an obligatory synopsis of the year.

dwyane wade of the miami heat, who i consider myself to be the harshest critics of, once said, "if i don't hold a chip on my shoulder, i'm not as good." i couldn't find a better statement to define myself.

the year 2008 was one fraught with triumph and despair for me. it was the year of my greatest accomplishment coupled with the greatest blow i've ever been dealt to my faith in...pretty much my fellow man.

let's begin though:

*January - March: I shared a class with a girl who i would come to find to be my dream girl: beautiful, smart, charming, rough around the edges only to find that she had a boyfriend. what did i learn? dreams aren't meant to be attainable.

*April - June: I rebounded from heartbreak and got into pretty much the best damn shape of my life, if i don't mind saying so myself. I realized that there were other fish out there in the sea, and finally gathered up the nalgas to approach a girl in another of my classes. your boy got the digits, but later got the cold shoulder. ouch.

besides that, i published my first article, and got my man fuji some good press and stage time.

*june 14, 2008: following a 6 year tenure in college that included expulsion, numerous academic probations and a year in community college, i graduated with a bachelor of the arts in humanites with a concentration in literary journalism from the university of california irvine. i don't think i've ever seen my father so happy. his old age once led him to to say that he'd be satisfied just to make it to my grade school graduation. needless to say, my last year at college led me meet a great deal of peers and professor that have had a significant impact on my life. let's move on.

*june - september: i began my 9-5 "adult life," or so i had thought. for these three months, i slaved away mindlessly for a company that i would later come to find doesn't give a shit about me, i'll get into that soon. as the months passed, it became clearer and clearer that the offer of a fulltime position once promised had less and less chance of materializing.

*october: this spelled the last time that i would ever be trusting of a company. after five years of dedication, not only would i be a fulltime employee, i'd be a true part time employee with 20 hours maximum a week. that's not the part that really angers me. we played around with the wording a bit to try to get me 40 hours a week, even if i didn't have benefits. one week later, i was told i could only have 28 hours a week maximum. to help, i was given a 50 cent raise. gee, how generous.

*november - december: the job search begins in earnest. the holidays come, and they go. once again, i slip dangerously close to letting myself and my health go to shit. so here we are again, i'm fighting to eat right and excercise mind, body and soul as we enter the new year. interviews come, and they don't. nothing really materializes, i take on a second part time job pushing carts and packing boxes at costco, an ultimate lesson in humility, perhaps it may pan out into something that i needed all along. if nothing else, it has most certainly jumpstarted my motivation and put me back into the "chip on the shoulder" state of mind.

so that was my 2008. somewhere along the line, i started smoking cigarettes again after a 2 year sabbatical. for each day that passes, the more my faith in mankind erodes. i really don't know what to think of what has become of me. although, it always seems that no yea- end is really a year- end for me without conflict(thinking back to the financial aid crisis of december 2007) and entering 2009, i am starting to revel these challenges. i have come to accept the burden of these hardships, and vow that they will make me stronger and hungrier than never before.

a man's character cannot be defined by his word, his appearance or his financial standing, it can only be defined by the difficulties he has overcome.