official 2012 wrap up - post 123

this is going to be a little tough to do, so i'm going to rely on some odd formatting for me to make sure i hit all of the highlights.

1.)  Challenge 2012 (from post 68 - 06 jan 2012)

•  break 100 posts on this blog - FAIL.  
• 59 total.  nearly 60% complete towards the goal, but not quite.  posting died hard in march with the abrupt end to my success in "meeting" women interested in going on a date with me.  following the 2nd set of "dates" w/ munchkin in early / mid march - i only managed to go on one other date all year.

•  have sex w/ a young woman >120mos (10yrs) younger than me - FAIL.
• i only had sex w/ 1 girl in 2012. 
• she was only (est) 84mos younger.

2.)   Women

•  as mentioned above - i only had sex 1x all year.  that was kind of fail.
• 7 women total that i went on at least 1 date with for a combined total of 12 dates.
• more in-depth numbers are in order here though:
• dating site #1 - messaged 92 women.
• I went on dates w/ 5 different women from this site - only 3 of which replied to my initial message (munchkin, the violinist and the post-doc).
• 8 dates total - munchkin accounts for 3 of those and we went out 2 separate times.  1 date in jan when we met.  2 in march after we ran into each other again.
•  I messaged munchkin back in 2011 - it took her a while to reply
• 2 initiated contact with me
•  the bi-girl and the unnamed one i went out with in late november
•  bi girl is the one i had sex with.  sex was terrible. i didn't actually like her.  2 dates.  she never replied after blowing me off for what was supposed to be our 3rd date.
• the one from late november has traded a few additional messages with me, but has been out of town for almost the entirety of the time we have spoken.  now she's heading out of the country this month.  i don't see anything there.
•  dating site #2 - messaged 5 women with no replies.  
• 4 messaged me 1st.
• 1 date with 1 - it was a bad experience.  the others - either no interest in or they couldn't carry on a conversation and were not worth talking to.

• IRL
• i went on 3 dates with 1 woman i met through a buddy - pikachu.  multiple previous posts indicate how that went.

3.)   Employment 

• rife with rejections.
• many dozens of positions applied to including nearly 3doz w/ various coffee shops - all rejected - only one management training spot replied with that rejection.
• positions in my field were few and far between.  the ones i applied to were met with an abundance of applicants.  quite often, i was one of 180-220+ applicants vying for one single position.
• the only one willing to take me on was a PT/Seasonal position operating heavy equipment doing snow removal (and various other maintenance tasks).  that position is now in its final 90 days until it ends for the year.

4.)   Misc.

• i've failed for a 2nd year in a row to focus on my knitting to make it work as a revenue generator. the vendor i had that was interested in selling some of my wares was too flaky to decide on what to buy and was painfully slow in returning payment.
• i lost the freedom of living alone.  unemployment nearly bankrupt me to the point that i needed to move into a spare bedroom with my friends.
• the financial situation caused me to rely on family to an extent that i seriously have a hard time thinking of myself as an adult.
• insomnia continues to torture me.
• my one attempt at a relaxing trip backpacking turned into an unmitigated disaster.
• i met Lindsey Stirling... that was cool.
• i couldn't afford to see TSO this year... that was not cool.
• it's looking like i'm not going to be able to afford my season tickets for our local footy team.  and i've been going since 2007 and a season ticket holder since 2008.
• some volunteer opportunities have presented themselves & i'm trying to make the most of them.
• i began the process of enlisting into the military as an officer.  still in the process of that.  we shall see where that road leads.
• the list titled "my friends" has grown shorter.  as has the list titled "living relatives".
• there was a month that i had a total of $25 to feed myself.  ramen noodles were consumed far too frequently.  sometimes, 2pks / day for lunch/dinner. while brekkers consisted of graham crackers & milk.  mac&chz every now and then.  it was eye-opening in terms of how i took notice of all the wasted food i saw everywhere i looked...
• hands down - 2012 was one of the lowest years of my life.