it's sunday night/monday morning and i don't feel like doing work or going to bed or talking on AIM, so here's the result of that-->

1.What did you do in 2004 that you'd never done before? oh man. LOTS of stuff. lots of which happened at rice this past summer and at college too. lab research, getting to experience college life minus the work, having to deal with drunk people (with..uh... interesting results), talking instead of doing work, sleeping over in random places, PLAY IN THE SNOW
2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year? hmm..i think i tend to forget all my resolutions anyways
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? haha. does it count if my roommate dreamed that she was pregnant and had a baby girl? (lolol don't ask)
4. Did anyone close to you die? yea.....more than one.....=(
5. What countries did you visit? none. unless you want to count Rice as its own country in the midst of Houston
6. What would you like to have in 2005 that you lacked in 2004? less gullibility =P
7. What date(s) from 2004 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? 5/14/04 (spanish literature AP test!!!..haha ok that makes me sound like the biggest nerd ever but i thought that had to be the coolest test i've ever taken, and probably will ever take..yall have no idea what an awesome test that was....no sarcasm), 5/29/04 (graduation), 7/7/04 (the day i prepared genomic DNA by myself! hehe. damn i really do sound nerdy. and it's only gonna get worse.....), 7/16/04 - 7/17/04 (finally got to do the IMMUNOPRECIPITATION!!!), 9/18/04 (well. i have my own reasons for remembering this date, even though it wasn't necesarily a positive event)
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? my senior recital. thanks again to everyone who came - it meant so much to me =)
9. What was your biggest failure? not being able to understand myself
10. Did you suffer any illness or injury? lol. does lack of sleep count?
11. What was the best thing you bought? the best things can't be bought with money =)
12. Whose behavior merited celebration? sra. ramos, jenna, javadi, myers, valeria, apoorva, jace, punag, steve, troy, ron ron, issao, sam, mavis, myhre, bryan, matt, lauren (haha. it may seem like an odd list, but it's a very carefully thought-out list, and i have my reasons. some are reasons which you might not even know about)
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? um. it would be better to not name people. seeing how my recklessness with my blog has gotten me in trouble more than once. but i got very appalled/depressed one night at rice last summer, let's just leave it at that.
14. Where did most of your money go? hehe...FOOD!!! and cake and brownie mixes.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? MIT...and also going to lab every morning during the summer =P
16. What song will always remind you of 2004? three songs actually, in this order: 1) "yesterday" by the beatles - HAHA once again, inspired by my summer at rice, 2) "nada que perder" by mana - jeff and i would randomly bust out in the middle of the hallway singing "Yo tengo que vivir,/el tiempo es corto/tengo valor y no temor/ porque,yo creo en algo/yo tengo que soñar/así nadie me va a parar/así puedo volar." and then simon would always join in, and 3) "terrapin station" by the grateful dead. well, there are reasons for this song that i don't want to explain.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? tricky question, especially since the question specifies "this time last year." well, gotta answer the question right? at this EXACT time last year, i was prolly happier but more frustrated. on the general though, i'd have to say, i'm happier now
ii. thinner or fatter? hahaha. not answering this question.
iii. richer or poorer? richer, seeing how i actually have an "allowance" now
18. What do you wish you'd done more of? piano and violin. it's heartbreaking to not be able to devote as much time as u want to something you love.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of? goofing off.
20. How will you be spending Christmas? SUGAR LAND, TEXAS, baby!
22. Did you fall in love in 2004? even if i did, i would never admit to it
23. How many one-night stands?.....one-night stand? what in the world is that? it sounds like something you'd buy at IKEA
24. What was your favorite TV program? FUTBOL EN ESPANOL..hehehe...and during the summer, it was our weekly ritual to watch "last comic standing"
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? nope. don't be hatin'
26. What was the best book you read? THIS year, it would have to be Brave New World
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?Mana!!! well it was more a revelation than a new discovery
28. What did you want and get? the best summer i could have ever asked for =D
29. What did you want and not get? i'm quoting Liberty on this one: "For boys to not be so dumb, yo."
30. What was your favorite film of this year? i'm sure a lot of good films came out, i was just too busy catching up on films from previous years that i didn't see a lot of the ones this year.
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? 18!!! turned LEGAL!!! well, first mavis (my awesome roommate)surprises me with a cake at around midnight or so. then later on in the evening, frank came over, and half my floor gathered in our suite kitchen to sing and eat. and then i had to sit through an incredibly boring MITSO rehearsal (which i fell asleep in), and when i finally made it to SIGMA NU around 11 pm or so, the pledges and charlie plus surprised me by singing to me...hehe..and then the rest of the brothers surprised me with another cake that issao and ron ron had made (it was sooo good!!!) and we kinda celebrated from then on at the house eating cake and such (I LOVE SIGMA NU)
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? if only the summer program at rice/m.d. anderson was longer.....
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2004? casual. whatever is comfy. and clean. and not slutty-looking
34. What kept you sane? definitely the friends. yall are the BEST. oh yea, the the spanish readings too.
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? no one really
36. What political issue stirred you the most? the election. only because it stirred me from my sleep cuz the people in the lounge were loud and were there the entire night.
37. Who did you miss? high school friends, rice friends
38. Who was the best new person you met? JENNA. the most crazy/cool person in the world. who else could tell stories about Nasir and iranian weather? hehe
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2004: Things always end up ok in the end if you're willing to make it happen. and if it's not ok, it's NOT the end
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year: i'll do this in a later post