Thurs, December 31st
1. What is the single best thing that happened to you in 2015?
Jenn and I got our kitten, Frankie. She was two months old and only two pounds when we adopted her from a local shelter, and she's growing up into a calm, cuddly, relatively polite, loud, bossy little fur baby.
2. What is the most challenging thing that happened to you in 2015?
Hm, tough call between working through some relationship problems and working up my nerve to ask my doctor for anti-anxiety meds. ... Wait, does living through a car accident on the freeway and dealing with the aftershocks count?
3. What thing did you learn the most from this year?
I can only change how I experience the world around me by changing myself on the inside. I need to become a calmer, more centered person.
4. What is the kindest thing you did this year?
This is hard to answer... Getting my dad an immersion blender for Christmas? My family is the very to the letter sort when it comes to Christmas lists (and there's a chain of Nagging command if you're late in sharing yours) and this wasn't on his list but I know he doesn't have one and that he likes to cook. He seems very taken with it and has remarked that now he can experiment with making more soups.
5. Did you lose any close family member this year?
No. My uncle in Alaska lost one of his cats, but I haven't met any of this set.
6. Pick three words to describe 2015.
Long, eye-opening, kitten.
7. What did you do in 2015 that you never done before?
I was in a car accident - not the driver, car was totaled but no serious injuries. I got a baby cat. I won NaNoWriMo. Jenn and I got our own place together.
8. Did you keep last year’s resolutions? What were they?
I didn't. I don't have a good track record with them and I was in a car accident on January 2nd, so I didn't come up with any at the last minute either.
9. Did you travel to any interesting places in 2015?
Nowhere drastic, all that was last year... We did a day trip to Napa with the Barney pup.
10. What would you like to have in 2016 that you lacked in 2015?
More friends and a better meditation practice!
11. Do you even believe in new year’s resolutions? Why or why not? Will you make some for next year?
Yes, and I've done a little research to make sure I don't set myself up with unrealistic expectations. By research I mostly mean going to that resolutions workshop meetup a few weeks ago. But I looked into it last year and that's one of the reasons why I didn't set any resolutions last time around. I think I have good goals though, and that I did a good job of breaking them down into smaller steps.
12. Do you believe that 2015 had a reoccurring theme for you? If so, which theme and why?
Dealing with anxiety. From all directions - relationship, pets, family, driving, leaving my job and looking for a new one.
13. Do you feel like 2015 went by too fast?
Yes. Oh my god yes. We moved in in February, and still don't have the contact paper put in the dresser drawers. Putting our apartment together, finding all the right furniture in local antique stores and shopping online, things that reflect who we are, has taken such a long time.
14. Brag about two of your accomplishments in 2015.
I won NaNoWriMo and I became a momma cat to a beautiful little calico tortie baby! Neither happened with the kind of ease you get in fairytales but that's made them feel even more worth it.
15. Where did most of your money go?
Rent, food, miscellaneous bills, gas... Health expenses, but most of that snapped back after the other driver's insurance sent my reimbursement. (Holy fucking ER bill.)
16. What dates from 2015 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
The day of the car accident. The night we got our Christmas tree. The hike I took the day before Christmas Eve.
17.- Fill in the blank: In 2016 I will ____________.
Meet more people, find a job, and get back into meditating.
18. If you could fly anywhere in the world in 2016, where would you go?
It would be nice to go with Jenn to Amsterdam, Nerja, or London again.
19.- What was your biggest regret of 2015?
Not being able to talk to my mom, or my parents in general, about certain things because we just don't have that kind of relationship. They're not very comforting or... emotionally responsive people. I wish that was different, but I can't change them. I can only change my behavior and whether they see me as a child or an adult.
20. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Ha. Well, I wasn't seriously injured in the accident, but my ribs took a hit. We're pretty sure that Jenn threw her arm out to hold me back from whacking my head or something. Bending or lifting was impossible for a while and painful for a while after that. I got a prescription for some supercharged Tylenol or something, there might have been some codine in it or something. And my neck was a little stiff too, so I kept swapping a heating pad back and forth between those spots.
21. Do you think you’ll be having a better 2016 than 2015?
To steal Feladrone's answer, "I think it will be much more difficult, but more productive. Overall I think that's better though."
22.- Did you make any new friends this year? Lose any friends?
On LJ yes. 😊 IRL, sort of made new friends. There was that meetup group I went to, that's three people, then the girl Jenn and I connected with via Craigslist. Hopefully those all become friends. As for losing any... not really, but I think I'm slowly coming to terms with not hearing anything at all from my two closest friends from high school for a long time. We don't know where each other are in life right now, they've moved on. I wish them all the best and they can always message me out of the blue and come for a visit.
23.- How much did you change this year? What’s different about you?
I think I changed a lot. I'm more confident in some things, like my writing and taking care of Barney and Frankie. Less confident about... my place in the world, I guess? I know where I want to be, except career wise, but I'm just not sure how to get there, how to safely preserve the pieces of it that I do already have. I'm also more resolved and better equipped to do good things for my emotional and mental health.
24.- What song will always remind you of 2015?
Ahahahaha, Hotline Bling by Drake.
25.- What do you wish you'd done more of?
Meditating. Taking Barney on walks.
26. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Playing Candy Crush and similar all the gd time. Jenn is right, I have a problem with that. I use it to self-soothe.
27. Who was the best new person you met?
I don't think I've really met new people, so... Frankie!
28. What did you want and not get?
To get the dresser done and clothes actually in it. I think I might have fucked up the contact paper though, by cutting it up without measuring enough first and using a too bendy measuring tape.
29. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2015.
I have to actively face and deal with my anxieties.
30.- Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
(Omg I can’t think of anything. So…) Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and desert you
Jenn and I got our kitten, Frankie. She was two months old and only two pounds when we adopted her from a local shelter, and she's growing up into a calm, cuddly, relatively polite, loud, bossy little fur baby.
2. What is the most challenging thing that happened to you in 2015?
Hm, tough call between working through some relationship problems and working up my nerve to ask my doctor for anti-anxiety meds. ... Wait, does living through a car accident on the freeway and dealing with the aftershocks count?
3. What thing did you learn the most from this year?
I can only change how I experience the world around me by changing myself on the inside. I need to become a calmer, more centered person.
4. What is the kindest thing you did this year?
This is hard to answer... Getting my dad an immersion blender for Christmas? My family is the very to the letter sort when it comes to Christmas lists (and there's a chain of Nagging command if you're late in sharing yours) and this wasn't on his list but I know he doesn't have one and that he likes to cook. He seems very taken with it and has remarked that now he can experiment with making more soups.
5. Did you lose any close family member this year?
No. My uncle in Alaska lost one of his cats, but I haven't met any of this set.
6. Pick three words to describe 2015.
Long, eye-opening, kitten.
7. What did you do in 2015 that you never done before?
I was in a car accident - not the driver, car was totaled but no serious injuries. I got a baby cat. I won NaNoWriMo. Jenn and I got our own place together.
8. Did you keep last year’s resolutions? What were they?
I didn't. I don't have a good track record with them and I was in a car accident on January 2nd, so I didn't come up with any at the last minute either.
9. Did you travel to any interesting places in 2015?
Nowhere drastic, all that was last year... We did a day trip to Napa with the Barney pup.
10. What would you like to have in 2016 that you lacked in 2015?
More friends and a better meditation practice!
11. Do you even believe in new year’s resolutions? Why or why not? Will you make some for next year?
Yes, and I've done a little research to make sure I don't set myself up with unrealistic expectations. By research I mostly mean going to that resolutions workshop meetup a few weeks ago. But I looked into it last year and that's one of the reasons why I didn't set any resolutions last time around. I think I have good goals though, and that I did a good job of breaking them down into smaller steps.
12. Do you believe that 2015 had a reoccurring theme for you? If so, which theme and why?
Dealing with anxiety. From all directions - relationship, pets, family, driving, leaving my job and looking for a new one.
13. Do you feel like 2015 went by too fast?
Yes. Oh my god yes. We moved in in February, and still don't have the contact paper put in the dresser drawers. Putting our apartment together, finding all the right furniture in local antique stores and shopping online, things that reflect who we are, has taken such a long time.
14. Brag about two of your accomplishments in 2015.
I won NaNoWriMo and I became a momma cat to a beautiful little calico tortie baby! Neither happened with the kind of ease you get in fairytales but that's made them feel even more worth it.
15. Where did most of your money go?
Rent, food, miscellaneous bills, gas... Health expenses, but most of that snapped back after the other driver's insurance sent my reimbursement. (Holy fucking ER bill.)
16. What dates from 2015 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
The day of the car accident. The night we got our Christmas tree. The hike I took the day before Christmas Eve.
17.- Fill in the blank: In 2016 I will ____________.
Meet more people, find a job, and get back into meditating.
18. If you could fly anywhere in the world in 2016, where would you go?
It would be nice to go with Jenn to Amsterdam, Nerja, or London again.
19.- What was your biggest regret of 2015?
Not being able to talk to my mom, or my parents in general, about certain things because we just don't have that kind of relationship. They're not very comforting or... emotionally responsive people. I wish that was different, but I can't change them. I can only change my behavior and whether they see me as a child or an adult.
20. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Ha. Well, I wasn't seriously injured in the accident, but my ribs took a hit. We're pretty sure that Jenn threw her arm out to hold me back from whacking my head or something. Bending or lifting was impossible for a while and painful for a while after that. I got a prescription for some supercharged Tylenol or something, there might have been some codine in it or something. And my neck was a little stiff too, so I kept swapping a heating pad back and forth between those spots.
21. Do you think you’ll be having a better 2016 than 2015?
To steal Feladrone's answer, "I think it will be much more difficult, but more productive. Overall I think that's better though."
22.- Did you make any new friends this year? Lose any friends?
On LJ yes. 😊 IRL, sort of made new friends. There was that meetup group I went to, that's three people, then the girl Jenn and I connected with via Craigslist. Hopefully those all become friends. As for losing any... not really, but I think I'm slowly coming to terms with not hearing anything at all from my two closest friends from high school for a long time. We don't know where each other are in life right now, they've moved on. I wish them all the best and they can always message me out of the blue and come for a visit.
23.- How much did you change this year? What’s different about you?
I think I changed a lot. I'm more confident in some things, like my writing and taking care of Barney and Frankie. Less confident about... my place in the world, I guess? I know where I want to be, except career wise, but I'm just not sure how to get there, how to safely preserve the pieces of it that I do already have. I'm also more resolved and better equipped to do good things for my emotional and mental health.
24.- What song will always remind you of 2015?
Ahahahaha, Hotline Bling by Drake.
25.- What do you wish you'd done more of?
Meditating. Taking Barney on walks.
26. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Playing Candy Crush and similar all the gd time. Jenn is right, I have a problem with that. I use it to self-soothe.
27. Who was the best new person you met?
I don't think I've really met new people, so... Frankie!
28. What did you want and not get?
To get the dresser done and clothes actually in it. I think I might have fucked up the contact paper though, by cutting it up without measuring enough first and using a too bendy measuring tape.
29. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2015.
I have to actively face and deal with my anxieties.
30.- Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
(Omg I can’t think of anything. So…) Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and desert you