Throughout 2012 I was fortunate to have a job and work with some really great people. I started out the year work at LMI Consulting. I worked on some interesting requests and even saw some of my contribution show up in a published work!
Even though I liked the work and the folks I worked with - I continued to look for a job that would return me to the federal government. I was finally successful and at the end of August I started with the US Army Corps of Engineers as Command Librarian. Again I have been blessed to be working with great people and have interesting work. It is challenging and I need to work to step up to the challenge. And I feel that I have made some good friends in my new job. I have been able to visit a couple of my libraries around the country and I hope that I will be able to have some good impact within the agency.
In 2011 I joined Weight Watchers and I continued my membership and progress during 2012. In April I hit my goal weight and since then I have been successful in maintaining my new weight - no continued loss and no gains. That's what is amazing - I will need to remember my eating habits to help me continue. To that end I started working for Weight Watchers part time - at this point I'm working one meeting a week - but it keeps me engaged and I can show some support for others who are working the program and want to be successful. It has been a welcome diversion and a means of personal support as well.
Music continues to be a big part of my life. I still play in the band - DC's Different Drummers. In addition to playing trombone I am also Membership Director and that is a fun way to meet new people and make new members feel welcome in the group. We had two really good concerts in 2012 and already starting on rehearsals for concerts in 2013. Our concert band will perform for the Maryland Music Educators Association at their conference in Baltimore in February. Our marching band performed in parades in Pennsylvania, DC and Maryland. Our swing band also played several dance gigs.
One highlight for me in 2012 was on June 1 when my brother Steve joined me and several hundred other trombone players at Nationals Park in SW Washington, DC to set a world record for trombone players performing Meredith Wilson's 76 Trombones It was short-lived - a summer storm prompted them to cancel the game - but we had fun talking to other trombone players and Steve saw a buddy of his from Halfway, Maryland.
I also took part in the annual conference for the Lesbian & Gay Band Association and marched in the Dallas Pride Parade in September. The group also organized participation in a rally at the World AIDS Conference that was held in Washington, DC in July. The group also applied to march in the 2013 Presidential Inaugural Parade in January. Our group was selected to march so in December we were in full gear preparing for our group to rehearse and march. Great fun and a lot of work - fortunately there are some outstanding folks working on all of this.
Another continued interest in the theatre. During 2012 I was invited to once again serve as a judge for the Helen Hayes Awards - the Washington Theatre awards. As a result I have had the opportunity to see a lot of great theatre here in the DC area. It has been a good way to see some shows that I would not have seen otherwise. One theatrical highlight was seeing my nephew Dominic perform as Harold Hill in his school production of The Music Man. One of my favorite shows and he did an outstanding job!!
It has been a year of ups and downs. Some friends and acquaintances have passed on - former colleagues from the FDIC - Tommy Ballard and Flora Davis are gone. It has been a year of politics and tension as well as much joy. The fears that the world would end in December - based on an interpretation of the Mayan calendar - came to naught. It would have been okay with me. I hope and pray I'm ready to go!
To all my friends and colleagues I wish a most blessed new year.
