Life and Times of AlieMalie

I made it home. On the morning of the 28th, it seemed like virtually my entire family descended on my aunt’s house where I was staying. When I heard the door open just before breakfast, I expected to see my uncle walk in, but no, it was my mother. I think it was then that I decided, for sure, that I would be driving home that day instead of trying to stretch out one more day with my family. I packed up my clothes and all of my gifts and loaded them in the car. I then stacked my violin and purse next to the door so that once it came time to flee, and flee I would do, I could stride towards the door, grab my remaining belongings and be on my merry way. My mother asked when I thought I’d be home and I randomly said, “12 hours from the time I leave.” I didn’t honestly think I could drive as far as I did in 12 hours, the last time I drove from my aunt’s house to Dallas it took 10 hours, and I live a good 4 hours from Dallas, but, this time around I made it to Dallas in under 8 hours both ways and made it home in about 3 hours since in the last few hundred miles I decided I could bring the roar down a notch or two since I was in my home state and didn’t REALLY want to get a ticket. Exactly 12 hours, to the minute no less, I made it home. No tickets, no warnings, didn’t even get a sideways glance from an officer of the law.

So, someone asked about lunch on the way up. Yes, had that. And dinner and breakfast. Like I said, do the math. I suppose you could categorise my stopover as a success. I’ve been invited by a friend here in town to go back up to Dallas this weekend for a hockey game. It’s also the weekend that – hmm, we still need a blog name for him … ah, what the hell, we’ll go with C – anyway, this coming weekend is when he’s having his postponed birthday party which I’m welcome at, but I’m not sure I want to see him quite so soon. I should rephrase that. I KNOW I want to see him, madly, but I like the pace that we’re moving at, I don’t want him to feel as though I’m pressuring him, we both seem to feel comfortable with where things are and, well, given that the holidays produced a lot of stress for both of us, I think it would be wise to stay in our respective corners for a bit. Plus, I did get to celebrate his birthday with him when I saw him last week – on his actual birthday to boot. Anyway, my friend is threatening to flat out buy me a ticket whereinwhich I’ll go ahead and go to the game and then swing by his party, but I’d really prefer to stay in town and then see him again later.

So, this year is coming to an end and I have been meaning to write this post for a while but I couldn’t decide if I wanted to start counting the best year of my life from August 14, 2006 or from January 1, 2007. I wanted to stay within the 12 month range, but to hell with that, I make my own rules, right? So we’ll go ahead and make the best year of my life be 17 months long. The 14th was the day I officially finished my degree. If you’ve kept up with the blog, you’ll know that my inner nerd made the decision to stay another semester at the university because I wanted to get some research under my belt. I also saw a couple of classes that were offered that made my heart go pitter-pat, like the Language and Cognition course. I could take that class over and over again and never get bored. It was fantastic. So, Cue Alie finally, FINALLY, getting her degree. Then, last September was the classic, Alie-sticks-her-foot-down-her-throat moment when I bought my tickets to Europe for February and March and then called my mother to inform her of my intentions to go away for a month and instead invited her to come along. Damn my mouth, it was speaking before my brain had a chance to think. I hate that feeling of stumbling over your own words where you have the inner dialogue screaming, “WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?! DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU JUST DID?! MADE A HUMONGOUS MISTAKE!!” and then there was the frantic praying that my mother would hem and haw and moan about the expense. But no, there was a one word answer: sure. I think I gagged on the phone.

Christmas pretty much didn’t exist for me last year. I remember getting together with my other set of parents to celebrate the life of their son who had died the day after Christmas the year before. We were all still reeling from his death, I was still recovering from the other two friends of mine who had died in July and then in August – 3 friends in 9 months, NOT FUN. I was still feeling as if the gods were targeting my friends with a damn magnifying glass as if they were ants. And it was all fucking cancer. Anyway, Christmas passed without any significant celebrations last year. It was just another day on the calendar to get through.

So January rolled around and I told myself I could take the time off since I’d finished all of my courses for good and was officially leaving the university the in the middle of December. I don’t know what I did in January, I think I spent a lot of time on the internet trying to figure out where to go in Europe with my mother. Also, a lot of time weirding out over the fact that I was willingly going to subject myself to 23 days with her, and her alone. February rolled around and we set off. Long story short, it turned into a fantastic trip. The first week we spent trying to set our boundaries and I think we finally settled it in the car on the way to Gatwick for our jump to Prague. My mother threatened to fly home to Texas from London and told me I’d better tell her whether or not I wanted her to come along or if she should just go home. I responded by telling her I thought that sounded like something she needed to decide herself, but I was going to Prague. Amazingly, she continued on with me and we had a wonderful time. I think, without speaking for her, that she finally realised that I’m AlieMalie, adult and contributor to the world, and not just AlieMalie, her daughter. I was fully in my element, as I am when I’m traveling, and needed nothing from her to be 100% me.

Late March, April and May was when I started teaching which has been delightful this year and towards the end of May was when I set off on the debacle that was the trip to Europe with the Texans, though I don’t think I’d change any of what happened. The stories I have to tell are absolutely hilarious and make for great conversation. Then there was the breakneck speed of trips from there on out: Austin in August where I met C for the first time and restrained myself from going absolutely crazy giddy with glee. Vancouver in September, Dallas to see C on the way to Michigan and Toronto in October, Austin with C and friends in November and then on to the RenFaire later that month and seeing C there and having our crazy tent and rain adventure. This Thanksgiving was the best that I’ve had to date, being with friends, cooking and enjoying a wonderful meal and good conversation, then lounging around in the living room talking some more while roasting smores in the fireplace. I couldn’t have planned a better and more relaxing Thanksgiving if I’d tried. And now we’re here in December. I managed to get my head out of my butt and though it took an initial email to check in with me from C, I managed to invite him to lunch and guess what?! It worked out – again – better than I could have planned. And though Christmas included more fireworks than I would have enjoyed, my entire family managed to come together and behave for my grandmother’s 80th birthday – and not just for the party, everyone managed to behave pretty much the entire day. VERY IMPRESSIVE. We had a few blips here and there, but nothing like what could have – and has in the past – happened.

So here we are looking down the slide of 2008. I’m going to enjoy the last rush of 2007, set off my remaining fireworks and bask in the glow of what has, hands down, managed to turn into the best year of my life.

Here’s to hoping you all had a wonderful holiday season and that 2008 is filled with merriment and joy for you and yours. See y’all on the flip side.

Managed to have a fairly uneventful drive up to Missouri. By uneventful I mean that I’ve managed, yet again, to drive without getting a speeding ticket. On the way through Waco there was quite the accident on the other side of the highway with an overturned fuel tanker causing ten miles worth of parking lot-like traffic. Good thing I was going the other way. Stopped for a bit in Dallas and ended up deciding that the roads might be too treacherous between Dallas and Oklahoma City that night since there was snow and ice in the forecast, so … you do the math. Whee! Christmas definitely got off to a fantastic start.

I’m not entirely sure why people continue family gatherings where they insist on every single member who is still alive be present. Why not just invite those that you can get along with and enjoy your time with them? I’ve very much enjoyed the time I’ve spent here at my aunt and uncle’s house and I was looking forward to seeing my uncle who has driven in from Connecticut, but other than that, I really have no desire to see anyone. I don’t dislike seeing my grandparents, but I really don’t enjoy my entire extended family being put in one room and then having us go at it. We’re all masters of the passive aggressive jibe and it’s just no fun when you’re trying to outdo each other.

I’d very much like to have everyone get along, but since I have no control over anyone else, that’s a bit difficult. Blah.

Anyway, we were supposed to have a huge bonfire this evening out at my grandmother’s house, but it’s a bit too wet for that. Perhaps tomorrow. I bought far too many fireworks on my way back from the city down the road this afternoon and set one pack of them off before it was just too damp to continue. They’re a larger, nicer version of your classic bottle rocket which I’ve never set off before. The directions say to plop their sticks in the ground, but the first four I stuck in too far – plus, the ground was wet and held on with too firm a grip. I finally got the fifth and final one off and into the air by setting it into a clump of grass that managed to hold it up ’til it was lit and took off. After that mild success, I sucked it up and concluded I’d finish the rest tomorrow – rain or shine, damnit, 2007 is going out with a bang!

Hah! I am bouncing off the freaking walls! Today is Friday, no? Which means that tomorrow, TOMORROW, is Saturday, correct? Yes! Correct! And that means that yours truly will be driving! And seeing people! Wonderful, beautiful, pretty people! And having lunch! But before that, another concert this evening. Can you see me playing during intermission at a hockey game? No? Well I can’t either but it’s happening. Whatever. It’ll still be fun, and my VERY! FIRST! HOCKEY GAME! EVER! And then, Saturday is tomorrow! Good conversation, awesome times. TELL ME TO RELAX! Take a deep breath, Alie, take a deep breath.

Sorry if this post makes hardly any sense, there’s about one brain cell left in my brain and it’s a little drunk on excitement.

This past Saturday, I went out with a friend of mine who had just purchased a new car, had literally driven from the dealership to the restaurant so she hadn’t had a chance to really familiarise herself with the electronics. On a side note, am I the only person who spent nearly an entire afternoon sitting in her new car setting all the radio stations, making sure each and every mirror was perfectly adjusted and then just staring at herself in said mirrors? I’m thinking I have an issue. Anyway, my friend is pretty smart. However, that gene that I got that never allows me to get lost, like, ever? She’s distinctly lacking it. Not only is she lacking it, but she got the can’t-find-her-way-out-of-a-paper-bag gene instead. Because of this, she made sure that she got a car with one of these new fangled GPS systems in the dash. I’ve played around with one of these in another friend’s Volvo, and they’re super cool. If you pass your exit or turn, it automatically will replot your directions for you. Unfortunately, not only was she blessed with the can’t-find-her-way-out-of-a-paper-bag gene, she’s also the proud possessor of the doesn’t-understand-setting-up-anything-electronic gene.

So, long story short, after dinner, she asked another friend of ours and me to come out to her car to help her set up the GPS system for her; we selected the colour scheme, keyed in her most used addresses, decided upon a female voice which she has subsequently named Lady Victoria because she has a slight British accent, and lastly, we selected which language the voice would use.

And because I’m evil and love playing pranks on people, just as we were getting out of the car, I told the system to speak French. Of course, she didn’t realise this ’til I was on my merry way. Somehow, someway, she managed to find her way home. And now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go reset the damn thing. I still can’t stop laughing though.

So this year when people asked what I wanted for Christmas I’d say nothing. There were a few people who insisted on knowing of something I could possibly want because they wanted to repay me for being a huge help with some things so I finally told them that if they absolutely must get me something, get me iTunes money so that I could get more music to put on the new ‘pod. So now I sit here with a fairly sizable account balance even after having spent a few hours last night rifling through the artists that I know and like, downloading what I didn’t already have and spreading out into artists I’ve heard of and downloading some new stuff.

Here’s where you come in. What’s your favourite band? Artist? Song? At the moment I’m totally stuck on Stars (that’s been for the past eon though) and can’t get enough of One More Night and This Charming Man. I’m also really liking Sarah Harmer’s Almost. I finally managed to get the entirety of Feist’s album, The Reminder which I really like so far. So there’s an inkling as to my taste. What can’t you live without?