Cozy Gray Sweater

I'm alive.

Real entry coming soon.

My one year Voxiversary was on August 31. I'd even put a note on my calendar so I didn't forget about it. And then I forgot to check my calendar.

Happy Voxiversary to me! This year has been really crazy and I can't imagine what it would have been like without all of you there to support me. Here's a little rundown of what went down:

-I went from living in apartment with my fiance, to living in my own apartment, to living with roommates. What's next? The plan is to move back in my parents and make my regression complete.

-I broke up with my fiance for being emotionally abusive and having unrealistic expectations of me. We've remained friends, despite his rebound. I still miss the good times fairly often, but I have to keep reminding myself of why it didn't work out because it's one of those things I'm not sure could change.

-I met some really awesome people, including Molly, Travis (even though he moved halfway around the world) and of course Christina.

-I gradually grew to love my job less and less, until the love turned to like, and the like turned into tolerate, and the tolerate turned into a general dislike with moments of hatred.

-I went on a lot of dates. Most of them sucked, but a couple were pretty good. When I finally met someone I did like, I turned into a drunken idiot and ended up without a favorite pair of earrings. I am still in my earring-less state.

-I quit playing World of Warcraft and started up again several times.

-I realized I didn't know what direction I wanted my life to go in, except that more than anything I want to go home.

Nabbed from Kate.

1) What author do you own the most books by?
J.K. Rowling.

2) What book do you own the most copies of?
Copies? I don’t own multiple copies of any book.

3) Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?
It hurts a little, but I tolerated it.

4) What fictional character are you secretly in love with?
When I was younger I was in love with Ira from the book The Night Room. No one so much anymore, although I’ll always have a soft spot for Mr. Darcy.

5) What book have you read the most times in your life (excluding picture books read to children; i.e., Goodnight Moon does not count)?
Probably An Invisible Sign of my Own by Aimee Bender, or Fishbowl by Sarah Mlynowski, or maybe The Night Room (see above).

6) What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?
I loved Tamara Pierce back then.

7) What is the worst book you've read in the past year?'
Sadly, it’s been about a year since I left grad school so I can’t put something from that. If I don’t like a book, I wont finish it.

8) What is the best book you've read in the past year?
Special Topics in Calamity Physics

9) If you could force everyone you tagged to read one book, what would it be?
An Invisible Sign of my Own by Aimee Bender, because I

10) Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for Literature?
Paul Auster or Jhumpa Lahari

11) What book would you most like to see made into a movie?
Fishbowl by Sarah Mlynowski

12) What book would you least like to see made into a movie?
They made a movie of An Invisible Sign of my Own…starring Jessica Alba…and I’m terrified to see it.

13) Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character.
I can’t remember any off the top of my head.

14) What is the most lowbrow book you've read as an adult?
I read a romance novel. The man was this lonely woodsman. The sex parts were good, but the plot was awful.

15) What is the most difficult book you've ever read?
Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man…and I loved it.

16) What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you've seen?
I’ve only seen Merchant of Venice, Hamlet…and I forget the other one. It was a comedy.

17) Do you prefer the French or the Russians?
The French, only because I haven’t really read the Russians.

18) Roth or Updike?
Auster…oh, fine, Updike.

19) David Sedaris or Dave Eggers?
Sedaris

20) Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer?
Chaucer

21) Austen or Eliot?
I like both, but I’ll say Austen.

22) What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
See number 17. I haven’t read the Russians.

23) What is your favorite novel?
An Invisible Sign of my Own

24) Play?
No idea.  I don't think I've ever read one.

25) Poem?
I can’t remember the name, or the poet, which is sad. (Although I love Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner, too, Kate.)

26) Essay?
Not particularly fond of those.

27) Short story?
The Chrysanthemums by Steinbeck

28) Work of nonfiction?
I don’t like to read nonfiction much. Blink was somewhat enjoyable.

29) Who is your favourite writer?
Aimee Bender or Paul Auster

30) Who is the most overrated writer alive today?
Steven King

I'm officially moved in to the group house. Although I still have a couple boxes to unpack. And I think I left my make-up bag at my old apartment.

My room is medium-sized with new hardwood floors and no closet. This is not the first time I haven't had a closet. My old apartment didn't have a closet. My favorite apartment of all time back in Hometown did not have a closet in my bedroom. I share a bathroom with two roommates, and it's a large but strange bathroom. It has this horrible black, white, and red design where the highlight is a bright red bathtub with a curtain that hangs from the ceiling. The curtain is kind of icky and needs replacing.

Downstairs is the living room, with a nice TV set and we have FIOS (which is strange because I haven't had cable since I was in college and I haven't had an actual TV in my place since moving to the City). There is also a dining room with a nice table. Lacey's piano is in there, along with my sewing table and Carolyn's desk. The kitchen is kind of crappy because there isn't much cabinet space or cooking space but there is a dishwasher. The outside is lovely. We have a huge backyard with a fire pit thing and Carolyn brought a couple tomato plants and herbs. There's also a hammok in the back which may or may not be leaving with one of the girls that's leaving. I hope not!

The housemates are my friend Lacey, who is tall and a bit on the heavy side with short dark hair. She's sort of seeing this guy Sven, but I haven't met him and she basically just goes to his place to sleep and have sex and sometimes they go out and do things. But he isn't her "boyfriend" even though that doesn't really make sense. Aimee, who has already been living at the house as well, is tall with blonde hair. She's thin and has a southern accent and is single. Carolyn is the other new person who moved in, and she's tiny and Asian. We met her boyfriend Micah who came to help her move in her stuff. 

I've always liked the Decemberists, but this song tops everything else I've heard of theirs so far.

What were your first words? If you have children, what were their first words?

My first word was "kitty cat." Yes, not only was it three syllables long but it's actually two words. I was 8 months old and apparently I was with my mother's friend and I pointed to a picture of a cat and said "ki ki ca" and my mother's friend flipped out and dragged my mom over and then showed me all these other pictures of cats. The way my mom tells it her friend was way more excited about it than she was.

My brother's first word was "grandpa." We were living with my mom's dad when my brother was adopted. It was so cute because my grandpa wasn't keen on the adoption idea but then once my brother actually showed up they were best friends. They'd take naps together. My grandpa died when I was in high school (and so my brother was about 10). It makes me tear up a bit thinking about it.

Charles: It’s raining here
Rosa: Here too
Charles: It’s not the same rain
Rosa: I know

This is from Pretend You Can Hear Me: 21 Very Short Stories by Kio Stark. I'm in love with it.

Molly likes to watch What Not to Wear.
Watching it, I decided I need a makeover. I don't need a whole new wardrobe (although some new shoes would be nice) but I'm going to get my hair cut, colored, and have my eyebrows waxed.

My hair is quite long right now, and I don't want to go shorter, but it hasn't been trimmed in forever and the ends are in poor shape. I think a bit more layering would be nice as well. Naturally I have dark blonde hair, and I don't want to go much darker in color, but I don't want to do the Hollywood platinum blonde thing, either, so I'm thinking redder, into a dark strawberry blonde.

I was figuring having the salon do the color, unless any of you think I'm wasting money not buying a couple boxes and having Lacey do it?