The Adventures of A Lady in A City

A Year in Review

1. What did you do in 2011 that you'd never done before? Break down and ask someone to help me get my financial shit together. IT WAS A GOOD IDEA.

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year? Some. I got a job, I did not start taking classes again. I've maintained excellent friendships but haven't pursued spending time with individual friends as much as I would like to.
This year I resolved to stop worrying and love the internet again, give the school and friend stuff another go.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Nope!

4. Did anyone close to you die? Nope.

5. What countries did you visit? CANADA! I did visit Canada which I had never done before. Toronto was nice, I would like to go back. ...That was last year, right?

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011? A boyfriend for most of the year. :3

7. What date(s) from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? Memorial Day, as The Day We Did Not Go On A Date But Which Has A Name And Is Thus Easier To Remember, and November 24th, the day we started dating officially.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Being officially hired for this job, moving into a new apartment, having $1K in savings!

9. What was your biggest failure? Not being responsible and pro-active about my last apartment. Moving was good, but Blar and I sort of gave up on it months before we moved out, and it was a crappy living environment.

10. Did you suffer any illness or injury? Nothing unusual.

11. What was the best thing you bought? An anniversary present for my friends. :)

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? My friend Jess, for basically being incredibly awesome and engineering the most positive change in my life for the year. ...I mean, boyfriend was also awesome but I'm not sure I would have been in the headspace to ask him out if it hadn't been for her.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled? There was some family drama that wasn't awesome, but nobody's in jail or disowned or anything.

14. Where did most of your money go? Food and booze, I'm sure. I spent a big chunk going to New Orleans, too.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? EVERYTHING.

16. What song will always remind you of 2011? I don't... uhhh... Rolling in the Deep, I guess?

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. Happier or sadder? Happier, most definitely!
ii. Thinner or fatter? Thinner, a little, which is a pleasant surprise.
iii. Richer or poorer? Richer.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?

19. What do you wish you'd done less of? Worrying about internet nonsense.

20. How will you be spending Christmas? Probably in Maryland, as always?

22. Did you fall in love in 2011: Yes. :3

23. How many one-night stands? Hm. There was a kissy sort of incident but nothing came of it. I don't do one night stands, really.

24. What was your favorite TV program? Game of Thrones, Project Runway (shut up), BBC's Sherlock

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? I don't really hate anyone period.

26. What was the best book you read? Voice by Carla Speed-McNeil, The City and the City by Mieville,

27. What was your greatest musical discovery? Andrew Bird

28. What did you want and get? A new computer!

29. What did you want and not get? A million dollars.

30. What was your favorite film of this year? Harry Potter and the OH MY GOD IS IT REALLY OVER?!

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? Went out for dinner with friends, and I am now 30.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? ASKING BOY OUT SOONER.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011 ...Relaxed hipster-victorian?

34. What kept you sane? My BFF and other friends.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Benedict Cumberbach

36. What political issue stirred you the most? Occupy Wall Street

37. Who did you miss?

38. Who was the best new person you met? My current boss, Mrs. N. She's an artist, very intelligent, an excellent manager, and probably the best thing to happen to the Department in a long time.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011: If you've got a strong community, do not be shy about asking it for help!

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year: Have the entire song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMHdnpNisew

JUST WRITE IT, FOOL! Okay, here we go:

Back from a weekend in an odd Pennsylvanian mix of golf course, beach and forest to celebrate the birthdays of various Scotts. I DROVE THE WHOLE WAY, IT WAS AWESOME. I rented a zippy little Mazda 3 Hatch and was well pleased with it - those of you who know anything about cars may or may not mock me for it, but the extent of my expertise when it comes to cars is: 1) When I hit the gas, does it go? 2) When I hit the brake, does it stop? 3) When I turn the wheel, does it make a small circle or a big one? and 4) How much gas does it eat? The 3 Hatch scored well on all points, and was big enough for five people and our luggage to survive a couple of hours. The handling on that car was really peppy, enough so that I was not a nervous wreck driving in NYC. Not even Yankees traffic could defeat me, and we went right by the stadium at 5pm! Makes me miss having a car...

I also miss not coughing all the time, and my own bed. At least one of this is immediately achievable, but as long as I've gotten up the momentum to post in this thing, I might as well make it worthwhile.

A list of points of interest:

1) Still working at CCNY. It's nice. I have a fish.
2) Moving out of Inwood. No, I do not know when or where or with who. There are a lot of not-quite-great options on the table, but I'll figure something out.
3) I am bringing so many people with me to the 4th of July BBQ, it's going to be amazing.
4) I AM GOING TO NEW ORLEANS, GDI. Damn the cost, I am GOING.
5) Ha ha ha ha what is money?
6) My friends are awesome, all the many groups of them.

Nerd talk begins here, non-nerds may go enjoy their evenings.

There's a lot I could say about various tabletop and LARP games that are going on presently, but this post is getting long enough. So instead of talking about things I am doing, I will talk about something I am not doing.

I'm not rp-ing anywhere online anymore. It's easy when you're part of a big vibrant group that's always coming up with new nonsense in whatever games its members stick their fingers into, but I fell out of that group for one reason or another. That stings, I'm not going to lie, but there are enough big vibrant things going on in rl that I don't actually miss it as a hobby. There are one or two people that I do miss fiercely however, and characters that are still fluttering about in my head like so many moths, but I still associate the activity with that lost group. One day I may regain the interest and the interpersonal support, but it's not today. It was awesome while it lasted, and I am so happy to have made the friends that I did. Y'all are the best, and I enjoy reading up on what's going on in your lives, real or imaginary. ♥

So i'm updating this from my phone because my computer is suddenly unable to load...just about anything useful. Chrome is dead, Gmail is unreachable in any browser, as is any site I have to log into, and even my chat client is a no-go. I suspect it may be AVG, and am uninstalling it and its pervasive linkscan stuff to see if that helps.

Anyone got a good, free antivirus to recommend?

ETA: Well, that wasn't it. I can still access everything normally on my phone... Is this some kind of virus? What the hell, even?

My perfectly-legitimate Photoshop CS4 just told me that its license is expired.

My precious.

>:|

And I did not see a single moose. Unless by "moose" you mean my friends, in which case I saw four, and slept in one of their houses. Those friends being namely: lowellboyslash, takhys, telekine and NEW FRAND theoriginalspy.

My impression of Toronto is that it is a pretty okay place! We went to the Museum, which was something between the Met with its sculptures and mummies, and the Natural History Museum, with its dinosaurs and stuffed things behind glass. (Tiny baby dinosaur fossils! And who doesn't like a good Giant Sloth?) There was also a GIGANTIC PUBLISHING FAIRE thing, at which all of Canada's publishers, large and small, and several major stores set up under tents and sell books on the cheap. I bought Hellboy instead of maple syrup or whatever other kitchy thing, and I am not ashamed. Also, I have seen the Polkaroo live, and all I understand is how little I understand.

I also glimpsed Lake Ontario, and yes it was a rather Great Lake (haw haw), what with the sky being huge and gorgeous and some boats being out on it. Having spent most of my formative years in Maryland, I am a sucker for large bodies of water with sailboats. If a decent crabcake had occurred at any point in the trip, I might not have come back at all. DO YOU KNOW ABOUT OLD BAY, CANADA? IF SO, LET'S TALK.

Also. If, in the future, I ever say to you "yes, I am going on a trip just for the weekend. I'm coming back Sunday night / Monday morning and am going straight to work! It'll be fine!" please know that I am lying, and that I will actually just be going straight to bed. Fortunately, it was a very good Monday for calling out sick, so I was telling the truth about the fine part.

Okay, editing away tmi info.

Today sucks, basically. No one is being mean to me, no one is at fault here, it's just a lot of things not going right all at once money-, job-, and health-wise.

Dude, guys, wtf is this llama thing on DA?

Also there has been too much rl stuff going on for me to brain Taxon. I will try to work on this.

AND er, sorry LJ rp frands, I have sortof gone to ground lately. I AM WORKING ON TAGGING YOU BACK just...ping me if I have neglected you too long. >_>