I began last year’s year in review post by apologizing for
not having blogged enough last year, and it looks like I’m going to have to
begin this one by again apologizing for not having blogged enough last year.
I’m sorry I didn’t blog enough last year, you guys. I know I’m only hurting
myself by allowing my readership to drift off, but running a blog is hard and
unlike some blogs I write for, it’s not like anyone is paying me for this one.
Unlike last year, this year has been really interesting. Here’s
what I’ve been up to:
I Spent Three Months in France
As I mentioned in my 2014 post, I spend the first few months
of the year in France. My plane landed at Geneva seven minutes before they
closed the airport for the night, and I missed my Easybus shuttle transfer to
Chamonix, so I had to spend the night in the airport. When I finally arrived at
like noon the next day, I discovered that there was no power in the apartment
because the previous tenant didn’t pay his bill and the landlord hadn’t got the
shutoff notice because he lives in the UK and never goes to the flat. It was a
real clusterfuck. Luckily I was able to get the power turned on after only
three bitterly cold nights in the French Alps in the middle of winter.
I guess
I shouldn’t complain, though, I did get to spend three months in France. But while I was away, ants built a nest in one of the burners on my range. I didn't realize this until I put something on the stove to boil, turned away for a minute, and turned back to find the top of my stove swarming with ants. They were even falling off the front of it like teeny-tiny September 11th victims. It was an exciting five minutes.
I Dumped a Guy
Many moons ago now, I ended a relationship and decided that
I needed some time alone to figure myself out. I told myself I’d give myself a
year. A year went by, but I still didn’t feel like I’d adequately figured
myself out. So I gave myself another year, and then another, and then before I
knew it, six years had gone by and I was all, “Shit, I forgot to start dating
again.”
So while I was back in France, I got together with an old
friend. He’d wanted to date me before, but I turned him down on the grounds
that I didn’t think it would work out between us. Unfortunately for all
involved, I was correct in that initial assessment.
I Got Dumped
This is notable because I hadn’t been dumped since like
2009, and I had forgotten what an ego blow it can be. Sure, I was upset that
the guy didn’t want to date me anymore, but it was more because it hurt my
pride than because I actually liked him all that much. He was kind of an odd
duck, to be fair. He didn’t know who Neil DeGrasse Tyson is and he once brought
me a potholder for no reason.
I Started Grad School
And this, Dear Reader, is why I haven’t blogged in a while.
I’m working on a Master of Arts in Professional Writing and Editing at WVU while
teaching two sections of English 101, freelancing on the weekends, and working
on that book that I resolved to finish in 2014. So, blogging hasn’t been a big priority
for me over the past few months, but I’ve got high hopes for next year.
I Found a Snake in My Kitchen
It was a baby rat snake, about three inches long. I had to catch it in a plastic cup and slide a manilla envelope under it and then do that thing where you turn the cup over real quick, except I kept fucking it up and dropping the snake and then Fatty saw the snake and then it became a kind of race against death for the snake. I prevailed in the end and was able to release the (probably traumatized) snake into my flowerbed, and then I only spent like a month worrying that there might be a whole nest of baby snakes under my fridge or something.
I Didn’t Finish the Book
As I mentioned above, I resolved to write a book in 2014. At the end of 2014, I confessed that I had only written about 17,000 words. I
still haven’t finished the book, but I’ve made a lot of progress – I now have a
little more than 47,500 words, or about 200 pages. Up until five minutes ago I
was all, “I’m making terrible progress on this book I’m supposed to be writing,”
but then I wrote this paragraph and now I’m actually quite pleased with myself.
