Once more, with feeling...

I had sort of talked myself out of doing the annual meme this year, having decided that I'm bored with it and that my answers don't change all that much, anyway but now that I'm face to face with a laptop, I figure I may as well do it. I did it first is 2007, again in 2008, and last year.
I wanted to upload some photos, as well, a few of my favorites this year but Blogspot won't let me so I'll come back to that later.
So here goes, the annual What's Up With Banana meme, version 2010.

1. What did you do in 2010 that you'd never done before?
I asked a celebrity to take a photo with me when I spotted her at the movie theater and I totaled a car. Not at the same time. Also, I got a dog.

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Maybe?

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No, no one close to me but someone close to my guy did. Does that count? I got to hold the baby.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No, thank God.

5. What countries did you visit?
I didn't leave the US this year. Now I'm sad. .....Stupid question.

6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?
Things were good this year. As always, I'd like a little more money in my bank account but generally, I'm blessed to have the things I do and don't really lack for anything.

7. What dates from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
There were a lot of really great days this year. My favorite was probably my birthday. Everyone dressed up, there was dancing, I was happy. It was a phenomenal birthday.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
I am embarrassed to admit that there are no great achievements this year. I did a couple of photo shoots that I'm proud of and I bought a domain name but this year was sort of a slacker-type year and I've got to push myself quite a bit more in 2011.

9. What was your biggest failure?
No failures. One Big Mistake, but no real failures.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I DID!! I should have added that to the first question! This year was my first ER visit (twice). I had an abscess in my throat and couldn't swallow anything and before that, I was in a car accident and needed to have my neck looked at (it was fine).

11. What was the best thing you bought?
I got a great lens for my camera, a nice 50mm. I love it and am going to marry it. Also some great dresses and shoes.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
A good friend of mine is dealing with some incredibly difficult things with remarkable grace and maturity and I'm so proud of her.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
This year was tougher than most, people-wise. A good friend sort of drifted away and I finally cut the ties, a figure from my past popped up and wreaked havoc in my life, and there was a guy at work making things Very Difficult for me but as of now, all those things are over and I'm good again.

14. Where did most of your money go?
.....Honestly? ......clothes.... .......i am embarrassed.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
The concerts I saw this year - some really great ones, including a few of my very most favorites. Some shoots, the lens I finally got after coveting it for years.

16. What song will always remind you of 2010?
I heard this for the first time early last year and just loved it to bits. Listened to it constantly.


17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder?
happier
b) thinner or fatter?
fatter, definitely. :(
c) richer or poorer?
about the same.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
I really, really, really need to focus more on building my own business and taking better pictures. I didn't work on that nearly enough this year.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
There was a lot of fighting with people this year. I don't usually do that and I'm sad that it happened at all.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
I spent the holiday with my family. It was lovely.

21. Did you fall in love in 2010?
Sort of - I rediscovered the person I thought I knew, and fell in love all over again.

22. How many one-night stands?
Again, and as usual, not even one.

23. What was your favourite TV program?
30 Rock is still holding strong, recently I've really enjoyed Raising Hope, and I always love Doctor Who.

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
I am a hate-free zone.

25. What was the best book you read?
Oooh.... That one's kind of tough. I can't really think of any books that really blew me away this year. I finally read A Prayer For Owen Meany and I dug it, so that one? Maybe? I'll get back to you....

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Hmmm.... Maybe A Fine Frenzy? I like them. Oh - and Maximum Balloon. They're fun.


27. What did you want and get?
A feeling of contentment.

28. What did you want and not get?
A million dollars? A unicorn?

29. What was your favourite film of this year?
Scott Pilgrim vs The World. Fan-farking-tastic. Kickass was really fun, too.

30. What did you do on your birthday?
There was a big party at the Edison with all my friends dressed up in their Fancy Duds.

31.What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
My year would have been much more satisfying if I'd been less passive about working towards where I'd really like to be.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010?
Lots of boots this year. Lots and lots of them (I got my new favorites yesterday). More colored tights.

33. What kept you sane?
The Guy.

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Steve Martin. I've always loved him but the stuff he writes on his Twitter account brought him right back to first place in my shallow little heart.

35. What political issue stirred you the most?
I'm still pretty worked up about this whole Health Care thing.

36. Who did you miss?
Again and again, it's my brother and my grandparents.

37. Who was the best new person you met?
I've made a couple of new friends this year. As to who was the best? I don't know. It's too soon to tell.

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010:
I'm trying to remember to appreciate the truly wonderful things I already have.

39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year
"So make your siren's call
And sing all you want
I will not hear what you have to say

Cause I need freedom now
And I need to know how
To live my life as it's meant to be"

~The Cave, Mumford & Sons

Precious Snowflake

My dog has two best friends; one is a much bigger dog and the other is a slightly larger homicidal cat. Playtime is a pitched battle for survival. As a result, my adorably tiny bundle of fluff is the neighborhood bully. He thinks he's playing, the neighborhood pampered pooches are cowering in fear. Their owners glare at me over their shoulders as they pull their precious snowflakes away from my miniature beast. I mumble feeble excuses and apologies. My dog wonders why no one wants to play with him. Everybody loses. Thank goodness he's cute.

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Happy Holidays!

Christmas is a'coming and for the first time in years, I'm practically almost ready. I've got gifts for the Guy, his Kid, my Mom, the BFF, the slightly lesser FFs, and some co-workers. The only problem giftee (every year) is my Dad. The guy is so quick to purchase anything he wants that I can never beat him to it. His hobbies and interests are so few and specific that it's difficult to avoid buying the same things every year. My inner monologue when shopping for Dad goes like this: "Books about the Civil War! John Wayne movies! Books about the Civil.... Waitaminute...." Every year. Once I become a gazillionaire, I'll buy him a yacht with a Civil War cannon on it, name it The Duke, and consider him gifted for life.

Thanksgiving was fun this year. I went with The Guy and The Kid to see his family in Northern California and once we'd arrived, I ditched my boyfriend for this guy:

And this guy:

(The mustache is not real)

It was a fun long weekend. When I wasn't trying to make friends with the two-year old, I spent most of my time holding the tiny baby or lurking just behind people that were holding the tiny baby, so as to be nearby when they were ready to give him up. The Guy and I spent one baby-free day in San Francisco and that was perfectly lovely. I'll be traveling with him and The Kid again this month, going to see their family in Boston in the week between Christmas and New Years. This is particularly exciting because I've never been to Boston and I understand that it will be Extremely Cold there. I have hats, coats, gloves, and scarves that I never get to wear here in LA that will finally be useful!! Very much looking forward to this.

Wild and crazy Saturday nights

I am a wild and crazy gal who spends her Saturday nights doing wild and crazy things. Tonight, for example, I spent hours sitting on a couch being Very Very Quiet while a todder slept in the next room. CRAZY, I KNOW! I don't know how I manage to keep up with myself.
I'd stupidly forgotten to bring a book with me so I had to raid the family's shelves and ended up with Into The Wild, by.... That one guy. It's a pretty easy read and I finished it in about two hours. Here's the thing... I'd heard about the kid (you know, the one who took off into the Heart Of Alaska all by his lonesome and then died) but had never seen the film that had been based on this book and so this was the first detailed account I'd heard of his life and death. Now that I've read it, I'm even more confused: The author tried to paint the kid as an unfortunate Spirit of Adventure, a Soul Searching Wiseman when really he was ill-prepared, naive, more than a little arrogant, and ultimately, careless of both his family's concern for him and his own life. Spirit of Adventure, my ass. He was a kid who made stupid decisions and died because of them. I was also annoyed by the two chapters the author used in the middle of the book to tell his own life story. I think it was supposed to prove that he understood the dead kid better than anyone else had up til now because THEY HAD DONE PRACTICALLY THE SAME THINGS. Except, you know, differently. Really annoying.
So that was my Saturday night. Watched a kid, read a book, got really annoyed and ranted about the book, drove the Guy's car home with the headlights turned off, passing THREE cop cars, had a tiny freakout when I parked, turned the headights off and realized what I'd done, walked dogs, and got ready for bed.
No way next weekend's gonna top this one.

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The zoo

My guy is in Florida for a little while and because his dog hasn't been doing so well, I've moved into his place to care for the dog while the guy is away. My own dog gets along well with China but I didn't want to drive back and forth between our places every day to care for my cat as well as the two dogs so I moved the cat in here, too. It's taken a couple of days for everyone to get used to each other but now it seems good. China the Pit Bull ignores Ferris the Cat, who likes to tackle Dr. Evil the Maltipoo, who enjoys wrestling with China the Pit Bull. Sitting on the couch, I can look down the hallway and watch the animals zip back and forth from room to room, like those old movies. First, there's a quick gray flash (Ferris) moving from the guest room to the master bedroom. Seconds later, a slightly fuzzier flash of white (Dr. Evil) follows. There's a smacking sound, sometimes a muffled yelp, then the fuzzy white flash comes barreling out of the master bedroom, followed closely by the quick gray flash and both disappear into the guest room. There is more smacking and yelping and the gray flash is rushing in and out of the hallway again, the white flash just behind him. This happens over and over and is always hilarious, especially when Dr. Evil tries to make a quick turn and ends up skidding along the hardwood floors and crashing into the walls. China does not play the Hallway Game. She waits in the living room until Dr Evil comes rushing past, all giddy with excitement, and then with one swipe of her massive head, she takes him out. Once he's down, China stands over him as he's lying on his back, limbs in the air, and she sort of gums him to death (she's pretty old) while he bats ineffectually at her with his tiny lamb legs. Again, hilarious.
The house is noisy but it's certainly not lonely.

Dr. Evil got a haircut today and he lost about seven inches of girth. He's got a puff of a tail, a puff of a head, and a stick of a body between. My dog is a Q-Tip. When I picked him up from the groomers, I started laughing as soon as I saw him - I wish I could get a picture that really shows just how ridiculous and adorable he looks - and throughout the day, whether I'm walking him or watching him play with (get mauled by) the other animals, I keep laughing at him. He's gonna end up with a complex.