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Wow, there was nothing on this page!

Sorry, sorry. It's been wild. I know it's always sort of wild around my life but this month has been truly mad. I haven't sent out a single Christmas card. I'm lucky to make phone calls to everyone I love who's had a birthday. I am still buying and sending Christmas gifts, a process which has become deadline-based rather than Christmas-based. (I'm seeing X person on Friday, therefore the gift will be bought Thursday, etc.)

Moving is an endless process, though I am going to attempt to end it today by getting the last of my stuff from Mike's. The new place is shaping up but doesn't yet feel totally like home, and I've had to take measures to block the bugs (every NYC apartment building has roaches, it's just a fact of life - but you have different levels of insulation against them - my building and apartment is old,so there were lots of gaps in the floorboards and walls where they could sneak through. I've only seen a couple each week, but that was enough; on advice of a building-mate, I bought wood glue and a silicon gun and filled in every gap all over the apartment. Cheryl came over one night and we attacked, and since then I have not seen one bug anywhere that hadn't probably been around since before that night. That's, as Jo Rowling might say, a reckless tempt of fate. I'll go home and have an infestation. Anyway, even though she amused herself by reorganizing my bookcase afterward - this honestly is Cheryl's joy in life - Cheryl came over and caulked for me. Caulked. Good friends help you move - great friends help you caulk. LOL)

So, yeah.

This site will shortly be redirected to Penbitten.com, my new domain; melissaanelli.com also goes there. The name for PenBitten is from an Edna St. Vincent Millay poem I hold dear, introduced to me by a friend - it goes, "Cruel of heart, lay down my song / Your reading eyes have done me wrong / Not for you was the pen bitten / and the mind wrung, and the song written." Basically, if you're not a nice person, go away. That's a sentiment I respect and love. So, yeah. Update your bookmarks if you like! Eventually it will be totally redesigned by John Noe, person extraordinnaire, and he has a whole vision, and I trust him like few others, so I'm excited. I've moved everything over now, and updated the gallery system there, too. Tell me if you click around and find bugs.

Oh, and those who subscribed to be notified when this site updates: I tried to email you all but I think I got some returned mails. I put you all on the other list, for when I update that one; if you are on that list, you should get an email from penbitten.com when I publish this item - because I'm crossposting it. So, if you haven't gotten two notifications for this entry, resign up at penbitten.com, if you want.

I had a fantastic birthday. It was calm, and quiet, and great. I worked, then my mother made her infamous chicken with mozzarella, and my godmother and her family came over and we did our Christmas presents and played "Shout About TV" until 2 a.m. Donna and I won two games straight. Woo hoo. :) And just…signing on to Leaky, and the Lounge, and my email, and facebook, and IM, and LiveJournal, and seeing an amount of birthday wishes there that way outnumber the amount I feel I've a right to - thank you all for them. I'm trying to respond to everyone; I've done Leaky and almost all the Lounge; all of LJ and all of Facebook, but none of email yet. I feel very lucky to be given such an outpouring. Thank you.

And that's all there's time for right now! Got some recording with some nerds to do tonight. :) A certain Ben Schoen is going to feel the wrath.

Taken from many - time for me to tell you about you (if I have the time which is entirely why this will take four years but I'll try and answer anyone that responds).

Respond to this with your name, favorite color and your birthday. In turn:

1. I'll respond with something random about you.
2. I'll tell you what song/movie reminds me of you.
3. I'll pick a dessert with which you and I would have a food fight.
4. I'll say something that only makes sense to you and me (maybe/maybe not).
5. I'll tell you my first memory of you.
6. I'll tell you what animal you remind me of (your Patronus?).
7. I'll ask you something that I've always wondered about you.

If I don't know you I'll make it up, but I'll tell you I'm making it up so you aren't offended when I say you should be a four-feathered peacock or something.

If you'd like, and I answer for you, continue it on by posting on your journal/blog/etc. for others

I stole this meme from Cheryl, who does mean things with cranberries, chicken and curry sauce, and who has no problem undermining my workout efforts with devilish temptation via stroopwafels, or sending me five-word e-mails designed to stir me into a confused frenzy. Wench.

1. Total number of books owned: I just don't know. I have about a hundred in my room, a couple of giant boxes in my childhood bedroom, a downstairs closet in my mom's house full of them, and lots in attics and alcoves. The hundred in my room are the ones I had to take with me when I moved, so I suppose they matter more. My complete Shakespeare, my Strunk & White, my Edna St. Vincent, my Roget's Thesaurus, my Webster's Dictionary, and my Harry Potters are there. I have more every time I see Cheryl; I have more every time I walk by a bookstore; I have more every time I see something interesting on a friend's shelf; I have more with each birthday and with each gift certificate, and I have more each time I visit Amazon.com, no matter what I was browsing for.

2. Last book I bought: Erm. Hm. Savage Beauty? The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay? It's hard to buy books when your friends pile them into your arms every time you see them. I have more unread books than I can get through, for awhile. OH, wait, I got The New Journalism by Tom Wolfe, just delivered to me. It's out of print and I could only find a very beat up copy, but it's Tom Wolfe, and was recommended to me by Chip Scanlan of The Poynter Institute, so, you know. Important. I've read a page and it's now at the top of my list.

3. Last book I read: This is hard, because I am in the habit of reading several things at once, and therefore finishing several things at once. I finished recently a Lemony Snicket, Savage Beauty, a reread of the first HP (have an interview to prepare for!), and something else I'm forgetting. But, for instance, I have not yet finished Kavalier and Clay, because the story seemed to level off near the end, and I just haven't had the inclination to actually finish. So I've been reading it for half a year, though I read the first 3/4ths in half a week.

4. Five books that mean a lot to me:

Clearly, Harry Potter, and I count all the books, even the seventh, as one. These books literally changed my life. Nevermind all I've been able to do journalistically; through them, and the people I've met through them, I've learned exactly what real friendship is, what it's not, what it means to have it, and how overly blessed I am with it.

Act One, by playwright Moss Hart, recommended to me by Frank Rich of the New York Times, who saw the lost soul trapped in the theater geek trapped in the writer that is me, and prescribed a book to fit. There was supposed to be an Act Two, but Moss Hart died before it could be written; it's the tale of his do-anything to be near the bright lights of Broadway, and boils down to a heartrending account of how any seemingly insignificant person finds his way in a big, blinking world. I need to get another copy; I lent it out a few years ago and now it's GONE.

Hot Seat by Frank Rich. I haven't read this all the way through (because it's a GIGANTIC anthology of reviews and time is very stingy with me), but this was the book that started everything. I was studying for my Organic Chemistry final at Barnes and Noble in Georgetown, and was clearly looking for anything to do but organic chemistry, so started wandering shelves. Whenever I wander shelves I magically appear in the theater section. I started flipping through this book, and the writing was a revelation - sharp, and like it mattered, like theater reviews and culture were actually intertwined, like culture wasn't something to be written about lightly, and those who wrote about it weren't puff writers or celebrity stalkers. It gave validation to this nudge I had, this feeling that you could be in entertainment/culture journalism and still do something people could care about, and which contributed to the overall lexicon of insightful commentary. I became obsessed with the book, bought it, and then thought, what the hell, and e-mailed Frank Rich at the New York Times. I had no idea who Frank Rich really was; I knew he was an excellent writer, but only that; I had no idea he was this powerhouse figure, this last of the great critics. I didn't know that until right before I met him, because a month after I e-mailed him he brought me up to his office for a chat, just about my future and about whether or not I could really make a go of it in journalism. He gave me some fantastic advice, recommended some terrific books (see above), and had his assistant, Carlos, walk me around the New York Times newsroom. We kept in touch for some time over e-mail. It's been a while now, but I'll always consider him my first mentor.

The Best Newspaper Writing 2000 - this was the first of these books I perused, and the first to show me what journalism really could be. I would leaf through it at time off at The Hoya and admire the features. I think this is when my interests ballooned past entertainment.

The Great Gatsby - because it's the first book I re-read after college, and hence discovered how wonderful the books I'd only read in school because I had to could be. I remember staring at the text of this book and wondering how on earth I missed its beauty the first time. "...Gatsby was overwhelmingly aware of the youth and mystery that wealth imprisons and preserves, of the freshness of many clothes and of Daisy, gleaming like silver, safe and proud above the hot struggles of the poor." I mean, does it get better?

Oh, and another thing: I really should not have ordered The Sims 2. Really should not have. Of the time I have for things in my life, this gets about ZERO percent. But they have STORYLINES now. Storylines! The geek in me is throwing a party, and I could not resist.

Sorry it's been so long; I am getting over being sick, as is nearly everyone I know. I had such a fantastic week with my visitors, and now I'm back to missing them; the trees are coming down and everything's back to normal.

I was thinking about 2004, the person I was before it and the person I was after. All the stuff I complained about during the year, everything that made me sad, I realize now, has contributed to this self-aware happiness that seems to be sticking around. I don't think I've ever felt more confident, relaxed. It's nice.

(A short amendment to that: The one thing that made me sad this year which did just that and nothing else was losing my dog. All that has contributed to is missing her, even though it's better than it was.)

I've had this post sort of sitting around unfinished for awhile, and it's still unfinished but I'm too laden with the sniffles to finish it. So here it is, 2004 - an unfinished year, or so it seems.

My resolutions go thusly (there are many this year, inspired by the list Roz keeps on the back of her door year-round):

1. To step up the working out by doing some sort of sport, or activity, so that I learn new skills while keeping fit. Self-defense preferable, as I've been wanting to do that for a long time.
2. To read at least a book every two weeks. I'd much rather read one a day but...the schedule, the schedule.
3. For every left-leaning article I read, to read one right-leaning one (preferably on the same topic).
4. To play less Final Fantasy VII on my roommate's Playstation.
5. To play more Tetris. (And beat roommate at said Tetris, heretofore unaccomplishable).
6. To stop eating the ice cream my roommate insists on making from scratch. Right after this bite. Hey, is that blackberry?
7. To remember to crosspost this journal with my LJ. (I always forget.)
8. Ice skate in Central Park at least once.
9. Fall on my butt in Central Park at least once. (Should be easy to accomplish with #8.)
10. Journal more regularly.
11. Sleep eight hours (and only eight hours) a night. (HAHAHAHAHAH!!!!)
12. Start the big proposal I'm writing (subject to be revealed in a big way if all goes well) by January 7, finish by February.
13. Finish the books on my bookshelf.
14. Read a Jane Austen a month until I'm through the complete works (at least two friends are cheering this one).
15. Get to Canada for a reason I can't reveal yet.
16. Call people in lieu of e-mailing.
17. Spend at least one weekend reading a Harry Potter book (sixth one preferable. This one is a no-brainer).
18. Ask more questions (to everyone but one person who knows who she is).
19. Watch all my DVDs before buying new ones. (This one is already out the window. I bought the first season of Alias and Angels in America, and more.)
20. Get to Los Angeles, to see Arjuna, like I've been promising for two years now, because I really miss him.
21. Go to London again (:D) and actually do touristy things this time.
22. Stop eating the ice cream! MUST STOP! (Just one more bite...)

And the things I've done in 2004:

lost:
worries. weight. worries. my dog. my glasses. time. money. patience for cowards.

gained:
clarity. self-respect. self-worth. happiness. friends. friends. friends. a nephew. many cousins. money. frequent flier miles. more editing work.

learned:
so much. about people. about me. about giving. kung fu. (not really.) the release date. the wedding date. texas hold 'em. that stress makes my hair fall out. that i might be bald soon.

In 2005:
I could do with less:
food. biscuits. cowards. people who underestimate my intelligence. people who overestimate their own. cowards.

I could do with more:
compassionate people. food. time.

What I did in 2004 that I've never done before:
Became a reporter. (A real one.) Used an anonymous source (a non-HP one). Got a desk at my paper. Wrote an investigative series. Went to a movie premiere. Went to a movie premiere in another country. Went to the party after the movie premiere in the other country. Went to the party for the release of a DVD. Got a second hug from JK Rowling. Actually spoke to JK Rowling. Danced with an Innkeeper. Danced with a Slytherin. Got a (big) little brother. Fought. Simplified. Moved. Paid rent. Sold stickers. Donated. Stuffed envelopes. Went to London twice in two weeks. Went to Hawaii a second time. Became a bridesmaid. Played poker. Won poker. Got picked up. Got rid of a lot of junk and baggage. Learned. Left the year smiling.