January 4, 2008

2007 recap

Twenty-five things I learned in 2007

  1. Coloring your hair for too many years in a row results in PTSD when you realize how much gray hair you really have.
  2. Trying to change the older members on your family is futile. Better idea; learn how to deal with them, even if it means ignoring them.
  3. Free movies make me spoiled.
  4. Trusting people 100% is impossible.
  5. Social networking is a wonderful way to make new friends. (Hi new friends!!)
  6. Whatever trend I tend to love is always hijacked by mainstream pop culture.
  7. Chuck can be a girls name or a boys name….who knew?
  8. Just when TV writing and TV shows start to get awesome, something always happens to fuck it up. This year: the writers strike. (Though I stand by them, it still stinks for the viewer in me.)
  9. Learning is actually fun, if you pick a topic you’re interested in.
  10. Kidney stones really do hurt like a bitch.
  11. Quitting smoking while you’re sick makes it 50 times easier.
  12. Writing 50,000 words in a month isn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be. However, finishing said novel is harder.
  13. Query letters suck.
  14. Reading books outside your genre comfort zone might just turn up a few gems.
  15. Celebrity drama isn’t all that, and certainly not as painful as homegrown drama.
  16. Writing keeps me alive.
  17. Hearing isn’t the same as listening.
  18. Talking less allows you to learn more. Sometimes more than you bargained for.
  19. Dieting is retarded, changing your eating and exercising habits is the only way to lose weight.
  20. Getting involved in political and/or religious debates requires careful treading.
  21. If you understand (and “listen” to) your body, you probably don’t have to take all those prescription drugs your doctor is trying to push on you. There’s a natural remedy for many of life’s ailments.
  22. I could have been a kick ass drummer. ROCK BAND told me so!
  23. Kids are much smarter than most adults give them credit for and should be taken seriously.
  24. Cleaning the house just leads to more cleaning.
  25. My fascination with all things pop culture will never end.

Of course, I’ve learned much more than this. But these ones stick out in my head, so I figured I would share.

Now, onto the Favorites Of 2007…mind you, some of these may have actually come out earlier, but I didn’t get my grubby hands on them until this year.

Books:

Favorite books outside my normal genre readings:

Kite Runner

Favorite Sci-fi and/or Fantasy:

Harry Potter 7

Stardust

Plague of Memory

Favorite Thriller/Suspense:

Bad Luck and Trouble

Requiem for an Assassin

The Poet

Favorite Romance:

Darkfever

Bloodfever

Favorite Young Adult/Children’s

Spiderwick Chronicles

Coraline

Return to Zandria

I know I read a bunch more books this year, but for the life of me, I can’t remember them all. I don’t even know if I read a non-fiction book this year. I’ve decided to keep an excel spreadsheet for all read books for 2008 so it’ll be easier to blog about next year. I already have one read thanks to Simon Haynes. I won a copy of his Hal Spacejock book. (Will post review later)

Movies/DVD’s:

Thriller/Suspense:

Zodiac

Bourne Ultimatum

Horror:

Halloween (Revisited)

28 Weeks Later

Comedy:

Superbad

Romance:

Knocked Up

Sci-fi/Fantasy:

Harry Potter 5

Ghost Rider

Stardust

Foreign:

Pan’s Labyrinth

Musical:
Dreamgirls

Animation:
Superman Doomsday

Highlander

Blade of the Phantom Master

Action:

Transformers

300

War:

Rescue Dawn

I haven’t been to the movies since before the summer, so I know I’m behind on my movie watching. I honestly don’t mind waiting, but that doesn’t make for a timely pop culture whore now does it?

Television:

Favorite new shows:

Journeyman

Moonlight

Favorite Sci-Fi/Fantasy:

Heroes

LOST

Battlestar Galactica

Favorite Comedy:

30 Rock

Favorite Cop/Crime:

L&O SVU

Criminal Minds

Favorite Reality:

Survivor

Kid Nation

Favorite Cable shows:
Tell me you love me

Human Weapon

Weeds

We all know Jenn watches too much TV, and I have about 20 more shows I could add to this list, but I won’t. I will, however, just say this: Smallville is underrated. I’ve been watching old seasons and the writers are amazing. Aside from the fact that the whole show is about trust and love and EVERYONE is always in the hospital, it’s a great show. They bring things back from earlier seasons and fit it right into a current story plot! I love that! And I do love the cheese little lines and filler shows they do. I recently saw the one where Luke Duke made his appearance as “Uncle Jack”. That episode was great. Lex called him a “good ol’ boy”, they did the whole car thing….just great. I wonder how many youngsters missed all those funny little additions to the show.

Video Games:

Heavenly Sword

Rock Band

Stuntman

Singstar

I’ve been lacking in the VG department. Usually I only play RPG’s and none came out this year that I wanted to play. We’ll see what happens this year.

Any favorites from 2007 you think I should check out? I’m always open to suggestions!!

1 comment:

Stevyn Colgan said...

You missed Charlie Jade? great series from South Africa showing over here in the UK on the Fox network (FX channel). Great blog BTW! http://stevyncolgan.blogspot.com/