I feel as though it is some sort of requirement to look back at the past year. It just seems to be the thing that one does with a blog around New Years.

This past year I built a website. This past year I wrote 72 blog posts for said website. This past year I tweeted 299 times. This past year I wrote, drew and published 142 comics.

This past year I refined my drawing abilities. This past year I refined my writing abilities. This past year I decided that those two things are not something I should keep to myself; those are things that I should share with the world, free of charge.

This past year I relearned what a commitment should be. This past year I learned that there are things that I am not cut out for. This past year I accepted this fact.

This past year I looked at myself and fell in love. This past year I looked at myself and saw who I was. This past year I looked at myself and decided that if I wanted something different I would need to step up and change it. This past year I looked at myself and was content.

This past year I met people. This past year I lost friends. This past year I mended bridges. This past year I realized that friends are all a person needs to get by in this world.

This past year I immersed myself in the world. This past year I learned politics firsthand. This past year I saw problems with the world. This past year I realized that things more often than not get worse.

This past year I changed my plans for life.

This past year I was me. This past year I was only me. This past year I was who I wanted to be. This past year I was not who everyone else wanted me to be.

It is the coming year that I now anticipate. I made myself a couple of resolutions. I intend to keep them. I resolved to take a week long bike trip this summer. I resolved to build some upper body muscle, because I want it and not because someone else wants it. I resolved to fill a notebook with character sketches of archetypes for future use in writing.

The third resolution I ask for some help with, and I will continue to ask for help with. For now I would like some ideas of different archetypes. My thoughts so far include the neo-hippie, the knight errant, the roommate, the girl next door, the best friend. The list contains a few more, but they escape me at the moment. If you have any that I have not thought of, feel free to let me know what they are.

With that, I would like to say goodbye to 2008; you taught me much of what I know.

Welcome, 2009.