2007 Year in Review
(Geez, what a pretentions title for what amounted to not a whole lot of interesting things. Sorry about that!)

Favorite Movies

• Hot Fuzz

I have a thing for Simon Pegg. Put him in a police uniform? There will be drool.


It was interesting to see a how creative the Brits could get with their violence, since guns were (mostly, until the end) not a factor. And boy, did they!

• Death Proof

For the Nova, the long car chase scene, and the ass-kicking ladies. (I would like to grow up to be Zoe Bell, pretty please.)


Noticeably absent? No Country for Old Men, which made pretty much every best of 2007 list EVER. Yes, I saw it. And I can't for the life of me understand why everyone has such a hard on for it.

Sure, it was good (though, as is always the case, the book was better) and I love emotionally distant/violent men as much as the next gal (and was especially fond of the whole Two Face/coin deal) but how the fuck am I supposed to be scared of Ray Romano's brother sporting a Dorothy Hamill haircut?





No. You do not scare me. Sorry. Just...no.

(And yes, I know that's not really Brad Garrett but sexy badass Javier Bardem, so you can go ahead and spare me the emails. Thanks.)

Favorite Books
(Not all published in 2007, but read in 2007.)

• The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

I love it when first-time authors hit it out of the park. A book review for this title summarized it as touching upon "murder, insanity, feral twins, a ghost and a fire". What's not to love?

This book was made to be read at night, or when the weather is dreary. (What, none of you read 5+ books at a time so you can select the right one according to the day/time/your mood? Well, fuck you guys, then.)

• Suits Me by Diane Middlebrook

Still reading this one, which I touched on in an earlier entry here. Though the subject matter certainly makes for compelling reading, the author's writing style flows so naturally that it's hard to put this book down.
• Pride of Baghdad by Brian K. Vaughan

Already in love with Vaughan from his work on Y: The Last Man and Ex Machina, I finally got around to reading this. I don't know what it is about human nature that generally makes it easier to empathize with animals than with our fellow human beings, but Vaughan uses that to great effect in this story. The ending of this graphic novel fantasy (there are talking animals) actually shocked me, when in fact the reality on which it's loosely based should shock me a whole lot more than it does.
• Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

Yet another case of a first-time author just killing it. (Though this is the third book in the Twilight series, the first book was the author's debut novel.) Technically teen fiction, this book has been named to so many "Top" and "Best of" lists (for both adults and teens) that it has gained a wide audience.


I loved this book (and the entire series) which is all about mind reading, vampires and werewolves, with a ton of that teen staple: tortured romance.

(Shut up, guys. Reading teen fiction is part of my job, meaning that I have to do it.)

...

(Whatever. Fuck you guys. Again.)

There's probably like 348,487,237 books that I'm forgetting, but my attention span is short, so I'm moving on.

Favorite Songs
(Again, not produced in 2007, but listened to in 2007. Ugh. Why do I even try with these things...)

• Road to Peace by Tom Waits

I love pretty much anything that this man does, but this song just about makes me cry every single time I hear it, and since my family has seen me cry like three times in my life, that's saying something. If the lines "And the last thing that he said on earth is "God is great and God is good"/And he blew them all to kingdom come upon the road to peace" doesn't get to you, then you are made of stone. Stone!
• Eternal Love by The Sheiks

I just want to lay in bed, listen to this song on repeat, and get high. (Which is something -smoking pot- that I haven't done in ages. And I'm not just saying that for the coworkers that read this site. Really. I just don't like smoking, in general. But what I described above sounds like an absolutely perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon, so I might just be willing to make some sacrifices. Saint-like, you say? Oh, I know.)
• Lunatic by The Bruisers

I don't know how they got a Billy Joel cover to rock this hard, but they did. The lyric "you might enjoy some madness for awhile" is so totally my new pick-up line. (The old one? "Get the fuck away from me. No, I mean it. Go. Die for all I care. Wait, where are you going? Get back here!" Worked. Like. A. Charm.)


I just used the phrase "rock this hard", and for that I am sorry. I'm clearly running out of steam on this topic, because I could go on forever and ever about all of the lovely music out there, and how much I really, really love it all, and the thought of how long it would take to type all of that is overwhelming. So I'll wrap this up, before I freeze up, and mention the words "licks" or "chops". (shudder)

…so I'll just say that I also like a lot of the songs listed here.

Favorite Drink

• Jamesons 18yr. old

I received a bottle as a birthday present, or as I like to call it: The Best Birthday Present That Ever Was.
• Honorable mentions: beer and wine

Two years ago, I hardly enjoyed these two. Now, they pretty much make up a food group in my diet. This is good, as they tend to foster a tender, and very gentle feeling of drunkenness unlike the "brick wall" feeling of whiskey. This is bad, as I then assume that I can drink more of them, or more of other things with them. And that little problem will be touched on, shortly.

Things I would like to do more of in 2008

• Say tired lines that I still find really, really funny

I don't know about you guys, but I don't think the phrase "that's what (s)he said" gets said quite enough. I plan to take care of that. You're welcome!
• Engage in fisticuffs (Please do not confuse with the similar term from Chasing Amy)

I hit someone in the face last Friday night. While most of the night is a complete blank in my memory, my fist connecting with their face is one of the very few things I remember. (THANK YOU, BRAIN!)


I'm quite positive that I didn't inflict any real damage, or even pain for that matter (I was having trouble standing; how hard could I have possibly hit?) so I don't feel too bad about finding the whole thing just a little bit hillarious.

(It wasn't a fight, or at least I wasn't scrapping with someone for reals. I was just being a drunk crazy bitch. Surprised?)

So I would kind of like for 2008 to be the Year of the Fist Fight.

This brings up several problems, however. I think 99% of fights are stupid. There's pretty much no reason for a mature adult to raise their fists.

But then, I've never claimed to be mature.

Already pro at egging houses, hopping fences, and the like, I see fist fights as a logical next step in the "this seems like a good idea when drunk but someone is going to end up hurt and the fun will stop RIGHT THEN" chain.

But since I hit like a girl, and get drunk enough to not be able to feel in some parts of my body (it's how I wear the heels) I'm not too worried about the "fun stopping" part.

Yet.

Things I would like to do less of in 2008

• Throw up

It doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's a fucking event. There was that one time earlier in the year during spring break, which was pretty bad. But it's not even close to what happened last week.


(Get ready to love me a little less after reading this.)

(Don't say I didn't warn you.)

(Ready?)

After drinking a bottle of wine with dinner and then deciding it was a super! good! idea! to hit the bars for 3+ hours, I woke up early, early Saturday morning. Why did I wake up early? Because I was THROWING UP. In SOMEONE ELSE'S BED. While they were SLEEPING NEXT TO ME. (Though they woke up pretty quickly after that. Couldn't just be a heavy sleeper, could they?)

I mean, even I have to take a step back and shake my head. New low? OH YEAH. But it's one of those things that I find so completely and totally mortifying that I just have to laugh about it and TELL EVERYONE, like that somehow brings it back around all the way to being ok.

(Please love me, still.)

Biggest changes in 2007

• Moved out of Orange County (praise the lord) and back to Long Beach
• Left my boyfriend of over 3 years
• Bought a new car


I am beginning to feel as emotional about the second one as I do the third one. This isn't a good thing or a bad thing, just a thing.

In 2008, I will (hopefully)

• Move

Preferably to a place all by myself (did it for 2 years and loved it - I'm big on walking around naked, or, just being too lazy to put on clothes), though as I like to buy these things called shoes, that may not be possible.


A couple of friends have offered me rooms at their places, though I can't for the life of me imagine why. (Both of them know about the fist fighting and puking, too. They're fucking crazy, my friends.) However, conventional wisdom dictates that moving in with a friend is the quickest way to kill the relationship. Still, the significantly lower rent is attractive.

So, we'll see.

• Graduate

Cross your fingers, people. No, seriously. DO IT.
• Get a promotion or switch jobs

Decisions, decisions. Perhaps I should start thinking about this one...
• Not throw up

Or maybe just not at a guy's house, as this is where the last two incidences occurred. And these guys weren't friends (if you know what I'm saying, and I think you do, because I'm not really being subtle here) which made it especially embarrassing.


Awesome date? Yes, I SO AM.

***

So there you go. I resolve to puke less, and to annoy people and hit them more. Possibly while living with them.

Should be a really great year!

(Though this shit I'm hearing about Huckabee and the Iowa caucus [haha, caucus] does not bode well AT ALL.)