How I Survived 2010 or, Shut Me Up is back!

So, it's 23:35 and here I am, typing out the an entry for a blog I decided to end on the 6th of May of the year that's about to end in less than an hour. I deleted it for various reasons; the foremost being laziness, closely followed by an obsessive need for privacy. Of course, if I write something here that means it is not important_enough/private in the first place, but it seems I've got people who ask me about things on my blog which upsets me because writing here is a release. For the people already in my life, if I wanted to discuss something with you, I'd tell you to your face instead of writing it on a blog. If I write it on my blog it means I've already put my word on it across and do not wish to be questioned about it. Is all.

ANYHOW, long opening prologue (or is it the epilogue of the former Shut Me Up, and that of the current Improbable Letters -- which causes me the same annoyances) aside, HI THERE MY NAME IS NAJIA AND THIS IS MY BLOG. I stole the title from an MSI song by the same name because I'm obviously not creative like Jimmy Urine when it comes to titling things (FRANKENSTEIN GIRLS WILL SEEM STRANGELY SEXY. I REST MY CASE). Here I rant and write lists and talk about both things that I like and things that I despise, hopefully in equal measure.

So, without further ado is what the title promises: HOW I SURVIVED 2010.

2010. IT WAS A SHIT YEAR. Well, mostly. Here's a list of all the bad things that happened to me:

1. July. All of July.

2. Serious depression.

3. O levels, jesus.

3 1/2. Lyceum totally ditched me.

4. Identity issues and more serious depression.

5. I thought I'd won the lottery when, actually, I hadn't.

It doesn't look as bad as it actually was. Is, actually. BUT HERE'S A LIST OF ALL THE GOOD THINGS THAT HAPPENED:

1. THE SCHOOL I CURRENTLY AM IN EFFING ROCKS.

2. I MET KAMILA SHAMSIE.

3. I MET MOHSIN HAMID.

4. KARACHI FUCKING LITERATURE FESTIVAL, BABY. ALL CAPS-WORTHY IN ALL ITS AWESOMENESS, LITERARYNESS AND K3WLNE$$.

5. In late December my brain pretty much caught fire and I got a bunch of story ideas.

6. I HAVE TWO AMAZING LITERATURE TEACHERS WHICH MAKES ME VERY HAPPY.

7. I have very cool hair.

Following are the people that helped me survive this year (you are all important to me, so this is in no particular order):

Tinkermaster, Babid, Saadia, Ms Shumaila, Aiman, Mahwish, Basim, Maliha, Huda, Nikki, Samrah and Saya. Thank you all.

Here are the people who indirectly, through their awesomeness/love/art, helped me survive:

OLIVIA WILDE. Riese. The entire staff of autostraddle. The whole community that reads autostraddle. Kamila Shamsie, cause she's the shizz. The people involved in House. The people involved in How I Met Your Mother. Amy Bloom. Milan Kundera, who wrote the best book I've ever read. Tilly and the Wall, My Chemical Romance, TEGAN AND SARA -- bands that I listen to on a daily basis because they give me hope, fill me with happy feelings and love, turn me into a better person. Krista for Effing Dykes. Darren Aronofsky. The people who made Wristcutters, Into the Wild. Kristen Stewart. Joseph Heller for Catch-22.

And now, of course, my resolution for the new year (fireworks pls)...

Be kind.

Yep, that's it. I need a resolution like that because I'm not nice and, well, I should be nicer at least to the people I like.

Yayz.

More shall be added to this list as I think of things; a year and surviving it cannot, of course, be summarized in about an hour.

I'm super hopeful for 2011. Also, in exactly a year today I will get my ED-I answer for Mount Holyoke OMGICAN'TWAIT.

Okay, time to do more pepsi shots. Happy New Year. Do you have any resolutions/survival stories? Share.