Year of the Epic

I think the consensus is that year 2010 will be a year that we'll look back and say, "yeah - I was part of that". I really don't think we realize it yet, but this year will probably go down in history as one of the greatest years for many, many people. If the world ended tonight, it would be pretty incredible. The year of 2010 really marked some rather historical events for everyone, myself especially. Good, bad, and ugly, this year had it all. And I'm not even going to try to list everything out because that would take hours and I'd still miss a lot of things.

I've been alive for about 20 years; and even though most of my memories are after the new millennium hit, when I look back at things in another 20 years, I can guarantee that 2010 will be a standout year. I can only speak for myself, but there was so much growth this year, that if I tried to plot it onto a chart, the rate would have increased so dramatically that it's just look like a straight vertical line going upwards.

As this is my last post for such a legendary year, I think I'm just going to spend most of my night evaluating how my first semester and winter break has gone. I'll try not to play StarCraft, but I don't guarantee anything.

Since I got home, almost two weeks ago, I'd be lying if I said everything is as I thought it'd be. There's always going to be some insecure (not sure if that's the right word) moments because I don't really know what the reception is going to be like. My family will never change, so nothing really surprised or will surprise me there, but I think outside of that, there's something I'm always unsure about. When I kind of think about it, after leaving home, the image of "home" gets so fuzzy that everything seems fabricated into the perfect place. It's almost expected that the moment I get home, that things pick up where they were before I left. But the laws of this universe don't work that way; unless it's a black hole. It's almost expected that there was some rift in the time and space continuum where I was gone for this time, but when I get back, everything picks up from before I left. Unfortunately, life isn't like that and everything continues even though I'm not there anymore. So basically, everything is still happening, but I'm just not there anymore. And when I get back, I try to pull everything into place, but it just doesn't work that way. I guess this was my only real concern over the last two weeks. When you lose contact with people for an extended time, it's probably a bit weird when you get reconnected. I think everyone knows what I'm talking about. To kind of sum it all up, there's always that fear of being left out. Your best friends aren't really your best friends anymore; they have done lots of things without you so they carry their own swagger while I'm here struggling to keep up. I shouldn't say that your friends aren't friends because friends are always going to be friends, but probably just the chemistry is a bit crooked. I'm not saying this is how I really feel, but the potential is there.

And since I've been back, Christmas has happened, Boxing Day has happened, and a new calender year will be happening in under an hour. I can proudly sit here and tell everyone that I didn't spend much during this Christmas season (relative to past Christmases). I would say I spent about the amount that I would have on a pair of jeans if I had bought one. On Christmas Eve, I went out and bought myself StarCraft II because I was teased by the game the night before. Unfortunately, my laptop can barely run the game so it is really laggy and it makes for a frustrating gaming experience. So I know I'm going to suck mightily at this game, at least until I get a decent computer that can run it without lag. With that, this is basically how I spent my last week: playing StarCraft II. I suck at it, but whatever. I can hold onto the fact that I was one of the better players in old SC (=

So anyways, 2011 is going to start soon, and I'm semi-excited. 2010 is going to be really hard to follow up. There were the Olympics, World Cup, summer camp, moving to Calgary, English versus Chinese hockey, Taylor Hall, etc. Along with all these wonderful things, we can't forget the disasters as well. I had a discussion a while back about why these things happen, and I can only really conclude one thing from it: Jesus is coming back. It's really unfortunate that they happen, but it opens an incredible pathway for us as Christians to evangelize. I learned a lot of things during my first semester, but one concept really stands out. We were made to help accomplish God's mission. Everything happens so God's mission can be finished.

If 2010 was that epic, of course we can follow through and write an even better year in 2011. So what are we waiting for?

EDIT: oh noes! the y2k bug is back! No I didn't write this in Feb of 2009. If I can't fix it, I'm changing my template!