2005 In Review

It's my annual New Year's Eve day tradition:

1). What did you do in 2005 that you'd never done before? Lived completely on my own without my family or a roommate, lived in central Texas, took graduate school classes and wrote graduate-level research papers, owned a dog...those are the major ones I suppose.

2) Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Last year's resolutions:
#1 Graduate from college--Yeah I did!!!!
#2 Get into a graduate school and ideally get an assistantship to help pay for it--Done and done!
#3 Stop rationalizing that having sex counts as working out and actually work out outside of the bedroom at least four times a week. Think how great your body could be if you were having sex AND working out! Besides, it’s clearly not a good idea to depend on regular sex for the health benefits. --Other than the months of January and February when I was hurt and the month of June where I was really busy with the Van Cliburn competition at work (and technically running around a lot anyway) I worked out twenty or more days a month. So all in all I did pretty damn good on keeping my new years' resolutions this year.
Resolutions for 2006:
#1 Keep up my workout routine and continue working out at least twenty days a month, hopefully every single month this year.
#2 Start cooking at home more often. It was the Christmas of cookbooks-I got two of them for some reason-so I think that's a sign that I need to translate my Food Network addiction into some actual cooking. I was originally going to resolve to make a home cooked meal once a week, but I think I'll start out with at least twice a month and work my way up from there. And only meals that actually require a recipe count towards this goal.
#3 Get a paper published and/or accepted for presentation at a conference.

3) Did anyone close to you give birth? Not really. A couple of my cousins popped out babies but that doesn't really count since I am not really close to either of them.

4) Did anyone close to you die?
Me: Hey, did we know anyone that died this year? Not really, huh?
Chelsea: Great-Grandma.
Me: Oh yeah. Well, there's that.
So that answers that question. My great-grandmother died a few days before Christmas. I'd just visited her over the summer but prior to that hadn't seen her in three years and even though I liked her just fine I can't say we were close.

5) What countries did you visit? Sadly, none. I didn't even manage to make it to Mexico this year.

6) What would you like to have in 2006 that you lacked in 2005? More money!! I don't know. Honestly, I have pretty much everything I want right now. I guess if I have to pick something I'll say I'd like to make a really close grad school friend, since at this point I have a lot of friends that I hang out with in class and outside of class sometimes but not really anyone that I call to gossip with everyday and I kinda miss that.

7) What date from 2005 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? I've actually been thinking about this the past few days and I think that date would be May 13th. I remember the actual date because it was the day before I graduated from TCU. It was just an awesome day. The day of graduation itself was exhausting and, to be honest, kind of boring, but the day before graduation was PERFECT. I was already in a great mood from all the partying we'd been doing all week long, and that was the day of my graduation party at Michael's. My whole family was there, and pretty much everyone I'd met and loved during my college years came out to celebrate, and I was just really, really happy. Not to mention that's the day I got my Cohen!!

8) What was your biggest achievement of the year? Getting into graduate school and getting all the scholarships and the assistantship to pay for it, definitely. Well, and actually graduating from college of course but it has sort of been a given my whole life that I was gonna graduate from college eventually so that didn't feel like such a huge accomplishment, even though I know that technically it is. Graduating summa cum laude was pretty big, I suppose.

9) What was your biggest failure? Honestly, while I passed the course and got certified and actually got good reviews from my supervising teacher and my professors, I don't think I did so great at student teaching. I definitely phoned in that entire semester and completely coasted through that job. So I didn't fail, but in retrospect I know I could have done it all a lot better if I hadn't been so busy drinking and fooling around and sleeping only four hours a night for most of the semester. Haha.

10) Did you suffer illness or injury? Way back in January I fell down some stairs in a parking garage at a theatre conference and sprained my ankle pretty badly and had to be on crutches for a while. And then I proceeded to limp around until like, March. That SUCKED. And then in August my wisdom teeth started hurting like hell (right as I was in the middle of my big move, thanks a lot teeth!) and I had to have all four of them pulled. Those were the worst things.

11) What was the best thing you bought? I didn't buy anything awesome, but the best thing I got this year was definitely Cohen. When my sister dropped him into my lap at lunch the day before graduation and told me he was mine, it was seriously one of the happiest moments of my life. I can't remember ever being so excited about anything. I love that basset hound way too much. I tell him every night that he can't leave me until I have more basset hounds and preferably a human family of my own. Because pathetic as it is, if something were to happen to him right now I'd be a wreck. I always knew I wanted a dog, but I never knew it would be as much fun as it is.

12) Whose behavior merited celebration? Oh hell, I don't know. Let's say everyone who graduated with me. That's a good answer. Oh, oh, and Kymberli for finally taking a serious step towards getting her weight under control and getting healthy. I'm so proud of her for starting a program and I hope she sticks with it. Oh, and I almost forgot, I was really proud of my dad when he got inducted into the Texas Restaurant Hall of Honor this year. That was cool.

13) Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Every year I do this, and every year I HATE this question. I hate it even more than the merited celebration question and I think that one is pretty stupid too. Hmmmm...maybe Jorge. For a while I thought he had potential to actually do something with his life if he could just get his act together, but lately he just seems to be on a huge downward spiral. It's gotten to the point where I don't even want to talk to him much anymore because I just know he's going to be drunk and ridiculous, which is sad because six months ago I considered him one of my best friends.

14) Where did most of your money go? Rent, same as always. I have to spend about half of my monthly paycheck on rent for my one-bedroom apartment (obviously, I don't get paid much). Other than that, probably eating out. I eat way too much fast food. I'm cutting back in 2006. That's why I need to learn to cook.

15) What did you get really, really, really excited about? Graduating from college. The week prior to graduation was the single most exciting week of the entire year. Moving to my new hometown was also exciting, but it was a more bittersweet excitement because I had to leave behind so many people I love in Fort Worth.

16) What song will always remind you of 2005? Hmmm...Kanye West's "Gold Digger".

17) Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? I think I'm happier. At this exact moment, on New Year's Eve, I am happier than I was on New Year's Eve last year. I think 2006 has a lot of potential.
ii. thinner or fatter? Thinner by a few pounds. Although I was even thinner before I came home for Christmas. I've been eating non-stop for two weeks now. I still think I'm thinner than I was last year, though.
iii. richer or poorer? I'm technically poorer (poorer? Is that really a word? It's awful) but because I'm more or less supporting myself now I feel richer. I can't wait to get my scholarship money next month, though, I NEED it.

18) What do you wish you'd done more of? I wish I'd accepted more invitations. I'm so damn antisocial. My classmates invite me out fairly often and I say no a lot, and I don't even know why. I'm too lazy, I'd seriously rather just chill on my couch with the dog. But I need to stop doing that because I don't have enough good stories anymore. I think in 2006 I need to go out more often.

19) What do you wish you'd done less of? I need to spend less time on the internet. Seriously. The amount of time I wasted browsing the internet when I was supposed to be doing research is ridiculous.

20) How did you spend Christmas? Man, Christmas came and went really fast this year. I would think it hadn't even happened yet except that my bottom dresser drawer is full of opened gifts and, hey, it's New Year's Eve. Christmas Eve was fondue and presents at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Christmas Day was stockings, presents, and cinnamon rolls here in the morning, then a prime rib Christmas dinner in the evening. And then on Christmas night Mike and I went to Maverick's and I got to hang out with his friend Haley for the first time and then he and I spent the rest of the night snuggling and other not-so-innocent things in the "murder room". It was a good Christmas, it just wasn't very eventful and it really did come and go faster than any other Christmas in my life so far.

21) Did you fall in love in 2005? I don't know yet. I'm scared to think too hard about that question right now.

22) How many one-night stands? None. I was really good this year. Or really boring, depending on how you look at things.

23) What was your favorite TV program? Curb Your Enthusiasm, America's Next Top Model, and every single thing on the Food Network other than Emeril Live.

24) Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? Nope. There is that creepy guy that lives in my apartment complex, but I certainly don't hate him I'm just a little scared of him. Luckily, he hasn't called me on break so perhaps he has actually given up. Plus I'm going to try to ensure that he'll run into me and Mike hanging out in the apartment complex hot tub one night while Mike's in town and he'll figure that I'm taken and leave me alone from now on.

25) What was the best book you read? I read so many books it's hard to keep track....I don't know if I'd say it's the best thing I read all year, but the thing that made the biggest impression on me (and it's actually a play) was Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

26) What was your greatest musical discovery? Um, I discovered that I really, really like The Rolling Stones. I don't think that counts, though, since obviously I knew they existed long before 2005.

27) What did you want and get? Mainly I just wanted to get into graduate school and have a plan for something to do after college graduation, and thankfully I got that.

28) What did you want and not get? I think last year I mentioned that I'd like a committed relationship, a guy to call my boyfriend. And I still don't have that. But I'm also STILL not positive that I want that right now, so it's all good.

29) What was your favorite film of this year? Sadly, there was not a single movie that made a big impression on me this year. I was just thinking the other day that 2005 was a pretty lackluster year as far as movies go. Here's hoping 2006 will be more exciting.

30) What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 23. It was a pretty low key birthday. My grandparents were in town for it and threw me a birthday party at McCormick and Schmick's in Austin. My siblings were there, and my aunt, uncle, and cousins. It was really good. Then the next day my sister surprised me by cooking me the birthday dinner Mom always used to make while I was growing up. It was a good birthday but very, very tame compared to my past few birthdays.

31) What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? I hate this question, too. I don't know. I was pretty satisfied as it was. I know that's a cop-out answer, but seriously, I don't know.

32) How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2005? In early 2005 I was teaching so I had to dress up pretty much every day and I wore dress pants and skirts and a lot of sweaters and dress shirts. Since I moved I've been pretty lazy and I wear jeans basically non-stop, except when I go to class in my workout clothes, which I do far too often. I've kind of gone from one extreme to the other. I still love dressing up to go out, I just don't do it much these days.

33) What kept you sane? Writing in my private journal, and being able to bitch about stuff to Mike, Kymberli, and Jenny.

34) Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? I've never been one to lust over celebrities, and the older I get the less I care. Although my sister and I do like talking about how hot Nigel from America's Next Top Model is.

35) What political issue stirred you the most? I've been depressingly apathetic this year. I hate to be one of those young Americans who doesn't care but, well, for the most part I just can't get interested in politics. I vote, I keep a bit of a pulse on things I really care about like abortion rights, but beyond that I don't pay much attention. I guess you could consider Hurricane Katrina a political issue, and if that's the case that's about the only one I really cared much about. It was the first time I've ever donated money to disaster relief funds. (Confession I probably shouldn't make but will anyway: I donated more money to animal relief than I did to the Red Cross. But hey, at least I donated, right?)

36) Whom did you miss? I miss all of my Fort Worth friends, especially Kymberli. I hate not being able to go out for drinks with her or just lie on the floor watching trash TV with her whenever we feel like it. I also miss Mike, but I'm so used that feeling now I can't really remember when I didn't miss him.

37) Who was the best new person you met? I'd have to say my friend Mandi. Of all my grad school friends she is the one that I have most clicked with. She's in a really serious relationship so we don't go out much, but when we do we always have a lot to talk about and we have fun together. Oh, and I've had fun getting to know Matthew, although I don't think he counts since technically he was already an acquaintance prior to this year.

38) Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2005. If you actually sleep and work out regularly, you really will feel better! It's not just a load of crap, that get-8-hours-of-sleep stuff. I don't actually know if I learned anything valuable. Probably not!

39) Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
Gonna find my baby
Gonna hold her tight
Gonna have some afternoon delight.
Yeah, I don't know. Mike just called and told me he's on his way to pick me up for a New Year's Eve party so I don't have time to actually think about this one. If I come up with anything profound tonight I'll post it tomorrow.

Feliz Ano Nuevo!
2006. Damn...