Decade in Review

In addition to the traditional 'Year in Review' post, I've seen some people doing 'Decade in Review' lists, just short point forms of memories that you have of that year, big or small. Here's my spin on things:

2000 – high school ends, head out to 1^st year of university at Brock U. Am absolutely miserable, lonely & homesick (but am glad to have had experience of living away from home). Apply for transfer to U of T (best decision ever)

2001 – Am accepted to U of T, Victoria, move into Annesley Hall – realized how much fun university could be, what it was supposed to be like! I got so lucky, got to meet so many fabulous ladies.

2002 – Summer of the incredible collapsing lung, and the Grand Tour of Hospitals. Yuck. Followed by heartbreak – evidently, not a good year for my chest!

2003 – University. Can't think of anything else at the moment...

2004 - Move into Spadina House - good times (mostly - and we were there for each other in the bad). Thomas is cute.

2005 – Graduate university, travel to NYC for the first time (I heart NY!). Begin graduate program in Library Science because I don't know what else to do, realize quickly that it is really not my thing, and withdraw 2 months in. Glad that I gave it a shot, and met some great friends in the process though.

2006 – Job search, job search. Finally am successful at the end of March, and begin working at Eng. in April. Live downtown for the summer in a sweet condo by the SkyDome, enjoy a summer fling. Fun times!

2007 – Family cruise in February. Live w/ Leslie & Molly for the summer before Leslie's wedding in the West End. Meet Ian in the Fall.

2008 – Travel abroad for the first time, sister's wedding in the fall. New job, which turns out to be not so fun, but stick with it until something better comes along. Move in with Ian.

2009 - (see below for more details) Took some small trips, begin planning for next big one (cruise? Italy? pending...). Gramma passes away. Do pilates on a semi-regular basis, join gym, am more active overall. New job, which is happier making. Considering getting a dog .... :)

Staying Connected 2009 - Year in Review

Here we are, at the end of another year already. And a decade since the ‘Millenium’ New Year’s Eve, which at the time was a REALLY BIG deal. Where were you on December 31, 1999? I was at a fancy ‘masquerade ball’ at the Oakville Yacht Club, with the person I thought I would spend the rest of my life with. This years was spent at home, doing nothing in particular, with the person that I know I’ll spend the rest of my life with. (No, no rings yet. No rush…)

I’ve had a good year overall, with things definitely taking a turn for the better in the later part of the year. While I was frustrated with my job situation for the majority of the year, in late October I interviewed for a position within the University, and by the end of November I was starting my new job! I was only there for a month before the Christmas break, and I’m not sure what to expect when I return on Monday, but overall I am much happier, and enjoying the new department and purpose behind my job so much more (although I do miss my former colleagues, but at least they are still close by, so it has been easy to stay in touch).

I didn’t do any major trips this year, although Ian & I did manage a few small ones – nearly a week in NYC in May/June (Ian’s first trip to the Big Apple!), and a long weekend in Thunder Bay in July.

My Gramma passed away in June, after slowly being worn down by age and various minor illnesses that never really went away. She was 92, and had a good, long life – 7 children, 12 grandchilden, 5 great-grandchildren. While it was hard watching her slowly get worse, in the end she passed peacefully, and the days of the wake and funereal provided a chance for the entire family and many friends to gather together to remember her. As we had previously always had a family gathering on the Labour Day weekend to celebrate her birthday, my cousins in the St. Catharine’s area kept up the tradition, and the whole family traveled out to their homes, instead of them having to trek out to the GTA in mid-August.

In terms of getting more active, I have made progress in that – started to run a bit in the summer, did get a new bike, joined the gym, and have fallen in love with the Pilates Reformer (*waves to Saf*).

I ended the year off by becoming a MAC user - woo! Still learning the tricks of the trade (and pondering what to name my beauty - the iPhone tends to be referred to as 'the precious', a la 'Lord of the Rings', the Mini is still nameless), but enjoying them immensely.

I also started a photoblog this year - so far I have been slow in getting it going, and am still tweaking, but take a peek and let me know what you think.

Here's to 2010 being another good year - and that we manage to squeeze in a reunion or two before this time next year!

Love, C

Staying Connected 2008

The tradition continues! Like Saf, I'm not sure where this year has gone by - it flew. Its been a good year for the most part, one in which I did many new things.

I travelled abroad for the first time - England, Scotland, Ireland - which was fabulous. I have now been bitten by the travel bug, and want to continue to go and explore the world. I'd love to go back to see more of Ireland & Scotland (and perhaps Stonehenge in England, hmm...), as well as Italy, the south of France, Germany, and whatever else comes along. Pictures of the 2008 trip can be found here, if interested.

I moved in November, which in and of itself isn't a new activity - but the location and roommate were new territory. I moved to Mississauga, and into Ian's townhouse, which was an exciting leap. :) Things are continuing to go wonderfully in that regard, I'm very happy in my new home (please come visit! We have a Wii! haha). Another bonus is that it has cut my commute time in half (an hour door to door, down from 2+ each way) - not quite downtown living, but not too far away from it either.

I have been somewhat dissatisfied with my job situation this past year - early in the year, I found that I was getting bored and restless with my current job, that I had gone about as far as I could go in it. I was watching job boards, and applied for a few positions but not really expecting much to come of it. Well, something did, and I was offered a new job! I was excited to learn something new, and was able to arrange things so that the new job started after I returned from my UK trip, which was a nice break between the two. Unfortunately, as it turns out, although I am learning new things, I've found that I'm not really all that interested in what it is my current department does. Their goals & main focus are not something that I want to be involved in long term, I would like to re-join the academic side of the university again. So, I'm not loving my job, but am keeping an ear to the ground and trying to make the most of the experience. People keep asking me what my 'dream job' is/would be, and I don't have a clue yet ... still working on that. But getting a sense of what it is not! C'est la vie.

I'm not really one for New Year's resolutions, but I would like to make it a goal to become more fit this year. I tend to be lazy, and need a bit of a push to get started, but I'd like to create some better habits. I have been thinking about starting to run (with coaching, lol), and possibly cycling (I have been told I will be getting a new bike this year, that the one I got when I was 13 or so just doesn't cut it anymore). I got the Wii Fit for Christmas, which I am enjoying using - I know its not the most comprehensive workout, but its fun - and some of the games can defintely get your heart rate up!

Overall, 2008 was a pretty good year - was able to wrap up some loose ends, see a sister get married (after being together for 8 years!), had lots of friends become parents, and travel the world a bit. I hope that 2009 continues with more of the same, and that you all remain healthy, happy, and in touch! And we'll see how the search for the elusive 'dream job' goes ....

Love,
C

PS - Tulip, I had a dream about you the other night! You came to visit me at a wedding (not my own, I was a guest, as were you - although neither of us really seemed to know the couple all that well, lol). And then the next day I saw your post - it was a bit freaky. Doing special ed work sounds awesome, I know its hard work though. Do you know if 2009 will bring you back to the frigid north for a visit? I am jealous of your beachy lifestyle.... :) (Yes, this probably could have been a comment on your blog, but I'm in the zone here. I haven't written here since April!)

Fun with Yarn

For Spart - a homemade Wonder Woman sweater

Found via MightyGirl (hmm... appropriate!)

Good Cause

Hair Harvest

My friend Drew is challenging people to raise $2,000 for the Cancer Society in the month of April. He's been growing his hair for awhile now, and plans to donate it to be made into a wig, but if the goal is reached, he'll shave his head entirely! Which will look rather silly, but hey .... all for a good cause. Check it out.

Books, books, lovely books ...

From sappho

*bold those you've read
*add your own
*italicise those you started but never finished
*double star ones you want to read (added by me)
*post to your blog, if desired

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman**
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. 1984, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien**

26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl** (can’t remember)
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman (LOVE!)
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding (HATE!)
71. Perfume, Patrick Susskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith**
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel (love the whole series)
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot**
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie
101. Three Men In A Boat, Jerome K. Jerome
102. Small Gods, Terry Pratchett
103. The Beach, Alex Garland
104. Dracula, Bram Stoker
105. Point Blanc, Anthony Horowitz
106. The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens
107. Stormbreaker, Anthony Horowitz
108. The Wasp Factory, Iain Banks
109. The Day Of The Jackal, Frederick Forsyth
110. The Illustrated Mum, Jacqueline Wilson
111. Jude The Obscure, Thomas Hardy
112. The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13 1/2, Sue Townsend
113. The Cruel Sea, Nicholas Monsarrat
114. Les Miserables, Victor Hugo
115. The Mayor Of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy
116. The Dare Game, Jacqueline Wilson
117. Bad Girls, Jacqueline Wilson
118. The Picture Of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
119. Shogun, James Clavell
120. The Day Of The Triffids, John Wyndham
121. Lola Rose, Jacqueline Wilson
122. Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray
123. The Forsyte Saga, John Galsworthy
124. House Of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski
125. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
126. Reaper Man, Terry Pratchett
127. Angus, Thongs And Full-Frontal Snogging, Louise Rennison
128. The Hound Of The Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle
129. Possession, A. S. Byatt**
130. The Master And Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov
131. The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood
132. Danny The Champion Of The World, Roald Dahl
133. East Of Eden, John Steinbeck
134. George's Marvellous Medicine, Roald Dahl
135. Wyrd Sisters, Terry Pratchett
136. The Color Purple, Alice Walker
137. Hogfather, Terry Pratchett
138. The Thirty-Nine Steps, John Buchan
139. Girls In Tears, Jacqueline Wilson
140. Sleepovers, Jacqueline Wilson
141. All Quiet On The Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque
142. Behind The Scenes At The Museum, Kate Atkinson
143. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby
144. IT, Stephen King
145. James And The Giant Peach, Roald Dahl
146. The Green Mile, Stephen King
147. Papillon, Henri Charriere
148. Men At Arms, Terry Pratchett
149. Master And Commander, Patrick O'Brian
150. Skeleton Key, Anthony Horowitz
151. Soul Music, Terry Pratchett
152. Thief Of Time, Terry Pratchett
153. The Fifth Elephant, Terry Pratchett
154. Atonement, Ian McEwan**
155. Secrets, Jacqueline Wilson
156. The Silver Sword, Ian Serraillier
157. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey**
158. Heart Of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
159. Kim, Rudyard Kipling
160. Cross Stitch a.k.a. Outlander, Diana Gabaldon (LOVELOVELOVE)
161. Moby Dick, Herman Melville
162. River God, Wilbur Smith
163. Sunset Song, Lewis Grassic Gibbon
164. The Shipping News, Annie Proulx
165. The World According To Garp, John Irving
166. Lorna Doone, R. D. Blackmore
167. Girls Out Late, Jacqueline Wilson
168. The Far Pavilions, M. M. Kaye
169. The Witches, Roald Dahl
170. Charlotte's Web, E. B. White
171. Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
172. They Used To Play On Grass, Terry Venables and Gordon Williams
173. The Old Man And The Sea, Ernest Hemingway
174. The Name Of The Rose, Umberto Eco**
175. Sophie's World, Jostein Gaarder (LOVE)
176. Dustbin Baby, Jacqueline Wilson
177. Fantastic Mr. Fox, Roald Dahl
178. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
179. Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, Richard Bach
180. The Little Prince, Antoine De Saint-Exupery**
181. The Suitcase Kid, Jacqueline Wilson
182. Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens
183. The Power Of One, Bryce Courtenay
184. Silas Marner, George Eliot
185. American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis
186. The Diary Of A Nobody, George and Weedon Gross-mith
187. Trainspotting, Irvine Welsh
188. Goosebumps, R. L. Stine
189. Heidi, Johanna Spyri
190. Sons And Lovers, D. H. Lawrence
191. The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera
192. Man And Boy, Tony Parsons
193. The Truth, Terry Pratchett
194. The War Of The Worlds, H. G. Wells
195. The Horse Whisperer, Nicholas Evans
196. A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry
197. Witches Abroad, Terry Pratchett
198. The Once And Future King, T. H. White
199. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle
200. Flowers In The Attic, Virginia Andrews (ugh)
201. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
202. The Eye of the World, Robert Jordan
203. The Great Hunt, Robert Jordan
204. The Dragon Reborn, Robert Jordan
205. Fires of Heaven, Robert Jordan
206. Lord of Chaos, Robert Jordan
207. Winter's Heart, Robert Jordan
208. A Crown of Swords, Robert Jordan
209. Crossroads of Twilight, Robert Jordan
210. A Path of Daggers, Robert Jordan
211. As Nature Made Him, John Colapinto
212. Microserfs, Douglas Coupland**
213. The Married Man, Edmund White
214. Winter's Tale, Mark Helprin
215. The History of Sexuality, Michel Foucault
216. Cry to Heaven, Anne Rice
217. Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe, John Boswell
218. Equus, Peter Shaffer
219. The Man Who Ate Everything, Jeffrey Steingarten
220. Letters To A Young Poet, Rainer Maria Rilke
221. Ella Minnow Pea, Mark Dunn (LOVE)
222. The Vampire Lestat, Anne Rice
223. Anthem, Ayn Rand
224. The Bridge To Terabithia, Katherine Paterson
225. Tartuffe, Moliere
226. The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka
227. The Crucible, Arthur Miller
228. The Trial, Franz Kafka
229. Oedipus Rex, Sophocles
230. Oedipus at Colonus, Sophocles
231. Death Be Not Proud, John Gunther
232. A Doll's House, Henrik Ibsen
233. Hedda Gabler, Henrik Ibsen
234. Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton
235. A Raisin In The Sun, Lorraine Hansberry
236. ALIVE!, Piers Paul Read
237. Grapefruit, Yoko Ono
238. Trickster Makes This World, Lewis Hyde
240. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley**
241. Chronicles of Thomas Convenant, Unbeliever, Stephen Donaldson
242. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
242. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon
243. Summerland, Michael Chabon
244. A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole
245. Candide, Voltaire
246. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More, Roald Dahl
247. Ringworld, Larry Niven
248. The King Must Die, Mary Renault
249. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert Heinlein
250. A Wrinkle in Time, Madeline L'Engle
251. The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde
252. The House Of The Seven Gables, Nathaniel Hawthorne
253. The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne
254. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan
255. The Great Gilly Hopkins, Katherine Paterson
256. Chocolate Fever, Robert Kimmel Smith
257. Xanth: The Quest for Magic, Piers Anthony
258. The Lost Princess of Oz, L. Frank Baum
259. Wonder Boys, Michael Chabon
260. Lost In A Good Book, Jasper Fforde
261. Well Of Lost Plots, Jasper Fforde
261. Life Of Pi, Yann Martel
263. The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver
264. A Yellow Rraft In Blue Water, Michael Dorris
265. Little House on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder
267. Where The Red Fern Grows, Wilson Rawls
268. Griffin & Sabine, Nick Bantock
269. Witch of Black Bird Pond, Joyce Friedland
270. Mrs. Frisby And The Rats Of NIMH, Robert C. O'Brien (LOVE)
271. Tuck Everlasting, Natalie Babbitt
272. The Cay, Theodore Taylor
273. From The Mixed-Up Files Of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, E.L. Konigsburg
274. The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Jester**
275. The Westing Game, Ellen Raskin
276. The Kitchen God's Wife, Amy Tan
277. The Bone Setter's Daughter, Amy Tan
278. Relic, Duglas Preston & Lincolon Child
279. Wicked, Gregory Maguire
280. American Gods, Neil Gaiman
281. Misty of Chincoteague, Marguerite Henry
282. The Girl Next Door, Jack Ketchum
283. Haunted, Judith St. George
284. Singularity, William Sleator
285. A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson
286. Different Seasons, Stephen King
287. Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk
288. About a Boy, Nick Hornby
289. The Bookman's Wake, John Dunning
290. The Church of Dead Girls, Stephen Dobyns
291. Illusions, Richard Bach
292. Magic's Pawn, Mercedes Lackey
293. Magic's Promise, Mercedes Lackey
294. Magic's Price, Mercedes Lackey
295. The Dancing Wu Li Masters, Gary Zukav
296. Spirits of Flux and Anchor, Jack L. Chalker
297. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
298. The Encyclopedia of Unusual Sex Practices, Brenda Love
299. Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace
300. The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison
301. The Cider House Rules, John Irving
302. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
303. Girlfriend in a Coma, Douglas Coupland (LOVE)
304. The Lion's Game, Nelson Demille
305. The Sun, The Moon, and the Stars, Stephen Brust
306. Cyteen, C. J. Cherryh
307. Foucault's Pendulum, Umberto Eco**
308. Cryptonomicon, Neal Stephenson
309. Invisible Monsters, Chuck Palahniuk
310. Camber of Culdi, Kathryn Kurtz
311. The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand
312. War and Rememberance, Herman Wouk
313. The Art of War, Sun Tzu
314. The Giver, Lois Lowry
315. The Telling, Ursula Le Guin
316. Xenogenesis, Octavia Butler
317. A Civil Campaign, Lois McMaster Bujold
318. The Curse of Chalion, Lois McMaster Bujold
319. The Aeneid, Publius Vergilius Maro
320. Hanta Yo, Ruth Beebe Hill
321. The Princess Bride, S. Morganstern (or William Goldman)
322. Beowulf, Anonymous
323. The Sparrow, Maria Doria Russell
324. Deerskin, Robin McKinley
325. Dragonsong, Anne McCaffrey
326. Passage, Connie Willis
327. Otherland, Tad Williams
328. Tigana, Guy Gavriel Kay
329. Number the Stars, Lois Lowry
330. Beloved, Toni Morrison
331. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal, Christopher Moore
332. The mysterious disappearance of Leon, I mean Noel, Ellen Raskin
333. Summer Sisters, Judy Blume
334. The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Victor Hugo
335. The Island on Bird Street, Uri Orlev
336. Midnight in the Dollhouse, Marjorie Filley Stover
337. The Miracle Worker, William Gibson
338. The Genesis Code, John Case
339. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevensen
340. Paradise Lost, John Milton
341. Phantom, Susan Kay
342. The Mummy or Ramses the Damned, Anne Rice
343. Anno Dracula, Kim Newman
344: The Dresden Files: Grave Peril, Jim Butcher
345: Tokyo Suckerpunch, Issac Adamson
346: The Winter of Magic's Return, Pamela Service
347: The Oddkins, Dean R. Koontz
348. My Name is Asher Lev, Chaim Potok
349. The Last Goodbye, Raymond Chandler
350. At Swim, Two Boys, Jaime O'Neill
351. Othello, by William Shakespeare
352. The Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas
353. The Collected Poems of William Butler Yeats
354. Sati, Christopher Pike
355. The Inferno, Dante
356. The Apology, Plato
357. The Small Rain, Madeline L'Engle
358. The Man Who Tasted Shapes, Richard E Cytowick
359. 5 Novels, Daniel Pinkwater (also assorted other books, such as Woogie Norple, and 4 Novels)
360. The Sevenwaters Trilogy, Juliet Marillier
361. Girl with a Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier
362. To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf
363. Our Town, Thorton Wilder
364. Green Grass Running Water, Thomas King
365. The Interpreter, Suzanne Glass
366. The Moor's Last Sigh, Salman Rushdie
367. The Mother Tongue, Bill Bryson
368. A Passage to India, E.M. Forster
369. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky
370. The Phantom of the Opera, Gaston Leroux
371. Pages for You, Sylvia Brownrigg
372. The Changeover, Margaret Mahy
373. Howl's Moving Castle, Diana Wynne Jones
374. Angels and Demons, Dan Brown
375. Johnny Got His Gun, Dalton Trumbo
376. Shosha, Isaac Bashevis Singer
377. Travels With Charley, John Steinbeck
378. The Diving-bell and the Butterfly, Jean-Dominique Bauby**
379. The Lunatic at Large, J. Storer Clouston
380. Time for bed, David Baddiel
381. Daddy Long-Legs, Jean Webster
382. The Prodigal Daughter, Jeffrey Archer
383. A Game of Thrones, George R.R. Martin
384. The Beekeeper's Apprentice, Laurie R. King
385. Summon the Keeper, Tanya Huff
386. Don't Care High, Gordon Korman
387. Beauty, Robin McKinley
388. The Wood Wife, Terri Windling
389. Tam Lin, Pamela Dean
390. Briar Rose, Jane Yolen
391. Flying in Place, Susan Palwick
392. The Tightrope Walker, Dorothy Gilman
393. No Different Flesh, Zenna Henderson
394. Lost, Greogry Maquire
395. On Writing, Stephen King

396. Perelandra, C. S. Lewis
397. Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak
398. Where the Sidewalk Ends, Shel Silverstein
399. The English Patient, Michael Ondaatje
400. Till We Have Faces, C.S. Lewis
401. Emergence, David Palmer
402. Work, Louisa May Alcott
403. Norwegian Wood, Haruki Murakami
404. The Scarlet Pimpernel, Baroness Emmuska Orczy
405. The Story of the Stone, Cao Xueqin

As you can see, the classics and I don't get along too well.

From me:

The Thirteenth Tale, Diane Setterfield
The Time Traveller’s Wife, Audrey Niffenegger
Small World, David Lodge
My Sister’s Keeper, Jodi Picoult
All Families Are Psychotic, Douglas Coupland
Rainbow Six, Tom Clancy
The Red Tent, Anita Diamant
Good Meat, Dani Couture (woo Dani! : )
A Child’s Garden of Verses, Robert Louis Stevenson

Offhand, at least ... those are a just a few I see sitting around me now.

Staying Connected - 2007

A few days late, I realize .. but better late than never. Happy New Year!

I'm never very good at these year-end wrap up things (tend to forget lots!), but here goes...

Work
I had a good year in terms of work, and finally got officially hired as 'permanent'- yay! The best part of my job is my coworkers, it feels like I'm going in everyday to hang out with my friends (and maybe do some work stuff in between). I'm very lucky, I know, and thankful for them - we like each other so much, we frequently spend time outside of work together too (even as temporary roommates, in one case!).

Travel
I did get to travel this year quite a bit, if not the European explorations that I was originally envisioning (still on the list... ). Caribbean cruise in February, wedding in San Diego in June, and Nova Scotia in July - I got around, got to see some new sights (and warmer ones too!).

Christmas Stuff
Going back to some of the original topic suggestions posted... yes, we still do stockings, and we generally open them first, and all together. Then we open presents from youngest to oldest (although it used to flip sometimes - didn't much matter to me, I always fall in the middle between parents & siblings), its generally been from the bottom up. My mom mixed up the stockings this year for the first time ever, and reversed the contents of my sister's stockings, which was amusing. Catherine's stocking is handmade by my grandmother, but hers is the only one. They're all different. I think mine was a gift to me the year I was born, red with white trim, and a green pocket in the front with a teddy bear inside (who would stay up and watch for Santa for me). Catherine's has a pocket on the front as well, with a little deer statue inside, because she wanted one like mine, apparently.

Dinner was relatively small for us this year, just 12 people (which seems huge to most people I tell this too ...but we are used to closer to 20). It was good, always nice to enjoy the food and spend time together. We generally have Christmas crackers at dinner, wear the hats and read the silly fortunes and play with the toys.

Other
I discovered Heroes this year ... excellent show. Although good to watch on dvd, annoying to wait week to week (so many storylines, I forget whats going on). I'm sad that I don't have new Grey's to watch, although this season has been kind of meh, but was getting better - but overall, I really don't mind the writers strike, I'm just as happy not to feel like I 'have' to watch anything on TV.

More books! I discovered Douglas Coupland this year, and he is hilarious and awesome (and Canadian, even better).

2007 was a pretty good year overall ... here's hoping this continues in 2008!

Oh my darling...

Its clementine season! Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Best thing about this time of the year, hands down.

November 2007, copyright C. Collins.