weightlessness is passing over me

Jan 03, 2009 10:43

New year OMG wooooooooo! 2009 feels a little unreal still, but the new year usually does in the beginning. Nothing like 2007, though - for years, 2006 had been like THE year that mattered. It was the year I'd be graduating, the year I more or less defined myself by (hence why almost all of my screen names had 06 in them). Not that I hadn't thought about what would happen after graduation; I mean, I'd applied to and been accepted to grad school, so I knew there was more to come after college. Still, when 2007 arrived, it was a total shock to me, like I hadn't realized that things would actually keep going after 2006, that there would in fact be other years after that. It was a weird feeling, but clearly I got over it, and 2007 had its own fair share of memorable occurrences to mark it (major car accident, new long distance boyfriend, new car, surviving my first year of grad school, etc.). Anyway, 2009 looks like it will also be another pretty big year. I'm going to finish my internship and graduate with my EdS, hopefully get my first real job, hopefully move up to Canada to live with Brad, and who knows, maybe there will even be a ring in my future this year. We'll see! I will probably do some of those 2008 in review memes, but if I do them in this entry, it will be at the end, after I tell you about my trip. And if I don't do them this entry, I'm sure they'll appear in the next one.

Anyway, Canada! I'd gotten the 23rd off from work, so I left around 7:45 am to drive up. The drive was mostly uneventful until I actually got into Canada, where due to a combination of the snow starting and normal rush hour, I sat in traffic for almost 2 hours for what should have been the last half hour or so of my trip. Made me very cranky and frustrated, but I did finally get there in one piece. We were going to head to his parents' house on Christmas Eve, but we decided that the weather was too crappy to drive that far, so we took care of a couple of local errands and just hung out at his place watching some episodes from the season of Whose Line Is It Anyway that I'd given him. The snuggling and relaxing together was definitely nice and much needed. On Christmas we drove up to Owen Sound, although Katrina's mom ended up not giving her to us till the next day. What can you do? Brad's parents gave me a box of chocolates, which was kind of funny because that's what Brad and I had ended up getting them. But they were good chocolates, and I enjoyed them. We had fun watching Katrina open her presents, and she was very eager for me to play with her new dollhouse with her. Attempts were made to take her sledding, but we failed in our mission for the second year in a row, this time because we could not find even the cheap plastic sleds in any of the stores we went to.

Oh, Christmas night, Brad and I went to the movies and saw Marley & Me. We both had mixed feelings about it going in, because I love puppies, but Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston aren't really big draws for either of us. But seriously, the people could have been stick figures for all I cared. I cried so hard at the end of that movie. There was a scene in the middle that was pretty emotional and I teared up then, too, but I could not stop bawling at the end. Hmm, that reminds me that I need to talk to my dad about my puppies. But yeah, if you are in any way an animal lover, or if you have ever been close to your pets, be very careful about seeing this movie. It was very very heart-wrenching. Anyway, after some more crazy weather (rain one day and really strong winds the next), we went back to Toronto on Sunday. Got a parking ticket Monday morning, I think, which was annoying but expected. Discovered that the little grocery store right by Brad's apartment had my Lorina sparkling french berry lemonade!!!! I was so excited, I went back the next day and bought two bottles, because that stuff is my favorite drink ever. One of the bottles is in my fridge right now, which makes me happy. Brad and I had some more conversations about our future, and I think we're pretty much on the same page about things, which is really good. I can't even tell you how much I'm looking forward to being able to go apartment hunting with him. Honestly I am way more psyched about that than I am about job hunting, which I kind of need to do first. Oh well. And I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he will be able to come down in February, but we'll see what happens with his school and the end of the strike.

New Year's was low-key this year, but that was okay. It was bitter bitter cold that night, and there's no way I would've wanted to be standing outside somewhere waiting for midnight. So we stayed in and cuddled on his couch while watching the festivities on tv, which was probably much more enjoyable than freezing our asses off. :) The drive home yesterday started off great; I was making really good time for awhile - only an hour and 20 minutes to get to the border, and no wait at all there, just went right up to the booth. Was still making good time across 90 in New York until . . . I got pulled over. Wooo speeding ticket. I was pretty bummed, because it's my first speeding ticket ever, but I was definitely speeding and the cop did kind of cut me a break by writing the ticket for 77 mph instead of the 82 he clocked me at. So now I have to figure out whether paying the fine (whatever it is) will garner any points on my license or not, so I know how to send back the form he gave me. Basically, if I plead guilty, they mail me back the fine amount, and if I plead not guilty, they mail me a court date, and I have to show up and hope that I can get them to reduce the charge and all that. But showing up at court in the middle of nowhere, NY is not really going to be convenient, so I'd rather just pay the fine and be done with it, but I also don't want points on my license. So, research will have to be done.

Anyway, here is a slideshow of my pictures from this trip!



And now, maybe I will do those year in review things after all.


Go to your calendar and post the first sentence of the first entry of every month for the year. Skip memes if possible.

January: I cannot believe that it's already January! Craziness. Hope you all had a great New Year's. Mine was pretty awesome, and the first one I've ever spent with a significant other. :)

February: not a whole lot going on, really. classes have started and i'm totally not feeling them, but what else is new? it's february already and that's crazy.
[apparently, the passage of time is crazy.]

March: class was canceled tonight, which means i got to go home when i finished work at 4 instead of staying on campus till around 7 like usual. you would think i'd take advantage of my 3 extra hours and do something productive. yeah, you'd be wrong. :p

April: okay, so, i haven't posted about how the interview on friday went because i really don't know! haha. i think it went pretty well, in terms of my answers being reasonable and hopefully good. there were a few unexpected questions, but even those i think i managed to answer fairly well.

May: this weekend has involved a lot of things that really made me wish i was up in toronto with brad. he got to see katrina yesterday, and she is utterly adorable and i miss her, so i totally wanted to be there with them.

June: Occasionally, when I am bored or have nothing better to do, I will go back and read old journal entries from the current month of years past. E.g. tonight I was looking at entries from the first week of June of every year I've had this journal. First, it is SO weird/funny to read entries from my senior year of high school. Bizarre, really; it seems like a lifetime ago, or several.

July: All right, so the latest on the internship front. I more or less have two potential options available at this point. Option A: My professor spoke to a colleague in North Jersey at The Children's Institute, put me in touch with him, and I had an interview there Tuesday morning. It went very well, the guy said he'd be happy to offer me the position.

August: Apartment hunting adventures part two! :D Okay, so after last week, I'd emailed the girl from the one place I did end up seeing, and she never emailed me back. I thanked her for showing me the apartment, asked her a couple questions I'd forgotten, and nothing. Emailed her a couple days later, still no response. It's so awesome when people totally ignore you, isn't it? *rolls eyes*

September: Week one of internship down! I'm feeling a little mixed about it so far. On the one hand, this week was mostly orientation, so it's probably not a very good representation of what it will be like when things really get going. Even yesterday, which was the first day of school for students, wasn't very challenging/busy/representative.

October: I haven't posted in quite a long time, and I'm going to be pretty busy this week between internship and babysitting every day, so I should post while I actually have a few minutes and am coherent enough to do so. Little things out of the way first: babysitting money tonight allowed me to buy a full tank of gas at $2.83 a gallon! Woo!
[hahaha, $2.83! sucker.]

November: I've started A Lion Among Men finally, and I'm super excited about it. Wish I didn't have pesky little things like work to take away from my reading time. Also I've been grossly sick today, which has not been fun at all. Stuffy nose, mostly, but you know, I've always been a fan of breathing, and there wasn't much of it going on today.

December: Okay, the paid account has expired. Jenn was right that having Firefox with adblock plus means I don't see any of the ads, which is nice, but I DO want my userpics back. Anyone want to buy me some userpics for Christmas? :D


1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?
Let's see - got an internship, looked for an apartment, knocked a mirror off my car, made most of Thanksgiving dinner, took the Praxis . . .

2. Did you keep your New Years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I never make them.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Nope.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
I wasn't very close to him, but Brad's grandfather died in January, and I would have very much liked to get to know him better.

5. What countries did you visit?
Gee, let's take a guess.

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
A real job. An apartment with Brad all to ourselves. A kitty or puppy?

7. What date from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory?
I don't really think any specific dates stand out, honestly. Next year might have more stand-out dates. Did I do this survey last year? Because there are dates from 2007 that I will never forget, that's for sure. (After a quick glance at my archives, it would appear that I only did the first lines of each month last year.)

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Getting an internship, probably.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Not having a steady job over the summer, maybe? That really was a financial setback that I'm still suffering from.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Eh, nothing serious. Just the standard occasional cold or whatnot.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Does the security deposit on my apartment count? Because I'm pretty pleased with living here. Other than that, probably any of the purchases associated with trips to see Brad.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Everyone who voted for Obama. Kristian, for being an amazing friend and really helping me out when I needed it.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Um, my dad's quite often. And his bitchy girlfriend.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Rent, my car, trips to see Brad.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
My apartment, starting my internship, passing the Praxis.

16. What song/album will always remind you of 2008?
Ooof. Um, let's see: anything from Viva la Vida, anything from A Hundred Million Suns, probably a few individual songs, but I'm not sure right now.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
1. Happier or sadder? Probably about the same. Last year I was overall happy, but starting to think about finding an internship; this year I'm still overall happy, but starting to think about finding a job.
2. Thinner or fatter? Again, probably about the same. My weight only fluctuates within a fairly small range, usually, and it hasn't gone outside that.
3. Richer or poorer? Still just as poor as always. One day I won't have to worry about money and I'm not going to know what to do with myself.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Saving/earning money. Having fun with friends.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Stressing about money/internship searching.

20. How will you be spending/did you spend Christmas?
See above paragraphs.

21. Who did you spend the most time on the phone with?
Probably the boy, if we're counting skype calls. If not, then maybe my mom? It's always a long conversation when I talk to her.

22. Did you fall in love in 2008?
Nope, I just remained very much in love.

23. How many one night stands in this last year?
Nada. 7 separate boytime trips.

24. What was your favourite TV program?
Ummmm Family Guy? I kinda got into Fringe when Lauren was watching it, but then I was never home when it was on.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Sarah Palin. It's as close to hate as I get. - I'll keep Mel's answer, because otherwise, I really don't hate anyone.

26. What was the best book(s) you read?
uuummmm let's see: Memoirs of a Geisha was pretty good, I liked Rosie Little's Cautionary Tales for Girls, What-the-Dickens and A Lion Among Men were enjoyable as always, and Red Dragon was pretty intense.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Maybe Matt Nathanson? There've been three songs of his I've really liked over the past year, and I want to get his cd. Besides that, I really like The Script song Before the Worst. Again, there's so much music I like that it's hard to pick which stuff is new and the best.

28. What did you want and get?
An internship. An apartment. An external harddrive. CDs. An ipod adapter for my car.

29. What did you want and not get?
An internship in Canada. A summer job. Enough money to not have to stress all the time.

30. What were your favourite films of this year?
Lord, I have no idea what movies I've even seen this year. Ummm Stardust? Was that this year or last year? That was good. OHHHH Wall-E! yessss. Not sure what else.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
24, and I went to Cosi with Jenn, Lori, Sarah and Kira. We had tasty food and stayed inside during the torrential downpour, so we only just made it to Coldstone for dessert before they closed.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Money.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
Tried to be a little more professional at times, but pretty much it stayed the same.

34. What kept you sane?
The boy. Kristian. Any time that I actually got to see my friends.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Shmeh.

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
Let's just go with election night.

37. Who did you miss?
God, who don't I miss? Everyone is far away from me now; I spent a lot of time missing people.

38. Who was the best new person you met?
Susan. She's been so great to talk to and she's been a really good friend, and now she won't be there at work anymore and I'm very sad about it. :(

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008!
All you can do is try your best.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
"Before the cool done run out I'll be giving it my bestest
and nothing's going to stop me but divine intervention
I reckon it's again my turn to win some or learn some
But I won't hesitate no more, no more
It cannot wait, I'm yours
Well open up your mind and see like me
Open up your plans and damn you're free
Look into your heart and you'll find love, love, love, love"

Annnnd now that this entry is forever long, it's time to go. Enjoy your weekends!

movies, year-in-review, time, pictures, lj toys, speeding ticket, boytime

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