measure your life in love

So this is the new year...

2008-01-02T02:20:50Z

[For the record, yes, I know that's not the lyric.]

1. What did you do in 2007 that you’d never done before? Graduated highschool. Moved across the country on my own. Got a job. Started college. Lived with roommates. Felt like I understood music theory (I say this as I certainly didn't for all of first semester). Traveled overseas to do theatre. Performed at an international theatre festival. Wore a wig in public. Took tai chi class. Blatantly, openly disregarded my teachers' authority with no respect for the consequences. Got away with blatently, openly disregarding my teachers' authority with no respect for the consequences. [Yay second semester!] Saw Rockefeller Center at Christmas! Wow, so many other things I don't even know.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? Probably not, and yes.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? No.

4. Did anyone close to you die? Nobody close per se, but someone I knew personally and who I felt was important to me.

5. What countries did you visit? England & Scotland.

6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007? Consistent (as opposed to every several months') employment. The right to be in shows (okay so I only lacked this for the last 4 months of 07, but still). And I wouldn't say no to boy ;0).

7. What date from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? Besides graduation (and in a year or two, the date will probably be gone), no dates will be there forever. Events and days, however, absolutely will be. And those, there are too many to list.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Graduating and going to college.

9. What was your biggest failure? I don't know?

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Some minor colds, and my annual Fashion Show induced injuries, haha.

11. What was the best thing you bought? Hmm, don't know.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Many people's.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Eh. Probably some people's.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Food. Music.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? In order: being a second semester senior, Fashion Show (in that "love to hate it" way as well as actually loving it), Urinetown, graduating, HP 7, Scotland, NYU, coming home.

16. What song will always remind you of 2007? "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Moon River", and "Don't Stop Believin'". Which yes, are related to Downbeat + Journey, respectively. Shut up. And I'm positive there's more, but that comes to mind first.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you

* happier or sadder? You know, I honestly don't know. Which I don't mean at all in an angsty way, but so so so so so much changed it's hard to say one or the other with certainty.
* thinner or fatter? I feel fatter, but then I always feel fatter at the end of a year. And objectively speaking, it's about the same.
* richer or poorer? As with last year, richer, but feeling poorer with the more constant need to spend money.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Going to the beach.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Wasting my time on Facebook, haha. Though I seriously, seriously doubt this will change in the near future.

20. How will you be spending New Year’s? With my family.

21. What was your favorite TV program? Carry-overs: Sex and the City, Grey's, Friends, ANTM
New Discoveries: Arrested Development!

22. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? The ancient Chinese sage who created tai chi.

23. What was the best book you read? Deathly Hallows! And a bunch of other stuff as well.

24. What was your greatest musical discovery? Hmm, good question! I honestly don't know.

25. What did you want and get? A whoooole lot of things.

26. What did you want and not get? Nothing big jumps out, so I'm going to go with nothing of any real importance.

27. What was your favorite film of this year? Um... Sweeney Todd? WAIT no. Music and Lyrics. Hahaha.

28. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I was 18; I hung out with family and friends and sunbathed in my backyard!

29. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Hmm, good question.

30. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007? Comfortable-chic? Or, as I've now been told, California casual with a growing New York influence. Haha.

31. What kept you sane? Friends/fam.

32. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? None.

33. What political issue stirred you the most? Quite a few.

34. Who did you miss? So, so many people. My fabulous, fabulous friends & my family most of all.

35. Who was the best new person you met? Lots of NYU kids.

36. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007. Cold weather at age 8 when your mother insists you put on 9 layers of clothes and you don't have to deal with snow on your own is so, so very different than cold weather at age 18 after 10 years in a warm-weather climate.

37. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year: "It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right. I hope you had the time of your life." [So admittedly, it's so sentimental it's almost tacky, but I'll be damned if you didn't just smile.]

cloudmermaid @ 2007-09-19T12:14:00

2007-09-19T16:19:03Z

Nearly two years later, am finally reading Sophocles' original Greek Oedipus for my Intro to Theatre Studies class. I'm about two pages in, and already somewhat astonished by how heavy-handed Sophocles is with the foreshadowing:

"I'll do anything. I would be blind to misery not to pity my people kneeling at my feet." - Oedipus, Line 14
"Look around you, see with your own eyes" - Priest, Line 28
"I see - how could I fail to see what longings bring you here?" - Oedipus, Line 70

I'm amused.

A year in (Princeton) review.

2007-05-10T02:35:32Z

This time last year, studying my ass off for APUSH, I thought that, besides for one glaring factual inaccuracy [having to do with Carnegie making up the idea of Social Darwinism and someone else making up the Gospel of Wealth - WHY THE HELL DO I REMEMBER THAT?], the Princeton Review was largely helpful in synthesizing an entire year's worth of information into slightly less than 2 weeks of easy reading. Additionally, I believed it's quirks - the little coloquialisms, the bad jokes it made, the points of addressing the reader - were entertaining, and made my studying easier and more memorable.

This year, when I read things like "You write essays for teachers who know you and (we hope) care about you. [...] They even know that there's a kid a few rows over with a hopeless crush on you and they wonder why you haven't noticed yet (why haven't you noticed?)," I'm still mildly entertained, but now believe that these quirks are insulting to my intelligence and am a little alarmed that the leading test-prep source includes these things in it's prep books. WTF.

The fact, however, that I am compelled to write this ought to prove an additional point, that I was highly motivated to study for APUSH, as I was then young and silly enough to still believe it mattered... Conversely, today is basically the first time I've cracked this book for English Literature and Composition (shame there's no nice acronym for that...).

I'm a winner.

A resolution

2007-05-09T03:37:56Z

Now that I am flush with - no, that's not even accurate, now that I am DROWNING IN - free time, I will read more.

There are many, many books I want to start. Or want to check out. Or buy (actually, not buy, but that I do lust after in bookstores). And yet I never do, and then I feel bad for saying I don't have enough time, but until recently, it was true.

Well, no more. Resolved that I will read more.

[PS Looking through my journal on calendar view, I found a post I made about senior showcase our freshman year. Still seems a little surreal that we're now done with ours... time flies.]

Jumping on the Bandwagon (part 2)

2007-03-17T20:45:26Z

1. A color i like seeing you wear
2. A memory or in-joke (probably the former) i have with you
3. Something I hope you always retain
4. A memory of you in freshman year
5. If you were a photograph, what I think it would be of
6. Food I associate with you
7. Question I want to ask you
8. If i ever have to bail you out of jail, it will be for...

cloudmermaid @ 2007-03-15T22:12:00

2007-03-16T05:10:00Z

1. I'll respond with something random about you.
2. I'll challenge you to try something.
3. I'll pick a color that I associate with you.
4. I'll tell you something I like about you.
5. I'll tell you my first/clearest memory of you.
6. I'll tell you what animal you remind me of.
7. I'll ask you something I've always wanted to ask you.

cloudmermaid @ 2007-02-27T19:13:00

2007-02-28T03:44:49Z

RULES: Each player of this game starts off with 10 weird things/habits/little known facts about yourself. People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 10 weird habits/things/little known facts as well as state this rule clearly. At the end you need to choose 10 people to be tagged and list their names. No tag backs.

1. One summer when I went to Toronto, Lyd and I went through a small pyromaniac phase. We'd light candles and were fascinated with how different stuff burned and reacted to the fire and the wax and stuff. We could kill hours doing this.
2. Moreso when I was younger, but I still have a really bad habit of saying "Christmas" when I mean "Halloween." I have absolutely no idea why, but I used to constantly say "I'm being ______ for Christmas" and get the strangest looks.
3. There is a tiny little part of me that still thinks that if there was a way to get back into competitive skating, I would do it in a heartbeat. [But not at the expense of theatre, which is why this part of me is so small.]
4. Even though I love traveling, one of my least favorite smells in the entire world is the smell of airplane air and it really grosses me out when sometimes car air-conditioning smells this way.
5. I really enjoy typing things up; I find it incredibly satisfying.
6. I'm really, really good at Donkey Kong Country for Super Nintendo.
7. When I was younger, I had a really strange recurring nightmare where all I could see was white and it was just this noise that got louder and louder and louder; that's all that happened.
8. I have a weird magpie tendency when I'm in shows, I do my very best to take something from every show I'm in that somebody won't notice I've absconded with.
9. I love playing with makeup, browsing in stores like Sephora, and buying new makeup to try out because it's a fun color or it looks cool, but then everytime I have to actually wear makeup (beyond just eyeliner and powder or something equally simple) I remember how much I hate it.
10. I'm an absolute hopeless romantic.

Tagging everybody!

iTunes makes me laugh

2007-02-14T01:13:19Z

As I often do so as to not get bored, I have my iTunes on random. It just went from "Finale A" from Rent into "Desperado" by The Eagles.

I frankly find this HILARIOUS. Because it's so, so wrong, but sort of appropriate. And all sorts of hilarious to go from a musical to The Eagles and have it make a little bit of sense.

Observe:
Finale A, final lyrics - "Hold on there's something you should hear, it isn't much, but it took all year"
Desperado, opening lyrics - "Desperado, why don't you come to your senses? You've been out riding fences for so long now... Oh you're a hard one - I know that you got your reasons - these things that are pleasin' you have hurt you somehow."

Okay maybe I'm just a huge nerd, but I somehow find that really, really funny.

Oh, that, and the introduction to "Your Eyes" does sound a touch like the intro to "Desperado."

An odd thought when I ought to be reading about sex

2007-02-01T05:56:57Z

No joke. It's for psych. But now on to the odd thought:

I'm in a Facebook group (yes, I realize how lame it is that I'm talking about Facebook on LJ of all things) called "my name is Siobhan and I am well aware it is spelled weird." And I was looking at my profile - email told me Esther had written on my wall - and so I randomly clicked on it, and I was reading through a thread on common misspellings and nicknames.

And so everybody's listing the ones I've detailed for people my ENTIRE life - from all the S-io-ba-hans to Chevrons to Cinnabons and every other normal misprounciation/misspelling in the entire world, up to and including Soybean (!) and I kept having this really strong urge to be like Oh man me too! And then I remember that this entire group of 100 some girls have my name.

I guess it's because I never even heard of another Siobhan until... probably 5th grade, but it was SO WEIRD to see this - this stuff always seemed so strange and unique to me and all of a sudden it's like oh. People have my name. That's so different...

Point being, I guess, that I'm still not used to the idea that other people have my name. Oh, and you know how when you stare at a word long enough or you say one aloud over and over again it stops seeming like a real world? It occurred to me that my name is like that... Siobhan after Siobhan after Siobhan and I sort of stopped being aware of it being my name. That concludes this evening's episode of absolute pointlessness.

cloudmermaid @ 2007-01-29T23:05:00

2007-01-30T07:06:05Z

I'm having some kind of odd senioritis malfunction.

I have two tests tomorrow, and I don't care that much, but I can't bring myself to go "to hell with it, I know I know the material as well as I'm going to, I'm going to bed" - the rational part of my brain keeps saying that, and then I keep studying.

Hey wait, I remember this, it's called work ethic... so why does it choose to kick in when I'd rather go to sleep?

What the hell kind of second semester senior am I?

cloudmermaid @ 2007-01-16T22:07:00

2007-01-17T06:09:43Z

It occurs to me that probably at least half of my irrational love for the Spice Girls is less about the music than it is about how unbelievably much it makes me think of Toronto. And Downbeat, I guess, but even before that it's always been about Toronto; watching Spice World with Lyd and Ruth and Emma and making ASSES of ourselves dancing along or trying to choreograph a dance when I was like eight years old to "Stop" at a surprise birthday party for my mom... stuff like that.

Yes. I'm waxing nostaligic instead of reading Anna Karenina. I'm a second semester senior, who cares?

Tee Hee

2007-01-14T20:38:30Z

Psych book, module 14, a caption under a picture: "The pain in sprain is mainly in the brain."

I am such a nerd.

cloudmermaid @ 2007-01-13T11:36:00

2007-01-13T19:37:07Z

Finals completed this year: 4
Finals completed ever at Harker: 30 (I'm not going to bother doing the math to include 7th/8th grade)
Finals remaining at Harker: NONE

Semester completed this year: 1
Semesters completed ever at Harker: 19
Semesters remaining at Harker: ONE.
What semester is that? SECOND, BITCH.

Damn it feels good to be a second semester senior.

Realistically i know it won't be all that different, but it's a nice thought, isn't it?

cloudmermaid @ 2007-01-11T21:18:00

2007-01-12T05:17:46Z

I know it's petty, but you know, it is infinitely frustrating that I stooped so low as to actually CALL Cingular customer service and be like "Why can't I download the Sex and the City ringtone" and STILL no result. Booo.

BUT! New Grey's, peanut butter cookies, and am reasonably prepared for theory final. Life is good.

You learn something new everyday...

2007-01-07T23:17:32Z

Today I learned that Eva Cassidy was white; for whatever reason, I always assumed she was black. Huh.

cloudmermaid @ 2007-01-07T12:06:00

2007-01-07T20:14:43Z

It has finally occurred to me that there's no real need to keep music in my iTunes that I don't like. Ergo, I just deleted more than half the Dashboard Confessional songs in my library. I probably would've done more, but it would've disrupted existing playlists.

Also, does anybody know if Billy Joel actually ever recorded Walking in Memphis? The more I listen to my favorite version of this song, that supposedly is recorded by Billy Joel (the one that I've sent/given to most of you, I'd imagine), the less and less I find that it sounds like Billy Joel. Especially the guy's speaking voice at the end.

And yes. The entire point of this was to avoid studying.

P.S.

2007-01-05T01:04:37Z

Second semester schedule -
1. Psych
2. Adv. Math
3. Ethics
4. Theory
5. Lunch
6. Free
7. English
8. Downbeat

Classes with me?

New Year's Resolutions

2007-01-05T00:54:10Z

1. Eat healthier; just be generally more in shape. It's not like an, "OMFG I'm so fat!!!1one" type thing, but it's more of a general, I'm not as in shape as I have been, I'm not eating as well, and I have gained a little weight so I'd like to change that. So please, no comments about how I'm anorexic please :0).
2. Read more! Goal: 2 new books a month, starting with the Great Novels books (I dropped it)
3. Go skate. Public ice sessions are like $8-9, so when I have the time, I want to go more this year.
4. Dance classssss
5. Not slack off just because I'm a second semester senior
6. Learn to cook something! And have a dinner party. Seriously how fun would that be?
7. Go to the beach! I did not make it to the beach ONE TIME in 2006. This must change in 2007.
8. Get a job, hopefully after Urinetown ends.
9. Write a song! I'll write a little lick of music or a little quartet of lyrics I like and then abandon it. So I want to try writing a song. Maybe for Global Grooves? We'll see...
10. Teach myself more things on piano; be more diligent about memorizing the things I do learn/already know.
11. Re-learn guitar. SERIOUSLY.
12. Procrastinate less and waste less time. I resolved this last year, and I go through phases, but overall I just do a lot of stuff with my time during which I could be being productive, not even necessarily in an academic way but just a life way as opposed to like, watching tv or being on Facebook.
13. Brush up my Spanish! It's getting ridiculous, actually.
14. Adjust well to college; learn a sense of direction so I don't get hopelessly lost on the subway.

We'll see.

A year in review...

2007-01-04T07:00:41Z

** JANUARY **

1. Where did you spend New Years Eve 2006? Uh, Emily's house watching the ball drop in Times Square

2. Did you have a new year's resolution that year? I had like 9.

3. Does it snow where you live? I wish, but no.

4. Do you like hot chocolate? YESSS

5. Have you ever been to Times Square to watch the ball drop? Maybe next year :0). Actually no, because I'll be home. So never yet.

** FEBRUARY **

1. Who was your Valentine? HAHAHAHA so this was the year that I broke up with somebody February THIRTEENTH. How pro am I...

2. When you were little, did you buy valentines for all of your classmates? When I was really young, then I switched to candy for my friends.

3. Do you care if the groundhog sees its shadow or not? In Toronto it at least made sense, because of actual winter. So not anymore, but when I was younger we pretended we cared.

4. Did you get any valentines from anyone? Chocolate from random people.

5.Who was your crush? See above about Feb. 13th breakup.

** MARCH **

1. Are you Irish? FUCK YEAH.

2. Did you wear green on St. Patty's Day? IRISH PRIDE, of course I did.

3. What did you do for St. Patty's Day in 2006? Went craaaazy with JPM having Irish pride for like one day of the year. And ate corned beef and cabbage avec the fam.

4. Are you happy when winter is pretty much over? It's California, it doesn't matter.

5. Do you believe in the little guy? In leprechauns you mean? Sure, why not.

** APRIL **

1. Do you like the rain? Sometimes. Not this year when it rained for like a month and a half straight though.

2. Did you play any April fool's joke on anyone this year? If I did, it sucked and I can't remember it.

3. Do you get tons of candy on Easter? Actually, I got jack shit this year I think...

4. Do you celebrate 4/20? Eh?

5. Do you love the month of April? I have a love hate relationship with April - say it with me, spring musical tech...

** MAY **

1. What's your favorite kind of flower? Gardenia, hibiscus, and roses :0)

2. Do you like the spring? Sure!

3. Finish the phrase "April showers": bring PILGRIMS! get it? may flowers... hahaha

4. What is the first color you think of when you think of Spring? Yellow.

5. How was this month compared to the other months? Before APs, it SUUUUUCKED, after APs it was amazing because I had like, no class.

** JUNE **

1. Did you graduate high school yet? One more. OH SEVEN BABY.

2. Did you realize nothing special happens in June? Fuck that, school ends.

3. Were you happy school was out? YESS. YES YES YES.

4. What did you mostly do? AMT + starting Annie rehearsals

5. Do you like summer? Oh my goodness yes.

** JULY **

1. What did you do on the Fourth of July?
Neighborhood parade and chillaxed fun stuff

2. Did you go on any vacations during this month? Uh, no.

3. Do you blast the A/C all day? YES except that there was one day the power went out when it was like 115 degrees. THAT WAS FUNNNN.

4. Whats been the memorable moments?
Birfday (actually that's not true, my birthday was fun but not super memorable), AMT stuff, crazy Annie rehearsals

5. What will you miss most? AMT and Annie!

** AUGUST **

1. Did you do anything special at the end of your summer? Cramming summer reading, going to Chicago, closing Annie

2. What was your favorite summer memory of '06? Annie and AMT, I can't say that enough.

3. Did you have a sunburn? Hah. I spent like, my whole summer indoors.

4. Did you go to the beach a lot? See above.

5. Did you wish that you didnt have to go back to school? Yeah, but at the same time I was going to be a SENIOR.

** SEPTEMBER **

1. Did you attend school/college in '06? SENIORS 07 baby

2. Who is your favorite teacher? Uh... probably Dr. Schatz.

3. Do you like fall better than summer? HAHAHA no.

4. How was the first day of school? Fun but hectic

5. Did you like anything this month? Life?

** OCTOBER **

1. What was your Halloween costume? Holly Golightly

2. What's your favorite candy? Anything with chocolate in it.

3.What did you do for halloween? Hahah Laramie tech. I was pretty disappointed I didn't get to trick-or-treat though, not gonna lie.

4. Is Halloween your favorite holiday? No, not really. I like it, but it's not my favorite.

5. What is your favorite chocolate? ANY.

** NOVEMBER**

1. Whose house did you go to for Thanksgiving? Family friends.

2. Do you love stuffing? YESSS. Favorite Thanksgiving food. Except mashed potatoes.

3. What are you thankful for? Life. Seriously.

4. Were there any birthdays? My dad's.

** DECEMBER **

1. Do you celebrate Christmas? Yessss I love Christmas.

2. If not, what do you celebrate?

3. Have you ever been kissed under mistletoe? Nope.

4. Get anything special this year? PHONE that works. Well sort of I'm still working out some stuff but basically it works.

5. What will you miss most? SDS probably.

______________________________________________

NOW
THE YEAR 2007

1. Will you be looking for a new job? Hopefully like, May-summer.

2. Will you be looking for a new relationship? Not actively, but I wouldn't say no.

3. New house? Well new "housing" if you catch my drift. WOW I'm witty.

4. What will you do different in 07? GRADUATE. GO TO COLLEGE. Relax and really really just enjoy life I guess. Try more new things. I don't know, lots of stuff, it's hard to predict.

5. New Years resolution? Haven't officially made them yet.

6. What will you not be doing in 07? Uh... I don't know.

7. Any trips planned? SENIOR TRIP. SCOTLANDDDD.

8. Wedding plans? Uh, no.

9. What's on your calendar? Dance Production, Fashion Show, Urinetown, Senior Showcase, GRADUATION. Oh yeah APs and that shit too.

10. What can't you wait for? Urinetown. GRADUATION. SCOTLAND.

11. What would you like to see happen different? I don't know. Whatever happens.

12. What about yourself will you be changing? I don't know. Lots of stuff, but there's nothing I'm actively seeking to change, you know? Just... I know I'm changing.

13. What happened in 06 that you didn't think would ever happen? Hahaha in a good or bad way? I can go down both roads...

14. Will you tell the one you love how you feel? I tell the ones I love how I feel all the time.

15. Will you dress differently this year than you did in 06? Maybe, I'm sort of always up for changing my look.

16. Will you start or quit drinking? Neither.

18. Will you do charity work? Maybe.

19. Will you go to bars? Doubtful.

20. Will you be nice to people you dont know? Sure, why not.

21. Do you expect 07 to be a good year for you? GRADUATION. How many times must I say this.

22. How much did you change from this time last year til now? HOPEFULLY a lot. I feel like I've changed a lot.

23. Do you plan on having a child? Oh sweet Jesus no.

24. Will you still be friends with the same people you are friends with now?
I FUCKING BETTER BE. Seriously. I have the best friends in the world now, I'm not letting go, there's no way.

25. Major lifestyle changes? College.

26. Will you be moving? to NEW YORK.

27. What will you make sure doesn't happen in 07 that happened in 06? Lots of shit.

28. What are your New Years Eve plans? Well it already happened. Chillax at home with family. I'm sort of a homebody at heart, and I'm not even going ot say that I don't like it that wya.

29. Will you have someone to kiss at midnight? Not this year.

30. Wish for 2007? Be happy. Live life.

cloudmermaid @ 2007-01-02T05:17:00

2007-01-02T05:17:25Z

1. What did you do in 2006 that you'd never done before?: Got a driver's license. Directed a play. Understudied two roles at once and in said venture had to play two roles at once onstage during a rehearsal... Did a show that ran more than two weekends. And oh yeah, got into my first choice college!

2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?:
Let's see what they are, and I'll comment on the success rate.

1. Read more. Yeah... not really.
2. Practice the piano. I'm going to say yes; I just sit down at the piano and play and mess around a LOT more now.
3. Procrastinate less and waste less time in general. Sort of? I think so.
4. Eat healthier. Yes, until recently. Making this one again too.
5. Cut back on caffeine. Yes! Okay. I still have a lot more than other people, but I'm so much better now, you don't even know.
6. Pick back up the guitar. Flat-out failure.
7. Take more pictures. Yes!
8. Go to dance class. Well I was, and then I got busy. Summer was good for this and the first month of school was good for this. Second semester.
9. 100 crunches a night. No, but not an abject failure. I've been doing some, just not 100 100% of the time.

So... a moderate success rate. Resolutions for this year yet to come.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?: No.

4. Did anyone close to you die?: No.

5. What countries did you visit?: None, shockingly.

6. What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006?: A high school diploma. More free time, but that's never going to happen and realistically if I ever got it, I wouldn't want it anymore. I don't know, I can't think of that much.

7. What date from 2006 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?:
April 22 - closing of Guys and Dolls, found out we were going to Scotland.
May 21 - class of 06 graduation. Allow me to explain; this was not significant because of attachment to the class of 06 but rather because watching these people that, in many cases, we've gone to school with since grade school go off and graduate, made it real to me that we are going to do that. We are going to graduate and go to college and go to the real world.
Nov 4 - Laramie closing
Dec 14th - SDS opening and craziness but amazingness
Dec 15th - getting into NYU!
These are what popped into my head first.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?: Directing a play, getting into NYU.

9. What was your biggest failure?: I don't know, really. There obviously is stuff, though.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?: A cold or two? I don't know, the only thing that's standing out is getting really sick the week before SDS and having it be one of those times that you get sick enough to actually need to stay home but not being able to.

11. What was the best thing you bought? Mm, not sure. I didn't make any major purchases this year, at least that stand out. Clothes. Shoes. Gas.

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?: My friends and family, for being amazing and inspiring, making me remember everyday how incredible humanity is sometimes, for never giving up on me even when I wanted to give up on me, for never giving up on each other.

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?: Uh... I like Vyvy's/Molly's answer. In general though, quite a few people's did at some point but it's not worth dwelling on now.

14. Where did most of your money go?: Starbucks and my car, in the form of gas.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?: NYU, Student Directed, Laramie Project (towards the end), Annie, AMT, senior year, a bunch more stuff

16. What song(s) will always remind you of 2006?: "Smack That", "SexyBack", Downbeat songs, "There's No Business Like Show Business", "Take Back Your Mink" (hot box owns you), most of the soundtrack to Movin' Out, especially "Summer, Highland Falls"

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
I. happier or sadder?: Happier, I think.
II. thinner or fatter?: Haha, fatter.
III. richer or poorer?: Richer, but the flip side is I'm richer with more need to spend money on things (e.g. gas)

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?: Um, playing piano, skating, dance classes, relaxing (wishful thinking!)

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?:
Being lazy, wasting time, freaking out over things that weren't important

20. How did you spend Christmas?:
At home with my family chillaxing

21. How will you spend New Years?: Also at home with my family chillaxing. Watched Camp, read Anna Karenina, ate lobster, banged together pots and pans, watched Love Actually

22. Did you fall in love in 2006?: No.

23. How many one-night stands?: Clearly, more than I can remember.

24. What was your favourite TV program?: Carrying over from previous years: Friends, Grey's Anatomy!
Discoveries: Sex and the City
Re-discoveries: Boy Meets World!

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?: Uh, no.

26. What was the best book you read?: Sadly, most of these were school related, but even so:
The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
The House of the Spirits - Isabel Allende
The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
re-reading HP HBP
umm... I loved Memoirs of a Geisha too

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?: Uh... getting way into Billy Joel, The Fray, re-discovering Regina Spektor, Jack's Mannequin? There's probably/definitely more that I'm just forgetting about.

28. What did you want and get? To get into NYU. To direct. A driver's license! To spend more time with awesome people that I love dearly. About a million and a half other things that I'm forgetting.

29. What was your favorite CD of this year?: Probably the Movin' Out soundtrack which gets by far the most playing in my car

30. What was your favourite film of this year?: I... have no idea, actually. So I'll go with Dreamgirls since I saw it recently and am a little tiny bit obsessed.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?: Went to AMT and did AMT stuff, got to try on a costume in their costume workshop, went out to dinner with my family

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?: A little less 'FDJKSAL I'M GOING TO DIE' stress, haha. But really I don't know, this was overall a pretty satisfying year.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2006?: Whatever the hell I wanted. Slacker chic :0)

34. What kept you sane?: Friends. Family. Playing with dogs. Chocolate. Starbucks. Shows (even though this also contributed to lack of sanity). Music.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?: Uh. McDreamy! And Absolut Hunk/Mr. Big (who yes, I've ultimately grown to love). And I don't care if he turned out to be an asshole, I loved me some Aiden. [Sex and the City, so we're clear.]

36. What political issue stirred you the most?: Darfur. Immigration issues. General America fucking up things.

37. Who do you miss?: I miss 06 grads in that unspecific way where I don't miss them in a particular way but I miss having them around (e.g. Vijay in Downbeat, for example). I've recently been missing 05 people as well, for some reason. I miss TORONTO. I miss Lyd and Ruth and Emma. I miss Annie Get Your Gun/AMT people.

38. Who was the best new person that you met?: Mmm Shelby and AGYG/AMT folks (though I've done a sort of poor job keeping in touch with them, admittedly).

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2006: Life happens no matter how hard you try to control it - you're better off just saying "okay, what's next." Also that I am good enough, if I try my hardest and work for something, it will work out, however unexpectedly.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year: "For we are always what our situations hand us, it's either sadness or euphoria"

Happy new Year!

2007-01-01T09:14:40Z

Here's to 2007, guys.

Merry Christmas, bitches

2006-12-25T19:43:56Z

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire,
Jack Frost nipping at your nose.
Yuletide carols being sung by a choir,
And folks dressed up like eskimos.
Everybody knows a turkey, and some mistletoe
Help to make the season bright.
Tiny tots with their eyes all aglow will find it hard to sleep tonight.
They know that Santa's on his way,
He's loaded lots of toys and goodies on his sleigh.
And every mother's child is gonna spy
To see if reindeer really know how to fly.
And so, I'm offering this simple phrase,
For kids from one to ninety two.
Although it's been said, many times, many ways,
Merry Christmas to you

cloudmermaid @ 2006-12-18T03:27:00

2006-12-18T03:27:50Z

So... I just got to delete four application related sticky-notes from my computer desktop.

That was very, very gratifying :0)

cloudmermaid @ 2006-12-05T06:24:00

2006-12-05T06:24:17Z

Christmas music + hot chocolate makes homework oh so much better.

On an entirely unrelated note, I feel a little compelled to give something up until I hear from NYU... I realize entirely how counterproductive that is, but it's like... Lent for the heathens? Okay, we all know perfectly well that I'm not actually going to do this. But it gives me something else to think about, at least.

Yeah. I'm crazy.

In the category of, "I didn't want to read that..."

2006-11-27T02:04:10Z

"After middle age, most men and women remain capable of satisfying sexual activity. When people over 60 were surveyed by the National Council on Aging, 39 percent expressed satisfaction with the amount of sex they were having and 39 percent said they wished for sex more frequently."

Good for them. Really and truly. Enjoy life in all it's stages.

But seriously? These are not things I want to think about...