And so it is that the Year of the Rat is on its way out. It's not over quite yet, so I'll still retain a bit of glory of my birth year, but since it's almost the solar new year, I thought it as good a time as any to steal an idea from Jana and write about twelve of 2008's defining moments in the life of Phil. January. I got accepted into graduate school and thus left my life in Albuquerque behind to move 800 miles away to Los Angeles. It was a rough journey, but it was one of the best decisions I've ever made. I've learned more than I imagined possible, and have a new outlook on life to boot.
February. It took only one month, now that I've checked the dates on certain blog posts, to discover that my roommate was a raving lunatic. Discovering that she didn't like linings in her decorative trash cans was only the tip of the ice berg.
March. After our first stint of being apart, Robert came to visit. I skipped a week of school and work, walked on air the entire time, and the icing on the cake was that I got to see Wicked for the first time. Woot!
April. I got bitten by the video game bug and became a world-famous guitar hero. Rumor has it I rocked so hard I accidentally caused a few earthquakes.
May. I shook my booty on stage for karaoke. It wasn't the first time, obviously, but I sang Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody to an audience of one of LA's finest skinhead gangs. Win.
June. Back in Albuquerque, I had a love affair with chile relleno tacos. I also began my summer-long stint as Nurse Honey. AKA Nurse Ratched.
July. It only took six months, plus a crazy lesbian fight to the death, to encourage me to move the fuck out of my first place of residence into a far more fabulous place, replete with resident canine. Then it was back to Burque to resume my role as Nurse Honey.
August. I stayed up until all hours of the night watching the Olympics, and as a result became an expert at picking out Michael Phelps even from one of the panning ceiling camera shots as well as a huge fan of Bela what's-his-name, the gymnastics commentator. My stint as Nurse Honey was, after weeks of intense care, a complete success, and I headed back to LA for more grad school fun.
September. Glass meets foot, and Phil meets emergency room that later charges him exorbitant fees for less-than-stellar services. Much grumbling and hobbling around ensues.
October. I got to experience disaster firsthand, being mere miles from crazy-ass fires. I got to be merch gurl, and I was even a nun. Hells to the yeah.
November. I had one of the best Thanksgivings ever. I got my gay interior design geek on, got directions from Miss Thang, and discovered that I miss my grandfather.
December. I went to an ugly sweater party and had to drink heavily in order to have a mildly good time. I lost myself in PHP code for about a week or so and gave my website a huge make-over. I stopped denying myself chicken, and for the first time ever ate an incredibly delicious popular New Mexican dish: green chile chicken soup. And hi, it was AMAZING. I also had two incredibly proud moments that haven't yet been blogged about, either... after fighting and studying like crazy, I successfully passed my neuroanatomy class (C's get degrees, yippee!!). And finally, I put on the Mamma Mia! original cast recording this morning and when Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! was playing, I leaped into the doorway of the room where Robert was and subjected him to dance moves that I imagine the choreographers of the show would kill to see. Talk about ending the year on a high note.
Happy new year!