The 2000s...

The 2000s has been a pretty amazing decade for me. I started 2000 as a 20 year old, and I will end 2009 as a 30 year old...this has been an awesome and odd journey. I have really grown up in this decade - graduated, got real jobs, gone back to school, and now getting close to graduation and a real job again. I compiled a few things from each year of the decade that I thought would be interesting to keep:

2000:
- I turned 21 and had LASIK surgery as my celebration. :) I highly recommend LASIK surgery. Although I began wearing contacts again in 2008, I can still see without them. (Without my glasses prior to LASIK, I was legally blind.) I began wearing glasses in the 3rd grade, and it was impossible to explain how cool it was to wake up and see the alarm clock each morning.
- George W. Bush was "elected" the first time...pesky chads...

2001:
- I graduated from UAB (the first time) in March with my Bachelors degree in Psychology. Instead of listening to my dad and going to doc school for clinical psychology then, I stayed here and started my Masters in Counseling at the University of Montevallo in August.
- I was working at Erwin Elementary with the LINKS 21st Century grant on September 11th when the World Trade Center buildings fell.
- Other interesting pieces from the year: Anthrax, the execution of Timothy McVeigh (for the Oklahoma City bombing), Enron filed for bankruptcy, and Dale Earnhardt died.

2002:
- Lots of Iraq and Afghanistan war events...
- Waylon Jennings died.

2003:
- In May, I graduated from the University of Montevallo with my Masters, and I began working in the Jefferson County School System in July.
- Space Shuttle Columbia exploded.
- Lots of entertainers died. Among them, Jonathan Brandis, Johnny Cash, and John Ritter.

2004:
- I began working on my Education Specialist degree at UAB in January.
- I moved to Shelby County Schools in August.
- George W. Bush was "re-elected"...or something like that... good grief. Apparently we didn't learn from the last four years...

2005:
- In August, I transferred to work in a high school as a School Counselor and Testing Coordinator.
- Hurricane Katrina happened, which destroyed New Orleans. We received many displaced families in Birmingham.

2006:
- In December, I went to work at UAB as an Academic Advisor in the Department of Psychology.
- Saddam Hussein was hanged. Was that really what George W. Bush should have done due to the "terror attacks" on NYC and the WTC or was this a clean-up mission because Daddy Bush didn't kill Hussein in the early 1990s?
- Pluto is not a planet. Really? What else did I learn in elementary school that is incorrect?
- Steve Irwin died.

2007:
- In May, I left UAB and moved to Memphis to begin my PhD in Counseling Psychology at The University of Memphis.
- Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize.
- Gerald Ford died, Scooter Libby lied, Tony Blair and Karl Rove resigned.
- Anna Nicole Smith died.

2008:
- I completed my first year and began my second brutal grad school year.
- The stock market plunges as George W. Bush leads the United States into a Great Depression.
- Barack Obama is elected President!
- Heath Ledger and Brad Renfro died.

2009:
- I completed my brutal second year and the first semester of my third year. During this, I completed my Comprehensive Exams with Honors in April, and I successfully proposed my dissertation in November.
- Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. He tried to conquer several large issues in the first 9 months of his presidency, including universal health care for all Americans, closing Guantanamo Bay and transferring prisoners to a federal prison and preparing their federal trials (most of the individuals incarcerated after 9/11), and trying to revive the extremely struggling economy.
- Unfortunately, Ted Kennedy died before Congress began debating the healthcare bill.
- Many entertainers also died: Patrick Swayze, Michael Jackson, Natasha Richardson, Farrah Fawcett, and Brittany Murphy.

A look ahead to 2010:
- My dad and I are about to begin traveling for my internship interviews. This trip will be unlike any other possible in my lifetime, and I am looking forward to the things we are talking about doing during our travels, like seeing the graves of Bonnie and Clyde (how cool!) and Stevie Ray Vaughn. I will blog throughout our trip and hopefully add pictures as well.
- I will find out in February where I will spend my internship year, and I will move to that location this summer for a year of work and adventure.
- I will complete my final semester of coursework in Memphis, in addition to hopefully finishing and defending my dissertation prior to moving away from Memphis.
- I am hoping to do some traveling and have some fun this summer, as it will be my last summer without having a real job again. Back to the real, adult world very soon...as 2011 will bring graduation and (I hope) a real job with a real paycheck.

Happy 2010 Everyone! I wish you a safe and happy new year full of happiness, success, love, and fun!