We are back from Hawaii. I'm six days too late to make any resolutions about blogging every day, or any of that, so I'm not going to bother.
I will post at some point and probably at some length about our trip, which was fantastic and wonderful and I want to go back RFN and get a job as a cab driver, a waitress, I don't care, just so I can be where it's warm.
So, it's the end of the decade. I guess some people are glad to see it go. It seems like a lot of people I know had a very unhappy 10 years, culminating in a miserable 2009. Understandable. On the geopolitical level, things certainly were a mess, even before Sept. 11. On a personal level, though, I did pretty well. Along the way I seem to have lost a few friends, but I've gained a bunch more, and up until 2009, nobody particularly close to me died. All in all, that's a good 10 years.
2000 -- moved to DC
2001 -- got married
2002 -- got pregnant, went to Israel, Angels won the series.
2003 -- had a baby
2004 -- bought a house, Sox won the series
2005 -- Visited the Pacific Northwest.
2006 -- We went consumerist and got an HD TV.
2007 -- Had first non-kid vacation since 2002, a week in Chicago.
2008 -- Facebook reconnected me with people I thought long gone.
2009 -- Got promoted, NYAB decided to try working from home
Meanwhile, here is a meme I started doing back in 2004 when I was a member of TomTom Club, and have resurrected each year since -- though I'm not sure why, since the answers don't seem to change much. I always remember something I left out after I've posted it, maybe this year I'll bother to add those in the comments.
1. What did you do in 2009 that you'd never done before?
Went to Hawaii.
2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I didn't keep any of them. I should quit on these. Though the bathing suit photos from Hawaii, dear god, those should help with the perennial this-year-I'm-really-going-to-diet idea.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yes! Hi, Jessica and Owen!
4. Did anyone close to you die?
NYAB lost both his parents within a few months of each other.
5. What countries did you visit?
Just other parts of this one.
6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?
More time. More sleep. Less self-imposed stress.
7. What date from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
I don't remember dates very well. But I'll remember my company's blood-letting as a painful turning point. And I'll remember the day NYAB finally decided to call it quits on journalism.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Not losing my job, I guess?
9. What was your biggest failure?
Failing to meet the YP's academic needs.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
No, knock wood.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
Our trip to Hawaii.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Those colleagues who lost their jobs but managed to do so without acrimony and public brouhaha.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Other colleagues.
14. Where did most of your money go?
Stuff. Trips. Outings.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Hawaii -- do you see a theme here?
16. What song will always remind you of 2009?
B-52's Funplex.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? Happier.
ii. thinner or fatter? Fat-fat-fatter.
iii. richer or poorer? Richer in every sense.
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Gotten really good at something other than woring.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Work.
20. How (did) you spend Christmas?
The day was at home. We left the next day for Hawaii.
21. Did you fall in love in 2009?
Over and over.
22. What was your favorite TV program?
Lost.
23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
No, but I am less fond of a whole lot of people.
24. What was the best book you read?
I read a lot of books this year. Most of them were brain candy. But I liked.
25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Am too old and busy to be making discoveries these days.
26. What did you want and get?
I think I got absolutely everything I wanted this year. How freaking awesome is that?
27. What was your favorite film of this year?
Heavens. Did I see any non-kid movies this year? I liked Up. Or was that last year?
28. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I should remember this, shouldn't I? But I don't. 38.
29. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Well, attending fewer funerals would have been nice, I think. And having a jillion dollars, same as previous years.
30. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
Working around fat.I did buy some new suits. Then it got cold and I stopped wearing skirts that short.
31. What kept you sane?
Family. Co-workers with shared opinions.
32. What political issue stirred you the most?
Health care and pointless, irritating weekend and holiday sessions of Congress.
33. Who did you miss?
No one, really. That's pretty awesome too.
34. Who was the best new person you met?
Did we meet anyone new? I guess the new-new neighbors?
35. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009:
I haven't really learned this lesson yet, but I'm starting to accept the fact that no matter what I try to do to nudge them along, some people are just going to be colossally disappointing, for whatever reason -- their priorities, their attitudes, their lack of dedication to mission, their inability to see beyond themselves, whatever. What I have learned is that it isn't necessarily anyone's fault -- they are what they are, I am what I am, and if we are still at loggerheads after repeated failed attempts to converge, there's nothing more I can do but be disappointed and then get over it and find something else to do.
36. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
Don't you know we're living in stolen moments
You steal enough it feels like we're stopping time
These days are gold we're living in stolen moments
Just grab hold and feel these days are yours and mine
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