2009, in 13 answers
What was your biggest achievement of the year?
* getting over (or rather, fighting through) my tenderfoot-ed-ness around issues of relationships, friendly and not. i was so concerned about hurting others' feelings that i obliterated my own. at last, i worked up the courage to call spades "spades", and found myself looking at someone i held in certain golden light to be a little tarnished, someone who never was going to go further prove me right, and someone who was always in need of a dose of maturity surprise me with wisdom.

What was your biggest failure?
* learning to untrust. once you have that teeny tiny bit of niggling doubt, it never, ever goes away.

What's something you learned about yourself?
* people look to me for a lot of things. they think i'm capable. i actually match their expectations sometimes!

What's one thing you thought you'd never do but did in 2009?
* be questioned for murder!!

Resolutions, kept and new?
oh 2009, what did i get myself in to?
* vagina monologues? check!
breast cancer 3-day? check!
locks of love? ...? uncheck. turns out my hair wasn't quite long enough (not sure how that happened), so i made the decision to let my resolution go unfulfilled as i postpone the great shearing of locks from my head.
as for the commitment to relationships and honesty, for better or worse, CHECK!

What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?
* a bigger paycheck. seriously, i lost 18%(!!) of my salary over a few short months.

Whose behavior merited celebration?
* my silvi is the biggest trooper ever. her new husband knocked her up and took off to afghanistan, leaving her sick to the tummy and with sole possession of the remote control. i heart my hunnybunches.

Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
* the voters of california get 2 GINORMOUS thumbs down from me. not only did they vote to ban gay marriage the previous november, but they also voted down the funds that could have stopped the bleeding of the education system, resulting in staff layoffs and salary cut furloughs.

What do you wish you’d done more of?
* advocated for education, and hang with the new mrs. yue.

What do you wish you’d done less of?
* stressed out about money and jobs (though inextricably linked, i stressed out about each independently).

What kept you sane?
* the A-Z pub crawl was an excellent diversion, love notes from the cheesey mr. powers, and fro-yo all top the list!

What drove you insane?
* instability at work... sadly, this is the exact same answer i gave last year! i had no less than 3 different job titles this year. thankfully, i think i may have hit a stickier spot now... but one really knows 'round here.

Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:

When You Feel That Heat
And We're Gonna Ride The Boogie
Share That Beat Of Love

I Wanna Rock With You (All Night)
Dance You Into Day (Sunlight)
I Wanna Rock With You (All Night)
We're Gonna Rock The Night Away

And When The Groove Is Dead And Gone (Yeah)
You Know That Love Survives
So We Can Rock Forever, On
(RIP, MJ!!)

current mood: have a happy, healthy 2010!

where exactly is santa clause lane?
it just doesn't feel like christmas. the good news about that is that at least i'm not as BAH HUMBUG as i usually feel around this time of year!
merry christmas to you and yours, and blessings throughout the year!
current mood: and to all a good night!

time... off?
my list of things to do while "on vacation" (read: forced to be not at work due to state budget cuts and furloughs, whee!) is ebbing and flowing with the dawn of each day. for the most part, i've been trying to figure out what to do with my free time, especially once the mister goes home to arizona. but i find myself going in to christmas eve with not a single thing on the list done, including putting the finishing touches on his present. short on the long and exciting list:
* cleaning the fish tank
* grocery shopping (i haven't eaten at my place for weeks, but r's place has had some tasty food coming from the kitchen lately).
* airing out a tent (which should have been done a month ago, eww)
* dessert for christmas
* publishing a book
* and now, planning and packing for a cruise! merry christmas to me :)
current mood: so much for "free time"!

done and doner.
work is done. A-Z pub crawl is done. turkey is (well) done. i'm ready for a nap, because i AM DONE! i'll be taking at least one of the next 16 days i have off of work for some resting time!
current mood: zzzz

"Finish, good lady; the bright day is done...
...And we are for the dark" -- William Shakespeare

while nowhere near completion, our little web project is being wrapped up soon due to the looming 2-week holiday we're facing. i refuse to work over the holiday, but i am also nervously anticipating the pile of stuff that will need to be addressed that first monday back in the office. but, that's to worry about as the day gets closer; for now, i'm just focusing on finishing... with a little help from my 'friends':

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in, forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day, you shall begin it well and serenely..." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Welcome every morning with a smile. Look on the new day as another special gift from your Creator, another golden opportunity to complete what you were unable to finish yesterday. Be a self-starter. Let your first hour set the theme of success and positive action that is certain to echo through your entire day. Today will never happen again. Don't waste it with a false start or no start at all. You were not born to fail." -- Og Mandino

"We shall neither fail nor falter; we shall not weaken or tire...give us the tools and we will finish the job." -- Winston Churchill

"To finish the moment, to find the journey's end in every step of the road, to live the greatest number of good hours, is wisdom." -- RWE again

"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us finish the work we are in” -- Abraham Lincoln

current mood: inspired to finish strong

gosh
flowers on wednesday and a handsome lunch date bearing homemade lasagna. i AM a lucky girl!
current mood: lucky

a good day
even though i didn't sleep at all the night before (body aching and locking up because apparently it thinks it's 103 years old), yesterday was a good day. it turns out the delivery of flowers and chocolates for no reason other than love can brighten even the grumpiest of beasts like me.
current mood: loved

a december like this
let me join the ranks of thousands of other casual bloggers in saying "wow, it's december already?!" where does time go? seems just yesterday, i was celebrating my birthday... in july. and then i realize there is so much i haven't documented (ehem, the 3-day) that i start to feel overwhelmed by the whooshing of time past my typing fingers. to add to the shock of the season, yesterday was a particularly blustery day in the neighborhood, dumping some much-needed rain on our toes and knocking out trees and power lines throughout the city. this morning's december-appropriate temperature in the 50s even made me hesitate for a moment when i stepped out of the house and felt the chill on my legs. the chill in the air always triggers something in my heart, like one of those "i know this" feelings stirring somewhere between nostalgia and uneasiness. any time the temperature drops under 70 degrees, i'm reminded of the crash-course lessons in bundling and weather i received while in japan. at least this time 'round, i'm a little better prepared (and look better doing it, i might add).
happy december all, may your days be stress free and full of fun until 2010 resets us all.
current mood: brrrr!