Happy New Year!

Last week I was thinking back on 2009 and decided that it was an absolutely amazing year.  Despite the massive upset that occurred part-way through, more than enough great stuff happened after that to make me literally forget about it for a minute!

The astronomy conference I attended in Ottawa truly changed my life.  It sounds overly dramatic, but it's true.  You see, I've always been a bit of a dichotomy.  Am I an artsy scientific type, or a scientifically-minded artist?  My astrology sign is Pisces, usually pictured as two fishes swimming in opposite directions, and that's just so me.

Anyway, back in the dark ages following high school, I started off in a Bachelor of Science program -- and promptly flunked all my science courses in a most spectacular fashion.  I dropped out of university for two hours, then asked them to tear up the paperwork, and switched to an arts degree in literature.  And it wasn't until I was sitting in that auditorium at the astronomy conference, taking in and understanding all of the jargon and ideas and astrophysical and cosmological terminology, that I came to an earth-shattering realization: I wasn't stupid.  And the part that really took me aback was that I hadn't realized I'd thought I was stupid in the first place. For twenty years I'd been dragging that around with me, beating myself up with it ever since bombing out of the geology program, and I'd had absolutely no idea.  None.

2009 was a major turning point for me.  From standing up for myself, to leaping out of my comfort zone, to branching out creatively, to having my mind opened in ways I struggle to put into words, to beginning a new job which puts so many things into perspective, it was an incredible year.

And you know those mornings when you wake up and you just feel in your gut that it's going to be a thoroughly wonderful day?  That's how I feel about 2010.

This is my year. Let's get it started! :D