Remains Of The Day: Summing Up 2011

Remains Of The Day: Summing Up 2011

Wow, the year really ripped by quickly. There’s so much going on, so much to write about, so much to post, that really the end of the year snuck up on me fast. And now it’s my final hour of work time on the last day of the year.

This year I undertook a monumental project for my blog and online presence: to make a unique, new blog post for every single day of the year. And now in this final day of the year, with this final post, I can say: Success. I’ve done it. I’ve written 365 consecutive blog posts, on topics covering everything in my life. Mission accomplished.

This was definitely no small feat. It’s taken countless countless hour of my time, money and spirit to put myself down on the page every day. It’s taken a dedication to the technology, media, and a constant attention to what’s new, interesting, and notable in my life. The responsibility to write something fresh and new every day has made me pay attention to what surrounds me with a renewed focus and clarity. No more do I simply gloss over news articles, beautiful scenes, fun parties, and opportunities for adventure. I’m now looking at things through the lens of meaninfulness. What does this particular moment mean? What can I extract out of it? How do I relate this to everything else? How do I form a meaningful opinion, vision, stance on what is happening now, and how to I convey it to readers effectively? Every day.

Of course, I haven’t actually written each post on the day it was posted. Sometimes I’ll have a particularly productive day and bang out 4 or 5 blog posts and schedule them into the future – that’s possible with WordPress’ scheduling feature. And sometimes I’ll slack off and enjoy a few days without writing about them – and then catchup in one swoop – like I’m doing right now as I type. I actually still have 3 posts to retroactively post – and I have some ideas for them.

So, this is my final blog post of the year, but certainly not my last. I’ve been actively blogging since 2001 when I had my first “Jamfan2:Web” site hosted at Geocities. I don’t plan on stopping now. I’m at about 1100 posts, and hope to keep increasing that number. I may or may not keep blogging every day – we’ll have to see.

So in entering the new year, I’m going to continue to look back on this year. There are a number of summary posts I still want to make. I’m working on whipping up some infographics with stats about both my blog and life in the last year.

Tonight I’ll run into the new year at the New York Road Runners 4mile midnight run – and then get a bracing wakeup to the new year at the Polar Bear Club Coney Island Swim.

See ya next year!

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Comments

2 responses to “Remains Of The Day: Summing Up 2011”

  1. Jeff, I loved reading your blog this year, and staying connected with your interesting and very cool life experiences. All best for health happiness and peace in 2012! Have a great run tonight.

  2. […] Every year I try to do a yearly wrap-up, in order to talk about how the year has gone and about what’s coming up next. This year is no different