Top Ten Moments of 2010

Like any year, I had my fair share of ups and downs, but overall, 2010 was a fantastic year and one that I'll never forget.  Since I did a rubbish job of keeping up a blog for most of the year, I don't really have a record of everything that happened to me.  However, here's a list of the most memorable moments that made 2010 so great.

1. Defending My Thesis - This easily tops the list because I worked on my masters degree in history for two and a half years, and it was such a relief to be done.  I'm also really proud of my thesis, from the research I performed to the fact that I could answer every question my committee threw at me.

2. Haley and John's Wedding - I've been friends with these two for years, even before they started dating each other.  I've watched several friends get married in the past couple of years, but this was the first wedding where I was a bridesmaid.  It was an honor being part of such a beautiful wedding and sharing in their special day.

3. Meeting Alison Weir - Alison Weir has been one of my favorite authors for years, and her books have helped increase my knowledge and love for the Plantagenets and medieval England.  Since she lives in England, I never expected that I'd be able to meet her, but she did a short U.S. tour for her new book this summer.  One of the stops was Atlanta, and she was just as lovely as I knew she'd be.

4. Les Misérables 25th Anniversary Concert - Ever since I saw it on stage last summer in London, I've been completely obsessed with the musical, Les Mis.  This year was its 25th anniversary, and it celebrated with an extravaganza of a concert in London.  Obviously I couldn't hop on a plane just to catch a musical, but some movie theaters in the U.S. aired it the following month.  It was probably the better option for me personally, considering that I had a better view of all my actors!

5. Moving out of River Place - Moving is never fun, but after two years, I was thoroughly frustrated with my apartment complex in Carrollton.  After our air conditioner remained broken for two weeks in July (in the stifling Southern heat), all three of us were eager to leave it behind and move.  The night before our lease ended, my two roommates and I spent hours and hours moving stuff into a storage unit, and our celebratory meal at Waffle House at 3 AM will remain one of my favorite memories of those girls.

6. Last Day as a GRA - For two years, I was very grateful for the Graduate Research Assistant position I had, which waived all tuition fees and provided me with a small stipend.  However, I was more than a little glad when my two-year limit had reached its end.  In the seven months since I left, I haven't missed the endless construction in the library, the drama surrounding my boss, or the tedious work at all.

7. My Internship - A month after my GRA ended, I took a two-month internship/archives class, and I absolutely loved working there.  Three of us that took the class worked in the library, and we always talked about how different the two atmospheres were.  Whereas we dreaded our shifts at the library, we couldn't wait to drive to Atlanta for our internship; we were all sad to see it end.
8. Watching British TV on hulu.com - 2010 will forever be known as the year that I wrote my thesis while watching British television shows on hulu.com.  Not at the exact same time, obviously, but alternating throughout the day.  Many of the shows I found are not even available on DVD in the US, making each one I discovered that much more exciting. 

9. My First White Christmas - Here in Alabama, snow is always a big deal, and snow on Christmas Day is completely unheard of.  It's something everybody fantasizes about but knows will never happen, which makes it all the more magical that this year it did!  It frequently changed from snow to sleet and back again, and it never stuck to the ground, but I was happy just watching it fall for hours on end.

10.Watching Series 5 of Doctor Who - Last, but certainly not least, some of my favorite memories will be watching this year's series of Doctor Who.  Not only was I excited about new episodes because the show took last year off, but I always watched the new episode with my friend Laura.  Although we were in grad school in different towns, we managed to get together for several of the episodes, and for the others, we talked on the phone while we watched it.

Over the River and through the Woods

The holiday season is a time for visiting family at Thanksgiving, having a big to-do, and then turning right around and seeing everyone a month later at Christmas.  Since I'm no longer a student, though, this is more than likely my last substantial Christmas break.  I have no idea where I'll be in a year, but the real world sucks because you only get a couple of days off, and I doubt that I'll be able to visit family like I'm used to doing.

For as long as I can remember, my family always waited to visit family until the day after Christmas.  When I was little and we lived in Ashford, Christmas visits lasted nearly a week.  We would drive north for three hours and spend a couple of days at Nanny's house, drive four hours to see Grandmother and Grandpa in Tennessee, and spend three or four days there before turning around and stopping at Nanny's again for a night.  After moving to Birmingham, though, the tradition changed.  We would go to Nanny's for lunch on Christmas Day, and we would only spend the afternoon there (as opposed to two or three nights in Tennessee).  This year's events have changed everything again, but we still go to Tennessee the day after Christmas, which is where I've been for the past two days.

On Sunday, right after church, my mom, my sister, and I drove up to Tennessee, despite the fact that my mom was panicking about the snow and ice that had occurred the night before (yeah, she's one of THOSE Southerners...I couldn't see the big deal and subsequently annoyed her).  However, we got there perfectly fine, with no incidents besides getting stuck in traffic for half an hour.

There's really nothing to describe because we never do anything besides sit in the house, talk to my grandmother and aunts and uncles, and catch up on the details of everybody's lives.  No baking, no presents, no shopping, etc.  I didn't even have much to contribute to the conversations since I had defended my thesis by Thanksgiving (so they already know about that big event) and my job search is going nowhere (so there are no useful updates).  But it was still nice to see everyone, and I hope it won't be Christmas again before I have time off to make the trip to Tennessee.

Merry Christmas!

I've never been the person with the most Christmas cheer, but for months I've been dreading this particular Christmas because it would be my first without my paternal grandmother and maternal grandfather.  Every kid associates Christmas with three things: a break from school, presents, and visits to grandparents' houses.  I've never been the biggest fan of change, but over the past couple of years, each one is slowly slipping away.  Now that I'm graduated the first no longer applies to me, I bought most of my presents myself and gave them to my mom to wrap, and now I only have one grandparent left to visit.  Ever since we moved to Birmingham in 1997, my family's Christmas tradition was to open presents before going to Nanny's house for Christmas dinner.  This year, though, we started a new tradition of staying at our own house.

In the end, I didn't need to worry because Christmas is still Christmas, no matter where you spend it.  And actually, it felt more like a proper Christmas than any previous one because....it snowed!  I'm thoroughly convinced that my Christmas spirit is directly tied to the images of snow and coats and scarves that I get from television and movies.  A white Christmas is something that everyone in Alabama hopes for, but we all know that we'll never get it.  This year, though, a Christmas miracle occurred and slowly turned the rainy sleet into snow.

The snow started early in the morning, so I opened up the curtains in every room while we opened presents and ate dinner.  This was Buster Cat's first Christmas, but he was relatively unimpressed.  Like most cats he's not a fan of noise, so he stayed on the stairs while we all unwrapped presents.  After everything calmed down, he was excited that everybody was gathered in one room, which meant that he could get as much attention as he wanted.  He quickly wore himself out playing, and he curled up in my closet until late in the afternoon.

Mom made Christmas dinner for the first time in years, and it was delicious (although I did ask her why she made so much...no one but Dad and me ever eat leftovers!).  After that, everybody dispersed - Emily to her computer, Chris to his bedroom, Mom to her chair for a nap, and Dad to his laptop.  Which meant that I had uninterrupted access to the television and the Doctor Who marathon on BBC America.  I watched nearly twelve straight hours of Doctor Who, from a few older episodes and a short marathon of all previous Christmas specials to the new Christmas special.  Normally I have to download the episode in order to watch it on Christmas Day, but this year BBC America made the smart decision to play the episode on Christmas instead of the spring (when the new season).

I'm writing this entry on Boxing Day before we leave for a three-day visit to Tennessee.  My grandmother's house has no internet access (not even a neighbor with unrestricted wireless), and I didn't want to lose the momentum I've gained over the past couple of weeks.  If I can make it into the New Year with regular updates, I'll be very proud of this little blog and its perseverance!

Christmastime with Friends

Remember last week when I said that I only leave the house once or twice a week now?  Well, that day was today, so things worth blogging about actually occurred.

I started the day by watching General Hospital, which is notable because Luke and Tracy got married!  They're pretty much my only OTP on the show right now, since all the other couples are either too boring or too annoying to mesmerize my attention.  They all have their fair share of drama, yes, but none of them have the charm of Luke and Tracy.

After lunch, I went to 2nd and Charles and dropped off seven books.  I could have sold them a lot more, but paperbackswap.com is a much better deal for used books.  However, if my copy is at the end of a waiting list of more than one hundred, obviously it's not going to be requested any time soon; hence my decision to sell some to 2nd and Charles.  I knew I'd get $10 at the most - I actually got $7.50 - but the money's not important.  Mostly I just need the shelf space, and it is a relief to know that one-third of my "to-get-rid-of" pile is gone.

After I sold my books, I went to Barnes and Noble to meet some friends.  It's the first time that all five of us got together in at least two months, so we had a great time catching up.  Josh and Danielle compared horror stories from teaching History 101 (my favorite?  the guy who didn't realize he was in History 101 until December 1st...he genuinely thought it was an upper-level course), Josh and Jacob compared awkward stories of being hit on by male waiters, Danielle and I gushed about Josh Groban, and we all complained about our families.  We ate dinner at Firebirds, a restaurant I've never been to, but it was soooo tasty.  Fresh bread for everyone, spinach lobster queso and tortilla chips as an appetizer, and my crab cakes were perfect.

On a side note, I find it hard to believe that Christmas is two days away and that 2011 is just around the corner.  Since I've been unemployed since May, I didn't buy anybody presents this year, which has seriously reduced my amount of holiday spirit.  I think tomorrow I'll spend tomorrow watching Christmas movies and specials to better get me in the mood.

Theory: The Evil White Suit of Evil

I would have never have made it as an English major because I always read books for the stories, not for the symbolism (intentional or not) that I can discover.  However, even I know that when an author is contrasting something white with something black, then the former is good and the latter is bad.  After reading Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad for three separate English classes, I associate the dichotomy most strongly with that novel (although admittedly, Conrad turned it on its head and made a point that whites were not morally superior to blacks).  After watching A LOT of television, though, I think I have found a unique situation when the colors' symbolism is again reversed.  I present to you, The Evil White Suit of Evil.

During Season 5 of Supernatural, the overarching plot was Sam and Dean's struggle to reject Michael and Lucifer's continual insistence that they be used as human vessels.  In one episode, "The End," an angel sends Dean five years into the future in order to show him that Sam ultimately says yes to Lucifer.  And out of all the clothes in the entire world, what option does Lucifer choose?  A white suit.

He's literally wearing white from head to toe.

I didn't think much of it at the time, except that Lucifer was a really snazzy dresser, until this week when I started watching the Japanese drama Mei-chan no Shitsuji.  Basically, it's a show about a super-fancy school where all the girls have butlers, a love triangle develops between two butler brothers and one of the students, and the girl has a huge family secret being kept from her.  All of the butlers wear shades of black and grey, except for the one who serves the most manipulative student and does her dirty work.  As soon as I saw him in his white suit, I knew he was evil.  How else can you explain his penchant for white wigs?

I don't yet have a hypothesis explaining why evil angels and butlers prefer white suits, but there must be some hidden meaning, right?  I mean, the dry-cleaning bills alone prove that no sane person would choose to wear white every day, but why would the idea appeal to such ~evil~ characters?

Pea Coats and Geeky Movies

Since church on Sunday, I've spent day after day watching television shows on hulu and catching up on my reading list.  However, today I braved the Christmas shoppers of Birmingham and ventured out into the real world.  After my parents and I ate lunch at Jason's Deli, I went to Target because I needed to pick up a couple of things.  It was going to be an in-and-out trip, with no time to be distracted by all the shiny scarves and purses and shoes in stock, but then I saw it.  A lone pea coat sitting on a rack.  I've been dying to buy a pea coat for ages, but every time I find one, it's either too expensive or not my size.  With trepidation I cautiously approached the coat, fearing the worst.  I tried it on, and it fit PERFECTLY.  Then I looked at the price tag, and it was only $50, which is fairly reasonable for a heavy winter coat.  So...obviously I bought it.  Next on the list - find the perfect yellow trench coat.

A friend invited me to see Tron: Legacy, and, as usual, I said yes because it had a couple of obscure British actors in it.  Of course, I obviously wanted to hang out with my friend, but as geeky as I can be, Tron was never my cup of tea.  I watched the original movie once with my old roommate, and I wasn't very impressed.  I don't remember anything about the characters or the plot, so I can't explain why...it just didn't make an impression on me.  Although I must admit that I love the movie poster.  Chuck Bartowski (from the show "Chuck") has one hanging on his wall, and I always notice it when they film a scene in the character's bedroom.

I didn't originally plan to see Tron: Legacy, but when my friend suggested it, I thought "'hey, why not."  I then went to imdb.com to look at the cast list, and I was excited to see Cillian Murphy, Michael Sheen, and James Frain were in it.  Turns out, Michael Sheen was the only one who counted.  Cillian showed up for all of two minutes, and James didn't look at all like himself in the bald cap and white makeup.  However, I would recommend the movie alone for Michael Sheen's character.  It was very David Bowie-esque, and it was deliciously over-the-top.  The plot was fairly generic (Jeff Bridges has been stuck in the grid for 20 years, son finds him, they have to find a way to get home without the villian following because he wants to take over the world), but the special effects were top-notch, and the score was fantastic.  The acting wasn't anything too special (except for a handful of scenes by Jeff Bridges, obvs), but no one was glaringly bad, either.  The special effects were supposed to be front-and-center, and they are definitely what I'll remember.  I'd give it an 8/10 for its first viewing on a big screen, but I'm willing to be that it would drop down to 6 or 7 during repeat viewings on a television screen.

An Introduction to Me

Over the past six years, since I started college in the fall of 2004, I have tried twice to keep up a blog, but both times I have failed.  During my freshman year, the friends I made online convinced me to get a xanga, and since they all updated their xangas, we kept each other honest for about a year.  However, as life went on and we all got too busy to be bothered to regularly update, my xanga fell by the wayside and has probably been deleted by now.  When I started graduate school in the fall of 2008, a separate group of friends were on livejournal, so I got an lj account as well.  I still login there every day because even if my friends stopped updating, most of the communities I joined are still going strong.  At the very least, they keep me updated on my British actors and allow me to squee with like-minded people.

Now it is December 2010, and I've decided to try once more.  All of the blogs I currently follow are on blogger, hence my new account on a new website.  I'm graduating this semester with my masters degree, so a new chapter of my life is beginning, making the desire to document it even stronger than before.  I never feel like my life is exciting enough to write about, but keeping a regular blog would help me remember all the fun little moments that I might forget down the road.  I also think a blog would be a fun way to share all the movies, TV shows, books, and music that I find.  I'm always looking for new things to love and obsess over, and in the past few years, nearly all of my discoveries have occurred through the internet.  So if even one person discovers the joy of Doctor Who or McFly through my blog, even if it's someone I don't know, then I'd say this blog has been worth it.

All right, I've explained why this blog exists, so I guess I could say a little bit about me.  Here's ten random facts, and maybe in the future I'll do some more (gotta save something to blog about later!)

1. I have two degrees in history (bachelors and masters), and yes, I've resigned myself to being poor.

2. I've lived in Alabama my whole life, and I never want to leave...except to live in England.

3. I've spent the past year researching and writing my masters thesis, so if you ever need to know something about Alabama's Constitution of 1901, I'm your girl.

4. My favorite TV show is Doctor Who, my favorite band is McFly, and I can confidently say that they will still be my favorites ten years from now.  From the moment I first encountered each of them, I knew it was true love.

5. I almost exclusively choose which movies to watch based on the actors...I've watched many a sub-par film in the quest to see one of my obscure British actors.

6. I played clarinet in middle school and high school, and I was absolutely rubbish at it.

7. Speaking of rubbish, I've watched so much British TV and movies that I occasionally slip British slang and pronunciations into normal conversations.

8. Now that I'm finished with school, I fully intend to start learning Spanish again (I was a Spanish minor as an undergrad) and I plan to learn a little Korean too.

9. I've only been out of the country once, but I hope to travel to Europe every couple of years once I get a real job with a proper salary.

10. If I have extra money, chances are it'll quickly be spent on a book or a DVD.  The best investment I will ever make is to buy quality bookshelves instead of cheap ones that lean under the weight of all my books (like the one currently in my bedroom).