I'm probably a little late to the "let's review 2009" party, but I never really get out of Christmas mode until after New Year's, so it's hard to think about it before then. Consider it an artifact from Christmas break as a schooled kid.
On that note, one of the few traditions I enjoyed in school was one that my gifted teacher used to have us do on returning for the new year. We'd all list the major events we remembered from the previous year, and when we were done she'd show us a special "Year in Review" issue of Time magazine to compare it to. I still like to do that at every new year, and today I did it with Wikipedia as my guide. Unfortunately I didn't follow the news too much this year, so my list looked something like this:
1. Obama sworn in
2. Buncha dead celebrities
3. Economy sucks
On the other hand, those three items encompass a lot, since we're still adjusting to having a new President, the Summer of Death took away pretty much everyone who has ever been famous for anything, and the economy has sucked all year long. Still, there were a few more things I had been aware of last year and forgotten:
-The huge Australian bushfires that spread across Victoria in February. I have some friends in Victoria, and I was really scared for them, especially since I can't exactly just call and check on them. Fortunately they were fine, but a lot of people were injured, lost property, or even died.
-The president of South Korea committed suicide.
-H1N1 was declared a global pandemic, and many areas closed schools for extended lengths of time. Of course I remembered that this happened, but I didn't think to put it on my list.
-The Iranian presidential election was hotly protested, with the winner eventually being inaugurated anyway.
-In July, there was a 6-minute solar eclipse over much of Asia. I remember this mainly because of a friend complaining that he couldn't see it in Singapore, but could have if he'd been at home in India.
And that's the major events of 2009, through my eyes. The second half of my year was split between traveling, dealing with my mom's death, and not having internet access, so I missed a lot of news, which is why the list cuts off with July. I hate to seem like someone who just ignores the news, but last year I kind of did - partly because I was busy, and probably also partly due to a rubber band effect from having followed the news so closely during the 2008 elections.
Up next, a review of 2009 in my life. It wasn't all bad! Honest!
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