Building up to 2009

Well, so far today I saw Bedtime Stories with my mom (we liked it!), went to Mass (tomorrow's a Holyday in the Catholic Church), made olive tapenade with my new mini-Cuisinart (Christmas present), made an attempt at a Metropolitan (from this book but I think I needed cranberry juice cocktail instead of boiling/smashing/straining leftover cranberries--too tart).

Check out one of the cool glasses Younger Sister gave me for Christmas.

I hate going out New Year's Eve because of people who are too stupid to stay off the roads while drunk, and I also think it there's too much emphasis on having someone to be with at midnight, so I'm just going to pop in some videos and chill. First this episode (hopeless romantic hypocrite that I am) and then maybe some of this (VHS! Old skool! Yeah!). I do have to get some sleep--I have to be at the bookstore at 11 a.m. (!).

2008 was one of the better years I've had in a long time, even if it was rather hard to get through at times (Great-uncle's funeral, dumb school stuff), and I did crazy things like date yet another jerk and quit my job. I moved to a much better home, I had a powerful student teaching experience, and I got my MS-LIS.

Speaking of which, I'm happy to announce that last night I found out that I passed the certification exam I took in November. I got 100 points above the score required to pass, and did better than average. Two down, one more to go in a couple weeks.

I'm not a fan of making resolutions. This time last year, I made a list of things I wanted to accomplish in 2008. I did O.K.--a lot of "sort ofs", which I guess is better than "not at all." I got to the beach, and I got a piece of writing published (sort of--under my real name in a serious blog in my field), stuff like that.

I'll probably recycle some of the "sort ofs" for 2009, and add a few new ones. It's kind of exciting. Even though I'm anxious about the job situation, I feel really hopeful for the coming year, and having been through some rotten ones, I'm hoping and praying that it'll be good not just for me but also for everyone I know, and especially for those who couldn't wait to throw out the current calendar.

Happy, healthy, joyful, grace-full 2009, everybody.

I'm off to watch some videos.