2008 draws to a close. The last time I did a personal inventory, it was 2004, and I was finishing my first semester of university. I was fresh out of high school, ready to take on the world.

To be truely poetic, I should really wait one more year; 2009 will mark the end of my undergraduate studies after all, and wouldn't it be nice to close the book on the same page it was opened? But I have been feeling particularly morose over this holiday season, particularly introspective.

So I'm doing it now. Who knows where I will be on December 31, 2009?



My name is Lindsay Michelle.
I have a last name too, but it won't matter for much longer.
I'm female, except for when I'm male.
I'm in my fifth (!) year of university. My major is Geography.
I work on campus at the student society.
I like to go to bed and wake up late. I rarely get to achieve this, and feel like hell when I do.
I have had my driver's license for three years; I drive a red Sunfire with flames on the seats.
I don't have a boyfriend any more -- I have a fiance!
We're getting married May 7, 2009. It's terrifying.
We live together with our cat in a basement suite in what is not quite suburbia, but damn close enough.
We do not have plans for children.
I have Charcot Marie Tooth disease. I do not need a wheelchair -- yet.
I still get panic attacks. Sometimes I feel I am going to die immediately.
I'm still not quite over the Depression of 2004. I don't think I ever will be.
My biggest fear is related to the knowledge that one day, someone I love will die. I am not prepared for this fact.
I love to draw. I spend too much time on Warcraft.
I weigh about 130lbs. At LEAST 20 of that is piss and vinegar.
I am a size 11.
Sometimes I like to cry for fun.
I have seven piercings, only one of which you can't see in a bathing suit.
I have no tattoos.

This year:
I got engaged to a wonderful man who is the light of my life. I only hope he can put up with me.
I got two A+ on papers, both on the mediation of imagined geographies.
I learned that trust is more important than monogamy.
I played too much Warcraft, and did not go outside nearly enough.
On that note, I got a third character to 70 and, post expansion, one to 80.
I learned how to make a wallet out of tape.
I bought my first iPod -- unfortunately, I did not become a hip silohoutte.
I also bought my first computer with my own money.
I went to a wedding. It rained.
I found out that pot tastes worse than it smells.
I started drinking coffee.
I started drinking alcohol. Heavily.
I worked at EB Games and at the SPCA. I got written up at the first one for eating.
We didn't have family Christmas for the first time in my life. It was kind of devastating.
My folks went south for the winter. I'm fine, really A BLOO BLOO no really it's okay A BLOO BLOO BLOOOOO
I got no new piercings. Sigh.
I got an IUD instead. It was super painful.
I stressed out a lot and took on way too much, and I'm really burnt out from it.
Two people from thar intarwebs flew out to see me. I returned the favor by getting food poisoning.
I published an article in the Peak, but no one knows it was me.
I saw David Usher live, TWICE.
I nearly threw myself off a roof. I'm glad I didn't, but I still fantasize sometimes.

The world:
It snowed mercilessly for about a week in December.
America elected their first black president. I pray (yes, pray) for the lives of him and his family.
Queer marriage was legalized, then annulled, in California of all places.
Russia invaded Georgia, claiming the people there are Russian anyway.
They fired up a hadron collider, and the world did not disappear into a black hole.
The stock market fell repeatedly and a lot of banks needed to get bailed out on everyone defaulting their loans.
The PM suspended Parliament in response to the threat of a no-confidence vote.
Everyone I could ever possibly meet is on Facebook. Twitter remains a nonentity.
Israel is still bombing the shit out of their neighbours.
There is genocide in Darfur.
The first female PM candidate in Pakistan was assassinated.
The world basically sucks, in a nutshell.

I have learned:
Don't take on too much, dumbass.
The people around you will only put up with your shit for so long, then you need to shovel it yourself.
That love is the ultimate revolutionary act.
If you want something done right, do it yourself.
Unless you can pay someone to do it better and faster.
The money comes from somewhere. It doesn't just appear out of thin air.
Someone is always watching.



Eternally yours,

Lindsay