2012: the year in review

Back in February, I painted Maqz versus Satan for my brother Sean, in honor of his tiny black chihuahua.

In March, I bore sad witness, from a distance, to the death of young Marissa Parks from brain cancer. (See also here.)

Later in March, my brother David got married to the lovely Patricia in a quiet ceremony at which I was the sole witness. Later in November, the couple had a much larger, more festive ceremony in Fortaleza, Brazil.

In July, my buddy Charles and his wife visited for a while.

In August, I went to my brother David's place and enjoyed a cookout with David and his wife.

On October 3, I had a flat tire while driving home from work that night.

On October 18th, I was involved in a one-car crash: that rainy night, I hydroplaned spectacularly, spinning several times, but I glided to a smooth stop and ended up with a perfectly drivable car, plus six emergency vehicles that converged on the crash site. I paid a $250 deductible on over $4000 in damage, and consider myself fortunate.

I got passed over, twice, by Sungkyunkwan University, most likely because I'm currently outside of Korea and those stupid fuckers hire only those who are in country.

In late November, Thanksgiving was a grandiose affair.

I won the Teacher of the Year award for my particular center, which means I beat out all of three people for this dubious and undeserved honor.

Overall, 2012 was a rather lame year, especially since (1) it saw my insurance premiums go up thanks to that damn accident, and (2) I wasn't able to secure work in Korea. I'm hoping that 2013 will finally see me back in Korea, happy as a clam, paying down my bills as I work at a job with a real income.

But perhaps the best thing about 2012 was that the world didn't end-- not that I believed that idiotic "prophecy" for a moment. The planet's been around for nearly 5 billion years; I'm sure it'll be around a while longer. But despite the lack of catastrophic endings, there were many dawns, and as the sun of 2013 crests the horizon, I hope that your own dawn will be a good and blessed one. May 2013 bring you great fortune, little stress, and lots of laughs.


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