A look back, reflections, hindsight, and all that other end-of-the-year stuff

I'm not a huge fan of the year-in-review thing.  I tend to put the TV on mute when they do some cliched montage.  And I find the endless top 10 lists annoying.  New Year's Eve celebrations have never been particularly interesting to me.  I've spent most of them on my couch with a friend or two watching movies and consuming junk food and avoiding the usually horrid weather outside.  But I suppose...since this is a blog after all, that I should do some sort of look back on what happened in my life in 2009. I guess I'll go month by month.

January: I participated in sorority recruitment and pledged Delta Gamma.  Like I said in my first blog post, it hasn't always been peaches and cream, but I have met and become friends with some of the most amazing women I know.  Probably one of the best decisions I have made or will ever make.  IU Ballet Theater put on a small, free show called "Ballet on the Edge" in which I was fortunate enough to be cast.  Though the snow day (first one in 13 years) caused our show to be postponed a day and relocated from the Theater to the studio, it was still a fun experience.


February: I always think February is way too long.  By then, winter is entering it's 3rd (or 4th) month and you just want it to be warm again.  Nothing much happened, save for the DG crush dance, which was fun.  Though I think I was way too sober to be there. I can't forget IU Sing.  Definitely a fun event, but an experience I would prefer not to repeat.  Trying to teach frat guys how to dance is not exactly easy.  Oh, and about a week later, my mom came to visit for DG mom's weekend.  Highlights included a game of beer pong at a frat house.  She even drank out of a red cup.  Classy.

March: March saw Initiation, Spring Break in Phoenix with my mom, and Swan Lake.  It was so awesome to be finally initiated.  On a whim, I got to do Spring Break.  My mom had a conference out there and she asked me to go with her, so I spent a few days soaking up some sun.  That week I also got to see my best friend from high school.  I'm really bad at staying in touch with her, so it was great to see her.  I Performed Swan Lake for the first time.  While it was not the full-length version and we sometimes questioned MV's choreographic choices, it was a rewarding experience, even with the Vegas costumes and the frustrating conductor.  You can stream it on demand here.

April: I turned 21.  It was not the best birthday ever, but it did fall during Little 500 week.  And I turned 21 as a college freshman, of which many people are jealous.  Mostly, I was just glad because I could order a glass of wine out at dinner.  And getting to go to Kilroy's without having to worry whether or not a fake is going to work is a nice perk, too.  Little 5 was an absolute blast.  DG placed 6th in the women's race.  Unfortunately, I never actually made it to the men's race.  Screwdrivers at 11 am the day after my 21st pretty much did me in.  Never, ever, ever again.

May: Saw my freshman year of college come to an end.  While this was bittersweet, I was definitely glad for it to be summer.

June/July: Worked as an RA/receptionist slave for the Milwaukee Ballet.  While at times the hours were long and frustrating, I loved all the girls I worked with and all most of the kids of whom I was in charge, particularly those who we took to see Half-Blood Prince.  Speaking of which--the long-awaited 6th film installment of my favorite book series of all time came out, and a few of the RAs went to see it at the midnight showing and again later in the week with the kids.  At the midnight showing, we went to an older movie theater where we sat at tables and were served wine and junk food.  It was delightful.  The film didn't disappoint either.  It is my favorite thus far.  David Yates did (most of) the fandom proud.  I got to see Emily, who I had not seen since summer 2008, a few times, so that was nice, too.  Also, a lot of celebrities died.  Which was depressing.

August: Moved back to school and into the Deeg :) I love every minute of it.  On a less fun note, two of the girls from my class in the Ballet Department did not return for their sophomore year.  They are both still dancing (thank goodness), but I haven't seen one of them since August and the other since October.  It is sad.  I have so many good friends scattered across the country it's ridiculous.  I miss you all, btw.


September: This month is kind of a blur.  Highlights include the Freshmen ballet party, in which the upperclassmen got more intoxicated than the freshmen (whoops!), my first (and definitely not last) Kilroy's $2 Tuesday, and the Ben Folds concert at the IU Auditorium.

October: Performed Diaghilev's Les Noces in October.  Basically the only thing I care to say about this is that I'm glad we got through it.  And I'm glad it's over.  I went as the Golden Snitch for Halloween.  I was very proud of my costume and thankful to Maggie who helped me put it together.  Though my wings broke not even halfway through the night and actual Halloween night wasn't a particularly earth-shatteringly awesome one, it was fun nonetheless.  Homecoming and the DG semi-formal also fell during October.  Unfortunately, I was rather sick with an upper respiratory infection during a lot of Homecoming week, but I did make it to the tailgate...for a little while, at least.  Semi-formal was also fun, and I had an absolute blast!!  My family also moved into my mom's fiance's house during this month.  I wasn't there for the move :(

November: Mostly, there were lots of birthdays to celebrate.  And school was pretty stressful, too. I also participated in Indiana University Dance Marathon 2009 as a dancer.  Hands down one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.  Not only did I stand up for 36 hours, I did it on no caffeine was was hyper and untired for most of those 36 hours.  I fell in love with the amaaazing line dance and with every single one of those Riley kids.  I'm looking forward to hopefully joining a committee in January.  FTK.  ALC.

December: Wrote a Shakespeare research paper, which just about killed me.  Thankfully, I did ok on it.  I Performed yet another Nutcracker.  This time as a snowflake, flower demi soloist, Clara's mom, Mirlitons, and Spanish depending upon the night.  Rehearsals were long and tedious, but the show was so worth it.  Didn't have any exams, came home on the 14th, and have been hangin' with the fam ever since.  The Project for Awesome (#p4a) was a lot of fun.  #P4A was even a trending topic on Twitter for most of the 48 hours, and it reached number 1 while Maureen Johnson was hosting the livestream.  Christmas was great (see below).  Received my grades, and for the 3rd consecutive semester, I have a 4.0 :)

Miscellaneous 2009 things:

1. Had my first drunken kiss with a boy I had hardly spoken to.  This is not something I'm particularly proud of, but it's kind of funny, so I figured I would share.

2. Became a die-hard GLEEk.  Can't believe there aren't anymore episodes til effing April.

3. Fell in love with (500) Days of Summer.

4. Saw a Michael Jackson tribute band at the Bluebird.  So good.

5. Cried (and not the happy kind) when my mom announced her engagement to me.  I later came around :)

Can't think of anything else random at the moment, but I will probably update this when I do.  Mostly, it was just another year.  Nothing particularly ground-breaking happened.  I didn't win the Nobel Peace Prize like Obama did.  I didn't procure some fabulous ballet job (because I didn't audition because I want to finish school).  But it was definitely the year that was.

It's very strange that it will soon be 2010.  Yet another new decade.  And 2010 is the year I'm supposed to graduate college--that is, if I'd gone to school on time.  I'll be turning 22 (WHAT?!) in April, which just plain scares the crap out of me.  It's interesting to think that we're entering another decade because A LOT can happen in ten years.  I mean, I was 11 during the Milennium celebrations.  11!!  I hadn't even gotten my first pair of pointe shoes yet...or attended my first summer ballet program.  People can meet, get married, and have babies in ten years.  How many times were you asked in elementary school, "Where do you think you will be in ten years?"  I normally replied to this question with, "Hopefully dancing with a ballet company and then getting married."  Well, I was half right, I suppose.  (At 18 and 19, I was dancing with NCDT and Tulsa Ballet, respectively).  Here's to a new decade and another ten years.  I hope they will be good to you.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!