Sunday, December 30, 2007

The Year in Review

Here it is, December 30, 2007. It's been a year of incredible highs and lows for me. It's been really, really busy, too. Hard to believe that it's almost done with.

In January, I won a contest to make a short film. You can read all about the process at my Unofficial Payoff Website. I did a crappy short film back in college, and it was a thrill to make a "real"movie.

At the same time, I was fighting to get a new job as P.R. director for a local theatre. I got the job in February, just after I shot my movie. I gave two months notice at my other job, so I put in about 60 hours a week in March and April. I also went to L.A. to edit the movie and to New York to tape a promotional piece for in-house use at MTV.

On April 24, my movie went live online and my dad passed away from cancer. Don't ever smoke. Cancer is a horrible way to die. Both my dad's parents died of cancer, too, and I really hope I don't get it. I don't smoke, but I figure I'm genetically predisposed to the disease. At least having the movie out there gave me something else to talk about besides how sad and miserable I was.

May 1, I went to work full-time at my new job. I was still depressed over my dad's death, and I found out that I really suck at sales, which is part of my job. Maybe I wouldn't be so bad at it if the economy were better. Just when my old employer advertised two producer positions, things got better at work. When the jobs were filled, I began to question my career change again.

In September, my mom and I took a firearms class at the Sheriff's Office and got our concealed weapons permits. I'm a really good shot! I haven't actually received my permit yet; I was born overseas, and I had to send them evidence that I'm really a U.S. citizen, so that's held things up.

End of October, I won a major prize in an online contest -- $10,000 and a trip to New York City. That was a great way to end the year. I took my college roomie to the Big Apple with me, and we saw three shows. I couldn't spend a whole lot, because we need a new roof, and I also want to go to England in Fall, 2008, to see Kenneth Branagh on stage in London and David Tennant on stage in Stratford. It's taken a full two-months for my husband to finally accept that we are going to England. Now, instead of rolling his eyes when I bring up the trip, he actually discusses it with me. That's gotta be worth something.

On Christmas Day, we continued our tradition of watching one of my favorite holiday movies, "Die Hard." Yes, it is a Christmas movie. It's set on Christmas Eve at a Christmas party. If I ever receive an automatic weapon for Christmas, I will happily use the line, "Now I have a machine gun. Ho, ho, ho."

On December 31, we will follow our other holiday tradition of ending the year by watching "When Harry Met Sally" on DVD. If you haven't seen the movie, it culminates at a New Year's Eve party. I'm sure I have a copy of "Peter's Friends" around here, as well. Another great movie about a holiday gathering. I'm sure it'll be especially poignant this year, since it also deals with loss of friends and family.

We don't have cable, haven't since Hurricane Ivan in 2004. We only watch DVDs. That's why I'd love to win a contest over at 5minutesformom.com -- it's a year's subscription to Netflix, which I have heard great things about, but never tried. One of the distribution centers is supposedly very nearby, so getting and returning movies is very quick by post. If you'd like to check out the contest, here are the related links:

http://www.5minutesformom.com/2755/netflix-orville-contest/
http://www.orville.com


Wishing you all a safe and happy 2008!!

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