Hello, 2007!

What?! Another post?! Yeah, it's true; two posts for the price of one (scroll down for my real Tuesday post, which actually has interesting information in it and a meme). The reason is that I'm flying to Seattle tomorrow and will not return until Sunday as I have Microsoft interviews on Sunday, so wish me luck! As such, I will obviously not be posting for the next few days, likely not until next Monday, so I thought I'd give you guys one more really long post to make up for it.

I like to make a post annually talking about the previous year and looking forward to the following year because it's fun to look back on the post after the following year is over and think about how I had no idea what I was in store for. So here's that post.

2006 was a very interesting year. It started off with my hardest semester of college since I was getting squashed between Computer Architecture and Physics (plus lab, mind you), the tests in Misra's Theory in Programming Practice class were the scariest tests I've ever taken, and there was seemingly no end in site to my workload. I even had a complete mental breakdown where all I would do was stress and cry because I just couldn't handle the weight of everything, but I ended up with another straight A semester so that was exciting; except that it nearly cost me my life with that car accident. Definitely the stupidest mistake of my life, continuing to drive while fatigued. But the summer in Dallas with TI was definitely my best summer ever. What's better than not having homework, working for a set portion of the day (with a decent pay, considering my experience level), and spending your weekends partying poolside and playing basketball with your newly found friends? I did have a slight girl issue, but it resolved itself quickly and all was well again.

Also awesome about the summer is that it catapulted me into dancing again! I have a new passion, and that's HUGE for me because I'm a self-proclaimed man of my passions. I've been completely enamored with computers, classical guitar, and just music in general for a while now (with side interests in blogging and movies, you could say), and 2006 gave me amateur photography and dancing to boot. I've actually always enjoyed dancing, I just wasn't all that confident in it. And Texas Latin Dance is such a great club! I love the people I've met there, and it's just what I needed all these years: a social outlet to compensate for not being in like a frat or something. I've always felt that something was missing (besides a chick, of course), and TLD was just what I needed. It's what keeps me going in my weeks now: knowing that I'm just a few days away from dancing again and learning new things.

Then there are my other clubs: Natural Sciences Council and the Association for Computing Machinery. I'm pretty proud of the website I developed for NSC, even the code itself (unfortunately, a lot of the cool stuff is hidden to public visitors, but it's there), and it's kind of cool being a celebrity within the club since I'm an officer =P Then in the ACM I found a good group of guys to kick back with in Adam, Juan, and Naughty Nirav, and I think I really played a part in the ACM Holiday Party being a success. Plus, our New Year's Eve party went well. Oh, and let's not forget my brother's awesome wedding, the single happiest event of my life so far.

There were other bad parts to the year though than just the car accident. I broke my GPA with my first B this semester in Physics (heartbreaking since I was the second highest B in the class). My classes were really not all that stimulating in the fall. I didn't get interviews with Amazon or Apple. I got shut down in multiple ways by women. Ouch. Oh, and I still clutter. Double ouch. But I think I gained a lot of confidence over the semester, my physical figure is still improving, and I'm ready to take on the Spring semester, with at least two fun classes (Object Oriented Programming and Programming Languages).

I think I'm finding a sort of balance in my life, and I'm thankful for the people I've grown closer to. Not only Jenn and Bethany, but the people I've met through TLD and some old friends in CS. I'm so blessed that I should be nothing but optimistic for the year to come, as daunting as it is. I still have to make a decision on where I'm going to go for the summer, followed by a decision in the Fall for what I'll do full-time when I graduate. I have to keep trying my luck with women or I'll remain clueless for all my years (God knows that my parents didn't give me the freedom to experiment much). Maybe one of my romantic adventures will stick, or maybe it won't, but it's time I balance out my priorities and put myself out there and have some fun for a change. Enough with the perfect grades! Of course I also look forward to much more dancing in the year to come, and, best of all, turning 21. It's the only event I'm going to have comparable to the excitement preceding my brother's wedding, but it will surely not be as glamorous.

So come on 2007, I'm ready for you! I'm going to start it off right with a fun trip to Seattle (with several hours of Hellish interviews in the middle), and I plan on following through. I guess I don't really have much along the lines of resolutions, other than the standard 'stop cluttering' and what I've said in the last paragraph. I guess another resolution will to be a better friend, and not get stuck on the computer when I know I have a lot of work to do. See you all in a few days, with plenty of pictures I'm sure!