Buy Nothing. 2000

Scaaaary 2000

I forgot to show you this great spooky black cat pumpkin my neighbors had:

Recommended holiday treat: 1999

The California Revels. This year it's focused on Finnish and Russian midwinter festival traditions. I've been going for years and it's a great show.

Tradition 1999

What a lovely week. I spent a lot of time working on my proposal, breaking it down into separate pages so it's easier to read. New Year's Eve Eve and New Year's Eve at The House were fun.

I have a little tradition in the New Year of making a list of those things which I wish for in the coming year. Sometimes you get what you want, sometimes you don't. And sometimes what you don't get turns out to be what you didn't really want anyway. Somehow putting things on the list seems to increase the number of wishes that come true.

[Added August 2004 when I found the file containing these lists on my old server]

1998's list:
- fix my knee
well, it's better, but a long way from fixed. :(

- get all my dental woes solved
done and I even got my front teeth beautified. :)

- pay off debt
heh. well, I did pay off a lot, but there is far to go. Slow progress. I am happy and proud to have paid back my Inkspot investor completely.

- learn to drive
done and getting pretty decent at it. :)

- move forward in my career
completing my degree is the biggest step here, but I'm ready for more

The last one I didn't write down this way, but this is what I wanted:
- live the life I love and love the life I live
:) yes, this I am doing. My apartment is wonderful, my friends are the best, my sweeties have been delightful and things just keep getting better!

1999 list:

- my relationship with a certain someone to grow stronger and deeper in whatever direction we decide to take it.
Of the many fine friendships I've made and renewed this year, this one brings me the most joy. Being quiet together is like walking in a peaceful garden.
[Whew. From the perspective of over 5 and a half years later, I can say that the joy was apparently all my own dreamy dreams. We're still courteous, to be sure, but there is no great depth of affection remaining. It was a crush, pure & simple.]

- more patience in love and less addiction to it
Are these wishes related? Of course not, don't be silly. ;)

- continued progress on eliminating my debt.
Shooting down those 18 & 19% monsters would make me feel so much more secure.

- continued professional growth
I hope I don't have to, but given the choice between the prior wish and this one, I might be willing to live with my interest payments for a while longer to take advantage of something really good. Unfortunately, my payments are so high they live me little room to go down on my salary requests. *sigh* Time to start working those Silicon Valley hours and make some extra $$$.

- a positive experience for me and my students in the HTML class I teach this summer
My first time teaching since I was 16 and here I go with a graduate level class - what an adventure!

- not making another too hasty choice
I think that despite the wonderful things we learned from each other and not wanting to trade who we are now for having had less rough times, Joe and I would both recommend a longer engagement period, particularly for anyone coming out of long-term relationships. That we have moved on and stayed good friends is one of the best parts of 1998. :)

- continuing to live the life I love and love the life I live
Yes, my dear friends, I am torn between you in the quiet, easy to park in, less outrageously expensive South Bay and you in bustling, beautiful, vital San Francisco. For now, while I'm working in Cupertino and since I have this fabulous apartment and a good car (thanks, Joe!), I'll be staying put, but I'll keep visiting my urban pals and improving my parallel parking skills. Wherever I am, I'll be eating good food, laughing, spending quality time with those dear to me and continuing to speak my shameless mind.

- creating a safety net
Boy, this is a tough one. I have to do some serious financial planning. I have almost no savings and no available credit (except at Sears and it's so hard to make a meal out of Craftsman tools). Those extra hours I'm planning to work will go towards paying off my line of credit/overdraft protection. Since I've got a pretty minimal contract, I have no sick or vacation time and am really up the creek if I need to take a day off. The big lesson I've learned on this contract is that I have to budget to set money aside to pay for that. At least I'm still on the SAP health plan via Joe, but that will be changing sometime in the coming months and I'll have to be ready for it.

- health and harmony for my family
My parents are retiring to their beautiful house on the Mendecino coast, expanding the house and adding my Mum's parents and my stepfather's mother (My Farmor, ja?) to the household. After various bouts with injuries and illnesses in the past year, I am wishing for a healthy, happy year and harmony amid the construction chaos. Good luck and enjoy the adventure!

-get my legs stronger and get healthier and trimmer
The continued weakness of my left knee, despite my arthroscopy in August, and the ominous failings twice in the past couple weeks of ankle strength have made it clear that I need to do some form of physical therapy or I will continue to be disabled perhaps for the rest of my life. Not being able to get around as I used to has certainly contributed to my gaining about 25 pounds and I just hate not being able to walk around San Francisco, so I think I actually have the will to control my diet and *shudder* start an exercise regime. If you have any extra willpower you're not using, send it my way!

Tis the season... 1998

Got all my receipts entered and planned bills. It's ugly, but survivable.Considering how many nice prezzies I bought this year and having to get new tires for the car, it could be worse. (Well, actually it couldn't be much worse - I'm almost out of money and close to my limit on my one credit card). The big drag is that my student loan payments of almost $250 a month start in January. Ugh.

Man, wrapping these presents is taking a long time. I guess that mean life is going well, eh?

Stayed up until 2am last night talking to Peter, but I'm glad I took the chance because I won't to talk to him again for a week and a half. :(

Don't forget to buy yourself a pair of feety pajamas. You deserve them.

Had a really nice relaxing bath last night in water rendered silky and delicious by homemade bath stuff from my friends. I think luxury presents are the best. That includes the wonderful simple stuff too. I have this great basic little grey wool cardigan that my ex-mother-in-law (mother outlaw?), Marit, gave me that I just adore.

Dang. Gotta go buy more wrapping paper. Don't you hate it when you get that damn translucent plastic stuff by accident? Hmm, leaving the house. I suppose this means I better change out of what I'm wearing.

The Post-Turkey Lull 1998

Hey! Where is everybody? I think I've only gotten a couple pieces of personal email (Hi Lisa! Hello family!) and no phone calls this weekend except for those arranging nice visits with Sherman and Joe. You guys are cool. :)
Not to say the rest of you aren't cool, you're just too dang quiet! (Patrick, you're immune from this chiding - monster email protects you until I actually reply).

Nice Interface 1998

I was very user friendly on Halloween this year...

The Week In Review 1998

Busy week after finishing the final draft of my report. Part exhaustion, part fleeing the computer in relief.

Restrained from killing client at work on Wednesday when I discovered he had added tables & fields to the project database without making a backup. See Rule #2.

Shopped Wednesday & Thursday for costume stuff. Spent rather a lot on lingerie. Tee hee!

Friday went to work in costume as an iMac. Pushed the boundaries of appropriate work attire. Pictures coming soon, in the mean time, imagine a bad transporter accident between an iMac and Spice Girl. Had dinner with Sherman at Willow St. Pizza. Mmmm, yuppie chow.

Saturday, Halloween, ran errands with Sherman. Got malled out. Headachy and knee-achy. Recovered via a delicious dinner of Afghan food at Afgani on El Camino Real. Application of two shots of scotch also helped permit a cheerful appearance at Bill, Jessica & Kristin's party. (Odd to drink before and not during a party, but it seemed to work well). Great, great costumes! I hope to get copies of pictures. Ian as a chair, Qarin as an innocent Catholic school girl (*cough cough*), Robert as the evil penguin from The Wrong Trousers, Fred as Mike (still laughing about that one), Sharon as The Black Widow (hotcha hotcha!), our hosts displaying their charms (ahem), and Lisa as such a cuddly lil' teddy bear. Great fun!

Ah, the sad, bad news of the week: my car has finally died. It put in long and noble service and I take back any catty remarks I made about it. "Now what?" you say. Well, I'm going to try getting by without a car for a while. I only work 5 miles away and so bus or carpool seem workable, though I'm also considering getting a scooter. Considering my insurance rates (only having had a license since February of this year), a new car would cost me about $450 a month and I can think of better things to do with my cash... Hell, I can rent a car for a few days twice a month and still come out ahead of the game.

Great news from moveon.org:
"Last Thursday, thousands of volunteers across the nation responded to our invitation to deliver the MOVE ON message to their Congressional Representatives - in person. Volunteers delivered petitions in the majority of congressional districts, spanning 44 states. Representatives and their staffs were very impressed by the diversity, civility, and commitment of the meeting attendees. It was a class act. Thank you. Congressional Representatives and their aides were also shocked that these groups -- so unified in purpose -- had never met each other before. For many, it was their first glimpse of the power of the Internet as a medium for grassroots political discourse and expression. For a press release summarizing the day, see http://www.moveon.org/release1029after.htm
For some highlights from the day, see http://www.moveon.org/highlights.htm"

Didn't make any progress on the revised final draft of my report/thesis thang, but did do laundry, tidy up, pay bills and restore my sense of stability. Oh, and I made soup. And I continued reading a really excellent book by Arturo Perez-Reverte: The Flanders Panel. Highly recommended.

Resolutions 1983

I didn't make a resolution for New Year's last year or for this year. I have made resolutions to myself and kept them. Most of the standards I have I stick to. I don't comprimise myself. I have been making resolutions about school. I will graduate. I will go to Santa Cruz next year (even if I have to wait until spring.) [Interesting to see that my resistance to putting the punctuation outside the parenthesis goes back at least this far.]

    The day after graduation I will be on my way to Anchorage and from there on to England. I will probably be gone for 3 or 4 weeks. When I come back it will be my 18th birthday. I will leave home for a day or two and go somewhere with [older guy] that week. I will have, from that point, about 2 months to pack for college. If all goes as I hope I will be at UCSC in the fall.