End of the year survey

A bit late, I know, but thought it would be fun. Please, steal it and fill out your own answers!

What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?
Um… nothing, actually.

Did anyone close to you give birth?
No.

Did anyone close to you die?
No!

What countries did you visit?
None.

What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
On a completely shallow level: a new iPod would be great.

What date(s) from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Oct. 25th, when I was baptized. :)

What was your biggest achievement of the year?
See above. :-P

What was your biggest failure?
Not passing my written driving test, though I’ve done it three times before.

Did you suffer illness or injury?
Nope.

What was the best thing you bought?
Um… oooh… well… maybe… probably the CDs and the books I’ve bought.

Whose behavior merited celebration?
Mine, are you kidding?! :-P

Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Someone in my family.

Where did most of your money go?
Books. Just off the tip of my head, there was: a Bradbury book, a Kafka biography, Crime and Punishment, Suite Francaise, Right Ho, Jeeves!, Atonement, The English Patient, The Crocodile on the Sandbank... and a few more, probably.

What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Let’s see… housesitting, NaNoWriMo, a new Coldplay CD, Doctor Who, BSG, Lost, (these are mostly TV shows. Let no one say my life is small) and ‘The Dark Knight’ (oh, lookit that, a movie! I’m not shallow after all! Ha. Ha.)

What song will always remind you of 2008?
‘Viva La Vida,’ by Coldplay. It’s really tied into the spring/summer for me.

Compared to this time last year (2007), are you:
More put together. (Again, I repeat: ha. Ha.)

What do you wish you'd done more of?
Studying and reading.

What do you wish you'd done less of?
YouTube-ing.

What was the most embarrassing thing that happened to you in 2008?
Look, I try to forget these things, okay? Next question!

What was your favorite TV program?
Doctor Who, Pushing Daisies, BSG, and Lost

How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
In the spring, it was more mod; in the summertime, it was a little hippie (I blamed the new blond highlights); fall and winter, classic and a bit mod. I'm trying to wear more colors, less black and white.

What kept you sane?
Jehovah. (And happy pills. Muahahahahaa.)

Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
No. I think I’ve probably just learned to forgive a bit better.

What was the best book you read in 2008?
‘The Inimitable Jeeves,’ by P.G. Wodehouse. I remember lying horizontally across my bed, the library book in one flailing hand, crying my eyes out from laughing so hard, and thinking, ‘This is the best book I’ll read in 2008.’ I guess I was right. :-P

What was your greatest musical discovery?
Radiohead. I always stayed away from them because I thought they were strictly ‘techno,’ and yeah, a lot if it is electronic… but so much emotion bleeds through the synthesizers.

What did you want and get?
A Nintendo Wii.

What did you want and not get?
A driver’s license... and a new iPod. *grumbles*

What was your favorite film of this year?
Wow. Well, probably... The Dark Knight, closely followed by Iron Man.

What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I sat around and watched the clock. Now we are 20. Yay! :)

What three things would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
I can’t think of anything, actually. Better will power so I can stop eating so much junk food.

Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Um… well… that guy… what’s his name… *cough* David Tennant *cough*. Yeah, that guy. :D

Who did you miss?
Natalia, and Grace.

What is a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008?
Maple syrup and corn syrup are often interchangeable.

What quote can be used to sum up your year?
‘Sometimes you just have to unleash the rhino.’

Casablanca, remixed

I love how eventually 'Sam' just sounds like he's dying. LOL.

In the news today....

So, this is a bit worrisome. Not so much for the fact that it's untrue, but for the fact that people will actually believe that sticking a pad to your foot will suck out all the heavy metals overnight. Yeah, right.

Also, this could be worse. Actually, the more I think about it, the more excited I get. His young age concerns me, but I'm ready to give him a chance.

You guys have probably already seen this warning, but be careful anyway. Facebook is having issues, too, I hear.

In other news.... hooray for 'Hamlet.' I wish I could've seen it. I mean, it's not only David Tennant, but Patrick Stewart, also. Oh, well. Maybe they'll make a film. :P

I can haz nue post nao, plz?

more animals


more animals

Notes From the End of the Year

Hello all. Since it's the last day of 2008, I thought I'd just throw out a few observations/thoughts/rants about the past year.

1) It's been a pretty good year for me in many ways. I got baptized, and I just turned 20. Hooray!

2) TV was good this year. I wasn't horribly disappointed by any of my favorite shows... even if Doctor Who staged a bit of a dues ex machina at the finale. (But hey, what's new about that?)

3) The economy is going down. Things look bad for the system. Again, I repeat: hooray!

4) Heath Ledger died. That's the first time I was bothered by something like that. I don't know why, it just felt... weird. You don't expect that sort of thing to happen to a young person. Makes your own (young) existence feel even more fragile by comparison.

5) This was a great year for music. And I can't think of the summertime without hearing songs from 'Viva la Vida' It's like some weird, psychological connection.

6) A nice summertime at home, spent with a good book, good food, good people, and a lot of naps. I didn't even know I liked naps until this year.

7) I went (mostly) vegan, and I've stuck to it pretty well. And, tomorrow: 2 years of being a vegetarian! Maybe I'll make some vegan cupcakes to celebrate. :)

8) I've learned some songs on the piano, which, despite my lack of rhythm and inability to read sheet music, makes me feel just a little bit cooler.

9) I have nearly finished 'Crime and Punishment.' (Nearly finishing it is an accomplishment in itself, believe me. I started reading it in August.)

10) I now have this and this. My Geekness is complete.


Hopefully, 2009 will be just as good as 2008, and include: a job with benefits, pioneering of some sort, making more artwork, a driver's license, and lots more cookies.

So. Your thoughts on the past year?

Hating the season, wishing for Spring.

I feel like I've already been through the weekend. Today is simply a lazy Sunday (despite it being Saturday) and tomorrow I'll go to work (though I won't).

So: I hate Christmas. Let me just put that out in the open, that I'd love December if it weren't for Christmas. I can't handle the Salvation Army pots and the bells.... oooh... those bells. Sometimes, going into Wal-Mart, I get the urge to kick one over and run away, laughing. I don't, of course, not only because I'd be put in jail, but also because I always feel a shred of sympathy for the people standing there in 25 degrees, in their little hats and gloves and coats, ringing a bell. They always seem to be grinning, and I'm not sure if they're trying to look happy, or if their faces have simply frozen over.

It's a bit like guilting people into charity, isn't it? I think that a better tactic would be that when someone puts money in the pot, the bells stop. As it is now, it's more like psychological torture. As if the bells weren't bad enough, I also get the sense that I'm supposed to smile at these people when they say 'Happy Holidays' or whatever they say. I don't, if i can help it. I usually keep my head down and hurry into the store. And so their 'happy/frozen' veneer drops and I can seriously feel them glare at me all the way inside. Ugh.

Good grief, I can't wait until it's all over. I'll be very thankful to not have to hear bells every December.

Favorite hated part of the season?

Pooh Bear

I don't care how much they went for; aren't these drawings cute?

Mein erste Deutsch schriftlich (My first German writing)

Hallo! Ich bin lerne Deutsch. Es ist schwerig.
Ich werde lesen ein gut buche von es. Ich sehr vielen drinke kaffe. Also tschüss, freund!
=
Hello! I'm learning German. It is Difficult.
I'll read a good book of it. I drink lots of coffee. So bye, friend!
----
That was fairly difficult, actually. I usually type my German phrases, and then copy them into a translator to see if I'm getting my sentences across correctly. Usually my writing needs tweaking (the word order in German is different than ours). But I'm listening to lessons in the morning, and that's helpful.
But... wow, talk about needing humility to learn a language. I sound like I'm speaking the German form of 'Engrish.'

Return of the Blogger

Hi. I am alive, obviously, simply worn out and feeling like I should go crawling back into my bed until spring. I got a lovely 4 hours of sleep last night (applause, please!); this is, of course, my own fault, since Rebecca and I stayed up until 4:30 watching 'Doctor Who.'
Best. Night. EVER.
(Well, morning....)
So there's bookstudy tonight, and I must pull myself out into the cold and try to look awake.
Keep an eye out for a (slightly) more coherent blog post soon.

An idea! Uh oh....

Mom and I have been considering doing a cleanse diet this winter, either starting in the middle of December or the start of January. I found this article interesting, but I'm a little worried about the possible side effects. I know when I went off of dairy, my system freaked out a bit and for a while, my skin and my stomach got worse. This was also interesting, just because it's a good outline for a simple detox, and seems simple enough. I don't know how effective something like this would be though, or how I'd feel doing it in the wintertime.

My brother and his wife did a cleanse diet for a while. I don't remember the specifics, except that they bought special supplements and had to drink a mix of water and something nasty that they called 'fish food.'

My will is not that strong. After a day of fish food, I'd probably run screaming to Dunkin' Donuts.

I've been kicking around doing a macrobiotic diet for a while. (For some reason, just the word macrobiotic makes me hungry for miso soup with seaweed. Strange.) The idea of eating with the seasons seems like a smart idea.

Any of you guys ever done a cleanse or detox diet? Or macrobiotic? Or fish food? let me know.