Well, here we are sweeping away the last few crumbs of 2008.  This has been a pretty routine year for me, because quite frankly, I haven’t accomplished much.  There were a few high points, only a couple of low points, and lots of middle ground.  Here’s a quick review of 2008’s greatest hits, sovknight style.

1.  In January, my continuous employment of ten long years came to a very abrupt end.  I was terminated over the matter of a broken DVD case worth approximately $4.  This, after a decade of faithful service, running multi-million dollar departments and traveling the entire country for a corporate entity who cares little for it’s employees.  In the end though, this was a good thing.

2.  In May, I turned 36 years old.  There’s this sort of unspoken thing with men that says by the time you’re 35, your life should pretty much be on the path it’s destined for, and your career and love life and kids and education should be things you worried about in the past.  By 35, you should have achieved.  Well, I’m behind the curve.  Not only is my life pretty much a complete waste up until this point, but I don’t really have any prospects for the future.  There’s obviously something wrong with me.  This one is in the "bad thing" category.

3.  After seeing a video of a parade I marched in over the summer, I couldn’t help but stare in enraged astonishment at the bloated, disgustingly fat blob of flesh that I had let myself become.  Photographic evidence further supported this realization, and after thinking back on the tight, well-muscled frame I fought so many years to acquire in my late teens, I couldn’t help but feel sickened by my apathy towards my appearance.  To that end, I decided enough was enough.  I adjusted my diet and took up hiking as much as twice a week, and over the course of three months, I lost 25 pounds and gained a lot more energy and vitality.  I will never allow myself to become fat again.  This one is a good thing.

4.  I climbed a mountain!  If you’d have asked me ten years ago if I would ever physically climb a mountain, I’d have told you that it’s "on my list", but wouldn’t realistically expect it to happen.  Well, this past year my friend Sra and I accomplished what a surprising few people do.  We stood on the summit of a mountain, like gods, (it was Mount Olympus, after all) looking down on all that is below.  I am especially proud of this achievement, and I will take it as one of the highest points (pun intended) of the year.  Good thing.

5.  As a result of my unemployment, I decided to actually take time away from work and focus on myself for the first time ever.  I took the entire year off, and I will say, without reservation, that for the FIRST TIME EVER IN MY ENTIRE LIFE, I get enough sleep.  This is no small thing, I am being sincere.  Getting enough sleep on a consistent basis is something that everyone takes for granted, and you seriously don’t know what you’re missing.  This is a good thing.

6.  I finally declared Atheism.  There are those who might think this is sad, but it is not.  I’ve been on the fence for about a decade concerning my stance on religion and God.  I’ve been on one side or the other my entire life and the revelation I received finally, is that only by opening your eyes and your mind will you ever be at peace with your faith.  God is a construct.  It’s a way for people to explain things they can’t understand, and mankind will never reach it’s full potential unless we finally give up on superstition and naiveté and see what is real and true.  If there is such a thing as fate, then let me say that my undefined purpose for moving to Utah was to finally come to grips with faith and religion, and it took moving here and seeing the differences and perversions in what should be constants for me to finally realize it.  It’s all imaginary.  This is my decision, and I have no doubts that it is the correct one.  This is a good thing.

7.  I lost a lot of money this year.  A LOT.  This is because of my decision not to work, and my failures at starting a home-based business.  I went from making roughly $50K per year down to making $0 per year, and my bank accounts suffered for it.  Even so, it’s still only money.  I can always get more.  Sometimes you have to get humble and climb down a few pegs before going back up.  Losing thousands of dollars is a bad thing, but gaining humility and perspective is a good thing.  This one is a wash.

8.  I discovered a passion for photography.  It also appears that I’m fairly good at it, and getting better.  One of the best things about my decision not to work is that I had plenty of free time to discover my passions, and photography was the big one.  It also helps to live where I live.  I like taking pictures, and more than that, I like seeing people’s reactions to my pictures.  This is definitely a good thing about this past year.

9.  Depression kicked my ass this year.  I’ve "suffered" from depression (I hate that term) since I was a teenager, and this past year has been especially difficult.  I’m thankful for some supportive friends that have helped a little, but depression is a personal issue, and despite what you may want to believe, there is no cure.  Not having an income, failing at business opportunities, and failing to see future prospects really wears on the soul.  I’m hoping next year can turn this around, but I’m not betting on it.  We’ll see.  Category:  Bad.

10.  It may seem anti-climatic to end with this one, but it’s a good one.  I found out something about myself this year.  I’m a writer.  Yes, that’s right.  I am damn good at writing.  Of course, there’s always room for improvement, but on the whole, writing, creating, imagining, articulating, and even things like spelling and grammar come incredibly easy to me.  And in truth, they always have.  I know this all sounds like a massive boast, but please forgive me this once.  I found something that I excel at and it makes me feel good.  It’s a single ray of sunshine breaking through the clouds of my psyche, and I intend to exploit it as best I can.  There are exciting things on the horizon in this matter.  I can hardly wait.

Another year down.  2008 was a curious one for me, and overall I can say it was a positive one.  There was good and bad, but there was balance, and that’s one more for the "good" side. 

See you next year.

Last Thursday, after an entire summer of preparation, and a rainy weekend delay, Sra and I finally conquered Mount Olympus.

We’d planned to do it the previous Saturday, but Sra had a bit of a cold and it rained/snowed all day anyway, so we rescheduled for Thursday.  This turned out to be for the best, because the weather was cool and dry, with clouds most of the day, and it made for perfect hiking conditions.  Probably couldn’t have asked for a better day.

We started out pretty early.  I think we got to the peak right before 8AM, just as the sun was coming up.  After gearing up, we headed up the steep incline that forms the first mile-and-a-half of the trail.

The hike was pretty easy going at first.  It’s a fairly steep trail, but the first half of it isn’t too bad otherwise.  Mostly switchbacks going to and fro up the mountain, then a straight trial that runs parallel to a deep canyon.  Views of the valley enhance the hike, as your elevation climbs pretty quickly.  Passing through a few groves of trees and bushes finally brings you to the halfway point, which is a trickling stream.  I have dubbed it “Sucky Stream.”

From that point on, there is no respite.  The hike turns from an enjoyable stroll up the mountain into a hellish nightmare of climbing an ancient dried-up stream bed, complete with just enough small boulders spaced perfectly to induce the maximum amount of tripping and cursing, sweating and panting, and cramping muscle fatigue.  It’s a good workout to be sure, but that effort is rewarded when you finally come to a clearing at the top.  The only level place on the entire hike is a visual wonder, looking southeast along the Wasatch front across a massive canyon, with eagles soaring overhead (not kidding) backed by incredible views of the Twin Peaks and Lone Peak in the distance.  Stunning, believe me.  This picture doesn’t begin to do it justice.

After resting for a bit, we tackled the hard part.  During our research on the hike, we read of other people doing it, and they referred to a “scramble” that makes up the last 600 feet to the peak.  Ok, we thought.  No problem.  After all, lots and lots of people climb to the summit every year, so two healthy young people should be able to handle it.  We’ve been doing progressively harder hikes all summer in preparation, so we’re ready.  Right?

Well, we discovered the limits of our hiking abilities that day.  Scrambling is literally climbing, using your hands and knees.  We definitely weren’t prepared for the amount of scrambling we’d eventually end up doing, and to top that off, we lost the trail halfway up.  In our efforts to find it, we made an unfortunate detour to the “Cliff of Doom”, which was an attempt to scale the large boulders where inexperienced climbers like us dare not go.  I’ll tell you, I’m not afraid of heights at all, but when you’re perched on a large, flat boulder on the side of a mountain top, and the only thing between you and the valley floor over four thousand feet below you is a slim mountain goat path and some scrub brush, you tend to get a little freaked, especially with the number of people who get lost or hurt doing this climb every year.  After realizing the mistake of climbing up that, coming back down was even harder.  Thankfully both of us made it down safely, but the hike almost turned back there.

Bravely, we soldiered on.  We met a helpful guy coming down who gave us directions back to the trail, and we promptly set out to get lost yet again.  Making our way back to the trail (finally), we ascended the last little bit to the peak.

After a summer of prep, several hikes, and a bit of delay, we finally reached the summit of Mount Olympus.  The view from there is spectacular, and every bit worth the effort.  You literally almost feel like you’re on top of the world, standing like a hero with hands on hips, the master of all you survey.

But wait, there’s more!  If that weren’t enough, Sra and I also took some video.  I mean, it’s one thing to read my never-ending babble about the hike, but it’s nothing compared to seeing it for yourself.  Courtesy of Sra’s most excellent purchase of a tiny hand held video camera, we’re able to bring our hike right to you, almost like you were there with us.

One note about the video:  We shot almost an entire hour of goodness at varying places on the hike, and documented it pretty well, but because of YouTube’s time limit, I had to edit it all down to a scant ten minutes.  I’m not overly thrilled with the final product, given that 75% of it is edited out, but even in its shortened form, I tried to make it entertaining, so I hope you enjoy it.  Don’t forget to leave comments!

Note:  I’ve discovered that for some reason the embedded video below loads extremely slowly.  It may be best to click over to the actual video itself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8nPCbB6iqc&fmt=18 as it seems to load much faster there.  Weird.

Lastly, I’d like to thank Sra for being an amazing friend, and sharing this amazing hike with me.  Thanks for letting me have this experience with you, and I can’t wait to see what’s in store next year!