Goodness, almost two full weeks of 2011 have passed without a single post from me here. To be honest, it's been kind of nice. I've been feeling a little burned out on LJ lately, to the point where it was starting to feel like a chore to update it, so a break was probably needed. In fact, I may go on an indefinite hiatus until I'm feeling more LJ-inclined.

I am alive, though, fear not. (I'm sure you were very worried.) The past couple of weeks have actually been rather eventful. I spent New Year's Eve in San Francisco with Mr. Attainable, who is also called Jeff (OMG A NAME???), and it was by far the most enjoyable New Year's I have ever had. I'm over my crush on him at last and being friends with him again is wonderful. Over this past weekend I worked backstage on a concert by The Kingston Trio, which is nice timing because I'll be able to watch them win the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammys next month and feel smug and superior. On Monday I turned 23. I got lots and lots of lovely comments on Facebook, Leslie Caron's autobiography, and An American in Paris on Blu-ray. That night my parents took me to see Tangled, which was so freaking adorable that you should run out and see it right now if you haven't already. (But you probably have.)

I might post about it all in more detail if I weren't so exhausted at the moment. I'm very, very low on sleep, and I'm waking up at 3 AM tomorrow to go work on a show in Monterey. Why am I still awake? I'm going to bed. Good night.

And so it is the last day of 2010. It's hard to believe a year has gone by so fast. Let's see...

♥ January ♥
I turned 22. I acted like a total moron when a guy expressed interest in dating me. I saw Lisa Vroman and Brent Barrett in The Music Man in Concert. And, perhaps most importantly given the effect it had on my year, I rediscovered my love of figure skating courtesy of Jeremy Abbott.

♥ February ♥
I was more excited about the Olympic Games than I ever have been in my life, due entirely to the participation of the aforementioned Mr. Abbott. I was brokenhearted for him after his short program didn't go as hoped and he lost his chance for a medal, but equally inspired by his positive outlook on the experience he gained. I worked as a wardrobe assistant for three performances of In the Mood at two different theatres. I found out that my very favorite production of The Phantom of the Opera, the Music Box Company, would be closing before the end of the year, and I wept.

♥ March ♥
I saw Lisa Vroman (again) and Gualtiero Negrini in The Most Happy Fella in Concert. I ran spotlight for the first time, for Paula Poundstone. And I finally quit my terrible, horrible, no good, very bad job at the sewing gallery.

♥ April ♥
I had my last day of work at the sewing gallery. I got my mom hooked on Johnny Weir. I barely updated my LJ.

♥ May ♥
I ran spotlight for The Fabulous Follies. I saw Brad Little and Barbara McCulloh in concert, during which Brad talked to me from the stage because he was impressed that I knew that the song "C'est Magnifique" was from Can-Can. I splurged on a last-minute ticket to Stars on Ice specifically to see Jeremy Abbott in person and, while the whole show was wonderful, it was worth every cent just to see Jeremy.

♥ June ♥
I helped out on a production of Godspell and made some new friends. Phantom Fans Week in Las Vegas was cancelled. I felt almost totally indifferent about The Phantom of the Opera.

♥ July ♥
My beloved cat and best friend in the whole world, Tiger, lost his year-long battle with chronic renal failure. I also planned a trip to Las Vegas and saw a local production of Guys and Dolls, but it's difficult to remember much about the whole month beyond the loss of Tiger.

♥ August ♥
Theatre galore! I was bumped up to a senior staff position at the theatre, which was nice because I expected to be let go. I saw Brad Little (again) and Vicki Lewis in Funny Girl. I saw Lisa Vroman (yes, again) in the waltz-themed Strauss to Sondheim concert. I had a crazy weekend in Las Vegas with Raphael, Phantom on a Budget, Phantomfett, and (for a tiny bit before her untimely return home) MasqPhan. I saw Phantom: The Las Vegas Spectacular three times. I saw Cirque du Soleil's Kà, which was incredible, and Barry Manilow, who was unexpectedly awesome.

♥ September ♥
I worked on a special benefit performance of Beach Blanket Babylon. That's about it, but that's a pretty big deal.

♥ October ♥
I worked on three more performances of In the Mood, my first real out of town gig. But most importantly, I decided at nearly the last minute to head down to Los Angeles for the final two performances of The Phantom of the Opera, and experienced the single greatest night of my entire life. I sat right next to Brad Little, very near Lisa Vroman and Franc D'Ambrosio, and I shared oxygen with Sarah Brightman and Andrew Lloyd Webber. I got to see Trista Moldovan and Kelly Jeanne Grant and Kim Stengel and D.C. Anderson again, and it just felt so right. It felt the way the show is supposed to be, and I felt for the second time in my life what it's like to be surrounded entirely by people who love the show as much as I do.

♥ November ♥
I'm sure I must have done something...

♥ December ♥
I ran spotlight for productions of The Little Match Girl and The Nutcracker. Life outside of work was humdrum.

Not a bad year, to be sure. A year characterized mostly by theatre and figure skating, two very excellent things to characterize a year by. There was some bad, but a lot of good, and a lot of very, very good. I'm always thankful for the life God has given, regardless of its quality, but I think I'm a bit more thankful than usual, looking back on this year. I made money at a job I love 95% of the time, I made friends, I spent time with old friends, I travelled a bit, I saw lots of excellent shows, I rediscovered my love of figure skating and found a wonderful new favorite skater to follow, and I had the most extraordinary night of theatre anyone's ever had. I could focus on the bad, like losing Tiger, but why waste the energy when there's so much good to focus on?

Having said that, I am glad that this year is coming to a close. I've been feeling a bit like I have senioritis these past few weeks. I'm ready to be out, I'm ready to graduate from 2010. I'm ready to start some things fresh, and hoping that seeing January 1st on the calendar will give me the drive to do just that.

Speaking of, just what were my New Year's Resolutions last year, and how well did I keep them?

- find a job that makes me happy
Hey, I kept one! :D

- get more involved in theatre, even if it's difficult on my budget
Wow, I kept two! And it hasn't been hard on my budget at all!

- clean and redecorate my room
Um, I tried? A little? I cleaned my desk and one of my shelves?

- get rid of clothing I no longer wear and only buy clothing I genuinely like from now on
Hah. Well, the buying part I've been good about. Now I just have too much clothing to store.

- be a better blogger
EPIC FAIL.

- make some more graphics or find another outlet for creativity
Not really.

- be less of a basketcase, since I now realize I will never be entirely without basketcaseness
I can say with confidence that I did not and will never keep this one.

- don't analyze things too much
Riiiiiight.

- figure some things out
I figured some things out. Not a lot of things.

- be braver
I definitely think I was braver this year.

- be smarter
Ehhhh...

- be nicer
Maybe?

- remember that God is in control
I tried, and I think trying counts. A little bit.

- see The Phantom of the Opera a million times
Five is not a million, but it's not bad. I'm up to 20 now!

So. Resolutions for 2011:

- clean and redecorate room
- be more crafty or otherwise creative
- respond to emails as soon as get them, otherwise forget about them entirely
- be a better blogger
- dress cuter
- don't procrastinate too much (a little is fine)
- actually do things instead of ignoring-but-inwardly-dwelling-on them
- develop a crush on a man who is not gay/married/engaged/gay/fictional/dead/unattainable/gay (life resolution)
- see The Phantom of the Opera a million times (life resolution #2)

Heaven only know what 2011 holds in store. See you next year, everyone.

(Or maybe later today if I get bored waiting for Mr. Attainable to pick me up and take me into the city, because that's totally happening. Just as friends, though. I will not fall back into that, I swear. I SWEAR. Stop rolling your eyes.)

I hope everyone's Christmas has been lovely? Despite my own lack of LJ entries this year compared to others, I'm still not fully adjusted to this whole other-people-having-lives-and-not-being-on-LJ-on-Christmas thing.

Christmas Day has been pretty boring, as usual. It's just me and my parents, so after the initial flurry of present opening we just sit around and watch TV all day. Most of my energy goes into Christmas Eve, when my mom and I always perform in the church's annual Christmas musical. This year's production definitely wasn't my favorite - it was very set-and-costume-driven, with a gigantic monolith of a set and all 90 of us in full Biblical garb - but it went well at all three services and we had several thousand people come and (seem to) enjoy it.

I got to spend time with my friends in between, which is always fun. I tried not to hover around Mr. Attainable too much, but I'm very happy to get to be forming Friendship 2.0 with him. We sat next to each other at dinner and started talking about New Year's Eve, and that turned into the possibility of us doing something together to celebrate the coming of 2011. He said he'd look into what's going on in the area and he'd call me sometime this week to set something up. I'm really hoping it works out because that sounds like so much fun, but I'm hesitant to tell any of my other friends because I know they'll all just assume I'm falling back into my desperate crush on him. I'd be lying if I said there wasn't still a little something there because he is still cute/sweet/funny/talented, but it could never work out between us and I'm just looking for friendship now.

I can't believe it will be 2011 this time next week. Another year has come and gone. Christmas is over, it's almost New Year's Eve, and I'll be turning 23 in a little over two weeks. 23 years old, oy. It's a better number than 22 - I've never much cared for the number 22 - but it's that much closer to 30. And I'm still not married. *moans*

But no, I must save that sort of talk for next week. End of the year memes and whatnot. For now, it's back to work at the theatre tomorrow and then I'll be putting my nose to the grindstone to finish my POTO touring closing review and get all those photos and videos edited before the end of the year.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

WARNING: This post is entirely, unashamedly materialistic.

I got...

- assorted candy and small toys in my stocking
- two pairs of pajama pants
- a book about Audrey Hepburn
- two pairs of legwarmers, which I've wanted to try for awhile but have been afraid to buy myself
- Sondheim: The Birthday Concert on DVD
- Oliver and Company on DVD
- a Blu-ray player

Not a bad year, if I do say so myself. It was almost a total mystery to me, for the first time ever. I couldn't really think of anything to ask for. The legwarmers weren't a surprise because I've mentioned to my mom that I've been wanting to try them, and the Blu-ray player wasn't a surprise because, in my mom's words, "that's what happens in this family when you don't give us a list: you get technology". But the Audrey book was unexpected, and the Sondheim concert was a total shock. (And dude. It has everybody in it.) Dorky as it may seem, I think I'm most excited about Oliver and Company. I've wanted it for a long time, but I completely forgot that I even mentioned it to my mom. I was so happy when I opened it, and now I'm trying to wait patiently for my mom to have fun with her new Nook before I insist that we watch it. And I'm wearing my new legwarmers, which happily look very good on me - and are, in fact, quite warm.

Oh, and Santa also gave the family Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 on Blu-ray. I am quite excited to watch "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" on my shiny new player, and already thinking about what my first Blu-ray purchase will be. I've been saying for awhile that Amadeus on Blu-ray might just be worth the price of a player, and now I have a player...

Merry Christmas you wonderful old Building & Loan!