[ the times they are a-changin' II ]
You can't do just one. From Victoria. Cut out questions I answered in the first survey.
1. What did you do in 2005 that you'd never done before?
ATE A SALAD. Applied to college. Broke hearts.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? No.
6. What would you like to have in 2006 that you lacked in 2005? A boyfriend. An acceptance letter. Money. A driver's license. Self-control.
7. What dates from 2005 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? The week of the meteor shower for many, many reasons I know and have previously recorded. Senior picnic because it was perfect. Jr. Prom because it was epic. Mina's kidnapping because it was full of utter freedom. This one time, with Liza and some other people, in this one place, that we keep wishing will happen again, and because it was ridiculously fun. :) I remember this one sleepover at Heather's house with Jenn, because it was the first time I ever let loose about last Labor Day. There's a lot more, some of them secret, some of them stored in my memories, some of them stored in my memories, some of them everyone knows, some of them nobody will ever know. Some are still yet to come.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Rearranging my entire life. Being happy. NCTE. Being friends with the people I've always wanted to be friends with.
9. What was your biggest failure? My health, my grades.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? The worst insomnia of my life. But suffer as I might, there were good things too, like the amusement of everyone when I fell asleep EVERYWHERE.
11. What was the best thing you bought? Coffee at Panama Bay. My Jr. Prom dress. Concert tickets here and in San Francisco. Last year's yearbook. That mango drink at the Cheesecake Factory. My polka dot shoes.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Caitlin, for surviving AP week. Heather, for literally surviving AP week. Jenn, for approaching the Kwik E Mart. Mina, for Intel Science Fair. Liza for abandoning butterfly behavior. Me, for being awesome and beautiful and modest about it.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? People I no longer talk to.
14. Where did most of your money go? Coffee, clothes, shoes. That's it.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Jr. Prom, local shows, Link Crew Day, Harry Potter Book Day, Harry Potter Movie Night, Halloween, summer vacation.
16. What song will always remind you of 2005? Look below.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? I AM SO MUCH HAPPIER. Even though I've lost so much with the new school year, I am immeasurably happier than I have ever been any previous year. This year was extraordinary, it was lifechanging, it contained the happiest period of my life thus far and I'm afraid for 2006 because how could it top this?
b) thinner or fatter? I was thinner, then I got fatter. Now I'm on my way back down, hopefully.
c) richer or poorer? I have never had money.
18. What do you wish you'd done more of? I wish I'd spent more time with the class of 2005 before they graduated - it never hit me just how very gone they would be after June. I wish I'd worked out more and done more homework. But it's okay, it really is.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of? Worrying about my weight, it didn't help haha. The second I got my self-esteem back - and it truly is back, it actually took weight gain to make me love myself WHO KNEW?! - it got so much easier to be healthy. Dear self of Jr. Prom era: YOU ARE SO TINY AND PRETTY. CALM DOWN.
20. How will you be spending Christmas? With my family, my last at home Christmas. Then I hope I can see my friends and the college kids and just ring in the new year that will bring the greatest change in my life of the past decade - the greatest change, really, of my life so far.
21. Did you fall in love in 2004? There are all kinds of love. The lifechanging, passionate kind you mean? No.
22. How many one-night stands? 365, as usual.
23. What was your favorite TV program? I hate television. I loved watched History Channel and British BBC adaptations with my mom, though. And late night Family Guy with my dad.
24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? I don't really hate anyone.
25. What was the best book you read? Incredibly difficult. Perhaps Holy Fools? Ooh, or Gatsby. Pablo Neruda.
26. What was your greatest musical discovery? Rediscovered the Beatles and old Death Cab, Owen, Simon and Garfunkel, Sufjan Stevens, all the new local bands that popped up make me happy.
27. What did you want and get? An iPod. My Jr Prom dress. NCTE. Self-esteem. Contentment. Overwhelming optimism.
28. What did you want and not get? Straight A's. A boyfriend. Homecoming Queen (didn't want that a lot though, haha). A job.
30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I TOOK A CALCULUS TEST. I TOOK A CALCULUS TEST. I turned seventeen. TAKING A CALCULUS TEST.
31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Love.
32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2005? SEAFOAM!!!!!!
33. What kept you sane? The Gilmores, dreams, music, Panama Bay.
34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Mmm. I crushed more on real life people, but Jonathan Rhys Meyers always wins, as did the entire cast of Harry Potter mmmfffgghh. Chris Walla is pretty. So is Jude Law. Wow, I really just don't care.
35. What political issue stirred you the most? MEASURE D. *WINS*
38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2005: The best things in life are free. (Except when gas prices are over $3.00)
39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
I could never pick just one, this is my favorite question of all time.
"time it was and what a time it was it was a time of innocence, a time of confidences
long ago it must be i have a photograph preserve your memories they're all that's left you."
- "bookends" - simon and garfunkel
"life is not a play
it's what we make of the people we love
snails see the benefits
the beauty in every inch
oh why, why why why why why
are you quick to kiss?
baby maybe i spoke too soon
i'll touch you once you make the first move
snails see the benefits
the beauty in everything."
- "snails" - the format
"this is the story of the boys who loved you
who love you now and loved you then
and some were sweet and some were cold and snubbed you
and some just lay around in bed
and some had crumbled you straight to your knees
did it cruel, did it tenderly
some had crawled their way into your heart
to rend your ventricles apart."
- "red right ankle" - the decemberists
"i used to rely on self-medication
i guess i still do that from time to time.
but i'm getting better at fighting the future
someday you'll be fine
cause i feel just fine!"
- "everything is alright" - motion city soundtrack
"squeaky swings and tall grass
the longest shadows ever cast
the water's warm and children swim
and we frolicked about in our summer skin
i don't recall a single thing
just greenery and humid air
then labor day came and went
and we shed what was left of our summer skin"
- "summer skin" - death cab for cutie
"take a long drive with me
on california one, california one
and the road a-winding goes
from golden gate to roaring cliff-side
and the light is softly low as our hearts become sweetly untied
beneath the sun of california one
take a long drag with me of california wine
and the wine it tastes so sweet
as we lay our eyes to wander
and the sky, it stretches deep
will we rest our heads to slumber beneath the vines of california wine?
beneath the sun of california one "
-"california one" - the decemberists
1. What did you do in 2005 that you'd never done before?
ATE A SALAD. Applied to college. Broke hearts.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? No.
6. What would you like to have in 2006 that you lacked in 2005? A boyfriend. An acceptance letter. Money. A driver's license. Self-control.
7. What dates from 2005 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? The week of the meteor shower for many, many reasons I know and have previously recorded. Senior picnic because it was perfect. Jr. Prom because it was epic. Mina's kidnapping because it was full of utter freedom. This one time, with Liza and some other people, in this one place, that we keep wishing will happen again, and because it was ridiculously fun. :) I remember this one sleepover at Heather's house with Jenn, because it was the first time I ever let loose about last Labor Day. There's a lot more, some of them secret, some of them stored in my memories, some of them stored in my memories, some of them everyone knows, some of them nobody will ever know. Some are still yet to come.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Rearranging my entire life. Being happy. NCTE. Being friends with the people I've always wanted to be friends with.
9. What was your biggest failure? My health, my grades.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? The worst insomnia of my life. But suffer as I might, there were good things too, like the amusement of everyone when I fell asleep EVERYWHERE.
11. What was the best thing you bought? Coffee at Panama Bay. My Jr. Prom dress. Concert tickets here and in San Francisco. Last year's yearbook. That mango drink at the Cheesecake Factory. My polka dot shoes.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Caitlin, for surviving AP week. Heather, for literally surviving AP week. Jenn, for approaching the Kwik E Mart. Mina, for Intel Science Fair. Liza for abandoning butterfly behavior. Me, for being awesome and beautiful and modest about it.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? People I no longer talk to.
14. Where did most of your money go? Coffee, clothes, shoes. That's it.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Jr. Prom, local shows, Link Crew Day, Harry Potter Book Day, Harry Potter Movie Night, Halloween, summer vacation.
16. What song will always remind you of 2005? Look below.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? I AM SO MUCH HAPPIER. Even though I've lost so much with the new school year, I am immeasurably happier than I have ever been any previous year. This year was extraordinary, it was lifechanging, it contained the happiest period of my life thus far and I'm afraid for 2006 because how could it top this?
b) thinner or fatter? I was thinner, then I got fatter. Now I'm on my way back down, hopefully.
c) richer or poorer? I have never had money.
18. What do you wish you'd done more of? I wish I'd spent more time with the class of 2005 before they graduated - it never hit me just how very gone they would be after June. I wish I'd worked out more and done more homework. But it's okay, it really is.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of? Worrying about my weight, it didn't help haha. The second I got my self-esteem back - and it truly is back, it actually took weight gain to make me love myself WHO KNEW?! - it got so much easier to be healthy. Dear self of Jr. Prom era: YOU ARE SO TINY AND PRETTY. CALM DOWN.
20. How will you be spending Christmas? With my family, my last at home Christmas. Then I hope I can see my friends and the college kids and just ring in the new year that will bring the greatest change in my life of the past decade - the greatest change, really, of my life so far.
21. Did you fall in love in 2004? There are all kinds of love. The lifechanging, passionate kind you mean? No.
22. How many one-night stands? 365, as usual.
23. What was your favorite TV program? I hate television. I loved watched History Channel and British BBC adaptations with my mom, though. And late night Family Guy with my dad.
24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? I don't really hate anyone.
25. What was the best book you read? Incredibly difficult. Perhaps Holy Fools? Ooh, or Gatsby. Pablo Neruda.
26. What was your greatest musical discovery? Rediscovered the Beatles and old Death Cab, Owen, Simon and Garfunkel, Sufjan Stevens, all the new local bands that popped up make me happy.
27. What did you want and get? An iPod. My Jr Prom dress. NCTE. Self-esteem. Contentment. Overwhelming optimism.
28. What did you want and not get? Straight A's. A boyfriend. Homecoming Queen (didn't want that a lot though, haha). A job.
30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I TOOK A CALCULUS TEST. I TOOK A CALCULUS TEST. I turned seventeen. TAKING A CALCULUS TEST.
31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Love.
32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2005? SEAFOAM!!!!!!
33. What kept you sane? The Gilmores, dreams, music, Panama Bay.
34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Mmm. I crushed more on real life people, but Jonathan Rhys Meyers always wins, as did the entire cast of Harry Potter mmmfffgghh. Chris Walla is pretty. So is Jude Law. Wow, I really just don't care.
35. What political issue stirred you the most? MEASURE D. *WINS*
38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2005: The best things in life are free. (Except when gas prices are over $3.00)
39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
I could never pick just one, this is my favorite question of all time.
"time it was and what a time it was it was a time of innocence, a time of confidences
long ago it must be i have a photograph preserve your memories they're all that's left you."
- "bookends" - simon and garfunkel
"life is not a play
it's what we make of the people we love
snails see the benefits
the beauty in every inch
oh why, why why why why why
are you quick to kiss?
baby maybe i spoke too soon
i'll touch you once you make the first move
snails see the benefits
the beauty in everything."
- "snails" - the format
"this is the story of the boys who loved you
who love you now and loved you then
and some were sweet and some were cold and snubbed you
and some just lay around in bed
and some had crumbled you straight to your knees
did it cruel, did it tenderly
some had crawled their way into your heart
to rend your ventricles apart."
- "red right ankle" - the decemberists
"i used to rely on self-medication
i guess i still do that from time to time.
but i'm getting better at fighting the future
someday you'll be fine
cause i feel just fine!"
- "everything is alright" - motion city soundtrack
"squeaky swings and tall grass
the longest shadows ever cast
the water's warm and children swim
and we frolicked about in our summer skin
i don't recall a single thing
just greenery and humid air
then labor day came and went
and we shed what was left of our summer skin"
- "summer skin" - death cab for cutie
"take a long drive with me
on california one, california one
and the road a-winding goes
from golden gate to roaring cliff-side
and the light is softly low as our hearts become sweetly untied
beneath the sun of california one
take a long drag with me of california wine
and the wine it tastes so sweet
as we lay our eyes to wander
and the sky, it stretches deep
will we rest our heads to slumber beneath the vines of california wine?
beneath the sun of california one "
-"california one" - the decemberists