Things to ponder at year's end, part the first

Okay, so everyone seems to be doing some variety of these multiple question surveys that predict the future/reflect on the past.

Guess I'll join the rest of the lemmings and head for the cliff... but I’m gonna be just a little different and list one observation for each week of the year concluding, plus one more for good measure.

52 Personal Observations at year's end (ranked in no order of importance):

1. I have a big heart, and I'm easily hurt; I care for others, and I’m easily hurt.
2. I worry about being used.
3. I detest being lied to.
4. I’m really digging the Melissa Etheridge right now.
5. Most of my attempts to get diverse friends together for movie nights this past year have been for naught, but Mr. Never-Say-Die is going to continue.
6. I truly have a core group of friends who would do anything (or most anything) for me.
7. A huge variety of people moved into and out of my life.
8. There are but a few people I would take a bullet for, perhaps only a handful.
9. I hate more than anything being alone.
10. I need to get my effing house in order, get boxes unpacked and throw the detritus of life in the garbage can.
11. Annie Freres can make me smile (or laugh outrageously) by singing “Silent Night” in the persona of Ethel Merman. If you’ve never seen this phenom, ask her to perform it for you.
12. Molly Fontaine Lounge has become a place I like to hang out, drink and people watch.
13. Michael Eason, Michael Moore and Bruce Huffman are gifts that keep on giving and investments that keep on returning.
14. Di Anne Price makes me happy when she sings “God Bless the Child.”
15. I worry about the future.
16. I miss Mom terribly, and it get no easier.
17. The Muppets keep me entertained (and only one of them makes me reach for a bandage).
18. I have grown to love the AIDS Marker Project and embrace it as a gift to the city and those who have been disenfranchised or damaged by the church. Year 10 upcoming, and I am seeking out national publicity for this memorial tribute.
19. I have seen a shit-ton of live theater this year (does anyone doubt this?)
20. I have seen a shit-ton of Hollywood releases this season (Milk 2 times, Valkyrie, Doubt). Still to come: Milk (again), Frost/Nixon, The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons, The Reader, The Soloist.
21. I would pay good money to watch Meryl Streep, Irene Crist, Michael Gravois, Christine Wellford-Scott and Kim Justis Eikner read the phone book from behind a fire curtain, so entranced am I by their talents.
22. I have grown to embrace the words effing (Wendy Carpenter), shit-ton and ginormous (Carly Crawford), wonky (Natalie Chamblin) and ridonkulously (Jake Rickert).
23. I’m still rockin’ and rollin’
24. I have a crush on too many, most of whom are unreachable.
25. Weather is getting more and more wonky as the years pass (and, no, it’s not always been this erratic!)
26. Jim Morrison was spot on when he intoned “People are strange when you’re a stranger.”
27. I want to belong, and I worry that I don’t. Sometimes I worry that others merely accommodate me rather than accept me.
28. I do try too hard to _____ (pick a verb).
29. I’ve learned to embrace the happiness borne by wolves.
30. Maintenance of the Church Archives is daunting, and I need to better organize it, as I’ve got some major anniversaries in 2009.
31. Maintenance of my life is daunting, and I need to better organize it, as I’ve got to streamline and simplify. Perhaps it’s time to call in an expert: “Suze, HELP!!!”
32. I’m definitely not a morning person, especially when I have to be at the office by 730; I do, however, like the overtime. But I hate leaving at 530 because it’s 615 by the time I get home (later if I have errands to run).
33. There are a few instigators that will make me cry (people, memories, music, movies), but it’s not always the catharsis I need it to be.
34. Pineapple salsa from Blue Coast Burrito and sopa de pollo from Los Compadres have become comfort foods for me (hummus from Casa Blanca runs a close second).
35. It really isn’t that easy to hang posters for two theaters all over town.
36. I really do love theater. Would that I could act rather than just warm a seat.
37. I love creating the Christmas Mix cds to give as presents.
38. I wonder how long the Jeep is going to hang on for me.
39. I am looking forward to change, both internal and external.
40. I really miss seeing Trevor Davis and Michael Moore.
41. Cara Austin is perhaps one of my best drinking/movie-going/theater-watching buddies.

42. It was great hanging out with Stokes after so many years.
43. I need to reacquaint myself with working out and Group Power.
44. Jason Blank is Snoopy.
45. My faith is still strong, but it has been tested this last year, moreso than since Mom died.
46. I hated not going to the Coast for Christmas this year. The consolation was the Celtic Christmas Eve service with the huge attendance. Not bad for a first time effort. Can’t wait until next year. The Sanctuary really does look lovely bathed in the glow of 60 candles, though I can’t take non-flash pics too well of that event in that light.
47. I have become one of the unofficial staff photographers for church events.
48. Price Bullock will one day take over the world. Don't be afraid. It will be a good thing. He will keep us laughing.
49. Just because I didn’t call you out by name doesn’t mean that you aren’t an important part of my life.
50. It just didn’t seem like Christmas this year without hearing Handel’s Messiah at Calvary.
51. I wonder if I had to list 10 seminal events in my life what they would be at this point in the journey.
52. I love playing trivia with my team, and I love helping with sound effects for Chatterbox (yes, these are related)
53. I can’t wait to see what’s ahead in the road.