Dead Reckoning

Linda at All & Sundry has again shared her end-of-the-year meme. My 2006 answers are here.

1. What did you do in 2007 that you’d never done before? I traveled by airplane alone, I visited California, and I saw redwoods.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? 2007's resolutions were the same as 2006's, because I didn't do a very good job with them. Here they are:

          >> Spend more quality time with MB -- We probably spent more evenings hanging out together this year than ever, and it was nice.
          >> Play with Mr. Kitters more often -- Slight improvements, but probably still need to keep working on it.
          >> Keep the apartment more neat / clean -- I definitely succeeded at this one. There were still a few times that I my schedule got hectic and the place got cluttered, but for the most part, not bad at all.
          >> floss -- As usual, I did pretty well for the first few months of 2007 and then let it slide.
          >> exercise -- Like flossing, I stuck with this one for a while, then failed spectacularly, as my VelociYoga sideproject page will attest.
          >> waste less food -- I feel like we did pretty well with this, at least until the ridiculous influx of holiday leftovers.
          >> set up one day a week to spend with Little Sis -- We never managed to get back into our swimming once a week habit, and definitely didn't see each other once a week, but I did try to make sure we spent time together at least once a month.
          >> work hard at my job -- definitely did pretty well with this one
          >> keep in better touch with friends -- not much progress as far as out-of-town people, I'm sad to say
          >> be better about spending / saving habits -- I'm not sure how we did on this one. I've definitely gotten better at not spending money constantly on little frivolous things, but overall we didn't save up as much as we'd planned to.
          >> clean up spare room -- I got it completely and ridiculously clean twice this year (most recently, here), but now it's pretty cluttered again, with Christmas decoration boxes all over the place
          >> get wedding pictures printed and into scrapbook -- like last year, my answer to this one is HA!
          >> print digital pics and get into albums -- once again, DOUBLE HA!

I think this year, I'm going to simplify things. I figure my resolutions will be more realistic and hopefully more attainable if I'm honest with myself about my levels of motivation. Thus, I resolve to try my best to:

          >> Exercise at least once a week in January and February. If that goes well, I'll increase it to twice a week in March and April, and then if that goes well, we'll maybe see about three times a week in May and June.
          >> Same thing for flossing.
          >> Try to be a little greener in 2008. I'm not making any big sweeping life-changing promises, but I will try to do small, effective things to reduce my negative impact on the environment.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Oh, yes. Five of the message board ladies and two of my cousins had babies this year.

4. Did anyone close to you die? Yes

5. What countries did you visit? None

6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007? Focus

7. What dates from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? I don't think the dates are really going to stick, but here are some events I'll remember:  visiting San Francisco, going camping with friends, a nice weekend in Chicago

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? I guess I would have to say continuing to try hard to do my best at work.

9. What was your biggest failure? Lack of motivation and follow-through

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Mr. Kitters gave me a nasty, nasty bite in June.

11. What was the best thing you bought? This one's probably a tie between my laptop and our new CR-V

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? I'm going to give this one to MB, who continued to be the best husband ever.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? This one will have to go to Kitters, whose redirected aggression became a huge problem over the summer. But he also gets celebration, because he's doing 200% better now.

14. Where did most of your money go? travel, new computers, and the new car

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? going to California, buying the new car

16. What song will always remind you of 2007? Hard to say

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer? Happier, slightly fatter, and probably a bit poorer

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? accomplishing goals

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? sitting around doing nothing

20. How did you spend Christmas? we spent it with family and friends

21. Did you fall in love in 2007? you could say that

22. What was your favorite TV program? probably a tie between Ghost Hunters and Top Chef

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? Nope

24. What was the best book you read? It's very hard to choose, so I'm going to say it's a close tie between the Trickster books and the Dark Materials trilogy

25. What was your greatest musical discovery? Regina Spektor

26. What did you want and get? new car, yay!

27. What did you want and not get? skinny

28. What was your favorite film of this year? I'm going to go with Waitress, though there were a lot of contenders.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 26 this year. MB and I visited a cave, and I had a low-key but fun combined birthday party with Danger in April.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? I'm pretty satisfied, overall.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007? It started out casual / thrift store and moved steadily toward "whatever still fits and doesn't look terrible."

32. What kept you sane? MB, friends, family, hobbies

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? No one's really coming to mind this year.

34. What political issue stirred you the most? I kind of stayed away from political issues this year. I'm sure that's awful of me, but it makes my life a whole lot happier when I avoid the news.

35. Who did you miss? my sister when she spent the summer away, faraway friends

36. Who was the best new person you met? some cool new coworkers came on the scene this year

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007. Be true to yourself, be honest, and be compassionate.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

         This is how it works
         You're young until you're not
         You love until you don't
         You try until you can't
         You laugh until you cry
         You cry until you laugh
         And everyone must breathe
         Until their dying breath

         No, this is how it works
         You peer inside yourself
         You take the things you like
         And try to love the things you took
         And then you take that love you made
         And stick it into some
         Someone else's heart
         Pumping someone else's blood
         And walking arm in arm
         You hope it don't get harmed
         But even if it does
         You'll just do it all again

              "On the Radio," Regina Spektor



Happy New Year, everyone! Best wishes for what lies ahead!