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The End of Another Year













This is where I'd like to be right now instead of holed up at my cubicle. Its the last day of 2007! It has been quite a whirlwind year with alot of change.

I'm going to try to do some reflection about the events of the past year...

January 2007. Mike and I were celebrating our 4-years together mark (we don't count time off, so I'm guessing its not a true 4-years). I was returning to my last semester in graduate school. I was employed at SI and working in the CPMS office. I think we were still on the 8th floor and I had my nice private little hallway to hide from people and do my school work. I moved to Mike's house in 'hoodbridge. I bought my wedding dress(es).

February 2007. Year of the Pig was celebrated. We went to Eden and then to Harvest Moon and enjoyed mediocre Chinese food along with the red envelopes stuffed with cashola. It was a relatively mild winter thus far. I was in the midst of three classes: Metropolitan Transportation Planning, Regional Economic Development and MicroEcon. We sent out save the date cards and I avoided thinking too much about the wedding in fear of blowing up.

March 2007. I got my hair trimmed for the first time since my trip to China last summer. I heard back a polite, but hurtful No from the Fulbright people regarding my grant to Ghana. I continued to slug to work and also wrote a paper about slugs as myself and our impact by the HOT lanes being built in I-395.

April 2007. Econ was still kicking my ass. Work was mostly fluff projects and we moved to the dungeon down in the other building. My scooter's battery died and to this day has not been revived. I began to plan my escape hoping that I would find some interesting prospects, but still hanging on. We were starting to get into the hardcore wedding planning junks, including the invites, dances, and costuming... I also suffered a mini-breakdown due to the brain-wash Church retreat marriage prep counseling. HELP.

May 2007. Graduation, finally! I crawled to the finish line without the prospects of a new job. But I had applied to a program at DOT. I turned 26. My sister got engaged in a huge fanfare of an event. The weather started to turn warm and I was still avoiding the huge impending wedding doom.

June 2007. Australia! I left for 3 weeks with the Global Young Leaders Summit to the land down under. I thorougly enjoyed working with my national guide, Denise, as we led my rowdy group of 25 students from Canberra (spl?) to Sydney to Cairns. The skyline in Sydney was every bit as amazing as I've seen on TV and losing my regulator while scuba-ing was quite the scary adventure. I also enjoyed my last day when I enjoyed the rainforest in Queensland via skyrail and train. A bit of wine also helped.

July 2007. Mike went to Vegas and I went insane. Dance practices, RSVPs flooding back in, seating chart, IT WAS CRAAAAAAAAAAZY. We managed to visit Kelly and Kerry in NJ and being screwed by our jeweler all in the same trip. I started work at DOT and Mike at Lexis.

August 2007. The big month. Marriage. Too much to recap. It was ridonkulouso.

September 2007. The Philippines. Highlights: the beaches of Palawan, food courts in Manila, our private driver, Glenn, Favila-mania/reunion, eating every fried dough object manageable, clean mountain air in Baguio, Balatoc Mines - who knew!, rainy days in Borocay, deathtrap that was Tita Linda's timeshare, the claw game, good cable on 2nd avenue, Let's Face It 3-hour facial, "Gentleman's Massage" (which was not what it seemed), lugging around a crappy guitar forever, flawless sunsets, sunburn a la snorkeling, hot spring pools making you want to pee.

October 2007. Return to the boring life - back in the U.S, back at my cube, and a major slowdown. I had been reeling from the wedding and it was the end of a period of nonstop activity. We moved 1/3 of our worldly possessions into the basement of 3907 Kansas. Unfortunately, my full ("single-self") bed caused problems for Michael's back and he's still whining about it until this day. Mike also developed an irrational fear of rats. For Halloween, we partied at Rock 'n Roll Hotel. I dressed as Minnie Mouse and Michael as someone murdered in his sleep by a rat. While walking down H St NE, a woman asked him what he was, when he responded, she said "You in the right neighborhood, brotha!"

November 2007. Again, not much to report. I'm wondering what I should do now that things are so calm. I've tried looking for some volunteer gigs. I would like to drum again, but with the lack of a house and not playing for over a year... I feel de-motivated. Phi and MM hosted Turkey Day and we showed BO ME how to play wii. I could feel the passage of time and my family drifting apart. My parents struggle to hold onto the reigns of control and blame American culture for stripping us of our filial piety.

December 2007. The end of another year upon us. Mike and I went nutz trying to get all the right Christmas gifts. Again, it feels so strange to force the holidays when we're already so grown up. The family drama drones on and there's no snow on Christmas. Work is dull and I'm wondering why I'm not more of a go-getter.

Ah well, 2008 here you come.