Friday, December 30, 2011

Dead Reckoning



Originating with Linda at All & Sundry.

Here are mine from years past:
2006 / 2007 / 2008 / 2009 / 2010

1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before? I went to a drag show. It was awesome.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
 Last year, I said: "I want 2011 to be the year of the Great Decluttering, in my house, my professional life, and maybe my personal life, too." I got really close to completing the decluttering project, as documented here. I'm down to a big stack of boxes in the master bedroom and some stuff in the guest room that needs to be moved to permanent storage somewhere else.

My goals for 2011 are (1) finish the Great Decluttering (2) maintain the cleaning that has already been achieved and (3) get back into a regular yoga practice.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
 / 4. Did anyone close to you die?
 Unfortunately these two go together this year. A friend of ours was in a serious car accident in March at 37 weeks pregnant and the baby didn't make it. For a while it looked touch and go for our friend, too, but she recovered. She's now pregnant and due in March again with a second baby girl, but is having some problems. If you're the praying type maybe send one up for them. I cannot even imagine facing that once, let alone twice.

5. What countries did you visit? none

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011? an actual vacation

7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? Nothing's coming to mind. It was a good year, but there were no big standout events.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
 I'm happy to say I nursed Nico until he was 21 1/2 months old. For us, it was a huge achievement and something I'll never take for granted.

9. What was your biggest failure? I kind of wish I'd quit my old job sooner than I did rather than putting up with the bullshit for so long, but I guess it doesn't matter overall since I did quit.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? I dislocated a rib while lifting a gallon of milk back in March. Lamest ever, right?

11. What was the best thing you bought? It's a tie between my iPhone 4S and my MacBook, I think.

12. Where did most of your money go? mortgage, paying down debt

13. What did you get really excited about? my new job

14. What song will always remind you of 2011? This is lame, but I can't think of anything that was new this year. I guess I gained an appreciation for Lady Gaga, but I doubt I'll remember that as an iconic experience of 2011.

15. Compared to this time last year, are you:

– happier or sadder?
happier
– thinner or fatter? thinner, hallelujah! I'm still overweight but am now at 6 pounds under what I weighed when I got pregnant with Nico.
– richer or poorer? a little richer thanks to MB busting his tail at work

16. What do you wish you’d done more of?
 I wish I'd made more time for writing. My friends will laugh, but I also wish I'd taken more photos this year.

17. What do you wish you’d done less of?
 I've slipped into a bad habit of staying up way too late fiddling around online. That needs to stop.

18. How did you spend Christmas? We had Christmas Eve dinner with my mom's extended family, and then spent Christmas Day with my parents and sister at their house. MB's mom joined us for the weekend, too, which was nice.

19. What was your favorite TV program? We canceled our cable last December and I only bought iTunes season passes for Deadliest Catch and Project Runway. Neither of them really blew my skirt up this year.

20. What were your favorite books of the year?The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs, The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh



21. What was your favorite music from this year? some old favorites have been in heavy rotation all year - the Decemberists, Mumford & Sons, Kings of Leon

22. What were your favorite films of the year? RED, Easy A

23. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? As is typical, I had friends over for cake and games. I turned 30 without angst or fanfare.

24. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? It would have been really fun to stick it to my ex employer, but I chose to take the high road and not burn any bridges. I'm sure it was the right thing to do, if a bit dull.

26. What kept you sane? Writing, music, friends, and above all my boys.

27. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011. Sometimes what seems like a horrible bit of luck can turn out to be a blessing.

2 comments:

  1. I saw a quote that says "I can't go to bed yet, there's shit on the internet!"

    I just picked up Language Of Flowers at the library. I have another book to finish first.

    Yay to decluttering. I have a couple of closets to tackle this year.

    Happy New Year

    ReplyDelete
  2. Clearly we both need that quote on a T-shirt. Happy New Year!

    ReplyDelete