wear second-hand shoes, but when I can have a 27" TV for $30 and a Food Saver for $10, I can hold my nose!

I went somewhere new! Cosmo once said that all women should go somewhere once a year that they have never been to before. For all the advice they recycle over and over again, this one I liked the most, and have tried to follow. This year, my broke ass still had the chance to venture somewhere new - Seattle. It's 3 1/2 hours by train from Portland, and I went because my friend Jeff was there and had tickets to the Brandi Carlisle concert. (Great show, btw.) Seattle was awesome! I was only there for one day and therefore only explored the waterfront area, but I instantly decided this was a great place to be and somewhere I could see myself relocating to. I want to go back for a longer trip, especially if I still might be leaving Portland next year. But if the Pacific Northwest remains my permanent location, I would not mind venturing up to Seattle. It also got me excited to want to continue trekking north to Canada, somewhere I have never been. Cosmo was right in that exploring somewhere new doesn't always mean exotic, faraway lands. Seattle is so close that I could go often, and there's a lot to do. Yay me!

I went back to school. It's not like this is a big revelation for me, since I just finished the work for my BA in history. But it wasn't until my last year of school that I decided I really wanted to pursue law and go to law school. When I looked at LSAT exams, I didn't feel ready. I decided to tack another year of school on and go for a second bachelor's, this time a BS in criminal justice. I know it's not required for law school, but at least I can become more familiar with terminology, theory, and application. I am a visual person, and the ability to picture something makes it easier for me to follow it down the path. And if for some reason law school just doesn't come my way, a CJ degree can lead me to a lot of social work careers, or other things. But I am not going for all of this just to settle. Law school is still something I want to do and I am prepping myself for success. In the past I would have just considered the opportunity passed, and let it go. I am proud of myself for jumping on the train, even as it pulled out of the station.

So those are my five best things I did for myself in 2009. I hope you can all look at what you did for yourselves and find more success than setbacks.