lifeinflux

2011 in Review

// January 1st, 2012 // Featured Post

No one summed up 2011 better than Drue in her fabulous end of year newsletter to family and friends.  If you did not get your copy, don’t fret!  You can find it here on Lifeinflux!

Mom says my Christmas newsletters are getting a bit… long.  So this year I thought I’d start off with the condensed version and then add details as she deems necessary.  So here is the 2011 Drue Gloege Condensed Year in Review.

I slapped a girl and I liked it.   Then I dropped out of school.   Oh and I got a job after hanging out on the couch for a few months.

And that’s my year in review.

Wow, Mom just read this and informed me that I had some ‘splainin’ to do.  But she won’t tell me who Lucy is.  I guess that’s one of those mystery things you learn when you’re a Mom.  So the slapping part was not so cool.  But first let me back up and tell you about January.  You see that’s when the puppy alien invaders took over our house.  Mom got this email from a rescue group and somehow between opening the email and five minutes later lost her mind.   Most people want a dog for Christmas.  Well we got a dog and eight 2 week old puppies for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  That holiday is now officially fired.  Next year, the only thing I want on MLK Jr day is a day off.  I will say this.  The best way to ensure your kid walks that straight and narrow for a long time is to bring eight puppies into the house.  After a few months of no sleep and all that poop you may never get grandchildren.  I’m just saying.

Oh and PS, boys are totally gross. Unless they are related.  And then they are only sort of gross.

In February, some rampant bullying went on.  These kids in Palo Alto are pretty sophisticated (read, too much time, money and lack of supervision) and went after me on Facebook, on Gmail, via texts and at school.  I decided to stand up for myself and smacked down the Queen Bee.  Before I go too Gossip Girl on you, let me just say it is never smart to smack someone more popular than you and we’ll leave it at that.  Mom lectured me A LOT about how violence isn’t the answer.  And she’s right.  We’ll leave slapping for those shows Mom sneaks when she thinks I’m in bed.  Someone’s always getting slapped on those shows!

In March the bullying was getting a bit crazy so I asked Mom if I could homeschool.  I was shocked – she said yes!  So I came home and for the first month it was AWESOME!  I slept, I read, I watched television, I texted and large boxes came in from places like Pearson Hall and Holt.  I was thinking early birthday presents or maybe ‘I love you cause you hold down that couch better than anybody’ presents.  But, no.  Little did I know Mom was ordering my school books!!  And she was reading about lesson plans and curriculum and how to make your child miserable in eight hours each day by making them think and take notes, and learn how to study and all that crazy business they don’t bother to teach you in public school.

So the homeschooling commenced (my SAT word for the day, like it?) and time passed s-l-o-w-l-y.  No one told me homeschool would be harder than public school!  Sheesh.  By mid April all of the puppies save two (Rascal and Marzi) were adopted into their forever homes.  Mom and I celebrated by spending a week in Death Valley.  May was my birthday and Mom gave me the week off (bonus!). Uncle Erich came up and we had a blast.  I even got a special trolley ride complete with bells and happy birthdays down Lombard Street! Then Nana flew in and that was fun, too.  In June I had to manage school and summer camps.  Mom and I took a trip to San Diego and had a lot of fun.  There was snorkeling and swimming with sharks, I played volleyball on the beach and finally made some new friends who are quirky like me and enjoy the same things I do!  In August I started with Ocean Grove, an independent charter school and tested into 11^th grade literature and 9^th grade math.  That sounds cool but it really just means more work and higher expectations.  *facepalm*

Dad turned the big 3-7 in June and Mom turned the big 3-7 right after him in October.   That means they have three years left before they are official OLD.    In September I started an internship at the Marine Science Institute.  I go out on the boat for a few hours each week, troll San Francisco Bay and collect fish and measure them and check on their overall health.  It’s fun but smelly work.  I also work as a volunteer aquarist at MSI.  I feed the animals, clean the tanks and generally do whatever is needed to keep the aquarium and marine life in good health.  It’s a great job and a fantastic start for someone like me who loves marine life and wants to be a marine biologist.  But you knew that right?   In November, Mom and I flew to Alabama and spent the holiday with Nana, my great aunts, great uncle and all the cousins.  We also saw my cousin, Anna, in Atlanta and our friends who live in Atlanta, too!

Dad is working at Facebook now and swears he can see everything I do online from there.  I think he just calls Mom and is all, “what is Drue doing online” and Mom uses her special superpowers that allow her access to my computer, my journal and my mind.  Can’t get anything past that one!  Mom is still running Fauvist Media and is managing more photo shoots and other creative stuff which makes her pretty happy.   Mom is also on the board at MSI, and was inducted into the International Women’s Leadership something or other.  I know it is a big deal for her career but honestly I love that she got four free days for us to travel and stay in a swank hotel and eat room service.  Go Mom!  Mom and Dad are both busy with friends and work and homeschooling me and basically being parents ‘cause last time I checked, I’m a total handful.  The pets are doing well too.  Kodi goes to the beach twice a week and Mimir is, well, Mimir which means she rules the house and now has three dogs to boss around. Marzi and Rascal are almost a year old and into everything.   Life is crazy and fun and we really love it out here.  So I guess that’s pretty great, right?

Happy Holidays y’all (Mom said I had to cause we’re still southern even living in California)!

Drue (and Jason, Jeri, Kodi, Mimir, Rascal and Marzi)