2009, the survey
hey folks, the decade is almost over! happy holidays and a happy new year to everyone! party it up! or something.
Livejournal tells me it has been 12 weeks since my last update. Isn't it just the thing, that when you are busy and might actually have interesting stuff to write about, you don't have the time (or patience, or habit, or somesuch) to write? Well, anyway. I think I'll save Catch Up Time for another day. Today I just want to wrap up 2009, in typical geeky blogging fashion--a survey. Man, I am really not a fan of the word "blog." I was "blogging" before that even became a common term. I'm like those people who used search engines before Google, and chatted real-time with people online before anyone called it "IM." [Actually, I not /like/ one of those people, I AM one of those people. Not even 'cause I'm that old and had dinosaurs for computers, but I was just that nerdy when I was in middle school.]
anyway, whatever. here we go:
1.What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before?
Wander alone in a city at night. Live with a 1-year-old. Drink coffee daily. Have a silly girlcrush. Climb Mt. Washington. Become someone's sister-in-law. Watch a Red Sox game from the Green Monster (thanks Kirk!). Eat sashimi; sit on tatami mats and floor-sunken benches; see the moon from the opposite side of the globe.
2. Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I'm not sure I made any official resolutions last year, but I may have unofficially decided to lose some weight and be fitter... I am not as thin as I was back in say, Sept. (after a grueling apartment move-in and being miserably sick for a while), but I'm still about 10lb down from the beginning of last year, so that's somethin'. Next year it sounds like I'll have resolutions by association--Erin's all like, "we're gonna Wii Fit 3 times a week! and no cookies!" That second one is so not gonna happen. LESS cookies, maybe.
3.Did anyone close to you give birth?
yes, my sister-in-law. Jeff and Lynnette welcomed baby Adam in February.
4.Did anyone close to you die?
no
5.What countries did you visit?
Japan (if you couldn't guess from question #1), and I absolutely loved it there. I think I will feel homesick for it, and nostalgic for that first trip there, as long as I live.
6.What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?
a solid plan to get out of northern NH--which is, hopefully, moving to Boston to go to piano tech school in Sept. 2010. I'd also like to have the money to get at least one of my two pianos fixed up and ready to sell...
7.What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
hum, I am not so great with specific dates. but the two most memorable events this year were my trip to Japan in April, and Christa's visit to NH in September. both so lovely and ALIVE, in different ways.
8.What was your biggest achievement of the year?
traveling alone to/in Japan... I have traveled alone before (to meet up with people) but never so far away or where I didn't speak the language. Granted, I was far from "on my own" there, but I did a lot of solo wandering, and it felt so free. One night, I got to the point where I could navigate the subway system easily enough to do it in crowds with headphones on. Then I stopped to buy water and toilet paper on the way back to the apartment, which I found my way to without even thinking about it. I felt like I lived there. To feel so completely at home, so far away from home, was totally surreal... and having that experience has, I think, made me a braver and more adventurous person.
9. What was your biggest failure?
not yet finding a steady, full-time job (at least I found two part-time jobs, both of which like me enough to try to find hours for me when possible)
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I went through like 4 hellish colds in a row this fall, one of which turned sinus infection turned ear infection. Erin was wiped out too. I don't know what kinda mutant viruses were hangin' around but I hope NH winter destroys them, haha.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
a plane ticket to Narita. wait, did I buy that in '09? I think so.
12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
Erin and I moving into an apartment together (and therefore out of our respective parents' houses). Our first night staying over, we sat on the floor of the mostly-empty place and drank red wine, and laughed at Erin's old 9th grade science lab notebook, and reveled in the "sleepover" feeling while it lasted.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
hm, them's strong words. I am not too impressed with Erin's ex. But I can't think of anyone directly related to me that has made me feel that way...
14. Where did most of your money go?
my Japan trip
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
you know, I am not a really, really, really excitable person. Even the very best, most anticipated things, I'm pretty chill about until just before it happens and then I get butterflies. There were lots of things I got excited about, including the Japan trip (noticing a theme here?), Christa's visit, a Ryan Adams concert... oh, I know!! I got really, really, really excited to see the STAR TREK movie. God I'm a nerd.
16. What song will always remind you of 2009?
Hmmm. anything by the Backyardigans? hahaha. also "Lie With Me," and "An Ordinary Moon." Oh and Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours" (which I love, and which Jeff and Lynnette chose for their first dance at their wedding)
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder?
hm, I think happier, or maybe the same. Happier because I have a plan (assuming it doesn't fall through) and may actually be doing something with my life by the second half of 2010). Sadder because I miss NY and my NY friends more, I'm a little lonelier, I'm a little less enthused to be living where I am now. *shrug*
b) thinner or fatter?
thinner (hooray)
c) richer or poorer?
depends how you mean it. financially, much poorer. (although wait, was I still paying off debt to my parents this time last year? Or was that the year before... hm... well.) experiencially (it's a word 'cause I say so), richer. Socially/love/human-connection-wise, maybe about the same, though the mosaic has shifted.
18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
playing music, reading, writing
19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
letting multiple days off run together into oblivion instead of making them mean something
20. How will you be spending Christmas?
with my parents at their house... some good food, a game or two, present-opening. More visiting (with my bro Mike and his family, my mom's side of the family, and Shayna) to follow in the days ahead.
21. Did you fall in love in 2009?
hm, well. I pretty much fell in love with Japan, especially Tokyo, as cheesy as that sounds.
And I realized a love for someone, but I wouldn't call it falling in love, because it is a two-people-in-the-world-somewhat-on-the-same-wavelength-who-care-about-each-other sort of thing, an indie-movie-like friendship love thing, perhaps under the surface for years and now mutually understood. Unless I am being my hopeless Lovey self and making too much of it. But I hope not.
anyway, in the sense the question is probably meant, no.
22. How many one-night stands?
nope. I have figured out that's not exactly my thing. An emotional creature like me can't handle a thing like that.
23. What was your favorite TV program?
Glee!! although So You Think You Can Dance takes a very close second. I am such a sucker for that show. Jeanine + Jakob both kicked ass. ahhh.
24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
um, hm, do I hate anyone, period? I don't think so?
25. What was the best book you read?
oh god, it's pathetic how little I read this year; what did I even read that was new to me? ummm... well, I guess it'll have to be Sputnik Sweetheart by Murakami, which I liked, but there are probably better books on my shelf waiting to be read. Someday, SOMEDAY, I am going to get through that damn Anna Karenina. It's not even that I don't like it; it just doesn't compel me to put in the time. I shall make the time. It shall be one of my New Year's Resolutions. Take that, question #2!
26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Ray Lamontagne. I'd heard of him before, but it wasn't until I started hearing his songs in rotation on Pandora, at work, that I finally heard enough of him to really be sold.
27. What did you want and get?
a step or two towards regaining independence.
28. What did you want and not get?
an answer; to be sought after; a chance meeting that would mean something later on
29. What was your favorite film of this year?
Star Trek! Up was great, too, even if it made me cry like a friggin' baby.
30. What did you do on your birthday?
I think I went to work? I'd just started at Wren. oh and that night, Erin and I went out for dinner and a drink (though not at our favorite place, which suddenly closed down--how dare they, right before my birthday!!).
31.What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
wow, immeasurably? I dunno, maybe if I fell in love. ha ha.
32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?
simple and on a budget. Which works fine for my style anyway.
33. What kept you sane?
spending time, and later moving in, with Erin. We lucked out having each other this year.
34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Hum dee hum... do I go with Rufus or Zachary? Well, the Spock/Sylar one-two punch is pretty convincing, but I think I'll have to go with Rufus Sewell. Yes. He remains my favorite actor despite multiple discoveries of other talented (and handsome, and sometimes even British) actors. and that's fitting, since "who did you fancy" sounds like such a British way to word it.
35. What political issue stirred you the most?
um, I'm not sure I have really been paying a huge amount of attention... I mean, the healthcare thing is important, but I'm not sure I'm "stirred" about it. Uh.
36. Who did you miss?
the list is too long, because most people I consider close friends live far away. But I especially miss Cyn, and my friends in NY. And I miss Matthew, what a Bright Light he was (and I'm sure still is). I am constantly missing Christa but we (usually) write often, so it's a different kind of "missing," than missing people you've lost touch with to some extent (some more than others), you know?
37. Who was the best new person you met?
I'm gonna go with Callum. So nice, so hilarious, so Scottish.
38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009:
I can be kind of a homebody and a lover of Routine, but I feel most alive when I'm someplace new and exploring... I should remember that. There is so much out there to discover and learn and explore and get excited about and be inspired by!
39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
"they are careful, curled up around you... while they wait... while they wait until you're ready" (is it just me, or is that line totally about cats? huh.)
Livejournal tells me it has been 12 weeks since my last update. Isn't it just the thing, that when you are busy and might actually have interesting stuff to write about, you don't have the time (or patience, or habit, or somesuch) to write? Well, anyway. I think I'll save Catch Up Time for another day. Today I just want to wrap up 2009, in typical geeky blogging fashion--a survey. Man, I am really not a fan of the word "blog." I was "blogging" before that even became a common term. I'm like those people who used search engines before Google, and chatted real-time with people online before anyone called it "IM." [Actually, I not /like/ one of those people, I AM one of those people. Not even 'cause I'm that old and had dinosaurs for computers, but I was just that nerdy when I was in middle school.]
anyway, whatever. here we go:
1.What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before?
Wander alone in a city at night. Live with a 1-year-old. Drink coffee daily. Have a silly girlcrush. Climb Mt. Washington. Become someone's sister-in-law. Watch a Red Sox game from the Green Monster (thanks Kirk!). Eat sashimi; sit on tatami mats and floor-sunken benches; see the moon from the opposite side of the globe.
2. Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I'm not sure I made any official resolutions last year, but I may have unofficially decided to lose some weight and be fitter... I am not as thin as I was back in say, Sept. (after a grueling apartment move-in and being miserably sick for a while), but I'm still about 10lb down from the beginning of last year, so that's somethin'. Next year it sounds like I'll have resolutions by association--Erin's all like, "we're gonna Wii Fit 3 times a week! and no cookies!" That second one is so not gonna happen. LESS cookies, maybe.
3.Did anyone close to you give birth?
yes, my sister-in-law. Jeff and Lynnette welcomed baby Adam in February.
4.Did anyone close to you die?
no
5.What countries did you visit?
Japan (if you couldn't guess from question #1), and I absolutely loved it there. I think I will feel homesick for it, and nostalgic for that first trip there, as long as I live.
6.What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?
a solid plan to get out of northern NH--which is, hopefully, moving to Boston to go to piano tech school in Sept. 2010. I'd also like to have the money to get at least one of my two pianos fixed up and ready to sell...
7.What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
hum, I am not so great with specific dates. but the two most memorable events this year were my trip to Japan in April, and Christa's visit to NH in September. both so lovely and ALIVE, in different ways.
8.What was your biggest achievement of the year?
traveling alone to/in Japan... I have traveled alone before (to meet up with people) but never so far away or where I didn't speak the language. Granted, I was far from "on my own" there, but I did a lot of solo wandering, and it felt so free. One night, I got to the point where I could navigate the subway system easily enough to do it in crowds with headphones on. Then I stopped to buy water and toilet paper on the way back to the apartment, which I found my way to without even thinking about it. I felt like I lived there. To feel so completely at home, so far away from home, was totally surreal... and having that experience has, I think, made me a braver and more adventurous person.
9. What was your biggest failure?
not yet finding a steady, full-time job (at least I found two part-time jobs, both of which like me enough to try to find hours for me when possible)
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I went through like 4 hellish colds in a row this fall, one of which turned sinus infection turned ear infection. Erin was wiped out too. I don't know what kinda mutant viruses were hangin' around but I hope NH winter destroys them, haha.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
a plane ticket to Narita. wait, did I buy that in '09? I think so.
12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
Erin and I moving into an apartment together (and therefore out of our respective parents' houses). Our first night staying over, we sat on the floor of the mostly-empty place and drank red wine, and laughed at Erin's old 9th grade science lab notebook, and reveled in the "sleepover" feeling while it lasted.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
hm, them's strong words. I am not too impressed with Erin's ex. But I can't think of anyone directly related to me that has made me feel that way...
14. Where did most of your money go?
my Japan trip
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
you know, I am not a really, really, really excitable person. Even the very best, most anticipated things, I'm pretty chill about until just before it happens and then I get butterflies. There were lots of things I got excited about, including the Japan trip (noticing a theme here?), Christa's visit, a Ryan Adams concert... oh, I know!! I got really, really, really excited to see the STAR TREK movie. God I'm a nerd.
16. What song will always remind you of 2009?
Hmmm. anything by the Backyardigans? hahaha. also "Lie With Me," and "An Ordinary Moon." Oh and Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours" (which I love, and which Jeff and Lynnette chose for their first dance at their wedding)
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder?
hm, I think happier, or maybe the same. Happier because I have a plan (assuming it doesn't fall through) and may actually be doing something with my life by the second half of 2010). Sadder because I miss NY and my NY friends more, I'm a little lonelier, I'm a little less enthused to be living where I am now. *shrug*
b) thinner or fatter?
thinner (hooray)
c) richer or poorer?
depends how you mean it. financially, much poorer. (although wait, was I still paying off debt to my parents this time last year? Or was that the year before... hm... well.) experiencially (it's a word 'cause I say so), richer. Socially/love/human-connection-wise, maybe about the same, though the mosaic has shifted.
18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
playing music, reading, writing
19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
letting multiple days off run together into oblivion instead of making them mean something
20. How will you be spending Christmas?
with my parents at their house... some good food, a game or two, present-opening. More visiting (with my bro Mike and his family, my mom's side of the family, and Shayna) to follow in the days ahead.
21. Did you fall in love in 2009?
hm, well. I pretty much fell in love with Japan, especially Tokyo, as cheesy as that sounds.
And I realized a love for someone, but I wouldn't call it falling in love, because it is a two-people-in-the-world-somewhat-on-the-same-wavelength-who-care-about-each-other sort of thing, an indie-movie-like friendship love thing, perhaps under the surface for years and now mutually understood. Unless I am being my hopeless Lovey self and making too much of it. But I hope not.
anyway, in the sense the question is probably meant, no.
22. How many one-night stands?
nope. I have figured out that's not exactly my thing. An emotional creature like me can't handle a thing like that.
23. What was your favorite TV program?
Glee!! although So You Think You Can Dance takes a very close second. I am such a sucker for that show. Jeanine + Jakob both kicked ass. ahhh.
24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
um, hm, do I hate anyone, period? I don't think so?
25. What was the best book you read?
oh god, it's pathetic how little I read this year; what did I even read that was new to me? ummm... well, I guess it'll have to be Sputnik Sweetheart by Murakami, which I liked, but there are probably better books on my shelf waiting to be read. Someday, SOMEDAY, I am going to get through that damn Anna Karenina. It's not even that I don't like it; it just doesn't compel me to put in the time. I shall make the time. It shall be one of my New Year's Resolutions. Take that, question #2!
26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Ray Lamontagne. I'd heard of him before, but it wasn't until I started hearing his songs in rotation on Pandora, at work, that I finally heard enough of him to really be sold.
27. What did you want and get?
a step or two towards regaining independence.
28. What did you want and not get?
an answer; to be sought after; a chance meeting that would mean something later on
29. What was your favorite film of this year?
Star Trek! Up was great, too, even if it made me cry like a friggin' baby.
30. What did you do on your birthday?
I think I went to work? I'd just started at Wren. oh and that night, Erin and I went out for dinner and a drink (though not at our favorite place, which suddenly closed down--how dare they, right before my birthday!!).
31.What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
wow, immeasurably? I dunno, maybe if I fell in love. ha ha.
32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?
simple and on a budget. Which works fine for my style anyway.
33. What kept you sane?
spending time, and later moving in, with Erin. We lucked out having each other this year.
34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Hum dee hum... do I go with Rufus or Zachary? Well, the Spock/Sylar one-two punch is pretty convincing, but I think I'll have to go with Rufus Sewell. Yes. He remains my favorite actor despite multiple discoveries of other talented (and handsome, and sometimes even British) actors. and that's fitting, since "who did you fancy" sounds like such a British way to word it.
35. What political issue stirred you the most?
um, I'm not sure I have really been paying a huge amount of attention... I mean, the healthcare thing is important, but I'm not sure I'm "stirred" about it. Uh.
36. Who did you miss?
the list is too long, because most people I consider close friends live far away. But I especially miss Cyn, and my friends in NY. And I miss Matthew, what a Bright Light he was (and I'm sure still is). I am constantly missing Christa but we (usually) write often, so it's a different kind of "missing," than missing people you've lost touch with to some extent (some more than others), you know?
37. Who was the best new person you met?
I'm gonna go with Callum. So nice, so hilarious, so Scottish.
38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009:
I can be kind of a homebody and a lover of Routine, but I feel most alive when I'm someplace new and exploring... I should remember that. There is so much out there to discover and learn and explore and get excited about and be inspired by!
39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
"they are careful, curled up around you... while they wait... while they wait until you're ready" (is it just me, or is that line totally about cats? huh.)