Best of 2007: Year in Review

It seems like just yesterday we were all hunkered down for Y2K, doesn't it? And yet we are on the eve of 2008. And you know what that means: a year-end list. I live for year-end lists. So here goes. (Keep in mind, of course, that this is completely subjective, and that it likely includes things that came out in 2006 but that I didn't get to until 2007.)

• Favorites movies: No Country for Old Men; Once; Darjeeling Limited; Lars and the Real Girl (I hope to add Atonement, There Will Be Blood, and Juno to this list before the year is out.)
• Overrated movies: Ratatouille; Knocked Up
• Favorite music: Brandi Carlile; Patty Griffin; Hem; Wincing the Night Away by The Shins; Ryan Adams's single "Two"
• Best summer song: "Say it Right," Nelly Furtado
• Favorite TV: 30 Rock; Six Feet Under (which I watched on Bravo; best series finale I've ever seen); So You Think You Can Dance?; Project Runway; Lost (I thought I was out, but the season finale sucked me back in)
• Favorite learning experience: The "Cityscapes" course I took through the UT Odyssey program--I learned about the history of city planning and development for London, Paris, NYC, New Orleans, and Mexcio City. One of the most interesting classes I've ever taken.
• Favorite books: The Last Samurai (Helen DeWitt); Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (the ending sucked, but the writing was very strong and consistent; it was a fitting final book for the series); The Yiddish Policemen's Union (Michael Chabon); The Painted Drum (Louise Erdrich); The Road (Cormac McCarthy); What is the What? (Dave Eggers); Black Swan Green (David Mitchell); Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer (James L. Swanson)
• Giant-disappointment books: Thirteen Moons (Charles Frazier); The Far Country (Daniel Mason); Special Topics in Calamity Physics (Marisha Pessl); The Historian (Elizabeth Kostova--the first 2/3 is brilliant; the last 1/3 is a huge let-down); Absurdistan (Gary Shteyngart)
• Best new friend: Aaron, my dear internet friend and fellow writing enthusiast. He got me writing again (however briefly), and I got to read his amazing work. This fella is the greatest.
• Person I would like to punch in the face: Anne Coulter
• Most overhyped thing: Election coverage; media hyping gas prices; Judd Apatow movies
• Most underrated thing: Volunteering (though this could also be filed under "Most frustrating" and also maybe "Most hilarious" and "Most likely to cause a run-in with large birds")
• Things that kept going that you wish would have died/ended: The war in Iraq; Bush's presidency; people who sound like Toby Keith; those gross nail fungus and mucus commercials
• Something new you added to your life this year: Boyfriend; this blog; dramatic highlights
• Travel: Nashville; Memphis (where I overheard a woman, holding a two-year-old boy, tell her other son, who was horsing around while they wait for the street car, “Eric, I’m going to beat you with your brother if you don’t stop right now.”); California x 3; San Antonio
• Best worst dating moment(s): After last year's hilarious misunderstanding with the local FOX weatherman (I really missed out on those double-breasted suits and pleated pants), I was ready for this year to be just as ridiculous. It started out promising...with the guy who thought it was OK to order and start eating before I even got to the restaurant; the guy who wore shorts to our museum date (come on: throw on some long pants!); the guy without a discernible sense of humor but with a roommate who strips at the Yellow Rose; the guy who works the graveyard shift at 7-Eleven; the guy whose "job" is shopping at pawn shops and re-selling the goods on eBay; and the myriad other morons who didn't even get their foot in the door. And then something odd happened: I met Chris, and the whole thing made sense.
• Biggest disappointment: Realizing that bad things will happen to good people and the only thing you can do is listen and support. It's a pretty helpless feeling. Also: Jamie-Lynn Spears getting pregnant; I find that seriously depressing.
• Most foolhardy thing I did: I threw my keys into the dumpster, locking myself out of the house. I had to climb in--all the way in--to get them. Also: see Best worst dating moments above.
• Something missing from 2007: I usually head to North Carolina in the fall, but didn't make it this year. Also never made it for our annual jaunt out to Krausse Springs.
• Any regrets?: That I let myself quit writing (again) once I had started back up. And that I haven't found a new home for George Michael yet.
• A realistic goal for 2008: More cooking at home instead of a lifestyle of Lean Cuisines. And install a new medicine cabinet.