A Year in Review

Greetings, Internet Land! And Happy New Year's Eve! Tonight I will hopefully be having fun partying the New Year in with good friends and lots of strangers. In a New Years tradition of sorts (partly in preparation for the inevitable Resolutions) I am contemplating how 2008 has treated me.

-I started this blog at the beginning of the year. At the start, it was meant to be some sort of creative outlet, and has since turned into my ranting about the world at large. I think 2009 will bring further attempts to document the sometimes hilarious banalities of my life. And of course more arguing with my brain and credit cards. Twitter shall be its trusty sidekick.

-I was/am/will be bored at work. Gchat became a necessity.

-On the other hand, I made some great new friends.

-I watched lots of TV and movies and remembered the joys of my youth. I also read books of varying levels of quality, and still enjoy ranting about them. Vampire fiction should never be taken lightly.

-I got cats! They now run my life and I am completely beholden to satisfy their various whims. Surprisingly, I am just fine with this.

-I've joined a gym and had an on-again, off-again abusive relationship with a personal trainer. Joel has since left the gym (without telling us). I feel betrayed.

-I've cooked some: most impressive achievement was a souffle that didn't fall. Okay, it was a little undercooked in the center, but overall a fine achievement for a first try.

-I started playing my very first MMO. No, not WOW. I stopped playing for many months. Recently, I've started back up again.

-I got a new computer. There was much rejoicing.

-I started writing a book. Well, kind of. I got about 30 pages in and just stopped. The ideas are still flowing through my head, and every now and then I'll figure some plot point out when I'm waiting for the bus. It's there, just waiting for me on my flash drive. I can't hide forever.

-I drank lots of coffee. Currently, more addicted than ever.

-I went to NY for the very first time! There was much rejoicing.

-And lots of Bin 36.

-I discovered the excessively violent fun of Roller Derby.

-I ignored responsibilities, overdrew my bank account lots, mourned the loss of spontaneity, and refused to set my future up. But most importantly, I've had fun.

Now what?

Laura Wins

Okay, I think many of you are aware of the serious arm-twisting that my dear friend Laura has been giving me in the past few weeks. Ever since going with her and Eric to see Roller Derby in September, I've been interested in the sport. I mean, seriously, it's hardcore. All you really need to know is that it's a bunch of tough, heavily tattooed women on roller skates trying to kill each other. Awesome. They also have fantastically funny punny names.

Actually, let me amend this by saying that after I saw my first bout, the battle was all inside me. It seems like incredibly good fun, as well as a great release from, you know, regular life. Obviously it's lots of hard work and practice and stuff. It's not like I'm doing anything else with my free time. So, yeah, I've been going back and forth and back and forth. The arguments are mainly, "but you don't know how to skate!" and "but it looks awesome!"

I finally told myself, I said "Self, if not knowing how to skate is the only thing that's bothering you, why don't you just learn?"

So, yeah, I bought some damn skates. They're cheap and probably no good, but I figure they'd be perfect for learning how to do basic stuff. This is just enough time for me to try out come next year's tryouts in June. I like to have good, um, cushions of time to learn new skills. I think 8 months is a good time period to learn how to skate. I've even thought up a few decent names. I figure that if I'm daydreaming about this, it's probably a good thing to actually try.

See! Even now I'm talking myself into it, even though I've already invested at least minimal time and effort into this. This could end up being my new thing. Here, check out the website.

Get excited, people.