Forget the land of milk and honey, this is the land of guilt and money!

Yikes all Friday, it’s really hard to believe this is coming to an end.  And I know that it’s NOT coming to an end, that it’s just changing, and change isn’t all that scary and most of the time it’s usually good for me and I can do this.  And I know I can do this because just look at the year before last, how it was pretty much great in most respects, and now this last year was THAT MUCH BETTER.

So instead of thinking of it as any kind of descent, I shall see this as jumping from one mountain top to another.  And there’s an ocean in between.

While I continue to put off packing or any other sort of necessary organisation (OMG DO YOU SEE THAT THAT’S HOW I SPELL NOW), it looks like it’s time for the semi-annual Listapalooza, and ladies and gentlemen, this year’s is an all-time best of four main acts, including a vintage list from 2007.  Let’s work our way backwards for dramatic effect.

May 19, 2009 (just a few months ago)

• Enjoy reading again.  Sort of. I’ve been putting forth the effort, and in fairness I did read a few good books like The Picture of Dorian Gray and At Swim-Two-Birds, but the latter of which is for my senior thesis so does that count as enjoyment?  In fact, I was disappointed by most of the books I read, including The Last Juror by John Grisham.  Seriously, this is the guy at the height of his game?  Womp-womp-womp, big stinker of a book.  So was the rest of The Country Girls series.  Dewey was sweet and adorable and made me cry but was probably a 5th grade reading level.  I started The Namesake but had to put it aside as I’m in thesis mode from hereon out.  I am enjoying Flann O’Brien’s The Third Policeman so far.
• Make significant headway on my thesis.  Har-har. Does reading two books count and barely getting an adviser to back me count?
• Walk for an extended period of time everyday.  Ding! Walking’s great.
• Make as many weekend getaways as possible.  Ding, with emphasis on the ‘as possible’. It has been raining longer than Noah’s frakking ark here.  No, honestly, you think summer in Massachusetts was wishy-washy?  I can’t even waste another breath on how bad the weather has been here, except to say that although we had a number of great weekends to Birr, Dalkey, Phoenix Park, Kilkenny, and more during those first really lovely weeks, it’s been impossible for the past two months.  But although there has been no Wexford or North as planned, we did go to Edinburgh which was really amazing.
• Organize my computer.  Ding, to little effect. I not only rearranged all my files, switched to Chrome, and defragged, I literally took off the keyboard and cleaned out the dust in the fan.  But my fan is still pathetic and this computer is a piece of shit.
• Write something new.  Nope. That is, I didn’t write any new fiction (plenty of articles).  But I don’t mind.  That’s just not what I want to do write now.  I like my life too much to get caught up in fake ones.
• Go for a swim with some frequency.  Nope. I went twice and then chickened out because I aqua jog which is very slow, and all the fast swimmers intimidated me.
• Do stomach crunches before bed.  Nope. Pretty sure the last time I did this was the night I wrote this list.
• Learn to cook more meals.  ¡Ole! Quesadillas, anyone?  Also a bunch of other things but those were a hit.

• Go to the Dublin Zoo.  Ding!

• Visit the Aran and Blasket Islands.  Ding! Actually, I just got to barely see a strip of the Blasket Islands because the weather was too SURPRISE RAINY to take the ferry out, but I got to bike around Inismore.
• Buy something locally made at the Designers Mart in Cow’s Lane.  Ding! This was very specific of me.  But I bought my ragin’ winter coat.
• Track down distant relatives and bahbahbah.  Nope. I did visit the town where my great-grandmother either was born or where her birth certificate was manufactured.  I don’t care to know the details on that miscommunication any longer.
• Spend a night in a castle.  Nope. Hot damn castles are expensive!  But I’ve visited enough of them to know I don’t really need to stay in one anymore.  Unless someone offers.
• Play a round of golf when my dad comes to visit.  Nope. Too short a visit.
• Get invited to dinner at someone’s country home.  Ding! Ohhhh, let’s just say, every weekend and most weekdays.
• Go horseback riding.  Nope. Remember when I used to say my motto was, “I almost did and then I didn’t”?
• Learn an entire song in Irish by heart.  Ew, no. Gotta say, I’m not enamoured of Irish music at all anymore.  Although I can recite all the Luas stops in Irish by heart, does that count?
• Get married.  Ding! Just kidding.  Or am I?

September 26, 2008 (just before leaving)

• Not be afraid of anything.  Yeah right, kiddo. There’s no such thing as not being afraid of anything, but I’ll tell you what, I sure got over a bunch of things I was afraid of.  Except spiders and the deep blue sea.
• Like where I was and where I am.  Ding. It’ll take me a little bit longer to learn to like where I was because I like where I am too much, but I know it’s important.

September 27, 2007 (oooh, now we’re reaching back)

• Finish my novel rewrite and show it to more people.  Nope. I worked on it, a lot, but it’s just not something I’m proud of and don’t really want to do it or think it’s what I should be doing, so there you go.
• Buy some dresses.

• Start a large-scale photography project.  Ding! I get full credit because I never said I had to finish this project, and indeed I didn’t.  I pooped out during the last two months officially, but honestly I’d given up long before that, most of those photos are lies.  Lies!  An interesting project, but not necessary.  See what I managed to compile here.
• Knit something big, something challenging.  Ding! I crocheted an afghan for my brother and sister-in-law the Christmas before they got married.  It took me between one and two months, which was much faster than I thought.  Crocheting is really quick and easy and has a nicer appearance than knitted stiches, I think.

• Get a boyfriend.  DINGDINGDING. Oh, and he’s kinda a super fox of the male persuasion.
• Live somewhere else for a year.  DINGDINGDING. Best decision I ever made.  Plan on doing it again ASAP, but somewhere else.
• Eat new foods that won’t embarrass me in restaurants.  Guess what, ding! You better believe it, I’ll eat just about anything now.  Things I won’t eat: sushi, celery, cabbage.

Goodness gracious, now I have nothing to do for the next two years.  I’m sure I’ll think of something.