old lang syne

I probably should have updated around Thanksgiving when I was supposed to have been grateful. I'm a rebel. I don't buy into prescribed gratefulness. I'll be grateful when I'm good and ready-- and I'll have another helping of stuffing while I'm at it!

So now that it's 2009, I'm finally ready to be grateful, thank you. My parents got on my case for like two weeks to write my own paragraph for our family Christmas newsletter. You know the kind. They're one step above writing bios for programs, where you have to write something very short, but informative, about yourself. Bragging is wrong, right?, so it's hard to start up and make it sound all humble, but then once you're on a roll it's hard to stop because I am a big deal, you guys.

Only kidding.

But really. I have had a real important, grown-up year, and I'm suddenly kind of overwhelmed with all the interesting things I got to do. Since last Christmas I've performed in seven productions.

A Christmas Carol - She Loves Me - Little Women - The Marriage Proposal

Pericles, Prince of Tyre - Sweeney Todd, in concert - A Christmas Carol

I visited the Mother Land.

Hampton Court Palace - Oxford University - Parliament and Big Ben - Shakespeare's Globe Theater - Edinburgh Castle - Eiffel Tower

I saw some pretty cool art...

Cupid & Psyche - Le Moulin de la Galette - Starry Night Over the Rhone - Dance Class at the Opera
Not pictured: Bathing at Asnieres (Seurat); The Astronomer and A Lady Seated at the Virginal (Vermeer)

...and visited (and maybe cried over-- you don't know!!) some interesting dead people.

Ben Jonson - Oscar Wilde - William Shakespeare - Anne Boleyn - THE CHOPPING BLOCK!!!
Not pictured: Queen Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots, John Donne, Georges Surat, King Henry VII, Gilbert Shakespeare, some Scottish soldier's dogs

I got in my first (and hopefully only) car accident.

Not pictured. Though the accident ended up paying for my trip to England, I try not to think about the experience. Shiver.

I heard some good music, too.

Rooney - Ben Lee - Ben Folds - Rooney - The Rocket Summer

I love good food, and I ate a lot of it-- with some great friends, no less.

Trying sushi for the first time, Happy Sumo - Asuka nights with AJ/Kyle/Julie etc - Hooters with JerBear/Matt/Melinda - Bagel at JFK Airport

McDonalds, Paris, France - Spoon Me, London, with Jana/Kevin - English breakfast, Stratford, England - Pericles lunches
Not Pictured: Lunch in the Hampton Court gardens with Anna; 800 trips to Denny's with Julie/Jeremy/Kyle/Aj/Janessa/Darick/Mitch/Riley/Sheldon/Jami/Jillian/Bizzy/&tc.

And to top it off, I threw a real-life, grown-up, kick-AH New Year's PARTY, that people actually came to, that involved vintage dresses and tuxedos, that utilized a dozen random Christmas trees, and that was severely romantic.

Here's to 2009, baby. It'll be tricky, but here's hoping 2008 actually pales in comparison.