2008 In Review

Everyone talks about resolutions this time of year. You make one, stick to it for a week, and then forget it as the days become longer and you busy yourself forgetting a new year has come. We have such high expectations for the years on January 1st and while there are plenty of year-end reviews to go around, I like to think that remembering what 2008 brought to me might help me have a happy and productive 2009. So here it is, a year in the life...

January: My birthday month was a cold one in DC, and I ended the month with a trip to LA to visit Jared. I finished up my graduate school applications and I think it was around that time that I started to think seriously about Texas as an option. It was, until that point, a "haha, wouldn't it be funny if I went to school in Texas" sort of thing. My first-ever west coast trip was highlighted with a jump in the Pacific ocean at sunset on January 30th. It was freezing.

February: The big event that I remember from February was when we pulled off the perfect storm surprise birthday party for Joe. We got tickets to a women's basketball game on a Sunday and got pizza and beer for pre-gaming. Sam--in what might be the greatest acting performance of all time--called him to say that a pipe had exploded and her kitchen was full of water. Being an excellent friend and handyman, he and Steve jetted over to her apartment to find all of us waiting. I also got into UT and NYU on the 26th. So that was awesome.

March: Thailand. Hands down the most awesome 5 days of work I ever had. Business class is the way to fly when you're in the air for 14 hours or whatever it was. Spring in DC. I also made my final decision about graduate school at the end of the month in an email entitled "Forever Fear the Turtle, Someday hook 'em horns" to my freshman year girls.

April: ...As I'm writing this, I'm realizing that the majority of my major events come at the end of each month. Interesting. April's major throw-down was Maryland Day, ie, the greatest day of the year. Nicole was initiated this year and what is probably my favorite picture of her ever was taken. Decked out in Terps gear, highly intoxicated and on the phone. Fantastic.

May: It started to get very real that I was moving at the start of the summer. Graduation for the 08ers came and went and we probably had many parties. Nicole and I went to Philly for a weekend to see Sarah, during which I think we came up with the Triple Spoon. It could have been earlier, but I think it was then.

June: Another month-end event, the Lake. I was there for 3 days and as usual, it was fantastic. There is no place on earth like it. The water and mountains ability to completely slow you down and erase any tension that might reside in your body is incredible. Sadly, my tentative 2009 resolution (to spend the summer in Africa) conflicts with my yearly pilgrimage to the Adirondacks but it will be there when I get back.

July: My last day of work was the 31st, and it was some time in that last week that Whitney and I split two bottles of wine and cleaned my furniture-less apartment. We literally slept on my foam mattress cover on the floor because we'd given all my stuff away. Nicole the week before that and we cried. A lot.

August: Road trip of a lifetime, the true taking-off point for this blog (the maintenance of which is another resolution). The drive from DC to Austin was honestly one of the greatest experiences of my life. Spending time with my parents, seeing parts of America that I would not see otherwise--especially the time in Mississippi--was great.

September: My new life in Austin really started to take off. Classes, friends, football, warm weather that just wouldn't quit. ACL weekend, which was the last in September is when I really gelled with some of my great friends.

October: School stress was intense, but Sarah and J's visit ranks near the top as far as Austin weekends go. Flag football domination continued, and it sort of started to get chilly. But not really. My concept of fall was lost, and I got very homesick when the leaves didn't change colors. Ironically, it was around this time that I really fell in love with Austin and started to embrace it as home.

November: Stressful. That's really all I have to say. I spent a lot of time in the library, hopped on caffeine, pulling John Nash-style study sessions for Kuperman's little class of horrors.

December: End of the month shenanigans were amazing, NYE in NYC was fantastic and made me want to live there (again). But leaving Austin was harder than I thought it would be, I miss it a lot. A lot has gone down this year, and I'm hoping that my resolutions (find a badass internship, and spend the summer in Africa or NYC, keep up the blog, and cook more) are within reach.

Best of everything to all for 2009.