Here in Katie’s Head

I stayed in with Kyle on the Eve. First New Years Eve since childhood that I didn’t go to a party. It was nice.

2007 was a good year for me. A year ago, I was clawing at the walls trying to escape. And now I’m perfectly content to stay where I am. I don’t know what 2008 holds for me. I’ll keep working on my karma and maybe this one’ll go my way too.

Things that scared the holy living crap out of me

1. The prospect of leaving Wichita. Doing the math, I’m currently losing about $14k a year in potential salary. That sucks. But home is where the heart is and I’d rather be blissfully happy and underpaid than miserable on top of a pile of money.
2. Spinning class.

Things that I learned

1. The gym does not suck.
2. How to use a scroll saw (sorta).
3. I have the capacity for actual change.
4. There are grownups in the workplace who behave exactly like children. I thought the stories were all exaggerated for comedic/dramatic effect. And then I was given the silent treatment for a month by a coworker who had forbid one of her supervisees to talk to me for reasons she did not care to explain to him.

Things that I have yet to learn

1. Self-discipline.
2. How to keep my cards in my hand. I cannot keep a secret and I cannot hide my strategy.
3. Patience.

Things that made it to frequent rotation on the iPod

1. Spoon’s Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
2. Bishop Allen’s The Broken String
3. Ben Lee’s Ripe

There is a theme there if you can spot it.

TV shows that I discovered and loved

The only new show that I really got into was Friday Night Lights, which is surprisingly good (besides the wholly out-of-place murder storyline in season 2). Continued good stuff from Weeds, Dexter and How I Met Your Mother. I’ve recently been watching old seasons of The Wire and I’m excited about the new season.

Things that make me want to adopt a life of violence

1. When a reader calls in and needs me to explain how to type a search term into a search box.
2. Tailgaters.
3. Absurd inefficiencies of large companies.

Things that made me want to keep going

1. The way that some wrongs beg to be righted, and so, with patience, things will improve.
2. Knowing I have a safety net.
3. And more than anything, having a top-notch partner in crime.

Things I hope to do in 2008

1. Maintain a regular workout schedule. (Status: On track. Went to the gym at the crack of dawn this morning.)
2. Keep on track with get-rich-slowly plan. (Status: On track. All of last year’s raise is being split between 401(k) (maxed out company matching) and the rest goes into savings. This year’s raise will go into a Roth IRA.)
3. Pare down personal belongings. Stuff I don’t use goes to Goodwill. Take recycling in more often. (Status: Um. This is the one I can’t seem to get up off my ass and cross off. May I win the war against laziness in ‘08.)

Posted: Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008 at 10:18 pm
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