Looking Back into 2010…. on a personal level

So we reach another year’s end, and we take some time to reflect on what went by.

I can’t say that 2010 was a good year professionally speaking. The crippling recession really affected the publishing industry, and many of the magazines and papers I used to work for simply ceased to exist or dramatically reduced the use of freelancers like me. However, I was lucky enough to have found a teaching job at a local college (I actually started in 2009), and by increasing my hours I was able to compensate for the loss of income in that area. As of now, I am working to find new markets to write for – and if the latest assigns I received are any indication, 2011 should be very promising.

This year was also a personal landmark for me – I completed a full decade in New York after relocating here from Fortaleza, Brazil. My life has changed a lot since then. The first three years were pretty much a struggle, and the stress took a toll on my marriage then – which ended in divorce. Then I had a bit of an aimless year and a half on my own until I met Renata, and five years on things have been quite peaceful.  Sure, things are far from idyllic, but you just know that when things are going in the right direction, everything else works itself out on its own.

This was also a good time to travel. This year, we visited Poughkeepsie, NY, Baltimore, MD, Myrtle Beach, SC and we finally had the chance to make that much-delayed trip to Poland.  In Myrtle Beach, we bought into a time-share (though we haven’t figured out how to fully benefit from that) that allowed us to make a second visit at very low cost.  Poland was a great discovery (at least for me), and I hope we can return soon to see more of Krakow, Warsaw and specially Zakopane, the mountain town we were not able to see the first time around.  We also discovered MTA’s one-day trips, which allowed us to see vineyards in Long Island, dairy farms Upstate and a 19^th Century castle on the Hudson at very low cost.

2010 also saw me go back to performing. Though I’ve been playing my bass in church since 2004, we also went through some baby steps with a bossa nova band. We only had two gigs so far, but I am hopeful that we will have many more in the near future – we just need to find our footing, so to speak.

So while 2010 was not a year of great discoveries or big personal or professional changes, it was also a year in which stability seemed to rule… and one cannot say that was a bad thing… How was it for you?

Happy New Year (or Decade!) to all of you!