2012 Is Dead, Long Live 2013

Ok, so first things first.  Madwoman has done an excellent public-style year-in-review, so I’m not going to deal with the public business, which, seriously, why would you guys think that I would?  I’m all about a narcissistic-style blog, so I’m sticking with writing what I know – ME!

So let this count as my looking backward at the past year, looking forward to the next year entry.  I know.  I usually do this on Dec. 31st, while eating Chinese food and drinking fizzy wine by myself, in between talking to my other single friends, who are also drinking fizzy wine by themselves, on the telephone. (Though apparently last year I didn’t even bother with this at all!  I had no idea!)  That’s been my single-lady Crazy tradition in most recent years, whatever the case.  But not this year!  Because this year I will NOT be spending New Year’s Eve alone!  But more on that in a bit.

The Year In Review:

Looking back on 2012, I think it was actually an excellent year, though it didn’t start off so hot.  As I entered 2012, I was totally buried with terrible service obligations for which I got little to no recognition (and, for my efforts, I actually was punished), my schedule was brutal (remember the Motherfucking Tuesdays?), and basically, I was in a sort of holding pattern personally.  Things did not appear to bode well.

HOWEVER.  I ultimately got through the semester of Motherfucking Tuesdays, the beating that I took for the horrible service stuff ultimately proved beneficial, in that it showed me that I should Just Say No and inspired me to Just Say No to doing shit that would get me beaten up (even though, of course, some people thought they should organize a secret committee over the summer to try to oust me from that service, even though I’d already quit), and it set the stage for what was one of the Most Excellent Summers Ever.  Because of the tribulations I spent at the beginning of the year, I found my way to freedom in April, in which I extricated myself from the burdensome service for which I was not appreciated, and I made a plan for a summer in which I would think and write and have the Summer of Visitors – 5 weekends in all, plus a weekend visiting BFF in the deep south, and leaving town for a week to visit Hometown and to attend my high school reunion.  It was both a fun summer and a productive summer – probably the most productive summer I’ve had in my entire time on the tenure track, honestly, even including the Sabbatical Summer.

And my social life was good this year.  I have great everyday friends, great in-between friends (one’s who are local that I don’t see all the time), and great long-distance friends.  I saw these people live in concert, and went to dinner parties, and out for drinks, and had basically an excellent social year.  And there was dating – most of it lame, but I didn’t just blow off the dating thing, nor did I regress into a fake relationship.  That was all good.

Teaching-wise, I wrote a grant proposal (PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE LET ME GET THAT GRANT!!!), recommitted myself to teaching the classes that I regularly teach, revamped some other classes, and basically was energized as a teacher.  That’s awesome.

And then, when I had written off the whole dating thing, as the year was winding down, I met The Dude, who continues to impress and inspire me, and who I seriously have more fun with than with any other guy I’ve ever dated (and more fun than with most other people I know).  It’s still early days (~6 weeks), and things could go horribly awry, but seriously?  I am in like with him as well as in love.  And he really is my favorite person, at least so far.  And so yes, I’ll be celebrating the New Year with him, and while it is true that we will be staying in (I refuse to go out on New Year’s because people are assholes and it never ends up being fun), I will be making him a fabulous dinner and I am really looking forward to it.  On the menu: Spinach salad with homemade vinaigrette, braised chicken, buttered noodles, kale cooked with bacon, apple pie from scratch (because, as I noted, I’m inspired, which is the only way dessert is something I make).

So there are two songs that really stick out for me as songs that characterize my 2012.  The first is a song that pre-dates The Dude, and which I superstitiously believe might have brought him to me, because I listened to it so obsessively, although that’s super ridiculous.

It’s the whole part about “Seek me out!/Look at! Look at! Look at! Look at me!/ I’m all the fishes in the sea!/ Wake me up!/ Give me! Give me! Give me !/ What you’ve got in your mind/ In the middle of the night!” thing.

And the other is the first song I ever played for him (within the first week), which, what the fuck was I thinking?  And yet I did.

So anyway.  A year that started out sort of stressful and lame has ended up pretty fucking stupendous.  And sure, I am knocking on wood and trying not to count chickens before they hatch, but still.

The Year Ahead

So I do have resolutions for this year.

1. Revise and re-send-out the article that got rejected this fall.
2. Apply for a summer thing and a conference that I really want to do.
3. Finish the book manuscript to a state in which I can submit the completed manuscript to be considered for publication (I think this can be done by the end of February).
4. Begin in earnest on my application for full professor (I’ve already begun putting the wheels in motion, just not in earnest).
5. Recommit to Weight Watchers (I’ve gained some weight in the past year, though I’m still ok… but it turns out that dating involves a lot of eating and drinking and not working out, and I need to focus in order to keep things where I want to keep them, and maybe even to lose a bit more weight.  What’s nice about The Dude is that he thinks I’m amazing, and he’s amazing, and yet both of us have the fitness goal in the new year.)
6. Be an amazing teacher.  Don’t let myself fuck teaching over in favor of service.
7. Stay in love.  Be in love.  Don’t be crazy and fuck up the love (which is what I typically do).

2013 is going to be an amazing year, y’all.  I can just feel it.