(no subject)
So you haven't heard from me in weeks! Weeks! And even then it was spotty and kind of smug! I bet I have lost my slavish following (a ha, a ha, a ha, ha ha ha). I did get a trollish comment just the other day, though, telling me that I read too much into things. Do I? Do I really? Again: A ha, a ha, a ha, ha ha ha.
I'm procrastinating on writing an essay, which is actually not all that hard and quite enjoyable as essays go, but you know how it is. I decided that I would do the End of the Year survey, as a time waster and maybe as a five minute catchup on the State of the Amy. A note before I begin, though: I break 2007 into three four-month segments. The first was good. Largely uneventful, but also nothing to complain about in the slightest. The second segment saw me at indubitably the lowest point of my life to date. Oh, heartbreak! You level us all, mice and men. Fortunately, the third part has brought nothing but intense happiness, contentment, new opportunities, and personal fulfillment, proving to me that in many ways the only way out is through and the light at the end of the tunnel is often not a train. So if, in this survey, I seem to spout a strange mix of self-pity and self-congratulation, that is why.
1. What did you do in 2007 that you'd never done before?
Oooh, what a question! Wrote in a way I was satisfied with and learned how to knit. Also, romance! The good, the bad, the agony, the ecstasy. It has ceased to be, as Phillip Pullman says in the Amber Spyglass, like China: a place other people visit. Also, this was the year I became a Women's Studies major (although not officially yet), and I think that's noteworthy.
2. Did you keep your new year resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
My New Year's resolution last year was to say fuck less often. I think I managed that for about two months and then gave it up. And no plans for a resolution this year.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Nope.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
Nope.
5. What countries did you visit?
None.
6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?
I honestly don't think I lacked anything in 2007.
7. What date from 2006 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
April 25th - the end of a countless number of things. My freshman year, my first semi-serious relationship, and in my more melodramatic moments: MY INNOCENCE.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Surviving. (GAH. What the hell! I really want to do this survey but I don't want to be all about how My Heart Was Damaged. But I can't deny that that was a big part of the year. Just bear with me, folks.) Also, I knit myself a sweater.
9. What was your biggest failure?
As I said last year, there were so many little ones, but not any big ones that I can recall.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Not in any major way.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
YARN. Always more yarn! Yarn yarn yarn yarn. Also, my New Me haircut.
12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
I've always found this kind of an odd question. Who am I to celebrate someone else's "behavior"? Also, I don't understand what it's saying.
13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
It's that time of year when the world falls in love.
14. Where did most of your money go?
YARN. And books and perfume.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Knitting! Honestly the best thing I did for myself this year. I can't imagine a better craft for me than knitting, and I quite enjoy having a craft, a Thing To Do.
16. What song will always remind you of 2007?
It's difficult. I find these surveys always bias toward the end of the year, for perhaps obvious reasons. But I'm going to go with "Since You've Been Gone" by Aretha Franklin, given the countless dance parties we've held to it.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? Happier. No contest. I think every Friday night I end up saying I'm happier than I've ever been in that very minute, and it's always true. It just keeps growing and growing!
ii. Thinner or fatter? Thinner. Still New Me stuff.
iii. richer or poorer? I have a steady job so I'm going to say richer.
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Exercise. I really let it drop in the last part of the year, which is disappointing because I was in really good shape at the end of the summer.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Cry. (GAH.) Although, is it really fair to say that? The argument could be made that all the crying I did in the summer paved the way for how I laughed in the fall. Yes, it could be made, but it would be banal and idiotic. I wish I had cried less.
20. How will you be spending Christmas?
With my family and my new friend Jared Greenberg, who will be visiting me in Portland this break.
22. Did you fall in love in 2007?
Yes, and if there's one thing I'll remember from this year, it's that.
23. How many one-night stands?
None.
24. What was your favourite TV programme?
Arrested Development! We just finished the third season the other day and I am sad that there will never be any more. Also, Battlestar Galactica. Damn that show is good.
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
No. I'm sure there's someone out there that I hate, but nothing's coming to mind, which is probably a good thing.
26. What was the best book you read?
It's a tie between East of Eden and Middlesex.
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Joni Mitchell! Love her, love her, love her. Will continue to love her as I grow up.
28. What did you want and get?
A little bit of self-respect, man! Mostly vis-a-vis my writing, mostly due to the sweetness and encouragement of Warren Hecht.
30. What was your favourite film of this year?
Urgh. You know my deal with films. I quite enjoyed Hot Fuzz, and also No Country For Old Men, and I'm looking forward to seeing Atonement because I loved the book.
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Some people have birthdays at the end of the year! Come on. Anyway, I'll be 20, and I'm finally okay with that which is good because I had no way of stopping it. I don't know what I'll be doing. If the weather's nice I might drag my family mini-golfing.
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Well, I don't know about immeasurably. With all its ups and downs, it was pretty satisfying. (I wrote that last year and it seems more applicable now than then.)
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?
When I was a freshman it was still the same freshman style: schlubby and stained. The summer saw me in a lot of Bermuda shorts and T-shirts. When I came back to school I tried to do this thing where I would wear either jeans OR a T-shirt but not both, and sometimes that worked out for me. I feel like I'm approximately the same level of stylishness and put-together-ness that I was in high school, and I'm largely happy with that. I have gained a new appreciation for knitwear, though.
34. What kept you sane?
What keeps anyone sane? Music, books, writing, fruit, my friends, and 18 years of hearing my dad say adversity was all just part of life's rich pageant.
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Jim Halpert and David Tennant, still. Also, Katee Sackhoff, because. . .Jesus.
36. What political issue stirred you the most?
The 2008 elections.
37. Who did you miss?
The people I wasn't with.
38. Who was the best new person you met?
Guys, last year I put Ben Jerue here, saying this about it: "Let me just say that it may seem like phenomenal hubris or presumptuousness to put Ben Jerue, who I barely know, on this list, but as it always is when you know you know. I can't imagine that we won't be friends, which again, hubris or presumption, take your pick. But I just feel it strongly." The poignancy of that crumples my heart a little bit and also makes me smile, because Amy, she knows what she wants. Anyway, in terms of this year: Emma, Whitney, Jared, Matt Hampel, Bacchus, and the list goes on. Friends, friends, friends! If there's one thing I have and am lucky to, it's friends.
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007:
The only way out is through, and whether you want it to or not time sweeps you with it, and you can choose to be happy, and this too shall pass.
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
In the immortal words of whoever wrote that song before Devotchka covered it: "Resiliency amazes me".
I'm procrastinating on writing an essay, which is actually not all that hard and quite enjoyable as essays go, but you know how it is. I decided that I would do the End of the Year survey, as a time waster and maybe as a five minute catchup on the State of the Amy. A note before I begin, though: I break 2007 into three four-month segments. The first was good. Largely uneventful, but also nothing to complain about in the slightest. The second segment saw me at indubitably the lowest point of my life to date. Oh, heartbreak! You level us all, mice and men. Fortunately, the third part has brought nothing but intense happiness, contentment, new opportunities, and personal fulfillment, proving to me that in many ways the only way out is through and the light at the end of the tunnel is often not a train. So if, in this survey, I seem to spout a strange mix of self-pity and self-congratulation, that is why.
1. What did you do in 2007 that you'd never done before?
Oooh, what a question! Wrote in a way I was satisfied with and learned how to knit. Also, romance! The good, the bad, the agony, the ecstasy. It has ceased to be, as Phillip Pullman says in the Amber Spyglass, like China: a place other people visit. Also, this was the year I became a Women's Studies major (although not officially yet), and I think that's noteworthy.
2. Did you keep your new year resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
My New Year's resolution last year was to say fuck less often. I think I managed that for about two months and then gave it up. And no plans for a resolution this year.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Nope.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
Nope.
5. What countries did you visit?
None.
6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?
I honestly don't think I lacked anything in 2007.
7. What date from 2006 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
April 25th - the end of a countless number of things. My freshman year, my first semi-serious relationship, and in my more melodramatic moments: MY INNOCENCE.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Surviving. (GAH. What the hell! I really want to do this survey but I don't want to be all about how My Heart Was Damaged. But I can't deny that that was a big part of the year. Just bear with me, folks.) Also, I knit myself a sweater.
9. What was your biggest failure?
As I said last year, there were so many little ones, but not any big ones that I can recall.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Not in any major way.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
YARN. Always more yarn! Yarn yarn yarn yarn. Also, my New Me haircut.
12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
I've always found this kind of an odd question. Who am I to celebrate someone else's "behavior"? Also, I don't understand what it's saying.
13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
It's that time of year when the world falls in love.
14. Where did most of your money go?
YARN. And books and perfume.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Knitting! Honestly the best thing I did for myself this year. I can't imagine a better craft for me than knitting, and I quite enjoy having a craft, a Thing To Do.
16. What song will always remind you of 2007?
It's difficult. I find these surveys always bias toward the end of the year, for perhaps obvious reasons. But I'm going to go with "Since You've Been Gone" by Aretha Franklin, given the countless dance parties we've held to it.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? Happier. No contest. I think every Friday night I end up saying I'm happier than I've ever been in that very minute, and it's always true. It just keeps growing and growing!
ii. Thinner or fatter? Thinner. Still New Me stuff.
iii. richer or poorer? I have a steady job so I'm going to say richer.
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Exercise. I really let it drop in the last part of the year, which is disappointing because I was in really good shape at the end of the summer.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Cry. (GAH.) Although, is it really fair to say that? The argument could be made that all the crying I did in the summer paved the way for how I laughed in the fall. Yes, it could be made, but it would be banal and idiotic. I wish I had cried less.
20. How will you be spending Christmas?
With my family and my new friend Jared Greenberg, who will be visiting me in Portland this break.
22. Did you fall in love in 2007?
Yes, and if there's one thing I'll remember from this year, it's that.
23. How many one-night stands?
None.
24. What was your favourite TV programme?
Arrested Development! We just finished the third season the other day and I am sad that there will never be any more. Also, Battlestar Galactica. Damn that show is good.
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
No. I'm sure there's someone out there that I hate, but nothing's coming to mind, which is probably a good thing.
26. What was the best book you read?
It's a tie between East of Eden and Middlesex.
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Joni Mitchell! Love her, love her, love her. Will continue to love her as I grow up.
28. What did you want and get?
A little bit of self-respect, man! Mostly vis-a-vis my writing, mostly due to the sweetness and encouragement of Warren Hecht.
30. What was your favourite film of this year?
Urgh. You know my deal with films. I quite enjoyed Hot Fuzz, and also No Country For Old Men, and I'm looking forward to seeing Atonement because I loved the book.
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Some people have birthdays at the end of the year! Come on. Anyway, I'll be 20, and I'm finally okay with that which is good because I had no way of stopping it. I don't know what I'll be doing. If the weather's nice I might drag my family mini-golfing.
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Well, I don't know about immeasurably. With all its ups and downs, it was pretty satisfying. (I wrote that last year and it seems more applicable now than then.)
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?
When I was a freshman it was still the same freshman style: schlubby and stained. The summer saw me in a lot of Bermuda shorts and T-shirts. When I came back to school I tried to do this thing where I would wear either jeans OR a T-shirt but not both, and sometimes that worked out for me. I feel like I'm approximately the same level of stylishness and put-together-ness that I was in high school, and I'm largely happy with that. I have gained a new appreciation for knitwear, though.
34. What kept you sane?
What keeps anyone sane? Music, books, writing, fruit, my friends, and 18 years of hearing my dad say adversity was all just part of life's rich pageant.
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Jim Halpert and David Tennant, still. Also, Katee Sackhoff, because. . .Jesus.
36. What political issue stirred you the most?
The 2008 elections.
37. Who did you miss?
The people I wasn't with.
38. Who was the best new person you met?
Guys, last year I put Ben Jerue here, saying this about it: "Let me just say that it may seem like phenomenal hubris or presumptuousness to put Ben Jerue, who I barely know, on this list, but as it always is when you know you know. I can't imagine that we won't be friends, which again, hubris or presumption, take your pick. But I just feel it strongly." The poignancy of that crumples my heart a little bit and also makes me smile, because Amy, she knows what she wants. Anyway, in terms of this year: Emma, Whitney, Jared, Matt Hampel, Bacchus, and the list goes on. Friends, friends, friends! If there's one thing I have and am lucky to, it's friends.
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007:
The only way out is through, and whether you want it to or not time sweeps you with it, and you can choose to be happy, and this too shall pass.
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
In the immortal words of whoever wrote that song before Devotchka covered it: "Resiliency amazes me".