How was your 2009?

[FG Lurker]

Well, we're into the last 10 days of 2009... How was your year? Was it better than 2008? Worse? About the same?

Although 2009 was not at all the year I had hoped and planned for in early '08 it has (so far!) turned out to be quite a bit better than 2008 ended up being.

I'm hopeful that 2010 will be better than 2009 and that perhaps in 2011 I can have the year that 2009 was supposed to be!

Wishing everyone a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2010!

[oyajikun]

It's been a tough year, but near the end things worked out well. Got my PR (finally), which enabled me to get the house/mortgage that I had been chasing after for so long.

Happy holidays!!

[GuyJean]

Better. But 2008 set the bar pretty low. .. Personally, 2009 laid the foundation for some good years to come..

Wishing everyone a healthy 2010!

GJ

[Taka-Okami]

It was shit.

[BigInJapan]

2009 started out not too bad (all things considered), but then I hit some dry patches over the summer, and things have been going like gangbusters for the last 3 months. At this rate, 2010 should be pretty darn good.
Good luck to all in 2010, year of the tiger (although it probably won't be Tiger's year...).

[canman]

2009 turned out to be a good year. Went into it not expecting much, but in the end, things went quite well. I would have to say the last 4 months of the year have been the best. Did some things I had never done before, like doing my first concert, and being asked to do some modeling. I hope things will continue like this into the new year. I'd also like to wish all of you a very Happy 2010, and hope you all have a great Christmas and New Years.

[Taro Toporific]

It was shit.

I would love 2009 if it was merely "shit.":lol:

[Cyka UchuuJin]

i'm holding out for the 'new decade, clean slate' theory. i'm glad to see this entire decade gone.

[CrankyBastard]

For me 2009 compared favourably with 1999 when we were still reeling from the collapsed bubble, but nowhere near as good as 1989 which was fantastic in comparison to 1979 when we were still reeling from the second oil crisis. 1969 was too substance induced to remember. So I'd have to say that this past year has been no different than 1959,....... I'm barely employed,....... don't understand half of what's going on and can get drunk on a thousand yen (my alcohol tolerance has become somewhat reduced!)
Happy old year

[GomiGirl]

Fantastic 2009.

Business great, got married, moved to a fab new apartment, good friends, lots of good food and wine. No complaints really.

The only downside was that so many of my friends had a bad year so it is hard to be celebrating.

[AssKissinger]

I had a great year.

[tidbits]

[American Oyaji]

Overall 2009 sucked. It had some fun moments, but it was worse than 2008

[eddie]

[sublight]

Financially, it was worse than 2008, but still not too bad.

The kid started pre-school and finally got the hang of going to the toilet instead of crapping in his pants, so that's nice.

Business wasn't as good as previous years, but we still made a profit while our clients and clients' clients were posting record losses and nobody was laid off.

[Ikemen-of-d00m]

2009 has been great! The best year of my life so far

[Yokohammer]

Not exactly a boom year financially, but lots of changes were made that have led to a better life in general: moved to the country, bought a house, bought a car ... stuff I should have done 25 years ago or more. Unless there's a worldwide meltdown of unprecedented proportions, the coming decade ought to be pretty good.

My warmest wishes to all for a happy holiday season and an utterly euphoric 2010!!

[Samurai_Jerk]

Fuck 2009 and fuck anyone who says it was a good year.

[6810]

Fuck 2009 and fuck anyone who says it was a good year.

Yeah!

err, no...

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

Thanks to all well-wishers (and I wish my best to all for what's left of 2009 and beyond that as well), congrats to those who had a good 2009 and commiserations to those whose year wasn't too hot.
Personally, I started the year predicting that no year could possibly be as bad as 2008 had been. What I learned in 2009? I'm no fucking Nostradamus.
I really hope everyone has a prosperous time ahead and thanks to all on the board for making FG such an enjoyable experience through 2009.

[Iraira]

2009 was generally good (still some 7 days for everything to fall apart, but I'll tempt fate), although it started with an uzai friend visiting town, which was ultimately my fault, as I know how he is. After that, things cruised along, nothing too terrible affecting me. End of the year was great, as I was the only person at my company (and the only foreigner to boot) who got a raise. Not enough money to considering buying another set of Faberge eggs, but was nice nonetheless. Regarding chicks...good year...wait for the movie.

[dimwit]

I was doing swimmingly well until yesterday when I came down with the flu.

[Greji]

Can't say. It ain't over yet!

[Mike Oxlong]

Looks like I'm about to be single again. The year has taken a sudden dramatic upturn...

[Iraira]

Looks like I'm about to be single again. The year has taken a sudden dramatic upturn...

Dude, scary, I'm right there with you. Within 6 hours of posting my above "2009 was pretty damn good", Gf was into a "let's get married" subroutine.

[Greji]

Is it 2009 yet? Anybody got a cold beer?

[mr. sparkle]

It was better than 2008, which was the worst year for earnings for me EVER.

2009 started off great with a 7 month contract in a "dream job" doing video editing inside the walls of a computer company that rhymes with "Snapple"–unfortunately, they did not pick me up for full time. I then had nothing going on and just worked on a software product of my own invention. In the fall I worked on a Klaus Maria Brandauer film going to the Berlin Film Festival and released the software. Then, nothing in November/December except working on a new software product which should be ready in a week or two.

I'm broke again and in debt, but anything is better than 2008. At least there is hope on the horizon. Looming contract doing tech writing for a big hard drive company and the release of software product II should ease the cash flow issue. Bad cash flow makes for a very unhappy camper so I hope 2009 is more successful. I work best and am most creative when not worrying about dough. I think most folks are like me.

Let's hope 2010 is more successful for all of us!

Omedetooooo and Happy Holidays to all!

[james]

overall not bad and likely better than most people's.

financially, the year was probably better than average and i was able to take advantage of the strong yen to sock away a decent amount into my canadian savings account. a stupid investment i made, while still not even worth face value (ie, the principal i've invested) has recovered somewhat.

made a trip to canada for my brother's wedding which went well and was tiring but fun.

unfortunately, this year, a number of people with whom i was quite close moved away which rather sucked. i've also been dealing with some on-going health problems. spring brought a precipitous net downturn in enrolment at my schools, which has fortunately been balanced out with other work i've picked up.

not particularly optimistic going into 2010 and i expect the first half of the year to be a lot of rolling with the punches and dealing with a continued decline in enrolment. good timing maybe as i want to do something else. also very much looking forward to quitting a contract job that ends in march, despite the loss in income that will result.

[Mike Oxlong]

[SIZE="5"]Dave Barry's year in review: 2009[/SIZE]

It was a year of Hope -- at first in the sense of ``I feel hopeful!'' and later in the sense of ``I hope this year ends soon!''

It was also a year of Change, especially in Washington, where the tired old hacks of yesteryear finally yielded the reins of power to a group of fresh, young, idealistic, new-idea outsiders such as Nancy Pelosi. As a result Washington, rejecting ``business as usual,'' finally stopped trying to solve every problem by throwing billions of taxpayer dollars at it and instead started trying to solve every problem by throwing trillions of taxpayer dollars at it.

To be sure, it was a year that saw plenty of bad news. But in almost every instance, there was offsetting good news:

BAD NEWS: The economy remained critically weak, with rising unemployment, a severely depressed real-estate market, the near-collapse of the domestic automobile industry and the steep decline of the dollar.

GOOD NEWS: Windows 7 sucked less than Vista.

BAD NEWS: The downward spiral of the newspaper industry continued, resulting in the firings of thousands of experienced reporters and an apparently permanent deterioration in the quality of American journalism.

GOOD NEWS: A lot more people were tweeting.

BAD NEWS: Ominous problems loomed abroad as -- among other difficulties -- the Afghanistan war went sour, and Iran threatened to plunge the Middle East and beyond into nuclear war.

GOOD NEWS: They finally got Roman Polanski.

In short, it was a year that we will be happy to put behind us. But before we do, let's swallow our anti-nausea medication and take one last look back, starting with. . . .

[Cyka UchuuJin]

[SIZE="5"]Dave Barry's year in review: 2009[/SIZE]

It was a year of Hope -- at first in the sense of ``I feel hopeful!'' and later in the sense of ``I hope this year ends soon!''

It was also a year of Change, especially in Washington, where the tired old hacks of yesteryear finally yielded the reins of power to a group of fresh, young, idealistic, new-idea outsiders such as Nancy Pelosi. As a result Washington, rejecting ``business as usual,'' finally stopped trying to solve every problem by throwing billions of taxpayer dollars at it and instead started trying to solve every problem by throwing trillions of taxpayer dollars at it.

To be sure, it was a year that saw plenty of bad news. But in almost every instance, there was offsetting good news:

BAD NEWS: The economy remained critically weak, with rising unemployment, a severely depressed real-estate market, the near-collapse of the domestic automobile industry and the steep decline of the dollar.

GOOD NEWS: Windows 7 sucked less than Vista.

BAD NEWS: The downward spiral of the newspaper industry continued, resulting in the firings of thousands of experienced reporters and an apparently permanent deterioration in the quality of American journalism.

GOOD NEWS: A lot more people were tweeting.

BAD NEWS: Ominous problems loomed abroad as -- among other difficulties -- the Afghanistan war went sour, and Iran threatened to plunge the Middle East and beyond into nuclear war.

GOOD NEWS: They finally got Roman Polanski.

In short, it was a year that we will be happy to put behind us. But before we do, let's swallow our anti-nausea medication and take one last look back, starting with. . . .

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Mike Oxlong again.

best laugh i've had in ages and much needed. thanks for posting that!!!