2006: A Year In Review
This is my first time doing the lj-cut thing, so hopefully I got it right. I just didn't want to swallow all of your friends pages. Happy new year, everyone! Hope your 2007 is awesome!
January - At the beginning of the year, my dad had this crazy cist on his neck, and after they removed it, we could see his veins and stuff thru the incision. Kinda gross. Around this time, I was considering a minor in interior design to go with my applied photo major. Never actually went through with that. I got a checking account on January 4th. That was a big deal for me. I mostly got it because we needed an account number in order to sell on eBay, which started with my Playstation on the 9th. I also started my second semester at Northern, and took my first college photo class. I also got a Hugh Laurie autograph off eBay on the 14th. Stephy and I started working out on the 26th. That was awesome while it lasted. On the 27th, while channel surfing, I came across Rick Moranis. Singing. Later I learned that he has a cd out. What is this world coming to?
February - February 4th was the last time this year I heard from Arroyo. I e-mail him around his birthday every year, he e-mails me back, and that’s usually it. I still miss that guy like crazy… There were a few private entries for my records about *Jay*, and my debate on whether or not to tell him how I feel about him. On February 13th, I wrote *Jay* a letter, spilling my heart out to him and telling him exactly how I feel. On the 24th, I saw The Wizard of Oz performed by the Children’s Theatre. It was kinda upsetting. A huge fan like me expects something more up-scale. On the 26th, a Civil War sword that we put on eBay sold for $810.
March - On the 1st, I went to the circus for the first time in my life. Unfortunately, my cousin scratched the inside of my nose while trying to make me turn my head and look at something and I bled and bled and bled. It was horrible. I had to go to the first aid room and everything. At the beginning of March, I started planning out my final foundations project, which would turn out to be my biggest endeavor in the area of art EVER. On the 5th, I saw Gary for the first time in over a year when he came to pick up a movie and a Playstation game he had let me borrow long ago. I decided on the 13th that I would have my jaw problem fixed over the summer because it interfered with my singing of “Defying Gravity.” That never happened; it has yet to be fixed. On the 18th I got a text message from Cyrena that threw me through a loop. It involved *Jay*, and it definitely changed a lot of things that were going on in my head. On the 20th, I saw Wicked live, thanks to a hookup from my uncle. It was quite possibly the best thing I have ever seen live. Ever. On the 24th, my sister and I went to the Collin and Brad Show, (Collin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood from Whose Line is it Anyway?). That was fan-freaking-tastic. I hope they come back in ’07.
April - On the 2nd, my parents got an enlarger for me at a flea market. This was the beginning of the idea of having my own darkroom in our house. I posted a private entry on the 4th that consisted of a letter to *Jay*; a letter that I never sent him. I still hadn’t gotten a reply by this time, and writing that ‘fake’ letter was my way of dealing with the downtime. On the 5th, I got an autographed wicked show poster from my awesome uncle. Tis one of my most prized possessions. I got a new desktop computer on the 17th. On the 18th, I learned that I would soon be working in the Photo Lab at Kroger. That was very exciting. I finished the foundations Creative Cache project on the 24th, after 3 months of hard work. And all that work definitely paid off, and the project was a huge success.
May - Apparently may wasn’t very eventful aside from the fact that this is when I started working in photo, because that’s all my entries from this month are about. It should be noted that I only posted 4 entries in the entire month. Crazy.
June - In early June, I met this wonderful girl… her name is Joanna. She turned my Kroger world upside down, and made the summer at work flippin awesome. She brought out the worst in me (which really isn’t all that bad) and was someone to share Joel jokes with, which is always fun. On the 9th, we went on vacation to Myrtle Beach, the first time we’ve actually gone to a beach in years. During this vacation, I got a call from Gary. That led to lots of long conversations of us catching up and I guess trying to get things back to the way they used to be. That was probably the highlight of the vacation. I realized how much I missed his friendship, and finally being able to talk to him like I could before all that *Jack* stuff came up was very nice. On the 15th I got some upsetting news that I still don’t know whether or not it was true, but now it doesn’t matter. I even wrote a poem that day regarding said news… The only one I wrote all year. There were also quite a few weddings this month… Mark and Emily got married on the 17th. On the 21st, my step-sister Kelly and her girlfriend, Shannon got married. On the 24th, Beth and Jimmy got married.
July - Early in the month, Gary called and suggested we hang out, and then totally ditched me. That kinda put a damper on the whole rebuilding the friendship thing. I was upset with him for a while about that. On July 9th, my sister and I went to see Ryan Cabrera and we were introduced to Josh Hoge, who we got to meet later that night. Now we both adore him and his music. July 14th was my 3-years without caffeinated drinks anniversary. On the 20th, I burnt my heel on a pool deck and couldn’t walk normally for a week. On the 25th, I bought my very own iPod, something I swore I would never do, only because I’m a non-conformist, and everyone has an iPod. But I love it dearly, and that’s all that matters.
August - I started rearranging my room on the 3rd, which I hadn’t done in years. I really like the way it turned out, and it’ll probably stay this way for a while. The 6th was my 19th birthday, which wasn’t exactly a huge milestone or anything. We went to Coney on the 7th and I had a blast. On the 8th, I had a dermatologist appointment to have my moles/freckles checked out. They said I was fine, but I have to go back in February for a check-up to make sure things are still okay. The 13th is one that will go down in Kroger 410 history. It was Joanna’s last day, so we had planned to ‘get’ Joel, since he had been saying how he was gonna get Joanna back for the times she’s picked on him over the summer or whatever. He sprayed her with shaving cream, which I must admit was pretty funny. Then, we were going to try to dye his hair orange. I had the dye smeared all over my hands and was about to come up behind him when he caught on. So I went after him and we had this huge dramatic ‘fight’ as I tried to get the dye in his hair. However, I ended up knocking his glasses off and breaking them, and he somehow got a huge streak of the dye in my hair. We were both covered in the orangey-ness though. Later that night, Joanna came over to photo and gave me orange high-lights so the streak didn’t look stupid. Alas, I had orange hair. The 21st was the first day of my sophomore year. In mid to late August, my wisdom teeth decided to grow in. Mucho pain.
September - We finished my darkroom on the 3rd. It’s now located in the closet under the stairs in our basement, and has proven very useful. Because of it, I was only in Photo II about half the time because I went home to do my work. Early on, I began to realize that my Advanced College Writing teacher was a lunatic. The 4th was the saddest day of the year for me. That’s the day that Steve Irwin died. I cried soooo much for the first week after it happened. The 11th marked the 5-year anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. That day, I was decked out in American garb, and had “SILO” written on my hand, standing for “Steve Irwin Lives On”, because it was a week ago that day that he passed away. I ordered a Holga camera along with film mid-month. On the 21st, we got wireless at our house, and it has been the most wonderful addition to our household since Diego. I lurve it lots. I found out around the 24th that fed-ex lost my Holga and film. Not cool. The new Weird Al CD came out on the 26th. Tis my 2nd fav Al album ever, right under Running With Scissors.
October - On the 5th, I physically witnessed photosynthesis in action. It was super cool. This month, DHL lost my new laptop battery, which only added to the frustration from fed-ex losing my Holga. On Friday the 13th, I dropped my cell phone from the 4th floor of New Science to the 2nd floor, and it smashed into 5 pieces. After going to the mall to look at new phones, Shavonda nearly died on the way home, and I had to pay almost $300 to get that fixed. On the 19th, my sister and I went to the Q102 Bosom Ball to see Josh Hoge again. That was spectacular. We got to hang out with Josh afterwards, and he signed the water bottle (his, by the way) that I stole off the stage. I got a phone to replace the one that died, but I didn’t really like it, so went back on the 24th and got a Nokia 6126, which I am absolutely in love with. It rocks hardcore. On the 31st, I found out that Bob Barker is retiring from the Price is Right in June of 2007. It’s been a dream of mine to go on the show, and I’d really like to before Bob retires. We’ll see how that goes next year.
November - I did my scheduling for Spring semester early in the month. Things didn’t work out as I had planned for them to, but I managed to pull together 16 credit hours. The 24th, Black Friday, was awesome. We stayed at Meijer from 11:45 the night before until the sale started at 5:00am. It was so much fun. I saw Steve for the first time in forever that night while he was standing in the line for TVs. Around the 28th, I decided to take a winter intersession bio class, so I could get it out of the way.
December - On the 6th, my Adv. College writing teacher gave me the impression that she had lost my research paper, and I about lost it. She called me about 20 minutes later saying she had it all along. On the 8th, my world was turned upside down in a crazy way via about a hundred or so text messages back and forth between a friend and I. That put me in the best mood I’ve been in for quite a while. I ended the fall semester with one B and 5 As, and a 3.765 GPA. I was pretty proud of that. My cousin from Corbin’s wedding was the 16th, and because of the unseasonable weather, it was outside. I got locked in our hotel bathroom while we were down there. Around the middle of the month, I got a response from *Jay* regarding the letter I wrote him in February. It was pretty much exactly what I had expected. The 23rd/ 24th were perhaps not only the best days of 2006, but among the best in my life. I got to hang out with one of the most awesomest people I know, and I had a blast. I’ll remember that night/morning for the rest of my life. I learned a lot while spending time with this person, both about them and myself, and I sincerely hope we can do it again sometime. On the 25th, Tiffy and Nathan got engaged. On New Year’s Eve, I will be attending what I think is my first real “party.” How sad is that? But I definitely look forward to ringing in 2007 with some old friends. It should be a good time.
Top 5 Defining Moments of 2006 (These events impacted me the most, directly or indirectly, good or bad.)
1. The night of December 23rd and the morning of December 24th.
2. Writing and giving a letter to *Jay* that told him of my feelings for him.
3. Steve Irwin’s death.
4. Seeing Wicked live.
5. Reconnecting with Gary.
Quotes of 2006:
~“Always tell someone how you feel about them; you will feel much better when they know.” - I dunno who said this, but it was definitely proven true for me this year.
~“I’m just one person, and merely one small drop of water in a sea of opposition.” - Me
~"Allowing yourself to be crazy is the only way to remain sane." - Me
Sealed With A Click,
Crystal Janel
January - At the beginning of the year, my dad had this crazy cist on his neck, and after they removed it, we could see his veins and stuff thru the incision. Kinda gross. Around this time, I was considering a minor in interior design to go with my applied photo major. Never actually went through with that. I got a checking account on January 4th. That was a big deal for me. I mostly got it because we needed an account number in order to sell on eBay, which started with my Playstation on the 9th. I also started my second semester at Northern, and took my first college photo class. I also got a Hugh Laurie autograph off eBay on the 14th. Stephy and I started working out on the 26th. That was awesome while it lasted. On the 27th, while channel surfing, I came across Rick Moranis. Singing. Later I learned that he has a cd out. What is this world coming to?
February - February 4th was the last time this year I heard from Arroyo. I e-mail him around his birthday every year, he e-mails me back, and that’s usually it. I still miss that guy like crazy… There were a few private entries for my records about *Jay*, and my debate on whether or not to tell him how I feel about him. On February 13th, I wrote *Jay* a letter, spilling my heart out to him and telling him exactly how I feel. On the 24th, I saw The Wizard of Oz performed by the Children’s Theatre. It was kinda upsetting. A huge fan like me expects something more up-scale. On the 26th, a Civil War sword that we put on eBay sold for $810.
March - On the 1st, I went to the circus for the first time in my life. Unfortunately, my cousin scratched the inside of my nose while trying to make me turn my head and look at something and I bled and bled and bled. It was horrible. I had to go to the first aid room and everything. At the beginning of March, I started planning out my final foundations project, which would turn out to be my biggest endeavor in the area of art EVER. On the 5th, I saw Gary for the first time in over a year when he came to pick up a movie and a Playstation game he had let me borrow long ago. I decided on the 13th that I would have my jaw problem fixed over the summer because it interfered with my singing of “Defying Gravity.” That never happened; it has yet to be fixed. On the 18th I got a text message from Cyrena that threw me through a loop. It involved *Jay*, and it definitely changed a lot of things that were going on in my head. On the 20th, I saw Wicked live, thanks to a hookup from my uncle. It was quite possibly the best thing I have ever seen live. Ever. On the 24th, my sister and I went to the Collin and Brad Show, (Collin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood from Whose Line is it Anyway?). That was fan-freaking-tastic. I hope they come back in ’07.
April - On the 2nd, my parents got an enlarger for me at a flea market. This was the beginning of the idea of having my own darkroom in our house. I posted a private entry on the 4th that consisted of a letter to *Jay*; a letter that I never sent him. I still hadn’t gotten a reply by this time, and writing that ‘fake’ letter was my way of dealing with the downtime. On the 5th, I got an autographed wicked show poster from my awesome uncle. Tis one of my most prized possessions. I got a new desktop computer on the 17th. On the 18th, I learned that I would soon be working in the Photo Lab at Kroger. That was very exciting. I finished the foundations Creative Cache project on the 24th, after 3 months of hard work. And all that work definitely paid off, and the project was a huge success.
May - Apparently may wasn’t very eventful aside from the fact that this is when I started working in photo, because that’s all my entries from this month are about. It should be noted that I only posted 4 entries in the entire month. Crazy.
June - In early June, I met this wonderful girl… her name is Joanna. She turned my Kroger world upside down, and made the summer at work flippin awesome. She brought out the worst in me (which really isn’t all that bad) and was someone to share Joel jokes with, which is always fun. On the 9th, we went on vacation to Myrtle Beach, the first time we’ve actually gone to a beach in years. During this vacation, I got a call from Gary. That led to lots of long conversations of us catching up and I guess trying to get things back to the way they used to be. That was probably the highlight of the vacation. I realized how much I missed his friendship, and finally being able to talk to him like I could before all that *Jack* stuff came up was very nice. On the 15th I got some upsetting news that I still don’t know whether or not it was true, but now it doesn’t matter. I even wrote a poem that day regarding said news… The only one I wrote all year. There were also quite a few weddings this month… Mark and Emily got married on the 17th. On the 21st, my step-sister Kelly and her girlfriend, Shannon got married. On the 24th, Beth and Jimmy got married.
July - Early in the month, Gary called and suggested we hang out, and then totally ditched me. That kinda put a damper on the whole rebuilding the friendship thing. I was upset with him for a while about that. On July 9th, my sister and I went to see Ryan Cabrera and we were introduced to Josh Hoge, who we got to meet later that night. Now we both adore him and his music. July 14th was my 3-years without caffeinated drinks anniversary. On the 20th, I burnt my heel on a pool deck and couldn’t walk normally for a week. On the 25th, I bought my very own iPod, something I swore I would never do, only because I’m a non-conformist, and everyone has an iPod. But I love it dearly, and that’s all that matters.
August - I started rearranging my room on the 3rd, which I hadn’t done in years. I really like the way it turned out, and it’ll probably stay this way for a while. The 6th was my 19th birthday, which wasn’t exactly a huge milestone or anything. We went to Coney on the 7th and I had a blast. On the 8th, I had a dermatologist appointment to have my moles/freckles checked out. They said I was fine, but I have to go back in February for a check-up to make sure things are still okay. The 13th is one that will go down in Kroger 410 history. It was Joanna’s last day, so we had planned to ‘get’ Joel, since he had been saying how he was gonna get Joanna back for the times she’s picked on him over the summer or whatever. He sprayed her with shaving cream, which I must admit was pretty funny. Then, we were going to try to dye his hair orange. I had the dye smeared all over my hands and was about to come up behind him when he caught on. So I went after him and we had this huge dramatic ‘fight’ as I tried to get the dye in his hair. However, I ended up knocking his glasses off and breaking them, and he somehow got a huge streak of the dye in my hair. We were both covered in the orangey-ness though. Later that night, Joanna came over to photo and gave me orange high-lights so the streak didn’t look stupid. Alas, I had orange hair. The 21st was the first day of my sophomore year. In mid to late August, my wisdom teeth decided to grow in. Mucho pain.
September - We finished my darkroom on the 3rd. It’s now located in the closet under the stairs in our basement, and has proven very useful. Because of it, I was only in Photo II about half the time because I went home to do my work. Early on, I began to realize that my Advanced College Writing teacher was a lunatic. The 4th was the saddest day of the year for me. That’s the day that Steve Irwin died. I cried soooo much for the first week after it happened. The 11th marked the 5-year anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. That day, I was decked out in American garb, and had “SILO” written on my hand, standing for “Steve Irwin Lives On”, because it was a week ago that day that he passed away. I ordered a Holga camera along with film mid-month. On the 21st, we got wireless at our house, and it has been the most wonderful addition to our household since Diego. I lurve it lots. I found out around the 24th that fed-ex lost my Holga and film. Not cool. The new Weird Al CD came out on the 26th. Tis my 2nd fav Al album ever, right under Running With Scissors.
October - On the 5th, I physically witnessed photosynthesis in action. It was super cool. This month, DHL lost my new laptop battery, which only added to the frustration from fed-ex losing my Holga. On Friday the 13th, I dropped my cell phone from the 4th floor of New Science to the 2nd floor, and it smashed into 5 pieces. After going to the mall to look at new phones, Shavonda nearly died on the way home, and I had to pay almost $300 to get that fixed. On the 19th, my sister and I went to the Q102 Bosom Ball to see Josh Hoge again. That was spectacular. We got to hang out with Josh afterwards, and he signed the water bottle (his, by the way) that I stole off the stage. I got a phone to replace the one that died, but I didn’t really like it, so went back on the 24th and got a Nokia 6126, which I am absolutely in love with. It rocks hardcore. On the 31st, I found out that Bob Barker is retiring from the Price is Right in June of 2007. It’s been a dream of mine to go on the show, and I’d really like to before Bob retires. We’ll see how that goes next year.
November - I did my scheduling for Spring semester early in the month. Things didn’t work out as I had planned for them to, but I managed to pull together 16 credit hours. The 24th, Black Friday, was awesome. We stayed at Meijer from 11:45 the night before until the sale started at 5:00am. It was so much fun. I saw Steve for the first time in forever that night while he was standing in the line for TVs. Around the 28th, I decided to take a winter intersession bio class, so I could get it out of the way.
December - On the 6th, my Adv. College writing teacher gave me the impression that she had lost my research paper, and I about lost it. She called me about 20 minutes later saying she had it all along. On the 8th, my world was turned upside down in a crazy way via about a hundred or so text messages back and forth between a friend and I. That put me in the best mood I’ve been in for quite a while. I ended the fall semester with one B and 5 As, and a 3.765 GPA. I was pretty proud of that. My cousin from Corbin’s wedding was the 16th, and because of the unseasonable weather, it was outside. I got locked in our hotel bathroom while we were down there. Around the middle of the month, I got a response from *Jay* regarding the letter I wrote him in February. It was pretty much exactly what I had expected. The 23rd/ 24th were perhaps not only the best days of 2006, but among the best in my life. I got to hang out with one of the most awesomest people I know, and I had a blast. I’ll remember that night/morning for the rest of my life. I learned a lot while spending time with this person, both about them and myself, and I sincerely hope we can do it again sometime. On the 25th, Tiffy and Nathan got engaged. On New Year’s Eve, I will be attending what I think is my first real “party.” How sad is that? But I definitely look forward to ringing in 2007 with some old friends. It should be a good time.
Top 5 Defining Moments of 2006 (These events impacted me the most, directly or indirectly, good or bad.)
1. The night of December 23rd and the morning of December 24th.
2. Writing and giving a letter to *Jay* that told him of my feelings for him.
3. Steve Irwin’s death.
4. Seeing Wicked live.
5. Reconnecting with Gary.
Quotes of 2006:
~“Always tell someone how you feel about them; you will feel much better when they know.” - I dunno who said this, but it was definitely proven true for me this year.
~“I’m just one person, and merely one small drop of water in a sea of opposition.” - Me
~"Allowing yourself to be crazy is the only way to remain sane." - Me
Sealed With A Click,
Crystal Janel