The Year In Review (Again)


Edited to add: Last year's is here.

1. What did you do in 2006 that you'd never done before?

Wow, where do I begin?! Thrown a big party, rented a house nicer than my parents', learned to play the ukulele, gone parasailing, played hardball during a job interview, given away my dogs, taught summer school, gotten a Brazilian wax, bought leather furniture (okay, so it was used leather furniture off Craigslist), driven a car with a blue sticker, worn a cashmere sweater, lit a donut on fire, gotten a tattoo, attended a niece's birthday party, gotten into a serious car accident, lived in a town with less than 2,000 people, eaten persimmons. I'm sure there's more. This was a big try new stuff year.

2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I can't remember what resolutions I made -- probably something related to getting my shite together. I've done that pretty well in some areas (employment, finances, trying to behave like an adult) and not well at all in other areas (coughmy huge fat asscough).

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

My sister, andreaq, ibex67, Crystal, chatgoddess) ... I hope I'm not forgetting anyone!

4. Did anyone close to you die?

Not this year, thank Scissors.

5. What countries did you visit?

Well, I lived in two different states, vacationed on two islands, and spent an afternoon in Mexico.

6. What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006?

A tapeworm (don't I say this every year?)

7. What date from 2006 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

July 15th: the day we moved from Hawaii.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Getting and keeping this job. And just having the courage to leave Hawaii, I guess.

9. What was your biggest failure?

Getting and keeping all this fat. We just finished watching all the digital pictures for 2006, and the penultimate photo in the December folder is of my ass. If I had a rifle and a ledge to be on, well, there I'd be.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

I had a bad cold in July (brought on by stress and moving and lack of sleep and a complete absence of self-care) and my accident in December, and then a couple of pretty good oven burns on my hands, per usual.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

The aforementioned cashmere sweater and leather furniture. I should probably say my new camera, but there's a difference IMO between something sort of appliance-like which you buy to replace something broken, versus something which is purely a luxury item. Also, I should add: Christmas presents for my family which were sufficient, finally. This year I finally had enough dough to get everybody something nice, and I didn't feel ashamed of my cheesy gifts.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

The kids', especially with school. They're all really blossoming.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

My own.

14. Where did most of your money go?

Rent, utilities, food for enormous teenage boys.

15. What events did you get really, really, really excited about?

The state fair (yeah, I'm a dork), seeing the entire five seasons of Six Feet Under move up my Netflix queue (ditto), Alex taking the PSAT, getting to meet my youngest niece and nephew, chaperoning Maddy's Halloween dance, getting to shop at Trader Joe's on a regular basis, getting my sewing machine back from the repair shop (hey, it took almost three months).

16. What song will always remind you of '06?

Crazy by Gnarls Barkley

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

I. Happier or Sadder?

Happier, I guess. Not a big whoop-de-do hap-hap-happy kind of happy, more a secure feeling ... or more less insecure than secure, per se.

II. Thinner or Fatter?

Fatter.

III. Richer or Poorer?

Richer.

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

Weeding through more of my crap before moving it here, and/or separating things better so we ended up moving fewer mystery boxes of miscellaneous shite which I'm still having to deal with.

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

Stuffing my fat farging face.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?

We drove up to my parents' house in the Bay Area.

21. Who did you spend the most time on the phone with?

Probably Deb, especially since she no longer lives around the corner from me. :(

22. Did you fall in love in 2006?

Meh

23. How many one-night stands?

None

24. What was your favorite TV program?

I haven't watched much TV this year, but probably SNL.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?

I have even less energy for hating people than I did last year. There's someone I work with who annoys the hell out of me, though.

26. What was the best book you read?

Guns, Germs & Steel, I guess. I haven't done enough reading this year; I was wandering around a bookstore yesterday and realized I had no idea what fiction I was supposed to know about.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery or rediscovery?

Death Cab (yeah, I'm years too late), Gnarls Barkley, how to buy music off ITunes (favorite single purchase of the year: Female of the Species by Space)

28. What did you want and get?

A good job, working for people who respect and like me and pay me more than I'm worth; and to meet my niece and nephew.

29. What did you want and not get?

A tapeworm.

30. What were your favorite films of this year?

This hasn't been a big movie-in-the-theater year for me, for a change, and most of the ones I've seen have been total crap chosen by the kids, but I guess my favorite would be The Prestige (although I could nitpick it to death).

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I turned 39, and I went parasailing on Catalina. It rawked.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

See #29 above. I would have loved to accomplish everything I accomplished, but with a BMI of 23.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2006?

Too-revealing (I was just looking at Maui photos which showed acres of back fat) segueing into dowdy-office-wardrobe. I just got some snazzy work skirts with my Christmas gift card, though.

34. What kept you sane?

You thought I was going to say gin, didn't you?! The children, the Internet, Deb, my job. I actually think T.G.I.M. most Mondays. I'm a dork.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most/least?

Meh. I admit to buying a People magazine to read more about the Britney trainwreck.

36. What political issue stirred you the most?

We had a state parental-notification ballot measure which I was really concerned about. Thank goodness it went the way I wanted it to. I was also interested in the outcome of our local school board race, since (a) one of the candidates actually came to my house to talk to me, and she was really cool; I could imagine us being friends IRL, except I was kind of afraid to contact her after that because it might seem stalkery; and (b) there were all kinds of accusations of malfeasance and thievery among the candidates. OTOH it's kind of moot for me, since my kids don't go to those schools. Heh.

37. Whom did you miss?

Deb, who moved in May, and Crystal, who moved last December. And just the entire living breathing creature that is Oahu.

38. Who was the best new person you met?

My boss and co-workers (especially Karen, who's my favorite).

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2006:

Buy the extended warranty! And spring for the cushier car insurance; you won't be sorry.

40. Do you have any lost feelings of others?

I'm not sure I know what this means.

41. Quote a song that sums up your year:

Ooh, another tough one.

How about NIN's Only: (with the caveat that I think this has been a year of positive change and growth (of my ass) and everything; I don't necessarily feel this negatively, but YKWIM)

I'm becoming less defined as days go by
Fading away
Well you might say
I'm losing focus
Kind adrifting into the abstract in terms of how I see myself

Sometimes I think I can see right through myself [x3]

Less concerned about fitting into the world
Your world that is
Because it doesn't really matter
(no it doesn't really matter anymore)
None of this really matters anymore

Yes I'm alone but then again I always was
As far back as I can tell
I think maybe it's because you never were really real to begin with
I just made you up to hurt myself [x6]
And it worked.
Yes it did!