Friday, December 29, 2006

The 2006 End of the Year Meme

Did you keep your New Years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

As with most years, I didn't have anything specific that I planned to do other than find a new job. I'd say I was more than successful at that!

Did anyone close to you give birth?


Yes, I had at least four friends who had babies this year.

Did anyone close to you die?

Thank God... no.

What countries did you visit?

I'm very disappointed in myself since I didn't even make it to Canada this year.

What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006?

Painted walls in our house. It's something we've needed to do since we moved in!

What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Overcoming my fear of going on the radio live for the first time since 2001. I know, weird eh?

What was your biggest failure?

Being way to paranoid about everything and anything

What was the best thing you bought?

Our new-to-us car (2003 Toyota Corolla)

Whose behavior merited celebration?

Matt. For putting up with me.

Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?


George W. Bush. Until he is out of office I think his name will remain on this list.

Where did most of your money go?

Fixing our garage so that the back corner didn't collapse.

What did you get really excited about?

Going to Indiana to see our friends.

What song will always remind you of 2006?

Justin Timberlake "Sexyback"

Compared to this time last year, are you:
Happier or sadder?


I'm trying to remember this time of year last year. I think I'm happier since I had to deal with the first Christmas/New Year's without my grandma last year.

Thinner or fatter?

I'm probably the same, but I did lose weight over the holidays!!

Richer or poorer?

A little richer salary wise

What do you wish you'd done more of?

Paid off more of my debt and read more

What do you wish you'd done less of?

Wasting energy getting paranoid about meaningless stuff

How will you be spending Christmas?

I spent it with all kinds of family, new and old.

Did you fall in love in 2006?

In a way... I made some new friends who I now love very much.

How many one-night stands?

None!

What was your favorite TV program?

I hardly watched tv this past year, but I did see WIVB's newscast almost every day

Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?

There's a couple people I developed some disliking toward even though I wouldn't say I hate them.

What was the best book you read?

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

What was your greatest musical discovery?

The Format. I knew of them back in 2003, but wasn't so impressed with their first album. Their new album completely blew me away.

What did you want and get?

The 10th Anniversary editions of Clerks and Mallrats (THANKS SEAN!!!!)

What did you want and not get?

The dvd for the movie Amelie, but since that's easily remedied I'll say that I wish we had impeached Bush.

What were your favorite films of this year?

Clerks II, An Inconvenient Truth, The Holiday.... I'm sure I saw more but I honestly can't remember what they are.

What did you do on your birthday?

I played in a concert with the Jamestown Community Orchestra, and then had dinner with my parents and in-laws at our house. The night before, we had 2o-some people over for a big party.

How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2006?

It got a little sassier after August

What kept you sane?

My husband.

Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Jude Law despite his philandering ways

What political issue stirred you the most?

The total ineptness of George W. Bush. I'll always take issue with his sorry arse.

Who did you miss?

My grandma and my friends who live far away.

Who was the best new person you met?

Lynn. She's like a sister to me and generally has a clear head about stuff.

Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2006:

It's up to you to succeed. No one is going to do it for you, so you better get working at whatever you want to have happen.

Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:

"you, you think it's cool to be crazy
i say 'you want risks? take risks.'
there's no point in taking chances

and me, i wouldn't call it a sophomore slump
no i'd say i’m one step closer to bein' just where i want to be...

...it's no sense in complaining
if it doesn't change our minds
well take me by the hand let's compromise"

The Format - The Compromise

Thursday, December 28, 2006

Books Books Books

Because we had Christmas Day and the day after Christmas off, I'm all messed up in terms of what day it is. Case in point: I took out a bunch of books out of the library last week. I casually looked at the pile today and thought, "Maybe I'll read the Ned Vizzini book first and then The Hunt for Sonya Dufrette." It then occurred to me that I should look at the due back date. Not one, but three books are due tomorrow that I really wanted to read: the aforementioned books and Ten Second Staircase.

I started It's Kind of a Funny Story on lunch with hopes to sneak a few pages while at work. I intend to finish that book tonight and start in on The Hunt.. tonight as well, finishing that by tomorrow afternoon when I have a half-day off and can read the Christopher Fowler book before the library closes.

Me and my literary passions must have a sit down and compromise on some realistic reading practices soon.

Addendum #1: Finished It's Kind of a Funny Story around 4:30pm.
Addendum #2: Got to page 220 of The Hunt For Sonya Dufrette at 9:10pm and realized that the library's copy is missing the 26 pages of the book. Curses!!!

Friday, December 22, 2006

It's The Friday Before A Holiday.. Here Come the Quizzes!

The Movie Of Your Life Is An Indie Flick

You do things your own way - and it's made for colorful times.
Your life hasn't turned out how anyone expected, thank goodness!

Your best movie matches: Clerks, Garden State, Napoleon Dynamite


Your Travel Profile:

You Are Very Well Traveled in Canada (80%)
You Are Very Well Traveled in the Midwestern United States (75%)
You Are Well Traveled in the Northeastern United States (57%)
You Are Somewhat Well Traveled in the Southern United States (31%)
You Are Somewhat Well Traveled in the Western United States (21%)
You Are Mostly Untraveled in the United Kingdom (13%)
You Are Mostly Untraveled in Latin America (7%)
You Are Untraveled in Africa (0%)
You Are Untraveled in Asia (0%)
You Are Untraveled in Australia (0%)
You Are Untraveled in Eastern Europe (0%)
You Are Untraveled in New Zealand (0%)
You Are Untraveled in Scandinavia (0%)
You Are Untraveled in Southern Europe (0%)
You Are Untraveled in Western Europe (0%)
You Are Untraveled in the Middle East (0%)


You Should Drive a Jaguar XK 4.2

You don't care how you get there as long as you get there with class.
And having a little power doesn't hurt either!

Monday, December 18, 2006

Christmas Cookie Decorating '06















Matt and I headed up to Rochester this past weekend for the annual Christmas Cookie Decoration night.

My mom made more cut-out cookies this year than last, and it seemed to take forever to get them done. Still, when we assessed the trays at the end of the night, we couldn't believe there weren't more.

For all the shots of the cookies, visit my Kodak Gallery (registration required).

Friday, December 15, 2006

I'm All For Freedom of Information...

A friend of mine who used to work for Monroe County, NY sent me an interesting link today. As with other municipal websites, when you log onto the county site, you have the option to look at different department pages.

On the Human Resources page, there is a link for Civil Service Test Scores. I clicked around and was able to see who had taken a test of a position, their score, what other positions they had or had declined, and what town the person lived in. That's a lot of information.

I made a quick call to someone else I know in government about Freedom of Information guidelines in New York State, and our quick assessment is that, yes, civil service information is foi-able in terms of who scored the highest. But to have everyone's information on there for that particular test seemed excessive. Any lawyer types or experts in this field, feel free to correct or clarify in comments.

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Freeing The Music

The Internet is a lovely thing, and it's always exciting when you discover something that makes your mind just about explode with the sheer happiness that such a website can exist. I stumbled upon the site for the International Music Score Project while reading an entry on Wikipedia.

Here are the philosophy and goals of the site:
Philosophy

We at the IMSLP believe that music should be something that is easily accessible for everyone. To this end, we have created the IMSLP in order to provide music scores free of charge to anyone who has internet access. IMSLP will always be freely accessible.

Goals

The ultimate goal of the IMSLP is to gather all public domain music scores, in addition to the music scores of all contemporary composers who wish to release them to the public free of charge. However, another main goal of IMSLP is to facilitate the exchange of musical ideas outside of compositions: for example, the analysis of a particular piece of music. We hope to build a growing community of dedicated musicians and music lovers, who can use this site as a platform for enjoying music.

Music costs so much to buy and I'm thinking I will have great fun looking for new music to play in this new database.

Friday, December 08, 2006

The Future Careers of Julia (In Her Next Life)

Those of us who complain about our jobs on a weekly basis, raise your hands. Yes, even you in the back row, don't hide.

In honor of it being 4 o'clock on a Friday, here is an inspiration from EriePressible and Slave to Mr. Stinny.

The "other" careers of Julia (in her next life):

1. Coffee Shop Owner
2. Writer
3. Travel Adviser (despite travelocity/expedia/etc. making this not so wise a choice)
4. Librarian
5. Wegmans Consultant
6. Independent Record Store Owner (even though the Internet & mp3s are making this obsolete)
7. Radio News Reporter (I know, I know.. I've already done this.. it's worth doing again)
8. Online News Magazine/Newspaper Journalist with audio feeds
9. Housewife minus the kids (I know! How very 1950s of me!)
10. Radio Announcer for some music program like the one Alan Cross does on CFNY

As I pondered this list, I realized that I probably should step up and try to do one of these since I am young and fabulous. Here's to a more idealized Julia in the future!

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Friday, December 01, 2006

Creeping Up From 2001 Like A Chester

I forgot all about Y2khai until I was going through some of my old bookmarks. I will share this with you now on this fine Friday night because I'm too beat to go out and have some actual fun:

Y2khai - Ain't nuthin but a Khai Thang

We're Not Talking About Cup Size Here Either...

C-List Blogger

I managed to get this even with my hideously, inconsistent posting the last year or so.

Vote For Rory

A friend of mine in Colorado sent me an important message the other day. It seems that someone in Auburn, NY has taken up the cause of supporting NHL Defenseman Rory Fitzpatrick and created a page to get him voted onto the NHL All Star team. You too can help out by visiting Vote For Rory.

BFLOblog did a post about it. Then Off Wing Opinion added a lot more, including some articles. We're over 30,000 votes for Rory. Not bad for the kid from Irondequoit.

Cutting to the Scene with the Pixie

Ten years ago, I decided to do one of the most drastic things I had ever done to my hair. I went from a long style (below collarbone) to a p...