Oh right! I have a blog!

This year, more than many others, deserves a recap. Here goes: the story of my life, 2011 version.

January through March are kind of a blur. I assume that some good stuff happened, with probably a smattering of less-than-desirable episodes thrown in for good measure. I assume there are a few blogs posts that deal with that time period. Go read them.

After April, things are easier to remember. I met a boy, see. Well, a man, actually, but it's just too awkward to say "manfriend." (He's totally of age, guys, I promise, though he is five years younger than I am.) Anyway, we've gotten along really well from the beginning, and the long-term possibilities are starting to look pretty solid. So there's that.

Work is good. I've traveled quite a bit this year, doing my malaria thang. Then the boss completed her contract and I become the new boss. That happened officially a couple weeks ago, but the workload ramped up a lot earlier than that. So I'm juggling a ramped-up workload and a few special projects that I accidentally showed competence for. It's kind of energizing for the moment, in a frenetic sort of way, but if we don't replace me soon, frenetic is just going to turn to frantic. And that wouldn't be pretty. So here's hoping that the hiring of the assistant goes smoothly (and quickly!).

In terms of family, there were a few health-related bumps in the road this year. My brother-in-law had an acoustic neuroma which required brain surgery and a lot of physical therapy. He's still working to get full function back. That same week, my mom was in the hospital with pneumonia, and three days later, my stepfather had a massive stroke (from which he somewhat miraculously made a full recovery). Everyone's doing OK now, but it was tough going there for a while. My dad's doing well, and even moved in with his new sweetie (who's pretty great).

Every once in a while people ask me what I do for fun. I'm not sure I answer that very well. Work takes up a goodly portion of my life; and boyfriend, church, household and condo-hold chores take up much of the remaining portion. I did take that awesome trip to Ecuador, where I got what presumably was cholera but managed to also have a lovely time, so that continued my streak of interesting international vacations. I read a lot, and I watched a few TV series this year, too, though none are coming to mind at the moment. Scott (that's the boy) loves to play board games, so I've learned a lot of great new games this year. There! (she says triumphantly) That's totally a hobby, right?

Yeah... that's 2011 in a nutshell. It's looking like 2012 might be rather a banner year. Yay for that.