In which i give myself an anonymous eyepatch.
(Because i've always wanted to be a pirate. Or Stevie Wonder.)
(Ouh! Also, it took 5 years in the making, but look! My fringe is no longer fringy!! *proud*)

So Thursday night festivities didn't go half as bad as i anticipated (considering the last time i saw them, i had to brace myself, you understand). Highlights included:

• Copious amounts of booze. Q, brother-in-law's middle sister*, brought two bottles of moussed wine that was added to the 2 bottles of vino, unearthed somehow in the already full cupboard of hard liquor at my sister's**. Since most of The Adults didn't drink, these were all generally shared between four of us...
• Including my Big Sis, who got really drunk. And that would be one resolution resolved. Huzzah!
  
• Food! Innumerable, insuperable, incredible! From 7pm to the last second of 'o9. I am still digesting.
• The Other Mother, on ordering food (instead of cooking like her daughter, or my mum, when really nobody was even thinking of caring***): "You know it's just as hard work to order: i had to find the number to call, then get there, ring the bell and enter the code [pause]... And then wait for the food..."
• Sneaking off to the spare bedroom**** to send saucy pictures stages of my inebriation to Blondie. *giggles*
• Watching Brüno. Too drunk at that point to care how disappointing it was but tried out Big Sis' new massage chair. Awesome. Wished there was weed.
  
• Mum dancing and clapping and singing "ANNA HAH-PY NOOO YEEEEEARRR!" - sober and crazy.
  
• First kiss of 2010: 10-month-old nephew. Can't ask for more, really.

Well, ok maybe i can... But right after we opened (and finished) the last bottle of sparkle it snowed in that soft dream-like way, and my heart skipped a beat or six (and not only bc it was soaked in ethanol).

Looking back at last year first resolutions, there's no surprise i didn't really keep any. The real one however was that i think i achieved the general idea of it (i'm easy to please like that). I did not read every week (that was my overachieving, over-pleasing, Twelve-Year-Old Self speaking, please excuse her) but i did read quite a bit more than 7 books, so yay me. Also, i baked brownies i couldn't keep my filthy paws off of (even though they were the pre-prepared mix kind - hey! i added and changed a few ingredients and instructions! that counts, yes?...), wrote more, established some new boundaries and clumsily scrambled enough confidence to go back to school and be a more pleasant person (if not slightly erratic) to be around, i think. Or failing that, at least someone i can better like, and that is All Good, yes? YES?!

Anyway, in keeping with this brand new tradition, here are a brand new set for the brand new year. And since i am brand newly aiming to achieve (!!!) i remembered learning from failed academic past that one must cut it down into simple, clear and practical***** tasks for better chances of success, so here goes nothing. (IT'S LIKE I CAN BARELY RECOGNISE MYSELF PEOPLE!)

1. Spend more time talking with just my Big Sis.

2. Eat one fruit a day.
(In lieu of getting married, to please Mother)

3. Learn to drive.
(In lieu of growing up, to please Father.)

4. See and/or write to good friends at least once a week.

5. Be adventurous.

Does not count: buy new "kind" of shoes; cut hair; burn down buildings.
Does count: travel to new places and/or at the last minute, without any planning; shag in random places; etcetera.

6a. Shag more.
Which would go better with...

b. Get boyfriend's ass here.
(Or wherever mine is.)

7. Instead of buying new, wear more clothes i already have.
Also, dresses.

8. Read these already:
Love in the Time of Cholera - Marquez
L'insoutenable légèreté de l'être - Kundera
Crash - Ballard
Kafka on the Shore - Murakami
Anna Karenin - T-Man
(D'aw, i'm so romantic! If not slightly tragic!)

9. Watch:
the last season of Oz
The Wire
Dexter
Mad Men
Twin Peaks
(Original, thou art not thy name.)

10. Follow a schedule.
(Please.)

Alrighty then. That's it for now, folks and folksettes. I have to scurry to (another! my, i'm on a roll!******) get-together brunch type thingy now, so until next time,


Pip! pip!



________________________
* Didn't come to the FloHo. Therefore wisest and favorite of the whole crazy bunch. (Aside: previously insanely high-strung - and also one who couldn't take a compliment - but ever since wedding, has vastly mellowed out and carelessly fun. This oddly makes me very happy.)
** Big Sis, bless her heart, nor her hubby ever drink, but like to entertain the idea of serving guests. Which they seldom have. Who drink. Except me. For some reason.
*** Actually, we were all thankful coming from her...
**** Which also served as the baby's room (hence the alphabet) but with no baby in it. Just to be clear.
***** Three things i'll take a lifetime to get but i am doing here what the people call Aiming High. What can i say, i'm a crowd pleaser. *laughs hysterically*
****** Is trying not to jinx it, is trying not to jinx it...