Thursday Thirteen: #24–A review of 2007 in Thirteen Parts

Dec 27, 2007

Thursday Thirteen: #24–A review of 2007 in Thirteen Parts

Filed in Blog

January: I spent New Year’s Day riding up the Pacific Coast and had a close encounter with some elephant seals at Año Nuevo State Park. Our mobile home was appraised by our appraiser at $5000 above the buyer’s appraisal price–gee, I wonder why. ;) I sent off my first ever magazine query. It resulted in my first ever assignment. We received a letter saying that our mobile home park, the one that has since been demolished, was to be inspected for code compliance. I got third place in my club’s mileage contest.
February: I went alone to San Francisco for the first time, snarfing. I put the first maps up at Markeroni. The first public hearing for the park’s closure was held. I met some of my neighbors. I had pancakes at Denny’s for Pancake Day.
March: I made plans as if we were going to move out in April. Uh…that didn’t happen. At this stage we were still planning on using the summer for a road trip before settling down for a while. That didn’t happen, either. We played minigolf. I had to rush around to get tests done for health insurance and never got the health insurance. We went motorcycle camping down in King City, which was awesome. Don fixed the van so that it could do long distance trips. I became, as if by magic, 37. I started freecycling stuff. The second public hearing was held and the vote was taken: the park would close. And I got my second magazine assignment.
April: I held the yard sale, and then freecycled a bunch of leftovers. A Freecycler whined at me for sending multiple emails to the list. I told him what I thought of that. ;)

We went to the storage shed a lot. I seriously considered hacking my hair short and dying it, but decided not to. The first of the mobile homes was dragged out of the park; the neighborhood started to disassemble itself. And I went to Charleston in South Carolina for a wonderful convention and snarfari. I fell in love with the new Doctor Who series. I realized just how bad the non-filing had become over the years.
May: I had the first hints that I might be peri-menopausal. I took part in the Road Rider event, helping out at a stall to promote my club. We moved sites over to the new server. The new deadline to move, 18th June, started seeming awfully near and unattainable. I started editing my next book, which I don’t have the means to publish. We discovered that as Clarum Homes took the mobile homes away, they didn’t block up the sewer fittings so raw sewage was dripping into the outside world. Don put to rest several wasps’ nests, as the wasps were attracted to the sewage. :: sigh ::

Speedy the cat was abandoned, and became the ward of our mobile home park as well as a symbol of our loss. I started doing rides for my magazine article. I got a jury summons, which was interesting, because I am not a citizen yet. My friend from Colorado came over and we spent a lovely day together. :)

Don created a kitty cam so we could see our feral cats playing in the catnip.
June: I realized one day that there was no way we would be moving by 18th June. We decided to stay until the bitter end. We carried on preparing the storage shed to receive more stuff. And my first paid magazine article since 1985 was published.
July: 11 mobile homes were left in the park out of 29. I launched the Markeroni Blog and took part in Blogathon 2007. We hauled some stuff over to Stockton.
August: I carried on trying to find a home to Speedy, with whom I had by now fallen in love. I got a job at a Certain Big Store, setting it up, and began that too. It was my first paying job for years. We moved some of my furniture over to Stockton. I started doing paid posts.
September: Work was both exhausting and surprisingly satisfying. The store opened but I missed it because of the move. The move from hell started on the 30th. I tried to visit friends in San Francisco, but my bike decided to disassemble its rear while I was riding it and left me stranded beside I-280.
October: The move from hell continued, and we finally got out on the 3rd. We took our cats to a friend’s house and took in the Siamese. We then started two weeks of living in motels, until I finally gave up, quit my job, and decided to move to Lodi (nicer than Stockton) instead of trying to live life between two cities 100 miles apart. We found a home for Speedy–yay! We bought an RV. I launched Raven’s RV. My parents had their golden wedding anniversary and I couldn’t be there.
November: I successfully, with much cheating, completed NaNoWriMo. JR became sick and we started a litany of vet visits and generated a huge bill. To coincide with this Google slapped my page rank down to zero, effectively canceling all my income. I started to boycott Google (it’s hard to unravel from everything, but I will do 95% of it, I’m sure.) Luckily, by now I had been called on to write my second freelance article. My motorcycle battery died. I launched Raven’s Rides.
December: It was cold. We got ready for Christmas, such as it is. We saw our mobile home park one last time, with our house gone and the shed left behind. We met St.Ners for the first time. Life slowly started to show some signs of normalcy. The article about my mobile home park appeared on the front page of Sunday’s San Jose Mercury News.

It seemed like something that happened to other people, a long time ago.

I would like to say that I’ll be spending the next few days in quiet reflection, but it’s more likely I will be spending them eating candy, cakes and reading books instead. ;)
Overwhelming lesson for me to derive from the year 2007: don’t make plans. ;)

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Comments

36 Comments, Comment or Ping

Melanie (2 comments.)

What a year! I tend to be a person that likes things to happen the way I picture them and have had to learn the hard way to be flexible when they do not. Which is often!! Hope you have a wonderful 2008!!

Dec 27th, 2007
Forgetfulone (1 comments.)

Happy TT!

Dec 27th, 2007
Moondancer Drake (2 comments.)

What a crazy year for you. Well, you survived that’s a plus.

Happy TT

http://moondancerdrake.livejournal.com

Dec 27th, 2007
Slip of a Girl (1 comments.)

Looking back at our lives seems like re-reading a book — weird chapters we don’t remember, even stranger characters :p

Dec 27th, 2007
Pop Tart (2 comments.)

You know, ‘they’ always say this sort of stuff builds character; I always say, “What am I to become, a 2 dimensional character like in the movies or funny papers?”

Here’s to a more relaxing 2008 :)

Dec 27th, 2007
Sandy (Momisodes) (1 comments.)

Wow…you’ve had a busy year..I hope 2008 will be a great year for you!

Dec 27th, 2007
Xakara (1 comments.)

“Don’t make plans”….Ah, how familiar that rings to me. I’ve had some years from crematoria myself and can rememeber the no-plan rule coming to mind. Unfortunately I think plans are necessary to push us forward so I had to go with the motto: “Remain Flexible”. So far, so good! :)

Now I shall go and try to purge all thoughts of moving from my brain since it’s coming up rapidly and I’d like to put it off as long as possible.

Thanks for coming by, and good luck with Samhain. They’re closed to submissions right now but hopefully by the time you’re ready to submit they’ll be open and ready.

~X

Dec 27th, 2007
Rian Fike (5 comments.)

Brilliant report, very gripping. Thanks for taking us along with!

Dec 27th, 2007
Chris (9 comments.)

What a year ! and I thought I was busy! love your blog. will have to visit often!

Dec 27th, 2007
nicholas (17 comments.)

Sounds like a very eventful year!

Dec 27th, 2007
Haley-O (3 comments.)

What a great way to look back on a very busy years! Happy New Year!

Dec 27th, 2007
pussreboots (156 comments.)

LOL at #13. Happy TT.

Dec 27th, 2007
Nana (1 comments.)

2007 looks like it was one of those years - here’s to the next couple being a little more uneventful!

Happy TT!

Dec 28th, 2007
Harris Channing (1 comments.)

What a great idea! Thanks for sharing your life with us!

~Harris.

Dec 28th, 2007
Smiler (2 comments.)

Wow, either you have an amazing memory, or you’re really good at taking notes because I couldn’t come up with a detailed summary like that no matter what. Sounds like you’ve been through a lot this year. And hey, I’m older than you :-)
Like John Lennon said, “Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans”.

Dec 28th, 2007
Sherrie (33 comments.)

Love the Thursday 13!!! So much so I might steal the idea for my Thursday 13 next week, maybe one blog will be a review while the other is a resolutions. :-P I want to do both and I had planned to just do one this week and one next week, but the cake overwhelmed me and I just spent the past 2 days eating and reading. ;-)

Dec 29th, 2007
storyteller (1 comments.)

Seems to me I’ve heard that LIFE is what happens to us when we’re busy making plans. Your year is living proof of that! Congratulations on getting your 1st article published and on completing NaNoWriMo (how does one cheat I wonder?) I hope 2008 brings “stability” … peace, wonder and joy.
Hugs and blessings,

Dec 30th, 2007
Linda R. Moore

Thanks so much Melanie, and happy new year to you as well. Yup, the slow learning of flexibility is one of my lessons, I think. ;)

Jan 2nd, 2008
Linda R. Moore

Thanks, Forgetfulone!

Jan 2nd, 2008
Linda R. Moore

Hi Moondancer! Surviving is always a plus. :)

Jan 2nd, 2008
Linda R. Moore

Slip of a girl–you’re right, especially about the characters. ;)

Jan 2nd, 2008
Linda R. Moore

Pop tart: grin! Yeah, I’m not sure about this character building stuff either ;)

Jan 2nd, 2008
Linda R. Moore

Hi Sandy! Yeah, busy is one thing to call it *grin*

Happy New Year!

Jan 2nd, 2008
Linda R. Moore

Hi Xakara–I was looking to Samhain more as a provider of books I’d enjoy reading :) I have just really now got a pathological fear of “planning” ;) I like your “stay flexible” solution. :)

Jan 2nd, 2008
Linda R. Moore

Thanks Rian! It was a rough year…but it’s 2008 now, and the sun is shining. :)

Jan 2nd, 2008
Linda R. Moore

Hi Chris! Really? Glad you like it. :)

I just started a new blog — http://www.ravensrange.com — so this one will stay travel-related. That’s a good move for me, I think, but it depends on what part of this blog appealed to you *grin*

Jan 2nd, 2008
Linda R. Moore

Nicholas, yeah, something like that ;)

Jan 2nd, 2008
Linda R. Moore

Thanks, Haley. Happy New Year to you!

Jan 2nd, 2008
Linda R. Moore

Pussreboots: quite! *grin*

Jan 2nd, 2008
Linda R. Moore

Nana: indeed! I’m not sure they will be less eventful, but I’d be glad for a bit less stress. ;)

Jan 2nd, 2008
Linda R. Moore

Harris, you’re most welcome. :)

Jan 2nd, 2008
Linda R. Moore

Smiler: LOL! I blog. It’s like taking notes. ;)

And yeah, I have thought about Lennon quite a few times lately. ;)

Jan 2nd, 2008
Linda R. Moore

Sherrie…death by cake. ;) Sure, steal away–I’m sure this idea isn’t exactly original :: grin ::

Jan 2nd, 2008
Linda R. Moore

Storyteller: thanks! “Cheating” is all about padding the word count…quoting song lyrics, etc. I did a TT13 a few weeks ago about it…here’s the link:

http://www.ravensroads.com/index.php/tt19-cheating-in-nanowrimo/

*grin*

Jan 2nd, 2008
J. Lynne (35 comments.)

No, no, make plans, but do it in pencil. That’s the lesson I learned back in 2003/2004. :)

Jan 11th, 2008
Linda R. Moore

Nope. No plans. Just a road map, and a few things to do each week, and a forgiving, flexible attitude. :)

Jan 11th, 2008