Return of the Friday Five. I missed last week’s because I was not in the habit of checking the website.
1. What was your biggest accomplishment this year?
Feeling as though I had made a difference in a young person’s life. Even though, very likely I didn’t have a real impact, even feeling as though I did, makes me feel better about myself.
I was going to post a “Jeff’s Wonderful Life” post, feeling as though I really make a difference in everyone’s life, but deep down I know I probably don’t. More on this topic later on.
If the question had been phrased as “What was the highlight of the year?” it would have been easy to answer. July 28th, 2002: Seeing a young friend of mine become a Christian. That was a real thrill. It’s rare that I’m actually friends (not just acquaintances) with the person being baptized. I count that as a real highlight.
2. What was your biggest disappointment?
September 11, 2002: Getting laid off. I sorta saw it coming. But it always takes the breath out of you. My old boss didn’t have a clue as to what I did. That can play a role in whether you keep your job or not. It can go one of two ways – either they keep you because they don’t know and are scared of not having you around. Or they get rid of you thinking the unknown must be easy to do. It was the latter for me.
And for those of you wondering, yes, I did get laid off on September 11th. How lame is that?
3. Will you be making any New Year’s resolutions?
Yes. I haven’t made them yet. But I will post it later on. Most likely it will be a carbon copy of last years.
4. Where will you be at midnight? Do you wish you could be somewhere else?
At church. I always help out at the youth lock-in at church. Usually we are in the middle of a devotional when the new year comes in. It’s kinda lame to the rest of the world. But somehow it’s cool to me because it is the direct opposite of how the rest of the world does it.
5. Aside from (possibly) staying up late, do you have any other New Year’s traditions?
Not really. Just going to the church lock-in and staying up all night. I’ll probably try to catch a nap sometime.
My parents eat black eyed peas for some reason. They’re always trying to get me to eat it on New Year’s Day, but I never do. Must be some rural Tennessee thing. I’ll probably end up playing U2’s “New Years Day” at some point in the day.
I have to teach the Wednesday night class at church on New Year’s Day. After staying up all night, I doubt I’ll be at my 100% level that night. But I am going to try to be prepared beforehand so I’ll be able to teach adequately after a decent nap.