Last year was a pretty good year. To wit:

I had a few good seasons of 7v7 soccer.

My glorious visage adorned the hallway of my workplace, for all to gaze upon as they passed.

I tested an iPad for a week for zero dollars and zero cents. Didn’t like it enough to keep it. Later I bought a new MacBook Pro.

I got a nice mention in the valedictory address.

My APUSH pass rate rose for the third year in a row. Or, more precisely, my students’ APUSH pass rate rose for the third year in a row. My pass rate has held steady at 100% since I was a junior in high school.

Osama bin Laden died ignominiously, Kim Jong-Il died un-sincerely-lamented, and Gaddafi died with the transliteration of his name unresolved.

My new classroom is well-lit, suffers no infestations, and isn’t sliding into a sinkhole.

I made new friends, dispatched ancient rivals, and became reacquainted with a friend I hadn’t seen in 15 years.

I saw most of my closest buddies, was visited by some cousins I haven’t seen in a while, and video-chatted with my niece twice.

I watched my friend ear33wig become an American citizen.

I was elected chairman of the school improvement team, though they haven’t given me a gavel. Yet.

I visited Clemson, saw my brick in person and watched a game in Death Valley for the first time since graduation. The Tigers had their best season in decades, won an ACC title, and earned a trip to a BCS bowl.

I still have students to teach despite the lack of district funding for transportation, and there was a JV soccer season despite having to raise funds independently.

They announced a new Bond flick, with a strong director and some star power in supporting and villainous roles and I was given parking decal number 007.

I developed and implemented new napping strategies.

Cutler (briefly) came back from his knee injury, Crosby (briefly) came back from his concussion, and though the Celtics wane, the Bulls seem to be back as a major power.

My folks’ dogs were relieved of the burdens of their sufferings, and are now in Doggie Heaven.

I kept the weight down and finished the year under my target.

As resolved, I bought a new mattress and wrote an entry at least once a week. In fact, I set a new personal record for posts in a year.

And despite predictions to the contrary, the world didn’t end.

…

In all, a spectacular year. I don’t see how 2012 can possibly live up to it.