January 7, 2007
2006 recap
As much as I plan and envision my future, it’s always a surprise! According to plans made just over a year ago, I should be in Hawaii right now waiting for the 6 month quarantine period to pass so that I could head unfettered to New Zealand. 2006 was supposed to be about travel and exploration, and in a way that did happen, but just in a totally different way. Rather than driving around the US on greasel fuel, we stayed in southern California and kept our diesel usage to a hilariously low amount. Instead of new states we learned about our families and the varied lifestyles of southern Cali. We spent the winter/spring in the High Desert (Phelan!) and summer/fall in San Diego County (Carlsbad and SD proper). We lived with dogs (a novelty for us), stayed in the middle of nowhere and then directly next to a major freeway, became frighteningly broke yet almost never ran out of healthy food and shibby, spent hours and hours at the beach (even one nude beach!), stayed 100% self-employed, went clubbing in LA and SD, made a couple CSS only sites, reached the end of my wits and came on back again. I even met my darling Russ for the first time since e-meeting years ago, in LA of all places. (Alabama next time, most def.) And Kate! I’ll have to write about her in a Top Secret entry.
This year was, despite all the change and surprise, really hard. My patience, sanity, and faith were tested to the extreme and I faltered in every case. I’ve learned, though, and will continue to make the best of my lessons and mistakes. I started seeing a chiropractor (via barter!) who also does Neuro Emotional Technique, and he’s helping me dig up some of my buried hurts so I can stop making the same mistakes. It’s fascinating and I’m really thankful to have Dr. B in my life.
After all the time I spent with my large family (4 other kids still at home, ages 2-16, and 2 parents) and Sean’s mini family (1 teen + mom) I also realized the importance of human relationships. It may have largely served to strengthen my decision never to reproduce or add to our human family, but it also inspired me to become the guardian of a teenager. My 16 year old sister Alison will be living with us in less than a month. Wow, I never saw that one coming.
Perhaps the only mistake I made this year that can’t be reversed was the damage done to my hair by OptiSmooth. It’s this chemical process that can be done “cold” to reduce kink and accent curls/waves (this was my obvious goal) or “hot” to produce stick-straight hair. Somehow I ended up with the latter. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve just started sobbing when I look at my hair. On top of the 100% WRONG results, it’s lasting way longer than it is supposed to. 4-5 months is the estimate, and it’s been over a year now. It can be hidden OK, but I’ve got about 5 inches of curly-wavy roots and another 6+ inches of very straight ends. It’s bad news and I hope no curly girl ever tries that hideous OptiSmooth shiz. For my birthday, I’m wishing for better hair in 2007.
I seem to have reached the end. No other words are leaping to my fingers. Time to move the MF-ing RV. Someone please buy that thing so I can really put 2006 behind me!