2006 Retrospective / 2007 Prospects
Happy New Year!
I've definitely fallen off the LJ radar (I'm hardly even the faintest of blips these days), but I'm still alive. I promise.
*****
2006 Year-end Recap:
Spent a laidback Thanksgiving at home and at my grandmother's house in upstate New York. Spent almost a ridiculous amount of my time working on a cross-stitch project (which still isn't finished, but I'm getting much closer!) but also enjoyed talking with cousins, aunts and uncles, and Grandma. I got to hear her stories about her undergrad at Cornell in the Home Economics school and her training and work as an occupational therapist in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and outside of Chicago before she moved back to New York and met my grandpa. I haven't always liked my grandma as much as I wanted to be able to, so it was really nice to enjoy being around her for more than a couple of days.
Got a nasty head cold from my flight back home from Thanksgiving and so spent a good chunk of the end-of-semester time sick with fever, sinus pressure, and cement-like snot preventing me from breathing, sleeping, and generally functioning like a normal person.
Despite the sinus plague, I finished the semester off pretty well, getting A's in both of my classes.
Spent an enjoyable night with Ben for his birthday and our shared Christmas celebration before heading home on Dec. 23rd. Another long trip of buses, trains, and automobiles home, but it was the last time since I bought my parent's old car from them (for a dollar--in quarters!). Yep, I have my own form of transportation now: a stick-shift, no cruise control, no automatic anything 1995 "tropical green" Geo Prizm. It's not fancy, but it runs and will work to get me to and from my practicum in Middleton (the next town over from Madison) this semester.
Christmas at home was a great deal of fun with my parents, brother, sister, her boyfriend, and their new kitten, Charlie. We ate great comfort food, talked, slept, played cards, and were endlessly entertained by the kitty (for example, you have no idea how funny it is to see a kitten on a treadmill... we have video!). I was completely surprised to receive an iPod Nano in addition to Songs for Silverman (a fantastic Ben Folds album), a new watch, and the promise of some new clothes (an IOU from Anne and Ryan).
The day after Christmas was Mom and Dad's 30th wedding anniversary, so we all decided to make them a nice dinner at home: sushi (using the materials from the sushi-making kit I gave my brother for Christmas)! It all went great, except for the hot oil volcano and the verbal explosions between the siblings... but Mom and Dad were none the wiser and enjoyed their evening, which is the most important thing.
Spent the final weekend of the year watching many episodes of House on DVD (Ben's Christmas present), sleeping too much, and generally hanging out with Ben. Played pool with Ben and one of his friends out at a local bar for New Year's Eve, then went back to Ben's, drank half a bottle of champagne, and had a pretty brutal hangover on the first. Love to start the year out that way! ;)
*****
Plans for 2007:
Immediate plans include working, starting my practicum, applying for jobs, and starting classes. But first, I am looking forward to a fun weekend in Chicago with Ben, my friend Sara, who lives in England, and her Brit boyfriend, Rich, who are only in the States for the holidays.
Longer-term plans involve my May 20th graduation, a summer LTE job doing certain aspects of my current assistantship (since I can't be a graduate student PA after I graduate), and then moving to Chicago--unless something else really fantastic jumps out at me. (Oh, and I have to do that pesky job application thing. At some point. Hmm... probably ought to do that sooner rather than later. Meh.)
*****
EDIT (March 7, 2007): So, I wrote this entry way back in January, but my computer froze just as I was going to submit it, and it appeared that I had lost my autosaved draft as well. I got so annoyed that I haven't written anything since. When I signed in today, it asked if I wanted to restore my previous draft, and VOILA! There it was. So, yay for LJ! Perhaps I'll be more journal-focused again now that I know I'm not screwed if the computer decides to be stupid.
I've definitely fallen off the LJ radar (I'm hardly even the faintest of blips these days), but I'm still alive. I promise.
*****
2006 Year-end Recap:
Spent a laidback Thanksgiving at home and at my grandmother's house in upstate New York. Spent almost a ridiculous amount of my time working on a cross-stitch project (which still isn't finished, but I'm getting much closer!) but also enjoyed talking with cousins, aunts and uncles, and Grandma. I got to hear her stories about her undergrad at Cornell in the Home Economics school and her training and work as an occupational therapist in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and outside of Chicago before she moved back to New York and met my grandpa. I haven't always liked my grandma as much as I wanted to be able to, so it was really nice to enjoy being around her for more than a couple of days.
Got a nasty head cold from my flight back home from Thanksgiving and so spent a good chunk of the end-of-semester time sick with fever, sinus pressure, and cement-like snot preventing me from breathing, sleeping, and generally functioning like a normal person.
Despite the sinus plague, I finished the semester off pretty well, getting A's in both of my classes.
Spent an enjoyable night with Ben for his birthday and our shared Christmas celebration before heading home on Dec. 23rd. Another long trip of buses, trains, and automobiles home, but it was the last time since I bought my parent's old car from them (for a dollar--in quarters!). Yep, I have my own form of transportation now: a stick-shift, no cruise control, no automatic anything 1995 "tropical green" Geo Prizm. It's not fancy, but it runs and will work to get me to and from my practicum in Middleton (the next town over from Madison) this semester.
Christmas at home was a great deal of fun with my parents, brother, sister, her boyfriend, and their new kitten, Charlie. We ate great comfort food, talked, slept, played cards, and were endlessly entertained by the kitty (for example, you have no idea how funny it is to see a kitten on a treadmill... we have video!). I was completely surprised to receive an iPod Nano in addition to Songs for Silverman (a fantastic Ben Folds album), a new watch, and the promise of some new clothes (an IOU from Anne and Ryan).
The day after Christmas was Mom and Dad's 30th wedding anniversary, so we all decided to make them a nice dinner at home: sushi (using the materials from the sushi-making kit I gave my brother for Christmas)! It all went great, except for the hot oil volcano and the verbal explosions between the siblings... but Mom and Dad were none the wiser and enjoyed their evening, which is the most important thing.
Spent the final weekend of the year watching many episodes of House on DVD (Ben's Christmas present), sleeping too much, and generally hanging out with Ben. Played pool with Ben and one of his friends out at a local bar for New Year's Eve, then went back to Ben's, drank half a bottle of champagne, and had a pretty brutal hangover on the first. Love to start the year out that way! ;)
*****
Plans for 2007:
Immediate plans include working, starting my practicum, applying for jobs, and starting classes. But first, I am looking forward to a fun weekend in Chicago with Ben, my friend Sara, who lives in England, and her Brit boyfriend, Rich, who are only in the States for the holidays.
Longer-term plans involve my May 20th graduation, a summer LTE job doing certain aspects of my current assistantship (since I can't be a graduate student PA after I graduate), and then moving to Chicago--unless something else really fantastic jumps out at me. (Oh, and I have to do that pesky job application thing. At some point. Hmm... probably ought to do that sooner rather than later. Meh.)
*****
EDIT (March 7, 2007): So, I wrote this entry way back in January, but my computer froze just as I was going to submit it, and it appeared that I had lost my autosaved draft as well. I got so annoyed that I haven't written anything since. When I signed in today, it asked if I wanted to restore my previous draft, and VOILA! There it was. So, yay for LJ! Perhaps I'll be more journal-focused again now that I know I'm not screwed if the computer decides to be stupid.