Friends

Over the last couple days I've been doing my end-of-year accounting: finishing up the year's notebook and preparing the new one. (New colors for everything, hooray!) It's so soothing to be able to know exactly how much I've spent on gas, on high-quality socks, on protein shakes...and how it compares to the previous year. If only I'd started doing this in high school - just think, I could be compiling an end-of-DECADE report right now! I guess that'll have to wait until 2019, sigh.

Of course, now I'm not allowed to buy groceries or go to a restaurant until the New Year starts. But I can spend $4.24 (the cost of a vanilla rooibos latte, venti-sized, with tax) at Starbucks! I budgeted for it because I noticed spending $4.24 would bring the balance in my checking account to $75.00 even. And that? Would be an AWESOME number to start 2010 on. It's an even dollar amount, and an even five-dollar amount, and an even TWENTY-five dollar amount, and...what.

And now, for the seventh(!!) time:

( This year, reviewed )

As always, links to the previous surveys:

2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003

Wow, check out the self-loathing tone on last year's survey! I was NOT a happy camper! I'm doing much better these days, though I didn't get to blast off to adventure like I wanted. It's clear to me, now, that I wasn't ready yet - I still had some healing to do. This year, I'm in a better place. Getting over my art-fears and my boy-fears (or at least starting to) helped a bunch...but I'm not gonna lie, this impending layoff was the exact thing I needed. I feel more inspired now than I have in years!

Dear 2009: you weren't much to look at, but you've helped me get the ball rolling in a few important ways. So thanks for that. Dear 2010: watch out, 'cause I am gonna KICK YOUR ASS!

Skeletor-Riding-A-Llama lost his job.

So, um, this thing might be due for a little update? :P This year has been crazy, but here's the rundown:

-Still in Frontierland... Gah! I bid TSI/Bears, though, so I'm more often there than at Splash. Especially since, next week, Splash goes down for two months. Yay, lap bars!

-Did Candlelight Processional Cast Choir again this year! Did shows with John O'Hurley (great, love his Narrator Voice), Anika Noni Rose (woo, Princess Tiana!), Whoopi Goldberg (OMG AMAZING and she was in one of my Bears shows one day, too. I freaked a little bit), and Edward James Olmos (still an amazing narrator, and one of the kindest celebrities I've met at Disney!)

-Started plating Torpia with one of my roommates. Dear lord, it's addicting! If anyone else joins, I'm on World 1, same screen name.

-Got bronchitis last month, right in time for Thanksgiving. NOT. FUN. And of course, to get my holiday pay, I couldn't call in the day before, day of, or day after Thanksgiving, so I got considerably worse then. It took me a few weeks to decide it wasn't just a cold and go to the doctor, and by that point I was already starting to recover. I'm better now, just a slight cough every so often. I lost a lot of running time, though, because running + bronchitis = not a good idea.

-Been birding a lot! I did my first Audubon Christmas Bird Count at Merritt Island and had a blast! Got quite a few lifers in the process, too! Got my lifelist up to 183 now...

-Running continues! Over the fall I ran three races:
Everest Challenge: 5k/obstacle course/scavenger hunt at Animal Kingdom. It POURED and lightning and all that jazz. Still had a great time, though!
Race for the Taste 10k: from Wide World of Sports to DHS to Epcot... This one KILLED me because, despite being October, it got up to a heat index of nearly 110 that day. As a result, I did it in a dragging 1:03:20. And got a tummy ache trying to eat the snacks afterwards.
Tower of Terror 13k: from DHS, to Wide World of Sports, and back! SO much fun. The weather was perfect, and my parents were there to see it, too. I finished in 1:14:28, WAY better than I anticipated.
Walt Disney World Half Marathon: ...coming up a week from Saturday!

-Art! Umm, okay, I've been lazy on this one, I'll admit it. Haven't really had the attention span to finish anything, although I've got half-done stuff all over! Just need some really good inspiration, I guess.

-Christmas! I got a pretty good haul! I'm typing this from a brand new laptop... Windows 7 is a bit of a learning curve, but I'm picking it up! Also got a UV lens filter, a photo from each race I did this past fall, the Farscape Complete Series DVD set, and a couple of seasons of Grey's Anatomy.

-Reading! I went through a slump for awhile where I didn't finish much, but over the last 6 months I've finished quite a few! ( June-December 2009 )

That's really all I can think of offhand... I'll try to be better about keeping this thing updated!

I started my Christmas vacation yesterday! I had to pretend I was going to work, though, because I told my parents my vacation started today. I dunno, somehow being off Wednesday-Friday is reasonable, but being off Tuesday-Friday is unforgivably lazy. In my mind. Whatever, the point is I had to be out of the house because I'm a liar!

( Strawberries and Honey )

It seems like when you think you're on the right track, the world falls all over itself to reassure you. So it's been with me! That evening as I ate my strawberry omelette (drizzled with tupelo honey), I checked my email...to find an invitation to join a work-exchange program! At an ecovillage in Missouri! Next summer! With a heavy focus on natural building and workshops!

Well then!

See, I've been to Missouri in the summer. Never again, I swore! Now I might have to reconsider. There are programs all season - I know July and August are hell on earth, but is June livable? June would actually be ideal for a few reasons - it's an easy trip from CO, and afterward I can hop from MO to wherever it is I'm going out east. If it's not quite AS humid and buggy and awful as the rest of the Missouri summer, that'd be even better! rdbelcher, bluepawnrunning, can anyone weigh in on this?

So, it's almost 10 PM and I never had supper. Awaaaay!

Quiz begin.

1)Hexxus (includedmiddle ) 
2)Mumm-Ra (ianmcin ) 
3)Venger (blackravenwyrd ) 
4)Skullmaster (striderhlc ) 
5)Queen Beryl (blackravenwyrd )  
6)King Zarkon (ianmcin )  
7)Yzma (krizoitz ) 
8)Admiral Zhao (krizoitz )  
9)Percival McLeach
10)Don Karnage (ianmcin )  

- Jux

I know what you're thinking.

This is not related to it.

MC 117 - O Little Town of Bethlehem

Merry Christmas, all.

- Jux

Um, The Chipmunk Adventure obviously!

The 2000s: A Decade in Review
(Uhhh, really? It just covers small parts of 1999 and 2009, but whatev, I'm not the Boss of Memes.)
* Think back to ten years ago this month.
* Write truthful answers and ELABORATE. This makes it more interesting!
* It's about personal changes. Have fun with it!

Then: December 1999
( Click meee! There's a piiiicture! )

Now: December 2009
( And Another Picture! Never-Before Seen On This Internet! )

Summary:

1. What I Miss Most From 1999: I'm not much of a 'misser'! I have a pretty short memory for emotions, so when I reminisce I may recall the events (or not!), but I don't relive the feelings. It's nice because it means I usually don't get toooo tangled up with wallowing in my past! So, this is my long-winded way of saying "lol, nothing".

2. What I Miss Least From 1999: High school! Get bent, high school!

3. What I've Accomplished In 10 Years That I'm Most Proud Of: I dunnoooo...I do what I say I'm going to do, mostly. I said I'd move out of state within a year of graduating and I did. I said I'd take a cross-country roadtrip and I did. When I started to get into debt, I said I'd dig myself out aaaaand I did. Cool, but none of it feels like an "accomplishment" really. However, "accomplishment" is what your 30s-50s are for (or so I've heard), so that's fine! For now, I'll say I'm proud of the experiences I've had, because I see them as the prep-work for any actual achievements that might be ahead for me. Here's hoping there's more XP soon to come. :D

4. What I Haven't Accomplished In 10 Years, But Wish I Had: I regret nothing! Ho ho ho!