10. Movies: Star Trek, as directed by J.J. Abrams, even though I was never that much of a Trek fan; Watchmen, even though I’m terrified of what the director of 300 could be doing to the best graphic novel ever, and assuming Fox doesn’t successfully keep Warner from releasing it; Harry Potter; Wolverine; and Pixar’s Up
9. William Elliot Whitmore‘s CD, Animals in the Dark
8. Regular Skype-ing, now that the webcam’s in place on the desktop
7. Finishing a novel for the first time in I’ve-no-idea-how-long. Just started Wicked, and I feel good about it. Gotta kick it into gear before the semester starts again, though
6. Seeing who Denver’s new GM and head coach are, and how they work out… the draft, free agency, the start of the season, it’s all more exciting when there’s a shake-up, for good and ill
5. A successful presentation at AERA‘s April conference in San Diego
4. Heath Ledger winning a posthumous Academy Award for The Joker in The Dark Knight
3. The inauguration of President Obama
2. Late in the year, feeling like I’ve made a lot of progress on my dissertation (note, however, that the list does not include “starting my dissertation”… if it had been a slightly longer list, maybe)
1. An excellent vacation this summer… don’t know where we’re going yet, but getting out of the country is our hope
