Year In Review

1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before?
Rode a commuter bus and got a tattoo

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next this year?
I don't remember if I made any new year's resolutions for this year... so probably not. I don't know if I'll make any for the new year, they tend to set me up for failure.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
hmm... some friends from high school, some friends from college, but since I haven't met any of the babies, I'd say we weren't that close.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
My beloved cat Smrgl

5. What countries did you visit?
England and Scotland. WOOT

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?
money!

7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
thats a hard one. I doubt I'll look back on 2009 when I'm old and say something like, 'ah, 2009! The year I...' Nothing that momentous happened this year.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Getting a new job just in time to move out of the old crappy apartment and into the new shiny one.

9. What was your biggest failure?
not keeping myself busier while i was unemployed

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
no, thank goodness

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Does a new apartment count? otherwise, I don't know that i've bought that much this year

12. Where did most of your money go?
BILLS!

13. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Going to London (3rd time baby!) and Scotland. Barak Obama's innauguration, finally turning in the keys to the bad apartment, having a job.

14. What song will always remind you of 2009?
pretty much anything by lady gaga

15. Compared to this time last year, are you:

a) happier or sadder?
happier

b) thinner or fatter?
fatter for sure

c) richer or poorer?
depends on how you define it. Based on money that I have available to spend, I'm poorer, based on having an actual (pittance!) income, then richer.

16. What do you wish you’d done more of?
excercise? nah. new things.

17. What do you wish you’d done less of?
messing around on the computer instead of experiencing the world.

18. Did you fall in love in 2009?
With Dinah and Basil

19. What was your favorite TV program?
GLEE!!!!!!!!! and Warehouse 13! And NCIS!

20. What was the best book you read?
probably Julie & Julia

21. What was your favorite film of this year?
Again, Julie & Julia. The princess and the frog, Whip it

22. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I was 24 and there was a beach trip with friends, and then on the actual day we went to dinner

23. What kept you sane?
The crazyness of Emily

24. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Puck! yumm!

25. Who was the best new person you met?
Queennie. Simply for the entertainment value. I'm going to be telling tales of that bitch for YEARS!

New

Hey there all of you who so religiously read my ramblings. Here comes a much needed update on all things work related.

On Thursday, December 10 at 3 pm, I got a call to let me know that my contract had been terminated, and I had one hour to collect my things, and leave the place I had been happily working for 6 months.

Needless to say, I was pretty broken up about such a wrench. I'm not good with things that happen too fast as it is, but especially when I've carved myself a niche, or settled myself into a nice little rut.

Anyway, the lady who gets me gigs with the temp agency called to say that I would have to wait a week before the next gig, which I would start on Monday, December 21st.

Well, the weekend before I was slated to start, a huge snowstorm hit the east coast. DC peoples are not great with snow at the best of times, and this was a foot and a half of it. So the new place was closed. Giving me another day to freak.

But here I am. Its day two, and things are going fine. I'm not as in love with it as I was with the last place, though, on day two at the last place I wasnt in love either. And I'm likely not going to get too attached because whenever I am introduced to someone its, "This is Ariel, she's filling in for Luke". So whenever this "luke" returns, my services will no longer be needed here and we'll start the hurry up and wait game with the temp agency all over again.

Basically, I hate the unknown. Now that I've been here for a day and a half so far, I'm getting a little more comfortable, but the knowledge that I have another unknown waiting in the not too distant future makes me uneasy.

I guess we'll all have to wait and see

The List

List time! You know you wanted it, the list of all the things that would make me happy for Christmas! True to form, I had to be reminded at least twice that A) yes, I will be getting Christmas presents too and, B) I need to tell people what I've been eyeing. so, in the words of Mario, brother to Luigi, sage to all; Here we Go!

-A Wall Spice Rack. I'm sick of half the cupboard space in my apartment being taken up with spices.

-games for my Wii. They just came out with a new Rayman's Raving Rabbids! And I would love a Guitar Hero type game.

-Lunch Utensil Set http://www.lunchboxes.com/bamboo.html
I'm sick of using plastic and trowing it away every day. And this comes in PINK!

-cooking for one cookbooks
"The pleasure of cooking for one" -Judith Jones
"Thirty minute Pasta" - Giulian Hazan

-Julie & Julia DVD

-Mastering the Art of French Cooking

-Regina Spektor CDs

-Glee DVD or CD

-full size pillow top mattress pad and egg crate

Now, I know this really isn't as extensive a list as some would write. At the moment though, I'm pretty content. I'd love a sponsored shopping spree to Target (really need some new work clothes). And as always, I enjoy anything zebra printed. Otherwise, use your imagination folks! And if worst comes to worst, just buy me this. My inner outer child will have a squee filled time with weird toys and noise makers and bacon flavored dental floss.

Oscar

OK, I'm grouchy today. No real reason, just the world is not up to my exacting standards today and that frustrates and annoys me.

However, unlike my usual grouchy days, I dont want to feel grouchy, making me even grouchier about feeling grouchy. So here have been the things that have (temporarily) brought be out of the funk today.

1. There is a family that rides my bus in the mornings. A father, an older daughter (about 8) and twin younger sisters (about 5). Some mornings they are rowdy, playing 20 questions with their dad, some mornings they are whiney, the 'she's touching me' complaints echoing down the bus. This morning two out of the three girls were in high spirits. One of the twins was sulking and sitting really close in to her father, in the classic, 'no one can talk to me but dad' pose. Her twin kept trying to get her to smile/laugh, but to no avail, and actually seemed to annoy her more. Finally, the elder sister asked the cheery twin, "hey Caroline, what did YOU have for lunch?" All three faces lit up and they all cried in unison "SISTER SANDWICH" and fell into a group hug. I almost died of cute!

2. Cute Butt Justin. Named by me (duh) he is a coworker with a truly yummy hiney. He is cute in other areas (i mean the face you dirty mind!) and tends to make me chuckle. Today we have had 2 interactions that were blog worthy. He got a credit card bill in the mail and was opening it near my desk. He saw the total and decreed, "you pay this for me" and tossed it on my desk. I smiled and picked it up to hand back to him and he hurries away down the hallway claiming, "you touched it last!" I laughed heartily. Later when he came to retrieve it he said "you pay it next time". I retorted with a put upon sigh and said, "alright, but I'm not paying for your hookers". He laughed. I felt good about myself. Then later, in the kitchen, someone had turned on the World Cup coverage and he started to chat with me about soccer, something I know nothing about. He said something about America being really pathetic in never winning the World Cup, and I made him laugh again with, "Yeah, but we ALWAYS win the World Series"

3. 1000 Awesome Things. This is a blog that is essentially a list of awesome things. Things like dangling your feet in water, picking off the crusty ketchup on the nozzle to get a nice even squirt, getting to the bus stop just as the bus does, when a stranger says 'bless you' after you sneeze, the final moments of untying that huge knot, the sound of meat hitting the hot grill, taking your socks off without your hands under the covers, etc. I love that these really are universally awesome things. I mean, who DOESNT like eating the extra fries at the bottom of the bag? or getting all the lint out of the dryer lint trap? those little things that can make you feel awesome.