My Year in Review

Each year, TIME Magazine chooses their person of the year.  This person is someone who is influential, has made a difference in the past year, and is someone who is recognized by all.  Past recipients of this award have included Barack Obama (2008), Rudolph Giuliani (2001), Martin Luther King (1963), Queen Elizabeth II (1952), Mohandas Gandhi (1930), and the list goes on. The magazine started choosing their Person of the Year in 1927.

Yesterday, the 2010 TIME Person of the Year was announced.  Was it Julian Assange (the man behind WikiLeaks)?  Nope!  How about Hamid Karzai (the elected leader of the volatile nation of Afghanistan)?  Try again!

The recipient of this year's award is the second-youngest individual ever to be named TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year.  The co-founder of the power-house, social-networking site Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg graces this year's cover.

Mark Zuckerberg, creator of Facebook

 Although some people may question the magazine's selection, I think it couldn't be more appropriate.  Through the creation of Facebook, millions of people world wide are connected.  If that's not amazing, check out these stats:

~ Facebook welcomed its 550 millionth member this month ~

~ One out of every dozen people on the planet has a Facebook account ~

~ The webpage is translated into 75 different languages ~

~ Collectively, more then 700 billion minutes are spent on Facebook every month ~

~ Last month the site accounted for 1 out of 4 American page views~

~ Facebook's membership is currently growing at a rate of about 700,000 people a day ~

There is no doubt that Facebook has changed the way we relate to one another.  Can you imagine a world without checking status updates and viewing people's uploaded pictures?  Through Facebook we are able to get a glimpse into someone's life without actually speaking to them.

As I have mentioned before, I am a Facebook-Addict.  I can't remember the last time I went a day without visiting my favorite website.  I update my status virtually everyday, and some days I update multiple times. 

Looking back through my status posts from the last year is like getting a glimpse into what went on in my life during 2010.  As I have said before, I use my updates more of a journal/chronicle of my life.  While people used to write things down on paper, I do it electronically through Facebook (and now this little blog).

Check out my "collage" or highlights from a Year-in-Sarah

In one year, I: loved my job, hated my job, lost my job, enjoyed FUNemployment, despised unemployment, interviewed a lot, got a NEW job, and fell in love with the job I now have.

I: felt blessed for my fabulous friends and family, drank (and was hungover), ate, celebrated (holidays/birthdays/Sunday Fundays), danced, laughed, loved, experienced heartbreak, and went on vacations/trips (Vegas MANY times, Baltimore, San Diego, wine country, and the list goes on).  
 

The top 10 words that I used in my status this year are:
1. Happy (42 times)
2. Weekend (29 times)
3. Friends (29 times)
4. Love (24 times)
5. Vegas (23 times)
6. Night (23 times)
7. Can't (22 times)
8. Please (20 times)
9. Fun (18 times)
10. Dinner (18 times)

I find that these ten words are a very accurate in describing me this past year. It's crazy how much a few words can say about a person.  It's been an interesting year, and DEF one filled with changes and transitions.  It's been an unusually tough year, and although I had some fabulous moments I am looking forward to seeing what 2011 has in store!

A New Year. A New Start. A New Me?

May your 5771 be as sweet as honey...

If you're reading this, I welcome you to my first blog. I've been wanting to do this for a while but continued to put it off. Intimidation may be a good feeling to describe getting my blog started. What do I write about? Do I have anything redeemable worth saying? Will my writing be forced or flow naturally? Do people care about what I have to say?

Ultimately it occurred to me that I need to start taking some risks in my life and exploring things outside of my comfort zone. I'm a natural writer. I have always had a passion for writing, journaling, sending novel-sized letters to loved ones, or making up stories. Maybe it's genetic, seeing as my mom's a retired librarian and my dad is a literacy professor. I've been told by more friends than I can count that my "life adventures" are interesting and I need to start writing some of these stories down.

I have a few ideas about the direction I want to go with this blog, but feel as if I'm going to go a more "organic" route and see where my writing takes me. I'm a secret follower of several blogs from amazing women I have grown up with and find their writing refreshing. I love their honesty about life's challenges and find myself cheering for them and their successes. It's nice to have peer-mentors out there (although they're prob not aware of it...YET). As I embark on my blogging adventure, I welcome any advice from other writers out there.

At sundown tonight begins the start of the Jewish New Year. I find myself lucky to get two "fresh starts" every year (God knows I'm the type of person who needs it). As most of the world makes their resolutions on January 1st, I find it more of a time for celebration. It's Rosh Hashanah (Hebrew for "Head of the Year") that I use as my time for self-reflection, resolutions, and the motivation for change. Ironically enough, Mercury is also in retrograde this week (which also indicates a time for change). So as the New Year begins (and the stars re-align), this is where I begin this new adventure. Join me won't you?