2009 in review
[Way back in 2003, over the last two weeks of the year, I wrote several one-paragraph essays on LJ with each paragraph corresponding to a month of the preceding year. In 2004, I started to do the same, but stopped halfway through because I didn't have internet access. I didn't even bother the following year, because not enough interesting stuff had happened. This past month, I resumed the practice on Facebook. For those who aren't friends with me on Facebook, here are those twelve posts.]
January: I celebrate the new year with BCA friends, then drive out to Penn for the second half of the gift exchange. Soeren moves in. After poker one night, I drive home and get stuck in a neighbor's driveway at 2am. My student-teaching at BCA begins at the end of the month, but the night before someone starts using a heater so that the upstairs circuits continually blow, rendering the bathroom unusable.
February: Florian moved out shortly after a rant from Mark about how we were wasting electricity. I took over a class of Analysis at BCA as well as control of the quiz bowl team. I met Jen, a girl I'd been talking to online since last fall, in person for the first time. Dr. Abramson got me involved with learning bridge, which had been pretty much the only card game I didn't know how to play.
March: Severe turnover in the house. Stefanie moves in to replace Florian. Holger and Stefan move out, and a new Stefan moves in. Jason moves out of his shared room with no warning. Annette moves out and is immediately (as in one hour later) replaced by Chad. I learned just how much teachers gossip about each other and students: "I'd say her voice could break a sheet of glass any day." I came home from work one day to discover a Coldwell Banker sign in front of the house.
April: Franzi moved in to fill the last empty spot in the house. I finish taking over classes so I have three sections of Analysis I. I also begin a review session for struggling juniors. I sorta begin the process of job hunting, but not that much. BCA Quizbowl hosts two tournaments, which run mostly OK; one is under my direction, the other I am co-director for. The end of the month is marked by the Devils' horrifying playoff collapse and Franzi and Steffi giving Mark 30 days' notice that they're moving out at the end of May.
May: Student-teaching ends, and BCA tells me that they'd like me to stick around and open a tutoring center. I had my first interview with BCTS, and Mr. Montone told me to stay in touch, in that I'd be a good fit at the Academy with some experience, but a terrible fit at the only school in the district with an opening. Memorial Day weekend, I surprise Jen by showing up at a marriage equality rally she'd mentioned in Montclair. Sacha moves out and Katrin moves into the house.
June: Mark announces that he's selling 85 WC and we have to move out in 30 days. I interview with North Arlington as well as several potential new landlords. Jen meets some of my siblings when we go into the city to see Twelfth Night in Central Park. The school year ends, and Math Camp and After Hours begin. I decide on a room in Waldwick, only to hear from the landlord's boyfriend on June 30 "Do not go to the house. If you do, there will be consequences."
July: With no other options, I move into Mark's other rented house. I teach Non-Routine at After Hours and continue to teach Math Camp, then met some of the local people in the QB circuit and carpooled to Maryland for a tournament. I met Jen's mother and some other family members, and we made it "Facebook-official". Garfield invited me to interview. Then there were incredible good times at the PROMYS reunion in Boston.
August: Dwight Morrow interviews me and gives me the impression that I will be eaten alive if I teach there. Kinnelon interviews me and tells me I'm good but someone else is better. I take Jen out to PA to meet my parents, then visit her in Toms River later in the month. I tutor a kid from Ridgewood who I'd worked with last summer and fall. The rest of the month is spent not doing much of anything, because the Academy summer program has ended and I don't have a job.
September: I felt a little out of sorts as I seemed to fall into an "endless summer vacation". Jen comes up to meet some of my roommates from 85 WC, and then I go down to meet her roommates at Drew. A tutoring matchmaker service brought me on board (never heard from them again). The last people who had been living in 103 WC when I moved in leave, and Ali moves into the room next to mine. Towards the end of the month, a math camp friend gives me a ticket to see The Daily Show, and it was fun.
October: I help out at a few quiz bowl tournaments, and Mr. Baker gives me contact info for a student he had tutored in chemistry who now needed calculus help. I tag along with the parents on a trip to Atlantic City and it goes very well. BCTS finally calls me off the sub list, and I fill in at Teterboro, all of which mean that I'm not broke (yet). Krishna and Ralph move in, and Ali's girlfriend Katrina flew in from Germany for a month-long visit, and I close out the month at a Halloween party with Jen.
November: While not an official resident of the house, Ralph's girlfriend Keira is a constant fun presence, while Ali is called away on business trips from San Francisco to France to Iowa. Jen takes a leave from school, and I spend a weekend visiting her, and she spends a few weekends visiting me. BCTS calls me in to sit in the Academy cafeteria all day. Katrina leaves shortly before Thanksgiving. That week, I catch up with a bunch of Academy friends (another one of whom is engaged now).
December: I celebrate my 24th birthday by almost winning trivia night at the local bar by myself. I help run another quiz bowl tournament at BCA and later help proctor a math team contest. Mark screws me over again by announcing he plans to raise the rent effective February; the roommates and I respond by looking for a place to move. Mom and Dad go to Iceland, Jeffrey moves into a house. A plan to host high school friends for New Year's falls through, so I'll be spending it with Jen and her friends.
January: I celebrate the new year with BCA friends, then drive out to Penn for the second half of the gift exchange. Soeren moves in. After poker one night, I drive home and get stuck in a neighbor's driveway at 2am. My student-teaching at BCA begins at the end of the month, but the night before someone starts using a heater so that the upstairs circuits continually blow, rendering the bathroom unusable.
February: Florian moved out shortly after a rant from Mark about how we were wasting electricity. I took over a class of Analysis at BCA as well as control of the quiz bowl team. I met Jen, a girl I'd been talking to online since last fall, in person for the first time. Dr. Abramson got me involved with learning bridge, which had been pretty much the only card game I didn't know how to play.
March: Severe turnover in the house. Stefanie moves in to replace Florian. Holger and Stefan move out, and a new Stefan moves in. Jason moves out of his shared room with no warning. Annette moves out and is immediately (as in one hour later) replaced by Chad. I learned just how much teachers gossip about each other and students: "I'd say her voice could break a sheet of glass any day." I came home from work one day to discover a Coldwell Banker sign in front of the house.
April: Franzi moved in to fill the last empty spot in the house. I finish taking over classes so I have three sections of Analysis I. I also begin a review session for struggling juniors. I sorta begin the process of job hunting, but not that much. BCA Quizbowl hosts two tournaments, which run mostly OK; one is under my direction, the other I am co-director for. The end of the month is marked by the Devils' horrifying playoff collapse and Franzi and Steffi giving Mark 30 days' notice that they're moving out at the end of May.
May: Student-teaching ends, and BCA tells me that they'd like me to stick around and open a tutoring center. I had my first interview with BCTS, and Mr. Montone told me to stay in touch, in that I'd be a good fit at the Academy with some experience, but a terrible fit at the only school in the district with an opening. Memorial Day weekend, I surprise Jen by showing up at a marriage equality rally she'd mentioned in Montclair. Sacha moves out and Katrin moves into the house.
June: Mark announces that he's selling 85 WC and we have to move out in 30 days. I interview with North Arlington as well as several potential new landlords. Jen meets some of my siblings when we go into the city to see Twelfth Night in Central Park. The school year ends, and Math Camp and After Hours begin. I decide on a room in Waldwick, only to hear from the landlord's boyfriend on June 30 "Do not go to the house. If you do, there will be consequences."
July: With no other options, I move into Mark's other rented house. I teach Non-Routine at After Hours and continue to teach Math Camp, then met some of the local people in the QB circuit and carpooled to Maryland for a tournament. I met Jen's mother and some other family members, and we made it "Facebook-official". Garfield invited me to interview. Then there were incredible good times at the PROMYS reunion in Boston.
August: Dwight Morrow interviews me and gives me the impression that I will be eaten alive if I teach there. Kinnelon interviews me and tells me I'm good but someone else is better. I take Jen out to PA to meet my parents, then visit her in Toms River later in the month. I tutor a kid from Ridgewood who I'd worked with last summer and fall. The rest of the month is spent not doing much of anything, because the Academy summer program has ended and I don't have a job.
September: I felt a little out of sorts as I seemed to fall into an "endless summer vacation". Jen comes up to meet some of my roommates from 85 WC, and then I go down to meet her roommates at Drew. A tutoring matchmaker service brought me on board (never heard from them again). The last people who had been living in 103 WC when I moved in leave, and Ali moves into the room next to mine. Towards the end of the month, a math camp friend gives me a ticket to see The Daily Show, and it was fun.
October: I help out at a few quiz bowl tournaments, and Mr. Baker gives me contact info for a student he had tutored in chemistry who now needed calculus help. I tag along with the parents on a trip to Atlantic City and it goes very well. BCTS finally calls me off the sub list, and I fill in at Teterboro, all of which mean that I'm not broke (yet). Krishna and Ralph move in, and Ali's girlfriend Katrina flew in from Germany for a month-long visit, and I close out the month at a Halloween party with Jen.
November: While not an official resident of the house, Ralph's girlfriend Keira is a constant fun presence, while Ali is called away on business trips from San Francisco to France to Iowa. Jen takes a leave from school, and I spend a weekend visiting her, and she spends a few weekends visiting me. BCTS calls me in to sit in the Academy cafeteria all day. Katrina leaves shortly before Thanksgiving. That week, I catch up with a bunch of Academy friends (another one of whom is engaged now).
December: I celebrate my 24th birthday by almost winning trivia night at the local bar by myself. I help run another quiz bowl tournament at BCA and later help proctor a math team contest. Mark screws me over again by announcing he plans to raise the rent effective February; the roommates and I respond by looking for a place to move. Mom and Dad go to Iceland, Jeffrey moves into a house. A plan to host high school friends for New Year's falls through, so I'll be spending it with Jen and her friends.