[Phanuthier]

2010 was a great year for me on a personal level. Finished off grad school and got my ideal job despite a still tough economy, and the scarcity of positions in my field. I never worked harder in my life than for the job I got, so it was a great feeling to get what I worked for. My climbing took a notch up and I got to go outdoors almost every weekend, everything from alpine climbing to bouldering and everything in between. I took a few months off from soccer, and my ankles finally healed. I finally started to settle in as a Californian after moving here a few years ago, and found some great friends that I now live with. Also picked up surfing and canyoneering, which I hope to carry through in 2011. I finished off the year with a pair of trips to New York and Hong Kong, a new car and motorcycle, tons of Chirstmas parties before leaving Cali, and rung in the new year with all my best friends from my undergrad skiing.

Of coarse, there were some oddities. My friend that went missing earlier this year went through a weird series of events and died. For the first half of the year, I studied harder than I ever thought I could and there were times when I didn't think I'd get a job. I made it through the year without a girlfriend for the first time in a long time (Thank you Man Jose) and I learned to enjoy life without always needing or searching for a girlfriend. I dodged death more times than I should have, including big climbing falls, lightning, highway accidents from rock falls, hypothermia boiling weather and drowning in a desert, etc etc. I rented a room from a creepy family that I thought might kill me in my sleep every night, and the day I wanted to give my 1 month notice to vacate they had a late miscarriage.

Sufficed to say, 2010 was turbulent, but 2011 looks a lot more clear and smooth sailing.