2009 - The Year That Was

I know I’m terribly late for this end-of-the-year post, but I wanted to make sure all the movies posts were in to include them.

2009 was a year with highs and lows, as usual, but this year they both were very accentuated.

The high was finally getting to go on our long-in-the-works honeymoon as part of our first family trip to Italy.  The Italy visit went great.  The kids got to spend time where I grew up, visited with their grandparents, and finally met their 2 cousins.  Also, all my relatives embraced us with love, which made me proud of my extended family and shattered many of my own beliefs about their closed-mindedness.

The honeymoon was spent on a cruise (my first ever, and definitely not the last) in the Mediterranean.  We had a great time, got to spend a few days together without the kids, and saw many beautiful places in a short span of time.

The low of the year, unfortunately, was the loss of my father-in-law, Big Ray, who passed away at the end of August leaving a big hole in the lives of everyone.  He had been sick for a long time, so his passing was not unexpected, but painful nonetheless.  He was a good man.  Rest in peace.  You will be remembered.

Work went on as usual and I got recertified for OnBase without problems, which was a relief.  From now on, re-certifications should go pretty smoothly.  2009 also had ups and downs on my slow path towards the Green Card.  While my latest petition got audited and seemed like all was lost, in the end it was approved, and I’m now one big step closer to that much desired permit.

Ray’s adventure as an independent worker had its challenges, but is still ongoing, in spite of having had to take a full time job because of the tough economic times.  The kids keep growing at a fast pace and seem to flourish, which is always a relief.

One thing Ray and I realized is that 2009 was probably the last year the two of them believed in Santa Claus, and that by the end of the year they’ll have figured out (or they’ll have been told) that there’s no big guy dressed in red living at the North Pole, building toys for all the kids of the world.  Oh well, Christmas will still be fun, even without that long protected secret.

On the cinematic front, as predicted at the end of 2008, the roster, thanks primarily to Netflix, ended up being much richer, with a grand total of 60 movies watched!  Many were good, a few not so much.  Some were great and others stunk pretty bad.  Here’s a quick recap:

9
Kung Fu Panda
Sex and the City
Sicko
Slumdog Millionaire
Star Trek
Up

8
Amores Perros
Changeling
Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The
Eastern Promises
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Gomorra
Hancock
In Bruges
Iron Man
Julie & Julia
Little Children
Milk
Omen, The
Outrage
Revolutionary Road
There Will Be Blood
Transamerica

7
101 Dalmatians
Anastasia
Babel
Balto
Déjà Vu
Doubt
Enchanted
Horton Hears a Who!
Hunchback of Notre Dame, The
I Am Legend
Incredible Hulk, The
Into the Wild
Kite Runner, The
Lakeview Terrace
Monster House
Prayers For Bobby
Shortbus
X Files: I Want to Believe, The

6
Dark City
Eating Out
Ghost Town
Monsters vs Aliens
Rendition
Shooter
Tropic Thunder

5
Brüno
Cloverfield
Early Frost, An
Happy Feet
Regular Guys
Robots
Time Traveler's Wife, The
Transformers
Under One Roof

4
Reservation Road

3
Terminator Salvation

2
Solaris

So no movie got the highest grade, but I can’t complain with all the 9s and 8s in that list.  Unfortunately, there were a few bad apples in the bunch, but overall I’d say it was a pretty good year.

The 5 Best Movies of 2009 were:

1. Changeling
2. Milk
3. Slumdog Millionaire
4. Transamerica
5. Up

And the Best Picture of 2009 was … by a nose … Slumdog Millionaire, which once more matches with the Best Picture Oscar winner of 2009.

2010, with a renewed subscription to Netflix and a promise I made to myself to start going to the movies more often, like I used to do up until a few years back, is poised to be even richer than 2009, and I already have 6 titles to blog about, so I better get moving…

So long 2009, hello 2010!!