2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010

2011:

1. What did you do in 2011 that you'd never done before?
I got a job in a retail store, a full time job. I got my own puppy that is nobody elses. I went camping, and that was amazing even though it was freezing and I was really sick. I really started to focus on being who I want to be and not who I think I should be. I started losing the fear of taking risks.


2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I didn't make any, but this year I have one; To disregard risks to become who I want to be and do what I want to do. If I am accidentally going to screw myself over, best to do it when I'm young. I want to work with animals, and I want to buy a house.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No.

5. What countries did you visit?
None.

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?
A house.

7. What date from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Oh man, DEFINITELY the day I got my puppy. I mean, have you seen this puppy? Here's his shelter photo, the first glimpse of him I saw:



8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Full time job, that provides insurance (but not until a few days ago.)


9. What was your biggest failure?
Hmm... I don't know. I had lots of little setbacks and personal failures, but nothing huge. Maybe falling behind on my bills a little bit.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I had foot surgery to correct a lifelong issue, so that's pretty amazing. Never knew it could be fixed. Still recovering a bit, though.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
My only major purchase was my car.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
My brother. He's been working hard at getting through things. My mother too, she's had a rough year and stayed strong.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Nobody really.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Bills, dog.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
My puppy, of course. And my new job.

16. What song will always remind you of 2011?
Nothin'. I heard lots of new songs, but nothing to really connect to any events.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you

i. happier or sadder?:
You know, I'm really not sure. About the same I guess. But I am way more excited about my future.

ii. thinner or fatter?
The same, but with more muscle.

iii. richer or poorer?
Richer

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Gotten outside, taken photos.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Stressing.

20. How will you be spending New Year's?
I spent most of it at home. Jason was sick, and so was Barsky.

22. Did you fall in love in 2011?
No.

24. What was your favorite TV program?
Probably Dirty Jobs, though I spent a bit of time revisiting some old favorites as well. I've got a mad crush on Mike Rowe.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Na. I try to keep my hate evenly dispersed among many.

26. What was the best book you read?
I did not read any books.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Maybe Cage the Elephant.

28. What did you want and get?
A puppy, a better job, photography-related things.

29. What did you want and not get?
A house, winning lottery tickets.

30. What was your favorite film of this year?
Not really in to movies, sorry.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 23, and I don't think I did much of anything. I don't really remember though.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
More money, more adventured with my boy.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?
I'm getting a little less sloppy in general, but I still don't have any fashion concept.

34. What kept you sane?
My dog, my boy, my camera.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I've got a mad crush on David Tennant even though I don't watch Dr. Who.

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
Hahahaha politics.

37. Who did you miss?
Nobody really.

38. Who was the best new person you met?
My work buddy Naomi.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
No.

My opinion on the year 2011:
2011 was a hard year, but that set a lot of roots and grounds for future expansion of life and helped me really figure out what it is I want to do. I know that I'm done with IT, I have a lot of things I want to do in the future that I can work towards now that I'm sure that's where I want to go. I did a lot of brainstorming and planning but not a lot of accomplishing, but I think I have a nice platform laid out for myself to have an extremely productive 2012.

Sorry about the weird formatting. I wrote it all in notepad expecting it to correctly format my HTLM, but livejournal likes to pick and choose what HTML it follows and treats all my physical line breaks as actual line breaks. Boo.

About due for a generalized life post.

Everyone knows I'm an animal lover, always have been. Well, I've finally gotten to the point where I've decided I want it to be the

center of my life, the driving force in my life. I want nothing more than that. So that is what I've been focusing on for the past

year and a half.

Dogs are my passion. I love dogs. So much.

Right now, the steps I am taking in my life to get where I'm trying to go is:

New job. Even though it is by no means an animal care or animal welfare job, I needed something at least CLOSER to get my foot in the

door. I am now a manager at Petsmart. So far, it's going really well for me. I am getting paid more, having a lot more fun, and get

paid vacation and sick days and quarterly bonuses. The kind of stuff I've never had the pleasure of enjoying before!

I am getting my foot fixed. I've had a gimpy foot forever. I thought it was damaged from being broken when I was little. Well, since

I decided the life I want to have some day is going to require me to be able to work hard on my feet, run and job and maybe hike,

handle strong animals, I decided it was a priority to see what can be done about my foot.

Here is an x-ray of my foot. The circled bit is the part they took out.

Turns out I have an extra bone in there in a tendon and the malformation has caused my heel and arch to form incorrectly. They

removed the bone, re-routed my tendon and put in some pins to re-align things

Excruciating right now, and it's a long recovery period, but once it is fully healed I should practically be a new person.

I've been frequently volunteering at the Toledo Area Humane Society. I got in to their dog training program, so now I do weekly

training sessions there for the shelter dogs. Not for the next 8 weeks since my foot is in a big ol' cast, but I was doing it and

will pick up again.

I haven't sure exactly what path I want to take. At least now I know what I'm sure I want to work with, and that is dogs, primarily

improving their welfare.

I got a dog. If you are reading this, then I'm sure you know that already and you are completely sick of hearing about him. He is

very important in my life, I am so thankful I got him. He is also handling my surgery beautifully. Being incredibly gentle and

patient with me. I love my boy.

Jason and I are doing wonderfully. Heck, we've been together just a few months shy of three years. I'm not one to spew a bunch of

mushy lovey-dovey shit, since I don't like to read it, but we are very content together. I'm lucky to have him, and I am lucky he

doesn't hate my dog. :P He is being a huge help so far while I recover from surgery.

I've been doing a lot of macro photography, mostly bugs. I love the hobby, but it isn't anything I want to make a career out of.

Really fun though! I post all my photos on
my FLICKR and I post occasional photos I really like as well as random doodles on
my TUMBLR.

I think that's about all I've got for discussions about my current life and what is going on. The rest of this is going to be solid

dog banter about the future and about other jumbly gunk, so I am going to put it under a cut since I know a lot of people like to

keep up to date on the lives of random people on the internet, but not actually go in depth about it. :P

( Dog banter Ahoy... )

Ok guys, I think I'm done.

( Really, that's all. Just pictures of my dog. )

Can't wait till summer comes and I have sun and bushy grass to take photos in.

Work is terrible. But I am not going in to that.

Have applied for probably forty jobs. only got one call for an interview. Said he'd call back with a date. Never called back.

Decided to go back to school for Vet Tech. Managed to get accepted, even scheduled. But being unable to apply for FAFSA has screwed me over. Can't get the kind of funding I need. No school.

Dog is getting weird bald spots. Have to take him back to the vet.

Broke a tooth. Have to go to the dentist in two weeks.

My last rat is on his deathbed.

Coworker came to work drunk last night, had to yell at him.

Have head a nasty headache for a week.

Was thrilled about a vacation, turns out I can't go because of money problems that don't actually exist.

Had a different vacation planned. Can't go on that one because of actual money problems.

This morning, woke up with an extremely gross painful tonsil.

Went to the urgent care on my lunch. They were closed.

Went to a different one. Lady told me it was a few minute wait. Ten minutes later, same lady told me it was over an hour wait. Left without getting looked at.

Someone had hit my car in the parking lot. Fucked the paint all up. Repair would cost more than the insurance deductible anyhow. No reason to bother. I'll touch it up when the weather gets nicer.

Can't afford to pay all my bills this month.

Fuck the world.

Hey there, my few and far between LJ buddies. I made a tumblr for posting random art.

http://katymccool.tumblr.com/

Put your MP3 player on shuffle, and write down the first line of the first twenty songs. Post the poem that results. The first line of the twenty-first is the title.

( Just close your eyes and then remember... )

2005
2006
2007
2008
2009

2010:

1. What did you do in 2010 that you'd never done before?
I drove the furthest south I've ever driven; Kentucky!

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
No resolutions.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Nope.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Nope.

5. What countries did you visit?
None.

6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?
PUPPIES. Which I WILL BE GETTING.

7. What date from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
As is often the case; I've got Nothin'.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Hmm... Maybe holding two jobs. Maybe convincing Jason we could get a puppy.

9. What was your biggest failure?
I can't really think of any massive failures. I did forget to charge someone for a $300 part, that was pretty disasterous. I fixed it, though.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I had one little cold.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Hmm... I think my fish tank setup.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Eh.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
I can't think of anything,

14. Where did most of your money go?
Bills, food, and the fishtank.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
JASON SAID I COULD GET A PUPPY.

16. What song will always remind you of 2010?
I don't associate song with years.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you

i. happier or sadder?:
Quite happy, definitely happier.

ii. thinner or fatter?
A little fatter =/ I'm at 118, and that is 2 pounds from my "You need to start WATCHING YOUR SHIT." weight.

iii. richer or poorer?
Richer! Yey for having two jobs.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Travel.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Slacking.

20. How will you be spending New Year's?
Eve, hangin' with my pal Emily. Day, LAN party.

22. Did you fall in love in 2010?
Nope! Already quite in love.

24. What was your favorite TV program?
Mythbusters.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Nope.

26. What was the best book you read?
I did not read any books.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Arctic Monkeys, The Pixies, Fugazi.

28. What did you want and get?
A fishtank!

29. What did you want and not get?
A puppy. BUT I AM TOTALLY GETTING ONE.

30. What was your favorite film of this year?
Eh, didn't really get any new ones under my belt.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I don't remember... It was a year ago! I was 22.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Money, puppies.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010?
Boring.

34. What kept you sane?
I was not particularly sane or grounded in reality this year.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
None of them.

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
Ohio and Toledo made a lot of changes to their dog laws; All of which were very positive.

37. Who did you miss?
Doug. What ever happened to Doug?

38. Who was the best new person you met?
I didn't meet Emily this year, but we became friend, and that's pretty awesome.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
No.

My opinion on the year 2010:
Pleasant, more pleasant then usual.

Any time I get sad about any stupid thing, I find that everything that I COULD be sad about floods in, and I can't figure out how to shake it off. It's amazing how one little problems finds a way to become ten or twenty, and I just get overwhelmed.

And then I'm prone to doing stupid shit. I haven't gotten that far yet, though.

I just don't feel equipped to deal with the world.

People are suddenly posting on livejournal again. Sure, I'll jump on the bandwagon.

Life is boring. I wouldn't call it the 'good' kind of boring, but it's stable. I'm working two jobs, an official one and a non-official one, both in computer repair. I've been living with Jason for about two years now, that's fine and dandy. Lost a few rats over the last few months, down to the boys (Graham and Norton,) lowtax the chinchilla, and Randall the bunny.

Work is drama-like. I want to get out, I just can't stand dealing with people. But, alas, the economy around here is terrible, and the chances of me finding a job with less customer/end user interaction is slim. I've gotten a mild reprieve as my boss is on vacation; I've spent more time in the back doing boss-things rather than talking to people. Still lots of people though.

I have had a headache for, marking today, a week straight. A bad one. It's destroying me.

And on a related note, I will be insured again on January 1st. THAT IS AMAZING. I need to get my foot worked on, my tonsils looked at (they have been frequently getting inflamed and the amount of tonsil stones I've been getting is through the roof,) need to experiment with allergy pills and find one that works, and if this headache keeps up, get some drugs for migraines. Also considering getting some anti-anxiety friend, since my doctory friend took the time to explain to me that my tendency to look myself in rooms and hide in the corner when I'm alone really isn't normal, nor is my tendency to shut down in social situations and hide.

My stomach has been getting wonky again, for a few months now. I was doing so well. My diet hasn't changed at all, so I don't know whats up. Maybe I have DOUBLE CELIACS or something. It's pretty low on my list of medical worries at the moment; at least it isn't debilitating anymore.

I am setting up a fish tank. I know that doesn't sound important, but it is! I don't do enough things for myself. And I wanted a fish tank. And Jason didn't. and I got one anyhow. I am very very excited. It'll probably be another four weeks until it is cycled and ready for fish, though.

I'm still depressed and distressed about everything all the time. I've just stopped caring about it. Not to say I'm trying to fix it, but it's a much less important part of my life right now.

Also, I accidentally dyed my hair grey yesterday.

Ok, I'm outties.