Alone and Unobserved

1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before?
I finished school, forever. Or rather, I finished a degree program without having another one lined up already. Hopefully I’ll give myself at least a few years before going back to school, if I ever decide to.

I decided to learn to draw.

I grew a real beard.

I fell in love with bourbon and learned to mix a yummy whiskey sour.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?


Resolutions give me hives. I haven’t made any in years.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?


I don’t know how close we are anymore, but my sister Gabrielle had my first nephew, Gabriel, in July.

4. Did anyone close to you die?


No.

5. What countries did you visit?
None except the USA.

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?
Financial security (unlikely). Leisure time. Peace of mind. Also, I’d like to have my urge to create back. I miss it.

7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
I dunno. None so far.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?


Everyone seems really excited about my finishing school, but I’m honestly not too proud of that achievement, since the program was a joke. An expensive, tedious, two-and-a-half-year-long joke that was not very funny.

I’m not sure what my answer is. I don’t feel like I accomplished a whole lot this year, besides remaining employed, alive and domiciled.

9. What was your biggest failure?
I haven’t engaged with my work as much as I wish I would lately. Sure, I complain a whole lot about dealing with the public and its foibles, but there’s a whole lot of professional development and side projects I could have taken on and didn’t.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Uh… no? Not that I recall. Beyond a mild cold or two and the inevitable allergies.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Well, I’m really happy with the dirt-cheap one-speed coffee grinder I bought Craig for his birthday. But the best money I spent was probably to get my Macbook, which I love and curse in equal measure.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Eh. This question fails to inspire me at the moment.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?


Joe Lieberman’s, Glenn Beck’s and Rush Limbaugh’s. Also: all the teabaggers, the town-hall-meeting crashers and the entire complement of Fox News.

14. Where did most of your money go?
To food. As usual.

15. What did you get really excited about?
My birthday party, which was pretty sweet!

16. What song will always remind you of 2009?
“Bulletproof” and “Tigerlily” by La Roux, “Turkish Wine” by Norfolk & Western, and “The End of the World” by Matt Alber.

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


– happier or sadder? Sadder, a little at least.
– thinner or fatter? Fatter, by, like, twenty pounds. Ugh.
– richer or poorer? Richer, at least in a sense.

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


Reading. Writing. Singing. Drawing. Dating. Dancing. Exercising.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?


Eating when I wasn’t hungry. Avoiding social contact. Procrastinating.

20. How did you spend Christmas?


With my family in Southern California.

21. Did you fall in love in 2009?
Nope.

22. What was your favorite TV program?


Venture Bros, no question.

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


No.

24. What was the best book you read?
This is the year I read and finally loved Susanna Clarke’s The Ladies of Grace Adieu, a collection of stories from the same milieu as Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. I’d read it before and not loved it; this year I read it and fell completely under its spell.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Blip.fm and Grooveshark.

26. What did you want and get?
A new computer. Any number of little things—the Avatar: The Last Airbender complete boxed sets; several T-shirts and items from Topatoco; any amount of booze and food. Time with my family. Time with my friends.

27. What did you want and not get?
I’m still single, and I’m still probably not that ready for a relationship. I still haven’t started writing a novel. I still haven’t started writing regularly. I still haven’t started drawing regularly.

28. What was your favorite film of this year?
Where the Wild Things Are. Really wasn’t expecting even to like it, and it blew me away.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 29 this year. On my birthday I didn’t do anything really exciting—I worked that morning, and then treated myself to a late lunch at a favorite café. But that weekend my friend and coworker Stephanie and I threw a fabulous joint birthday bash for ourselves that was crowded, rowdy, booze-drenched and littered with balloons.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Hmmm. More time with friends, maybe? A boyfriend? More money? Less school? Less procrastination? Not sure.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?
“I’m Too Fat for All of My Clothes, So I’ll Just Throw Something On.”

32. What kept you sane?


Twitter. No question.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Um. I can’t tell you until next year, when he’s finally legal. LOL

Aside from jailbait who starred in movies I refused to watch, I also fell back in love with Colin Firth’s Mr Darcy.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?


Health care. The fact that we call ourselves civilized while so many of our fellow citizens are un- and under-insured and receive substandard medical care just boggles my mind.

35. Who did you miss?


My niece Vienna, whom I haven’t seen in almost two years.

36. Who was the best new person you met?


New this year? I’d probably have to split it between Lessie, Galen, Hilary and Nick. [Edited to add:] And most of all, Chandelle.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009.


I am resistant to life lessons.

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


I’m terrible at this game. Uh… “make a little birdhouse in your soul.”

[H/T to Sundry for posting this quiz so I could steal it, again.]