2008/5768: My Year in Words (And Some Pictures)

Happy New Year's to all of my faithful readers! Yes, everyone it has been a successful year (in my book, anyway), and there's just so much to write about. Here's just a few highlights.

Let's start with the positive points points of 2008/5768:

• My Bar Mitzvah Party, expertly planned by my loving mother. Thank you!
  
• I now have a third first cousin, Kaia Broadwell, from my family way the heck out there in California. Congratulations!
  
• Our family trip to Canada, including Quebec City, Montreal, and Ottawa. This was our first family vacation (that lasted more than two days) since 2003, when we all packed up and went to San Francisco for a week.
• Several of my writing pieces were published in TeenInk Raw, a website for teenage writers. (Follow the hyperlink and search for my name if you want to fine them, but most are posted here, on this blog.)
• Eppis Fun Gornisht turned one in August, and I broke my goal of having both 35 posts total to this point (this post will be number 41), as well as publishing at least one post a month since January 2008.
• We just received a used, brand-new television, finally. I can now watch TV without all of that fuzz.
  
• I finally got a new cell phone, a Palm Centro. My old Samsung was falling apart at the hinges. To make life better, it was free after mail-in rebate. I now have a phone with a working camera, the ability to sync with my computer, and an mp3 player, which suddenly became much more important, as you'll see soon.
• And, as my father puts it, "The fire-hazard known as Hanukkah."

And now some of the less-joyous parts of my year:

• The stress is on for us eighth with the BJE exams in November. One of two annoying entrance exams to Jewish high schools and Jewish community day schools. I also took the SHSAT (Specialized High School Admission Test), which is an entry test for specialized public high schools, such as Stuyvesant.
• My computer, an old Compaq, is slowly reaching the end of its life. In addition, my old and trusty Toshiba Tecra 8000 is nearing its death, and at eight years old and running the newest version of Ubuntu, I don't blame it. (Mine isn't the only computer breaking down, though. My father's laptop also broke down.)
  
• My iPod was stolen from my car, so now I'm stuck converting all of my music into mp3 (since I actually bought most of my music off of iTunes, these songs are in DRM-free format, which is a pain for me, since my phone can't read that format. -Sigh-) On the flip side, though, it was a first generation iPod Nano, four years old, so it's pretty near worthless, now that you can get a new one with thrice the size for just $150.

Well, everyone, Happy New Year's! Continue reading!