Tonight, I take off on a trip to Singapore and Malaysia (maybe Indonesia as well, if my brother and I get ambitious ). I'm terribly excited and hope that being overly excited will get me tired so I can sleep on the plane. But, just in case that plan fails, I have a book to read and might even bring a season of House to marathon.

Hey guys!

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I think I've grown to like animals over people.

Around August, I thought about my end of the year journal.

I was worried that I would have nothing interesting to write about. That there was no way I could ever live up to 2011. After all, in 2011, I graduated college, started working full-time at the best job ever, and took a two-week trip to Europe.

But then, late August hit. And, as you'll see, I knew that this would, indeed, be an interesting year.

Let's start from the top!

February: After my roommate told me she was moving out, I was a bit frantic to find a new roommate to replace her. I interviewed a few different people, and found one girl I thought would be a good fit. We came down to signing the papers, when she got cold feet and left me with no other leads and a looming rent due date. I decided to talk to the landlord, who gave me a pretty good deal on another apartment she owned, and moved into my own 1 bedroom apartment. It's been great for me and while the move was stressful, it ended up being for the best.

In February, I also had the great opportunity to attend the San Francisco deviantMEET, where we had over 180 deviants celebrate the Fotolia Seven Deadly Sins billboard. It was also my first time to San Francisco, and I really enjoyed the city for the 16 hours we were there.

April: I think my all-time favorite activity that I've been involved with at deviantART to date has been the Cat Takeover on April Fools' Day 2012. I still remember discussing ideas in the brainstorming meetings, and we kept coming back to this idea of cats. $Moonbeam13 said, "Everybody loves cats." Turns out, she was right. The article is still the most commented and viewed to date.

Later in the month, I took a road trip up north to attend a Tree Climbing Convention. It was truly amazing to see arborists in action and the techniques they use to climb trees. It fueled me to begin looking into it more and see what I could do to take care of our trees.

May: I took a trip to New York City for a trip to see my brother and attend a NYC Cinco de Mayo deviantMEET. `SanguineEpitaph and I also went to see a taping of The Daily Show -- one of my all-time favorite shows. It was an awesome experience seeing Jon Stewart in person, and, though we were there for hours waiting for a special guest to arrive for the show, it was totally worth it.

June: Since May, I was looking forward to taking a trip home to Ohio and planning the first ever Cleveland deviantMEET (or, as we called it, Clevemeet). Then, I was told I would also have the opportunity to participate in the #dt offsite in France, where I also got to work the Paris deviantMEET. It was a busy month, but certainly a memorable one. The retreat was a lot of work, but a great experience meeting many deviantART staff for the first time. I also met some of my personal deviantART heroes, like `fritsvandersloot, `Anoya, `anmari, ^SaTaNiA, =ZeldaDreams, and $namenotrequired, at this meet.

July: July was another busy travel month. $grieves05, $codenamepanther, $Heidi, and I headed back across the pond to host the London deviantMEET and London Gallery Show, both of which were incredible experiences. We met so many amazing deviants there -- a few were even able to come to both events. Shortly after, we headed to San Diego for another sponsorship of Artists' Alley at #Comic-Con.

August: While I was ecstatic with all the travel I was able to do, I felt that I hadn't made many personal strides. I was still, more or less, the same person in the same stage of life -- just with a few more stamps in my passport.

That was, until, I met Daniel. We got along great right from the start. He was a successful rocket scientist who was finishing up his Masters, and I was the weirdo who rode the bus to our first date and attempted to justify that Ohio is the best place in the world. I don't know why, but he's stuck with me and continues to accept my eccentricities.

September: I took a trip to Chicago to see my high school friends ~vulture-nugget and ~pajama-sam. They recently moved there, and I had a recent gentleman caller, so we definitely had a lot to talk about. And we even found time to play a lot of Pokemon Snap. Good times.

November: It can never be all good news, right? In November, my first and favorite cat, Sunflash, passed away. He never liked people all that much, but we got along well. I wasn't home when he moved on, and in a way, I'm glad I wasn't. My parents could barely keep the tears back telling me about it. It was painful to hear about, but I know they made the right decision. I miss him, and it's not the same being home without him.

It's been a crazy year, full of good and bad. As I sit here by the fire with a cup of tea and my cat Oscar by my side, I can't help but be thankful, and look forward to the adventures to come. I'm so blessed to be where I am and I never want to take it for granted.

I have no idea what the year ahead contains. I hope for the best, but if I've learned anything, it's that any plan can be eradicated in an instant. While I've been warned otherwise, I'm constantly surprised with where life takes me. There are so many unexpected turns, which I've come to embrace, both good and bad. I've learned that it's less about trying to predict the future, and more about how you deal with the unexpected when it inevitably arrives. My hope for the new year, and all years, is that I continue to grow and serve, for the betterment of all.

I hope that you've all had a wonderful 2012, and enjoy the year to come.