New Year's Resolutions

1. Minimize need for Lorazepam
2. Get a real job
3. Don't succumb to Senioritis
4. Figure out what to do with life
5. Minimize financial reliance on parents
6. Play video games MUCH more
   

I'm So Smug Right Now

Mom: "Did you show Aunt Mirt your icon*?"
Mirt: "She got an icon?"
Mom: "Yeah, she got Jesus for Christmas."
Me: "I get Jesus for Christmas every year."


*My icon is a small reproduction of a Byzantine gold-leaf icon of Jesus.

Year In Review (stolen from Brandon)

1. Was 2007 a good year for you?
Probably the best ever. A third of it was spent in London, a third in Olympia working for an amazing boss, and a third at UPS taking three amazing classes. I was very busy, but very happy, and felt capable to deal with most of what was thrown at me. Made lots of new friends and became closer with the old ones.

2. What was your favorite moment(s) of the year?
Every day in London, moving into the new apartment downtown, bringing the girls (baby rats) home, being at the hospital with Wren (weird, huh?).

3. What was your least favorite moment(s) of the year?
Getting to my host family's house in London, being sick, dealing with my sister's girlfriend, worrying that Wren had kidney failure, ST being sick, Neo dying, not being able to sleep on my own.

4. What did you do in 2007 that you'd never done before?
Lived in a foreign country, went to Scotland, went to Ireland, drank in a pub/bar, not only ate, but learned how to make trifle, lived downtown, cut my hair really short, buried a pet on school property, took psych medication, took three upper-division English courses at the same time, only had class two times a week, wrote a paper on something that's never been written about before, cried in a movie theater (Brandon and I both did that this year apparently).

5. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I didn't make any as far as I remember.

6. Where were you when 2007 began?
On the balcony of my parents' condo in Honolulu watching the fireworks.

7. Who were you with?
My family, Alex, and some of my parents' friends.

8. Where will you be when 2007 ends?
On the balcony of my parents' condo in Honolulu watching the fireworks.

9. Who will you be with when 2007 ends?
My family, hopefully Alex, my aunt and two of my cousins, and possibly some of my parents' friends.

10. Did anyone close to you give birth?
My cousin's girlfriend. I've never met her, but I suppose I'm significantly close to him.

11. Did you lose anybody close to you in 2007?
Neo, though I would have liked to have been closer to him.

12. Who did you miss?
I missed everyone at home when I was in London, I missed everyone in London when I came home.

13. Who was the best new person you met in 2007?
It's hard to choose between everyone I met on the London trip, but Lisa comes to mind.

14. What was your favorite month of 2007?
Maybe March or April, once I'd been in London for a month or two but before I had to go.

15. Did you travel outside of the US in 2007?
Indeed I did. To England, Scotland, Ireland, France, and Canada.

16. How many different states did you travel to in 2007?
Washington, Hawaii, Oregon, Minnesota... Four?

17. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?
Uhh... I have no idea. An engagement ring? That thought is a little scary. How about a full time job in Olympia?

18. What date from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
The day I arrived in London (February 5?) because it was so traumatic and so wonderful all at the same time and my poor host mother's cat died.

19. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Being almost completely independent in a foreign country.

20. What was your biggest failure?
Missing my stupid plane to stupid Hawaii.

21. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I got a nasty UTI and had a cold every now and then, but other than that it was a pretty healthy year if you don't count my General Anxiety Disorder.

22. What was the best thing you bought?
My amazing shoes from York and my new laptop, both of which my parents helped pay for. As for things I bought myself, the coat I bought for only five pounds when I needed warmer clothing for Scotland. Everyone loves that thing.

23. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Trevor's because he was fine while I was gone, improved his situation by finding and moving into the new apartment, and kept himself motivated in school. Wren's because she was horribly ill and had no support from her family and yet managed to keep a good attitude most of the time. Mita's when she stayed in touch with both her classes even though her mother had just died.

24. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
My sister's when she decided to study abroad with her girlfriend, Laura's every time she opened her mouth, Sarah's when all she thought about was herself, Tim's when he didn't understand why Wren was upset, Adam's when he didn't respect me because I wasn't hot enough, Emily's when she didn't appreciate Andy.

25. Where did most of your money go?
Food and theater in London, rent for Trevor.

26. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Going to London, being in London, moving into the new apartment, coming back to UPS.

27. Did you drink a lot of alcohol in 2007?
The most I've ever drunk in a year by far because I could drink in London and there were lots of opportunities for social drinking, then I turned 21 in December.

28. Did you do a lot of drugs in 2007?
I have never done drugs aside from caffeine and prescriptions.

29. How many people did you sleep with in 2007?
One. I hope he's the only person I'll ever sleep with.

30. Did you treat somebody badly in 2007?
There were some people in London that I could've been nicer too in the beginning, and I've always been pretty cold towards Laura and probably should've been nicer to my sister.

31. Did somebody treat you badly in 2007?
Mostly just Adam.

32. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? I am happier.
ii. thinner or fatter? I am ten pounds lighter apparently. Need to eat more fat.
iii. richer or poorer? And I am poorer because I had money saved up for London last year.

33. What do you wish you'd done more of in 2007?
Hung out with new friends, gamed, slept.

34. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Whined.

35. Did you fall in love in 2007?
I am continually falling in love with Trevor. Also I fell in love with the TV show "Scrubs."

36. What was your favorite TV program(s)?
Scrubs, Heroes, House, Mythbusters.

37. What song(s) will always remind you of 2007?
Horrible '80s music and "Bringing Sexy Back."

38. How many concerts did you see in 2007?
None. Sad!

39. Did you have a favorite concert in 2007?
No, but a lot of favorite plays.

40. What was your greatest musical discovery?
The Dresden Dolls maybe. Not really a huge year for musical discovery.

41. What was the best book you read?
The Time Traveler's Wife blew my mind. So did A Ring of Endless Light.

42. What was your favorite film of this year?
"Children of Men" and "Dan in Real Life."

43. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
On my 21st birthday, I relaxed around the house with Wren and watched movies. Most of my partying (going out to Kabuki for dinner, etc) was done later in the week.

44. What did you want and get?
A comforter, a Nintendo Crimson DS, money, and books.

45. What did you want and not get?
More time to celebrate.

46. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
I don't know. It was really an amazing year.

47. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?
More jeans than last year, heavy on the footless leggings, more eyeliner and shorter hair.

48. What kept you sane?
Trevor, Wren, comfort movies, and the rats.

49. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Hmm... Sean Biggerstaff? I saw him in London and he was even hotter than he was in Harry Potter. I was also pretty enamored of Daniel Radcliffe just because I was so amazed with how grown up he is and how nice he is.

50. What political issue stirred you the most?
The Washington Gay Marriage bill being shot down or whatever. I was not happy. Also I get really angry about environmental stuff. And why isn't Obama beating Hilary?

51. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007.
Try your very hardest to take things one day at a time.

52. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
By swaggering could I never thrive
For the rain it raineth every day.

Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
(Yes, it is a song. It has an official tune and it was sung to me.)

"It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year"

Christmas was pretty great, apart from arriving a day late because I missed my flight and my parents had to pay $700 for the ticket rebooking and half of my books had severe water damage when my luggage arrived late (long story very short).

I finally received my birthday present from my parents since they couldn't mail it before. It's a beautiful small ruby ring with a simple white gold setting and a tiny diamond on either side of it. My dad bought it in Singapore, which is apparently his place to go for jewelry (he was there on sabbatical during my senior year of high school and went back recently for a conference). It's currently at a jeweler's being sized to fit my freakishly tiny fingers.

I got an amazing array of Christmas presents as well. My parents tricked me into believing that they hadn't been able to find a cross pendant I'd seen last year after Christmas, when in reality they had tracked down the jewelry artist (who apparently lives in Pennsylvania) and had a copy of the pendant made for me. It's just a simple cut-out flat silver cross (about an inch tall) but it has a fish etched into it. It just spoke to me for some reason and now I finally have a cross to wear on a regular basis.

Among the remainder of my presents were the final ElfQuest graphic novel that I didn't own (Book Eight: Kings of the Broken Wheel), Hugh Laurie's book (The Gunseller), the uber edition of Pride and Prejudice (the good/long one) on DVD, three amazing pairs of tights, etc, etc. Everyone loved the gifts I got them (my dad teared up when he saw that we'd donated to the Red Cross in my parents' names) and we didn't argue much at all. I really enjoyed it and didn't have a breakdown or anything.

Also we saw Charlie Wilson's War, which was very good. I'd highly recommend it.

And now I think I'm getting sick. Oh well.

My Toughest Semester of College is Over

If you need me, I'll be on the loveseat covered in a huge blanket eating panini (made by amazing housemate Wren) while watching Mythbusters until further notice.

"I'm-addicted-to-stress-that's-the-way-that-I-get-things-done"

Update:

• Contacts are now comfy and easy to get in and out. Yay!
• My new computer is amazing.
• I wrote a nine-page paper and a 14-page paper in three days.
• I'm writing a 15-page paper in one day.
• That last paper is due at 4:00 today.
• I currently have four pages.
• I can do it! (I hope)
• Five days till Christmas!
  

"Girl Eyes Tend to Hypnotize"

Today, at twenty-one years old, I wore my first pair of contact lenses. There was some mistaken line of thought while I was in high school that I couldn't get soft contact lenses because they would accelerate the degeneration of my vision, so I was told I could only have hard (gas permeable) contact lenses. After trying very unsuccessfully to get them in and out of my eyes (hard to do when having them in feels like a circular hole is being cut into your cornea with glass), I gave up and resigned myself to just having really cute glasses. I do have really cute glasses, but I figured that asking my new optometrist about soft contact lenses couldn't hurt since I was going in for a check-up and new glasses lenses anyway. He thought soft contacts were a great option for me, so long story short I now have soft contact lenses, and I'm in the process of getting used to them. I've already been told several times that I have very striking eyes--their effect must have been dulled by my distinctive glasses before. I don't think I'll wear the contacts every day, but it'll be great to have that option if I want to be cute or dressy or go swimming or if I have extra time to get ready in the morning. All-in-all, I'm pretty satisfied with this subtle change in my lifestyle.

Upgrading

After many trials and tribulations, I finally convinced my father that I need to get a new laptop as soon as possible because this one isn't going to last me through Graduation like we'd hoped. It's a great machine but it's over three and a half years old and it's not really upgradable so it's just time for a new one. Since I didn't want to risk some horrible crash ending in me losing all of my schoolwork, I decided to get one sooner than later. After much discussion of brands and specs with my dad (with help from the wonderful Tim), we finally agreed on and bought my new laptop--a Dell Vostro 1500. It's got a great processor, memory, graphics card (amazing for a laptop), display, and pretty much everything else I could want. We agreed that I'd pay about a third of the cost, which I can get to him over the course of the next two months or so. It's going to be a bit heavier than my current laptop, but I've decided to buy a lightweight laptop backpack as soon as I can afford it to help disperse the weight and encourage me to carry it around. The computer should arrive to the apartment in Olympia before I leave to go home for Christmas, and that would be ideal, but I'll survive either way. I can spend break installing and reorganizing and all that fun stuff. With any luck this computer will last me until I've been in grad school a couple of years. We'll see.

Also, Wren and Daryl took me out to the mall today to buy my birthday present from all of the housemates. We got this amazing comforter that's black microsuede on one side and tan striped on the other, and it comes with two pillows and a throw pillow of the same materials. I'll definitely have to look into getting some nice tan sheets to go with the whole ensemble. The comforter is a King so it'll be huge even on the Queen-sized bed in the apartment, but I think it'll look all right and it'll be comfy. Hopefully it'll last a long time and contribute to both Trevor's and my comfort. Thank you, housemates!

GRE: Mission Accomplished

The GRE is done and here's what I know so far:

VERBAL: 660
MATH: 540

Haven't gotten the essay scores back yet, obviously.

I survived! And then I stuffed myself full of omelet and french toast and half of a krispy kreme and bought a living mini Christmas tree and now I'm going to take a well-deserved nap.

In Memoriam

Our newest pet rat Neo (Neo "The One" Awesomesauce) died unexpectedly a few hours ago. He'd had what looked like a mild respiratory infection (the same thing S. T. had earlier and got better from) and we'd been treating him for it. He was still eating, drinking, and moving around. I checked on him earlier in the evening and he seemed sickly and unhappy, but still came to the cage door to greet me. I checked again a half hour later because I'm paranoid and constantly expect my pets to have stopped breathing, but unfortunately this time it had really happened. Poor Neo is gone, and we're all very upset because we expected to have him so much longer--he was one of the last rats we expected to die first. Just because he was small and cheap doesn't mean we didn't love him as much as any cat or dog. He was grumpy and dominant and a huge chewer and we loved him for it. We're decorating a small cardboard box to serve as a rat-sized coffin with pictures of all his favorite things and messages to him. We're trying to figure out where we can bury him or have him cremated as soon as possible.

Neo, we barely got a chance to know you, but I hope that you were happy with us. May you sleep peacefully in the great hammock in the sky.

The Last Great Hurdle

As of an hour and twenty minutes ago I'm officially twenty-one years old. That means I'm a full adult with all the privileges, finally! I'm not sure how I feel about it. I'm not having the traditional go-out-at-midnight-and-get-drunk birthday even though I can sleep in tomorrow. It just didn't seem like fun, especially in all this rain. There's a lot going on this week, so the festivities will probably be sort of drawn out. I got a gorgeous crimson Nintendo DS from Trevor, who spoils me, last week, and my sister gave me the trade paperback of the latest four-part storyarc from ElfQuest, which I've been meaning to buy, and A Miracle on 34th Street on DVD, which I unfortunately just bought last week, so I have to return. I won't be getting my present from my parents until I go home for Christmas because they "don't feel comfortable shipping it" (cryptic). The housemates and Trevor and I have plans to go to Kabuki (amazing Japanese restaurant) for dinner and midori sours either on Tuesday or Thursday, so that should be fun. Lastly, the housemates have agreed to buy me a new microfiber comforter and sheets, so we all get to go to JC Penny at some point and pick one out. Probably not this Saturday, though, because we have the GRE (eek!).

It's a little scary being twenty-one and knowing that there aren't really any more birthdays that people look forward to, but I feel that I'll enjoy it. I finally got a new phone with my cell phone bill in my name (had to have it in my dad's name before because I had no credit history), so I'm slowly cutting the parental ties and taking on more responsibility. I feel pretty capable and optimistic about the future, I just need to take these things one at a time (and get my 50 pages of final papers written in the next 2.5 weeks). Phew!