2010 Already?
photo credit: Sukanto Debnath
I don’t know about anyone else, but 2009 pretty much flew by for me. It seems like just last minute that I got used to typing/writing “09″. I consider myself very lucky for having a wonderful year. Now, there were some downs as well as ups, but the ups, I feel, outweighed the downs in 2009, for sure. Maybe this calls for some sort of list?
Downs
- BPV (vertigo) – ugh…that sucked ass BIG time. Still reeling a bit now (2.5 months later) – so still sucking ass little time.
- Besides vertigo, I got sick more often in 2009. I washed my hands like crazy (they are so dry now…), but that didn’t seem to help. Scratch that…I KNOW washing hands help, but perhaps I bathed in some germy, bacterial and viral concoction while sleepwalking and boy, I had or still have to fight the good fight every once in a while.
- Reality TV – I got sucked in and I tried to suck the husband in too because I’m quietly evil that way. American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance and Hell’s Kitchen. Adam Lambert gave us chills (in a good way), some dances made the husband cry and who doesn’t love a raving and cursing lunatic?
- We didn’t travel in 2009. We did go to Florida and North Carolina to visit family, but we so wanted to go back to Aruba or somewhere AWAY. It WILL happen in 2010.
Ups
- We closed and re-financed our first investment property. We have a decent amount of equity (25-30%) and making a slight positive cash flow each month. The re-financing was a harrowing and frustrating procedure, but we finally made it through. If banks had necks, I would sneak up to one (just one to get my anger out) from behind and choke it with dental floss.
- We re-financed our primary residence – our lovely, but constantly chaotic 2 bedroom co-op. Chaotic is a mild term, you should see what the heck is going on right now. You should…but I can’t show you. If I did, I would then have to sneak up behind you with dental floss. I’m working on something big (big for me) and have been hard at it for a bit now. When it’s time to make it public, I will make an announcement right here! Stay tuned for that, my donkee friends! That was called a TANGENT…
- We paid off our HUGE tax bill from 2007. AMT (Alternative Minimum Tax) can kiss our flabby asses!
- I visited my folks in Long Island more often. I seem a bit less like the ungrateful daughter/sister/aunt that I am.
- I’ve become more tolerant of babies and children in general. This is a direct result of my nieces, nephew and friends’ lovely children. They’re just so awesome…
- I’ve finally let go of my bitchy, grouchy and miserable persona courtesy of my previous job. I hit my one year anniversary in my current job in late 2009 and yes, it did take about one year for me to get over the trauma of the previous torture box. I’m not all sugar and spice…I can be a bitch, a grouch and wallow in general misery, but only on special qualified occasions and every second week of the month, not 24/7 like before.
- I wake up earlier. Voluntarily, not dragged out of bed cursing the world, scratching its face and kicking its balls. Weekdays now is anywhere from 6 – 6:15am. Weekends anywhere from 7:30 – 10am. All times are approximate and so totally different from years before. Weekdays used to be the last possible minute to LATE, like 7-7:30am. Weekends used to be 2-4pm. I kid you guys not. I’m just not as tired as I was before. I’m much less stressed and much more happy (see above). There is just SO much more fun stuff to do now!
- I can’t bring myself to buy $500 boots, $300 shoes and $600 coats anymore. What’s the point? I’d much rather see that cash in the bank. It’s a shift in thinking and mindset. Whereas those $500 boots used to make me feel great, the high was always short-lived and really never provided much substance. I was never really SATISFIED in all cylinders. Fashion show-off me would feel great, but financially savvy me would feel really guilty and all around practical me knew that it was all so unnecessary. Now that I’m shunning those expensive add-ons and parking that cash where it belongs (in the bank or actually, 2009 was paying all those medical bills), everything feels RIGHT. I don’t miss those damn boots and I really have more than enough of…everything. Oh, and thrift stores ROCK!
- I’m reading books out of my decades long comfort zone. I’ve always been a literary snob and have always gravitated toward heavier stuff from back in the days. I limited myself to (although they still remain favorites because they taught me so much and provoked me into thinking rather than just being entertained) Dostoyevsky, Kundera, Hesse, Steinbeck, Hamsun, etc. The husband finally broke through my veil of literary snobbiness and convinced me to read other genres and started me on high fantasy and sci-fi. With a roll of my mocking eyes and a righteous snort, I embarked on my first high fantasy series and I’m telling you…it’s MAGIC! No, seriously…MAGIC! Thank you to the husband for opening my eyes (my eyesight was and probably is so limited and narrow, but being the husband, that’s part of your job…to keep introducing me to things), thank you to Ursula Le Guin, to George R.R. Martin, to Scott Lynch, to Robert Jordan (RIP) and to Patrick Rothfuss for sharing your worlds.
- Donkee House was born. A fledgling blog…still trying to find its identity. Even though it’s still so very young, it’s already evolving into a more personal log rather than fitting into a certain niche or two. I hope you guys will continue to ride with me as this space continues to change, evolve and move forward!
- I quit smoking on 2.26.09.
So yeah, 2009 was a pretty good year, right? 2010 started out with a bang…even though I was off work this week, I still was working mighty hard on my new venture that will soon come to fruition. As for what I was doing on the stroke of midnight on the dawn of this new decade…I was playing Guitar Hero…I was rocking it out, folks!
So…was 2009 a good one or a bad one for you? With all my might, I sure as hell wish it was a good one or that the good moments really shined for you!
