Yes, that’s the Angela version 20yrs up there, patiently waiting for the Y2K bug to doom us all in Boston’s Government Center. I wanted to party like it was 1999 (does it ever get old?!). Looking back at that photo, it blows my mind that it was taken ten years ago. That’s the funny thing about getting older… time begins to pass by quicker and quicker. Remember being in third grade and the year dragggggggggggggggged on, almost into infinity. Then… BAM!… you wake up one morning to find yourself 30 years old with gray hair sprouting, your kitchen table covered in bills, and you haven’t shaved your legs in a month because, god damn it, you’re just too damn tired (or maybe that’s just me).

The 00’s – or “aughts” or “naughts” or whatever the fuck they’re calling this decade – were good to me. I did enjoy almost my entire 20s in ‘em and if you can’t enjoy your 20s, then you’re just screwed because it’s all downhill from there, right? I began the decade as a fresh-faced 20-year-old (view above) and am leaving it a jaded 30-year-old with a new lease on life. So much has happened in these past ten years. Some good, some bad, but overall, I experienced a boatload of that “life experience” shit that all the old folks talk about.

A few of the highlights:
In 2000 I:

• Dropped out of college for the first time
• Got my first job waiting tables
• Dumped my high school boyfriend
• Lost 20 pounds
• Turned 21
• Went to Disney World
• Went to my first Patriots game (Patriots vs. Tampa Bay)
• Voted for Ralph Nader

In 2001 I:

• Met my future fiance
• Drove threw D.C. during George W. Bush’s inauguration
• Visited the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio
• Narrowly escaped being in NYC for September 11

In 2002 I:

• Lost 50 more pounds
• Watched the New England Patriots win their first Super Bowl (the single greatest day of my life)
• Went back to college
• Took the Massachusetts State Police Exam

In 2003 I :

• Got engaged
• Dropped out of college again

In 2004 I :

• Watched the Patriots win another Super Bowl
• Broke up with the fiance
• Started dating the king of the dickheads
• Went back to college
• Watched my car literally blow up in my college’s parking lot (hey, it got everyone in my class out of our midterm; the professor delayed it until the next class)
• Got totally blitzed at my cousin’s wedding.
• Went to Disney World

In 2005 I:

• Dropped out of college again
• Got a new car
• Started working at the newspaper
• Quit the first restaurant
• Started working at the bar in Southie
• Got dumped on Valentine’s Day by King Dickhead
• Took back King Dickhead
• Watched the Patriots win ANOTHER Super Bowl
• Finally got rid of King Dickhead for good.
• Made a boatload of new friends
• Met my boyfriend
• Went to my first Bruins game
• Got into a straight-up bar room brawl

In 2006 I:

• Got pregnant
• But lost the baby
• Had my wisdom teeth pulled
• Moved in with my boyfriend
• Met his son and became the world’s coolest step-girlfriend-whatever-you-call-it-person
• Quit the bar in Southie
• Bought my sister’s car
• Went to Disney World

In 2007 I:

• Didn’t do a whole lot of anything besides wanted to kill myself each day on my way to work at the paper
• Watched the Patriots go on an NFL Rampage, finishing the year at 16-0

In 2008 I:

• Cried nearly every day
• Was fired and promptly rehired at the worst job ever (newspaper)
• Went back to college
• Nearly died after Super Bowl you-know-what
• Got my car stolen two weeks before Christmas (but I got it back)
• Was crushed when Tom Brady got hurt
• Almost lost my boyfriend

In 2009 I:

• Found my car missing two tires
• GOT MY NEW JOB AND WAS FINALLY ABLE TO QUIT THE WORST JOB EVER!!!
• Met a ton of awesome people

Here’s to an awesome 2010!

Old blogging cliche: I’ve been busy.

Actual reason for lack of blogging: I’ve been lazy.

Sometimes, it’s just too much effort to actually sit up and press keys. Plus, my best hours of the day are now wasted riding a stinky train with stinky people while commuting to and from work. I’ve realized I spent three hours a day commuting (one hour in the morning; two in the evening). That’s 15 hours a week! That’s a friggin part time job! I spend commuting! For free! I really need to get a new car so I could attempt to drive to work. I figure, that would cut out my commute by at least half per day. (FYI, my car just hit 200,000 miles!)

Well, I’ve also been really busy trying to finish the stole I’ve been knitting for my mom for Christmas. Because I’m a tard who takes on whopper knitting projects with unrelenting deadlines even though I can neither knit well enough nor fast enough. So I’ve decided to cheat and I’m knitting a lace pattern on extra big needles. The whole thing looks ridiculously stupid, but it’s knitting up fast. And my mom will love it regardless.

Which reminds me, I should probably get back to knitting. At least NFL pregame is on soon.

If I hadn’t passed out immediately after getting home from work last night, this is something that you might have read here on bostonbrat:

“And this is reason Numero Uno why I hate when the Patriots play Monday night games. I am exhausted! Long gone are the days when I could hit the bars until 2 a.m. and be up and ready for work by 8. Maybe it has something to do with being 30. Or something. But I feel more beaten than the Patriots secondary right now and that can’t be good.

“BUT, tired or not, I don’t have that ‘OMG, I want to hurl myself off the Tobin‘ feeling like I had after the Colts game a few weeks back and DEFINITELY not the ‘OMG, I want to hurl SOMEONE off the Tobin’ feeling like I had after the Jets game in Week Two.”

Seriously, aside from the sheer exhaustion, I was in a good mood yesterday. Ask any of my co-workers. I also got into a mini-debate with another co-worker about the extent of suckitude in the Patriots secondary. She thinks they “suck bigtime.” I think a secondary is only as good as its companion pass rush, of which the Patriots are horribly lacking (and don’t bring up Richard Seymour, he wasn’t doing much either and you all thought so, too). She also thinks Tom Brady has completely lost focus, which, if I didn’t like her so much, would have sent me into hysterics.

The Patriots were summarily defeated by the New Orleans Saints Monday night and not one person could tell me the last time a Tom Brady-led Patriots team was beaten like that.

But I digress (heh), did you happen to notice, I successfully completed NaBloPoMo?

It’s the last night of NaBloPoMo and it happens to fall on a huge Monday night Patriots game. Tonight, the Patriots face the unbeaten New Orleans Saints. It seems like just yesterday I was consoling my old internet pal, Becca, a hapless Saints fan who dreamed of a season like that my Patriots enjoyed. Here it is, Becca. It’s pretty awesome, isn’t it?

So, I’m impatiently waiting for this game to start. And if the Patriots don’t win, I have a weird feeling it’s going to signal a Super Bowl victory for the Patriots. I’ll elaborate later.

Oh boy, oh boy.

And, if you’re interested, follow my twitter for all my in-game thoughts. I’ll be like some professional sports journalist. HA HA

Here’s another gem straight from my phone (mostly because I’ve reached new heights of laziness and can’t be bothered to sit up from my couch).

I really hate Sundays when the Patriots aren’t playing. Watching all the other games are just a tease.

So, to keep myself happy without a Patriots game, I ended up splurging by making pancakes (which were AWESOME) and go tanning.

And now, while I watch the intense Baltimore – Pittsburgh game, I’m dreading how late I’ll be up tomorrow night.