End of the Year 2010

Well well well.  If there is one thing that can shake me out of my blogging snooze, maybe it is the tried and true End of the Year meme.  I am inspired enough to continue the tradition so – Hello!  Sorry for the prolonged absence.  Let’s see if 2011 allows for a little more blogging time. 

 

Without further ado:

 

1. What did you do in 2010 that you’d never done before?

Is it too early in the meme to mention buying a house?  I bought a house.

 

2. Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I once made a New Year’s resolution to not worry about New Year’s resolutions.  Yeah.  I kept that one. 

 

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Yes.

 

4. Did anyone close to you die?

Define “close.”  Close enough to go to his funeral?  Yes.  Drat.  I came very close to having ONE year with no funerals. 

 

5. What countries did you visit?

U.S.A.

6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?

A very warm pair of slippers.  I got a pair for Christmas but they need to be exchanged for a larger size.  California is COLD!

 

7. What dates from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

I don’t do numbers.  Numbers do not etch themselves upon my memory.

 

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

I think getting three different job offers was fairly reassuring. 

 

9. What was your biggest failure?

No big failures.  Just some disappointments.  Like my crappy poker stats at the end of the year.  *sigh* I would like to be in the top 25% out of almost 2 million players.  Which is still dismal compared to my 96% rating out of over one million players a couple of years ago.  But oh well.  72% this year.  Nothing I can do about it now. Stupid full-time job getting in the way of my poker playing.  *grumble*

 

Also, I and the medical establishment in Maui failed completely to alleviate any of my chronic issues this year.  Medical establishment – you suck (except maybe for that rather handsome ENT doc who actually figured one thing out).

 

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

No major illness, but yes indeedy – more body parts broke down again this year.  Arthritis diagnosed.  Inflamed larynx (I have pictures!).  Undiagnosed hip issue. Potentially uncooperative reproductive system.   It’s the joy of aging, folks.

 

11. What was the best thing you bought?

That would be the aforementioned HOUSE.

 

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

I gotta give a shout-out to my former co-workers this year.  I spent almost six months at my old workplace this year before I left again for another job.  The office has been a sinking ship and it’s been a weekly drama of people leaving, both voluntarily and involuntarily.  It’s been stressful, sad, frustrating, and just downright wrong to see a once very-highly-regarded office of professionals fade away.  But through it all, most of these folks have been supportive of each other while maintaining a (sometimes gallows-like) sense of humor. 

 

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

Some people at the old company who do not warrant celebration.   

 

14. Where did most of your money go?

See #s 1 & 11.

 

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

Moving back to California.  Hello family and friends.  We’re baaaack!!!!

 

16. What song will always remind you of 2010?

Hmmm….need to think about that a bit.

 

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

1. Happier or sadder?  About the same, I think. 

 

2. Thinner or fatter?  Congrats to me.  This is one year I can say, without a doubt – fatter. 

Wait. 

No congrats to me.  Frak.

3. Richer or poorer?  About a hundred times poorer.  In cash. 

 

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

Surfing.

 

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Working. 

 

20. How will you be spending Christmas/Hanukkah?

Sweetie and I spent it with family in the various places that our families are located.

 

21. How many one-night stands?

None.  We sold most of our furniture in Maui. 

 

22. What was your favorite TV program?

Leverage

AND – I rediscovered The Young Riders!  Yup.  That’s right – 1980s television goodness right there.

 

 

 

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

No hate in the 808 (or 916) brah. 

 

24. What was the best book you read?

Hmmm……the latest releases of the Fables trade paperbacks.  And, I have to say – I’m almost done with Atlas Shrugged and I’m glad I (almost) read it.  That’s probably a whole other blog.  

 

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Can I just change this to musical moments?  This year, I said good-bye to two of my all-time favorite bands, as both declared they are retiring. Sweetie just got me A-ha’s final album.  And Big Sis and I saw Scorpions live in concert.  Farewell, dear dudes.  That’s a lotta music between them (yes, A-ha produced more than one song in the 1980s….sheesh).

 

26. What did you want and get?

More time with family and friends.  A job with health insurance.  A house.

 

27. What was your favorite film of this year?

Toy Story 3

 

28. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I was, and still am today, 39.  Spent it with family and my former roomie and her family at mom’s house where she/we hosted a Chinese-fondue/hot pot dinner of awesomeness and yum.

 

29. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Winning a few more poker games to bring my stats up.

 

30. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010?

Oh-my-lord-I-do-not-have-a-proper-wardrobe-for-cold-weather-ACKKKKKKK!

 

31. What kept you sane?

Who you callin’ “sane” Willis?

 

32. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

I do not.

 

33. What political issue stirred you the most?

The on-going legal sideshow surrounding Prop 8 here in California.  Never should have passed in the first place, and this whole debacle is embarrassing.  The midterm elections were also kind of amusing for the amount of people who honestly think anyone seeking higher office in this country is capable of steering Congress in some productive direction.  Oh, and Christine O’Donnell, for comedic relief. 

 

34. Who did you miss?

 A-ha.  I missed seeing them in concert.  Never did get to see them.  Boo hoo. 

 

35. Who was the best new person you met?

Well, it was significant that I met the five principals of the firm that I am now working for.  Good group of folks.

 

36. Did you fall in love in 2010?

All the time.

 

36. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010:

There’s always a better house somewhere down the road. 

 

37.  Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:

 

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Aloha Friday #159

 

Check out Aloha Friday over HERE. 

Welcome to this week’s edition of Aloha Friday. In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that we take it easy and look forward to the weekend. So I thought that on Fridays I would take it easy on posting, too.

Therefore, I’ll ask a simple question for you to answer. Nothing that requires a lengthy response. If you’d like to participate, just post your own question on your blog and leave your link below. Don’t forget to visit the other participants! It’s a great way to make new bloggy friends!

My question/statement is . . .

Besides the one you currently live in . . . Where’s your favorite US city?

Well, that’s not a hard question for me.  I’m a rural country mouse type of gal.  I grew up in a small agricultural town.  As I’ve mentioned before, I always seem to end up living on the edge of any town I end up in.  On the edge, close to open sky and open space.  When I see the word “City” I think of real cities.  Big city lights.  Lots of people.  Dense development.  Urban nature.  Cities have their appeal.  I suppose Sacramento would be considered a big city compared to where I grew up.  I’d prefer to live here than many other cities in the nation.  But, if I were to choose my favorite “city”, I would always pick:

 

San Francisco

 

Quirky city by the Bay.   You captured my heart long ago.  I could not possibly live there because I’m a Heidi-type gal who would wilt and wither away if I was surrounded on all sides by concrete development.  But I love ya, S.F.  I’ve seen L.A., Honolulu, Paris, Zurich, London.  Hmmmm….I do like London. 

But San Francisco, you got my vote. 

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Aloha Friday #129 (in pictures!)

You can participate in Aloha Friday over HERE.

Welcome to this week’s edition of Aloha Friday. In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that we take it easy and look forward to the weekend. So I thought that on Fridays I would take it easy on posting, too.

Therefore, I’ll ask a simple question for you to answer. Nothing that requires a lengthy response. If you’d like to participate, just post your own question on your blog and leave your link below. Don’t forget to visit the other participants! It’s a great way to make new bloggy friends!

My question is:

What’s your idea of the perfect Spring day?

Stone Girl’s Answer:

I love hiking in the spring when the wildflowers are out.  If I get a bright sunny day that is not too hot and not too cold, the perfect Spring day looks a little like this:

Hiking in California – March 2010

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Sunday Stealing: The Negativity Meme

You can join in this week’s Sunday Stealing over HERE. 

Foods which disgust the crap out of me: You all know how much I love food.  Not much disgusts me.  I have been known to get nauseous from green onions.  Yuck.

TV show I loathe:  Any version of The Real Housewives except the one that is my (shhhhhhhh!) secret TV guilty pleasure: The Real Housewives of New York.  When the heck is that one coming back on anyway?

Movie I loathe:  Braveheart.  Double yuck.

Music genres I loathe:   Toughie.  I appreciate at least a couple of good artists from every genre out there.  I do like regular rap but Gangsta Rap is pretty bad.

Magazine which annoys me:  Pretty much all of the ones that make money off of celebrity worship which quickly turns into celebrity trashing. 

Makes me cranky at restaurant:  When the hostess tosses a menu at a table to seat you without even looking at you.  Also, patronizing waitresses who offer me a lemonade while telling my friends about the drink specials.  However, offering me a children’s menu will definitely just make me laugh because it is so ridiculous and it offends my friends who wonder if they look old enough to be my parents.  Ha ha!  Love you guys.

Makes me cranky in public:  Incessant and unnaturally loud one-sided cell phone conversations. 

Makes me cranky in general:  People.

Pisses me off at home:  CHUKAR BIRDS.  Nobody likes you, you obnoxious birds.  Go AWAY.

Pisses me off at work:  That whiney chick in my office every day constantly interrupting my solitaire games.

Pisses me off in general:  This question is very similar to the cranky in general question.  That pisses me off.  😉

Makes me impatient at home:  Slow wi-fi connection. 

Makes me impatient at work:  Slow wi-fi connection which seriously endangers my high score on Bejeweled 2. 

Makes me impatient in public:  Elevator music.

Celebrity I hate:  I don’t care about most celebrities enough to hate any.
 
Music artist I hate:  Ditto. 

I could care less about:  Who gets into the Super Bowl.

Annoys the crap out of me weekdays:  Nothing in general.  I’m very easygoing, dontcha know?

Annoys the crap out of me weekends:  If Sweetie has to work both days.

Blogger’s habit that annoys you:  Which blogger?  The way that is punctuated implies one Blogger.  Do you mean Blogger the blog host?  I don’t use Blogger. 

Feature on your blog you hate:  None.  It’s my blog!

Movie star you despise:  See above.

Politician that you hate:  Hey brah.  I live on Maui.  No hate in the 808.

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End of the Year

Tradition now.  Do this one at the end of the year.  Pull up some warm spiced cider and maybe try it yourself.   (sorry for the funky shading and formatting.  I need to stop copying and pasting every year.)

1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before?

  Visited the island of Lana’i.  Finally hiked in Haleakala crater (3 times in three months).    
  

 2. Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I don’t really make resolutions at New Years.  So, yes and no.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

 Yes!  Hooray!

 
4. Did anyone close to you die?

 Yes.  Can I please answer “no” one year?

 5. What countries did you visit?

 Went to the mainland, brah.

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?

 

A working Sonicare toothbrush. 

 7. What date from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? 

  Nothing sticks to my memory.  I’m too old. 

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

 Surprising my hubby on his birthday.  Pulling off the organization of a pretty complex family reunion (pretty good for only being *in* the family for two years).

9. What was your biggest failure?

 

   10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

 My minor meltdown in front of my Sweetie in the middle of said family reunion.

 

 

 Not serious, no.  This blasted cold at Christmas was pretty annoying though.

  11.  What was the best thing you bought?

Percy Prescott Giles, our new addition to our family who protects us from 6 a.m. chukar birds!  We LOVE YOU PERCY!!

   

12.  Whose behavior merited celebration?  

Family.  Lots of family stuff going on this year.  My mom-in-law and her sister and their aunt were 100-percent supportive of me while I was slogging through the family reunion organizational stresses and they made me feel really appreciated.  You forget how important such a simple thing is until someone goes out of her way to show you.  Special kudos also to my mom-in-law, sis-in-law and new bro-in-law for pulling off such a wonderful wedding this year! 

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

Angry people.  Clueless people.  People who make lame, lazy generalizations (generally in the political arena). 

14. Where did most of your money go?

Rent.  Is that a purchase?  Guess not.  No major purchases of the year. 

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

My sis-in-law’s wedding and my 20-year reunion. 

 16.  What song(s) will always remind you of 2009?

Well, this reminds me of my 20-year reunion which reminds me of times during the late 80s. We requested this one at the reunion and it quickly brought everyone out to the dance floor.  Which says a lot maybe about where I grew up.

You know you love this one!!!

17.  Compared to this time last year, are you:

i. Happier or sadder?

About the same. 

ii. Thinner or fatter?

Fatter.

iii. richer or poorer?

Can it be possible to be poorer than this time last year?  Yes, yes it is possible.  Poorer.

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

Work, work, work, work.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Worry about money.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?

We spent the day with about 12 other family members at Sweetie’s grandfather’s house, eating, opening presents, making ice cream, playing games, and making fun of each other. We will spend second Christmas with my family watching the nephews open a few more gifts and eating more gooooooood food.

23. How many one-night stands?

I don’t qualify for that anymore.

24. What was your favorite TV program?

*sigh*  Battlestar Galactica.  Goodbye Stattlebar.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

 Nope.

26. What was the best book you read?

I really enjoyed “The Last Summer (of you and me)” and “The Promise of the Wolves.”

 27. What was your greatest musical discovery?

 Rediscovering Imogen Heap after she (finally!) released her album.  Nice.

  28. What did you want and get?

Most of our family members are still here, in good health and doing relatively well.

29. What was your favorite film of this year?

In the theater – probably Coraline.  At home – The Thin Man

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

38 and Sweetie and I went hiking around the West Maui Mountains and then out to dinner for a proper Shepherd’s pie and beer.  Yum!

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?

Wear what you already own cause that’s all you get.

34. What kept you sane?

Who said I’m sane?

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

 I don’t.

 36. What political issue stirred you the most?

I had to be boring but I did spend a bit of time following the attempts at health care reform.  Pretty big implications there.

37. Who did you miss?

Everyone I didn’t see who I actually wanted to see.

 38. Who was the best new person you met?

Why pick a best? I don’t meet that many new people so I’m happy to know the ones I do.  I don’t rank them.

39.  Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009:

Go with the flow.  (Don’t laugh Sweetie, I’m getting better at it)

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:

I never figure this one in time.  I’ll let you know.

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A really long survey

 

Probably more random things about me than anyone would want to read, but here goes.

Got this from Saturn. If you want to answer the questions yourself, be sure to send them back to me, or provide a link to your answers!!

Do you hate more than three people?   No, just two.  If you’re reading this, you are probably not one of them.

What is your favorite candy bar?  Don’t really have one. But I like putting Heath Bar on my ice cream at Cold Stone.

What are your favorite shoes?  My cloppy shoes from my aunt. Thankfully, I have four pairs of them.

Have you ever tripped someone?  I’m sorry, I cannot recall.

Do you own a Britney Spears CD? No, with a side of No way!

What is your sign? Taurus, born the year of the Bull. Think I’m stubborn?

What time were you born? Can’t remember

Do you like beer? Yes.

Have you ever made a prank call? Yes

What is the most embarrassing CD you own? How could I be embarrassed by music? I’d probably catch the most crap for owning a Right Said Fred CD.

Are you sarcastic?  Never, ever. Not never.

What are your favorite colors?  Green.

How many watches do you own? About seven that no longer run.

Summer or winter? SUMMER

Spring or fall? Spring

Pepsi or Sprite? Both

What color is your cell phone? Silver

Have you ever slapped someone? Not intentionally, no.

Have you ever had a cavity?  Are there cows in Switzerland?

How many lamps are in your bedroom? One overhead light, one nightstand lamp.

How many video games do you own? Erg.  I don’t know. Maybe 10.

What was your first pet? Fluffy, the dog.

Do looks matter? To a certain degree, yes.

Do you use Chapstick?  No, Burt’s Bees

American Eagle or Abercrombie?  hahahaha!!  What was the question?

Are you too forgiving? I don’t think so. I think I have a tendency to just block things out.

Do you own something from Hot Topic?  Is this about clothes again?

What is your favorite breakfast?  My Saturday morning ham and cheese omelet, or an almond croissant from the Maui Bake Shop, or eggs benedict made by Mom and Dad.

Do you own a gun? I have a glue gun.

When was the last time you cried?  Two days ago doesn’t count, so I think a couple of weeks ago.

What did you do three nights ago?  Had dinner with Mom.

When was the last time you went to Olive Garden? About two years ago.

Have you ever called your teacher “mom”? No.

Do you know anyone named Bertha?  Nope, but I once had a pen-pal named Hortensia.

Do you own something from Banana Republic? Is that one of the Hawaiian islands?

Are you happy with your life right now?  Yesss

What were you doing May of 1994? celebrating a birthday somewhere in there.

McDonald’s or Wendy’s? McDonald’s.

Do you like yourself? Yes

Favorite feature of the opposite sex?  Their emotional stability.

Have you ever eaten paste? No, but I chewed on a piece of tape once because my school “friend” told me it would turn into gum if chewed long enough. Wanna bet? You try it. Go ahead.

Do you have a webcam? No.

Have you ever stripped? Is this *another* question about clothes????

What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Who the heck says Cinema anymore? I can’t remember….wow!  I really can’t remember. Been too long.

What foods do you dislike? Green onions

What is your favorite CD at the moment? Everything in my CD changer

Favorite sandwich? Don’t have one.

What are your favorite clothes?  What is this obsession with clothes?

Favorite time of day? All times

What did you want to be when you were little?  An actress. Don’t laugh.

Where does your best friend work? My friends and family work all over the place.

What do you smell like?  errr…..what?

What color are your pants? Blue

Do you know anyone who is engaged? Yes

What is your favorite number? 42

Do you have a dog? No

Do you remember singing any songs as a kid? Of course. Camp songs, mostly.

When was the last time you went swimming? Last month. Hey – I live on Maui.

When was the last time you talked to one of your siblings? Couple of days ago.

Did you ever go to camp as a kid? Yes, see question – Re: songs.

Do you play an instrument? Piano

Are you allergic to anything? I swear I must be allergic to bananas.

Did you take science all four years of high school?  Three, unless computer science counts. But I took AP biology and physics my senior year, so does that count?

Do you like butterflies? Yes

Do you like Coke or Pepsi more? Say it with me: PEPSI

Have you ever wanted to be a teacher? Not seriously

What things have you learned about life? Still learning. Ask me in a few years.

Is there anyone jealous of you? And they would tell me, why?

Ever been stuck in an elevator? No.

What does you hair look like right now? Brushed, thank goodness.

Has a friend ever used you? And they would be my friend, why?

What have you eaten today? Nothing healthy, so let’s skip this one.

Ever been called white trash? Not to my face.

Last person you were in a car with? My sweetie.

What are you looking forward to? Finishing this really really long survey!  oh wait.

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