rebecca_in_blue: (trembling hand)
Yesterday was Grandma's deathiversary. At services this evening, the lay leader read her name from the bema as part of the yahrzeit list. That was hard. In recent years, the start of a new year always depresses me, and this didn't help. I have to remind myself that there are still good times to be had. NCIS will be back with new episodes next week, and that's just what I need to distract me from all this funk. (Also at services this evening, I sat in the back and crocheted plarn through the whole thing.)

Below the cut is another list for 2012, of young actress movies that I saw that year. (Last year's list is here.) Once again, I kinda dropped the ball on watching one a month.


Young Actress Movies of 2012 )

And finally, my 2012 in a nutshell: Grandma died. Sable died. We moved. I learned how to crochet with plastic bags. I discovered and became scarily obsessed with the musical Les Miserables. We got Tovah. I spent a week at a wonderful Jewish summer camp. I joined Big Brothers Big Sisters, which I'm proud of myself for, even if the experience hasn't been exactly what I'd expected. I served as a lay leader at my temple. Just think, at this time last year, I had never crocheted with or even heard of “plarn,” and the only song I knew from Les Miserables was “I Dreamed a Dream!” CRAZY!

Also, I probably ate more peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches and bananas in 2012 than I did over the rest of my life combined. And I have no idea why I felt that was noteworthy.

Right now I'm trying to think up something to do with Briana soon. I'm almost starting to feel like I'm banging my head against a wall. Literally all she ever wants to do is go to the mall. I don't know how much more I can take of that place! *grinds teeth*
rebecca_in_blue: (bemused shrug)
Two things I'm loving about this new year: going back through my journal and collecting the first sentence of the first post for every month, and getting a new Emily Dickinson calendar! I've had a calendar featuring her poetry since 2010, and I really love them. Sara got a cool new calendar, too. It's the page-a-day kind, and each page has a tiny reproduction of a famous work of art from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She put it on the computer table, so right now I'm looking at a detail of Morning Glories, an early 19th-century screen panel by Suzuki Kiitsu.

And now, without further ado, my first-sentence round-up for 2011!

January
The last day of 2010 was a busy one for Rebecca.

February
I've had four job interviews in the last three weeks.

March
I tossed and turned all night last night.

April
If you're wondering why I've been so absent from the blog world recently, our computer crashed last Friday.

May
I'm finally home after an exhausting trip and a very long car ride, but I can't complain because I got to see James Taylor in concert!

June
As soon as I got out of bed today, I got a call from a staffing company, telling me that a job had opened up unexpectedly, and could I come in for an interview, like, right now?

July
After years of abuse, my cell phone has decided it's had enough.

August
Sara and I made a little day-trip to Baton Rouge today -- or more specifically, to Blue Bayou water park!

September
Yesterday morning, my fast food run ended with me driving Muse Watson to the auto-repair shop.

October
My first High Holy Days as an official Jew are still rolling on.

November
My asthma has been worse since the weather turned colder, and today I finally called the pharmacy to get my inhaler refilled.

December
Rebecca has taken some good-natured teasing from folks at her temple for putting up a Chris -- uh, I mean, a holiday tree.

Sad P.S. I feel like I'm just waiting to get a call from my aunt telling me that Grandma has died. I don't want that call, but at this point, I wouldn't be at all surprised if I got it.
rebecca_in_blue: (bemused shrug)

I had wanted to get this post up while we were still in January (barely). This is a list of things that I encountered for the first time in 2010. I know some of them are stupid, but I'm still proud of myself, because my life feels so stagnant sometimes, and this list makes it seem less so. I mean, most of things are things that I'd had no experience with at all before 2010, and by now, they've grown familiar to me.

     $3 chicken sandwiches. I admit, I thought they looked so cheap and disgusting when I first saw them in the supermarket deli. But then I tried one and discovered they were cheap and delicious! Unfortunately, the deli hasn't been making them as much lately, so now I usually have to request them from the people behind the counter. My friend EJ's sister used to work in this deli, and apparently she told him that I would come in looking for chicken sandwiches like a drug addict in need of a fix. Haha.

     Fanfiction. Before this year, I'd never really written a single fanfic. I took it up exactly halfway through 2010, after some NCIS plot-bunnies refused to leave me alone, and since then, I've completed twelve stories, have one currently in-progress, and several more ideas on the back burners. I don't think I could kick this habit if I tried. (It's embarrassing on several different levels to admit this.) 

     $4 pizzas. I know writing about this is was a mistake, since it'll definitely make me hungry. I first discovered a four-dollar pizza sale from the local pizza chain back in October 2009, right after Sara and I saw Paranormal Activity. The sale continued on and off throughout 2010, and I tried to snatch it up whenever I could. By spring, they stopped asking for my phone number when I ordered, and to thank me for my loyalty, they had the sale on for the NCIS Season 8 premiere. Which brings us to...

     NCIS. If you read this journal at all in the last twelve months, you know that 2010 will go down in history as the year that NCIS took over Rebecca's life. I literally slept, ate, lived, and breathed this show for a few months. I'm no longer quite as obsessed as I was when I first discovered it -- and I confess, I don't hate Abby as much as I used to -- but it still certainly has a bigger hold on me than any other TV show ever has. (Of course, I'm not a big TV watcher.) I never would've taken up fanfiction without it.

     No glasses. I still can't believe I finally lost my poor old glasses for good. Life without them doesn't suck as much as I thought it would, but I do still wish I had them. I know I could buy more, but instead I'm just relying solely on my contacts, which is pretty much what I was doing when I still had my glasses. Clue Steph from The Goonies: "You broke my glasses? You broke my glasses!"

     Shirley Temples. I've been a hard-core fan of the actress Shirley Temple since 2005, and I've been wanting to try the drink Shirley Temple for almost as long. It took me so long because I thought that you could only get them in bars -- shows what I know, right? -- and I never go to bars or drink alcohol. But then I finally discovered that some resteraunts serve them, too. I had my very first one in February, in a seafood resteraunt in Houston, and through the rest of 2010, I ordered them at several other places. I'm grateful that after waiting to taste them for so long, they didn't disappoint. Yum!

     Judaism. I saved this one for last because it's easily the deepest thing on this trivial little list. Although Judaism is something I've always felt connected to, in a way, I never thought I would ever start down the path to converting. I still remember the first day I rode my bike to services, August 27, and I can count on one hand the number of Shabbat services I've missed since then. The simple truth is that often when I'm riding back from a service, I feel like the richest, most powerful people in the world aren't as lucky as I am. It has changed my life in ways I never could've imagined.

Okay, okay, that's it for this trip down memory lane. And don't worry, I promise that's about serious as you'll ever hear me get.

rebecca_in_blue: (subtle sigh)

Yesterday started out as an amazing day. I went to my first Torah study at the temple, which was very enjoyable and educational. I have met some amazing people at the temple, and I'm touched by how far they've gone to make me feel welcome there. Afterwards, I burned a CD for Mom that she'd wanted, then I went for a long, wonderful bike ride (and collected cans; I need the money). It was warm and sunny out, perfect bike riding weather. But yesterday night at work was not pleasant, so the day started out awesome and ended badly. I'm still looking for a new job. A cold front arrived over night, and all day today has been freezing cold, windy and rainy. Looking out the window this afternoon, I honestly could not believe that I went bike riding just yesterday in short sleeves and sunglasses. The hell!

My favorite song of the moment is Firework, by Katy Perry. If you haven't heard it already, go to YouTube and listen to it. Its lyrics are an inspiring, powerful message about accepting and believing in yourself. It's also the first song I added to my iPod in 2011. Speaking of which:

About halfway through 2010, I started keeping a list of songs I had added to my iPod that year. Shortly after midnight on New Year's Eve, I went through the list recorded the playcount for each song. I know I have no life, but it was a fun thing to do. So, here's the musical recount for 2010. The second list is old songs I added to my iPod, and the first list is new music. I was rather impressed with how many songs there were for that list, because I usually don't listen to new music. Rebecca is not a hip person. But no doubt you already knew that, didn't you?



Most-Played New Songs of 2010. And the winner is: "With you, I'd run through a storm in my best dress, fearless." )

And...

Most-Played New (to my iPod) Songs of 2010. And the winner is: "Brighter than the noonday sun, and all your sheep awaking." )
rebecca_in_blue: (bemused shrug)

I usually really look forward to giving out my book awards, but for 2009, unfortunately, I read so few books that I actually dreaded it. I just hope that I'll do better in 2010.

Award-Winning Books of 2009 )

 

All Books of 2009 )

rebecca_in_blue: (subtle sigh)

For Sara's birthday, I got her this old '90s movie she'd wanted, Outbreak. It was so weird watching it with her, because she had almost the entire thing memorized, and I'd never even heard her mention the movie until recently. Maybe I don't know that sly freak as well as I thought. But we are closer than his wife would like.

So seriously, where did 2009 go? I feel both frustrated and satisfied when I look back at the year. But I did have a nice Easter, a fun 4th of July, and a good birthday, with lots of good food at each. Sara and I got a better couch (November) and a really nice new computer chair (February) and desk (September). I had an awesome bell and basket added onto my bike (September). I finally went to the cemetery in Houston and found Roger's grave (a very hot day in August), even though I never went to the cemetery in Abbeville to find my great-grandparents' graves. (Update: Finally did it!) I participated in NaNoWriMo (November), which I guess is the important thing, even though I didn't do nearly as well as I'd hoped. I read Catching Fire (August), saw a lot of movies with child actresses, and started my own blog about child actresses (September), originally just so I'd have a place to post my reviews of said movies. And, to my own surprise, my Sable is still with me. I guess I can't complain.

I sometimes wish that my bike had a mileage counter, like my truck does, just so I could see how far I've gone on it. Although some distances that I've traveled on that bike are ones I don't like to remember. This morning was really bad, but I took a short bike ride this evening that was nice. It was only about seven but already as dark as midnight, and I rode around the neighborhood looking at the Christmas lights. The wind was blowing, and the leaves were rustling all around me -- very peaceful and lovely.

The best Christmas lights are farther than I can go on my bike, and I've done every other thing I wanted to do for Christmas except go for a drive one night and look at them. (That, and watch the version of A Christmas Carol with Patrick Stewart.) It will probably have to wait until the 25th, unless I can squeeze it in on Christmas Eve. I'm planning to bake my muffins and finish my bacon and eggs tomorrow before work.

rebecca_in_blue: (subtle sigh)

My Book Awards for 2008 are finished! They didn't come out quite the way I expected this year. I didn't read a lot in 2008, but that also means I didn't read a lot of bad books, which eliminated a lot of dead weight and made it pretty hard to choose the worst in each category. Eventually I had to get rid of the Worst Overall category, something I'd never before, because nothing I read was really that bad.

Award-Winning Books of 2008 )



All Books of 2008 )

rebecca_in_blue: (happy smile)

I've kept lists of all the new books I've read for every year since 2003, and in 2008, I kept a list of all the new movies I saw as well. I had two movie-watching goals: to see as many classic old films as I could, and as many movies with notable young actress performances as I could. I did very well on the first goal (mostly thanks to the mediatheque in Villers-Cotterets) but not so well on the second.

The first list: Prepare to be impressed!



All Movies of 2008 )

And for my own reference, I also wrote short reviews for some of the movies I saw with child actresses. Note: I will probably send this list to the owners of a child actress website I work with, and it might not be of interest to most people who reads this blog.

Akeelah and the Bee )

Atonement )


Divorce His, Divorce Hers )

Firestarter )

Lawn Dogs )

Leon )

A Little Princess )

Little Women )

The Nativity Story )

Nim's Island )

The original list (what I wanted to see and why I wanted to see it) is here.
rebecca_in_blue: (happy smile)

Calvin: Wow, it really snowed last night! Hobbes: Everything familiar has disappeared! The world looks brand new! Calvin: A new year ... a fresh, clean start! Hobbes: It's like having a big white sheet of paper to draw on! Calvin: A day full of possibilities! It's a magical world, Hobbes ... let's go exploring!

I hope to have my 2008 Book Awards posted soon. As with the 2007 awards, this year seems to have no clear-cut winners for Best and Worst Overall.

2008 was my first full calendar year on LiveJournal. So here's my year-in-review: the first sentence of my first post for every month. I've actually been looking forward to doing this. *geek*

January
For me, the best thing about a new year is giving out my book awards!

February
I can't remember how we got on the subject, but one day Marlene and I were talking about how stupid President Bush is, and I joked that I could do a lesson with my students of correcting his grammatical mistakes.

March
The weather forecast on CNN International says that a cold front is moving across Europe, and believe me, Rebecca is feeling it.

April
In the hurry I was in posting that last entry, I forgot to mention another un-funny Chinese Sara Moment (it goes a long way in explaining the comments she made about Tibet).

May
The weather has been bizarre today, which I'm beginning ot think is normal in Villers-Cotterets.

June
The last few days have been absolutely shit-tacular.

July
Tagged by my sister.

August
We're still house-sitting.

September
Part One: This excerpt from Julie Andrews's autobiography, Home, which I'm currently reading: "I was offered the title role in Cinderella at the London Palladium."

October
The days are getting shorter now, and I've started riding my bike at night.

November
More foodstamps were given out for Hurricane Ike, and since I had gotten some for Hurricane Gustav, I automatically got more when they were reissued.

December
We've got our heating on one week and the air conditioner on the next.

rebecca_in_blue: (excited grin)
As I said before, this is the most exciting thing about the new year for me -- giving out my book awards! (Rebecca just keeps getting geekier, doesn't she?) Anyway, for those of you who don't know, I have kept lists of every book I've read since 2003, and at the end of each year, I create awards in different categories. The categories vary somewhat from year to year; 2007 will be the last year for the school-required category, and there was actually very little to choose from, since only two classes actually required me to read books last semester (my two English classes were screenwriting and poetry, so I didn't read any books for those). Anyway, here is the roundup for 2007!

Award-Winning Books of 2007 )

All Books of 2007 )

P.S. If the anchorman on CNN International says, "You've never seen an American election like this before!" one more time, I think I may have to put a brick through the TV.

Profile

rebecca_in_blue: (Default)
rebecca_in_blue

March 2013

S M T W T F S
     12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
31      

Syndicate

RSS Atom

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jun. 26th, 2025 08:28 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios