Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Top 10 Years of the Decade
First things first: I must confess that I totally stole this idea from Dave. When he told me that he was planning to do a list of his top 10 years of the decade, I laughed and said, "But aren't there only 10 to choose from?" He looked at me pointedly until I finally got the point--that it's all about ranking the years from best to worst. Once I figured that out, I was sold. So here we go:
10. 2007 As I've mentioned here before, 2007 was pretty much the worst year ever. It seemed like there was hardly a month that wasn't marked by the death of a friend, family member, friend of a family member, or family member of a friend. Plus, my house was invaded by mice, Dave and I broke up, I took on new responsibilities that made my once-perfect job suddenly hellacious, and I developed a case of chronic hives. The lone bright spot was that I finally got to realize my dream of going to Thailand--but since I didn't get there until October, I spent most of the year desperately yearning to go to Thailand. Let's hope the next decade doesn't have a year like this in store for me (although I wouldn't argue with another trip to Thailand).
9. 2002 Ah, the year when I wanted to do nothing but watch Reality Bites in an endless loop, so accurately did it mirror my life. While most of my friends transitioned easily from college to awesome jobs or internships, I spent most of the year trying to get someone--anyone!--to hire me. After a few dozen false starts, I finally hit the jackpot and landed interviews for 11 different internships at Southern Progress in Birmingham. Unfortunately, the folks at SPC weren't so enthusiastic about hiring me for an actual job, and I ended the year unemployed and under even more stress (and pressure from my parents) than when I began it. Reality bites, indeed.
8. 2003 The first couple months of 2003 were merely a continuation of the pain of 2002, during which I found myself desperately seeking my first real post-college job. That pain was dulled by March; unfortunately, by the end of the year, said job had gone from a promising springboard to a dead-end nightmare. On the plus side, I got a new car--but only after my old car put me through some pretty harrowing paces, including a complete breakdown at a stoplight in a not-so-nice part of town. This was also the year that Bri and I founded the Saved by the Bell Blog--because we were so bored at work that we needed something to occupy our time. All in all, 2003 was a pretty tumultuous roller coaster of a year.
7. 2005 Compared to the fairly treacherous years preceding it on this countdown, 2005 wasn't so bad. Except that I was starting to see the cracks in my second job (most notably, a tortuously manipulative co-worker who made the porn-watching boss from my previous job look like a saint) and spent pretty much the entire year nursing an agonizing crush on a friend who lived three states away. (Though December marked our first official date, so the year did end on a good note.)
6. 2008 Another year of ups and downs, although they were, on the whole, much milder than the ones I experienced in 2003. I spent the first half of the year trying to numb the pain of my break-up with expensive shoes and exciting trips, which probably wasn't as great an idea as I thought it was at the time. I reluctantly took on a new role at work, and the transition proved to be a little rough. By the end of the year, though, everything had pretty much smoothed out (perhaps aided by copious pub-quiz beers).
5. 2001 When you kick off a year by appearing on a game show, how bad can the rest of it possibly be? For me, 2001 will always be encapsulated in a few banner events: appearing on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, taking two of my favorite classes at college (Jacqui Banaszynski's Intermediate Writing and Scott Fosdick's Critical Reviewing), and September 11. Eh, two out of three ain't bad.
4. 2009 As the song goes: "Roller derby saved my soul." All right, I guess that's a bit dramatic, but it's no secret that my new hobby has seriously impacted my life. I've learned to love team sports (though I'm still pretty sure this is the only one I'll ever really want to play), learned to be more assertive both on and off the track, and, most important, have met a ton of amazing people I probably wouldn't have known otherwise. This year has had its difficult moments, to be sure (namely, being forced to take a pay cut at work and moving into a group house after several years of living alone), but both of these actually ended up being positive changes. Add that to the derby and some awesome trips (Spain/Portugal and Iceland/Norway), and you've got a pretty good year indeed.
3. 2000 I might have rung in the millennium lamely (dinner with friends at Applebee's, then hanging out with my parents), but the first year of the decade was anything but boring. In February, I set out for my semester in London, where I promptly fell in love with both the city and one of my professors, then conquered western Europe, one sketchy hostel at a time. My three-month tenure abroad wasn't entirely blemish-free--there was the misguided all-night clubbing adventure, as well as the misguided overnight bus to Ireland adventure--but hey, even those make great stories now. I came home to the worst summer job I've ever had, but it was merely a brief interlude between my European shenanigans and some truly memorable Team 243 moments in our cute new apartment back in Columbia.
2. 2006 At the beginning of 2006, I consulted a Magic 8-Ball to see if it would be a good year, and it told me (repeatedly) that it would not. Well, it was wrong. 2006 was a great year, mostly because it was a year of exciting new things: new job, new relationship, new city. And while it was sad to leave some of the old things behind (mostly the old friendships--I was pretty much over the old job and the old city by that point), I desperately needed that fresh start.
1. 2004 When I first started thinking about creating this list, I never imagined that I'd put 2004 in the top spot. In fact, I figured it would fall somewhere near the bottom. It was, after all, the year in which I experienced one of the most traumatic events in my life to date: losing my job. And yet, as Hilary Swank foretold, that traumatic event ended up being the best thing that ever happened to me. Nearly everything I love about my life now--my career, my relationship, even roller derby--can in some way be traced back to that pivotal moment. Plus, 2004 was the year that Bri and I went on our first Excellent Adventure, totally unaware that our mutual wanderlust would land us on three more continents together by the time the decade was over. Yes, there have been happier years than 2004, but no other year this decade has been quite so influential on my life as a whole.
First things first: I must confess that I totally stole this idea from Dave. When he told me that he was planning to do a list of his top 10 years of the decade, I laughed and said, "But aren't there only 10 to choose from?" He looked at me pointedly until I finally got the point--that it's all about ranking the years from best to worst. Once I figured that out, I was sold. So here we go:
10. 2007 As I've mentioned here before, 2007 was pretty much the worst year ever. It seemed like there was hardly a month that wasn't marked by the death of a friend, family member, friend of a family member, or family member of a friend. Plus, my house was invaded by mice, Dave and I broke up, I took on new responsibilities that made my once-perfect job suddenly hellacious, and I developed a case of chronic hives. The lone bright spot was that I finally got to realize my dream of going to Thailand--but since I didn't get there until October, I spent most of the year desperately yearning to go to Thailand. Let's hope the next decade doesn't have a year like this in store for me (although I wouldn't argue with another trip to Thailand).
9. 2002 Ah, the year when I wanted to do nothing but watch Reality Bites in an endless loop, so accurately did it mirror my life. While most of my friends transitioned easily from college to awesome jobs or internships, I spent most of the year trying to get someone--anyone!--to hire me. After a few dozen false starts, I finally hit the jackpot and landed interviews for 11 different internships at Southern Progress in Birmingham. Unfortunately, the folks at SPC weren't so enthusiastic about hiring me for an actual job, and I ended the year unemployed and under even more stress (and pressure from my parents) than when I began it. Reality bites, indeed.
8. 2003 The first couple months of 2003 were merely a continuation of the pain of 2002, during which I found myself desperately seeking my first real post-college job. That pain was dulled by March; unfortunately, by the end of the year, said job had gone from a promising springboard to a dead-end nightmare. On the plus side, I got a new car--but only after my old car put me through some pretty harrowing paces, including a complete breakdown at a stoplight in a not-so-nice part of town. This was also the year that Bri and I founded the Saved by the Bell Blog--because we were so bored at work that we needed something to occupy our time. All in all, 2003 was a pretty tumultuous roller coaster of a year.
7. 2005 Compared to the fairly treacherous years preceding it on this countdown, 2005 wasn't so bad. Except that I was starting to see the cracks in my second job (most notably, a tortuously manipulative co-worker who made the porn-watching boss from my previous job look like a saint) and spent pretty much the entire year nursing an agonizing crush on a friend who lived three states away. (Though December marked our first official date, so the year did end on a good note.)
6. 2008 Another year of ups and downs, although they were, on the whole, much milder than the ones I experienced in 2003. I spent the first half of the year trying to numb the pain of my break-up with expensive shoes and exciting trips, which probably wasn't as great an idea as I thought it was at the time. I reluctantly took on a new role at work, and the transition proved to be a little rough. By the end of the year, though, everything had pretty much smoothed out (perhaps aided by copious pub-quiz beers).
5. 2001 When you kick off a year by appearing on a game show, how bad can the rest of it possibly be? For me, 2001 will always be encapsulated in a few banner events: appearing on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, taking two of my favorite classes at college (Jacqui Banaszynski's Intermediate Writing and Scott Fosdick's Critical Reviewing), and September 11. Eh, two out of three ain't bad.
4. 2009 As the song goes: "Roller derby saved my soul." All right, I guess that's a bit dramatic, but it's no secret that my new hobby has seriously impacted my life. I've learned to love team sports (though I'm still pretty sure this is the only one I'll ever really want to play), learned to be more assertive both on and off the track, and, most important, have met a ton of amazing people I probably wouldn't have known otherwise. This year has had its difficult moments, to be sure (namely, being forced to take a pay cut at work and moving into a group house after several years of living alone), but both of these actually ended up being positive changes. Add that to the derby and some awesome trips (Spain/Portugal and Iceland/Norway), and you've got a pretty good year indeed.
3. 2000 I might have rung in the millennium lamely (dinner with friends at Applebee's, then hanging out with my parents), but the first year of the decade was anything but boring. In February, I set out for my semester in London, where I promptly fell in love with both the city and one of my professors, then conquered western Europe, one sketchy hostel at a time. My three-month tenure abroad wasn't entirely blemish-free--there was the misguided all-night clubbing adventure, as well as the misguided overnight bus to Ireland adventure--but hey, even those make great stories now. I came home to the worst summer job I've ever had, but it was merely a brief interlude between my European shenanigans and some truly memorable Team 243 moments in our cute new apartment back in Columbia.
2. 2006 At the beginning of 2006, I consulted a Magic 8-Ball to see if it would be a good year, and it told me (repeatedly) that it would not. Well, it was wrong. 2006 was a great year, mostly because it was a year of exciting new things: new job, new relationship, new city. And while it was sad to leave some of the old things behind (mostly the old friendships--I was pretty much over the old job and the old city by that point), I desperately needed that fresh start.
1. 2004 When I first started thinking about creating this list, I never imagined that I'd put 2004 in the top spot. In fact, I figured it would fall somewhere near the bottom. It was, after all, the year in which I experienced one of the most traumatic events in my life to date: losing my job. And yet, as Hilary Swank foretold, that traumatic event ended up being the best thing that ever happened to me. Nearly everything I love about my life now--my career, my relationship, even roller derby--can in some way be traced back to that pivotal moment. Plus, 2004 was the year that Bri and I went on our first Excellent Adventure, totally unaware that our mutual wanderlust would land us on three more continents together by the time the decade was over. Yes, there have been happier years than 2004, but no other year this decade has been quite so influential on my life as a whole.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Nice try, but no
Crate and Barrel has a series of ads in the Metro right now that feature a shot of an opened Crate and Barrel gift (a cappuccino maker, shiny plates, throw pillows) next to a person reacting ecstatically (screaming with joy, kissing one's spouse, embracing one's child) to said gift. And I'm sorry, but no. Crate and Barrel is a perfectly fine store if you need, say, some white dishes or a gray sofa. In fact, pretty much the whole premise of the store is that it's a place to stock up on the basics--otherwise they probably would've called it something less utilitarian than "Crate and Barrel." It is not, however, the kind of place where you can buy a gift that would inspire such an exuberant reaction. I refuse to believe that anyone could summon that much excitement about throw pillows, and I say that as a person who really likes throw pillows.
So what kind of gifts do inspire such an ecstatic reaction? Try the water bottle Holly gave me the other night, which she had custom-printed with my roller derby name and my team logo. I actually screamed with glee and hugged her after I pulled it out of the box. Take that, Crate and Barrel.
Crate and Barrel has a series of ads in the Metro right now that feature a shot of an opened Crate and Barrel gift (a cappuccino maker, shiny plates, throw pillows) next to a person reacting ecstatically (screaming with joy, kissing one's spouse, embracing one's child) to said gift. And I'm sorry, but no. Crate and Barrel is a perfectly fine store if you need, say, some white dishes or a gray sofa. In fact, pretty much the whole premise of the store is that it's a place to stock up on the basics--otherwise they probably would've called it something less utilitarian than "Crate and Barrel." It is not, however, the kind of place where you can buy a gift that would inspire such an exuberant reaction. I refuse to believe that anyone could summon that much excitement about throw pillows, and I say that as a person who really likes throw pillows.
So what kind of gifts do inspire such an ecstatic reaction? Try the water bottle Holly gave me the other night, which she had custom-printed with my roller derby name and my team logo. I actually screamed with glee and hugged her after I pulled it out of the box. Take that, Crate and Barrel.
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