2013 in review

In 2013, I . . .:

. . . attended the funeral of my paternal grandmother.

. . . worked full-time at the same place all year and made two good friends.

. . . drove round-trip to Maine, New Hampshire, and Ohio (part way).

. . . took time off to visit with relatives and my best friend.

. . . experimented more in gardening.

. . . read a number of books, including two good, and very long, biographies (No Man Knows My History by Fawn Brodie [on Joseph Smith] and A prince of our disorder: the life of T. E. Lawrence by John Mack).

. . . started learning belly dance and expanded on my yoga.

. . . had both my laptop and my car upgraded. (I think the laptop was technically the end of last year, but I didn't have it fully customised or used as my default laptop until this year.)

. . . learned various corset lacing techniques.

. . . gained dental and limited health insurance. The former gave me access to the best dentist I've ever had, while the latter has caused me a three-month long, and still ongoing, billing dispute.



I've never been a radio listener, but we have it on most of the time at work to help the day move faster. We usually alternate between two stations, both of which tend to play rock from the 60's to the 90's.

There was this one song that came on ever few days, and I absolutely loved the instrumental section. I couldn't get enough of it and thrilled whenever it was on. However, I couldn't quite make out the lyrics or guess the name of the song. Fortunately, one of my co-workers/friends knew it and it became my song of the year: "Peace of Mind" by Boston.

"Now if you're feelin' kinda low 'bout the dues you've been paying
Future's coming much too slow
And you wanna run but somehow you just keep on stayin'
Can't decide on which way to go

[...]

Now everybody's got advice they just keep on givin'
Doesn't mean too much to me
Lots of people out to make-believe they're livin'
Can't decide who they should be.

I understand about indecision
But I don't care if I get behind
People livin' in competition
All I want is to have my peace of mind."