Everyone's Doing It!

Everyone’s doing it. Every famous columnist, all the cool blog sites – they’re all writing their end-of-year pieces. Be they Top 10 Lists or run-throughs of their best giggle-worthy jabs at the latest political dimwit. I guess you could say I wanted to jump on the end-of-year-post bandwagon. Thing is, political dimwits do not make me giggle, nor am I all that funny.

2011 was a year sprinkled with some notable personal failures and some incredible professional successes. But above all, I met some beautiful people. And I want to dedicate my year-end Top 10 List to them, an ode to some of the mega super awesome people I’ve bumped into and/or had the pleasure of interacting with this year. This list isn’t simply an ode, but a reminder that the world is a lovely place and with the population growing at such an alarming rate we all need to step up our game and start meeting more people already!

*In no particular order and the symbols don’t have any particular meaning, simply to allow for anonymity and an air of mystery*

!!! - a woman whose life I feel I accidentally walked into, the same way the girl accidentally walks into the guy in a RomCom and they eventually become best friends because they tried dating and it just didn't quite work. She has taught me more than I can express. She helped me discover my truest passions, she taught me how to question myself, how to let go and let it all hang out. She taught me what it means to truly embrace the idea of being an individual.

@@@ - She let me finish my thought, scratch it out in the air with my flailing arms, go over it again, re-articulate, question and let it stew with that awful expression on my face as I wondered if I was right or not. Only then would she spring the hard question and floor me. Thank you.

### - A chance meeting at a party and a very cute friendship ensued. This man, a great artist and student of the world taught me to embrace the incongruent, to speak when not spoken to (and if you can, do it in a foreign language) and how to enjoy sitting on the hard chair instead of the booth in a dinge-y diner.

$$$ – My inspiration, my sister. When shit goes down, she lets it sink it, she rides the wave [like a Blue Crush pro] and then she makes it work. And she grows and learns from it all. I know too many people, (myself included) who falter, skip the learning and simply Rince and Repeat, to overlook how wonderfully graceful she is as she lives.

%%% – this is a young woman who constantly reminds me that there is such strength in the world, that there are good people in every corner and that more often than not – things are real, they’re hard to handle, they can get the better of us, but we can always go on those stealth missions to steal ‘em back!

^^^ – my North Star. For someone as directionally challenged as I am, having him around to gently tug at my shirt and point out that I’m about to hit another large painting in the street (only happened once!) is great.

&&& – The funnyman who inspires me to keep on learning seemingly useless bits of information because, ”Yes, I will tell that ridiculous story about the cats at my next dinner party”.

*** - when I was in elementary school I developed a love for running. But only after I realised just how much fun I had running after boys in the playground and that I ran so much faster if I was running after someone faster and stronger than myself, versus running along a track. This is a man who never ceases to amaze me and is thankfully always a few feet ahead of me pushing me to run just a tad bit faster.

()() – the man with one of the coolest tattoos I have ever seen! His love for his job, his zest for interaction and inter-generational dialogue is what the future is going to be made of.

+++ – a group of people who helped me realise that I do not have to apologize for what I think. Thoughts, concepts, theories – they’re all fluid and if I realise a fault in my most recent brainwave then all I have to do is head back to the drawing board, ponder, reconfigure and scribble all over again.

So my New Year’s wish for you all: that you may have the pleasure of meeting loads more than 10 beautiful people this year and that they each etch a very special place in your life.