Max

zepooka @ 2:17pm: rollin on the river
I had been complaining for a while about missing the glory days of youth when I would stay out late and damn the consequences, saying that no one wanted to do that kind of thing anymore. Well! The past week has certainly proved me wrong, since most nights I've gotten home anywhere from 3 to 5 in the morning. And you know what, I loved it. I need to hang around people who do shit like that more often.

Grades for the semester are IN. The rundown:
Intro to Sociolinguistics -- A
Sociolinguistic Variation -- A
Ethnography of Communication -- A
Language and Identity -- A-

( Wherein I am THAT GUY who whines about the A minus )

Long story short, I'm pretty satisfied. And the professors were all gems as well, in their own ways. I'm still freaking out about presenting at the conference, but at least I can have some peace of mind knowing I didn't really super-bomb anything. Yay!

boobookittyass had a few decade lists and I think I'm going to hop in on those. So, for starters, here's ( the past 10 years )

The highlights, that is. And here we have some pop cultural things instead: ( Top 10s )

I'm sitting in Barnes and Noble with a stack of books and fizzy pomegranate soda and this LJ entry. Is there really anything better on a chilly afternoon for a Pooka of limited means? I think not!

zepooka @ 2:31pm: choking on the splinters
The greatest way to start the New Year is definitely sinusitis. Wooo! I have so much medicine in my body right now... (But no, truth, last night was really fun hanging out with the Cinners. I do enjoy spending the holiday in different places whenever possible, but I do not regret repeating that party time experience. Many thanks to laughingstars!)

So. Resolutions. Here we go.

- Write every day. I'm keeping this one exactly as it is, and exactly at the top, because I'm really proud of myself for how it turned out last year (even though I shifted gears to poetry). I want to resurrect some old projects and shift back if possible, start some new stuff, but bottom line is that I want to have more time for this.
- Be less computer-reliant. Admitting you have a problem is the first step to fixing it, so here it is: I am addicted to the Internet, to my laptop, to any and everything that can be clicked, browsed, typed, and scrolled. It's a handy invention for lots of things, and I'll certainly be using it every day for, if nothing else, school purposes, but I have to cut down on the amount of free time I waste on here. It's just unhealthy.
- Get more into shape again. Gym-going has suffered greatly since starting school. I have another year at least of free gym admission at the university, and it would be criminal not to use it. So I'm going to try and find a trainer, work out four days a week (+two for dancing), and work on this. Also want to cook at home more, eat healthier, etc... 2010 will be the Year of Body Conquering.
- Explore! I've been in DC for a few months now, and I still know very little about it. This is just not cool. So, the_orange_lady and mafia_bartender, I would be up for some wandering and adventures if you are...
- Get some fictional prose published. Every year I say it, and every year I come a little bit closer, so now I'm being astonishingly specific: I would like to get my work out there. It's not a huge priority, so much as writing itself is, but if I have an opportunity to do it, I want to seize it; someday I'd like to turn professional, yeah?
- Broaden my sphere. I thought of two ways in which I meant this: I want to try doing new things (crafts! meetups! shrooms!) and meeting more people. Again, I've been in DC for a few months, and outside of Georgetown, I haven't really met many people. I'd like to get a job this semester, so maybe that will be a good doorway... jedi_bria, how's BN to work for?
- Learn an instrument and a language. Suggestions?

That is the crux of it, I think. A Happy New Year to all! I'll be in the area for at least a few more days if anyone wants to hang out... for today, though, I'm off to go snork away into some tissues. Oh, winter!

zepooka @ 10:05pm: into the great wide open
Double-memes! And then I'm going out.

First, the resolutions check. How'd I do?

Become more in harmony with my body and place in the universe. I did work out a lot up til about September, but I trailed off when school started, so that should resume. And I don't even know what I meant with the place in the universe crap. I guess I did that? Who can say?
Try the 100-mile diet for at least one month this summer. EPIC FAIL
Get some fictional things published. If you count poetry, I did get a couple poems out there. Let's work on building up some more of that portfolio, yeah? And some prose as well?
Venture outside the comfort zone. The Midwest and grad school have both been pretty eye-widening experiences...
Learn an instrument and a language. I was kicking some serious German ass for a while, then switched gears more to Arabic. So maybe I half-learned two languages? Didn't really do anything with the instruments, though Nora has shown me a thing or two on the guitar, and now I'm itching to try it out...
Write every day. This actually kind of worked. I've written essentially a poem a day for nine months, plus some prose mixed in.
Care less about love, and more about people. Uhm. Maybe?

And the months of the year...

January was marked by dating someone for the first time in... Lord, who even knows? There was the Obama inauguration business as well, which was fairly exciting, and I sent in my grad school applications and stuff.
February's big event was the trip to Ireland! On which I found out I got accepted to Georgetown! So most of the second half of the month was spent reeling from that.
March featured a transformative experience when I went to see Alela Diane with Angela; really, it woke up a lot of the Glamour in me. I started getting into poetry and writing again, hung out in Chapterhouse more than I should have, and visited DC to confirm school admission.
April was National Poetry Month, and kicked off a journey that I have not yet seen to its completion; that was a pretty big deal in my year. Moved slowly but surely out of the Philly apartment back to New Jersey, and cried while doing it.
May was spent primarily re-adjusting to living at home. Ugh.
June I got new earrings, had some fabulous weekends in my life, went to Pride events, and generally had a good time, i think. Hell, same with July, come to think of it. Also saw VNV Nation and officially got the mons to go to G'town.
August was the month of the Epic Road Trip, which could fill another few entries all by itself. But there was also the process of packing shit up in NJ and getting down to DC, as well as wrangling with the getting of the apartment.
September was the month-of-adjustment-to-grad-school, obvs.
October... well, there were some good moments. And some of the worst moments I've experienced in recent memory. Halloween was excellent. The Equality March with historic. Everything in between, let's just pretend it was a bad dream that I've woken up from.
November carried on much the same way, although I started hanging around with a fellow who seems pretty cool. Came home a couple times, including Thanksgiving, and that was nice...
December is two hours from completion. I've survived my first semester of grad school, I've gotten a paper accepted at a conference, I'm going out dancing, and I guess things are generally pretty good. It was a fairly boring year, all told, I guess?

Oh, fuck this, I'm going dancing. See y'all in 2010. :D

zepooka @ 10:31am: this day is young, the night is too
Typing this from a very generous spengalaluce's apartment! About to head out, but here is what I did this weekend:

Saturday, hung out with my brother and his person... nabbed some dinner at the hipsterest vegetarian place I've ever been. We rented High Fidelity and Julie & Julia, and watched them both; about the latter, I will say, Meryl Streep is spot on when it comes to doing Julia Child.
Sunday was more hanging out, but also tea at Alice's with qotcpcf! It was wonderful times catching up, and I confessed how every time I come to NYC, it entrances me a little more; really must move here at some point. Then off to dinner where there were lovely tartines, and another night in, unfortunately.
Monday I met up with both amhranai9 and epiclevelregina, and we had lunch with Julia, where we tried conch for the first time. We also found the Macy's men's underwear section (guys it's like a whole half of a basement). Wandered to the Met to see the tree, and to the Village for coffee and shopping before they had to head back. Then Julia and I had some shmoozey time before I came over here to Brooklyn, where spengalaluce made a fab dinner! We talked about life and ate ice cream.

On this windy today I'm supposed to have lunch with Justin. So all told, I've named about seven people from this weekend, and if you live in the NYC area and could have potentially hung out this weekend, all of them are better than you. :D

Didn't mention before, I don't think, but I got accepted to a conference in February. Oy. Presenting my ethnography to people that I've cited in my work = extremely cool and one of the more nerve-wracking things I can imagine.

Was trying to think of a theme for 2009... last year, I said 2003-2008 were, in order, the Years of Discovery, Diversification, Wisdom, Strength, Despair, and Growth. This one is the best odd-numbered year overall I've had in a while, I think, but overall it was kind of placid. There was very little romantic turmoil, I had relatively few big adventures, and though I moved a lot and started grad school, it was a pretty uneventful transition overall. Maybe the Year of Tranquility? Advancement? Who knows.

zepooka @ 9:13pm: i still want a hula hoop
Traditional Xmas postings day!

I did year two of a Very Booklike Christmas, where everybody in my family got a textual gift; I think everybody was pretty chuffed with what they got. And since we are all of us materialistic bastards, I'll say my gifts ranged from the cherished and acceptable (motherfuckin' peacoat!, Amazon gift card, snazzy vest + scarf) to the mundane and indifferent (notepad for the fridge*, food bag) to the suitably bizarre (a Snuggie, a bag of that coffee vomited up by Vietnamese weasels**). There was lots of other awesome foodstuffs going on all day, and relatively little drama. But seriously, a Snuggie? Bwah? But I shan't complain, I suppose it can be used as a blanket if desired...

(* This was from Ryan. It's a step up from the single potholder he got me for my birthday.)
(** You think I'm joking? Check it out)

Another traditional meme... the first line of each month!
January: I don't have the patience for that 40-question meme everybody does all the time.
February: The worst thing about absolutely beautiful days at the beginning of February is that you know it can't possibly last.
March: Happy St. David's Day, beccatoria!
April: The possibilities of being outed in uncomfortable ways are just endless!
May: Today my mom and I talked about the 60s.
June: This weekend was infinite.
July: I wish I were in Paris, and this were Paris Plage.
August: I might be a little behind on my posting for a few days:
September: Oh my god I'm thrillified.
October: If I thought anyone had missed me in the past week, I would say so!
November: The Unseelie half of the year begins, and it's time to turn over new (fallen) leaves.
December: Remember that time I didn't post for eight weeks? That was GREAT.

Ah, the year in review.

So, I'll be in New York tomorrow, Sunday, and Monday. Anybody want to hang out or something? Pleeeease let me know, as I'm going up primarily because the alternative is to hang out alone at home with no car and no people... and now it is raining and washing this white X-mas away. Bloof. Maybe I will eat a muffin.