Performance Review 2007 December 10, 2007
Posted by brandy in celiacs, famous people make for good gossip, friends, i may write about the west wing forever, lists, music, single girl stories, sports.trackback
Almost a year ago I wrote out my New Years resolutions.
And because I can cut and paste like a rockstar- here they are. Let’s review these little chestnuts and see where I failed and (more importantly to my ego) succeeded.
My 2007 To-Do List
1. I shall continue rocking my new bangs, my favourite jeans (complete with hole) and my side ponytail with complete abandon. (Verdict: Mission Accomplished. My bangs have grown out a bit and I’m still loving my jeans with a hole. Although it’s winter here now, so the jeans are in retirement. Any exposed skin is likely to get devoured by that gluttonous Jack Frost. I’m now having a love affair with corduroy. And nothing rocks a toque better than a low/side ponytail. Thanks for the confirmation Keri Russell.)
2. I shall make continue making Nancy Regan proud and “just say no” to: half hearted attempts at friendships with people who are jackpot tragedies, re-joining the Grey’s Anatomy bandwagon and succumbing to the tasty (albeit dangerous) lure of The Olive Garden. (Verdict: Mission Semi-Accomplished. I’ve said no to “real” friendships yet still have a hard time refusing to be friends with long forgotten people on facebook. Even those who I’m pretty sure wouldn’t even recognize me if we passed each other on the street, or those I dodge in a store because we would have nothing to talk about. But, I’m working on it. As for Grey’s Anatomy, I stuck to that one. And after the complaints I heard about last weeks episode… I’m glad I did. Olive Garden I’ve stayed away from, but can I tell you I’ve had a strange and dangerous illicit affair with beer lately? Shhh. I know. It’s not good. My body weeps. Gluten, you are a faithless wench.)
3. I shall eat more ants on a log. Peanut butter! Celery! Almonds! So good! (Verdict:Mission Accomplished. Anything involving peanut butter is good with me. It’s like a jar of awesome that comes in two textures- who doesn’t love that?)
4. I shall start watching “The Wire”, finish a Sudoku puzzle and will stop apologizing for loudly singing along to “Life is a Highway” any time it plays. (Verdict: Fail. On all counts. The idea of watching “The Wire” seems foolish when I have 7 seasons of “The West Wing” to watch over and over. And yes, I’m one of those people who take great comfort in watching old shows over and over rather than venturing into new shows. This is why I got a cell phone only after my 11 year old cousin had one. I’m slow on the idea of change. As for Sudoku- I watch “The West Wing” instead. I feel it challenges me sometimes, keeping those acronyms straight is hard work. And I will always apologize for singing “Life is a Highway”. In fact, I apologize right now for even mentioning it.)
5. I shall not feel bad for needing confirmation that I will not die alone. I will also stop putting myself in a position where that thought even crosses my mind. (Verdict: Mission sort of accomplished. Any by that, I mean I stopped calling the psychic to see how long it’s going to take the neighbors to realize I’ve died. I still worry, but it’s fleeting.)
6. I shall stop worrying about Reese’s happiness and consider my own. Unless of course, damning photos come out of Ryan and his rumored love Abby Cornish. Then, naturally, Reese’s happiness will become a top priority. (Verdict: Mission sort of accomplished. It may considered sad, but I do always worry about those celebrities who go through tricky divorces or who seem genuinely screwed up ((Amy Winehouse, this one’s for you)). I suppose it’s because their faces are everywhere and you can’t help but be drowned in details of their lives. However, I’ve stopped losing sleep over whether Reese is happy or not. She’s been looking content lately and seems okay. And besides, she has Jake to talk it out with.)
7. I shall consider the possibility that me standing on one foot for 20 minutes, cheering with a toothbrush in my mouth is NOT the reason for Canada’s world champion hockey victory. (Verdict: Never going to happen. It’s just how I’m wired. My ego will always have me thinking that any behavior I arbitrarily deem ‘the one’ will be what I need to do for my team to win. Does this cause added stress during an already stressful time? Absolutely. But does it make me feel a tiny bit smug when my team does win and I feel I can take some small personal victory since I helped them succeed by standing on one foot/standing on the couch/forgoing my favourite food on game day? Absolutely. And on this note- can I just say that I actually hop up and down with excitement when I think about the upcoming Olympics? I think about them regularly and just feel happy. Competition. Hot men with accents wearing tight skating suits. Hearing anthems played and seeing grown men weep after tasting victory, ahhhh these are good things!)
8. I shall start memorizing all 1014 3-letter Scrabble words, but will also work on ‘toning down’ my obnoxious victory dance. (It’s getting a bit.. out of hand) (Verdict: Fail. My dance is still going strong. However, Scrabulous on Facebook has sort of altered this goal. Instead of knowing all the 3 letter words, I’m just working on improving my win/loss stats. Maybe I should make a spreadsheet to keep track…)
9. According to my friends I have a problem with actually ‘answering’ my phone. So, I shall work on improving my 3/27 pick-up rate. That’s just for you Darci. (Verdict: Mission Accomplished! I’m answering far more regularly. Darci, you cannot disprove this. My current pick-up rate? 29/54! More than half the time someone calls now, I answer! I am amazing!)
10. I shall do more things that are good for me and less that are not. ( And I shall continue being as vague as possible when I’m too tired to go into details) (Verdict: Mission Accomplished. I think. Wellll… I’m working on it. Maybe ‘mission semi-accomplished’ fits better here.)
Overall, I’m happy with my progress. I love that I dedicated a whole goal to answering my phone and another to eating peanut butter and celery. I really put the bar high. Next year? Tackling world peace and the pesky global warming issue. And working on thinking before I speak. What will be your goal?
(* Also? If you want a card, I need an address. 
)
I am glad I’m not the only one that dodges people in the store. I hate those forced store small talk conversations.
Great year. I totally get the goal about eating more celery (not sure about the peanut butter though). And maybe I should make “NOT answer every phone call on the first ring” one of MY goals…right after “don’t give in to temptation”
Hey…how cool is that – I figured out the “link” thingy
I never answer my phone … sometimes I don’t even realize it but my mailbox will be completely full for days on end. If I could chuck it out completely I would.
Oh and I LOVE Keri Russel with all my heart. Felicity rocked my world.
I like your resolutions!
I’ve got to think of some for myself .. since it’s a new year in only three weeks.
Fail. Victory dance is going strong.
HA! I have a terrible victory dance too! AND A SONG
Give me a V dot the I curl the C
T-O-R-Y
VICTORY (clap clap clap)
VICTORY (clap clap clap)
V-I-C-Teee O-R-Yyyyy
Victor-Victor Victor-Victor
is our cryyyy is our crryyyy
singing naw nanananaww nananaw nana naw nana naw HEY HEY HEY
naw nana naw
I wanna be your facebook friend! we could play scrabulous…that would be awesome. and my win-loss statistics? pathetically sad for someone who is getting a phd in english.
that is all.
Uh, what are ant’s on a log, assuming it’s not literal? That’s a new one for me.
Wait, I’m not the only one who sings “Life is a Highway”? I can’t decide if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.
I almost never answer the phone, but that has more to do with the fact that the speaker is broken and I can’t hear it ring!
Keep doing lots of things that are good for you!
Ha, you and Airam have very similar phone etiquette. How adorable.
To remedy number eight, you could play me often. I whip out my biggest scoring word ever and still lose to you. Lame. Scoring 22 points felt so good at the time.
Oh, I’m terrible at answering my phone too. But wow, you’ve improved so much, congratulations!
I really liked #10, even if its vague and general. Its also simple. Makes me feel bad? Stop doing. Good? Keep doing. I think I’ll add that to this year’s resolutions.
“The Wire” is AWESOME.
AWESOME.
I am so bummed that there is only one season left.
Ok, I’m impressed. Not only do I never manage to make resolutions but if I do I never remember them by the time the next new Year’s has come around. Well sort of. Last year the one thing I wanted was to get back to my pre pregnancy fitness level. Mission accomplished.
my ants on a log was with raisins, or dried cranberris. Almonds, you say?
Why is Keri Russell so damn hot? And the low side ponytail is classic, classic, classic.
I’ve just gotten into Scrabulous on Facebook. I can show off my mad poor Scrabble skillz.
And I love ants on a log. I love that someone else (outside of my family) knows its proper name.
Oops. I meant to strikeout mad. Not html for WordPress comments.
“It’s like a jar of awesome that comes in two textures- who doesn’t love that?”
Pretty much the best line of 2007. Hands down.
Sweet! This almost makes me want to make resolutions. Resolutions that aren’t too serious, but important nonetheless.
I LOVE scrabulous.
And #6 made me laugh.
Amy Winehouse? Forget it…she is beyond repair. No amount of worrying is gonna help her!
“half hearted attempts at friendships with people who are jackpot tragedies”
I love this line, pretty much my new years resolution for next year.
Keri Russell has my heart – have you seen her in Waitress? Fantastic.
I am slow to bring about any change so I have to be careful with my resolutions – I am going to follow your lead and post mine so I can kick my ass next year when I see how much I’ve done/not done..I say YAY on all you’ve accomploished:)
I liked this here Performance Review you’ve done my friend! Oh, I personally don’t think you should ever apologize for singing “Life is a Highway”… but that’s just me. Also, right on about Reese… but if it’s not her, it’s going to be someone else I’m worrying about in the media. Yes, Amy WHinehouse, also Jennifer Aniston (especially this Christmas, because I just read that the Pitt’s invited her for the holidays).
There’s so much to comment on. Oh, I’m thinking of getting more of a bang look on Friday. Thoughts? Suggestions?
Have you seen peanut better? Google it…they have the most awesome looking peanut butter ever. I am dying to try it because peanut butter is my favorite food ever.
I never answer my phone either. I am not even going to put that on a resolution list for myself because I know I would fail that one.
I’ll email you my address, but I need yours too!
good job. clap, clap. and for the record i get deliriously happy when i think about the olympics. and its the summer ones which i love but i can see how a canadian may not.
This is a fantastic thing, blogging long enough to be able to review your New Year resolutions at the end of the year. I’ve been blogging on and off for 7 years now but never really stuck it out with a single blog long enough to do this. I used to play Scrabble competitively back in uni. I memorized all the two letter words, and nearly/possibly all of the three letter words. And then I got really sick of it. Now I just stick to Monopoly. And Cluedo. Haha.
Answering phones is overrated.
Of course, I say that because I rarely pick up mine.
I’ll take a card!!! I didn’t realize you too were singing along to ‘Life is a highway.’ Although I’m eschewing the Rascall Flatts version for Chris Ledoux’s. This is partly because he is dead now and I am paying homage to him.
7/10 isn’t too shabby at all. you pass for 2007!
i’ve been wanting to try rockin’ the side ponytail, but haven’t attempted it yet.
Lisa H- Yeah… at least with the holidays there is more to talk to but sometimes I just have nothing to say.
aRbit- Wow! You figured out how to link. I’m impressed. And hopefully some of your phone answering skills will rub off on me.
Airam- Two more reasons why I like you. Felicity? Man. How much did that show change my life? It was the perfect lead in show to watch before SATC. I mean, the voice overs, the angst, … it was just a nicer/less risque version, you know?
Alyndabear- Yeah, I like planning ahead. It gives me time to honestly think about them and be like ‘what the hell? you are NEVER going to give up dairy products. Why would you even think of suggesting that as a resolution?” . And yes, I do talk like that to myself sometimes.
Lisa- Wow. I do not know anyone else who has words to their victory dance. I bow to your greatness.
Carrie- Let’s figure it out then! I will email you…
geekhiker- ANTS ON A LOG?! You’ve never heard of ants on a log? Oh my. Okay, so they are the greatest things ever. The majority of people make them with Cheese Whiz, rasins and celery. But, since Cheese Whiz makes me gag and raisins are not far behind, I’ve created my own kind with almonds and peanut butter. Basically you just spread the peanut butter on the celery and put some almonds on so it looks like bugs on a log. And this little paragraph clearly illustrates why I should have my own cooking show.
egan- That would involve you making a move every once in a while. If I held my breath for you to take your turn, I would have died a few months ago. And you would have pushed the ‘force win’ button and accepted a victory. I know you.
Hope- Yeah… I don’t know. I mean, some of them where so specific but I just like the idea of being general- do good things. Be a nice person. If you aren’t being nice, stop. It just makes sense.
Peter- See?! That’s what I hear. I have a friend who raved about it and I said I would start watching and then I got into 24, and then I stopped that, then I didn’t watch anything and now I’m on the West Wing bandwagon… but now I’m really thinking I can commit to The Wire. Really. I think it’s time.
CableGirl- Good for you on reaching your goal! I’m honestly amazed that I have my resolutions handy, one good thing about keeping a blog I guess is knowing that you are going to have them around (for better or worse) to review later.
Tiff- Cranberries? That just blew my mind. But then, what do you use to stick them to? Peanut butter? And I don’t know why Keri is so awesome, but she just is isn’t she? If you don’t have the new Self magazine with her on the cover, you should check it out. She gives a great interview in there that makes me love her even more.
Elisabeth M- I knew what you meant.
Scrabulous is fabulous. And sort of life changing.
Armalicious- Best line of 2007?! Oh man! That just made my day! Maybe I should do a post about that… some of the best lines, or posts on other people’s sites from the last year. Ohhh project!
justrun-Exactly. I do have one serious resolution this year (I want to really work on figuring out why I say some of the less than wonderful things I do). I think a lot of the time though, people don’t make resolutions because they think they have to be serious/life changing. I’m not a fan of that.
Miriam D- I’m glad you liked it! And honestly, when the rumors started about Abby/Ryan… oh man. I was a sad woman.
AM- I like to think noone is beyond repair. Maybe it’s the teacher in me. Or maybe I’ve watched too much Lifetime.
Semichrmd- Good for you! “Jackpot tragedies” were a phrase I thought of with a friend. We basically realized that there are just some incidents/people/experiences that are so… tragic but rare that you have to watch them.
PE- I think posting is the way to go. I mean, I think I thought of mine maybe once after I posted them, but it was fun to go back and look at them and remember what I had wanted to accomplish.
brookem- I’m glad you get the Reese thing. Something made me think you might. And do you really think Jen got invited? I heard that but wasn’t sure if it was a rumor or not. That’s tricky for his parents. I mean, I get that it would be hard to let go of someone who was your daughter in law, but at the same time,… that’s got to be uncomfortable for Brad. I just imagine if I was married and divorced and my parents invited the guy back home for the holidays… yikes. As for the bangs, I like them longer. In the summer I went Reese- short (like how she had hers at the Golden Globes, just ending below the eyebrow), but have now grown them out. Shorter ones get crazy more easily, and I like being able to pin mine up/back still. Halle Berry has been rocking some great ones lately. Oh man. Is it wrong that I just realized I could talk about hair for hours.
Tori- Okay, I’m excited to check out peanut better!! And I will be replying to your email today friend. So watch out!
Anne- Yeah… I’m much more of a winter Olympic fan. Especially the hockey/figure skating/any sport that involves someone going down an icy hill on a sled like device.
Lisa- I got my two letter words down and some three letter words but there’s just so many of them! And the fact that you said you played competitively makes me think you might be my favourite person. Ever.
Jamie- I agree. I think if you really need to get ahold of me, there will be a cosmic intervention and I will hear from you in some other form. Phones. Bah!
MC- You have to go back and follow the rules friend. And you need to send me an address.
mcgee- It’s tricky. I think the secret it to make sure it’s low and that you avoid wearing pink neon leggings when rocking it. Or else, it’s hello 1984 all over again.
like your resolutions. gotta sketch out mine…haven’t planned, mainly because I rarely manage sticking to them….
I totally don’t do New Year’s resolutions, but if I did I’d want to do an end of year review just like this.
Sometimes I literally lose entire days (and weeks) to The West Wing. Why would I want to do anything else, haha?
WOW totally realized we have a lot in common! I’m a serial non phone picker upper. When I lose my phone- I get a little happy that I don’t have to talk to people! (but thats probably because my old job required me to be on the phone all day- Blarf). I’ve watched all of the Wire eps, and Season 4 is by far my favorite. Too bad Season 5 is the final one. Took myself off of Grey’s Anatomy about a year ago (b/c I don’t have tvo and The Office is my first true love- was always on at the same time). And I too deal with quite a few friends that would sell me out in a gosh darn second… When do you write your 08 list? Maybe i’ll just follow that one. haa
Ok, consider the address on the way. Well, when I can email it. I think you are overdue for a long winded, too many worded email from me.
hahaha i loved this post! i was aaamen-ing to so many of these!! the side ponytail and toque (hi, can you tell we’re canadian, eh?) = so cute!; i went around for a good couple of days (or weeks) saying love doesn’t exist when reese and ryan split; i totally keep jeans with holes; i have to try ants on a log!!
Wow. I’m uber-impressed. Well done.
T’is never “wrong” to talk about hair for hours. I fucking love hair. I’m off to google Ms. Barry.
um, Berry I mean.
man do i love me some peanut butter!
Ana- I get that. That’s why I set the bar low with resolutions like ‘answer the phone’. Victory is more likely.
Nicole- Ahh, ‘the west wing’ blackout. I know it well. Sometimes I will wake up on a Sunday morning with crumbs around me and no recollection of what happened my entire weekend. Then I will see a few seasons on the floor and try to piece it all back together. It always gets hazy after Sam Seaborn leaves for California….
Julie Q- The Office vs. Grey’s Anatomy is just something I don’t understand. I mean, I guess I do, rating wars etc, but why, why do they have to take the two most loved shows and put them back to back? I liked Grey’s Anatomy on Sundays. It made my Sunday a bit more bearable. Thankfully it’s easy for me too- Office wins everytime, but I wish programmers/network owners would be more considerate for those who haven’t chosen teams yet. As for the ‘08 list, I may just do it Jan 5th, just like last year. I’m all about starting random traditions. Woot!
MC- Hooray! Make sure you follow the rules though. I need to hear what your wish is.
libby- Ants on a log are wonderful. And I love that you said ‘love doesn’t exist’ when R & R broke up. I think I said something similar with the demise of Brad and Jen. Man. I still miss them together. So tanned. So blonde.
Cheryl- Thanks!!
brookem- ” I fucking love hair” That one made me laugh out loud. You are good stuff. Good luck finding a photo of something you plan on getting. Let me know what you decide!
Sizzle- I’m adding this fact to the list of reasons why I like you.
I’m impressed that you accomplished so much!
I love the idea here of giving yourself a year-end performance review. I, on the other hand, loathe setting myself up for disappointment, so I tend to try to forget my resolutions by mid-February.
Good work this year…and thanks a whole damn lot for getting “Life it a Highway” in my head this morning. Granted, you *did* apologize… Ha!
[...] looking, when i say it anyway, when it doesn’t go my way, youth. trackback I recently posted my performance review regarding my New Years Resolutions. It was mentioned in the comments that it must have been nice to [...]