(no subject)
1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?
i started driving lessons in the UK. learn how to drive a stick shift. be a mother to a 1 year old. help eleanor learn how to walk and talk. supported tim through the death of a parent, and then through the probate. clean a dead person's flat. cried at a funeral. supported my mother in law through her breast cancer. caught my fingers in the hand blender. had people hire and pay me to take photographs for them. saw a house burning down. be with my sister when she found out she was pregnant. took eleanor sailing.
a big one that i haven't talked about yet... i stopped believing in god, pretty much. that was hard and kind of a devastating thing, if i'm really honest. i think i still have to think about it more.
and this i find particularly noteworthy and very TMI. well it is to me anyway. i have had a year of perfect menstrual cycles. from january to december... 12 periods, 28 day cycles more or less. the first year of my life. ever. from being someone who practically never ovulated to this is amazing to me. there. and now i've told the internet.
2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
looking at my journal entries from this time last year, i seem to be in pretty much the same place. i didn't move house. i didn't set up any kind of business with my photography. didn't lose any weight (didn't gain any either, thank fuck.) the death of tim's father happened pretty early in the year and set a whole bunch of new things and stuff that needed to be dealt with first.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
being a mother that goes to toddler groups regularly, i seem to know a lot of women that gave birth this year. or got pregnant. notably, naiomi had a baby boy last month.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
tim's grandfather died in january, then his father died in march. good friday.
5. What countries did you visit?
canada and england and scotland.
6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
ok let me think. my uk driver's licence. a new house (still. god!) better health. to be off my inhalers. a new tattoo. an online shop.
7. What date from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
november 5th, obama won. march 21st, peter died.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
always and forever is eleanor. raising her. being her mother.
i don't know. i know it's all wrapped up in peter's death and how we got through to the other side of it, even though it's still all there and present. maybe i haven't achieved anything this year.
maybe... bring eleanor to newfoundland and seeing her in the province where i was born and my mother was born and my father was born and my grandparents. seeing her pick up rocks on the beach where i picked up rocks as a little kid... and my mother too. good old sentimental nostalgia.
9. What was your biggest failure?
my lack of personal development and not reaching any of my goals.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
i accidentally caught my fingers in the hand blender and cut myself up pretty bad.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
polaroid film. plane tickets. i don't know... i'm trying to declutter all the stuff in my life. i guess a new resolution would be to buy less.
12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
tim. tim over and over and over. i don't know how he got through this year.
13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
the men who carjacked the taxi that had a friend of kevina's inside... they are disgusting and despicable. peter's "friend" aiden. the republican supporters i saw on youtube during the election campaign. BNP members.
14. Where did most of your money go?
peter's estate. plane tickets. film. paying off debt. groceries. PETROL!
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
kevina being pregnant.
16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
rod stewart's "i am sailing". was played at peter's funeral. i haven't really listened to a lot of music this year. shocking and shameful.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. Happier or sadder?
oh it's all relative, isn't it? happier i think. we actually put up a tree and i feel the christmas spirit.
ii. Thinner or fatter?
THE FUCKING SAME, DAMMIT. i don't know what it's like NOT to wish i were thinner.
iii. richer or poorer?
we owe less.
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
act. i just with i'd done more. more of anything. everything. accomplished anything.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
sit on this sofa.
20. How will you be spending Christmas?
this will be the first christmas in my little house with my little family. just the three of us and our dog. we'll eat ourselves silly then take the dog to the woods if it's not raining.
23. How many one-night stands?
none. i'm happily monogamously married.
24. What was your favourite TV program?
dexter. heroes. weeds. i'm sure there's more. we like tv.
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
not really. i think i hate someone less. or not even hate anymore. i might have even let it all go. but i never look back.
26. What was the best book you read?
i haven't read much this year either. obviously nothing i read has changed my life. i'm learning a lot from alfie kohn, though.
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
i got a cd in the mail this week of a band called clear tigers. "brutal". i'm really enjoying it.
28. What did you want and get?
clarity and focus.
29. What was your favourite film of this year?
i saw son of rambow over the weekend and it was very sweet. no country for old men was amazing. i need to start writing this stuff down. i don't even remember the last film i saw at the cinema. and it was last month! i think my mother got me the darjeeling limited dvd for my birthday and i really loved that movie.
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
i was 33. i think i took a self portrait. celebrating didn't seem appropriate at the time.
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
comfort. easily cleaned. i would love to work on this a bit more though. is that sad?
34. What kept you sane?
eleanor. sane, crazy, happy and everything. the internet. god, the internet brings me so much inspiration.
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
ewan mcgregor. wes anderson. jason schwartzman. barack obama.
36. What political issue stirred you the most?
oh god, what a year. the fucking economy. all those banks fucking up and now we are in a recession and the housing market crashing. and hello, the US presidential election.
37. Who did you miss?
--- sometimes. not that that person ever really existed. my mother. but i had tim and eleanor with me always and that's all i really needed.
38. Who was the best new person you met?
a woman named jenn who lives up the road and her little girl scout. they are so cool.
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008:
shit happens... even as bad as death. but life goes on. so live. and who cares what they think. fuck them.
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
you are my sunshine
my only sunshine
you make me happy
when skies are grey
you'll never know dear
how much i love you
please don't take my sunshine away.
i started driving lessons in the UK. learn how to drive a stick shift. be a mother to a 1 year old. help eleanor learn how to walk and talk. supported tim through the death of a parent, and then through the probate. clean a dead person's flat. cried at a funeral. supported my mother in law through her breast cancer. caught my fingers in the hand blender. had people hire and pay me to take photographs for them. saw a house burning down. be with my sister when she found out she was pregnant. took eleanor sailing.
a big one that i haven't talked about yet... i stopped believing in god, pretty much. that was hard and kind of a devastating thing, if i'm really honest. i think i still have to think about it more.
and this i find particularly noteworthy and very TMI. well it is to me anyway. i have had a year of perfect menstrual cycles. from january to december... 12 periods, 28 day cycles more or less. the first year of my life. ever. from being someone who practically never ovulated to this is amazing to me. there. and now i've told the internet.
2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
looking at my journal entries from this time last year, i seem to be in pretty much the same place. i didn't move house. i didn't set up any kind of business with my photography. didn't lose any weight (didn't gain any either, thank fuck.) the death of tim's father happened pretty early in the year and set a whole bunch of new things and stuff that needed to be dealt with first.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
being a mother that goes to toddler groups regularly, i seem to know a lot of women that gave birth this year. or got pregnant. notably, naiomi had a baby boy last month.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
tim's grandfather died in january, then his father died in march. good friday.
5. What countries did you visit?
canada and england and scotland.
6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
ok let me think. my uk driver's licence. a new house (still. god!) better health. to be off my inhalers. a new tattoo. an online shop.
7. What date from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
november 5th, obama won. march 21st, peter died.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
always and forever is eleanor. raising her. being her mother.
i don't know. i know it's all wrapped up in peter's death and how we got through to the other side of it, even though it's still all there and present. maybe i haven't achieved anything this year.
maybe... bring eleanor to newfoundland and seeing her in the province where i was born and my mother was born and my father was born and my grandparents. seeing her pick up rocks on the beach where i picked up rocks as a little kid... and my mother too. good old sentimental nostalgia.
9. What was your biggest failure?
my lack of personal development and not reaching any of my goals.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
i accidentally caught my fingers in the hand blender and cut myself up pretty bad.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
polaroid film. plane tickets. i don't know... i'm trying to declutter all the stuff in my life. i guess a new resolution would be to buy less.
12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
tim. tim over and over and over. i don't know how he got through this year.
13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
the men who carjacked the taxi that had a friend of kevina's inside... they are disgusting and despicable. peter's "friend" aiden. the republican supporters i saw on youtube during the election campaign. BNP members.
14. Where did most of your money go?
peter's estate. plane tickets. film. paying off debt. groceries. PETROL!
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
kevina being pregnant.
16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
rod stewart's "i am sailing". was played at peter's funeral. i haven't really listened to a lot of music this year. shocking and shameful.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. Happier or sadder?
oh it's all relative, isn't it? happier i think. we actually put up a tree and i feel the christmas spirit.
ii. Thinner or fatter?
THE FUCKING SAME, DAMMIT. i don't know what it's like NOT to wish i were thinner.
iii. richer or poorer?
we owe less.
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
act. i just with i'd done more. more of anything. everything. accomplished anything.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
sit on this sofa.
20. How will you be spending Christmas?
this will be the first christmas in my little house with my little family. just the three of us and our dog. we'll eat ourselves silly then take the dog to the woods if it's not raining.
23. How many one-night stands?
none. i'm happily monogamously married.
24. What was your favourite TV program?
dexter. heroes. weeds. i'm sure there's more. we like tv.
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
not really. i think i hate someone less. or not even hate anymore. i might have even let it all go. but i never look back.
26. What was the best book you read?
i haven't read much this year either. obviously nothing i read has changed my life. i'm learning a lot from alfie kohn, though.
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
i got a cd in the mail this week of a band called clear tigers. "brutal". i'm really enjoying it.
28. What did you want and get?
clarity and focus.
29. What was your favourite film of this year?
i saw son of rambow over the weekend and it was very sweet. no country for old men was amazing. i need to start writing this stuff down. i don't even remember the last film i saw at the cinema. and it was last month! i think my mother got me the darjeeling limited dvd for my birthday and i really loved that movie.
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
i was 33. i think i took a self portrait. celebrating didn't seem appropriate at the time.
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
comfort. easily cleaned. i would love to work on this a bit more though. is that sad?
34. What kept you sane?
eleanor. sane, crazy, happy and everything. the internet. god, the internet brings me so much inspiration.
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
ewan mcgregor. wes anderson. jason schwartzman. barack obama.
36. What political issue stirred you the most?
oh god, what a year. the fucking economy. all those banks fucking up and now we are in a recession and the housing market crashing. and hello, the US presidential election.
37. Who did you miss?
--- sometimes. not that that person ever really existed. my mother. but i had tim and eleanor with me always and that's all i really needed.
38. Who was the best new person you met?
a woman named jenn who lives up the road and her little girl scout. they are so cool.
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008:
shit happens... even as bad as death. but life goes on. so live. and who cares what they think. fuck them.
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
you are my sunshine
my only sunshine
you make me happy
when skies are grey
you'll never know dear
how much i love you
please don't take my sunshine away.