prompt: what was the most memorable gift you’ve ever received?

like most smart and socially awkward children, i was really into books and reading. for as long as i can remember, that’s been one of my favorite activities and a giant comfort in my life. i lived with my greatgrandparents as a young child and although papa had, at most, an 8th grade education, he taught me how to read as soon as he could, believing that if i knew that i was set. he wasn’t wrong.

i think it might have been the year i was in eighth grade. amazon was a really new thing. i was into greek mythology and astrology and all sorts of business. every present under my parent’s tree that year was fairly flat and professionally wrapped – and on christmas morning, i was an extraordinarily happy adolescent, surrounded by probably 15 hardcover (hardcover!) books on everything i was into at the team. there was a dream interpretation dictionary in there, i remember. but christmas was all books. and i loved it.

i’ve had memorable gifts through the years. some tiffany & co jewelry, a new laptop. this year, a bridge camera and a kindle fire (! to both).  but something about my parents supporting my interests, however esoteric and ridiculous they may have seemed, was pretty amazing.

i’ve missed a few days of reverb – and i’m sorry about it. i was really proud of my streak this year, but this month is just killer. between stress around the holidays (last month, i had $16 in my checking account four days before payday. add present buying to that?!), reverb, and stratejoy’s joy council (a group seminar thingy reflecting on this year and planning for awesome things for next), my head has been all explodey. no, really, i had a migraine that came and went for a WEEK. so i backed off and in keeping with the spirit of my year, i am really trying hard to feel like i don’t suck for that.

prompt: who or what did you loathe and how did you express that this year?

rude people on the subway. the pole is not your close and personal friend. it is for all of us to hold onto so we don’t fall on our asses. and i will indeed knuckle the hell out of your back to get you to let go. i have no scruples. be warned. also, headphones are about $5 a pair these days. i have no need to listen to your ringtone on repeat – and also, that is a might ghetto solution for having mp3 files, you hoodrat.

the dog: i mean, i know some of you will (and probably already do) judge me for this but i truly loathe my boyfriend’s dog sometimes. i try to be a human with a soul about it, and sometimes she is rather sweet. but she wreaks havoc on our house EVERY SINGLE DAY. i walk in from work, looking forward to peace and downtime, and i must first spend 20 minutes cleaning up whatever disaster she thought up that day, and also, a healthy pile of excrement. and yes, i’ve heard all of the well meaning advice, and no, i’m not particularly interested in tips and tricks. i know you are well-meaning, but this is my bitchy post and i won’t have it ruined by logic and reason. i’m not really an animal person and yes, when she’s ruined things that are important to me, i’ve considered tossing her out the window. he loves her (for reasons i can’t quite fathom), and i’m doing my best to acquire patience.

i’ve loathed the recent article in forbes, “if i were a poor black kid”. that was some infuriating shit. see also, the jcpenney shirt about girls being too pretty to study. also, most anything on fox news. why yes, that is my heart bleeding all over the floor.

i loathe laziness and entitlement. people who complain about not being able to find a job, and then brag about how they’ve applied to twenty…over the course of two months. times are hard and i get that, but this is a situation that calls for stepping up your game.

i loathe facebook. there, i said it. i did a major “friend” purge over there earlier this year, which was quite cathartic, but there are various people you have to remain “friends” with for political reasons, and i can’t count the number of people i’ve hidden from my feed this year. notable examples include someone who recently entered a relationship and couldn’t STOP with the schmoopy shit. what pushed me over the edge was posting a picture of a plate of spaghetti with broccoli (is that even a thing?) and tagging his girlfriend and talking about how she always kept him full and happy. gag. also, any and all conservatives who like to spout inflammatory shit, people who make their default pic one of them kissing their significant other (and i don’t mean a peck, i mean KISSING), and people who don’t seem like they made it past 3rd grade english class. oh, and the people who post those asinine quotes. and anyone who does the “99% of you won’t repost this” business.

i’ve gone on long enough. i am a type a, rather obsessive person and it’s too easy to crawl right up there under my skin and piss me off. maybe i’ll calm down a little in 2012…or maybe  won’t. probably won’t.

prompt: what scared you more than anything else? what did you learn about yourself?

again with the disclaimer of, i won’t pick one of anything. too overwhelming for my december stressed out brain.
(also, i’m sort of having a bad night. this colors my results. fair warning)

i am afraid that i don’t know how to operate any other way than alone. i fear i cannot be a partner.

i fear my relationship is falling apart.

i fear that my old hurts have finally caught up with me and had the effect they always should have, and that i’ve lost the real ability to connect. i fear i am entirely too much show, and not enough substance.

i fear that i will never, never be like the rest of you, with lives and plans and things to do and families and happiness. i fear i am playacting, all the time. that i am living an imitation life. i fear that i am incapable, and that i will forever be running on a treadmill, trying, and failing, to keep up.

i fear that i am not worthy.

i fear that i am doomed to only adhere myself to those who will drag me down.

all of these things grip me almost every day.

i learned that no matter what fear of mine comes to fruition, i will stand up when it’s over.

i learned that in order to do something, you just have to stop thinking, get up, and do it. movement requires movement. it seems so simple – and it is not.

i learned that every single move we make is a choice.

 

 

prompt: what do you wish you had done more of in 2011?

laughing. i wish i had done more laughing. today i let myself laugh wholeheartedly at very silly things and it was wonderful.

letting it go. i hold on really tightly to things that would probably be insignificant to you but for whatever reason, are very very important to me. i wish i had relaxed a bit and let go of just a little of my crazy this way.

reading. i love reading. i love it so hard, and i forget to do it all the time. yesterday i let myself stay in bed with 1Q84 for about 4 hours and it was glorious. i did this a few weeks ago with the magicians and the magician king – with equally glorious results. i loved/am loving all of the books named, so take them as recommendations too.

decorating. i have a long and storied history of envying people’s decorations, their things, the things that speak to them and of them, and i have a very hard time choosing any for myself. for the first time in my life i have a large enough space that will be mine for a permanent enough time that i should put some effort into making it so, and i’m frozen. paint chip displays drive me away in minutes, and i have browsed the internet for hours for various forms of wall art. hours. and i can’t choose – i can’t choose accent furniture, i can’t choose a paint color, i can’t choose decoration. i wish i had been able to do this.

and there you go.  what about you?

 

 

prompt: what label/story/box/belief clipped your wings this year? how can you flip the script next year? what’s your new story?

well, lucky me, i already wrote a post about this. you can read the whole thing, but i’ll paste the relevant bits below:

so here is something i’ve learned. i don’t have to be anything. i don’t have to be a fashionista or a gourmet cook. i don’t have to wear makeup or heels. it doesn’t make me less of anything – as a matter of fact, it only makes me more authentic to stay true to what i want. i don’t have to be sweet, i don’t have to be a neat freak, i don’t have to have starry eyes for this city. i don’t have to have the most organized budget. i don’t have to cross every item off of every list – i don’t have to schedule every second. i don’t even have to exercise. i don’t have to be the wittiest, the funniest, the deepest writer.

just because it’s great and works for other people, and is admirable, does not mean that it’s a requirement in order to succeed as a human.

the pressure i’ve put on myself, you’d think the world would rip at its seams if i was not everything.

but it is not true. it is a lie.

and by extending myself and my efforts into things that aren’t me, i’ve dishonored what i am. what we are, at the very end of the day, is all we’ve really got.

i don’t have to be what i’m not, and i don’t have to be everything. it’s a rather revolutionary concept in my little universe.

these beliefs have torn me. i spend more time than i’d like to admit either running frantic or with my head in my hands, disappointed that i’m not living up to some idea, that i’m not doing it right. i worry – i worry so much and so hard that even OTHER type a people stare at me wide-eyed and tell me to calm down. i snap, i break, so much of the time i am brittle. and i don’t want it anymore.

next year? next year i vow to be exactly what i am, and honor and love that. i vow to not place the weight of the world on forty three categories of self improvement, and to take things at a reasonable rate. to pick out some of what i am, and to admire that, rather than fret about what i’m not – and to not feel guilty about it. to examine and inspect everything that looks like it might be a neat way to be, and decide honestly if it really works for me. to be ok with, to adore, everything that is sitting here right now. because it actually is enough.

prompt: who have you forgiven in 2011? what was the journey like that brought you there?

i am still on the journey.

forgiveness, like letting go, is something i am not good at, was not built for. your offenses and transgressions stick in the crannies of my mind forever. i do not know how to forget – i hold on. the most i hope for is that i understand the reasons behind what you’ve done, and that i become ok with them. i shouldn’t say that – it’s a self limiting belief, i know – but i know what i am now and what i am is not a person who forgives.

i have not forgiven her. she was and likely remains a snake of a woman, a doer of evil, a predator, and completely self-consumed. i have trained myself out of checking on her internet spaces, because all they do is rile me – and i have committed to pushing her and all of the wrong she did out of my mind, my heart, my space. i am not always successful. my goal is to let go of my conviction to put her in the hospital if i ever see her in person again. that is not nice and that is probably a bit crazy but that is the truth.

i have forgiven him, to the extent that i will. i don’t know if it happened this year, or last. i know why he left the way he did and i know the sadness and anger that makes you do such things, and i know the places where i was wrong. he broke his promises to me. and it’s alright. i forgive him for leaving.

 

 

i decided to take on a prompt today that i’m not necessarily comfortable with.

i have a loud laugh. it makes people stare. it’s been described as bursting forth.

i can’t remember the last time i had an intense laughing fit. i can tell you about some times that have made me laugh this year.

i laugh with the bouncer all of the time. we amuse each other in a very original way and i’m grateful for the humor wavelength that we share. i laughed with him the other day as i revealed something a little insane i did out of stress. we laughed as i had to undo all of the christmas lights because i strung them all together and you’re not supposed to do that. i laughed as i was trying to convince him that we needed 300 lights per foot of christmas tree. we laugh at the antics of the dog – dogs are really very funny, if you watch them for any period of time. we laugh with each other constantly, and it’s wonderful.

i laugh at work. i am extraordinarily blessed with a variety of nice, sweet, and funny coworkers. i laughed when one told me recently, in jest, “oh, i didn’t date, i just invited everyone into my bed.” i laugh when my boss makes fun of me for my klout obsession and sends me the xtranormal video about it. we laugh about his preoccupation with kitties.

i laugh at my friends on the twitters almost every day. y’all are a funny bunch.

i laugh with my parents. they raised me with a very particular, sarcastic sense of humor that’s a little offbeat, and i think it’s something only we three (i’m an only child) truly understand.

i’ve got a kicking headache tonight but i didn’t want to lose to reverb momentum. i’m enjoying getting to know all of you a bit more SO very much.

disclaimer: if you already vomit in your mouth a little at the kim, dominique, and stereo love triangle on the twitters then you may just want to skip this post and hey, it’s totally ok. i am not one to usually read on about people’s schmoopy schmoop either so it’s all good.

i mean, the internet in general has been pretty amazing this year. there’s a whole cool twittercrew from last year’s reverb that’s developed, and that’s neat. i was on the fringes of the reverb game last year so i wasn’t aware of them then. twitter has even helped me grow a relationship with a new friend (hi, shakti!) who i don’t get to see all that often, because life is busy. and of course, there are several new friends at work that i’m grateful for.

the thing is, i’d lost hope. i would look around me and feel so far away from these people who have had the same friends since 5th grade, or are still really close with their college friends. it seemed like everyone was just flourishing in these friend circles, while mine was splintering. the people i had held onto seemed busy and wrapped up in their own worlds, and i didn’t feel relevant anymore. i thought i’d exhausted my lifetime supply of kindreds and that was that. better hold on to what i’ve got now, because the friend conveyor belt has turned off. i was working hard on learning to deal with this fact and it hurt. a lot.

and i was so wrong. you know there are those people, that you read and you think, post after post, “i get this and i appreciate just the fact that the person who wrote this exists.” stereo and i started reading each other during last year’s reverb and it was just like the wires clicked into place, and the lightbulbs went on, and within two weeks we were calling each other sisters across an ocean. i’m so proud to know her. she’s smart and witty and a big burst of color in the world.

and then there is kim, who is a woman of brilliance and snark and a frighteningly good writer (also, tea connoisseur and chef). stereo introduced us after reverb, and again, the pieces fell together. when i took the moment (ok, day) to read her blog archives – i realized how lucky i was to already be in the door, because if i wasn’t, i would have started banging on it with a gavel.

i struggled to write those last two paragraphs because i can’t do these women justice, and i can’t properly express my gratitude that the new friendship machine wasn’t actually closed to me forever. it was a small personal miracle for me, and i’m thankful every day for it, and for them.