Day #8764 - 23 Things

This Thursday is my birthday, marking the end of my life as a 23 year old 23rd year and the start of my time as 24. It's been a very, very long year to be sure. You know how Blink 182 famously sings "nobody likes you when you're 23"? Well, it feels like they sure hit the nail on the head with that one. It wasn't exactly a year I'll look back on with extreme fondness, but it was an undeniably eventful time. And so it is time for me to look back, search for the silver lining of it all, and come up with 23 things I did while I was 23.

1. Finished graduate school
2. Got my first "grown-up" job
3. Made new friends at said job, young and young at heart
4. Sent a manuscript out into the world for the first time
5. Kept writing even though that manuscript didn't get the response I'd hoped it would
6. Became a book blogger
7. Met other incredibly awesome book bloggers, aspiring writers, and published authors
8. Went to South Carolina for the first time, checking another state off my list
9. Started making YouTube videos
10. Joined a gym
11. Chaperoned two high school dances and lived to tell about it
12. Visited the Art Institute of Chicago for the first time
13. Went on exactly one date...I think...I'm pretty sure it counted as a date?
14. Joined the American Library Association and the Young Adult Library Services Association
15. Took my Anglophilia to a whole new level when I started watching Doctor Who and Sherlock
16. Helped direct two plays at the school where I work
17. Saw my favorite musician in concert for the first time
18. Went to two Chicago Blackhawks games (and they won both times!)
19. Smiled on as several people I know got engaged and/or married
20. Taught lots of lessons and did lots of book talks
21. Went on adventures of various sizes in a variety of places
22. Spent many hours amused by my dog
23. Made it to 24

So those are all good things that happened this year, and thinking about the positives helps make the harder times a bit more bearable. Even still, let's all keep our fingers crossed that being 24 goes a bit better, shall we? =)