Year In Review
January
First line of first LJ post: I updated my profile for the first time in an ever. I amuse myself.
Commentary: Lots of transitions and things I hadn't done in a while, or ever. I took the bus to Lancaster and back twice a week on my own (including one night where the bus was an hour late on account of snow. It would have been more miserable if the delay hadn't meant Heather was stuck too.), I got a TB test, two background checks and a fingerprint scan (passed all of the above) and had the living daylights scared out of me by my Intro to Classroom Instruction professor.
Biggest Event: Starting my last full-time semester at HACC!
February
First line of first LJ post: I went down to register for the Praxis today, which I thought I needed the scores for March 1 (more on this in a minute), which would mean I needed to take it on Wednesday.
Commentary: I didn't transfer to Millersville as planned. I also didn't take my praxis. I also-also discovered that I was missing three credits on my transcript, which I needed to graduate. I got food poisoning and missed my favorite professor's class, and had to sit through Intro with the room wavering since it was a 15hour class so you miss a week you miss a LOT. I also got back into Marillion hardcore - as far as music goes, that is probably the most significant event of the year. Which is sad. I also went shopping for professional clothes. I also think I met Stephanie (seeyourgypsy)'s boyfriend on Valentine's day. It felt slightly awkward, but it was also very encouraging - they both treated me like I belonged there, and not like a third wheel. It was subsequently the best valentine's day I've had in a while, because I wasn't left behind. I also joined Praelitis, which has been...interesting. Met some nice folks (*waves at Gail and Sara*), but have also learned some things about how not to interact with people online.
Biggest Event: the Deadline Misreading Meltdown
March
First line of first LJ post: Best Lost Scene Ever.
Commentary: Lots of LOST geekery. Lots of lyrics/poems/stuff, no real posts due to being busy. I started my observations, and got the first few inklings that, hey, maybe I didn't really want to be a traditional teacher after all. Spent a lot of time with Steph on campus.
Biggest Event: Starting observations.
April
First line of first LJ post: Congratulations. Your AWKWARD-BUS-CONVERSANT has evolved to PSUEDO-BUS-STALKER.
Commentary: Oh man. BUS STALKER. Another place where Heather came to the rescue. My transits in the mornings were complicated - normally, the bus from Etown hit the Lancaster depot, then I got off, walked two blocks, and waited for the bus out to HACC from the Greenfield bus stop. Once Bus Stalker came on the scene, it went to getting off with Heather (she had her senior projects and various art things to carry, so I had a good excuse, anyways!), walking to the Lancaster Art College (whose real name is escaping me right now), then walking four blocks to the bank before crossing the street to hang around in La Dolce Vita until the bus got to the second stop on the Greenfield route. I also had group projects try to implode (though we pulled it out in the end, and successfully defended ourselves from the nay-saying brat in the other group. That is the closest, bar non, that I have ever got to yelling at someone in public.)
Biggest Event: I want to say the successful presentation of several group projects.
May
First line of first LJ post: One week one week one week one week one week one week one week one week one week one week one week one week one
Commentary: I passed all five classes with good grades, I went to a Skillet/Decypher Down/TFK concert with the siblings, I graduated, and I got a job. I also discovered Supernatural. During finals. All of this during the first 12 days of the month. Started helping teach sunday school and childrens' church - which only added onto the early revelations that I don't want to be a classroom teacher. Spent a lot of time trying to figure out what I did want to be. I got my driver's permit back, as well.
Biggest Event: GRADUATION!
June
First line of first LJ post: If you're seeing this, you're on my supersekrit cell phone filter.
Commentary: I got deathphone. This was the first in a long series of posts that eventually ended in me going back to my first phone and provider. I started work at ECCC, with a group of twenty kindergartners intent on keeping me on my toes between temper tantrums, naptime rebellions, and attempts at manipulation. I discovered Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which is right up there with The Day The Earth Stood Still on my favorite alien encounters movie list. I also joined Althanas, since a lot of MMM folks wound up there.
Biggest Event: Job training.
July
First line of first LJ post: So, the job I have right now is a temporary one.
Commentary: HA. That's funny, considering it's now almost January and I'm still there, and they've pretty much said that right now we're pretty secure...I enrolled for that stupid math class, and finalized my decision to focus on library science. I geeked out about Doctor Who a lot, and studied for my CLEP (passed). And then went to see The Dark Knight three times in the theater. I also quit Warcraft. Let me tell you, when they call it Warcrack? They're not joking. Every now in then I get a strong, STRONG craving to go back. It's weird, ok?
Biggest Event: Passing my CLEP. Those three credits got me my diploma.
August
First line of first LJ post: Maybe I am delusional, but I feel like I am doing it a lot lately.
Commentary: 'It' was 'growing up', and I did. I felt, for the first time in a long time, like I was wasting too much time. MMM closed down a few months prior, and the rest of the RPGs were beginning to feel more like 'work' than 'play'. When my workdays had so much time spent at work, I wanted my free time to go more towards my own stories, and thus began the Great Fandom Exile of '08: ditched the LOST, Doctor Who, Supernatural communities (fanfic, icons, etc) and a couple more RPs. I considered leaving LJ altogether, but decided not to. Had the War of the Laptop - it resulted in me getting a new laptop, but took two months in the process. We went to Ocean City, Maryland, Assateague and Chincoteague Virginia, and High Pointing in West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania for our vacation. Spent a long long night in a hotel that used to be a hospital. Finally realized just what a nightmare the rest of the political season was going to be. Said goodbye to a good friend Robert for the first time before he shipped off to Paris Island. I also decided to end the reign of deathphone in a half-hour conversation with traxer that got cut off the moment I stepped foot on my home street.
Biggest Event: Vacation!
September
First line of first LJ post: Ok so.
Commentary: Had a somewhat uneventful month. I turned 22 (I still maintain that 22 is a weird age) and had a couple of math+work induced meltdowns. Marillion leaked Happiness is the Road on their own, and after the first two listens to just the .wma files, I stopped listening to it. It sounded nice, but not at all what I thought I would enjoy listening to often. Who is willing to admit she was wrong about that? Yeah. I also got my new last.fm account in this month - Marillion promptly broke my stats for all time. Er. Then the economy kinda exploded and everybody was weirded out. I also started working on Between the Tick and the Tock in earnest again, and got the idea for Torch Song.
Biggest Event: Birthday?
October
First line of first LJ post: Brother(who turned 17 today, by-the-by!): "I just watched five minutes of the debate. I wanted to barf on both candidates. D: "
Commentary: POLITICS OH HELP. Everywhere I turned! By the end of the month I just wanted to tape a pillow around my head and walk around all "LA LA LA I CAN'T HEAR YOU." I got to go to the PA Renn Faire (which was a lot of fun) and to a staff meeting (which was not a lot of fun). This is the month that the Marillion/Fish addiction really truely went into effect - still not free of it. Snapped and pr-eordered Happiness is the Road - still glad I did. Also went to a NaNo group meeting for once. It was...weird. Fun, but weird.
Biggest Event: Renn Faire with the siblings.
November
First line of first LJ post: A guy gets haunted by an undead thing that wants to eat his heart (and said thing's not-so-loyal supporters), and has to figure out how to banish them back to wherever they came from.
Commentary: NANOWRIMO. Aka - the closest Sarah gets to finishing a novel. I still have a few sections to go, but I really expect to have it finished within a month. I was planning on wrapping it up in December, but yeah that didn't happen. But I did beat it, breaking my losing streak thus far. The elections happened - now we just get to wait for whatever comes next. I finally decided to go to Marillion weekend with the reasoning that if they continue to go with the bi-yearly schedule the next convention would be during the last semester of my Senior year, and...yeah. Not the best time to go to a concert weekend, I don't think. I went to an open house at Kutztown, met with the head of the library science department, and really feel like that's something I'm supposed to do. It just seems to be clicking. We also got our passports.
Biggest Event: beating NaNo!
December
First line of first LJ post: Final word count at official end of November: 56,359
Commentary: Took (and passed) my Praxis exam! Got an idea for a new silly alternate universe for Between the Tick and the Tock. Passed Trig by the skin of my teeth. Had a lot of fun with pre-Christmas stuff. Worked closer with the kids in the kindergarten age range - now I get to play science with them! Baking soda volcanoes are at the top of their "Can we pleeeeeease do this miss Saraaaaah??" list, so I guess we're doing that first. I also have promised a four year old that I will read him the real Bunnicula story. Granted, this same four year old got me sick...but it's BUNNICULA. I can forgive the little guy for the sick. I struggled more with my own insecurities - I have a feeling I will continue to do this for some years to come - but played hooky from helping with Children's Church just in time to hear the exact sermon that I needed to hear this past Sunday...
Biggest Event: Christmas!
New Year's Resolutions: I don't think I made any last year. If I did, I can't find them. This year, I only have two: 1. Finish what I start. 2. Manage time better. I'll go into this more tomorrow, I think.
Reflections: All in all, it was a good year. I graduated, I passed a horribly difficult class with an A (when the teacher told us all flat out that no-one would get As), I got a good job that is giving me experience in the field that I want to go into, and I only got sick twice. I made a slew of new friends, didn't really lose any friends, and have an idea of where the next year is going, even though 2009 is still an open page up until about September - other than Marillion Weekend in April, there is nothing planned. Sitting here, on the last day of the old year, feels like (if I may be forgiven a modicum of cliche) standing on the edge of a cliff, flexing my wings and staring down a ravine. I might fall and break a few bones, I might soar - but I won't know until I step off the rock...and I have to trust God. If he's providing an Southern updraft, and I try to go north and down, stepping off the cliff isn't going to do me a bit of good.