Hello 2010,

Wow, isn't that strange to say?

I personally think it'll be the hardest to become accustomed to writing X/X/10, instead of oh-something. At the same time it's cool though, just thinking of all of the time we have been around for. A friend of mine gave me something to ponder; there are eight year olds out there who weren't alive for 9/11.

So any which way, I spent the last evening of 2009 with my friends and their cousins up at their house. It was pretty fun :), your typical hanging out and whatnot, along with staying up til five in the AM. I actually skipped out on watching the ball drop and opted to seeing the fireworks outside instead. I allowed myself to sleep in til nearly 3:00 the next day, and here I am still tonight :). Tomorrow I'll be driving us home, a two hour trip, which I really don't mind. I was pretty happy that my parents allowed me to drive that far-- especially with just my friends, and it makes me that much more excited for road trips in the hopefully-near-future.

Quick re-cap on recent events: Somewhere between my last post and now I went with my guy friends to a local shopping center to pass some time. One of my friends, Zack, brought me to Barnes & Noble so I could pick out a book as my Christmas present :). I picked a Christopher Fowler mystery; TheWater Room. Along with that I chose another novel out of that series to buy myself, I just can't rightfully think which one it was,.. but it had an orange cover. Then I also bought A Thousand Splendid Suns, How Stuff Works(it was in the bargain section and looked interesting). From what I can tell it explains how television works, time, engines, ect. I bought another book "Made In America",but I plan to exchange it for something better; perhaps a moleskin journal. After B&N we went to the mall where I bought the peacoat above at Forever 21 :). I've been wanting one of these for awhile now, and at $24, it's a decent price. I spent the rest of that evening hanging out with those guys, the same ones as the cabin story in the previous post, which was definitely fun :).

VICTORY IS MINE.

Seriously, persistence pays off. Okay, maybe not in all cases, but it did for me this vacation. As many of you know, I lost my camera during a party I had a little while back. Well, I was becoming more and more frustrated with not having it, so this week I bundled myself up, grabbed a flashlight, and got down to business. But no, it was not to defeat 'the Huns' ;). As you can see from the photo above, I ripped up the entire first level of hay bales, which are normally nice and neat. I was tossing bales left and right, reaching my arm into scratchy holes, in a major effort to find my camera. I was ready to give up, out of breath, texting my friend to say I doubted I would ever find it. Then as I was about to leave, a couple of bales caught my eye and I decided to pull them up, reached my arm into the only gap I saw, and presto! There was my camera case :). I have to admit, I felt pretty accomplished. It still works perfectly too. Lesson of the day: Sometimes a little hard work is all that it takes.

A New Year.

Honestly, I didn't sit down and create resolutions before the fact. I had a thing or two in mind, but nothing extreme, you know? Being the first day of the new year, it really isn't too late to write a few ideas down though.

- Assert. I have been noted as a "pushover" before, and let's face it, that term is less than complimentary. It isn't too far fetched though, I'm that agreeable kind of person. It takes alot to truly anger me, and I usually don't make big deals out of things. That can be a good thing, but sometimes I think you need to vocalize how you feel, especially if you allow someone to make a choice for you that goes against what you really want. Especially if your justification is avoiding making the other person mad or creating an inconvenience.

- Write. Supposedly I want to be an author. This being said, you would think I write my brains out, my fingers sore. But sadly, I don't write much at all outside of blogging. I need to change this. I saw that my friend's cousin this weekend, who I also consider my friend, carries a small journal around at all times. That way he can always catch inspiration when it hits. I found that to be a brilliant idea and I think I may have to start doing so myself. I should read more as well.

- Cherish. As I've mentioned before, I worry about my grandparents at their current age and state of health. I really should spend more time with them, getting to really know them and their stories before I lose the chance. This isn't limited to them either; I'm moving on to college next year, I should use this time to show my parents that I appreciate them and everything they've done for me-- become closer, and get to know all of my friends on an even greater level than I already do. When I leave I want to truly know who I'm leaving behind. I want to know who to keep in my life, and have real reasons for why they should stay in mine.

Well, I hope everyone had a wonderful end to their year, and continue to enjoy this new one :). I'll be catching up with blogs soon.