Yearly Overview - 2014
1. What did you do in 2014 that you'd never done before?
- Ran a 21K (unofficially, no sponsored race or the like)
- Bought baby clothes for my future niece (daughter from my bro)
- Found a job in an area I'd have never really considered: helping stranded people get home and their cars taken to the garage.
- Work during holidays :P
- Discovered Irish Coffee (and I'm kind of an addict now ;) )
- I've eaten more fruit this year than in my whole life
- Got my very first smart phone, courtesy of mom.
- Lost enough weight to fit in my old fancy dresses. (Kinda bounced back a little bit but not too bad LOL)
- Attended an "illegal" party in the middle of the woods, where people thought we wouldn't be heard and all. (We got busted by the cops half an hour after it stared. Shortes party ever LOL!)
2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
No resolutions for last year, but I have a few for the new year:
1) Write the next book of my novel series,
2) run a 32K (if not a 42K but that's still a bit of a scary goal to consider)
3) Go vegetarian (and vegan if I can) In the worst of the cases, try to eat less meat.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yes, a friend of ours just had her baby boy a few days ago, plus a few FB friends. There are also a few more babies in the making as we speak, but those are due next year.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
An aunt from the inlaw's side passed away this year.
5. What countries did you visit?
We went to the Ardennes in Belgium, for a weekend-trip with the family. No trips to Mexico this time, my parents came here instead!
6. What would you like to have in 2015 that you lacked in 2014?
- More self confidence. I was a nervous wreck when I got hired but it's slowly getting better.
- More willpower to go out and exercise (I had a brilliant start the first half of the year, but it all plummeted when I had to stop going to the shelter and into work. Haven't been working out much since then...)
- Money to splurge heee.
- We had tried to arrange a meeting with my online friends but that kinda flopped. Hopefully we can pull it off on 2015.
7. What dates from 2014 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
a) The awesome parties we went to (3rd round Tag Festival, TACnival, Koningsdag in Eindhoven, the illegal party that didn't last long, as well as a couple of really good house parties with DJs and all.)
b) My parents' visit to Holland in October. We had a lovely time catching up, playing games, taking naps together and just enjoying each other's company. The african concert we attended to was really awesome.
c) August 18, got my job after searching for about a year.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
- Runnin the half-marathon was probably the coolest thing I did haha
- This one is from last year but still applies: I threw/gave away clothes and things I'd been hoarding for years (and still kept throughout 2014 for some unexplained reason)
- Getting the job and being able to keep it despite me being extremely insecure. I was sure I'd be fired because I wasn't cutting it. Turns out they are happy with me, and I am really grateful for them having given me a chance even if my Dutch sounds funny.
- Still going to help at the shelter when I have free days off work. It's kinda heavy sometimes but I am glad I can still somewhat keep in touch. (Though going from helping like 3-5 days a week down to 1 is kinda meh)
9. What was your biggest failure?
- Not keeping up with my exercise schedule
- We tried hard, but we couldn't save a few sick kitties from the shelter.
- Can't stay away from meat.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
- Several colds
- Migraines / headaches
- Allergies, though this have gone milder now that I am not going to the shelter as often.
- Lower back pain for unknown reasons
11. What was the best thing you bought?
It's hard to tell, I got lots of cool things
- My DrMartens
- More boy-shorts from Bjorn-Borg <3
- new pants for wearing at fitness, since the old ones were ripping at the seams
- We just got a new blender that I haven't tried out (It literally arrived today) but since I've been doing smoothies a lot often, I'm really happy with that purchase. THe old blender was falling apart and leaking and whatnot.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
- Bro and his wife. They know why :D
- A colleague at the animal shelter who won the "volunteer of the year" award earlier this month for all her work helping and rehoming kittens.
- The Pope for being cool and open minded
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
- Same as last year: all those people abandoning/mistreating animals.
14. Where did most of your money go?
The first half of the year it went to groceries. The second half, I kinda went on a spree after getting a salary again. I got lots of DA commissions, new clothes, new xmas decorations for the tree, and started donating money to charities again.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
My parent's visit, my brother and his wife's pregnancy, getting a job and realizing that even though it has really weird working hours, it still allows me to go the shelter every now and then, fulfilling in a way my wish for a job that I could still combine with my homeless kitties.
16. What song will always remind you of 2014?
- "All about that bass" (not my favorite song but damn, it's such an earworm)
- Tove Lo with "Stay high" such a pretty and sad song, and the video's worse LOL
- "With your help", a song I commissioned from Shaun Holton, inspired in a character of a story I wrote.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder?
Happier but with short bouts of depression that haven't lasted too long thankfully.
b) thinner or fatter?
Thinner, awww yissss. Reached 48kgs earlier this year, when I was exercising daily and all. At the moment I'm lingering around 50-51ish.
c) richer or poorer?
Richer
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
More running, more singing, more writing and more drawing. Also, I need to complete all the jigsaw puzzles that people have gifted me the past years. I was very fanatic at some point but I haven't sat down in a while to put one together. Something to do on 2015!
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Worrying about things that aren't under my control, I should just stop stressing out and just take it one day at a time.
20. How will you be spending Christmas?
Christmas has come and gone in the meantime. I spent it at work, with a sick husband at home lol. Not our best year. On second christmas day, after work I joined the inlaws for a round of gift exchanging by means of a dice game. Was quite fun, we had a good laugh and I brought some decent loot back home.
21. Did you fall in love in 2013?
Yes, with a naked Sphinkx Kitty at the shelter that sadly didn't make it. RIP Snoesje.
22. Craziest thing you did?
- I'd say attending an illegal forest party was crazy enough hahaha. But it was a fun experience nontheless.
- Addressing a young dude that happened to walk past us after a night in the club, and said "Hola". I talked back to him in Spanish and he freaked out LOL. Turns out he didn't speak Spanish at all and just wanted to show off or something... We had a good laugh about it.
23. What was your favorite TV program?
Orange is the New Black
24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
No, not this time. Well there's someone I really don't like and every time they open their mouth to say or write something I'm like *HEADDESK!!"* But to say I hate that person is a bit far fetched. It's just severe dislike heheh.
25. What was the best book you read?
I read the first book of the Iron Lyons series, "Forges of Dawn", which turned out to be pretty good! I'm currently reading the first book of the Shindana series, "Ice", also promising!
26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
- Eric Vloiemans. I heard one of his performances as a background song for a video about providing the right housing for rabbits. The song, "Chorizo", is actually very cheery, but it still managed to bring me to tears when I heard it. Dunno what but there's something about trumpets when played soft and mellow like that that I really enjoy.
- "The First Rebirth" by Jones & Stephenson I can't believe I never heard this before until this year. Same thing, got goosebumps when I heard it and made me wanna party hard woohoo!
27. What did you want and get?
A job, a new phone (Seriously, I was rocking an Ericsson thing from 2003 or such LOL), new clothes, a new toaster, new blender, new "party" boots, new Converse's and loads of tickets to awesome parties/Festivals.
28. What did you want and not get?
- The lottery.
- The chance to travel much
29. What was your favorite film of this year?
I had a good laugh with "This is the End", and saw "Requiem for a Dream" for the first time. Super sad movie but I liked it a lot.
30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 36, I celebrated with my parents here at home. Mom cooked a delicious meal for me, and afterwards we went to the theater to see a performance of the Soweto Gospel Choir. It was beautiful, and we all really enjoyed it bigtime. What sucked was that mom was feeling a bit ill then, so she was under the weather, but that didn't stop us from having a lovely time together. In the weekend, Jeroen's family came over for drinks and snacks, and his dad stayed over for a pizza dinner. Mom had the chance to meet the little nieces and nephews and was totally over the moon with the youngest baby. Grandma in the making!
31.What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
- Same as last year, getting a job at the animal shelter. But that ain't happening :(
- Better health for everyone! Loads of people suffered from serious illnesses and stuff this year, so I'm hoping 2015 will be better.
32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2014?
A mix of sex-bomb and tomboy hahahah. I wore lots of short shorts and skirts, feeling more confident with how my body looks now and stuff. But I also got a few more manly shirts and stuff for those days when I'm feeling more tomboy.
33. What kept you sane?
Same as last two years: helping out at the animal shelter, music, writing.
34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
- Non Youtubers, I'll have to say nobody in particular that I haven't mentioned in previous years.
- Youtubers, I've been following Freelee the Banana Girl, DLV, Allie Speed, Cory Williams aka Dude like Hella, Katers17, and recently discovered the Vine videos from Thomas Sanders, which I found hilarious. (And he's quite easy on the eyes too)
35. What political issue stirred you the most?
- The Zwarte Piet discussion. I can't say it stirred me, I was more like "I don't get it", but after witnessing some people using it as an insult then I kinda get why people want the figure gone.
- Flight MH17 being shot down by the russians. The scenes of the coffins being flown back and transported in hearses while thousands of dutch people gathered along the highway to pay their respects... *shudder*
- The "Meer of minder maroccanen"? thing. Go home, Geert Wilders.
36. Who did you miss?
Family in Mexico of course, and Jeroen when he had to go away on a business-related trip. Okay, it was just one week apart, but I still missed him all the same.
37. Who was the best new person you met?
My colleagues at work who are all friendly and helpful.
38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2014:
YOLO!
39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
I feel something so right
By doing the wrong thing
And I feel something so wrong
By doing the right thing
I couldn't lie, couldn't lie, couldn't lie
Everything that kills me makes me feel alive
-- "Counting Stars", One Republic