on January 31, 2011, Fernando Torres signed for Chelsea in a British record deal worth £50 million. in providing his reasons why he had wanted to leave, he intimated that he needed to be at a “bigger” club than Liverpool FC, with greater ambition to match his own and a greater chance of success. or something along those lines.
at the end of December 31, 2011, Liverpool had amassed 34 points from 19 games. Chelsea’s points tally – 34 points from 19 games.
Torres, and Chelsea, had moved forward in time but stayed pretty much the same in all other ways. and that has been the story of my year too – of circularity, of quiet progress, of consolidation. many times it was not pretty. i fell in, out of, and back in love – with the same person. in the financial markets my year was bookended by a spectacular upshot, and then spectacularly back down. what the market gives, the market takes back – as is the case with life and the Universe. lessons were learnt but (thankfully) at pretty little costs. school-wise my CAP score went down, then back up to finish the year on the slightest of gains year-on-year.
elsewhere in the world, some wars have ended, while some wars continue to rage on. some corrupt regimes were brought down by people’s will, but the teething problems of experiments with liberty bring with them pain and only new forms of imprisonment and servitude. tyrants and bad men died, but so did a few good men (and a family member). some nations were born, others brought to their knees. elections (at “home”, at least) came and went, but nothing changed.
it could have been better, but it could have been much worse. i finish the year not on a high, not on a low too, but nevertheless with the realization that somehow everything feels like it can be okay.
