Thirty six nights spent out of Manhattan, which, when expressed as a percentage (10%), seems like a good chunk of the year.  This data is tracked using Daytum which is excellent for people who like to data-mine their own lives (like me).  Next year will have no days in Austin and many fewer days in Vail owing to my family relocations, but will have 10 days in Costa Rica, a few nights in Boulder, a weekend in Vermont and a night in North Carolina.  I need to start putting some of my three day weekends to good use.

The big winners for 2009 were Phoenix and oddly enough, Aimee Mann.  It’s pretty uncharacteristic, but since Thanksgiving I’ve been listening to Mann’s @#%& Smilers (2008) basically exclusively save for a few excursions into the Yeah Yeah Yeahs (It’s Blitz) and my 2009 mainstay, Phoenix (Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix).  I was pretty disappointed with Zero 7′s latest release (Yeah Ghost) and didn’t find anything I couldn’t live without on Royksopp’s Junior but I did discover a new love for Regina Spektor (Far) and Bibio (Ambivalence Avenue).   The Bird and the Bee (Ray Guns Are Not Just the Future) and Imogen Heap (Ellipse) both put out decent follow up albums and U2 (No Line on the Horizon) lost whatever remaining charm they had (not much).  Cut Copy’s 2008 album In Ghost Colours and their most excellent mixtape So Cosmic remained my gym-time music favorites. First up in 2010: Laura Veirs’ new album July Flame, which might just have enough indie folk musicality to break me out of my rut.

Music statistics courtesy of last.fm which has been faithfully scrobbling my every tune since early 2005 – 43,250 scrobbles and counting.

These are the books I read this year. Six thousand nine hundred and sixty one pages of bookish goodness, in order of recommendation (within each category)…

Fiction:

Netherland by Joseph O’Neill

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri

City of Thieves by David Benioff

Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl

American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

Alphabet Weekends by Elizabeth Noble

Goodnight Nobody by Jennifer Weiner

Until I Find You by John Irving

Non-Fiction:

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

The End of Overeating by David Kessler

Tell Me Where It Hurts by Nick Trout

Woman: An Intimate Geography by Natalie Angier

Currently reading: SuperFreakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner

Up next: The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande

Top Artists

1 Zero 7
2 Sufjan Stevens
3 Death Cab for Cutie
4 The Concretes
5 Psapp
6 Mylo
7 Jack Johnson
8 Sia
9 Phoenix
10 William Orbit

11 Sheryl Crow
12 Aqualung
13 Coldplay
14 röyksopp
15 Madeleine Peyroux
16 KT Tunstall
17 Jon Hopkins
18 Cities of Foam
19 Imogen Heap
20 Guster

21 The Dining Rooms
22 Lily Allen
23 RJD2
24 Madonna
25 Sarah McLachlan
25 Laura Veirs
27 Jem
28 Daft Punk
29 Alanis Morissette
30 Thievery Corporation

31 Milosh
31 U2
33 Rosie Thomas
34 Lemon Jelly
35 John Mayer
36 Blockhead
37 The Samples
37 Mindy Smith
39 Moby
40 Grand National

No appearance of the caffeine headache today. Could I have beaten it in just one day?

Business

• I sold most of my furniture on Craigslist.
• I threw out a small country’s worth of junk.
• I sold some possessions on eBay ($650!)
• I gave away all sorts of junk to Goodwill, Salvation Army, and a tag sale.
• I packed up a third of my remaining belongings and sent them away to long term storage for a year.
• I packed up the rest of my stuff and moved it to a storage unit in Manhattan, save for the three suitcases and a couple boxes that I have here in my teeeensy temporary apartment.

Pleasure

• I danced all night with my vet school peeps after graduation.
• I made jello shots in 35cc syringes with Paul.
• We partied at the end of the world party.
• I went to Newport with Paul.
• We flew a kite at Brenton Point.
• We walked along the cliff walk and ogled at the mansions.
• We ate yummy food and tasty gelato.
• We sipped wine at Newport Vineyards and learned about grapes and bottling machines.
• We let BOFA take us to the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum.
• We ate the “World’s Best Kettle Corn”
• We canoed on the Charles River.
• I went to London and spent two days touristing around the city on foot and two days chilling with my London friends.
• I drank cup after cup of tea.
• I laughed endlessly at stories of Turner’s British mishaps.
• We brunched at a pub in the glorious sunshine for hours.
• We saw Zero 7 live in concert.
• We picnicked in Hampstead Heath.
• We drank pitchers of Pimms.
• I came back to Shrewsbury.
• I had a 50 cent latte from the local coffee shop with the girls.
• I spent evenings with Paul.
• We drank Sauvignon Blanc and ate artichokes.
• We ate Shelley’s ice cream and hunted for cows.
• We finally went to the Enormous Room.

So yeah. That’s why there weren’t any new posts. I hope you can understand. My first day of work is Tuesday. I quite honestly have no idea what’s in store for me. Stay tuned.

(I believe in starting at an arbitrary point, so number twelve is where we begin)

12. BoingBoing, Delicious, MySpace, Upcoming, Last.Fm, Google Maps, and all those other wonderful internet places
11. playing doctor at school (in a white coat! with a stethoscope!)
10. my brother’s wedding
9. these two purchases
8. Freakonomics
7. Burt’s Bees chapstick
6. MP3 blogs and KCRW streaming
5. rendezvous with college friends in NYC, D.C., CT, and L.A.
4. live music! Phoenix, Royksopp, Annie, U2, Cat Empire, etc
3. the end of veterinary school classes
2. all new people i’ve met and friends i’ve made (in real life) in 2005
1. this blog

I know it’s a bit narcissistic to list this blog as the best thing that happened to me in 2005 (see the latter half of this post for one perspective on personal blogs and narcissism). On a day to day basis though, it inspires me to be more creative, to be more observant and well, it’s just something for me to do at night instead of sitting around watching TV. Isn’t it better that I’m here writing this blog instead of watching television? I think so. Maybe I’ll go read my new book or finish that freaking impossible sudoku I’ve been working on for three days just in case…

What do our favorites say about who we are? Do changing favorites reflect a changing self or do our favorites simply reflect our current taste? I find that my favorites tend towards my recent pursuits and that new tastes are apt to knock old stalwarts off the list. I’m impressed by people who can be faithful to a favorite for any length of time.

Until a few years ago I was absolutely certain that my favorite song was U2′s Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, my favorite movie was Forrest Gump, and my favorite book was John Irving’s The Hotel New Hampshire. Now, I cringe at these choices. I can’t even think of a movie that I’d call my favorite right now, but it certainly wouldn’t be Forrest Gump. I need something more artsy, with better music, more “cinema,” less “movie.” I recently watched Amelie again and was satisfied, but not overwhelmed. I want to be overwhelmed by my favorite. I want it to be that movie you’re thinking about for days afterward. I’m waiting.

I think I have found a new favorite book though, although since it’s non-fiction, maybe I should just classify it separately. Regardless, Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner’s Freakonomics should be on everyone’s to read list. The book is simultaneously thought-provoking and entertaining and very easy to love. I’m waiting on a favorite fiction to be equally passionate about.

As for a new favorite song, well, hopefully you’ve been listening to it. This Zero 7 masterpiece isn’t new to me, but only today did I realize that it had risen to position numero uno. Enjoy.

This I learned at my brother’s wedding. Apparently I’m a real hairdo wimp. I guess that’s a result of my having never had to endure the pain of the 8 hour hairdo before. I lasted from about noon to mid-way through the reception before I had to take it out.

2. the sign on the grocery store that says “Open 24 hours” is untrue. it is closed on Sunday nights…

All I wanted was some milk for my tea this morning, but the fine print revealed the truth.

3. as much as I complain about it, I miss school when I’m away.

I like being busy and running around the hospital all day long. And frankly, I don’t mind sacrificing sleep to have some fun every now and then. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to work at a small practice, the slow pace might kill me.

4. I really like this song. Jem – Amazing Life

I’ve listened to it too much.

My 5 Favorite Ways to Waste My Free Time (this month)

1. I.D. magazine
2. KCRW streaming
3. the NYTimes & BBC News
4. utilities and budget analysis
5. hyperorganization of closets, cabinets, drawers, etc

On a side note, graduation is a year from Sunday. Only 367 days to go.