the year end stuff

This morning, around, oh, 3:45am, I threw back the covers, grabbed my pillow, and stomped out of the bedroom because Joe was snoring so loud that I felt my only options at that point were to either smother him with a pillow or go sleep downstairs. I chose to sleep downstairs. I hope Joe appreciates that.

So, you know, I guess it would seem that the year is going out the way it so often comes in: with too little sleep and a headache. I guess what I'm trying to say is I feel hungover even though I haven't had a drop of alcohol which seems unfair? But c'est la vie.

I'm so tired, in fact, that I have started babbling even more incoherently than I usually do, leading Joe to tell me multiple times to just take a nap already. But will I? No! Because I'm not tired! I am basically this today:

TAKE A NAP

But that's not what I want to focus on. OH NO IT'S NOT. It seems only right that I write some sort of end of the year wrap-up, because of, I don't know, blogging rules or some shit. So here are some things, mostly good, that happened this year.

1. I had some book reviews published on Pajiba. SO AWESOME.

2. Related: Marcus Zusak, author of The Book Thief, tweeted me about my review of his book. SO VERY AWESOME.

3. Also related: blogger and writer Pamela Ribon also tweeted in response to a review. ALSO SO VERY AWESOME.

4. I quit the job that was causing me emo feelings.

5. I got a new job where it's actually in the job description to play with dogs and cats.

6. I went on several trips, Chicago (twice!), South Carolina, Florida, and had almost 100% positive experience with all! I say almost because one trip was for work. The non-work parts were awesome. The work-work parts were...not.

7. Two friends had babies.

8. PENGUINS.

9. Had some feelings about volunteering.

10. Wrote a lot. I know it doesn't seem like it if you just look here but I wrote here and for Cannonball Read and Ashley's Harry Potter project but I also did a lot more personal writing. So there's that.

There's probably more but I'm tired of typing and really wanted to end on 10 SO THERE.

Happy New Year, internet. I wish you many David Tennant GIFs (and, you know, other good things) in the coming year!

Allons-y!

We should BUY A BAR.

Lately, I’ve been trying this new thing where I write a post and then let it sit for a day (or at least half a day) and revise it later. It’s much different than how I used to post things to my blog. I would just open Blogger, spew my word vomit into a draft, MAYBE read it a couple of times, and then hit publish.

So now I write something and try to forget about it for a bit. Which is nice. But it also leads to a new problem. I now catch myself just writing any old thing, really letting the stream of consciousness thing get away from me, and thinking, “oh, don’t worry about what you’re writing right now, Future!Jennie can fix it,” which is great and all, at the time, but I eventually turn into Future!Jennie and wish I hadn’t left a mess of words on my hands.

I guess, if nothing else, Future!Jennie is at least a day or two smarter than me, so that’s something.

This is a common occurrence, really, and not just with writing. I pretty much live my life by a code and that code is, “I’ll worry about it later.” AND BOY DO I. Here are some things I’ve worried about in the last 24 hours:

1. Whether Max sleeps too much.

2. What Phoebe's meows mean. Is she in pain? Hungry? Lonely?

3. Where Joe was, because he wasn’t home yet and OMG WHAT IF HE GOT IN A CAR ACCIDENT AND DIDN’T HAVE HIS PHONE OR WALLET AND THEY HAD NO IDEA WHO HE WAS.

4. Whether pulling a muscle in my neck while doing NOTHING means that I have a debilitating illness of some kind.

5. The stray(ish) cats that live in our neighborhood, namely one gray cat with giant balls (important detail) that used to hang out in our yard who I haven’t seen since the beginning of the winter. :(

6. That the deer who came back to our street are too cold at night. I wanted to put out some blankets but Joe wouldn’t let me. HE THINKS THEY LIVE IN A CAVE.

7. That I’ll bite into a carrot wrong and chip a tooth.

8. That if I can’t log into our bank accounts, it means someone has hacked us and stolen our identities, not that I typed my password wrong.

9. That River Song is going to show back up on Doctor Who. 

10. Life, The Universe, and Everything, obviously.

Aren’t you glad you’re not me right now? One might think, that if someone was prone to worrying about everything in the world, she might be more responsible about planning ahead and not procrastinating on everything in her life, but you’d be wrong. It’s the procrastination that leads to excessive worrying but if I didn’t have all this stuff to worry about, how would I spend my time? Productively? Perish that thought!

Last night, on my way to volunteering, I was complaining to my mom about how my day was so busy and I had to use my lunch break to put together my volunteering activity. She very wisely pointed out that the only reason I’d had to use my lunch break was because I’d procrastinated. I could have very easily come up with an activity over the weekend or last week or FREAKING WHENEVER, but did I? (No, obviously. Weren’t you listening just now?)

I’ve always been this way. In elementary school, I used to put off doing my homework each night until the last possible minute, and sometimes that minute was after bedtime, when I’d then sneak into the bathroom next to my bedroom and do my homework in the light of the bathroom nightlight. I can remember standing in line at school in the morning, waiting behind the other kids, to hand in my spelling book or whatever, and quickly finishing the assignment WHILE IN THE LINE. WTF?

I guess it’s comforting to know I’ve always been this way and will probably always be this way and it’s OK, because it’s who I am and I’d probably be even worse at being someone else. So I’ll just continue to let Future!Jennie worry about everything and deal with the consequences later. It’s probably not healthy but at least I’m not alone.

Of the people in this room, which one is A) wearing a spangly outfit and B) not of use?

Everyone wishes they were a superhero, right? That's a thing, isn't it? Or that they could do, like, magic? Like Harry Potter? Or better yet, magic like all-around badass Hermione Granger, because if you're going to do magic, you might as well do it like THE BEST WITCH OF HER AGE.



But magic requires practice and talent and really I'd prefer that these superhuman powers were just given to me so I don't have to do any real work. Yeah, yeah, I know that having superpowers often comes with a shitload of personal problems (with great power comes great responsibility, GOD I KNOW, UNCLE BEN, YOU KILLJOY), but I think the trade off is worth it. Though, I'm probably just saying that because if I had superpowers, I most likely wouldn't use them to better the world at all. I mean, I could sit here and tell you all that I'd immediately get a cape and some tights and start trying to save the world, but I think we all know that I'd only use my powers for personal gain. Which...I guess means I might be a supervillian? Oops.

What if we all got to pick a superpower once we reached a certain age? Like, CONGRATULATIONS, you turned 16, here's a car and THE POWER OF FLIGHT. HOW AWESOME WOULD THAT BE. I mean, I guess they wouldn't really be superpowers at that point, they'd just be normalpowers, which means there wouldn't be superheroes or supervillians, just heroes and villians, which sounds kind of boring so never mind. Only I get the powers. But if I could pick a superpower (or five, because lists make everything better), here are the ones I'd choose:

1. Flight (DUH)

THIS REQUIRES NO EXPLANATION.

2. Super!Brain

So I can be smarter than everyone, obviously, and plan all my Super!Plans. I assume that having superpowers is hell on a normal brain, so hopefully I'll be more equipped to deal with all of that if I have a Super!Brain.

3. Invisibility

So I can easily rob banks and stuffs. For money. For my Super!Plans.

4. Speedy Quickness

Because I might need to RUN SO FAST after I rob the banks and stuffs. Though. I can already fly, but we can assume the speedy quickness applies to flight as well as running, right? Yes. Let's definitely assume.

5. Invincibility (Confusing, right, because it sounds and looks like #3 up there? BUT THEY ARE DIFFERENT OK LEARN TO READ.)

Because what the hell is even the point of having superpowers if someone can just stab you and it's all OOPS WHERE'D YOUR BLOOD GO oh wait, you're dead. Obviously, the only way to protect your superpowered self is to be totally invincible so some stupid jerk can't come along and kill you dead like the rest of these puny mortals.



SO ANYWAY. I think we can all agree that if I did have any or all of these powers, I'd be NIGH UNSTOPPABLE, provided I ever worked up the motivation to stop watching Buffy reruns long enough to take over the world. I guess you're all safe.

FOR NOW.

it's the end of the year as we know it (so sorry for that)

Up until just a few years ago, I was fairly certain I'd never reach the day where I'd be completely fine with having no plans on New Years Eve. But here we are, almost completely plan-less, and I couldn't be happier. Our plan for the day, such as it was, included going out to breakfast and...that's pretty much it. We went to Trader Joe's last night to buy wine and snacks for tonight and that's as planned as we've gotten so far. 

I'm not sure if you're aware, but there's a Doctor Who marathon on BBC America today, but since Joe got the entire Doctor Who DVD collection (BE JEALOUS) for Christmas, we're having our own marathon by just picking out random episodes we want to watch. WE ARE FAR SUPERIOR TO YOU, BBC.

This past week or two has been so odd, what with the four day weekend for Christmas then another four day weekend for New Years and a bonus snow day in between. I'm not even sure what day it is anymore, which is going to make going back to work on Wednesday SUPER FUN but such is life, yeah? Such is life.

It's been a strange year. I guess. I say that every year. Today, I'd intended to write about my resolutions from last year and where I stood with them but it turns out I didn't write any resolutions last year. Which is just as well, really, because I'm not sure I'd have made much headway on any of them. Such is life. Did I already say that? Oh well. SUCH IS LIFE, JERKS. 

I'd make some resolutions for next year, but they're pretty much always the same. Write more. Exercise more. Cook healthier food. Watch less TV (PFFT). GET SHIT TOGETHER. I think the problem with these resolutions is that it's not possible, really, to achieve them. How do I know if I've written enough MORE or not quite enough MORE or just the right amount of MORE? SPECIFICITY, that's the key. So here goes:

1. Finish editing the novel I wrote like three years ago. I'm sure it's absolutely dreadful, first draft and all, which is probably why I can't bring myself to look at it OH ALSO editing is awful. But apparently, magical editing elves aren't going to take care of it, so that just leaves me.

2. Participate in Cannonball Read V. It was way fun this past year, even though I didn't make it to 52 reviews. BUT WHO CARES. I still wrote 34 more reviews than I ever have before. If you're at all interested in reading any of them, here they are. It's hard to tell, really, because I haven't gone back to read any of them, but I hope they got better as the year went on. And two of them were published on Pajiba, which is super exciting, so why WOULDN'T I participate again?

3. Run a 5K. Because why not? I'm putting this on here mostly because "run more" is a shitty resolution.

4. Actually use all the cookbooks I have, by cooking AT LEAST one recipe a month from one of them. I mean, come on, Jennie, get it together.

5. Get another dog YEAH JOE, WE'RE TOTALLY GETTING ANOTHER ONE.

6. Continue my FutureMe project. PROJECT makes it sound like I've thought it all out, but really I'm just writing a FutureMe email to myself once a week. I look forward to getting to start reading them this June. 

That's all I can think of. So. You're welcome that there aren't more you have to read. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

it's the most wonderblah time of the year

I don't know what it is but lately all I want to do is NOTHING. Like, literally nothing. I could sit and stare into space and...that would be fine, I guess? But instead I've been sitting and staring at the computer or the TV, which is almost like staring into space but space is bigger because it's full of...well, space.

This weekend I barely did anything BUT watch TV. And terrible TV! I'm sort of embarrassed about how many episodes of Grey's Anatomy I watched this weekend (and not just because YOU GUYS IT'S SO TERRIBLE) but mostly I can't even remember how many I watched THAT'S HOW MANY THERE WERE. I don't care, though, because I forgot how easy it is to get wrapped up in the goings on of Seattle Grace even though it's COMPLETELY NUTS and they are all terrible doctors. 

Anyway. I hope this urge to do nothing goes away soon because I was doing SO, SO WELL with the whole writing every day thing, and I was eating better and cooking more and exercising...um...sometimes and reading ALL THE TIME but now I can't even get into any books*. Until that happens, though, I guess I'll just be sitting here, doing nothing, and blaming it on the following factors:

1. The weather

It's not even that it's cold, it's that it's GREY ALL THE TIME. What's the sun look like? What's a sun? WHAT IS WARMTH AND HAPPINESS?

2. The time of year

The holiday season, it is upon us, but if it could get offon us anytime soon, that'd be awesome. There are too many plans and too many moneys to spend and not enough free time. BAH HUMBUG.

3. Eating terribly

Seriously, self, stop eating all the junk food. Leave some for everyone else.

4. Not exercising

I really like going for hikes/walks/whatnot but it's dark when I leave for work (basically) and dark when I get home and I don't want to get lost/kidnapped/abducted by aliens. Unless the alien is a specific Time Lord.

5. TV is too awesome

This morning I told Joe that we should get rid of cable and Netflix, because we'd get so much more done. He pointed out that we'd still have the internet because HE IS UNHELPFUL.


*that's kind of a lie because last night I started reading a book I really didn't want to put down but my brain apparently needs to sleep or something...stupid brain

Lazy Monday

1. HYPOTHETICAL for everyone. I know it's supposedly bad luck for a black cat to cross your path, but what if you're in your car? And what if you stopped so the black cat could cross because you could see it waiting by the curb like it might dart under your car as soon as you drove by? So you waited for it to meander across the street, glancing casually at your car as it went, and once it reached the grass, it turned to look at you as if to say, "hey, thanks, buddy." That's not bad luck, right? Because you were doing a good deed? Please don't poop on me, Universe.

2. I got an email from The Future today. Mostly it was full of inspirational "you can do it" stuff, but it ended with this: “PS: I hope you still love Doctor Who because HOLY FUCK that is a great show.” I don’t really know what to say about that.

3. Joe and I went looking for a new coffee table this weekend, which was really an excuse to go to thrift stores and buy things we don’t need. I really wanted to buy this awesome wooden duck statue but Joe took it away from me and put it back on the shelf and I was like, “but no, it’ll be a great conversation piece!” (which really meant that I wanted to buy it so every time I saw it, I could shout, “BONSOIR CANARD") and he was all, “sometimes you need to be saved from yourself.” Anyway, it was only $5 so I think I might sneak back there sometime this week and buy it. Anyway again, my point is:

4. the only things we ended up buying were books, because show us a used book section and we will walk out of that store with SOMETHING. In my case, it was a handful of books from my childhood (Christopher Pike! Babysitters Club! Judy Blume!) so look for those reviews soon.

5. We were in the car with Joe’s parents, on the way back from Joe’s birthday dinner in Cincinnati, when we discovered (from Twitter, of course) that Whitney Houston died. I don’t want to get all maudlin about it (it’s not my tragedy) or comment on the perils of celebrity or the dangers of addiction (I think we can all agree that this blog is definitely not the place for that kind of serious), but I will say that the first thing I wanted to do was call my mom, who used to play Whitney Houston tapes for my sister and I on the regular, and used to let us stand on the sofa and dance whenever this video came on VH1:

things that make me cry*:

1. People unexpectedly singing really well
2. Doctor-Donna
3. OK, most of Ten's shenanigans have made me cry at some point
4. And some of Eleven's
5. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
6. When TV characters who are not normally nice to one another are nice to one another
7. Beginners (jesus)
8. When people cry during their award acceptance speeches
9. Um, when people cry, just, in general 
10. When I think people are mad at me
11. When I get mad (I hate this!)

*not counting things, like, people dying because DUH

Grace in Small Things, part: I've lost track, I'm just going to start over

Hi, Internets. Remember Grace in Small Things? I was apparently doing this a long, long time ago and I think I was going to try and do it every day for a year? Maybe? Who knows what crazy plans Past!Jennie had? Present!Jennie is going to move forward with it and hopefully Future!Jennie will not be disappointed. I don't know.

Since next week is Thanksgiving, which, as everyone knows, is the perfect time to give thanks for all the important shit in your life (...and maybe don't call it shit?), I thought starting GiST again would be appropriate. So. Here we go again:

1. I am now the proud (co-)owner of 75 new-old books, thanks to the Planned Parenthood Book Fair, held every year here in Dayton. It is the most magical place, a gymnasium full of tables, toppling with books, books that cost no more than $2. This year, you could pick up a brown, paper bag, fill it to the brim, and the whole bag was only $5. If I had been by myself, I would have stayed until they kicked me out (or ran out of books) but since I had others with me, we only stayed about two hours, IN WHICH TIME WE GOT 75 BOOKS.

2. I ate a late lunch today, which made the afternoon fly by even faster than it normally does.

3. We saw Nancy and her baby this past weekend. The baby is now a month old, so I bought her a present OBVIOUSLY. I bought her a book, even though she can't read it herself yet. I'm so excited to have little kids in my life so that I can be their book dealer. I'm a PUSHER, Cady.

4. I also got to see two of my other BFFs this weekend. Kate unexpectedly spent the night on Saturday so we all went out to a delicious, greasy breakfast the next morning, and then to the above book sale. Later that day, we went to Nicole's, watched Dexter, and talked about Buffy and zombies.

5. Two of my cousins have something devious planned for Thanksgiving and have been taunting everyone on Facebook about it for weeks. I'm very excited to see what shenanigans they've come up with and feel strangely proud that they're both so delightfully weird. I like to think I had at least a small part in that.

The worst thing about prison was the dementors.

1. It is misty and gloomy today, I think probably because there are dementors around or something. As I do not (yet) have a magic wand, I cannot produce a Patronus to get rid of them. Sorry. I will work on this.

2. When I was on my way home from work yesterday, I pulled up behind a car with the following bumper stickers: "JUST BE NICE" and "If only those with closed minds also had closed mouths." Then a truck pulled up next to that car. The truck had the following bumper stickers: "OBUMMA," "YOU LIE" (with the O being, of course, the Obama O), and "Undocumented Worker" next to a picture of Obama. CHARMING. It made me sigh a lot.

3. Slightly related to #2 (heh), I would like to start a religion based on the JUST BE NICE bumper sticker. Because, OMG people, JUST BE FUCKING NICE TO EACH OTHER.

project(s) update = yaaaaawn

Hey, look at that, it's November 15th, which means the month is HALF OVER. How did that happen? November seems to be the month of projects or something and I figured since the month is half over, I'd report on my progress. STAY TUNED FOR EXCITEMENT, EVERYONE. And by excitement, I mean this will be really boring, probably, but try and stay awake, will you? Thanks.

NaBloPoMo: Well, I've posted every day, so technically it's going fine but I feel like I'm cheating because the quality of my posts...well...let's just say there have been a lot of Youtube videos.

Harry Potter Read-a-thon: I am so gonna win. I'm about halfway done with Half-Blood Prince. I don't anticipate Dealthy Hallows taking very long because once I get to a certain point, I am physically unable to put the book down.

NaNoWriMo: I am almost to the halfway point. I think I'm a couple thousand words away from 25,000, so I'm hopeful that I can write a little extra each day and finish on time. Once I'm done with Harry Potter, I should have a lot more time to write.

30 Days of Harry Potter: Um, I've missed a ton of days on this. So here, really quick, are my answers to the questions I've missed so far. Oopsies.

Favorite magical creature

Buckbeak!

Favorite professor

Loony Loopy Lupin!

Who would you want to be friends with at Hogwarts?

Luna Lovegood!

What pet would you want to have? (owl, cat, rat or toad)

Owl!

Favorite spell

Accio all my crap! I'm lazy so this one would be perfect.

Top 3 least favorite characters

I hate Umbridge enough to count for three people, so Umbridge, Umbridge, Umbridge!

lists!

Things I Have Done Recently:

• saw Up (and cried)
• played Wii Fit (and cried)
• went to the pool
• got a bit sunburny on my back
• read
• ate Chinese food (mmm)
• drank beers (mmm)
• ate pizza (mmm)
• drank more beers (mmm)
• introduced Joe to Old School
• ran

Things I Am Going to Do in the Near Future:

• see The Decemberists
• go to volunteering and participate in the annual balloon launch
• see a sneak preview of The Hangover
• run some more
• figure out how to use my new camera
• pack
• go to Myrtle Beach

Places I'd Rather Be Right Now:

• at home
• at the pool
• um, anywhere, really, to make a long story short

I'm late! I'm late! For a very important date! Ha, JK, I'm never late.

You guys, it was as windy as a windicane last night. I was a little worried about the power going out for 80 days again but all my worrying was for NAUGHT. As usual. I worry a lot about stupid things, is what I'm saying. I think a lot of this is because I'm a planner. I plan everything. I plan my evenings, even if I have nothing to do. I'll be all, "first I will go home, and then I'll work out and shower, and by then it will be 6:30, and if I make and eat dinner, it'll be about 7 and then I will read and then I will watch TV and then I will hug the Internet and then I will go to bed." And if there's a kink in my plan, I worry. And then I have a tiny breakdown and then I'm OK.

I like to have a plan and I LOVE to make lists. It's comforting. I'm not one of those people who usually accepts last minute invitations to do things, because most of the time I've already planned something and even if that plan is to DO LAUNDRY, I don't like rearranging my schedule. Because, see, I plan so much so I can utilize my free time to the fullest. If I can figure out the most efficient way to get all my shit done, that leaves the most time to do . . . nothing. And since nothing is what I prefer to spend most of my time doing, this is ideal. (Nothing = reading, writing, scouring the internet for things I don't need, Wii, TV, movies, etc.) This is why I'm always on time or early for things and why my head explodes a little when I have plans with someone and they are late. I can't help it. It's the way I'm wired. I'm a control freak and I've learned to accept it NAY embrace it.

All this means my brain is busy a-planning today, because I have dinner with Joe and his parents tonight, and Thursday night TV with Heidi, and dinner and wine and Wii with Heidi and Nancy tomorrow night, and Saturday is Valentine's Day, and Sunday is Joe's birthday, and Monday is Joe's birthday party, and Tuesday is volunteering and I'm already exhausted by all the fun and excitement. It's going to be hard to squeeze in any nothing time, but I think I can do it. After all, I've had almost 27 years of plan-for-nothing experience.

grace in small things (day 2)

1. Miller Lite
2. pajama pants
3. sleeping in
4. fun plans with fun friends
5. Sad Captain (explanation to follow if I remember)
   

grace in small things (day 1)

So I'm trying this: Grace in Small Things. I saw it on Heather's blog and basically, every day, I will find five good things in my life. You know, little things that are easily overlooked. Lately I feel like work is making me really angry and world-hatey and I don't like being that way. Normally I'm optimistic to the point of denial (see November 2004: "Kerry could still win!") and I like that better. Aaaaanyway. Here are my five for today:

1. Casual Friday
2. NPH
3. Emails from Joe that start like this: Are you there, Jennie? It's me, Joe
4. It's supposed to be 43 degrees today (HEAT WAVE!)
5. PB&J sandwiches

It's a good day, too. I'm wearing my mustard shirt.

OH MY GOD, YOU GUYS, I'm so excited. I wish work was over. Unfortunately, it's not. Not even close. But whatever, we have beloved friends visiting tonight and there will be food and drinking and FUN, but hopefully no bar fights*.

Did you know it snowed yesterday? Well, it snowed yesterday and everyone forgot how to drive. Heidi explained to me that it's because a lot of people in Ohio are Republicans and Republicans are bad drivers. I never knew I was a Republican. Zing! Anyway.

Last night, while I was waiting for Heidi to get home, I did a bit of cleaning for our guests. Nothing extravagant like cleaning the bathroom (crazy), but vacuuming and cleaning Phoebe's litter box so it didn't smell like poo. Did I tell you I bought Phoebe a fancy, new litter box? It's one of those that has a little walkway and it's all inside an igloo, because I was tired of seeing her poo. Because, see, she doesn't always cover it up very well. Wow, anyway. I bought her this new one and I think she was really confused, because for a while, she wouldn't use it. So I took the lid off of it for a couple of days and then she used it and then I put the lid back on, but I wasn't sure if she was using it because she's not very smart. Maybe she just thought if the lid was on, the place to poo went away. You will never believe how happy I was yesterday when I lifted the lid and saw a bunch of turds. Joe called soon afterward and I was all, "Guess what! Phoebe pooped in her litter box!" and he was like, "Great, I just called to tell you about the CD I just found OK bye!"

You know, I think that's the greatest story I've ever told on a blog EVER. Speaking of blogging, today marks my fifth anniversary of blogging. Not just on this blog, though. Also here and here. Good times. Oh, shit, I guess it was yesterday. Oops.

Where was I? OK, so I cleaned a bit. Not as much as I should have. This is what we did last night instead of cleaning our apartment for our beloved friends:

• went to Starbucks and got hot chocolate (OH MY GOD YUM)
• went to Target, where I spent a bajillion dollars on toiletries and such
• went to Papa Murphy's to use a coupon and buy delicious pizza
• discussed a text message to send a boy
• watched 30 Rock
• watched Ugly Betty
• watched The Office
• watched more 30 Rock
• oh, and planted seeds for a tiny Christmas tree

Target Dollar Spot strikes again! I hope it grows big and strong by Christmas. Joe made fun of me (standard) for buying a tiny Christmas tree, but when Heidi and I are rich because of our Christmas tree farm, he's gonna be so jealous.

*fun fact: I found this entry by searching my blog posts for "bar police mom"

don't drink the hateorade

I complain a lot. Ask anyone. ANYONE. These are the things I've been complaining about lately, but in an effort to make myself a better person, I'm going to complain about them AND THEN say something good about them. Look at that. I'm growing.

1. Cold weather

Earlier this week, I started complaining about snow and it hasn't even gotten cold enough to snow yet. Also, the cold weather makes it harder to go running because it makes my throat hurt (waaaaaaaaah) and I have to wear a jacket. I HATE WEARING A JACKET. The good thing about cold weather, though, is that I no longer sweat like a pig while running and also it was cold enough last weekend to build a fire and roast marshmallows. Win win win.

2. the election

I've known who I was going to vote for since February 2007. And since I know who I'm going to vote for and am sick of hearing about the election and am double sick of seeing Palin's stupid face everywhere, can't they just move the voting to today? Or even tomorrow. I'm flexible. The good thing about the election is . . . um, it's almost over. Also, I could go vote early if I wasn't so lazy and if I didn't heart voting on election day so hard.

3. Atonement (sorry, Ashley)

I finished the book the other day, and I only did it out of pure spite, because I guessed the ending after beginning Part Two, and I didn't like any of the characters, and Briony was stupid and annoying, and it moved SO SLOWLY and I don't really like war books anyway (except for The Things They Carried). But. I plan on seeing the movie, because I've heard rumors that James McAvoy is super dreamy in it.

4. NBC

We still don't have it. Instead we have HBO Family, which has been running the same five movies over and over. We have Batman Returns (good), E.T. (good), some movie about kid entrepreneurs (didn't watch it, but it looked really cheesy), some movie about kids stuck in an airport (didn't watch it, but it had Lewis Black in it so it couldn't have been good), and The Astronaut Farmer, which I can't watch because Billy Bob Thornton ruined David Duchovny's marriage. This not having NBC is not good, no matter what way I look at it, because you know why? The version of E.T. they're showing is the new one. And in the new version, they took out the part where Elliot calls his brother, "penis breath." Enough said.

5. money

As in, I have none. The good thing about this is, it forced me to reevaluate my budget (ha, what budget).

6. Thanksgiving

First of all, nothing can top the Thanksgiving Miracle of last year, but this year Thanksgiving is with my mom's side of the family which is the side of the family full of DRAMA AND CRAZY. Because of this, Thanksgiving will just be me, my parents, and sister, and that sounds practically perfect to me. I might even bring more than the rolls this year.

7. Christmas

See above: crazy family. They have rescheduled both Thanksgiving and Christmas, and even though I can't make it to faux-Thanksgiving, it doesn't matter because they only reschedule major holidays for my army-bound cousin, anyway. Oh, do I sound bitter? It's because I am. Anyway, the good thing about Christmas is I LOVE BUYING PRESENTS FOR PEOPLE. The no money thing makes this a challenge, but despite my laziness, I actually enjoy a challenge.

8. Puppies

Ha! Just kidding. No one complains about puppies unless they pee or poop somewhere they're not supposed to, and even then, it's half-hearted complaining because LOOK AT HOW CUTE THE PUPPY IS.

And now I want a puppy.

it was like flying with THE RIDDLER

Tamara wanted me to do this and then she YELLED at me because I hadn't done it yet SO HERE, TAMARA, GOSH!

1. What I was doing 10 years ago:

I was a goody-two shoes, over-achieving sophomore in high school. I wish I could go back in time and tell Past!Jennie to calm down already.

2. What 5 things are on on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order):

eat ice cream
write 300 words
go running
answer emails that have been sitting in my inbox for like 87 days
write an article

3. Snacks I enjoy:

The answer is chips and salsa. I would live on chips and salsa if I didn't think I'd suffer some sort of nutrition deficiency and die.

4. Things I would do if I was a billionaire:

Pay off my student loans
Pay off everyone else's student loans (my friends, that is, not like everyone in the world)
Move to a beach somewhere. Or Italy.
Hire a professional chef.
Buy a pirate ship.
Invest the rest in hoverboard development.

5. Places I have lived:

Ohio. The womb. Although, the womb was technically in Ohio, so never mind.

I'm supposed to tag some other people. So I tag Kat, because she keeps threatening to quit her blog. And I tag everyone else, too, so I have something to read.

what a man, what a man, what a mighty good man

MSN is one of my Great Work Distractions, mostly because they change the links on their page all day long. Today, one of the articles is The 75 Skills Every Man Should Master. And while I lack the proper plumbing to be a man, I decided to see how I stack up, starting with numbers 1 through 20.

1. Give advice that matters in one sentence.

I'm not good with the advice. Can I interest you in a sarcastic comment?

2. Tell if someone is lying.

I can do this! Everyone is a liar. True story.

3. Take a photo.

Easy. Point camera, push button.

4. Score a baseball game.

Um. Count the runs, right?

5. Name a book that matters.

I'm sorry, I cannot take this one seriously because this is what the article said: "The Catcher in the Rye does not matter."

EXCUSE ME? The Catcher in the Rye DOES NOT MATTER?!? I'm going to assume that was a typo, otherwise fuck you, article!

6. Know at least one musical group as well as is possible.

I suppose I could learn more about Rivers Cuomo.

7. Cook meat somewhere other than the grill.

OH MY GOD, I CAN ACTUALLY DO THIS.

8. Not monopolize the conversation.

I try not to do this, unless the conversation turns to The Office, in which case I can't help myself.

9. Write a letter.

I write the shit out of letters.

10. Buy a suit.

Um.

11. Swim three different strokes. Doggie paddle doesn't count.

Can I have water wings?

12. Show respect without being a suck-up.

Eff you.

13. Throw a punch.

I don't think I've ever punched anyone, really. I've always assumed that, should I need to fight someone, my fighting skills will simply appear.

14. Chop down a tree.

I would never chop down a tree because I love them.

15. Calculate square footage.

I passed 6th grade math, so I think I'm good here.

16. Tie a bow tie.

Shit.

17. Make one drink, in large batches, very well.

Does crack juice count?

18. Speak a foreign language.

Does pig latin count?

19. Approach a woman out of his league.

Hmm, I'm beginning to see why this article doesn't really apply to me.

20. Sew a button.

Uh-oh.

To be continued (unless I forget). Anyway, how did you guys stack up?

and I don't feel any different

Stolen from Heather:

1. What did you do in 2007 that you'd never done before?
Decided to live by this crazy "No Regrets" policy and do whatever the hell I wanted WITHOUT THINKING OF THE CONSEQUENCES. Actually, that's not so different than what I always do, I just gave it a name this year.

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Half and half, I'd say.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
I don't think so.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Not exactly.

5. What countries did you visit?
Um . . . NONE.

6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?
Is it shallow to say more money? It is, I know. I didn't lack fun times with friends, but I'm going to be greedy and say I want MORE. More road trips, too, now that I have a car that doesn't hate me.

7. What date from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Considering I can't remember any specific dates, I'm gonna say none.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
I ran a 5K!

9. What was your biggest failure?
I did not become rich OR famous.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
There was that time in April I spent puking my guts out.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
A new caaaaaaar!

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
What?

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
I'm gonna go with Dick Cheney, because he SHOT A MAN IN THE FACE. Other stuff, too, but let's not get into it.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Gas. I roadtripped A LOT, yo.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
DC!

16. What song will always remind you of 2007?
If you are chillyyyyyy, here take my sweater . . .

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. Happier or sadder? About the same, I think, but for way different reasons.
ii. Thinner or fatter? About the same, I think.
iii. Richer or poorer? A teeny, tiny bit richer.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Writing.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
TV-watching.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
Um, like next Christmas? Who knows, but I have an idea.

21. Did you fall in love in 2007?
I don't do that.

22. How many one-night stands?
I don't do that, either.

23. What was your favorite TV program?
The Office.

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
I'm not a hater.

25. What was the best book you read?
Stop it, I can't choose. I don't know if Harry Potter was the BEST book I read, but it was the most memorable. Especially since I had to steal my copy from the apartment complex office.

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Spoon! Although, that's technically not right because I didn't DISCOVER them in 2007. But they came out with a new album in 2007, so that's close enough.

27. What did you want and get?
A car that does not hate me.

28. What did you want and not get?
A computer that does not hate me.

29. What was your favorite film of this year?
Did Pan's Labyrinth come out this year?

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I was 25 and celebrated once with my parents and friends and once with just my friends. You wouldn't believe which night was crazier. Or maybe you would.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?
I'm not sure Threadless and jeans counts as a fashion concept.

32. What kept you sane?
Wine and lots of it.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
John Krasinski. Jake Gyllenhaal. I will not choose between them.

35. Who did you miss?
Not going there.

36. Who was the best new person you met?
Those who were in the vicinity of Rocket Bar in DC on the night of November 24th. You know who you are.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007.
Do not try to do electrical work by yourself. MORE IMPORTANTLY, the No Regrets policy may not always lead to the outcome you desire, but you'll have fun along the way. True story.

Sorry, but a toll is a toll, and a roll is a roll, and if we don't get no tolls, then we don't eat no rolls.

I thiefed this from both Kat(!) and Heather(!) Anne(!). Because I'm too lazy to write anything. So not only am I a thief, I'm a lazy thief and those are the worst thieves of all. Thief!

Comment ANONYMOUSLY! I'm not yelling at you, really, just . . . it's harder than it looks. That's what she said. Or HE said.

1. One secret.
2. One compliment.
3. One non-compliment.
4. One love note, but it does not have to be for me.
5. Lyrics to a song.
6. How old you are.
7. How long we've been friends.
8. And a hint to who you are.