So, 2012.
Some bad things happened this year. I won’t dwell on them here.
Some good things happened, too. I’d like to remember those.
2012 was the year of travel, for what that’s worth. When I took my current job in 2011 I knew there was no travel publication inhouse, and accordingly scrapped my goal of scoring a travel assignment/junket. But I eventually wound up having opportunities to travel through work nonetheless – and that’s the main thing, isn’t it? And because I can’t help but write, I blogged about my trips.
This year we spent NYE in the Coromandel. The Microsoft Imagine Cup world finals took me to Sydney on my birthday. August saw me in Queenstown. September was our long-awaited campervan journey around the South Island, including T’s birthday.
This year I did things I’ve never done before. I got to take a sweet yacht ride one Friday. I jumped out of a plane, on another Friday. I got seasick for the first time – yep, Friday again, but a different one.
What else?
I set myself a goal of writing one big print feature, and a quiet, sneaky, private goal of writing a cover feature. I ended up hitting both with my first major print story. I also wrote another two (one on NZ’s first startup accelerator, launching next year as part of the Techstars-founded Global Accelerator Network) and one more that’s out this week about Wellington production company Gibson Group. I’m working on another, which involves bee venom in the context of the beauty industry.
I interviewed Alec Ross from the US State Department and Tim Brown from IDEO. I attended awesome creative conferences: Better by Design, Semi-Permanent, TEDx. And more randomly, Coldplay’s recent concert. Even though I ignore/turn down 99% of event invites, I still went to more than I can remember (friends whom I invite along always ask why I get asked in the first place. Dudes, it’s simple. People need to fill seats [or floors, in the case of stand-ups] and working in media is basically an auto-qualifier).
I started planning a wedding. I also got even worse at keeping up with high school friends, though slightly better at keeping in touch with newer ones.
I started taking facial sunscreen seriously (now that I’m not a constant oil pit and am more sensitive to sun) and started using eye cream religiously, because my eye area freaks out when I don’t. Also, I can see all sorts of fine, crepey lines threatening to emerge. IS THIS WHAT GETTING OLD MEANS?
And I’m excited for 2013. How about you?
