Doing the Humblebrag Wrong

I won't crack a joke about the New Year coz I'm pretty sure all the lame-asses over at Twitter have it all covered.

This is my last post for 2012, which means BADGES UNLOCKED. It's a full-on humblebrag post, so brace your face. I'll be listing what this year has brought me, because REMEMBER THE GOOD.

Meat Days
I started going meat-less 5 days a week in January, reserving 2 days for my meat days, which replaced my cheat days. It's become so ingrained in my system that my already-awesome friends would always ask me if it was my meat day before we'd go out for dinner. This is a badge unlocked because it got me a little bit more conscious about the shit I eat. I follow Hakeem's Veggiesaurs program (not strictly, which is my downfall), and having him and Rayan around really helped motivate me, knowing I wasn't alone in this.

That Jeddah Podcast
We published 22 episodes of the podcast this year, which is a huge step from only 10 episodes published last year. The podcast has also changed gears in the sense that it's now become a podcast that I would actually listen to. Old friend of this blog Squeek became partner and co-host, a huge and much-needed step, and his presence has introduced a dynamic that has made the recordings so much more enjoyable.

Trails!
I did my first one-hour run in the desert with my brothers, a fantastic experience that really changed the way I felt about running. There's a special sense of achievement in running a trail that I've never had before, and it made me appreciate and respect nature. Hippie stuff, really.

GeekFest
Organizing two successful GeekFest Jeddah events with my friends has taught me many things about myself and how I deal with other people; it has also introduced me to a bunch of awesome individuals with whom I spend a lot of time now, thanks to mutual interests. I do feel like I belong to a community now, a group of people who JUST UNDERSTANDS WHAT'S UP. It's pretty fucking awesome.

Blogging for Gadgets
GeekFest also introduced me to the concept of getting free things just for being an active blogger - something I do for fun. You lucky people who know that awesome feeling of doing something you enjoy for a living, you know what I'm talking about. I've gotten free gadgets just for BEING MYSELF. Seriously, what is this sorcery.

Apples
I took a major step towards embracing the Apple-products lifestyle with my iPhone and my iPad early this year, and I haven't looked back since. The best thing I got from this is not the popular constantly-being-in-touch-with-people (which incidentally, I actually don't like), but productivity and going paper-less. I can't deal with too much (literal) paper - I'm not good at organizing them - and before my gadgets, I hoarded lots of notes and notebooks. They've been replaced with apps. I'm still trying to get myself acquainted with the cloud, though.

Books
I read 45 books this year, up 15 from last year. This is actually a fail, since my reading challenge goal was 60, but I'll take what I can get. I read so many good books this year, both fiction and non-fiction, as well as my first serious comic book-reading with The Walking Dead. I also started reading the fantasy genre, and I was lucky enough to have started with MTG books (because I love MTG), and then with George R.R. Martin who is pretty fucking good. Yes, dickwads, I only chose to read him because of the Game of Thrones show, and yes, I am sheep.

It's been a fantastic reading year, probably my best one yet. Add me up on Goodreads!

Magic: The Gathering, Literally

This was established in the last quarter of 2012, but it's probably one of the best things to happen this year. Hassan established Friday Night MTG, as well as a proper community of people who get together to trade cards, duel and socialize. Before that, Menelik established the Bashkah, a group of people who get together on Thursdays to work, study, and just generally be productive. I love these people. 

Open Mic

Open Mic has been around for a while, but this year was the first time I went up to "perform" onstage. I did so on a whim, at Ray Ray's nudging, but I didn't regret it. It was a good reminder to respect performers, artists and other creatives, because while criticizing them comes so easily to us, doing what they do doesn't. I APPLAUD YOU, CREATIVES. Shitty work or not.

The Yoga Calm

As part of my fitness goals, I promised to keep an open, cautious mind to new things, because it's the only way I can test my boundaries and strengths. I've done yoga before, very casually, but this year, I incorporated it into my weekly workout. I don't do a lot of the "omm" kind, because I just can't get myself to "let go and let Yoga" or "melt my heart to the sky" or whatever they call it, but I've strengthened my core and learned to distribute my body weight. Most importantly, I've learned to kick out negative vibes, including (and especially) people who cause nothing but bad energy, and good riddance.

Me, Writer

I can now legit call myself a writer. Holy shit. This year, half of my income came from professional writing jobs, a major first. I honest-to-goodness hate teaching as a job, because it's so emotionally exhausting, but I love money, and if it means I get paid to be emotionally exhausted, SO BE IT. I've been a teacher for the last 7 years, and this is the first time I put teaching in the back seat and let writing take the wheel. (SEE, I CAN DO SIMILES AND METAPHORS AND SHIT.) This has eventually led me to the one accomplishment of this year that I am most proud of:

My Novel

YOU GUYS, I wrote a novel. An actual book, motherfuckers. I'm not gonna say it's not shitty, but holy hell, I have never written a book, and 2012 is the year I did. I'll have the book published next year, maybe, and perhaps it will make my list when 2013 is over. 

Hey, it wasn't a bad year at all. I'm hopeful that 2013 is going to be proper BITCHIN'. I failed in many areas this year, too, but they really don't count. They never do. 

Have a great year, dwellers of the intertubules. May we cross paths again. 

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Related: Here's last year's (2011) list.