Many the Miles
January 1st, 2008
See you later, 2007! Thanks for kicking my ass all over town!
Am I the only one who’s glad to see it end? Perhaps it’s better stated that I’m excited for 2008. Last year wasn’t awful, but it sure wasn’t the best year of my life, and to make matters worse, it ended on one of the most irritating notes possible — this note unfortunately involves family (in-laws!) and a “small favor” for them that turned into a two-day MiseryFest involving U-Hauls and movers and cleaning up an inordinate amount of garbage that I did not generate. I’d share more, but … well, mostly I’m afraid I’d go a little inappropriately buck-wild with the venting, which is unfair to everyone involved. I will get over this. I will!
(Also, and I’m writing this in a whisper: my in-laws moved kind of far away.)
Ahem. Anyway, did you have pork and sauerkraut to start off the new year? The Pennsylvania Dutch believe it’s good luck if it’s your first meal of the year, and though I did not usher in ’08 with sauerkraut, I did have ziti with sausage and peppers. I don’t think, however, that it counts, but given that it is infinitely more likely that twelve naked nuns will arrive on my doorstep fresh from Calcutta to offer above-asking price for my house than it is that I would get Adam to suck down some Silver Floss, it will have to suffice.
Although a random side note: I did notice that the sausage I broke apart for the ziti sauce was made with sheep casing, which: um, ew? EW? Or should I say EWE? (HA! I kill me!) This is the kind of information that would turn me into a vegetarian, but frankly, I couldn’t do it, and under normal circumstances, I have no desire to become one. I like meat a little too much, and while today, the baa-baa-casing is sending me into gaggy fits, I’ll forget about it tomorrow and will even have a hot dog before the month is out. I am also of the unfortunate variety who craves what she can’t have, right down to a burning relentless desire for McDonald’s the entire time I read Fast Food Nation.
Anyway, after more than a week away from work, I’m about as excited to go back tomorrow as I would be for a 5 a.m. root canal, although on second thought, the latter sounds more appealing, because at least it’s followed by an afternoon spent with soap operas and ice cream. This is just a wild guess, but I’m assuming that my day tomorrow will not be in any way touched by soap operas or ice cream, unless you consider an ongoing war with the multifunctional copy/fax/whatever machine to be soap-worthy. (“The copies are coming out of the right end! The copies are coming out of the right end! MON DIEU!”)
(Am still cracking myself up with bad jokes, I’m sorry. I’m punchy, and have also had wine.)
Back to 2008 — I’ll tell you one thing: it is bound to be full of change, and it both excites and terrifies me. Adam and I desperately need change, I think, in order to survive the coming year — not with each other, but from external forces, in other parts of our life together. Where we live, what we’re doing, who will be joining us (Maybe a baby? No one knows yet.) (Nope, not pregnant. A year is a long time!).
Growing up, I moved around a lot, shuffling between homes and would-be step-parents at the hands of divorced, highly mobile — and eligible! — parents. As a result, I’ve spent most of my life craving stability — one house, one town, one job — to the point where I am truly shocked at my willingness to try new things, new jobs, new states, new homes. I am often the very definition of risk-averse, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned moving many thousands of miles away from home to a hot, unfamiliar southern outpost — a move that, by many definitions, is an ongoing failure on multiple levels — it’s that risks are almost always worth it, even if the rewards turn out to be unlike anything you anticipated or even wanted.
Here’s to 2008, and all its surprises. I, for one, can’t wait to see it all unfold, and that’s an unexpected reward in itself.
*Sara Bareilles. I told you! Told you! I can’t stop, and it’s embarrassing.
Entry Filed under: Nuttin'
22 Comments Add your own
1. Allison | January 1st, 2008 at 7:16 pm
We did not have pork and sauerkraut to start off the year but David had all the stuff ready to go. Blech. We did have kielbasa though, which I think counts. Sort of.
Here’s to unexpected rewards. Those are the best kind, I think.
2. Heather B. | January 1st, 2008 at 7:17 pm
Not one to usually give a hearty ‘yee-haw’ to change, I find myself…well…changing. So I hope you have a wonderful year. You deserve it.
3. TwoBusy | January 1st, 2008 at 7:27 pm
For whatever it’s worth… your penultimate paragraph is one of the best things you’ve ever written (here, at least). Very nicely done.
4. Leah | January 1st, 2008 at 8:07 pm
Come to California. You can stay if you like it; there’s plenty of room.
Here’s to 2008. Let’s get this party started, baby.
5. -R- | January 1st, 2008 at 8:10 pm
I am not sure that I have ever had sauerkraut. I think it smells weird.
Moving around a lot means that half of me craves stability, and the other half gets itchy after living somewhere for a few years. I think that means I’ll move for the right opportunity, but not just for the hell of it.
6. Suebob | January 1st, 2008 at 8:15 pm
Pork for New Years is Italian good luck. Usually it is eaten with lentils, though.
I am sooooo glad 2007 is gone, for reasons you well know. BYE! SEE YA! Don’t let the big hard door of misery hit you in the ass on the way out!
We get to return to work to face our biggest, ugliest, most insane and pointless project of the year! Yay. It only takes about six weeks to complete. Shoot me now.
7. Swistle | January 2nd, 2008 at 6:17 am
Commenting mechanism jammed by mention of possible baby. BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY
8. Cobwebs | January 2nd, 2008 at 6:29 am
You ought to try making your own sausage some time; you can mail-order natural casings. In my refrigerator right now there are five pounds of pig intestines packed in salt. (Which I guess means you’ll never get within five miles of my fridge.)
9. Sadie | January 2nd, 2008 at 6:36 am
I yelped a little when I read this:
*right down to a burning relentless desire for McDonald’s the entire time I read Fast Food Nation*
because I thought I was the only one. Once again, the internet shows me I’m not.
Happy 2008!
10. Kristin H | January 2nd, 2008 at 6:48 am
You slay me.
So far my New Year’s has not been great: my husband wrecked his truck this morning on ice, one of our employees is in jail for driving on a suspended license, and two more are not here for unspecificed reasons. In a small company, a few people make a big difference. But! But! Despite the new year not getting off to a smashing start (I slay myself as well) I am ever optimistic that today will not be representative of the whole year. Here’s to sunny days ahead (obviously, you cannot avoid them!). I am hopped up on caffiene, so I will stop now.
11. Assertagirl | January 2nd, 2008 at 7:13 am
We had pork chops…does that count?
Your paragraph about moving around a lot due to divorced parents, etc. really struck a note with me. Anytime things stay the same for long I feel like something’s wrong.
Happy New Year!
12. Lawyerish | January 2nd, 2008 at 7:46 am
2008 is going to be a killer year. And I hope to see you at LEAST as many times as I did in 2007.
13. Lara | January 2nd, 2008 at 9:03 am
I didn’t have pork or sauerkraut to ring in the new year, but I did have chili. Does that count? (um, why would it count, Lara? I do not know.) Happy new year, Jonniker! May 2008 be very great! (hi, poetry).
14. Andrea | January 2nd, 2008 at 9:10 am
You’re not the only one glad to see the ass end of 2007. Buh bye sucka!
And hey, just the mere thought of you and Adam embarking on the baby journey makes me smile and rub my hands in glee at the blog fodder alone, aside from the pictures. Whee! I hope that whatever 2008 brings you (baby or not) that it’s pleasing and happy and that your house sells and your stress level drops a bit and you have some room to just breathe when you need to. I know sometimes that breathing thing gets lost. I feel it too. Though for me, that might be baby foot lodged in the lungs, because yes, contrary to my most fervent Christmas wishes, I’m STILL pregnant (10 days to go until due date).
Happy New Year!
15. amber | January 2nd, 2008 at 10:10 am
Ew! Ewe! Your bad jokes are cracking me up, too, and I haven’t even HAD wine. Haven’t read Fast Food Nation, but now I have to because you’re prodded my curiosity button. Happy 2008!
16. Danell | January 2nd, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Happy New Year, Jonna! And the best possible 2008 (including, possibly, 12 naked nuns…if nothing else just so you could tell us about it) to you, Adam, and Sunny.
17. Mauigirl52 | January 2nd, 2008 at 9:14 pm
Happy New Year! I hope 2008 is a great year! And thanks for all the great posts in 2007. I always love coming here and reading your posts – thank you for sharing your life, your thoughts, and your great sense of humor with all of us!
Ew-Ewe – hysterical.
And I didn’t read Fast Food Nation, but saw the movie, which was offputting enough. And ate MacDonalds again the very next road trip we took without any compunction whatsoever. (I do limit myself to eating it at highway rest stops though. I have an excuse then).
18. Maya | January 3rd, 2008 at 3:31 pm
I think I actually CRAVED McDonalds after seeing that movie, sadly. The baby part would be FABULOUS. And I too hate change, for the most part. Heh.
19. winterwheat | January 3rd, 2008 at 6:26 pm
Ewe! EWE!! ROFL!!!!!
Can’t wait until you’re knocked up. THAT’s going to be a funny series of posts, what with the hormone surge…
20. She Likes Purple | January 3rd, 2008 at 10:39 pm
Oh my gosh, I feel the need to confess. The whole time I watched Supersize Me and just gasped my way through it (“That food! It’s so grosssss!”) I wanted a McGriddle like nothing else. And I’m fairly sure I indulged.
21. willikat | January 10th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
i’m risk-averse too.
22. pork and sauerkraut | New&hellip | January 11th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
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