2009 year in review

January 06, 2010 :: 8:53 PM

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i lurve my friends! :: michele’s holiday party :: december 12, 2009

I stole this from Michele—seemed like a good way to summarize what I couldn’t before


1. What did you do in 2009 that you have never done before?
Lots - went to Soyuzivka, received a CD of rough mixes from my favorite band, watched BU win a national championship, finally got hope that we could get Apache under control, went to the GTD Summit and networked my butt off, was put under a microscope by IBM staffers… I could keep going. 2009 was such an amazing year.


2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions and will you make more for 2010?
I try to make resolutions, and I always fail at keeping them. I’m in love with the idea of the fresh start, but not so much with the follow through. 2010 is about little wins…  I want to drink more water. It’s like if I drink two glasses, that’s two more than I used to. I’m not going to stress out about not drinking eight glasses or four. Whatever I drink is what I drink. I hate water, so even a glass is progress. (I don’t really like the flavored stuff either. I’m just fussy.)


3. Did anyone close to you give birth in 2009?
A friend from high school, some friends from college… no one in my inner circle.


4. Did anyone close to you die in 2009?
“Close” is a relative term… my godfather died. I hadn’t spoken to him in years, but it affected me all the same. “Died” is relative, too. My aunt, my mother, Soulmate Boy - they’re all dead to me. Clarity, closure, cookies.


5. What countries did you visit this year?
No world traveling for me unless you want to count Soyuzivka - I was such the outsider, I might have well been in the Ukraine.


6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?
A house in Connecticut!


7. What date from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Oh, man! There were so many! I’m going to go with BU winning the National Championship. It was such a great night all the way around - hanging out with my little brother, watching the game with the hubby, and getting to watch instrument all in one night!


8. What was your biggest struggle in 2009?
To remember that I’m the only one with the power to make myself miserable. False accusations and suicide attempts drove me out of my mind and into a deep, dark depression. I’m pretty disgusted by that.


9. Did you suffer any illness or injury in 2009?
I basically ‘dislocated’ my knee cap and fought hardcore with the bipolar, but I think it’s the two trips to the ER and the resulting diagnosis of SVT that I’ll never forget.


10. What was the best thing you bought this year?
My Forester! Now I don’t have to freak out about all the miles I’m putting on it!


11. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Boston University’s!  Apache’s. My own.


12. Whose behavior disappointed you?
Boston University’s. My own. Soulmate Boy’s.


13. Where did most of your money go?
In the Forester’s gas tank.


14. What did you get really really excited about this year?
Instrument, BU Hockey, the GTD Summit, my friends


15. What song will always remind you of 2009?
It’s a toss up between “Invincible” by instrument and “I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz. There were a few by Fall Out Boy that really spoke to me this year, too.


16. Compared to this time last year, are you: much happier, much nicer or richer?
At the very least I’m happier. I’m not sure about nicer but I’m definitely not richer.


17. What do you wish you had done more of?
Spent even more time with my friends


18. What do you wish you had done less of?
Driving!


19. Did you fall in love in 2009?
I’m gonna go with “yes” since the question doesn’t specify WHAT I fell in love with.


20. What was your favorite TV Program in 2009?
Supernatural—Dude, SPN fans broke Twitter, pissed off PDiddy, and created the Minion Stimulus Group.  We totally rock!


21. What was the best book you read this year?
We Need to Talk About Kevin: A Novel (P.S.)—this was a difficult book to read, but it was worth it. VERY worth it.


22. What was your greatest musical discovery this past year?
Hands down, Black Mountain Symphony.


23. What did you want and get in 2009?
I got more stuff than I knew I wanted and all of it was good. Is that a good answer?


24. What was the best movie you saw this year?
I don’t know… nothing really stands out as the best movie. MST3K’ing Twilight was fun, tho.


25. What did you do on your birthday and how old did you turn?
I turned 34 and came to terms with the fact that my mother’s been dead exactly half my life. I also seemed to spend all my time in the week surrounding my birthday at instrument shows.


26. What one thing would have made your year more satisfying?
More time with my friends / less time driving.


27. How would you describe your personal fashion statement this year?
High five, dyke!


28. What kept you sane this year?
My friends, my husband, my dogs, my blog, my moleskine…


29. What celebrity did you fancy the most?
Besides Michael Stipe, those Winchester Boys certainly get me all WOO-HOO! I do lurve me some Freckles and Plaidapuppy!


30. Who did you miss this past year?
My dad…


31. Who were the best new people you met this year?
Soup and Skinny, my friends from the GTD Summit, and I’m going to count reconnecting with college and high school friends, too.


32. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned this year:
There’s nothing in life that a good friend can’t help you through.

What a way to ring in the new year!

January 02, 2010 :: 1:32 PM

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ucmb :: in honor of today’s uconn bowl appearance :: september 26, 2009

I had planned on going Connecticut a lot when I first moved back to New England. I had no idea that it would take so long for me to get around to it. I had no idea that once the seal was broken, once the ghosts were exorcised, I’d go back so often… more often that I originally planned.

We had a blast in CT, at Stellen’s NYE party.

We made a new friend, who I lost $5 to making a silly bet. I thought it was a sure thing! He stumbled upon a secret and the fact that it put everyone off their game made it an easy win for him. I lost an additional $1 betting him that he wouldn’t do something else. He may have wanted to, and I may have basically gave him permission. Whoops! Oh well. It was worth it to see the end result.

Also, and this is VERY important, remind me next year that I will not be kissing any one other than the hubby. S’all.  (And I was the sober one!!!!)

It was nice to crash and wake up to good friends, more good conversation, and a lot of laughs.

On the drive home, I was thinking about the epic parties my mom’s sister used to have in her 30s. They’d often have people crash, and I had kind of thought it was cool to have that may good friends to spend time with. I haven’t thought about that in a long time, but I was glad I’m able to have that kind of life now. Of course, in my aunt’s case, her friends would leave as soon as they woke up. In that respect, my life is much better. To have a circle of friends you don’t want to leave at 3 in the morning, even though you’re all staring to fade. To want to wake up and spend even more time with them… this must be what it feels like to be really blessed.

It really was the best possible way to kick 2009 out the door and bring in 2010.

Wow… 2010 is here!

December 28, 2009 :: 10:00 PM

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it was nice while it lasted :: agganis arena, boston, ma :: october 10, 2009

It just dawned on me that Friday is the first day of 2010.

I’m a little slow on the take sometimes.

2009 is ending on a lukewarm note - I found out my godfather died on Dec. 19th, but I found out from a family member I hadn’t seen in a long time. (About 17 years, if you want to be exact.) Then, there’s Stellen’s New Year’s Eve party. I’m really looking forward to that. I’m sure it’s going to be a good time. This group of friends NEVER disappoints.

I don’t know - 2009 was the year new friendships flourished, old ones got a new lease on life and there were a sh’load of bumps on the road. I put too many miles on my car, killed my eardrums with too much live music, took too many pictures, watched too much hockey, cried too many tears, and laughed so hard that it hurt.

2009 was the year of the GTD Summit. Of Lotus Notes/eProductivity. Of Pony! Of ski trips. Of All Crazy, instrument and Black Mountain Symphony. Of Fig’s Daily Dose of Wisdom. Of self-discovery. Of heartbreak. Of disappointment. Of second chances. Of hockey. Of amazing gains. Of paralyzing losses. Of spanking. Of douchebags. Of licking. Of hookers. Of knowing where my pen is. Of Platypus. Of Jeff Vader. Of not finding those droids we were looking for. Of tacos.

How do you distill all that into something bloggable?

I can’t.

I know that some of 2009’s ick will carry into the New Year and there’s nothing I can do to stop that. On the other hand, there’s more road trips on the horizon to see my friends Soup, Skinny, Orion, Bill, Ben, Derek, Aaron and Dave. There’s ski trips with friends and running around NYC on tap for January already. Of course, there’s hockey. (There’s always hockey!) We’re going to see Matty play the Bruins. WE’RE GOING TO FENWAY TO SEE BU/BC!!! We have the rest of a lackluster BU season to go through. I have no idea what the rest of the year will bring - but I’m planning on doing fun things so hopefully, those will offset whatever bad things may be coming my way.

I’m excited to see what 2010 will bring - I’m definitely ready for a new year and a symbolic fresh start.

When the walls come tumblin’ down - John Cougar Mellancamp

December 23, 2009 :: 4:52 PM

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derek :: instrument at the middle east, cambridge, ma :: december 5, 2009

Some people ain’t no damn good
You can’t trust ‘em
You can’t love ‘em

This lyric pretty much sums things up with 99% of my blood relatives.

In August, I let one of those blood relatives back into my life.

She invited me down for Christmas Eve. That’s a 2.5 hr drive from Da ‘Brook and I have the two dogs to worry about since J’s in OH with his mom. It was pure laziness, more than anything, that made me say “no”. I didn’t want to spend more time in the car than I would in CT.  (Somehow, I’d conveniently forgotten that I do that for instrument and All Crazy all the time.)

I was all ready to hunker down and be all “boo-hoo, woe is me” over the holiday. I hate it to begin with, and this year’s is just really bad. One of the worst ever. I just want to hide from the world until it’s over.

I was sitting the parking lot at Shaw’s when it hit me. A) I *do* spend more time in the car than I do in CT on a lot of those band nights and B) I *do* have family to spend it with.

Suddenly, I had to be in CT tomorrow night.

HAD TO.

I’m not sure if this is a good thing, but it feels like the right thing…

I’ll know after I get there.

Bah. Humbug.

December 16, 2009 :: 9:36 PM

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usa u-18 vs bu :: agganis arena, boston, ma :: october 10, 2009

Blergh.

This is the first year in god knows how many where I’m not sending out holiday cards. (I don’t *do* “Christmas” cards. I know so many people who don’t celebrate Christmas that it’s easier to piss off the few friends I have who are anal about it being CHRISTMAS and not HOLIDAY. Whatever.)

I’ve been having a rough go of it this year.  I just can’t find the motivation to make 100 handmade cards. I can’t find the motivation to even CARE about making them.

I’m never a huge fan of this time of year, but I normally do a halfway decent job of hiding the ick. This year, the ick is in full view.  I’m not going to hide the melancholy. I’m not going to pretend that everything is fine. I’m not going to pretend that I care about Christmas.

So there.

While there are many reasons for my ban on all things Christmas this year, I’ve noticed a change in J as well. His mother is in bad, bad shape. Like dying-of-cancer bad and the stress of that has really affected him as well. My husband, who lives for Christmas, put up the tree and hung lights on it. That’s it. I’m not in the right frame of mind to handle looking at the ornaments, much less have to touch them. Little memory landmines, each one carefully wrapped in tissue paper and put away until the next year… My angel? BOOM! My CT quarter? KA-BLOOEY! My other angel ornament?... Yeah, so *not* going there this year. I just can’t.

Unless Santa decides to bring my father back from the dead with a side of cure-for-cancer, you can take your “merry” Christmas and shove it.

I don’t want anything to do with it this year.