The Year in Review
Oh, why not. Wordy, because this year was too hilarious to forget this stuff.
Cut, out of politeness.
January: "The Pub was my destination of the night. Not that I don't love parties, but something about being in the public eye feeds the part of my brain that craves both constant overstimuation and an audience. Especially when punk rock and drunken strangers are involved. Besides, other people's houses always make me sleepy. And I had previously given myself permission to drink at the Pub, which was a large part of my eagerness to get there...", "Michelle and I were driving through Avalon when I saw in my rearview mirror the dreaded sight of flashing lights...'Sir, please remember that I'm doing this in four inch heels and they aren't easy to walk in. You can try them if you'd like.'""...except for me pelting someone who deserves it in the back of the head with cups of water, twice."
February: "Well, I finally got my NLN test results back and my paranoia is looking pretty unjustified -- the score is converted into a percentage based on how you ranked...ie, a 50% composite ranking means you did better than 50% of the people who took the test the year before...My percentage? Ninety-fucking-nine percent.", "The thing needling me most about the demise of the indomitable HST -- the whispers that his reasons lay in a combination of his painful health recently and his disappointment in the current political climate. Escape from pain, okay. But I can't stomach the thought that the demons in Washington had anything to do with it. Because if that can contribute to fucking Hunter S. Thompson deciding to cash in his chips and walk away with what he's got, what does it say about where the rest of us are headed and what is going to happen to us when we get there?", " I'm making a concentrated effort today to gather up all my belongings into a neat little pile, and take a huge step backwards across the line of whatever chalk-lined circle of weirdness it is that I've stepped into. When in doubt, regroup, no?"
March: "'Your name is Blaine?!'...until he started throwing around the word "pussy" -- as in how his friend over by the mirror never gets it, but he himself never has that problem -- and I walked away while he was in midsentence to continue my search for Nicole.", " Though first we stopped to break into Steve's house and write in eyeliner on a passed out Ross, which I still find funny in sobriety. I hope he enjoyed his half-face full of whiskers.", " Nicole's rules for life: 1. 'Act like a gay man and get what you want.' and 2. 'Don't be a virgin dick sucker.'"
April: "Highlight: Jenn explosively guffawing in absolute silence over something she was reading on her chicken nugget box.", "In the last sixteen hours I've been at work, I have been: pinched, swatted, painted, ignored, tormented, and told to 'go take a flying fish.'", "...Darla getting makeout from Corey Feldman...", "Yesterday I drove up to CCBC for the express purpose of sliding my acceptance verification and completed clearance forms under the door of the nursing office."
May: "My mood has been poor every day from about 10:30 until I punch out at five. Then I do things like eat a pint of Ben and Jerry's new Dublin Mudslide for dinner while watching silent movies from 1927, and refusing to answer the door.", "Legendary Hucklebucks CD release party...Following the show, the four of us headed for Tom's with Darla flashing people on the Southside as we drove down Carson and the rest of us sang Journey. The class in the car was incredible.", "Social D was fantastic, and that is really all that needs to be said about that. It was one of those perfect days -- a day of parking lot drinking and philosophizing with one of my oldest and most cherished friends."
June: "Jenn and I started Thursday night with dollar margaritas at Texas Roadhouse once again, followed by a trip to the Copper Dog with ideas of exploring the wonders of bars in Beaver County. These wonders are, in a drastic understatement, limited.", "My aunt is moving in this coming week."
July: "Saturday night Darla and I headed to the 31st St Pub for what turned out to be a night of absolute ridiculousness. It began with just the two of us, but by the end of the night our circle had expanded to include: Kevin, Julie, Baker, Kaila, Frank, Phil, Phil's friend Brian, James from the Upstage, and Dave Yanko from high school appearing as the Marlboro survey man.", "...love Elvis Costello. Really, it was one concert at which I had no desire to even drink (though of course we did anyhow) as I wanted to remember every second, every detail down to his silver sequined wingtips. This wasn't difficult, thanks to our being only three rows (!!!) from the front of the stage, and temporarily even closer."
August: "In my planner there is a block circled, highlighted, and starred: April 2007, when I will graduate.", "So yes, though things verge on unbearable at times, I'm learning a lot about exactly how much I can bend and with what strength I can snap back. Cliche to say so, maybe, but what the hell.", "Or this intoxicated conversation, which I actually had: 'What would you do if I showed up for your birthday wearing a dress?' 'Nothing. At this point you could pretty much do anything and I wouldn't really be bothered. I'd shrug and be like 'Oh well, so he's into drag.'"
September: "Upon registering at the "Welcome" table, I was handed a two-inch stack of Xeroxed handouts in shrink-wrap, plus nursing and college handbooks. The top two pages of the handouts listed the twenty (that's an exact number, not an exaggeration) chapters I have to have read (or more practically, reviewed) by Tuesday.", "I've also found a new friend in Kimmy, which is exciting.", "We have sixty days to move out of this house..."
October: "So we shall see. I really wish she weren't coming back.", "Too much emotion has been wasted on this situation, but I find that some good has come out of it. I feel rock solid.", "Detroit Cobras", "The Disasters/Horrorpops show...the merch boy befriending Jake with free stickers and posters -- and Jake being totally oblivious to the possibility that he was being hit on.", "Just across the river there is a good-sized Cape Cod with a driveway, hardwood floors, a breakfast nook, a wood burning fireplace, a heated sun room, and a larged fenced-in yard overlooking the woods, sitting at the end of a long street surrounded by trees and fairly distant from neighboring homes. In two weeks we will be living there, minus one large set of baggage in the form of a person.", "Dresden Dolls on Saturday!"
November: "The best part of the Misfits show can be summed up in three words: Rock City Morgue.", "Wednesday was Kimmy's boyfriend's band's first show. (Called Pushing Apollo -- should you get a chance to see them, do. Highly recommended and not just because I'm biased in their favor.)", "Michelle's being home for the holiday, and Darla having a Friday off, warrented an excursion to 80s Night.", "Why is it that a girl can go forever with minimal boy interest being apparent and then suddenly it all happens at once? The last two days have been insanity."
December: "I've been experiencing a string of very strange moods lately. It all adds up to something unfamiliar, something I attribute to aging, something I strongly suspect could be called 'wanting to be in a relationship.'", "Leaving work today marked the beginning of what amounts to a three week break.", "Even studying for the final isn't too bad; I've actually started looking ahead to grad school. Pitt offers a twenty month RN to MSN program with a concentration in acute trauma and mass disaster preparedness that sounds interesting."
And of course parts of December are still waiting to be written.
Cut, out of politeness.
January: "The Pub was my destination of the night. Not that I don't love parties, but something about being in the public eye feeds the part of my brain that craves both constant overstimuation and an audience. Especially when punk rock and drunken strangers are involved. Besides, other people's houses always make me sleepy. And I had previously given myself permission to drink at the Pub, which was a large part of my eagerness to get there...", "Michelle and I were driving through Avalon when I saw in my rearview mirror the dreaded sight of flashing lights...'Sir, please remember that I'm doing this in four inch heels and they aren't easy to walk in. You can try them if you'd like.'""...except for me pelting someone who deserves it in the back of the head with cups of water, twice."
February: "Well, I finally got my NLN test results back and my paranoia is looking pretty unjustified -- the score is converted into a percentage based on how you ranked...ie, a 50% composite ranking means you did better than 50% of the people who took the test the year before...My percentage? Ninety-fucking-nine percent.", "The thing needling me most about the demise of the indomitable HST -- the whispers that his reasons lay in a combination of his painful health recently and his disappointment in the current political climate. Escape from pain, okay. But I can't stomach the thought that the demons in Washington had anything to do with it. Because if that can contribute to fucking Hunter S. Thompson deciding to cash in his chips and walk away with what he's got, what does it say about where the rest of us are headed and what is going to happen to us when we get there?", " I'm making a concentrated effort today to gather up all my belongings into a neat little pile, and take a huge step backwards across the line of whatever chalk-lined circle of weirdness it is that I've stepped into. When in doubt, regroup, no?"
March: "'Your name is Blaine?!'...until he started throwing around the word "pussy" -- as in how his friend over by the mirror never gets it, but he himself never has that problem -- and I walked away while he was in midsentence to continue my search for Nicole.", " Though first we stopped to break into Steve's house and write in eyeliner on a passed out Ross, which I still find funny in sobriety. I hope he enjoyed his half-face full of whiskers.", " Nicole's rules for life: 1. 'Act like a gay man and get what you want.' and 2. 'Don't be a virgin dick sucker.'"
April: "Highlight: Jenn explosively guffawing in absolute silence over something she was reading on her chicken nugget box.", "In the last sixteen hours I've been at work, I have been: pinched, swatted, painted, ignored, tormented, and told to 'go take a flying fish.'", "...Darla getting makeout from Corey Feldman...", "Yesterday I drove up to CCBC for the express purpose of sliding my acceptance verification and completed clearance forms under the door of the nursing office."
May: "My mood has been poor every day from about 10:30 until I punch out at five. Then I do things like eat a pint of Ben and Jerry's new Dublin Mudslide for dinner while watching silent movies from 1927, and refusing to answer the door.", "Legendary Hucklebucks CD release party...Following the show, the four of us headed for Tom's with Darla flashing people on the Southside as we drove down Carson and the rest of us sang Journey. The class in the car was incredible.", "Social D was fantastic, and that is really all that needs to be said about that. It was one of those perfect days -- a day of parking lot drinking and philosophizing with one of my oldest and most cherished friends."
June: "Jenn and I started Thursday night with dollar margaritas at Texas Roadhouse once again, followed by a trip to the Copper Dog with ideas of exploring the wonders of bars in Beaver County. These wonders are, in a drastic understatement, limited.", "My aunt is moving in this coming week."
July: "Saturday night Darla and I headed to the 31st St Pub for what turned out to be a night of absolute ridiculousness. It began with just the two of us, but by the end of the night our circle had expanded to include: Kevin, Julie, Baker, Kaila, Frank, Phil, Phil's friend Brian, James from the Upstage, and Dave Yanko from high school appearing as the Marlboro survey man.", "...love Elvis Costello. Really, it was one concert at which I had no desire to even drink (though of course we did anyhow) as I wanted to remember every second, every detail down to his silver sequined wingtips. This wasn't difficult, thanks to our being only three rows (!!!) from the front of the stage, and temporarily even closer."
August: "In my planner there is a block circled, highlighted, and starred: April 2007, when I will graduate.", "So yes, though things verge on unbearable at times, I'm learning a lot about exactly how much I can bend and with what strength I can snap back. Cliche to say so, maybe, but what the hell.", "Or this intoxicated conversation, which I actually had: 'What would you do if I showed up for your birthday wearing a dress?' 'Nothing. At this point you could pretty much do anything and I wouldn't really be bothered. I'd shrug and be like 'Oh well, so he's into drag.'"
September: "Upon registering at the "Welcome" table, I was handed a two-inch stack of Xeroxed handouts in shrink-wrap, plus nursing and college handbooks. The top two pages of the handouts listed the twenty (that's an exact number, not an exaggeration) chapters I have to have read (or more practically, reviewed) by Tuesday.", "I've also found a new friend in Kimmy, which is exciting.", "We have sixty days to move out of this house..."
October: "So we shall see. I really wish she weren't coming back.", "Too much emotion has been wasted on this situation, but I find that some good has come out of it. I feel rock solid.", "Detroit Cobras", "The Disasters/Horrorpops show...the merch boy befriending Jake with free stickers and posters -- and Jake being totally oblivious to the possibility that he was being hit on.", "Just across the river there is a good-sized Cape Cod with a driveway, hardwood floors, a breakfast nook, a wood burning fireplace, a heated sun room, and a larged fenced-in yard overlooking the woods, sitting at the end of a long street surrounded by trees and fairly distant from neighboring homes. In two weeks we will be living there, minus one large set of baggage in the form of a person.", "Dresden Dolls on Saturday!"
November: "The best part of the Misfits show can be summed up in three words: Rock City Morgue.", "Wednesday was Kimmy's boyfriend's band's first show. (Called Pushing Apollo -- should you get a chance to see them, do. Highly recommended and not just because I'm biased in their favor.)", "Michelle's being home for the holiday, and Darla having a Friday off, warrented an excursion to 80s Night.", "Why is it that a girl can go forever with minimal boy interest being apparent and then suddenly it all happens at once? The last two days have been insanity."
December: "I've been experiencing a string of very strange moods lately. It all adds up to something unfamiliar, something I attribute to aging, something I strongly suspect could be called 'wanting to be in a relationship.'", "Leaving work today marked the beginning of what amounts to a three week break.", "Even studying for the final isn't too bad; I've actually started looking ahead to grad school. Pitt offers a twenty month RN to MSN program with a concentration in acute trauma and mass disaster preparedness that sounds interesting."
And of course parts of December are still waiting to be written.