I think that 2011 sucked for most people. I certainly found it a bumpy ride. Glad to say goodbye to it.
The worst thing for me was the loss of my constant companion who has been with me since January of 2007. We had become as one over the years. It was a gradual deterioration of ability and capacity, as what I could once rely on for absolute support became no longer reliable and rock solid. Once inseparable, we spent less and less time together and I sought companionship from others, but nothing could fill that void. Until, I accepted the inevitable and finally replaced my dying Rebel Xti with a Rebel T3i. It will take a while for the new camera to become an extension of myself (I”m still getting used to all the buttons, but I’m already getting good results from it). Once the weather warms up again, I plan to return to my roots and do more street photography, looking for the drama in everyday life.
I’m still deciding whether to change how I post my pictures. I prefer using Facebook for them, because I can organize them into galleries, quickly upload them and then people can share, tag and comment on them. I wish there was a way to integrate that functionality into WordPress for my blog, but you can’t have everything. I have a lot of catching up to do on pictures, because I have more photos than time these days.
I need to get my time under control and stop volunteering for everything that comes along. I did drop off a couple of boards because the meetings were conflicting with other meetings and events. Why is it that everyone wants to have their meetings on Thursdays? About the time I had the decks clear for action, I made friends with another person who runs a non-profit and there goes my time again. Maybe I just need different friends…
I’ve accepted that haters gonna hate and that although a village is what is needed to raise our children and improve conditions, unless and until people stop dividing everything into “us” vs “them”, that isn’t going to happen and all I can do is live my philosophy and let others talk about how “it takes a village” but not expect that is going to change anything.
In addition to focusing on my street photography, I’m also going to circle back to what I focused on before I started tilting at the windmill of “love thy neighbor”. Giftedness, particularly advocacy. I spent most of the holidays studying, and I’ll be writing more about the gifted life. This is particularly critical now as I’ve built up a circle of friends who are gifted, and most (if not all) of them haven’t the slightest idea that they are. My preference is dealing with the issue of the gifted adult, but if I end up with another gifted kid to mentor I’ll just have to go back to the absolute misery of dealing with their teachers and administrators. Somewhere in all of that is another book.
I will continue rousing the rabble, stirring the pot and making trouble. I won’t stop pointing out corruption and things that are broken, or just stink to high heaven. We’ll just see who catches my attention this year.
