#look-back

Intro

The opening credits

The episodes:

Pilot

Home Invasion

Murder House

Halloween (part 1)

Halloween (part 2)

Piggy Piggy

Open House

Rubber Man

Spooky Little Girl

Smoldering Children

Birth

Afterbirth

Others:

The chronology of the Murder House

The horror genres of season 1

The themes of season 1

“Behind the Fright” look-back 1

Photos: Nokia Through The Years

Microsoft plans to buy Nokia's phone and devices business. Here we look back at some of the best Nokia phones.

Go here to see the original: Photos: Nokia Through The Years

• Successful quit smoking (my first attempt was successful for 2 weeks, but I gave in willingly; regretfully)

• Continue with the family business in trades

• Clean my room once a week (not every 2 weeks)

• Keep going to the gym and commit to more weight training; I'm involved with enough cardio presently

• Eat even healthier than I am currently

• Persistently build my current relationships with friends, co-workers and potential business partners

• Remain loyal and true to those I've made commitments to, as planned and therefor promised and most importantly of all;

• Keep training my mind, my body and soul-- that there are much more important things out there than to worry about what has yet to come. It's a true and rightfully stated fact that 95% of the things that dig into our subconscious and active minds, don't even take place.

I bumped into some cool people this year, some stayed and some I let go; for those who are with me, I care for. I've tried new things and one of said adventures was that I learned how to love who I am, how to worry less and to dream more, instead. I've explored new relationships and happily returned to the one that I believe suits me best. After all, the grass was never as green on the other side of the fence.

New Kop That Post - http://kopthat.co.uk/2013/02/guardian-jamie-carraghers-liverpool-and-england-career-in-pictures/

GUARDIAN - Jamie Carragher's Liverpool and England career - in pictures

According to my page-a-day calendar.... nothing's supposed to happen today. Everything continues tomorrow... but today it BLANK. Therefore, since it is conveniently the end of the month as well, I figure I should just make a post about how this first month of this crazy scheme went. Yes? Yes. I'll go day by day, just so that I can organize it somewhat.... "Give Thanks" Day

I've sent messages to 4 people so far, and, despite my initial fears in the beginning of it all, I've gotten nothing but positive replies back. When I think about it, I would feel so honored if someone sent me something like that, so I don't know why I even worried in the first place.

So far, I've sent it to two Tumblr friends, one dance teacher, and then so far only one friend I actually know in person. That person, my friend Mark, was of course the hardest one to send, simply because I see him almost everyday, and if the message was ill-recieved, I was terrified for the repercussions. Of course, it was all fine, and I learned that, maybe I worry a bit too much in these situations. I can tell you all now, him and I are even better friends now. It may just be time passing, but I also think a good deal of it has to do with just a new level of understanding being reached. I look forward to sending messages to other "local" friends!

And as an added note, I've taken to saving all the messages and their replies onto a Word document on my computer. Whenever I'm feeling down or lonely I go through them to realize just how lucky I am to have these people around me. And it will only get better as this year goes on! The biggest lesson so far - You'll never know how much you mean to someone until you either ask or tell them how much they mean to you. And it will totally surprise you, I assure you.

Honesty Day

This one has been eye opening in many ways. I've realized how often I exaggerate or skew the truth to fit the situation. I've yet to encounter "big" moments of honesty, but when they do, I hope I'll be ready to say the truth without holding back. 

What has really been good is the whole "confessions" thing that I brought in. I actually look forward to that sometimes, just because those things I've discussed so far have been things that have nagged me. And its not just the fact that I'm getting them out of my head by typing them out, the fact that this is pretty much a public blog works too. Even if NOBODY reads that post for the day, I always imagine a huge group of people doing so, which allows me to fully relinquish my cares about any given confession. If I'm fine with the public reading about it, its really not that big of a deal anymore. I'm sure there's going to be many, many things that I'll want to get off my chest, and so these certain days are going to prove to be interesting ones.

"Start a Convo." Day

I have YET to start one with a complete stranger, but I'm getting better at having conversations with "acquaintances". And that's always a good start right?

I've found that people just like to have conversations. Honestly, think about any times someone has started talking to you, did you mind? Unless it was a really, really creepy person, I'm pretty sure you actually enjoyed that little moment of interaction. So I think that's all you really need to do is just take that first step and make someone's day. I know I'll be trying harder myself.

"Try Something New" Day

The biggest thing I've learned: You have so many options each day to try something different. When faced with a choice between something you're comfortable with and something totally new, pick that new thing. You never know what may come of it!

Music Day

I've learned that listening to one artist all day can get a LITTLE dull after a while. Variety is immensely important to me, I think. But I've also realized that it takes time to fully appreciate and enjoy an artist, so one should never make a judgement after only listening to them once. I feel like everyone really needs to take the time to research and listen to new musicians. Get away from all the "regular" stuff. Try something new out! I assure you that you'll find at least ONE new artist you'll like

"Drop a Note" Day

Not much to say about this, actually. It still feels odd to just leave a note lying somewhere. There's always that nagging feeling of "Who's going to read it?". Curiosity is a horrible thing sometimes :P. My favorite was putting that note in the book. I think I'll be doing that much more often, just because that one felt really great to do. I'm actually going to go to the store tomorrow to check out if it's still there. I hope it isn't ;)

Day of Beauty

I feel like this day is more of just a "Rant about something you like" day. Which I suppose that works... I think it's more about just really appreciating and/or discussion something that maybe we all sometimes forget about, or never really think about. That works for me, and I'll continue doing it for sure. It will always be completely different every day too, which will be really cool to go through at the end of all this

Random Challenge Day

Not much to say here. The challenges have been different, all right. I actually think I just need MORE. More ideas, more unique things to try to achieve on these days. If anyone has any, let me know!

I'm not sure how obvious it is to those who have been following me since before this year - or even just since the beginning of 2011 - but I've changed. A lot. Real-life friends have tended to attribute it to to my poor boyfriend, but let's not give him all the credit.  (At least not for changing me. Let me make it clear: he provided me the first truly safe environment to be who I am, and I have taken that opportunity wholeheartedly.)  It's been a crazy year of discovery and learning and realizations, probably the most up-and-down and impactful of my entire life. Yup, that includes the "homeschooled awkward kid meets real life" of college.

The biggest things that have happened to me have been changes that I used to think - theoretically, of course - would turn me into a terrible person. The scourge of the Earth. A democrat. (No, just kidding; I was already pretty liberal before 2011.)  But here are those biggest changes, and you can decide for yourself whether or not I've taken a step forward or backward.

Me, I rather like myself a lot now.

Insensitivity - this word already has a lot of connotations, doesn't it? It sounds like I stopped being empathetic, have started ignoring the plights of my fellow human beings... But no.  Actually, I'm just able to laugh.  I just reblogged a quote today from Amanda Palmer that says, "When you cannot joke about the darkness of life, that’s when the darkness takes over."  She's right, you know.  I used to think that there were sacred topics, things that couldn't be made light of, things too close to the heart to joke about.  Far from it.  As I've matured as a writer (and yeah, I think that's happened a bit this year too), I've started to see the real task set before those of us who put words to page: a writer must be able to cut to the heart of an issue so that it may be studied, no matter what technique that takes.  In my case, comedy is the perfect gateway to talk to huge audiences about some of the most painful - but most common - experiences we all go through in some form or another.  "Community" (SHUT UP AUGUST, WE ALL KNOW YOU LOVE THAT DAMN SHOW) is a perfect example of this.  Every episode, I laugh my ass off.  And every episode, I at least tear up, if not cry outright.  The jokes, the jabs, they're all meant to point us towards the heart of the show: loneliness, and how we fight that.  So yeah, I've become a little more insensitive.  I've stopped getting offended by jokes, especially when I understand the context to be anything but malicious.  Does that make me cruel or un-empathetic? I don't think so.

Selfishness - I seem to relearn this lesson every year, but I think it has finally sunk in.  This year, I started taking time for myself. I don't hang out with people who pull me down, either from intentionally tearing me down or just because they have nothing good to offer.  I reschedule when I'm too tired.  I veg out a lot.  Sure, I have less time to mingle with friends from college - but I'm a happier person. And if this life is all about finding your personal balance, suffice to say mine doesn't include downers. I like my own company, and I love Jake's too, and if it needs to be just the two of us, then so be it.  (Don't get me wrong - I love having friends, and will hang out with them when I can! But I've done a lot of paring down this year and it feels fantastic.)

Science-Thumping - Once upon a time, I identified as Christian.  I won't even go into all the things that Zeitgeist taught me this weekend, because as far as my interactions with others are concerned, it's background noise more than anything.  Especially recently, though, I've been incredibly turned off by all the pathetic, hurtful, regressive behavior by people who identify as Christian. My mother, for example, made Jake feel worthless earlier this year by trying to use his lack of faith as a way to point out her issues with his working situation.  (The fuck?)  And I watch people like Joel have wonderful lives and wonderful friends and wonderful girlfriends...and still end up the black sheep of their families.  It's painful.  So I've completely veered away from any and all religious labels. I don't like what they represent. Now, SCIENCE. That is something I can get behind. I love seeing how the world functions, with and without humans, and I think it's got a lot of answers that people will always ignore. Eh. I'll thump my science until I'm blue in the face. (Just kidding. Thumpers annoy me. I'll chill in my happy little corner of the world with my beliefs. Peeps can consult if they wanna. Haters gonna hate.)

Ambition - I used to think I'd be okay for the rest of my life with like minimum wage. HA. Even though I still never want a fancy car or a home, there are things I want to do and experience that require, well, money. I'm not looking to be the richest motherfucker in the world, but I certainly want to apply my abilities and reap the rewards. Don't worry, I'll not be a nasty douchebag rich person, if I make it.

Dog Person - lots of subtext here, but basically: I used to think cats were the answer, but now I have an appreciation for my inherent loyalty, and that mirrors dogs' behavior, in general. I'm a fan.