The world didn’t end. I was surprised. You’d expect that people from 2000+ years ago to be able to predict when the world would end and do so with exact precision (down to the day). Instead, we get to remember all the events that happened this past year and look forward to 2013… 
- Remembering the victims of the Aurora movie theater shooting, the Clackamas Town Center shooting (this one hit home since I had family in the area), and the Newtown school shooting. How many more shootings will it take before things change? So many lives lost.
- Who would have thought that Eli Manning would have more Super Bowl rings than his older brother, Peyton, let alone do it against Tom Brady and the Patriots, of all teams?
- Spain winning back to back European Championships, retaining their hold on the major titles. If they can win the World Cup 2014, this only confirms their place as probably the most dominant team in the soccer history.
- Chelsea winning the Champions League cup. Bayern fans remorse at how European glory was snatched from them in the dying minutes by an English team… again.
- Obama wins again. More states pass gay marriage bills. Marijuana bills get passed in Colorado and Washington. Who would have thought this all would have happened decades ago?
- Hurricane Sandy hitting the eastern seaboard shaking things up, especially so late in the season.
- The CERN discovery shows the imagination, brilliance, and curiosity of mankind with regards to what’s out there in the universe.
- Man breaking the sound barrier without any machine to help him. Part insanity, part amazing feat.
- London holds the Summer Olympics. And what an Olympics it was, with Michael Phelps leading the way and setting a record that might not be matched for quite some time.
- We say goodbye to Mike Wallace, Dick Clark, Dave Brubeck, Sally Ride, Neil Armstrong, Arlen Specter, Andy Griffith, Eduard Khil (of Trolololol fame).
- We can only wonder if Syria will end the violence somehow, some way…
- The UEFA player of the year for the first time in five years was not a forward, but a midfielder… Andres Iniesta.
- Timbers won silverware and the Sounders came out with none (had to put this in).
As for me, a lot went on in 2012. But some that come to mind:
- Getting the internship to complete my master’s degree
- Getting the privilege to manage one of the most successful and fun soccer teams that I can remember.
- Being able to figure out what I really value and moving on from what doesn’t.
- Somehow winning my fantasy football league for the second year in a row with a bunch of nobodies and underperforming players.
- Two fun trips to California.
- Having to deal with two bad injuries (dislocated knee and back spasms).
- Too many moments with friends and family throughout the year to count.
With 2013, it’ll be far more different from past years. After seven years of undergrad and graduate school and a master’s degree, there’s no longer the sight of school in my future. It’s about building my career in NLP and computational linguistics, or whatever else is put in my path. Maybe programming. Maybe a startup. Hell, maybe something involving soccer or sports (though would be awkward with this new master’s degree in hand). Who knows.
If there’s one thing that will be like any sort of resolution or theme for the upcoming year, it’ll be to take more chances and risks. There was this thought that’s been running through my head: It’s better to have tried and failed than to not try and leave yourself wondering what could have been. It’s too easy to sit back on what’s comfortable and easy. To build character and grow, you have to get dirty and try things you’ve never done before. That’s the hope for 2013.
Barring some sort of end of the world catastrophe, of course.