December 2004
Checklist 2004
All the way back in January of this year, I made a blog post listing my resolutions for 2004. Like most people, I didn’t do as well on them as I’d hoped. For many of them, I could either say yes or no. I still can check off a few, though.
1) Be more organized. Yes and no. I don’t know if I’ve really been as organized so much as I haven’t had as much I need to organize for. 2004 has been a much cleaner and less stressful year.
2) Be more prepared. I don’t really know what I was thinking of when I wrote this resolution. I think I might have been thinking of needing bottles of hand sanitizer kept in my backpack and locker.
3) Read more. Alas, I’m afraid I’ve still been horrible on the reading bit this year. I think I may have completed three books the entire year. Sure, I’ve read quite a few, but I’m too impatient and I procrastinate to much to actually sit down and complete a book. I should work on this more. My list of books to read is too long.
4) Be more assertive. I can’t say that I’ve done much about this one, either. Still, though, my unassertiveness hasn’t really been bugging me as much this year.
5) Buy lots and lots of comfortable clothing. CHECK.
6) Get out more. Yes…. but not as much as I’d hoped, either. I still have stayed indoors far too much of the time.
7) See more movies while they’re in theaters. I don’t really recall how many movies I saw in theaters in 2003, but I think my movie going has increased this year.
8) Stay away from sad people. No. But still, the sad people aren’t nearly as draining this year. Still draining and sometimes depressing, but not nearly as much.
9) Stop thinking about making some sort of business and do it! Hum. Not really sure what I was thinking of when I wrote this one, either. I did have some business this year, though. I managed to design two websites for two people and I got paid for it! Whoo-hoo! That’s a first! I designed a few other sites, too, but I didn’t get paid for those.
10) Be happier! Oh, yes, CHECK. Check, check, check. 2004 has been SO much happier than 2003. I just hope that my wintery depression won’t kick in later this winter.
People are scary.
I know I’m all antisocial and stuff, but I guess I just don’t notice it sometimes. There must be a line that I cross when I’m trying not to be disruptive or rude that goes into social anxiety territory. Lately people have been noticing my odd social behavior and it’s been catching me by surprise.
Just tonight, I went over to Russell’s house to get back my copy of Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind. I walked in the door, noticed his aunt and sisters watching Sex And The City, and headed up the stairs to his room. About three steps up, I hear his sister say, “Hi, Max.” I turn around and say “Oh, hi.” And start nervously back up the stairs.
Russell’s all, “Aren’t you going to say hi?”
I’m all, “Uh, yeah, I just did.” I try once again to hurry up the stairs. Russell reminds me that shoes aren’t allowed in the house. I knew that, but I was trying to make my entry and exit into the house quick. I quickly take of my clogs —yes, clogs in the winter— and run the rest of the way up the stairs. When I finally got out of the house, Russell told me that my shyness is why his family thinks I’m so strange. Great. People think I’m rude AND strange. The rude, strange, freakishly shy little boy who lives up the street.
Something a little like this also happened a few weeks ago. I was going up to the little corner store place thingy with Adam at like midnight to get some snack food. So, it’s late, it’s dark, and suddenly I’m under florescent lighting. Did I ever mention how florescent lighting makes me feel naked? I immediately bundled my scarf around my head.
At the cash register, the cashier looked at my strangely and whispered, “Do you see somebody you know?” Huh? “You look like you’re hiding. Is there somebody here that you’re hiding from?” She looks to the side of the store.
“Erm, no,” I say. “I’m just cold.”
“Oh, yeah, just ignore him,” Adam says as he pays for our Chex Mix.
If people notice this sort of stuff and tell me, are people noticing it other places, too? When I wrap my scarf several times over my head in school to hide my face from the harsh lights, do people think I’m just trying to be comfortable or do they think I’m somebody who belongs in the loony bin?
In pink.
My sister and I wanted to take pictures of ourselves to give to my mother as a Christmas present…. One thing led to another and… well….. these are the ones that we’re not going to use.
Procrastination, Movie Adaptations, and Sleep Overs, Oh My!
I was really excited basically all Friday at school. One, because Friday was Lemony Snicket Day, and two, because Adam was coming back home from college and visiting! I was so hopped up on excitement (or maybe just carbohydrates) that I could not concentrate at all on my homework. I usually have my homework done before I go home, doing it during study hall or lunch. Friday, though, I didn’t get any homework done, so I have like a kagillion pages of work to do now.
Maybe I was overreacting a little bit. After all, Lemony Snicket is no Harry Potter. Still, though, it’s LEMONY SNICKET. I was FREAKING out! I dashed home and found the soonest movie times! I SO didn’t want the movie to stink. The preview made it look so crappy….. but it was a preview. So. My sister got home, called her friend Taylor to come to the movie with us, too. We left at about 4:30 for the 4:45 showing. I was extremely talkative and TOTALLY hyper all the way to the movie. “Oh my GOSH, DAD! We only have ONE MINUTE before the movie starts! HURRY!” Said I about a block away from the theater.
We got into the theater, bought four tickets, persuaded my sister from buying snacks, and rushed past the ticket people. My father had to go to the bathroom, so my sister, her friend, and I decided to go ahead into the theater. We got seats, watched a few trailers…. my father still hadn’t come back.
Now, this sort of thing had happened before at a movie. My family went to see X-Men 2 and my mother left the theater to do something but accidentally went into the wrong theater, thus seeing the ending of the movie about an hour early. She realized she had made a mistake and went back to the correct theater and saw the ending again.
Worried that that sort of event might repeat itself, I started to have a tiny anxiety attack. I didn’t want the movie to be ruined for me because of my father not being there! I went back to the bathroom and checked for my father. He wasn’t there. I came back to the theater and my sister went out to buy treats and said that my father wasn’t in the lobby, either.
The movie started and ended. It was pretty good. For the most part. My main complaints are that it was a bit too condensed, that they gave away things in the movie that haven’t even been given away in the books yet, and that it was a bit too childish. Anyway.
