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.

My name in Russian

My name in Russian is Сабрина

Cool, huh? :) Try out the Google translator and comment to say what your name is in another language.

"Honey, does our insurance cover this?"

This news article has completely destroyed my future. Forget marriage; I still want to be able to listen to my iPod.

Some cheap amusement

Hey folks, I'm still around, just been sort of... well... it was a weekend. I don't do much on weekends besides move a coffee mug back and forth from my mouth.
So now I'm at work. Here are a couple of quick things you might enjoy.
Savage Chickens. I love this guy's cartoons.
And now: a silly job interview.

Oh, those silly scientists

Hadron Collider 'needs warning system'
Hmm, do you really think so??