onsdag, januar 09, 2008

2007 Year in Review

I first saw this over at Devil Mood's place, and then afterwards at Scholiast's place. I figure now's the time to try it out myself, while I can still actually remember something about 2007. Or is is already too late?

1. What did you do in 2007 that you’d never done before?
Now that I think about it, it's been a pretty monumental year. I experienced life's limits, both the very end (dying) and the very beginning (conception). On a more mundane level, it was pretty much business as usual.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I kept almost none of my resolutions, and so this year, purposely made fewer. So far, I'm keeping up with one out of three. I'm still optimistic about the others though.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
I don't believe so, but I have the idea that I'm forgetting someone. I'm getting a bit forgetful that way.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
My mother. It doesn't get much closer than that, really.

5. What countries did you visit?
The States, several times. England. Holland. Sweden. The only one I hadn't been to before was Holland.

6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?
I could have used some hope at several points in 2007, and networking skills would be really useful as well.

7. What dates from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
I tend not to remember dates, more the events themselves. However, June 11th and mid-August. Why? See question #1.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
I'm pretty pleased with my thesis...well, now I can see all the ways in which it could have been better. But it's by far the best thing I've done of that kind, and I'm proud of it.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Not having more follow-through on my thesis, and losing momentum. I seem to be getting it back though, slowly.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Nope. I'm generally pretty healthy. Unless pregnancy counts as an illness or injury?

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Hmmm...I'm quite fond of my iPod, but the best thing I bought? I'm not sure there was a 'best thing'. Things are just things, after all.

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
Thor's behavior is generally deserving of great merit. All my blogging friends who haven't abandoned me even though I've been a particularly bad correspondant.

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
None that I can think of, which I think is a good thing.

14. Where did most of your money go?
It's not so much where the money went as in why wasn't there so much money to go anywhere? Answer, a lot of my year's events prevented me from working as much as I otherwise would.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Right at the moment, my two babies, the real one and the metaphoric (that one would be Tristino).

16. What song will always remind you of 2007?
I used to listen to so much more music, but seem to have lost it somehow. 2007 is more a podcast year for me. But if I have to choose, I choose the Beatles, Golden Slumbers/Carry that Weight. Or maybe Kate Bush, This Woman's Work.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: (a) happier or sadder? (b) thinner or fatter? (c) richer or poorer?
(a) happier, all things considered
(b) I should hope fatter, but not counting the pregnancy, probably about the same, and
(c) poorer, but richer in spirit.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Writing. There is always room for more writing. All kinds of writing.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
There are so many things that took time away from other things, but they all add to where I am now, so nothing.

20. How did you spend Christmas?
In Vienna, wandering around Schönbrunn Palace (including hot chocolate at the Gloriette), eating, drinking and being merry.

21. Did you fall in love in 2007?
Yes, I fell in love, I re-fell in love, and I stayed in love. Not necessarily all at the same time.

22. What was your favourite TV programme?
No TV, so not too much to say about this one. I'm not really sure what's one, to be honest.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
I normally don't have the time to hate anyone. Hate takes far too much premeditation and planning.

24. What was the best book you read?
Probably Moby Dick. I should have read this in both high school and college, but finally got around to it only in 2007.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
As mentioned previously, I need to take my music much more seriously than I have in recent years. I'm sure I found some new things, but honestly can't remember any of them.

26. What did you want and get? and 27. What did you want and not get?
I'm not sure how to answer any of these questions. I'm sure there were lots of things that I wanted, some I got and some I didn't. But surely wants don't work in this compact a format.

28. What was your favourite film of this year?
My memory is totally gone. But I really enjoyed The Golden Compass. And Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I was 39, and it was a low-key event. Nice, but low-key. No party or anything.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Immeasurably? That's a strong word. I would have preferred my mother to stage a miraculous recovery. A PhD stipend would have been nice, too. But immeasurably?

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?
I go for basic, simple, and lots of black and grey. Not too casual, not too dressy. My wardrobe had been in slow decline for a while due to variable finances, but 2007 was the year where I revamped my wardrobe...a combination of all my decent clothes self-destructing at the same time, combined with the need to buy maternity clothes. So, now I have a very limited selection of clothes that I truly like.

32. What kept you sane?
I seem to stay about the same level of sane whatever happens, which is not to say that I'm ever totally sane, by the way. Talking to my brother helps profoundly. Thor helps. Friends, generally speaking.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
None that I can think of. Unlike most periods of my life, I can't think of many people in my real life that I fancy either. I'm with the one I most fancy, which I appreciate.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?
Immigration issues. With climate/environmental issues in second place.

35. Who did you miss?
Who do I not miss? That's the real question. I miss many, many people.

36. Who was the best new person you met?
Once again, so many. I wouldn't dare to single out just one.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007.
I sort of knew that persistence is a virtue, but I seem to relearn that one, and to need to relearn it again and again.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
Mama, Mama, many worlds I've come/since I first left home. -Grateful Dead, Brokedown Palace. Actually, this one sums up just about every year.

3 kommentarer:

Devil Mood sagde ...

Such a great lyric to end the meme. It was really nice.
I had to laugh at the concept of pregnancy as an injury :D

pedro morais correia sagde ...

And for 2008 you could read Fernando Pessoa's poetry. A knok out.

Clean and interesting blog.

Abraço

kimananda sagde ...

Ms. Mood, my faithful reader, I'm glad you liked the lyric. This is one of the important songs (from one of the important albums) of my life, actually. And really pregnancy is more of an accident? O.K., maybe not that either. It's a natural condition, but accompanied by annoying illness like things, like indigestion.

Pedro, welcome. And Pessoa is on my quite long list of those whom I refuse to read in English, and as my Portuguese gets more and more rusty, it becomes more and more unlikely that I'll ever read him. But I keep him on my list anyway.