Another Year Has Gone By

I've just spent a good couple of hours organizing paperwork - for my self employment, for my education, for my taxes, for my health insurance, and for my youth group, of which I'm the treasurer. I feel very productive, and so I thought I'd update my blog while I was at it. :) I'm feeling a bit like I'm going into the new year with a fairly minimal to do list, which is a nice feeling, especially when you're a compulsive list-maker...

It's been an amazing year - I've gone from working full time to being a full time student, and despite the odd bit of complaining, I've loved almost every minute of it. I have an exciting class lineup for next semester, and we're kicking off 2012 with a quick trip to California for a youth leader's convention, courtesy of my church, which is simply FABULOUS. I'm also really looking forward to the Calgary Comic Expo in the spring - someone who knows me very well gave me tickets for Christmas, and I'm working on a steampunk outfit to wear. I'm very excited that Amanda Tapping is one of the main guests, as the fall of 2011 has been a bit of an AT marathon for me. I just need to get caught up on the last two season of Stargate Atlantis and I'll be good to go!

My biggest project for 2012 is co-chairing a large youth conference in Calgary, and I'd appreciate your prayers for it! We're in the early stages of planning, and we're a bit behind where I'd like to be at this point - youth gatherings are something that mean even more to me than my geekery, so this is pretty major for me. Co-chairing is a big responsibility, and making this a spiritually meaningful event for the kids that come is my passion. SO; very exciting!

Hopefully in a couple of weeks I'll be sharing photos of LA - I've never particularly wanted visit it, but since the conference is there, we're going a bit early and staying a bit late in hopes of doing some sightseeing. There are only a couple of things I really want to see; the ocean, the Griffith Observatory (site of an episode of Star Trek Voyager) and the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Hopefully we can manage all of that without a car and in the limited time we have. Of course, I research trips as if I'm going to write a masters thesis on the area we're visiting, so I have more information then we'll need for the day-ish we'll have free... :)

Happy New Year to you all!