Tuesday, December 30, 2008
1.What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before? Took a road trip across the country, among other things. Spent a night in Vegas and watched the sunrise while driving across Nevada (which is ridiculously flat).
2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions and will you make more for next year? I wish I remember what my resolutions were. I might make some but I usually forget them.
3. What countries did you visit? CANADA!
4. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008? Free time and peace of mind. Also still waiting on that laptop...
5. What date from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? I don't remember exact dates for most of them, but Canada, Spring Break, and Urbain's wedding all make the list.
6. What was your biggest achievement of the year? GRADUATING COLLEGE, woo!
7. What was your biggest failure? Some things I like to keep to myself. =/
8. Did you suffer illness or injury? I slipped and fell on the ice outside my apartment. The bruises have lasted quite awhile. That's the worst I can claim, thankfully.
9. Whose behavior merited celebration? Jake's, for sitting through both Pride & Prejudice AND Twilight with me - movies he would've otherwise avoided like the plague. :P
10. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? One who shall remain unnamed here. What's done is done.
11. Where did most of your money go? Bills and other grown-up things, I'm sure. I did buy a new camera in like February, but I think that's been my biggest purchase. I bought a lot of books this year too, for pleasure-reading.
12. What song will always remind you of 2008? MGMT - Electric Feel. That's probably the main one.
13. Compared to last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? this winter has left me more depressed than I usually get. But I'm getting closer to accomplishing some of my goals, which is encouraging.
ii. thinner or fatter? I actually gained about 10-15 pounds this year, but I think I've lost most of it again.
iii. richer or poorer? um... poorer. I'm not getting my full 40 hours every week. But the extra day off is nice.
14. What do you wish you'd done more of? Traveling for sure. I did well at the beginning of the year with trips to Canada and AZ, but then kind of fizzled out.
15. What do you wish you'd done less of? Procrastinating and wasting my free time on here.
16. How did you spend Christmas? Christmas Eve at my dad's, Christmas morning with Jake's family, and Christmas afternoon/evening at my mom's. We started a game of Risk that we didn't get to finish because I had to be to work at 4am the next morning.
17. Did you fall in love in 2008? Not with anyone new. :P
18. What was your favorite TV program? I enjoyed The Office, for that short span of time I actually watched it. And Family Guy is always entertaining.
19. What was the best book you read? Twilight. Say what you want.
20. What was your greatest musical discovery of 2008? Hm. The British pop charts. Also, Duffy and The Black Keys both provided some entertainment for a few weeks. This year was kind of a dry year for me though, musically speaking.
21. What did you want and get? A passport, which is one less obstacle in the way of my dream vacation. I'm quite excited about that fact.
22. What did you want and not get? A laptop, again. And another point & shoot camera, since I sold mine. Silly Rachel.
23. What was your favorite film of this year? Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. It's out on dvd now!
24. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? 22 - not a landmark year. I gathered up a few friends and went to Retro Rocks. It was a pretty good time. I also made myself a confetti cake and went shopping at Great Lakes Crossing.
25. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Being able to think of a better answer for this question? It was a dull year, but I think a transition year. The stage is set for 2009 to be either fantastic or terrible. I'm hoping for the first.
26. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008? Unremarkable in most cases. Less expensive, too. I bought less clothing this year than usual.
27. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Jack White, again. Mostly in terms of his musical abilities. We went to a Raconteurs concert which was exceptional. Probably the best concert I've been to, even though I haven't been to many.
28. Who was the best new person you met? Jonah Daniel, hands down. He's delightful. :)
29. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008: Just because you can doesn't mean you should. And certain traits/qualities in people endure a lot longer than I might've first thought.
30. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. "You've got to find your balance, you've got to realize... you've got to try to find what's right before your eyes..."
Posted by Rachel at 8:14 PM |
Sunday, December 28, 2008
As of December 12 I am officially graduated. As of this week Christmas season is officially over (actually, it might not end officially in retail world until the new year, but the worst is over). Yay for slow season. Though it sounds like slow season is going to be particularly bad this year.
And the word on the street is that Tuesday morning my brother and his family are starting the drive back to MI to live here. He's got an interview for a state job on the 6th which he'd come up to do testing for like the week before Christmas. Hopefully that works out. I don't get to take my Arizona hiatus now, but they'll be around to hang out with here which seems like a fair trade-off.
So what's next? I don't know. I don't even know what I'm doing for New Year's Eve.
Posted by Rachel at 10:43 PM |
Thursday, December 04, 2008
Eight (8!) days to go. I can definitely tell that the end of the semester is coming; the work is piling up and I'm just pushing my way through it all one task at a time. Holiday season means crazy hours at work now too; I'm so glad I'm not taking the 15 credits that I had at this time last year. The only things I've got to worry about now are a 20-minute group presentation in my infant psych class and a final exam in my Motivation Psych class. As of Wednesday I'll pretty much be home free (at least as far as school is concerned).
Christmas is a different story. I'm gathering ideas for presents for other people, but I am having trouble coming up with stuff that I want. Still. I'm tempted to just make a huge list of movies, CDs, and books that I want, because a large portion of my family refuses to just hand me money (which I'd save to take a big trip in the spring, which is what I really want anyway).
In other news, my brother is trying to find a job up here so he and the family can move back to MI. Why he's doing it in the middle of the MI winter is a little beyond me, but apparently some positions opened up in my mom's office so he's trying to get in there. I'll probably fly out to see him after the new year, and if all goes according to plan I'll be driving one of their vehicles back to MI while my brother pulls the U-Haul with the other. It's an exciting prospect.
And some interesting events as of late: my thanksgiving was quite satisfying in the food department; Jake and I had lunch with my mom's half of the family and dinner with my dad's half. My mom made wreaths for my grandma, uncle, and me, so I helped her tie fancy ribbon bows on them and put mine on my front door. If you come visit me, you'll get to see it. Black Friday was no more stressful than any other year, except that I had to be to work at 4am, and I had to put up window posters before we opened. There was a line outside (we gave away mp3 players) and so everyone was staring at me through the window while I put up the last two, which was slightly unnerving. After I got out of work I did some shopping of my own then decorated my Christmas tree (which had been up for about a week with nothing but lights on it). There are still no wrapped presents underneath, though I have a few unwrapped ones floating around the house. They'll probably stay that way until at least Saturday.
Posted by Rachel at 8:46 PM |
