Sitting It Out A Couple Days

Writing about a startup company implies I worked with a startup company this year. None of the companies I worked with were startups as of this year, nor can I really think of a true standout if I did indeed work with a startup. I would love to ramble on about my husband’s graphic and website design skills, but he’s currently out of commission until further notice. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing — it just means we’re living the life of full-blown role reversal. There’s nothing wrong with Dad staying at home with the little ones while Mom basks in her finally-hit-two-years, no-more-entry-level status, is there? You may have seen how offended I get when someone does have a problem with this arrangement, but I may have been a little too [redacted] happy around that time. That’s what happens when you get a little cash in exchange for your words — you start snapping it up as much as possible. I certainly want to get paid to write so I can live that dream, but for now I write for free (or until [redacted] sends decent work for decent pay my way — none of that “get a buck for hocking some spammy filth” nonsense).

Writing about a web tool that’s changed my life almost works — but Adobe InDesign CS4 is not quite a “web” tool. InDesign does have some have some web usage, but it’s more or less used for print-based documents in my personal opinion. I did, however, absolutely fall in love with the program’s applications. It completely changed my views of Adobe in general.

I’ve learned so many things from so many experiences this year that I’m not entirely sure I’m going to write on that prompt. How can I choose one lesson that changed me? I have to admit that 2009 has been quite eventful for me. I’ve also had many moments in which the realization that I most certainly am not a child in any sense of the word anymore (unless you want to count the sensing of being someone’s offspring). I go to work everyday. I pay rent. I pay bills. I have children. I have a husband. I am sprouting gray hairs and wrinkling! The attitude of “I’m not a child anymore” isn’t just an angtsy teenaged outburst — it’s a fact of life. I’m currently nearly the zenith of that hill everyone talks about. You know, THAT hill — the “you’re 30, now you’re over-the-hill” hill! I will gladly accept your flattery that I don’t look a day over 20, but that won’t make the increasingly visible crow’s feet and smile lines disappear. No, I’m just going to have to adopt another frame of thought (Brenda Della Casa replied to my tweet to “think of them as proof of a life well-lived,” actually).

You can count on me to detail the best gift of the year, be it the 24th, the 25th, or the 26th when I actually post about said gift. Insight/aha moment? That may very well be similar to the learning experience of the year. I’ll have a social web moment to share, I have a bit of stationery I’ll talk about, I won’t pick one single laugh of the year, I may or may not finally remember a good ad, and I’ll finish out the year with the resolution I wish I’d stuck with (or at least regret not being able to carry-out). You can count on me to share my gratitude as well. What will 2010 bring? We’ve only got a week and a half left to find out.