Since so much has been awful about this year, the least I can do when recapping it is not indulge in the “things sucked overall, but my life was great!” approach that I did for 2015 and 2014. So I’ll just say that for me, the following items were fulfilling and/or fun in personal and/or professional ways this year:
- Becoming a Senior Designer at Oniracom in my third year of employment there.
- Reviving my old “History Mix” band essays with three new ones, as part of starting a new book project [UPDATE 7/6/21: it became a podcast project].
- Refreshing the Oniracom identity design, my biggest project there this year.
- Taking two road trips to San Luis Obispo (plus one night in Cayucos) for AIGA Santa Barbara events there.
- Creating two posters that got noticed as part of AIGA’s national “Get Out the Vote” initiative showcase.
- Participating in the AIGA Los Angeles Design Debates event in March.
- Attending my first UCSB Daily Nexus Alumni reunion in April.
- Creating and posting my “50+2” weekly map/art project on social media.
- Seeing Elvis Costello for the third time and Neko Case for the third time—or fourth, if we’re counting Case/Lang/Veirs.
- Biking well over 1,000 miles a year for the first time since committing to it as serious exercise.
- Visiting North Carolina for the first time so I could attend my 4th AIGA Leadership Retreat, this year in Raleigh.
- Visiting Minnesota for the first time so Em and I could catch a Twins game at the 15th stadium on our DuBois Baseball Tour.
- Attending my first AIGA Design Conference, hosted this year in Las Vegas.
- Producing two back to back AIGA SB events in April—the highlight of thirteen events in my second year as president.
- Taking in a Dodgers/Padres game in LA with Em on our 10th wedding anniversary.
- WATCHING THE CUBS WIN THE WORLD SERIES ON MY 40TH BIRTHDAY.
I have no idea what will happen next year, but given what we’re all up against I think I’ll have to make some hard choices and take real risks. Stay tuned.
