Best of 2009

It's time for a bit of a more light-hearted, personal post.

I have a habit of being very much a "the glass is half-empty" kind of person. So, now that it's the end of another year, I decided it would be better to come up with a list of awesome things about 2009. It's going to be in groups of 9. I originally intended to do groups of 10, but then I realized that if I did 9 everything would be coordinated with the year, and that was too cool to pass up.

So here we go!

[Click here for full-sized]

The 9 Best [Or Most Memorable] Events of 2009:

1. The 2009 CleanPlace Moot

2. The Skillet/Red/Disciple/Decyfer Down concert at Sixflags in April

3. Hanging out with good friends Rivus and RT in May

4. The Barlow Girl concert in October

5. The Ferns's visit in October

6. Talking to my friend "Draug" late at night over coffee

7. To Write Love On Her Arms' live webcast of Heavy and Light in January

8. Meeting and talking to Trevor of Thousand Foot Krutch

9. Traveling all over California for two weeks in July

The 9 Favorite Albums of 2009:

1. Awake by Skillet

2. Welcome to the Masquerade by Thousand Foot Krutch

3. Hello Hurricane by Switchfoot

4. Forget and Not Slow Down by Relient K

5. Innocence and Instinct by Red

6. Memento Mori by Flyleaf

7. Now is Not Forever by B. Reith

8. Dear Diary by FM Static

9. Confessions by Red

The 9 Best Places I Visited in 2009:

1. The beach in SoCal

2. Bear Trap Ranch, Colorado

3. Yosemite, California

4. Lookout Mountain, Georgia

5. Greenwood Cemetery in Marshall, TX

6. Porterville, California

7. Colorado Springs

8. That one Starbucks in California... then that other one here in town... and the other one in Colorado...

9. Any place that was not Kansas

The 9 Best Things About School in 2009:

1. Biblical Literature class and my awesome Bible professor

2. Draug

3. The Library

4. Free coffee at the library

5. Having my own mailbox

6. Getting to see so many epic concerts right on campus and getting student ticket discounts

7. The day it snowed while we were outside during Digital Literature class

8. Free Dr. Pepper at campus events

9. People who say hello to me in the hallways and remember my name

9 Awesome People I Met for the First Time in 2009:

1. Joy

2. Anywhere

3. Daeriel

4. Bree

5. Balto

6. Mylla

7. Celeris

8. Meldawen

9. pirateoftherings

The 9 Songs that were the Most Special to Me in 2009:

1. The Last Night by Skillet

2. Look Away by Thousand Foot Krutch

3. Therapy by Relient K

4. Never Surrender by Skillet

5. Beautiful Ending by BarlowGirl

6. Fully Alive by Flyleaf

7. Hello Hurricane by Switchfoot

8. Some Will Seek Forgiveness, Others Escape by Underoath

9. Take it All Away by Red

My 9 Personal Favorite Blog Posts I Wrote in 2009:

1. Breaking Waves

2. Sunshine and Rain

3. I Will Sing

4. Fully Alive

5. Passion is Contagious

6. Welcome to the Masquerade

7. The Joys of Our Hearts

8. Fragile on the Inside

9. Innocent Again

9 Good Books I Read in 2009:

1. Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson

2. The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson

3. Hero of Age by Brandon Sanderson

4. I Never Promised You a Rose Garden by Hannah Green

5. Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller

6. Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris

7. The Silmarillion by Tolkien (4th read-through)

8. Thr3e by Ted Dekker

9. The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer

[Actually, I think these are the only books I read in 2009, except the Bible and textbooks...]

9 Miscellaneous Things I Learned in 2009:

1. Sometimes we have to be willing to ask someone to come to us

2. Despite 1, it is one of the most beautiful things ever when someone comes to us without being asked

3. Traveling is awesome when I rest in the beauty of places and people rather than the fear of uncertainty and change

4. It's never better to be numb

5. It is possible to be too close at a concert-- like, when the lead singer's sweat is dripping all over you and you're scrambling to avoid a concussion from his rapidly descending headbang

6. I am allowed to smile

7. I am capable of being extremely loud, but it's alright that I'm usually quiet

8. Someone who can actually listen with a spirit of self-forgetful love is to be admired more than almost anyone else

9. Prayer is incredibly powerful. When His children cry out, God listens. Always.

And now that I've given you 9 lists of 9, here's a final list: 10 things I very much want to get done in 2010.

10 Things To Do in 2010:

1. Learn to drive (!!!)

2. Learn how to use photoshop

3. Go to less concerts and work more so I can save to buy a car

4. See Switchfoot in concert (I know, this somewhat contradicts 3...)

5. Learn to play guitar

6. See as many of my amazing friends as possible

7. Be a better, more accessible older sister to my siblings

8. Learn to love with Jesus's love, not my own (mine will run out pretty fast. His never will. You'd think this would be an easy thing to learn...)

9. Get to know more people at school

10. Let go of the fear of failure

I hope you all have happy times and beautiful places and good friends to look back on too, even if it sometimes takes some effort to remember. Early happy New Years!

- Elraen -