It’s hard to believe, but I have been a Californian for a year now. A year ago today I pulled my car up to my new apartment after a week of driving across America. I left my mother, grandmother and Joey in Miamisburg, Ohio and for four days made my way across Interstate 70 to the great state of California. It was an exhilarating experience, one I had been waiting on for so long. I wanted so much after graduation to go some place new and different. Fulfilling that goal was a terrific rush.

A year later, I’m still in the Valley. My apartment is so much more than just the exhumed contents of my packed car and the futon I assembled on my first night in my new apartment. I am so much more than that green, young copy editor from Georgia. I have accomplished so much since I’ve arrived here.

In just one year, I have bought furniture and things for my apartment, trained and completed a marathon, climbed the tallest mountain in the state and even fulfilled my promise to my good friend Nicole and made it all the way to France. I’m so thankful for the opportunities afforded to my since I got my job. I feel I have purpose and direction which a year ago were things I desperately sought. My life here is invigorating and I look forward to what the next year has to offer.

A year from now, I hope things will be very different. My goal is to apply to graduate school in the fall with an assistantship at a school in California or hopefully in Washington D.C. or New York (two places I have dreamed to have lived). Before I do that, though, I hope to achieve more in New Media at my newspaper. On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, I will begin training for my next marathon, the Georgia Marathon on March 25 in Atlanta, Ga., which I will be running with my friend Marilia. I am also ironing out the details of a trip to Las Vegas with my friend Jeremy to see our fabulous friend Padmini and visit the hallowed landmark The Cheetah, where they filmed the film classic “Showgirls.” I’m going back to Ohio early this January to see my mother and grandmother. I may also be going to see Jeremy in Ann Arbor, Mich., next year.

Apologies, setting goals like this keeps me motivated and keeps things interesting. Like I said, I accomplished so much this last year, and if I hadn’t laid out so much I probably would have just wasted away in the boring Central Valley.

Well, before I go, I thought it might be interesting to share my iTunes Top 25 Most Played playlist over the past year. Here it is:

Top 25 Most Played on my iPod

1. garbage – Run Baby Run
2. Amuro Namie – Come
3. Relient K – Who I Am Hates Who I’ve Been
4. Day by Day – Itazura Na Kiss
5. garbage – Happy Home
6. The Cure – Push
7. New Order – Turn
8. New Order – Regret
9. The Smiths – Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others
10. The Cure – Just Like Heaven
11. New Order – True Faith
12. Relient K – More Than Useless
13. New Order – Bizarre Love Triangle
14. Relient K – Be My Escape
15. Madonna – Forbidden Love
16. The All-American Rejects – Dirty Little Secret
17. Ayumi Hamasaki – Dearest
18. The Cure – Friday I’m In Love
19. Kelly Clarkson – Since U Been Gone
20. The Killers – Smile Like You Mean It
21. The Flaming Lips – The Wand
22. Nada Surf – Inside of Love
23. Tears For Fears – Head Over Heals / Broken [Live]
24. The Smiths – This Charming Man
25. garbage – Cup of Coffee

And, just for reminiscence sake, check out my letters from last year. I chronicled my whole trip from Ohio to California, reflecting on my three months with my mother as well as reflecting on my experience in Visalia a month after I had arrived. It’s pretty sweet, check it out.