An Open Letter to the Universe (Thanksgiving)

Today is Thanksgiving. I went to my friend Noah's house as usual and there was endless food and I got a novel to read and I had excellent book conversations and I got Noah reading Looking for Alaska, which is an amazing book. I just love it so much.

I felt like I should make a Thanksgiving post. Because there is a lot to be thankful for in my life. So:

An Open Letter to the Universe

Dear universe,

I'm thankful that I exist, and that I exist in this way, and my improbably precarious life is the way it is even though it could have turned out a thousand different ways. I'm thankful that there is a lot to learn and there are so many things that can be done.

I'm thankful for my family and my friends and my girlfriend and my teachers and the new people that I meet and everyone that helps me and everyone that loves me. I am thankful that people tolerate me. I am thankful that people listen. I'm also thankful that there are the idiots who annoy me and give me bad days for good stories. I am thankful for YouTube and Facebook and the lovely Internet. I am thankful for books and music and art.

I am thankful for metaphors and wonderful coincidences and epiphanies and beautiful connections.

I'm thankful for all the wonderful authors and creators and intellectuals and inspiring people around me. I am thankful for this messed-up world.

Thank you, universe, for everything.

Sincerely,

Shira

Awesomeness of Life

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I think my life is awesome.

I'm really happy with where I am today, right now. Before Thanksgiving, at high school, maybe not exactly at the perfectly ideal balance between what I like to do, what I need to do, and what is good for me, but pretty close. I have textbooks I can read so I can learn more about our vast universe. I have a speech cutting to do so that I can share the beauty of speaking with the world. I have friends. I have a girlfriend. I love the people I know. I have a vacation coming up. I can do what I like.

And who knows, maybe tomorrow I won't like where I am. But today, I really like it. And really, I'm happy with where I am now, it's just the future that sometimes distorts my view.

I've decided that I will stay in the school I am now, because I like the people and I like the freedom and I like being able to find out random things from other people's textbooks and I like theater and I like speech and I like having not too much ballet and I like being able to read books that aren't assigned to me and I like being able to choose to read old classical literature and I like writing essays of my choice and I like getting the best grades in the class (sorry, that is a bit conceited, but I am arrogant, so oh well). The uncertainty of schools was making me really unhappy, so I have decided, and I am taking the path which will cause me less stress and cause my friends less pain, even if I will not study Latin in school or read endless amounts of ancient Greek literature. I am happy. And I am here.

Change

Right, so.

I was reading some of my old blog posts and I can just feel how much I've changed. Yeah, I knew it would happen back then, but it's kind of wonderful to see now.

Six months ago a change like this might have made me sad. But today? Oh, no. I'm at the top of the world and yet it can only go up from here.

Because I'm not depressed and I learned to cartwheel and I had recess and I started liking the theater and people tell me I look like I'm from Tel Aviv and I know how to get around here and I have amazing new friends and they're very very sad I'm leaving and I started liking myself and I let myself branch out and I finished three notebooks and I learned to do a handstand and I can cope with a high school and I am crazy and I'm fine with the messed-up world and I have CHANGED within.

This doesn't mean I might not be crying when I get back, no it doesn't. I can still be sad. But I'm happy I had this opportunity. I am very, very glad.

"I'm on a roller coaster that only goes up, my friend."

~ Augustus Waters

I love the world.

Open Class

Today in Theater we had an open class day. That means that all the other eighth graders came to watch us, two classes at a time.

In first period we had our first open class, which was an iffy performance. We were all a bit embarrassed and we hadn't really gotten into it yet. But after that show we had almost two hours to do nothing - they didn't even make us go back to class. We got into heated conversations, so loud that we were yelling, and went sort of crazy. Everyone was particularly surprised at me, because it was the first time I really showed off my loudness when I'm hyper. I'm actually still a bit hoarse from that. We got so utterly hyper that we went into various displays of randomness, and being that it was theater and we're all psychos, it got to be handstands and cartwheels and splits and imitations of drunkards. Someone summarized The Butterfly Effect, which is a movie, except he didn't make it short - it took 45 minutes for us to get through the random plot points and for him to impress upon us the creepiness, violence, and just wrongness of much of the movie. One girl did my makeup, as she'd done for most of the girls in the class before the first show. The whole day, from 8 to 1, I was barefoot - no shoes, no socks.

At 11:30 we had our second "show," which was considerably better than the first one, and much more fun. By then I wasn't embarrassed in the least, not anymore. They're just people, same as us. After our last show, which was by far the best, we all congratulated each other. I skipped around the now-empty studio and drank out of the giant water bottle that was being passed around. We had spent the whole day performing and hanging around with the psycho class. We're all mad, but all the best people are.

Purim: PARTY!

At school today there was a Purim celebration. The whole school and the teachers were dressed up. I was running a little late, but it didn't end up mattering because everyone was.

The first thing that happened was that we exchanged Mishloach Manot, which is a small bundle of fun stuff that you exchange on Purim. Generally the "fun stuff" is candy and Hamentaschen. I have the feeling I explained this before. Oh well.

So I received a considerably large package, after which everyone began pigging out on what they got. That lasted for maybe ten minutes. After that, everyone went to join the festivities.

The whole school had been decorated with colorful posters and fairly random decorations (there was some sort of curtain which was decorated with fake money...and a giant spider). The basketball court had been turned into a dancing space. There was a DJ and music blaring. Groups of students had set up little food stands - I saw smoothies, candy, and hot dogs. I found some of my friends from another class and we went around finding out what people had dressed up as. There were a lot of pirates, since all of the twelfth graders had dressed up as that, and a considerable amount of boys cross-dressing, but none vice versa. I actually went into the girls' bathroom at one point and this guy in a dress came in and started making poses in the mirror the way I guess boys think girls do. There were two girls dressed as light and dark, which really freaked me out because my friend and I did that this past Halloween, and tons of people as Stabilo brand highlighters (which here are called markers, just in an Israeli accent). I found vampires, James Bond, smurfs, people in togas (not sure if they were Greek or Roman), bees, angels, a hypnotist, ladybugs, a cat, and probably so many more.

Most of the day was a photo opportunity. I took pictures of and with my friends and after I was tired of that it was basically just waiting. We couldn't go home until the gates were opened, but there wasn't much to do after the first two hours. Someone brought some sort of popping firework-ish noisemakers, which they banged on with a cane from a costume. It was extremely loud and the whole area smelled like gunpowder after that.

The thing I love most about Purim is its randomness. Purim isn't anything, not scary like Halloween or Christmas-y like Christmas. Purim is, well, Purim. (I mean, where else do you find a curtain with fake money and a giant spider?) You can dress up as anything, it doesn't have to be scary or any specific kind. You get candy, you dress up, you party. What more could you ask for?

School-less Friday

Today, at school, it was the day that they got report cards.

Having only been here for three weeks, I don't have a report card. So the teacher said that instead of coming for forty-five minutes, I didn't need to come to school at all.

Instead, my mom took me to Allenby Street, which is in the heart of Tel Aviv. It's mostly got a combination of clothing stores, some fancy and some not, and other designer stores. We walked along there for awhile, pausing to go into a few shops. Then we reached Nachlat Binyamin Street, where every Friday there is an artists' market. After passing the security guard, we bought some backpacks for me and my brother in a small shop near the end of the market. When we finished, the market was mostly up and running for the day. There was a collection of things that you would be hard-pressed to find anywhere else - handmade clay flowers that looked real, all sorts of jewelry, small figurines of all kinds, stained glass, wood crafts, fabric, hairpieces, leather products, cuckoo clocks in all kinds of shapes. We met up with my aunt and went to a café with a very nice outdoor area to sit in. My uncle joined us as we were reading our horoscopes off of a newspaper that was left on our table. I got a hot chocolate as well as a chocolate croissant. This is a very Tel Aviv-y thing to do - sit in a café on a Friday morning, read the newspaper, and have coffee (or hot chocolate, I suppose). The artists' market is located in old Tel Aviv, which has beautiful, albeit fairly run-down, buildings.

After the café we went back to Allenby. We passed the Carmel market (on Carmel Street), which is mostly full of food, and the Betzalel market, which is mostly clothing. There were more stores, but we kept walking. Close to Betzalel market (or Shuk Betzalel as it's called in Hebrew, "shuk" being the word for market), we passed a juice stand, where they were selling strawberries. Here it's strawberry season right now, so we bought one kilo strawberries and two juices - I got a strawberry slushie made from fresh strawberry juice.

After that we continued to Dizengoff Center for some electronics, then caught a bus and went to my grandma's house for what is called in our family "Friday meal," when the whole family comes for lunch. My cousin was telling hilarious stories about the army and the rest of the family telling stories about anything that came up. I don't think I've laughed more in my life.

Cups of tea: 39

Report Cards

Here, they are getting their report cards tomorrow. Which means that the already short day is greatly shortened for some, depending on the time slot in which they confer with teachers about their grades and receive them. First period (which begins at 8:45!) is supposedly going to be some sort of class conversation. And since I haven't been here long enough to get proper grades, I get to go home after that!

Which adds up to forty-five minutes of school. Probably the closest thing here to a two-day weekend. Is that awesome or is that awesome?

Cups of tea: 37ish

Freedom

Today I finished my homework reasonably early - at around 4:15 - so I decided to use my freedom here.

I tossed two cameras, two notebooks, and three pens into a bag, grabbed my key, made sure my cell phone wasn't out of battery, and informed my mom I was going to Park Hayarkon, which is a park around the Yarkon, a river that runs through Tel Aviv. "Yarkon" is related to "yarok," or green, since it is said that the water reflects the trees around it. This time of year it looks like watery mud, too dirty to see through but not dense enough to step on. However, I have been going there for as long as I can remember, and the park itself is beautiful.

It felt good to get out. Sometimes I like walking alone more than walking with others - I can linger over things that catch my fancy and walk fast if I like. It lets me notice things. I am a listener and watcher anyway, not as much of a conversationalist generally.

I was planning to sit somewhere and write - there is no shortage of benches - but I ended up just finding pictures to take and enjoying Golden Hour. I walked a little farther than I usually do, going down close to the dirty water and taking photos. The day was crisp, but not cold in the least, and clear - my favorite kind of day. I found a beautifully made wooden bridge - I loved its simplicity - and walked across. The boards were springy and I could hear every one of my steps echoing against the surface of the water.

On the other side of the Yarkon, I visited the fountain, where a few years ago my cousins and I made small boats out of eucalyptus bark. I found a hoopoe, which is the national bird of Israel, and made my way back across the river. I began to run, faster and faster. I am free. It was a clear day and I am not depressed. I am not depressed.

I am free.

Cups of tea: 34

THE FAULT IN OUR STARS IS HERE AND IT'S HOLY

Exactly what the title says.

And why is it holy?

Because John Green signed it. HE ACTUALLY HAS PHYSICALLY SIGNED IT. His signature is red, if you were wondering. Most of them were green. Some were purple. I got red. I cannot put into words how excited I am for it to BE HERE.

The reason John Green is so amazing is because he is a leader of Nerdfighteria and he's a brilliant author. Yes, John, if every you stumble across this blog post, which it is very likely you won't, I want you to know that you are one of my role models. I want to be able to write as powerfully as you can. Not better than you (because frankly, that would be close to impossible) but I would like to move people with words. As you do. And besides that you're a great YouTuber with views that I mostly agree with. I say mostly because I have not seen all of your videos.

Why am I addressing someone who will likely never read this post? I have no idea. Do not question the bipolar depressed lunatic. Which I am pretty close to being, really, if I'm not that yet.

Cups of tea: 24

To the Post Office!

So just now, we went to the post office to pick up a package which my mom thought was some sheet music for the Magnificat she's playing in a few weeks, but NO! Guess what it was!

It's so exciting!

IT'S THE FAULT IN OUR STARS! BY JOHN GREEN! THE BOOK THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO ARRIVE MID-FEBRUARY! AHHH!

Now I shall open it...

TGIF

I shared the title with my Israeli friends, to which they said, "Oh, that's what it means!" So I'm proud to provide that info. I love being a know-it-all. Another thing about that is that today I was the only person in the class who knew where the Ganges River was. And it's not even in America, so it's not like that was a contributing factor. Then, in history class, guess what we're learning about? The events leading up to the American Revolution. The teacher won't call on me because she knows I have a wider scope of knowledge than the rest of the class on this topic (we just spent about two or three months on this kind of thing back home). She presented a slightly mistranslated version of "taxation without representation is tyranny!", which irritated me and called the Boston Massacre a "protest" which it wasn't really. And then I had these interesting tidbits of information which I was dying to share but couldn't because firstly, I couldn't get the translation together in my head, and secondly, the teacher was reluctant to call on me.

I love my Friday schedule - I only have four periods and it goes from 8:45 (that's when first period starts - teenager hours) until 12:15. On the way home I went to Abramovich Garden and ate my chocolate croissant, which took all of recess to procure at the kiosk, and I watched the alley cats, pigeons, and what I thought were hoopoes (the national bird of Israel). Then I made my way home.

After a bit, we went to my grandma's house for a mid-day meal of pepper soup, roasted beef, meatballs, and compote (yes, it was a ton of food). Then we bundled into the car and drove off to Haifa. Now we're here and my youngest cousin is asleep (after eating some of my kinder joy and greatly enjoying the plane that came in his), the middle cousin is reading a Phineas and Ferb Hebrew comic book (after being extremely loud the whole evening), and the oldest cousin has taken my nook and is searching the shop for science books. It's...interesting here, shall we say.

Cups of tea: 23

French, Theater, and Rain

That was most of the day. French was first and last period (don't ask me why, I don't know). I also had geography, as well as shelach (של''ח), which is basically a class on Israeli geography and the like. Then I had theater class, which today was a giant improv class. It was probably one of the best classes yet, even though some people don't necessarily like it. There was absolutely no reading or writing involved, which made it a nice break from spelling and note-taking and such.

In French class we were asked to write a short conversation and present it, without memorization. I wrote one in my own French vocabulary. After my friend and I presented ours, the teacher took it and translated it for the class, since they didn't know half of it. "What, she speaks French fluently!" they said.

Geography was a sort of bore. It was all note-taking, but the subject was of fair interest to me. I was not intensely focused (which means I was doodling when I wasn't taking notes), but it wasn't all that bad, after he was through with yelling at people for not being prepared and talking.

Today was fairly uneventful in the ways of interesting Israeli habits. I ended an hour earlier than I thought I would, since I thought I had double French but I didn't, so I stood around for fifteen minutes after school and talked to my friends, who I have now discovered are entirely addicted to Dizengoff Center, the giant mall in the middle of Tel Aviv on two sides of the street. How much time does this mean I'll be spending there...? But I don't really mind, because the Center, as it's called, is awesome. There is absolutely everything there. It's much more fun than any other mall I've been to. After the fifteen minutes of talking my friends had an extra science class, so I started slowly walking home. I stopped by to inspect Abramovich Garden (I know! Abramovich!) which is the park in my neighborhood. I love the freedom I have here - I can get anywhere I need to on foot or on public transportation. It feels good to be able to do these things.

Cups of tea: 16; drinking #17

School: Day 2

Today was my second Israeli school day.

Today was easier than yesterday, firstly because I knew sort of what to expect, and secondly because the lessons were less based on a rich Hebrew vocabulary. I had PE, science, math, English, and French. PE was, of course, PE - but in Israel, unlike in America, it's boys and girls separately. The school dentist came to look at our teeth, proclaiming that everyone's were in good shape. Then we had to run for five minutes...that was not my strong point, but I survived. We walked to cool down, then stretched and did a few exercises, after which class was over. During science I got paired up with a student teacher, who taught me about electrical circuits, half of which I already knew, but I reviewed it in Hebrew. Science was a double class - an hour and a half - and after it there was our long recess, in which you're allowed to wander the school and do what you want. My friend recommended a chocolate croissant at the kiosk in the school courtyard, so I bought one. She bought a doughnut. Not healthy in the least, but that's not of much concern here. She and another girl showed me around the school some more and informed me of the habits of the math teacher, whom we had next, and some extra tidbits about the school. I finished my doughnut and washed the excess chocolate off my hands, barely making it to math on time. I was relieved to find that the class is doing something that I have already done a bit of. I actually knew some things they didn't, which I was proud of. In that class I finally got it into my head that here you don't put your hand up, you put up your pointer finger. After math, in which the teacher assigned a fair amount of homework (which later gave me a headache from all the numbers), I had English class. The funny thing about that was that I wasn't put in the highest class. Even before the lesson, the teacher resolved to talk to the person who organizes the classes in order to move me to the "outstanding" class (that's the literal translation of what they call that class). During English, the teacher (who does have an accent in English) asked me to read a few sections. One of them, I noted very excitedly, was a paragraph on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and the brilliance of J. K. Rowling. I found it funny when they called Voldemort (or as Peeves the poltergeist and I like to call him, Voldy) a "mean wizard" like he was some sort of elementary school bully. In another section, I read at normal speed, in my American accent. Half the class turned around to look at me. "You read so fast," they said. "Well, that's what happens when a person lives in an English-speaking country," said the teacher.

My last lesson was French. Most of the things they're doing are things I've done before, with a few words sprinkled in that I've only heard of but can basically figure out. We conjugated verbs that I thankfully learned this year and completed a page in our workbooks that my teacher in America would assign as a five-minute review. I completed it within five minutes and waited for the rest of the class.

After school, as we've been doing the entire time we've been here, I walked to my grandmother's and met up with my family, where we ate dinner. Dinner in its old-fashioned sense: the biggest meal of the day, which in this case is in mid-day. That's the way it is here. For breakfast and supper you eat bread with various condiments, salad, and eggs. After dinner and supper it is customary to drink, or at least offer, tea.

Today I was explaining American school to my friends. "It's so strict!" they exclaimed. Yesterday, when I told them about the no phones rule, they asked, "Well, what do you do in class, then?" "Learn." "What about the boring classes?" "Learn, talk, draw, do other homework." They looked at me like I was from another planet.

Cups of tea: 15

Tel Aviv Museum

Today we went to the museum. We saw an exhibit titled "Running in Circles" which was a modern art exhibit of circles presented in various ways. There was also one titled "Ex Libris" which was an interesting presentation of a library. It was two circular bookshelves, but there were no books, so the room had an empty feeling. There was a rather large exhibit of Israeli art, after which my brother was tired so we went home. Then we went outside to the large area in front of the museum.

It was a fairly warm night. The sky was dark blue, the clouds gray and clearly defined. The lights from surrounding buildings twinkled. I could see the silhouette of a street musician against the museum's wide bright windows, his merry trumpet music floating over the street. Someone was selling soft pretzels. "Hot pretzels!" he yelled. "Three for ten shekels!" We bought four for fifteen shekels. They were warm, soft, salty. The night was alive with people - the museum is open until 10 on Thursdays. Children crowded the pretzel seller and many stopped to listen to the trumpeter.

The biggest thing for me was that I felt like I belonged. It wasn't during the school day, so no one would look at me and think, "Why isn't she at school?" And it didn't feel foreign, walking the streets. Already I've got a sense of where some things are, unlike the times when we were only here for three weeks and I followed my relatives everywhere. Being in the city, abuzz with noise, feels right somehow. I suppose I've got city blood in my veins.

Cups of tea: 7

Saying Goodbye, Day Two

Strange things abound when you're the only one in the school to leave mid-year.
It's strange that it's less than a week away. It's strange that there are homework assignments that I don't need to do because I won't be there. It's strange that I'm saying goodbye to some teachers. It's strange that people are excited for me. It's strange that these are the last days I've been anticipating for the past year, preparing and steeling myself.
I could go on and on.
But now I'm on top of things and everything's starting to wind down. I got my ballet teachers presents, I have all my homework done, I went to visit my fifth grade teacher, I'm making a list of emails and giving out my blog address for people who want to know what will be happening. And I need to go by postcards. That's on the to-do list, which thankfully is growing ever shorter.
Everything is coming together so fast. Tomorrow I'm getting my braces off and getting my retainer, which is cutting it quite close and seems like waiting for disaster. But hey, these things have been permanently in my mouth since December 2009 or so. I'm more than happy to get 'em off. It means no more monthly visits to the orthodontist, easier cleaning of teeth, and less limitations in food. I am giving thanks.

I said goodbye to a few teachers today, among them my French, Latin, 5th grade, and one of my favorite ballet teachers. All of them bade me good luck. It feels like I'm off on an adventure, and in fact I am. Here we go on a journey.

Realness Scale: 8

Saying Goodbye, Day One

I am calling this day one even though I started my goodbyes a while ago. I don't know exactly where I started hearing "and if I don't see you before you go...", but it has been going on for about a month.
However, today is officially the last Tuesday before we go. Therefore, some of my activities today have been my last, including my afterschool program. It was strange, saying goodbye to these people. It's always been, "oh, see you next week," but today, no, it's goodbye, because the program is just for middle school.
It was also my last day of Hebrew class today, in which my teacher did not check our homework (and good thing too – I didn't do it) and sent me to the other room to fill out a packet while coaching the others in SAT prep. Yes, you can do Hebrew SATs. I was doing my own SAT packet and I finished well before the others. There was a lot of hugging and then we said goodbye.
People have been giving me a lot of hugs. Not that I don't normally hug people, it just seems that there is an abundance of hugging from people whom I don't usually hug. Teachers especially. It's a bit strange. Everything at this point is a bit strange.
So far, I have quite a few emails I will already have to be sending, along with some good old-fashioned postcards. All my friends, as well as my Hebrew teacher, have requested that I send them emails. Will do. Besides, it gives me an excuse to waste time on the internet. And my English teacher is the one who requested the postcards. I guess I'll do that too.

 Realness scale (how real it feels from 1 to 10, 10 being the highest): 4

Frenzy

That's the general word to describe this week. But by now it's a good frenzy, not really a bad one.
Packing has officially begun, with the lists being made and suitcases being bought.
Today I went to check out the website of the school I'm going to and frankly, it looks awesome. I will have actual electives, not something that is called an elective but is really only a mandatory subject as it is in my current school. And the school bell schedules are normal, nothing about 8:56 in the morning or 1:01 in the afternoon (no joke, the school schedule used to have a class that ended at 1:01). And recess. Oh, recess. Such a distant luxury.
Speaking of schools, I will be sort of glad in a way to get back into school. It's not that bad when you know it's going to end within four days and you're going to be off somewhere else. I'm looking forward to this week, especially because my English teacher is coming back from a break after surgery. She's a really good teacher (anyone who dresses up as Hermione is considered awesome) and it's so much fun to be in her class. Just for English, I really wish I was staying. That is a class I'm really sad to miss.
I suppose it's about time that I start getting excited, at least some of the time. This is an opportunity, not the end of the world. And I'll be coming back. I suppose by then I'll be sad to come back, to leave somewhere I've been for six months. But we'll see when we get there. For now, there's packing to do and last-minute things to arrange and cupboards and closets to empty. Enough to think about without the rest.
This is the one-week mark. Seven days. And seven's supposed to be a magic number.

New Year's Day Open House

Today we had, as the title of this post informs you, our New Year's day open house. We've done it every year for as long as I can remember.
My friends and I were initially messing around with technology up in my room. Then, slightly bored by the aimlessness of it, we took a short walk outside. Then we came back and somehow the party turned to roughhousing. Although it was still enjoyable, it was a bit brutal at times. Basically we were all doing various things, and people were messing around on my typewriter then trying to hide what they wrote and it turned into a whole mess. Finally it ended and we returned to eating candy and playing games and messing around with the computers. Then everybody slowly trickled out. A very good New Year's party all in all.
I know this post is really unedited, but there really isn't much to write. It was an open house which mainly consisted of random spur-of-the-moment actions. And eating all the food.
Probably one of my best New Year's days ever. Thanks to all my friends for making it that way!

New Year's with my buddies

I have borrowed my friend's computer for the moment. We are that obsessed with technology - we bring laptops to sleepovers.
Basically, it is the early hours of New Year's day, even though the blogger time might not show it because my account time is messed-up. At midnight, we opened a bottle of sparkling cider (miserably failing and having to use no less than three bottle openers). I am extraordinarily hyper. I really think there was something in those lemon squares, but it might be just sugar. My friends and I are like that, although I am the most susceptible to sugar. We have the strangest sense of humor - we find very eccentric things funny. I hadn't really realized that until today, or rather tonight, or - well - morning? I'm tiredly hyper. Don't ask me to figure this out.
Anyway, HAPPY NEW YEAR! May it be better than the last!

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I asked my friends to come over here and read my post to see if I should change anything, but they're just sitting on the pool table watching gruesome YouTube videos and listening to music on their iPhones. This is my life. Wince.
---
And now I read that out loud to them. They didn't even listen. Just laughing at their iPhones. Double wince.
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Finally they listened to me. I told them they were included in my blog post, not necessarily in a good way. Then they looked back at their iPhones.

2011 in Review

Today is the last day of 2011. New Year's Eve. The day we look back on the past year. And what a year it was.
This year was eventful, to say the least. Outside of my own personal life, there were the Arab uprisings (along with the deaths of several leaders), Osama bin Laden's death, the Occupy movement, Harry Potter's last movie, the death of Steve Jobs, the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the end of the space program, and a wild year in weather. There are definitely more significant events.
2011 was a really hectic year for me. All I can say is that I'm glad I'm out of this mess. It was both a good and bad mess at times, but I'm glad it's over. For the moment, I'll be happy to close the book on this year and put it on the shelf for a bit. It was both painful and amazing, but most of all it was crazy. I want to scream from the rooftops how glad I am it's over.
It's been a harder year than some of the past ones. I learned a lot of things, among which was to let go and live in the present. That has made a definite improvement on my life.
I know that a lot of my latest blog posts have been either "I'm-about-to-go-mad" or "I-love-my-life" but that's really my life at the moment. I hope that in 2012 the latter continues and the former is eradicated. Unfortunately, I think that's against my nature, so I'll suffice it to say that I hope it appears minimally. All in all, I'm hoping 2012 will be a better year than this one, although in some ways this one was pretty dang good.
Happy last day of 2011!