I was going to do a recap of the year that was, but, honestly, those bore the fuck out of me, so I'll pass. Instead, I want to touch on what the events of 2011 have meant to my life and then kick into a few of my favorite things from the year 2011.

As most of my more loyal readers (what few of you there are, considering I haven't blogged in a virtual eternity) know, this past May, we pulled up stakes and moved to Las Vegas. We were desperate for a change, and it just seemed right. Nearly 8 months later, I don't regret it even one bit. Aside from having access to a million more things than ever before, it has been nice to be able to establish a identity of our own, on our own, without the benefit of help from family or friends. We'd become stuck in the same rut that plagues too many people and needed to get out of it - 32 years old is far to young to be resigned to an unwavering path of same old, same old. While I miss my family and friends every single day, this feels right and I don't anticipate calling off the experiment in the near future.

Since moving, I've logged nearly 200 hours of 1/2, almost exclusively at Red Rock. While the games there are quite reg-heavy, the regs are almost overwhelmingly poor players. What's more, they are generally affluent and unafraid to reload. Despite an ongoing monumental run to the negative side, my results have been mostly positive and I have a lot of hope for 2012. More than anything, it is nice to get out of the house and play. The escape is awesome, especially considering how much I enjoy playing the live game.

Another thing the move has done is motivate me to be more healthy. I've been exercising much more regularly than at any point in the last 10 years and have lost over 10% of my total body weight. I'd like to lose quite a bit more and have a pretty serious post-holiday plan to do just that. For the first time maybe ever, I've shown the will-power to take care of myself. I'm motivated to be nearly unrecognizable by the time the CR WSOP party hits this July.

The final aspect of the move that I'd like to mention is how much better it has made my relationship with my wife and kid. Without a lot of built in friends, without family and family obligations, we've had a lot of time together. We have had to lean on each other more than ever. The result could have gone one of two ways, I suppose, and fortunately it went the way of pulling us all together. I'm as in love with my wife as I ever have been and I appreciate her more than ever. Not a bad side benefit of the move. Not at all.

In the vein of Oprah, here are a few of my favorite things from 2011:

Non-Music Pop Culture

Favorite New Movie - The Muppets
Favorite Movie I Saw for the First Time - Coanan The Barbarian (the original)
Favorite Documentary - No End in Sight (been out since 2007, but I'd not seen it yet)
Favorite New TV Show - Person of Interest
Favorite TV Show - The Walking Dead
Favorite Non-New Video Game I'd Never Played Before - Tie between Uncharted and Uncharted 2
Favorite New Video Game - Gran Turismo 5
Favorite New Website - DraftDay.com (sick plug)

Sports

Game of the Year - World Series, Game 6
Injustice of the Year - Devin Hester not making Pro Bowl as a return man
Fight of the Year - Dan Henderson vs Shogun Rua, UFC139
Fighter of the Year - Jon Jones
Fighter of the Year That Nobody Pays Attention To - Donald Cerrone
KO of the Year - Frankie Edgar KO's Gray Maynard, UFC136
Comeback of the Year - Tie between Cheick Kongo for KO of Pat Berry at UFC Live on Vs 6 and Frank Mir for breaking Big Nog's arm at UFC140

Music

Ten Best New Albums

10. Tha Carter IV, Lil Wayne
9. Alpocalypse, Weird Al
8. Wasting Light, Foo Fighters
7. The Family Sign, Atmosphere
6 . El Camino, The Black Keys
5. The Muppet's Soundtrack, The Muppets
4. Noel Gallagher's Flying Birds, Noel Gallagher's Flying Birds
3. 21, Adele
2. The Camp, Childish Gambino
1. Lasers, Lupe Fiasco


Ten Best New Songs

10. GoodMorning, Chamillionaire




9. Paul Simon, Rewrite



8. Beastie Boys, Make Some Noise



7. Factory of Faith, Red Hot Chili Peppers



6. Pictures In My Head, Kermit The Frog and The Muppets



5. Foo Fighters, Walk (also a great video)



4. Lupe Fiasco, Till I Get There



3. Noel Gallagher's Flying Birds, The Death of You and Me




2. Childish Gambino, Heartbeat




1. Atmosphere, She's Enough