Thursday, December 13, 2007

My Holiday Letter

2007 was what I will always recall as a growth year. I set out with new goals to grow as a person and stumbled into more than I anticipated. Maybe that’s something that’s common on the year that you turn 40.

My goals were simple.

I set out to read more, falling short of my goal of 24 books or two a month. I ended up somewhere around 15, which was far better than the 3 or 4 I read the previous year. Some highlights included Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, Mindfulness in Plain English by Bhante Gunaratana, and new books from two of my idols, Woody Allen and Steve Martin.

I had the goal to be more charitable. I won’t go into details but I’m still following my path to increase my contributions annually. I don’t miss the money and hope I helped somebody, somewhere.

I’ve continued my pursuit of fitness and nutrition. It’s amazing how motivating it can be when you have a daughter that you want see grow up as long as possible.

I set out to minimize my life by getting rid of things that I felt were a bit much or extravagant. Reduce the clutter. I raffled off my ’63 Ford pickup only to turn around and win a ’58 Pontiac. What the hell was that? I’ll have to find a creative way to find a new home for this one as well.

I wanted to write. My intention has never been to become a writer, I only wanted to challenge myself and enhance the fun I have on the radio. I have been very fortunate to have been given this opportunity first by Austin Monthly Home and also Rare Magazine. Both of these publications are a “must read” for Austinites and run by great people who take a genuine interest in this city and the product that they put out. It’s a difficult thing to do and what they do is admirable.

I also had the goal to discover new music. I still love the look and feel of a cd, so I made monthly visits to Waterloo to shop. Some highlights of bands that really had an impact on my this year are Phoenix, Donovan Frankereiter, What Made Milwaukee Famous, The Small Stars, Lucinda Williams, Band of Horses, Eddie Vedder, Kings of Leon, The Silverspun Pickups and just for good measure, on each monthly visit I would pick up another copy of Sugarcane by Autumn… just in case I lost the last one. I don’t know her last name, but she sure is talented.

I told myself I needed to be more “present”. This is difficult to explain. Whenever I was with somebody I cared about, I made a very conscious effort to be there 100%, which in he past, I wasn’t very good at. It’s made me better at many relationships but also it can be dangerous in that it makes you very “aware” of who was not “present” with you. I still have a lot of growth and learning ahead of me with this.

Not to sound cliché, but being “present” gives you a wonderful opportunity to “stop and smell the roses”. Well worth it.

As for my co-workers reaching their goals…. It’s apparent that 2007 was very good to all of you. I’m proud of Sandy for having the courage to get married and to put a lot of things behind him. It’s been his biggest growth year in the 12 years I’ve known him.

Digitz has grown… mostly at being comfortable with who he is, which is not easy. I wish him well in his pursuit of Brad the Bachelor.

I’m proud of Autumn for having the courage to leave…. And there absolutely are not enough words or time to give the details how much you will be missed.

I have yet to put together my goals for 2008. I’ll work that out over the break. Don’t be surprised if next year to see a more spiritural, Zen, JB. Don’t worry, everything will still “Piss me off”, but I’ll be more pleasant, I promise. I always refer to a card that is above my visor that says “All my relationships are harmonious”. I’ve been striving for that and hope to be better at accomplishing that, next year.


1 comment:

Bello (Buddy) Manjaro said...

some very spiritual goals. nice blog. great pic at the bottom.