Bye, 2014!
My DayZero list of 101 things to do in 1001 days reaches its expiration this summer, but I'm kind of tempted to delete the list and start over. I guess that would defeat the purpose though, wouldn't it? Anyway, on to a summary of my 2014 --
I. Resolutions for 2014: How did I do?
My resolutions were listed in detail here. Grades are based on the kind I received in school: A-F with A being the best, F being complete and utter failure.
A). Write at least 30,000 words per month (aka 1,000 words a day).
Grade: F-----
Reason: See below.
B). Run to Canada (1267 miles)
Grade: C-
Reason: Partway through the year, I kind of gave up on tracking my miles. I exercised every day for a couple months (or almost every day), but I'm not sure how many miles that translated into.
C). Get my goddamn spec scripts in order.
Grade: C
Reason: I did, in fact, write a spec, but I didn't like how it turned out. Now I'm sort of in that odd space where I want to write for new shows but feel the need to wait until the season ends. I do have some stuff outlined, but already some of it has to be changed to fit in with canon.
D). Update my LJ more often
Grade: B?
Reason: I definitely put some effort into updating my LJ, but I'm not sure that I actually succeeded in updating any more than I did in 2013.
II. Highlights/Lowlights of 2014
Highlights: I suppose these don't necessarily count as, like, actual highlights. Some of these I'm sure are pretty lame, but these were just good moments and/or things I'd never done before. :) I'd also say that some of these things are fandom-related, but the difference the events here and the things in Section III is that these are things that directly involved me.
1). I went to Disneyland! For free (thanks cleyva90's grandma)! I'd actually never been before, so I was pretty excited to go. Because of my eye, I was a little nervous about some of the rides and kind of resentful that it was something I had to even think about. But I had a fun day. The rides we went on were fun, and it was cool to see the various characters out and about.
2). My parents always enter me and my sister for some sort of raffle at this banquet for the volunteer firefighters. Basically it's like the lottery. I won $100. I think I paid bills with that cash, so it's really not that exciting. But still! Money is nice.
3). So many good things happened to me while volunteering this year:
--- A). Someone recommended that I become a dog trainer, and so I did. It was something I never would have opened myself up to on my own, but someone else had faith in me. And it's been great to hear people say, even now, how dedicated I am, how informative I am, etc.
--- B). This year, we participated in the Rachael Ray ASPCA 100K Challenge or whatever the fuck it was called. For the last bit of the challenge, all adoption fees were waved. And I was put in charge (with others to help) of organizing the adoption event that would kick off the fees being waved. Again, it wasn't something I would have volunteered for, and it terrified me to accept. But I did it, and it went smoothly. When I'm at the shelter, there's a part of me that still feels like a n00b. But it seems like I'm the only one who feels that way, which is encouraging. The more time I spend there, the more comfortable I am. I still don't really like doing adoptions myself, but I am better at talking with people in general, I guess.
4). I went to the North Hollywood Film Festival. Truthfully, it was kind of a bootleg event, but I got to watch several great films and see Lisa Edelstein in person. It was a nice way to spend an evening.
5). Just continuing on the Lisa train, I went to a taping of the Queen Latifah show. It's funny, because when I went, I was actually thinking how dull the Sony lot is. I was wrong!
6). The Hugh Laurie concert at the Fonda was another highlight. Being able to see John Mayall in person was truly life changing. That's the kind of thing that will always have me seeing Hugh when he comes to LA, because he does shit like that.
7). I went to see Bernadette Peters in concert FOR FREE. I have to say 2014 was really hard, especially for first several months. I guess you could say I was depressed IDK. But I noticed that Bernadette Peters was playing in Marina Del Rey, so I was thinking that maybe I would go to cheer myself up. Imagine my shock when I noticed tickets were free! That week was insane, with the aforementioned adoption event happening that weekend. But I went anyway, and it was beautiful. We were right on the water. The temperature was perfect. People brought their dogs. Bernadette was, of course, perfect. As the sun set, the songs got darker in tone and subject. It was so atmospheric but lovely, and I do think that after that moment, my year picked up a little bit. Without exaggeration, I feel like she brought the sunshine back into my life.
8). I saw Fleetwood Mac play live. WITH MOTHERFUCKING CHRISTINE MCVIE. I never thought that would happen. Ever. It was a dream come true -- quite literally as I got front row tickets at face value price. My hands were on the stage the entire night. I need to talk about this more in depth in its own post. To sum it up: this group of people is just magical together, and I am so, so, so, SO happy that Christine is back in the band and that John is okay.
9). Went to Arizona for vacation in April.
Lowlights: no explanation necessary.
1). The employment situation. The writer I was working for no longer needed me, so that kicked off the year on a bad note. Eventually I got a job interview, but I didn't get the job. I still have my script reading job, so it's not complete unemployment. But I was really hoping that I'd be able to quit doing that in 2014.
2). Without going into detail, I just want to say that something happened with one of my faves. It really broke my heart, and now they are no longer one of my faves. That type of thing is just :/
3). I still have neighbors in my apartment building lol. They aren't loud as in they listen to music or whatever. But we all have hardwood floors and their footsteps are SO LOUD. And the person above me wears shoes in the house. It's just so fucking annoying.
III. Fandom Moments of 2014
Favorite Songs of 2014:
I'm not even going to pick out individual songs. All I will say is that 2014 gave us Stevie Nicks's 24 Karat Gold, Kylie Minogue's Kiss Me Once AND her charity single "Crystallize" AND her free! EP/project with Garibay called Sleepwalker, and six tracks from Madonna's upcoming album "Rebel Heart." They are must have albums IMO.
Favorite TV Shows of 2014: (In no particular order)
1). Mozart In The Jungle -- Do you like shows about music? Do you like shows where the female characters are more interested in achieving their dreams and moving forward in their careers than they do about getting laid? Do you like Bernadette Peters? If you answered "yes" to any of those questions, "Mozart In The Jungle" is a beautiful series.
2). How To Get Away With Murder -- Viola Davis is everything tbh
3). Great British Bake Off -- Baked goods plus British people... yes, I can do that.
4). Days Of Our Lives -- ONLY when Eileen Davidson is on. Without her, there is really no point whatsoever. When Eileen is there though? I get to witness one of television's most complex female characters. It's honestly a gift.
Favorite Moments/Events/Etc.
1). The @madonnafanfic twitter account is just amazing.
2). Bernadette Peters' narrating the Downton Abbey Rediscovered special. She could not have cared less about what she was doing. She might have been drunk. It was glorious.
3). Eileen Davidson makes history by portraying 3 characters on two different soaps in the same time zone, finally wins her Emmy, and just slays in general.
4). Stevie Nicks finally embraces social media. Thank you, Jesus.
IV. Fandom Participation in 2014
(aka my year in fic)
Fics Completed:
1). You Can Dedicate Your Pain To Him -- Lyla, Girlfriends' Guide To Divorce, 714 words long
2). Up on the Rooftop -- House/Cuddy, House, 4,967 words long
3). Of Human Bondage -- Kristen, Days of our Lives, 905 words long
4). Fingerprints in the Meringue -- Abby, Girlfriends' Guide To Divorce, 711 words long
Multi-chaptered fics Started or Completed:
1). Gift of Chicken, Chapter 3 -- House/Cuddy, House, 17,117 words long
2). Fear of Fire Leaves you Cold, Chapter 8 -- House/Cuddy, House, 9,236 words long
3). Fear of Fire Leaves you cold, Chapter 9 -- House/Cuddy, House, 7,731 words long
4). Darker Inclinations, Chapter 5 -- House/Cuddy, House, 8,674 words long
5). Poison In Our Veins, Chapter 1 -- House/Cuddy & Cuddy/Lucas, House, 6,036 words long
6). Poison In Our Veins, Chapter 2 -- House/Cuddy, House, 3,283 words long
7). 26 Moods of a Dark Lord, Chapter 3 -- Voldemort, Harry Potter, 954 words long
8). 26 Moods of a Dark Lord, Chapter 4 -- Voldemort, Harry Potter, 529 words long
9). 26 Moods of a Dark Lord, Chapter 5 -- Voldemort, Harry Potter, 539 words long
Total: 61,406 words total. Fuck it. I'm not even doing the rest of this meme. I am terrible. I guess if I include what I wrote for nanowrimo, that number becomes slightly more respectable. But no, it feels like failure, considering I've done 300,000+ in years past.
V. Resolutions for 2015
1). Fix the employment situation. Perhaps I will look into prostitution.
2). I want to get to 2,000,000 words archived on fanfiction.net. I currently have 1,534,967 words on there, and I really want to increase my output (as always).
3). Self-publish something.
4). Double my hours at the shelter. In 2013, I did 80. In 2014, I did 172. I want to keep that momentum up :) If I can't do that, I would like to become more comfortable doing adoptions.
5). Maintain a real journal. I like the way Stevie Nicks organizes hers, and I've been wanting to steal her structure lol. So I'm gonna try to do it.
6). Work on my cake fillings. The past couple years, whenever I've made a cake with a filling, the filling has nearly collapsed the cake soon after. I want to improve on that.