01501: A Quick Review of 2012

Well, another year is almost over, at least for those of you who rely on calendars. Facebook is already flooded with variations on the message "2012 was good. Hope 2013 is better".

I suppose I should add my own spin to things.

First there's the easy part - my Transformers count for the year. This was a deceptively light year in terms of Transformers since I had acquired at least 68 new figures last year and 53 robots the year before. But then most of the new toys were for the Transformers Prime line of toys while I tend to focus on the Generations toyline. Life is funny that way. But I did pick up some pretty great toys including the special Asian re-release of Sixshot, a figure that I've wanted to have ever since I was a kid.

However this was also a year for returning to LEGO and their Hasbro cousins Kre-O, mainly because of Tobie. He got me started off with two Kre-O playsets and I followed suit by quickly acquiring 18 additional Kreon Mini-Changers. So if we add them in, I end up with 42 Transformers and 24 Kreons that represent Transformers to end up with 66 new Transformers-related figures. And I've also picked up a number of LEGO playsets due to an extended Shell promotion, thus rounding out my collection for the year.

At the core of things, we can't ignore the elephant in the room - the limited run of the ASA Family. While there were some things that I did during that period that seem ridiculous in hindsight, I can't really say that I totally regret things. I know that I followed my heart and so did Tobie and in the end that can't be an entirely wrong thing. And I still don't automatically buy the statements about how our three-way setup was doomed to fail. However I do see now that Prince just wasn't the right man (or perhaps boy?) for this kind of setup.

But that's over with and I did my time in the single neighborhood and better understood my limits. I met some great new friends and had some regrettable encounters that I will have difficulty trying to forget. But that's life - all the experiences that we go through help us grow and become better people.

The year was also one for a lot of travel - something that may have factored into less Transformers, now that I think about it. Beyond the more family-related trips to Singapore, our limited time with Prince also meant getting to revisit places like Puerto Galera and expanding our horizons by going to Clark for the Hot Air Balloon Festival, and such.

Now that Tobie and I are back together again, will we try traveling as much as we did this year when 2013 comes around? Hard to say at this point, but I really doubt it. I think we have much better things to do and other life goals to realize. Plus we have ground to cover that had been lost since the break-up - bonds that need re-strengthening between us and a whole new life to map out ahead of us.

And we have Yoshi in our family as well, which is definitely one of the best things about 2012. And this isn't just about the dog - it's also about Tobie finally getting over his fear of dogs. And now he loves Yoshi to bits and I can't help but stop and stare at the two of them when they spend time together. Seriously, this is the best gift that the year has brought and it's pretty much magical.

So the year is pretty much ending and I'm definitely coming out a lot wiser at the end of things. My heart got beat up but it remains strong and ready for more of life's surprises. Tobie is back in my life, and I know I'm lucky that he decided to go for another spin with me. And there are still times that I can't help but feel that I don't deserve it. But I just have to look at Tobie with Yoshi most likely on the chair beside him and I know that I have a home and a family of my own to care about.

And I'm totally going to kick 2013's butt.