Divided into highs and lows.

The Lows:

January
I am sick just after New Year’s and stay sick, unable to eat, for a week. I am informed that my job is about to disappear. Cousin is unemployed, and we revel in our misery.

February
I’m cut back to half time at work. So I fly home but get very, very sick again. The flu. When not applying for jobs, spend most of my time watching The Price is Right.

March
Fully unemployed. And due to last months’ flu, I crack a rib. Again. It makes going to class nigh impossible for most of the month. Cousin and I fight bitterly about money.

April, May, June
A lot of nothing. I alternate between depression and feeling good about things. When I get my job, it’s easier, but I’m still financially in the hole and digging myself deeper.

July
Hallmark is sucking the life out of me to the point where I have no time to pack before moving.

August
We try to get the security deposit back from our ridiculous land lady, but she’s incompetent at doing anything other than smoking weed, so we have to spend a good day at the house cleaning, patching walls, and pretending like we had a good time here.

September
Sick again.

October
Hallmark investigates me for fraud. It is the most ridiculous charge in the universe and I have the full support of the entire staff on my side.

November
A relationship ends. I didn’t want it to, but there were no other alternatives. I spend the last part of the month moping. Also, my car breaks catastrophically, and costs me $1000.

December
I am out of money. My car has a flat when I return from spending time with family. I’m also sick again, and have a mysterious ringing noise in my ears.

The Highs:

January
Kooza, under the Grand Chapiteau. Clowns, the wheel of death, jugglers, and contortionists bending and flipping in time to the music.  Flying home to DC to wish a friend goodbye as he starts a new life in a different city.

February
Flying, photographs. Not much this month.

March
A-photo-a-day.  Not much this month.

April
I get another job.  I spend one glorious weekend walking to festivals close by, reveling in the warm weather and spending time with friends. We learn how to play Settlers and I realize that these people are some of my best friends in the world. I am so, so thankful to have met them.

May
Lots of get-togethers this month. crawfish boil, another friend’s Cinco de Mayo house party. Good friends, good company.

June
A friend’s bachelorette party in the city. We drink underneath the warm, early summer sky as the sky scrapers downtown tower over us. The Renaissance Festival here in Georgia, and a trip to King’s Dominion with the guys up north.

July
My birthday. I move to another apartment, some friends throw me a little party, and we dance until late at night. The days come and go quickly. I sit out by the pool while I can and bask, content to finally be on my own.

August
Cousin takes me and my father and stepmom up on his plane. We do loops around the city and Stone Mountain and cruise over his neighborhood, looking for his house.

September
I buy a TV. This means I can now watch DVDs and such on a nice, HD television in my living room. Dragon*Con.

October
The Atlanta Zombie Walk. Shooting a gun for the first time. The Bahamas. It is the first time I’ve traveled somewhere unbidden and because I want to, and hopefully not the last. We go diving in blue, crystalline waters, and see tropical fish and the reef and crustaceans.

November
A quiet Thanksgiving. I start spending more time at home. I go to class every other day and do National Novel Writing Month. A new camera, baking with friends while watching movies, and a new computer.

December
The holidays. I finally have a review and get a raise at work. Cavalia. Lots of free movies, and then I go home to spend Christmas with my family and close friends. We see Avatar and have the briefest of visits. We go polka dancing and then it’s back home to Georgia to spend NYE differently than I’ve ever spent it.

In short, there was a lot of good, but a lot of bad.  It was a very tumultuous year for me, but I suppose it taught me that even the best laid plans can and will change, and they will do so when you least expect them to.

Resolutions:

• Pay off car (April 2010)
• Maintain and continue to develop the newer friendships in my life, and pay closer attention to the people that seem to want to be around me
• Finish a game that isn’t Fallout 3
• Finish the top 10 most disturbing books of all time list
• Read at least 12 more books off the BBC’s list of the top 100 novels that everyone should read
• Start saving into my savings account again
• Start a retirement account… after my car is paid off
• Stop dicking around and figure out what I would like to devote myself to, long-term
• Continue going to Julie’s class twice a week when possible, Shannon’s class, if not on Thursdays, then Sundays, and then keep up with Kickboxing on Saturdays. Also, maintain a weight of under 120 lbs.
• Learn to use my new camera like a boss

And… I suppose my “reach” goals…
• Visit one state and one country I’ve never been to
• Take a week-long vacation somewhere awesome (preferrably out of the country)

I could make more, I’m sure, but I think this gives me something to think about for the next little while.

Categories : lists, memories