JediWright.com

I haven’t done a list in I don’t know how long, so here’s one for 2009, recognizing my top ten, notable events:

• I got to see a woman/my partner/Tristan give birth to our first child and son Lee, born (1.24.09)
• I completed yet another phase of build-out at the first house I’ve helped build from scratch
• I got to see Lamb play live
• My immediate family got together, including my sister and bro-in-law from Spain (who got to meet Lee); last time was some years ago
• Made my first trip to Ireland
• Flew solo with Lee back to PA for a quick family visit
• Moved back to Los Angeles, California
• Helped navigate my Internet fabric company through treacherous economic waters, coming out ahead, out of debt and on track for renewed profitability
• Lee: rolled over, crawled, stood up, took his first steps, started “talking”, along with a multitude of other firsts
• Discovered some interesting truths about myself through some very heavy introspection

Just noticed my blog is still running on pacific time. Guess there’s little point in switching it over now that we’ll probably only be around for another month, maybe less.

Just something to be aware of though.

Today I started sorting last weekends baby shower gifts for pre-washing, packing and storage (since some are for 6-12 months old). I was really kind of overwhelmed with how much has been given to us. I’m really thankful for everyone’s generosity.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from JediWright’s Posterous

Ball Drop

Originally uploaded by JediWright

New Year’s Eve celebrations are a dime a dozen, especially in cities ’round the world. House parties with friends are probably the most common here in the States, next to major towns and cities hosting public celebrations.

This year, er last year, Tristan and I spent our night with my brother Ben and his girlfriend Jen, our step-brother Justin and his girlfriend, and some of our friends, totaling just 11.

We were the first to arrive, getting to Jen’s parents place around 8:30pm. We took a small soundsystem, some food and drink left-over from my 30th bday party (love me some recycling in any way possible . The other guests started showing up not long after.

We had a nice selection of beer thanks to my bro and a great spread of food by Jen. We chatted about relationships, politics, law, beer, the house we were hanging in, our accident from earlier that day, and a host of other random subjects.

We probably had our most fun though when playing Taboo – good ol’ slapstick fun. Or whatever. Not quite my normal activities compared to the last 6-7 years’ celebratons, but still a good time.

Last year we dropped by Tristan’s sister Olivia’s place for a drink and then headed off to our last major Green Sector party, which was held at Creativity in Venice. That was an okay time, but it too was pretty low-key.

Seems like things are mellowing out, year after year. I think everyone’s just so overstimulated these days that not much is super-exciting. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed myself last night. But part of me always craves for the big lights/soundsystems/crowds/etc.

Maybe next year will be that all-out-year, if The Do LaB does another NYE event; their last was back in 2004.

No matter what though, that transition will always retain some measure of magic and excitement. Change is an awesome thing.

Happy New Year!

p.s. The rest of my pics from last night are up on my Flickr now.

I just took a quick look and count of the year in blogging here on my blog and see that I’ve posted 97-times (not including this…my 98th . Not bad, not super-prolific, but still a decent count for my first determined year to represent my life, times and thoughts here consistently.

I’m very eager to press onwards in 2009 with all the new mediums I’ve enabled over the year: Flickr, Instinct phone, Posterous, etc.

I’ve still got a few things to configure but am comfortable moving ahead with what I’ve got enabled, as they stand now.

My biggest goal here in the coming year is to really widen the breadth of content I post here. I’ve really wanted to amp up my writing, in terms of detail, content, etc. and have yet to break through to another level of writing. And on a related note, hope to cultivate a greater following in readership and commentators.

I also hope to increase the size of my Adsense checks and the frequency with which they arrive.

I’m confident I’m on the right track building my readership and cultivating greater skill and interest here. Connected social network outlets like my Facebook and Tribe profiles are furthering my efforts in this.

As blogging and its culture, technology and general popularity continue to grow and evolve, I’m confident that I’ll continue on the same path. I look forward to the journey.

So I’m coming up on my 30th birthday in about 6 days, on December 29th. And it’s really hard to fathom in some ways.

On one hand, I feel much older than my 30 years of age, but in most cases, I feel much younger. I still feel like an older teenager or in my early twenties; I’ve felt like this probably since I was 22, I think. Now that my twenties are coming to a close, I’m forced to admit that this may be changing finally. My mind still feels that young in many respects, but physically, I have to admit I’m feeling my age. And I don’t like it.

I know of many shining examples in my west coast family (and some here back east) that have such a great mindset or something, keeping their youth, super active, super fun. I’m sure most of this all in our heads, but I haven’t found my own method of enacting this outlook yet.

I steadfastly refuse to go another year feeling this way though and will do whatever I have to to find and create my own methodology for eternal young-mindedness. Not only for my own sake/sanity/well-being but so too for my baby slated for arrival in under a month now.

I can’t imagine not being in the fittest shape of my life when he’s ready to play, I don’t want to disappoint and let him down in anyway…

Between my Saturn Return, my pending fatherhood and my big 3.0 coming down fast, it’s quite a bit to take in and process gleefully.