chickleta’s Neighborhood

I participated in quite a few reading challenges last year, and I even succeeded at most of them. My final tally of books finished in 2009 was 76, 12 of which were audiobooks. Here is a breakdown of what counted for which challenges, along with a few of my reading highlights for the year.

The 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die Challenge. My goal was 10. I read 9. None of these made my all-time favorites list, but none of them totally sucked, either.

The New Authors Challenge. My goal was 25. I read 38. My favorites were The Nymphos of Rocky Flats by Mario Acevedo, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley, Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl, The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. 

The BookCrossing Top 100 Challenge. I didn't really have a specific goal for this one, but it looks like I racked up 12 points by finishing 7 books and releasing 5 of them. Good Omens by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett was the only standout of this bunch. 

The Audiobook Challenge. My goal was 12, and I listened to 12. My favorites were T Is for Trespass by Sue Grafton, The Dogs of Riga by Henning Mankell, and Doomsday Book by Connie Willis.

The Steinbeck Mini-Challenge. My goal was 2, and I read 2. Neither is a favorite.

The Agatha Christie Reading Challenge (Perpetual) and the Christie Mini-Challenge. My 2009 goal was the next 2 books in publication order. I read them for a perpetual total of 3. A thumbs-up to both books, but my all-time faves are yet to come.

The Seconds Challenge. No specific goal on this one, but I read 7.

The Keep Them Moving Challenge. I read and released 10 books that were registered by other BookCrossers.

The Rescue Those Books Challenge. My goal was 15. I read and released 27 books that had been languishing on my shelves for longer than three years.

The Read Your Own Books Challenge. My goal was 24. I read 60.

The Movie/TV Tie-In Challenge. I read 28 books adapted to or from film or television.

The Buy One Book and Read It Challenge. My goal was 12 (one per month). I doubled up in February and September for a total of 14.

The 20 Book Challenge. The goal was 20 books (duh) meeting certain criteria (no audiobooks, no graphic novels, etc). I read 61.

Who did you meet this year who had a big impact on your life? Did you reconnect with any old friends? Who was there for you through it all?

It's not a single person, but joining the Fort Collins Ladies Club probably had the biggest impact on my life in 2009, as far as new people go. It's a great group of women of all ages, backgrounds, and interests, and I'm amazed at how quickly we feel at ease with each other. And despite the large membership, there isn't a sense of cliquishness about it. There is always something fun on the calendar, and members just go to whatever strikes their fancy and fits with their schedules and budgets, so we're constantly making new friends.

I did reconnect with some old friends as well. Say what you want about Facebook, but I think it's great. Every now and then I wonder what has happened to somebody I haven't seen or talked to in forever, and most of the time I can find them there. And now that I have a Facebook-friendly phone, I see myself actually staying connected to more of my friends.

Pax, of course, has been there for me all through the year, which was a real rollercoaster ride. And 2010 is promising to be just as hectic and nervewracking. My BFF Shelly has also been there for me whenever the Fates seemed to be conspiring against me. Yay for text-messaging!

The year always goes too fast, doesn't it?

Did I achieve what I set out to achieve this year?  Yes and no.  Somewhere along the way my aims changed.  But that's the nature of life .... things change.  More changes this year, more changes next year.

Luckily photography looks to be a constant within those changes.

Hmmm I just realised that I've come full circle and I'm back to where I started with photography and my view on life...

... the glass is half full and I love taking pictures of the beautiful things in life!

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What was the worst thing that happened to you in 2009? The best?

The worst thing that happened to me in 2009 was that I had such a tough time finding a new job here in Fort Collins. I have enjoyed the freedom of unemployment/self-employment, though, despite the resultant financial stress. I must confess to some apprehension regarding my new job, which starts in two weeks, but I think it will be a nice change to have a job that is just a job, not a career or a life. And I can continue to work on my business to satisfy my need for a creative outlet.

Star Nest on Leather Cord

The best thing for me in 2009 was the move to Colorado. I do miss certain things and people from my time in New Mexico. Lots of them, actually. Too many to list here. But my life in Colorado is already a big improvement in many ways, and I see it only getting better in 2010.

Barn and Horses from Kitchen Window

This really has been an amazing decade, hasn't it? There's been a lot of change: technological, political, and personal.

This time ten years ago I was 11, in 6th grade. Over the decade I've graduated middle school and high school, gone to college, held a job, had my first drink.

My great-grandparents died, several cousins were born, and we added two dogs to the family.

I saw The Lord of the Rings for the first time, watched House on TV, and read some of my favorite books like The Count of Monte Cristo and Jane Eyre.

I and my family have been a bit battered, some more than others, but we've all come through as stronger people with more understanding and compassion.

So what will this decade bring? I'll be graduating college, and then...who knows? Bring it on, 2010.

It's that time of year again, the time when we reflect on the last 365 days by getting together with friends and getting wasted. Haha! This year, I will brave Manhattan's West Village for what promises to be a fantastic party. Stay safe out there, and have an amazing time!

happy new year!

Happy Holidays Vox Friends!

I read this article a little while ago, and a discussion that spawned from it, with arguments about who owes what for whatever was done here in the past by the dread English, Spanish, etc., leading up to weird and unwieldy U.S. statutes all the way through the 1960s. 

Taking a look at my eight great-grandparents, one of them is connected to a line wherein someone (like, my great-grandmother's great grandfather or great granduncle) is somewhat likely have been cruel to a Native-American in some form or fashion. Three others were related to people who got here well after most of the damage had been done. Two never entered this country at all, the other two got here only about a hundred years ago, and raised my grandma and her sisters in way-upper Manhattan and Queens.

Jackson Heights 1927

Two of my kids are biracial, and their paternal grandmother has Native-American blood as well as an obvious connection to both slaves and someone who owned them. 

How much do I owe for the possibly alleged deeds of great-great-great grandpappy or granduncle Pike*, and can I just give it to one of my daughters? Am I allowed to subtract something for the Scottish line that was probably oppressed by the English, and the Sicilian line that got swallowed up by the rest of Italy? Do I add some back in because some of my English ancestors might have persecuted some of my Scottish ones? But then there is an unsubstantiated trail of info which indicates some of my English ancestors may have actually come from Wales, putting them on the oppressee side instead of oppressor...

Greatgreatgrandfather...but how great?

...well, and then the Dutch ones, are they on the plus damages side for possibly being related to merchant explorers who helped develop the slave trade, or on the minus damages side because they may have aided English pilgrims searching for religious freedom? But what if they were related to the Dutch who took Manhattan from the Indians? That ended up being fruitful for my Calabrezi relatives who got here in 1907. A mark in both columns.

*Actually, my great-grandmother's photos might lead one to believe that some Pike or other back in the day of the day might have dipped more than just a toe in Injun waters, and I look just a little like her, so maybe I owe myself instead

At any rate, no one I'm related to has ever owned more than a small family-farm-sized piece of land in the U.S., and none of us owns much of any now, so at least no one is likely to come by to "regain" it for "their" people.