My brain needs more RAM.

1. What did you do in 2010 that you'd never done before?
I bought my first items from Etsy. I'll definitely be buying more things from there, if not for myself then gifts.

2. Did you keep your New Year's Resolutions from last year and will you make any for 2011?
I don't think I made any, and if I did I don't remember what they were lol. In 2011 I just want to keep getting healthy. I also plan on getting a job with insurance (so I can get new, non-MacGyver'd glasses).

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yes! My friend Jessica gave birth to the cutest little boy, ever.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Nope.

5. What countries did you visit?
Mexico.

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

7. What date from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory...and why?
If you knew my memory, you would know nothing is etched there for long.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Uh... my pet collection?

9. What was your biggest failure?
That time I didn't have a job for a couple months.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Psh, that's like asking normal people if they've taken a breath. In fact I'm sick right now.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
New computers!

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Josh, for putting up with my crap. =]

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Lately, I'd say some of the girls on one of the message boards I frequent. I'm not very thrilled with the general attitude and have actually been thinking of trying to find a new similar board. As in people I know IRL? Well I can't say because they might read this. =P

14. Where did most of your money go?
Doctors, new computers, and cruise.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Like everything. I am easily amused lol.

16. What song will always remind you of 2010?
I don't think there is one. My memory is so bad I can never remember which songs came out this year or last year.

17. Compared to last year, are you...
...happier/sadder? I can't really remember how happy/sad I was at this time last year.
...thinner/fatter? About the same, maybe thinner. I gained a bunch in the spring but have been working on losing it.
...richer/poorer? About the same.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Crack. Uh, I mean smiling. Smiling's my favorite.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Sleeping. Don't get me wrong, I love sleeping. I'm a fan of sleeping on Facebook, even. But sleeping literally half your day away can get in the way sometimes.

20. How will you be spending New Year's Eve?
I dunno. I think Mom is having people over and John is going to be our Bonfire Master or something like that. Hopefully playing Hedbandz 'cause I love that game now.

21. Did you fall in love in 2010?
Nope, already was.

22. How many one-night stands?
I don't think Josh would approve of that sort of thing.

23. What was your favorite TV program?
Dexter. And Survivor is this year was the one with Russell. <3>
24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
I don't think so.

25. What was the best book you read in 2010?
You really expect me to remember which books I've read this year vs other years? My memory doesn't work like that. If I read Servants of Twilight (or just Twilight if you have an old version) this year, that would be among them. Shadow of the Wind, maybe. The Folk of the Air.

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Nothing. 2010 sucked for music, apparently. I (again) couldn't remember who was new this year vs years past so I did a quick google search. Every "best new of 2010" list I could find was filled with people that stink (Ke$ha, Justin Bieber) or people I've never heard of. Josh says I should say the Gregory Brothers, who do the auto-tune the news stuff.

27. What did you want AND get?
A job, a vacation, a laptop.

28. What did you want and NOT get?
A Yoda jump drive! XD

29. What was your favorite film of the year?
I haven't seen the "big" movies that are supposed to be awesome like Shrek 4 or Toy Story 3, but I did see: From Paris with Love, Kick-Ass, and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.

30. What did you do on your birthday and how old were you?
I couldn't remember, so I asked Josh and he said, "didn't we go to Olive Garden or something...?" so I'm going to go with that. I turned 22.

31. What ONE thing would have made your year immensely more satisfying?
A better memory, apparently.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010?
homeless-chic? Actually, I had to dress up a bit more than my normal jeans and old band t-shirts because of my job.

33. What kept you sane?
Josh. And being able to torture people on the Sims.

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Russell Hantz if this was the year he was on Survivor. If not then no one I can think of.

35. What political issues stirred you the most?
The same ones that always do. People expecting to get what they want without any work, not taking personal responsibility, etc

36. Whom did you miss?
My mind.

37. Who was the best new person you met?
Atticus!

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson that you learned in 2010.
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, thanks to Geico.

39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
"Don't wake me I plan on sleeping in" - Sleeping in, The Postal Service

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients:

• a whole bunch of boneless skinless chicken breast, depending on how much chicken you want
• two carrots (more or less, if you want)
• 4 stalks of celery (again more or less, if you want)
• a box of bowtie noodles (or your favorite shape)
• 1 tbs butter
• 2 cans vegetable broth
• 1 large can cream of chicken soup
• water
• 1 tbs garlic powder
• 1 tbs onion powder
• S&P to taste

Directions:

• Cook noodles as directed, rinse
• cut chicken, celery, and carrots to preferred size
• cook chicken in large pot (same used to cook noodles) with garlic powder, onion powder, and S&P
• Saute celery and carrots with butter, then add to pot with chicken
• Add vegetable broth to the chicken and vegetables
• mix cream of chicken with water in the other pan over medium heat until no longer lumpy
• Add cream of chicken to pot
• Add noddles
• Simmer for 5ish minutes, until everything is nice and hot
• Enjoy!

Makes a whole bunch. (I'm super scientific, can't you tell?)

We are such nerds XD

DH and I are off of school and work all next week (we both work at the school). So what are we doing? I'm getting a head start reading one of my textbooks for next term and he's watching a documentary on the Appalachian Trail. Learning is fun. =)

Smiling's my favorite.

1. What is your favorite Christmas movie?

Elf! It is probably the only Christmas movie I will watch outside of the Christmas season.

2. What is your favorite Christmas memory?

Probably when I got my first pogo stick. Man, I loved that thing. Or the few minutes at Grandma's house when everyone seemed to get along and we could just play board games like we were a happy family.

3. What is one of your Christmas traditions?

My mom always has on A Christmas Story for the all day marathon. It's not really my favorite though, I'd rather watch her other favorite Christmas movie, Die Hard lol.

4. What is your favorite Christmas song?

Carol of the Bells hands down. My current favorite version is this one by August Burns Red.

5. What is your favorite Christmas food?

Cranberry sauce. This year we aren't doing the whole turkey thing (Mom is making tasty steaks instead), but we *still* have to have cranberry sauce. And Cranberry Splash Sierra Mist now that they've invented it. Mmmmm, cranberries!

Another week off, so soon!

Two weeks ago, my lovely DH and I went on our belated honeymoon/anniversary/Christmas/V-day/Birthday cruise. And then I went back to work.

Boo!

But, it wasn't bad. School is out so we weren't very busy. I got some possibly good news. And overall I just like my job most of the time. I feel lucky, since so many people can't say that. But then again, books + me = bff so it shouldn't be too much of a surprise.

However I'm still glad to be off another week. =]

As my body is want to do after a vacation (especially one involving so many climate changes), I've developed a cold of some sort. Now I've got a whole week off to recover until we're thrown into the midst of our busy season.

Sure we've got laundry to do, and we *still* need to get our rebate forms out in the mail... but other than that I'm going to quite enjoy this week of relaxation. I've got Sims that need a little TLC, a cleric to level, and hopefully a few more games of Headbanz in my future (which I will have to do a post about at some point.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Things I miss about being on a cruise

1. Unlimited hot water

Sure, the shower on the cruise was smaller than ours at home, and you had to be careful not to slip because, you know, you were on a moving boat and all... but the hot water never ceased.

I could actually take my steaming hot shower immediately after Josh.

And you could only turn the hot water on a little because otherwise it would burn you.

Oh, to have that again...

Here at home our water heater must be too small or something. I dunno, but I *always* run out of hot water in the winter. I can't shave and wash my hair in the same shower. I actually just bought an electric razor that doesn't need water so I wouldn't have to choose which was more important. Still, I find myself trying to time my showers right before it gets dark so the water in the ground (that will replace the water in the tank) is as warm as possible. You can forget taking a shower right after someone else. Or while the dishwasher is on. Or while doing laundry.

I just need to get me one of those new tankless water heaters. I wonder how well they work...

Hoodie-Footies

Someone posted about these on one of the message boards I frequent. For just $99.99 I could get two of the things I've been wanting (but not enough to actually buy)!

You get one set of hoodie-footie pajamas. That's right, footie pjs for grown ups! They even have a set for the whole family. After coming back from Mexico, my feet are really hating this cold. Much more practical for lounging than the Snuggie, if you ask me.

You also get a pair of PajamaJeans! They look like jeans, but feel like pj pants. These would be perfect for wearing to Winn-Dixie since Josh refuses to be seen in public with me while wearing my other pjs haha.

Too bad I just spent a bazillion dollars on a cruise. :( Someone give me $100! XD

World of Filkcraft

My DH recently came across this channel on YouTube. We aren't currently playing WoW at the moment, but can still appreciate the videos. If you haven't played an MMORPG, it probably won't make sense to you, but I think you should still be able to appreciate the parodies on some level.

Part of Your Guild (Part of Your World)

End of the World as We Know It (Have I ever told you how much I love REM?)

I've Been Everywhere (watch for the achieve at the end!)

Dr. White, in the White Pages

Recently I've been hearing advertisements on the radio for a doctor who claims he doesn't need advertisements. The fact that anyone would do such a thing boggles my mind.

Here's how the commercial goes:

Person One - Ow I really hurt my back doing some menial task.

Person Two - You should call Dr. White, he's a chiropractor who really helped me when I hurt one of my body parts doing some other menial task!

P1 - Okay! I'll look him up in the Yellow Pages when I get home.

P2 - Oh you won't find him there, he gets all his business by word of mouth! He doesn't need to advertise in the Yellow Pages. He gives everyone his home phone number in case you decide to do a menial task on the weekends. Look him up in the White Pages instead.

P1 - Oh that's great that he's so good he doesn't need to advertise.

P2 - Yup yup! Just remember, he's Dr. White, in the White Pages.

If you don't need to advertise, why *exactly* are you advertising on the radio? That just proves to me that A) you aren't good enough to get all your business through word of mouth and B)You are a lying jerk-face trying to pull one over on me.

I will not fall for your trickeries, Dr. White!

No more shelf tags!

I work at my campus's book store, and every semester we have to put new shelf tags on the shelfs for each class/book so students can find the ones they need. So far in preparation for Spring, we have done and redone them all three times. >.<

Anyway, all the tag shifting had made it's way into my dreams. I had to shift them, but the shelves were in a maze. I was at Winn Dixie at like 2am, and met one of our teachers (who happened to be Alec Baldwin) who handed me a stack of like 75 tags he "forgot to give me earlier". so I had to go back up to the school, at night, with broken headlights and no street lights, to reshift the tags AGAIN because Mr. Baldwin just couldn't live with the books he had chosen before. Luckily my lovely DH woke me up at this point...

I'm just glad I am now officially on vacation, so if Alec Baldwin *does* show up, they can deal with him and his 75 shelf tags without me.

Learn more through Comic Sans?

I found an interesting article (via passive-aggressive notes) that details how reading information in annoying fonts may help you retain the information better.

I can totally see how reading something in such a font would help with remembering it, as your brain is using more energy to read it in the first place. Your brain is probably thinking "I better remember this so she doesn't make me read it in Playbill again".

However it also has the downside of making people read things in fonts that they hate. Once or twice it might work, but I'm sure after that people will just stop reading it. And then they will learn way less than if you had just put it in Times New Roman. There's a whole website dedicated to the hatred of Comic Sans, after all.

ETA: I found this monologue, from the POV of Comic Sans that I found interesting and also wanted to share.

I'm BAAAAAACKKKK! (maybe)

I recently came across my old xanga, and upon reading some of my posts wished I still just wrote random stuff like that. The 2006 me didn't care who did or didn't read it. If writing was a waste of time or if someone would be offended by what I said (which was kind of a problem, once the secret service showed up but thats a story for another day). Because I'm not anonymous I feel like I must self censor to some extent, but maybe I had been extending that a bit too far.

This Black Friday we bought me a laptop, mostly for school. And let me tell you, it has been a miracle as far as writing notes goes. I do think maybe I could use some typing classes though because I keep hitting the caps lock key by accident and my fingers only seem to find the right keys about a quarter of the time, but that's just as true on my desktop as my laptop, I suppose. Anyway the point is I will have more opportunity to write things as they come to me.

Plus I will most likely have more free time for the foreseeable future. That's partly because tomorrow is my last final so I'll be out of school till like the second week of January or something like that. The other reason I'm not sure I want to talk about right now. But with more time (and less WoW) I might can convince my self to write out my feelings. That might help my anxiety which is always a good thing.

I ended each of my old xanga posts with random song lyrics, half of which I don't even recognize. I'm not sure if thats lame or not in this world of non-emo grownups.