Year In Review @ MindSay

Happy New Year all! I'm going to start this year off by plagiarising the life out of Caro's ideas - starting with the 2006 review! Let's see how much I remember about the past year . . .

January: Despite how frustrated I am with my boss, I continue tutoring through a small organization in the city for between 10 and 15 hours a week, while attending my second ever semester at the University. This one blows because I'm not in any classes with Caro or Tom, but Caro and I are taking different sections of the same film studies class. I watch a lot of movies I'm not all that thrilled with, and a few that I actually come to like a great deal. I earn my first C in a class since first year, sitting at the back of my History of the English language class chatting on a wireless connection with my younger brother who was on student exchange to France. Things start picking up for the Core team I am a part of, organizing the youth retreat TEC which will happen in May. We have our first team meeting and I start to realize what I've gotten myself into.

February: Praise the Lord and pass the potatos, Sarah and Ally break up! Not gonna sugar coat it on the off chance one of them stops by - this was a long and brutal relationship, and I had been seeing my sister miserable for months before she finally came to her senses and left. Today she is happier, healthier, and more like the girl I've always known and loved. Caro and I make friends with Chris, who turns out to be a nice guy but not in any way long term material. My brother and his wife celebrate two years of marriage. I continue to fret about things to do with Core. Other than that, it's a lot of school. Like a LOT of school. A class introduces me to the genius writings of Art Spiegelman, who I'm still addicted to.

March: Caro and I interview local playwright and theatre expert Stuart Lemoine for a class project from her cell phone in my bedroom with a laptop on the end of my bed and the two of us perched on yoga balls - and I still think we delivered the best presentation!  My sister moves home for a month while she re-gathers her bearings and finds somewhere else to live. More school. More Core - now that the weekend is getting closer, I'm starting to worry more and more about it. I quit my tutoring job claiming to have found another position that is going to take up all of my time, and no, I'm sorry, no matter how much more you offer to pay me, I'm not able to stay. The truth: there is no other position, I'm just frustrated to hell with the situation I'm in and wouldn't mind having April off to study.

April: Speaking of studying - Holy exams, Batman. I study my ass off - I mean seriously, by this time Sarah has her own place again and I move in there for two weeks promising to look after her dog during the day in exchange for a completely distraction-free and people-free study environment. I do reasonably well on said exams, and the first contact with future employers from WBM is made a week before I'm done.

May: An interview. A rejection. Another interview and an acceptance. A call back from the first interview at WBM offering a different position that pays more money than the one I've accepted elsewhere. A phonecall from me drops the accepted position, and the next day I start at Weldco, working right beside long time friend Courtney. The place is amazing. The people are amazing. My experience there is amazing. I'm there for a week before the TEC weekend happens - and I get 9 hours of sleep over the course of the whole 4 days and spend the first day of my second week back at Weldco falling asleep at my desk. TEC is amazing though. I find a great friend in Angela there. Caro and I don't see much of each other as life just seems to have taken over.

June: My second month at Weldco. I'm happy as a clam with my work situation.  TEC is over, I'm a free woman, I'm working, relaxing, hanging out with my family a lot. Something tells me I don't see much of friends during this month though . . . which is sad.

July: My best guy friend celebrates one year with one of my best girl friends, and I get a little sad because it's been kind of a distanced year for us. But then I get distracted by the trip we take to the beach where all of my stuff is stolen - camera, cell phone, wallet, clothes, GLASSES - and spend the next two weeks gradually re-purchasing all of the things I've lost to the land of stolen. Upside: When I go to sit in my pseudo-boss's office and tell him about this, he spends a half hour shaking his head and muttering "that's bullshit, that's total bullshit" under his breath before offering to ride to Sylvan on his new BMW bike and kick the ass of the guy who stole all of my stuff - until he realizes he would have no idea who to beat up. This is the day I realize that everyone at work cares about me just as much as I care about them. Downside: We spent an hour on the beach talking to the police once we discovered my things had been stolen, and having spent two hours in the water losing all of my sunscreen previously, the 30+ celsius sun gives me the worst burn I've ever had in my life, and I spend the next month (no exaggeration whatsoever) sleeping shirtless on my stomach in the basement with a fan pointed blowing cool water out of a bowl in my direction because I've got gigantic, red, painful blisters all across my shoulders and all down my back. Ew. Ouch. Marc almost cries one day at work when he sees me accidentally brush my shoulder against my bag and sit trembling for a few minutes after at the amount of pain it causes.

August: I work a lot. Well, as much as I have been the rest of the summer. At the end of the month, Gabe appears to job-shadow Courtney for a couple of weeks before she leaves to go back to school and Gabe takes her place. Marc jokes about me staying for another four months one day, and when I don't laugh, I'm suddently signed up and rearranging my school plans to stay with WBM for another term. I audition for the University Mixed Chorus and am accepted (YAY!).

September: The day that Courtney leaves WBM, we're casually told that one of our other supervisors has moved away and won't be coming back. Mystery. Possibly a bit of scandal. Jacqui suddenly working with a girl she barely knows without the support of one of the bosses she's come to know quite well. Three new gentlemen are hired at WBM, two of whom I get along with swimmingly, one who presents a bit more of a challenge. All in all, all is well. I watch my friends go back to school a little sadly, wishing I was there with them. Caro and I have our first big but stupid fight, and it's over before it's begun, and we're better friends for it :D I continue to work most of the time away. I've started singing with the UAMC by this point, and am absolutely loving it. It allows me to spend some time with Courtney, Alex, Michael, and Rob, and I'm really enjoying that aspect.

October: I remember that I worked. And that a couple of family birthdays happened. My grandparents were supposed to come spend three weeks with us, but an inter-continental flight started to prove a bit of a challenge when my grandfather switched Parkinsons' medications, so they were bound to home for the coming few months. I'm sad they didn't make it, but I'm looking forward to seeing them in England when I return in May - and I BUY MY TICKET!!! I sign up for the caroling groups with the UAMC, and start going to extra rehearsals to this avail.

November: Absolutely. Flies. By. November is a blur in my mind. There was work. There were caroling gigs. There was Nine Lessons and Carols which involved the UAMC singing at THE FREAKIN' WINSPEAR CENTRE! It was amazing, I absolutely loved it, it blew my mind. In the middle of the month, part of my world comes crashing down - Angela is diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia. I spend a week and a bit sleeping on her floor in residence at the University. It's bloody cold in Edmonton for most of the month. We're talking -30. I haven't mentioned Joel yet - Joel works in the same room at Gabe and I and has been one of the greatest joys of working at WBM. One day in November, Joel's girlfriend is rear-ended by one of the girls from choir, and oddly, this brings Gabe and Joel and I closer. I think it just opened up the friendship a bit more. Then toward the end of the month, it becomes clear Joel and his girlfriend are having some issues, and we think we see him leave work crying one day, and vow to kick her ass. That is the day we realize how much he means to us.

December: An absolute whirlwind. More caroling, more choir gigs. Advent begins in a rush with services all over the city and committments up the wazoo. Angela begins treatment, and our friendship goes through so many morphing processes over the next month that I really don't know how to even explain it. I commemorate a sad year without my cat Leah (go ahead, laugh - I don't care, I loved her more than you'll ever understand), and then we spend a few sad days at Weldco after another significant-to-us-in-that-weird-work-way someone leaves: Kevin. On the 15th of December, Tom and Kirsten are in an accident, and Kirsten is killed. A lot of thinking about this accident and thinking about Angela and contemplating life and love and pain culminate into me having a mini-break down over a basket of laundry in my bedroom one day and being very sad for an extended period of time. December basically teaches me that the only response I can offer in the face of pain and loss is love.

Oh my. Well, when you try to cram it all into one entry, I guess it seems like more.

Very brief overview of what I would like to see happen in 2007:

I would like to face my practicum with courage and perseverence, and come out on the other end having learned a great deal, no matter how the small details of the experience go.

I would like to continue to grow in my friendships with Caro and Tom. Next time something difficult happens to one of us, I don't want to be worrying about whether or not we're close enough to be there for each other in the most intimate ways. I just want to be there.

I would like to figure out my relationship with my parents. Currently am stuck in some weird amorphis child/adult limbo, unable to decide which one I'm supposed to be at home. Would like to get past that. Soon.

I would like to see England in a more relaxed manner than I did the first time. I've done the running around and discovering. I want this trip to be a casual traipse through my favourite spots with my favourite people.

Okie dokie? We'll see how that goes!

Waiting.

 

That seems to be the theme of this new year.  Waiting to finish work.  Waiting to finish school.  Waiting for the bloody phone to ring.... (okay so the guy that I am waiting for the call from is actually reading his nephews a bedtime story right now so all you girls out there can 'aw' over that fact especially since they are 5 and 6 years old and the practically worship their uncle). 

 

Here is the conclusion that I have come to- waiting sucks.  But patience is a virtue so I should really practice that. 

 

Everyone seems to be writing their reviews of 2006 so I thought that I should join in on that too.  That's right, I'm a sheep.  BAH BAH FREAKIN' BAH!  Let the fun commence...

 

January- pretty uneventful for me.  I had classes and work.  I hung out with my friends a lot.  That pretty much sums up January.  Oh, and judging by the number of surveys that I did that month, I was really bored.  Also, it is important to note that I voted that month and the conservatives won the election.  Yay!

 

February- I developed a crush on a guy, I saw Relient K in concert and met them before the show, and I had a nice reading week for the most part.  On a sad note, one of my co-workers was in a car accident and she did not make it.  RIP Crystal Gardener.

 

March- I asked the boy out for coffee.  Well, at least I can say that I got a good cup of coffee out of it.  Other than that, it was a waste.  Tom and his g/f broke up and then got back together 2 weeks later.  My brother and his g/f broke up and about a month later, he discovered his love for another woman who is quite wonderful. 

 

April- Exams happened in April.  That pretty much sums up that month.

 

May- I started my film studies spring class.  It was a lot of fun and I got to watch some awesome films that I had not even heard of.  I made a really good friend.  I discovered some new books that are amazing. The hippies won on the Amazing race which rocked because they were my favourite team.  The Oilers kicked some butt playing hockey. 

 

June: One of my friends lost one of their friends to a long battle against leukemia.  RIP Natalie.  I got into an argument with one of my best friends because he stood me up.  I asked a guy to my sister's wedding.  He actually left a few days later for Amsterdam so I didn't have a date for the wedding, but the important thing is that I asked.  I felt like shouting into an abyss at several points.  I met a cool guy and haven't seen him since.  Oh well.  What can I do?

 

July- My sister got married this month.  It was amazing.  I had so much fun at the wedding (I was the maid of honour) and I had a blast with the planning and everything.  I got to see all my family and we drank and danced a lot.  It was also during this month that my parents celebrated their 25th anniversary so we got to have another big party.  It was so much fun.  On a sad note, it was during this month that my cousin decided that the world had upset her enough and so she ended her life.  I had only met her a couple of times but I was really affected by this.  It wasn't that I was grieving the loss but moreso that I was so mad at her.  I have never felt that angry in my life but I found some solice in talking with my friends. 

 

August- Nothing really exciting happened in August.  I worked and that's about it. 

 

September- I bravely faced another year of university but I did it this year on my own.  With Thomas J off doing his student teaching and Jacqui off working for the term, I set about on my own.  I made some rather good friends though and they made life a lot easier.  I discovered things that I really liked and I learnt how to live somewhat independently while my parents were away on their second honeymoon (they went to Holland and Italy).  I went to see Matt Costa in concert (actually bumped shoulders with him at one point) and fell in love with him all over again.  At the end of the month, I went to see The Beach Boys.  It was one of the best nights of my life.

 

October- This is the month that I turned 21.  For my birthday, my brother and his g/f and my sister and her husband all pitched in and got me a ticket to see The Who.  That concert was one of the best nights of my life.  Thanksgiving was fun.  I had a great birthday.  I wrote a bunch of papers and midterms.  Woo.  I worked a lot (I think that there is a theme of working over the course of this year).  I did some writing again.  I discovered that one of my oldest and dearest friends has changed and that we no longer have much in common.  It's hearbreaking especially when he was at one point in my life the Dawson to my Joey.

 

November- This month seems to drag on forever.  It's probably because it is the last month of school and everything is due.  It was a frustrating month.  I did presentation after presentation and exam after exam and paper after paper.  I pulled 2 all nighters which wasn't cool at all.  In other words, oi.

 

December- What can I say about December?  The first bit was okay and then everything fell apart.  I did well on my finals which made me happy.  My prof told me that I am smart.  I was happy and ready for Christmas.  That was until I got the phone call that changed everything.  Thomas J and his girlfriend were in a car accident and she did not make it.  It's just heartbreaking.  I spoke to him tonight and I just wanted to reach out and hug him.  Soon after that, my great aunt died.  It hasn't exactly been the happiest of Christmases around these parts.  RIP Kirsten and Tante Wilma.

 

It's been an interesting year as I look back on it.  I hope that 2007 is a lot nicer to everyone.  I know that it started out rather well for me.  I mean, I got checked out today, I talked with some old friends, and I got to talk to Thomas J on the phone today. 

 

And besides, this year has to be good because it is the year of James Bond.

Howdy howdy all!

 

Well this is it! It is 2007 and the year formerly known as 2006 is gone and soon to be forgotten for some of us. I have been reading some great year in review posts on Mindsay and I have to say that I am inspired to do a condensed (sp) version in Paganista-ville. So here we go ya'll I promise it won't be too boring....

 

January-March 2006:

I went on a vacation to Arizona to visit friends in Chandler.

 

 There was a hike at the Grand Canyon:

 

I had a blast and loved Sedona. I met DrunkenOso in the flesh at the Greyhound bus station at the crack of dawn going to AZ and coming back to Tx. He loaned me 2 count'em 2 books which I read and loved and uhm have still failed to return to him ( I swear that they are in the same condition that they were lent, and I promise I am gonna send them back! ) . I went to a sweat lodge with friends and detoxed some impurites.

 

 I began the last semester of my English undergraduate degree, went on a fun filled vacation with Torridgirl were we went camping, canoeing and hiking! DrunkenOso spent an entire day with us hiking up Enchanted Rock (I kicked that rock's ass btw! ) There was soap making fun; Inks Lake at Sunset: Canoeing: Hiking with the Intoxicated Bear: Man, did that year start off with a bang.

 I got tattoed and pierced and have gotten more tattoos since...pics to come...

 

April-June 2006:

This was a rough 3 months. I lost a very close friend to suicide ( I still miss you--and them on some level--I guess we just couldn't wade through it all in the end. Live and Learn---).

There was the rally for immigration reform, attended by myself and one of my roommates...

There was a trip to Natural Bridge Caverns which I loved!

 

There was Fiesta Texas:

 

We tried to conjure some ghosts in San Antonio with less that positive results..then there was the wildlife park:

 

From there things kinda snowballed to include my graduation from University with a second degree, this one in English and then came...

 

July-September 2006:

There was a moderate amount of fun and responsibilty packed into this cluster of months. There was Rolller Derby fun with Torridgirl 

 

I spent a lot of time in Mississippi during this time and visited with long forgotten family members and even worked on the family genealogy to some degree. I was admitted to the Masters Progarm at the University of St. Thomas and met some great friends in 3 dimensions and online (yes I am talking to you doll). I did a bit of soul searching too and came up with a new and improved game plan for myself. I went to see Tom Petty and Stevie Nicks which was fantastic! I also went to see Mariah Carey

 

and loved it as well! My niece began accepting phone calls from boys EEK! The year rolled on and we made it safely to:

October-December2006:

Well this cluster of time brought a few happy changes and adjustments. I realized that Grad school is a bit more challenging than undergrad and had to adjust accordingly. There was the Renaissance Faire in Plantersville Texas which I attended with Torridgirl , her friend Rosie and Rosie's sister....I also went with the roomies and their parents--well Memphis B's folks anyway...

Two close friends had birthdays in November, one you all know as the Cocoa Goddess...

 

 

 

then there was my own birthday and the completion of my first semester as a graduate student and I finally found a picture of the basic design for my dream-cabin!

 I just thought I would throw that in there in case someone wants to hook me up with a down payment! LOL! Anyway, I met a really sweet and straight-laced Taurus to corrupt(if I'm lucky or rather if they're lucky that is ) The major holidays went quite well and I spent tons of quality time with the ones I love....

 

Then there was the New Year's Festivities! Which I will blog about nex time complete with pictures ya'll! No poetry because this post is long enough already! LOL!

 

Goddess Bless!

Inspired by the estimable housecalls1, I am starting the "What Happened This Year" list...for December 31, 2007.

Yep, 2007, ladies and gentlemen!

So. Let's begin. What will we have on this list for next year? The archives will keep it safe for us to check back in 365 days or so. :D

Verizon Wireless, in their neverending miniaturization revolution, develop the D-Vone, a cellular telephone that has a mini-dvd-disc player. 

Sony and Apple will compete to make accessible, non-shopliftable minidiscs for these phones.

New home construction will begin to have "phone line optional" plans, with "recharging kiosks" coming in a new "standard feature."

Okay...anyone else? :D