(no subject)
I managed to maintain my physical integrity on the way home, and even managed to survive a stopover in Calgary. It was my first time flying cross-country at night in a window seat. Cities are gorgeous from above.
Regina in particular looks like it was designed to be seen from the air at night, but even Calgary and Toronto -- two cities I've tended to find ugly on the ground -- have a quiet dignity at night, when they become seas of stars.
What did you do in 2007 that you'd never done before?
Re-wrote a novel in a single month.
Worked a real job full time.
Went to a Radical Faeries gathering.
Started a historical website.
Pored over centuries-old documents in an archive for that website, uncovering names and histories forgotten for 200 years.
Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I've never made New Year's Resolutions, except for writing schedules. I didn't really make any last year.
Did anyone close to you give birth?
The wife of a co-worker I like -- a close friend (ringthebells) of several of my friends -- no one in my immediate circle. It was two years ago that half the people I knew replicated, and that hasn't been repeated this year.
Did anyone close to you die?
No one, no.
What countries did you visit?
None, this year.
What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?
A place on bestseller lists and bookshelves across the country? ^_^
Seriously, though -- more social time, I think. I worked lots of extra time at my day job this year, because of things in my co-workers lives and the sheer volume of business we're getting. Most of what remained went into my writing. After years of hermitage, my social skills are very rusty, and I need practice again.
What date(s) from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
May 19-20: The Radical Faeries gathering. It was wonderful to be in a community of gay men again, and nice to get off the grid and remember how to do things with reliance of modern technology.
September 17: The Outremont by-election NDP landslide.
October 21: the Tori concert with em_fish
December 12: the Yule event -- my first real group Yule circle, I think, in the more-than-a-decade since I became Wiccan. Sometimes montrealais and I have done something small, but it's the first time I wrote a rit for one.
December 15: the trip home with the sword -- obviously memorable.
I got to the end of this meme, without once remembering that I got my master's degree this year. I guess that says something about how memorable it was. People were congratulating me on it all year, but it just kind of made me feel false to hear all that praise, because it felt more like breaking up with someone, or giving up an apartment because the landlord won't take care of the cockroaches.
I got excellent grades, but still my whole university career feels like a failure.
What was your biggest achievement(s) of the year?
Re-writing my novel in a month, and never slacking over it even though I was also working full-time that month.
What was your biggest failure?
The fact that said novel isn't finished? That there were plenty of other things I wanted to accomplish and didn't? There never seems enough time, and I have sporadic periods of total laziness that give me a lot of regret.
Did you suffer any illness or injury?
I had to have surgery for a nasty skin problem -- and return daily to have my bandages checked. I hate my skin.
What was the best thing you bought?
Probably the sword, though it was a good year for purchases. I got a lot of great books I now have to find time to read. There was Deathly Hallows, of course ^_^
Whose behaviour merited celebration?
I doubt I'd be friends with somebody whose behaviour didn't often merit celebration. With four friends returning to school this year to continue their education, a sick friend struggling valiantly to recover his health, a friend dealing with her mother's illness, and a sister-in-law who showed restraint and wisdom under extreme duress, I've been doing a lot of cheering this year.
One person I think deserves special mention is my roommate montrealais, who worked tirelessly behind the scenes with NDP team that got Thomas Mulcair elected by a landslide in Outremont. The amount of work he put into it impressed me, and unlike most of the other valiant efforts I've seen this year, few people have given him the credit he deserves for all his hard work.
Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
The United Nations recognizes 193 of these political units we call "countries" or "states." I could probably head of government in about 10-20% of them, and about 90-95% of the ones I could name would fit into this category. As criticism, like charity, ought to begin at home, we'll start with Stephen Harper.
Where did most of your money go?
Books, groceries, rent, notebooks, hydro, phone, and gifts -- plus a couple of video games.
What did you get really, really, really excited about?
The arrival of Deathly Hallows, I'll admit it ^_^
What song will always remind you of 2007?
Rufus Wainwright's "America."
Compared to this time last year, are you:
happier or sadder? Happier.
thinner or fatter? fatter
richer or poorer? richer
What do you wish you'd done more of?
Write, and spent time with friends.
What do you wish you'd done less of?
Played video games and worked my day-job.
How will you be spending Christmas?
Spent with my family, who now live in Saanich (one of Victoria's satellite municipalities).
Did you fall in love in 2007?
I've had slight crushes on a few of the guys who've taught for us this year at the school ^_^
How many one-night stands?
Uh, does it count if you know the guy...? "One-night stand" kind of implies anonymity.
What was your favourite TV program?
This would be all anime from our anime nights, as I don't own a TV. I really did love Full Metal Alchemist and 12 Kingdoms.
What was the best book you read?
I'd like to say it was something profound, like Place d'Armes, or literary like Moby Dick, both of which I read. But it was definitely Deathly Hallows, followed closely by the biography, Scanty Particulars.
What was your greatest musical discovery?
I'm not a major music fan -- I don't think I really started listening to anyone new this year. the rare times I've listened to music, it's almost all been Rufus. I have started to listen to Sigur Ros.
What did you want and get?
A real Yule. A complete revision of my novel (two actually, this year). A victory in Outremont. A sword.
What did you want and not get?
A boyfriend -- even a little real romance would be nice.
What was your favourite film of this year?
I saw two movies this year that I can remember -- The Queen and Order of the Phoenix. This time, I can actually make myself look like less of a geek because I can honestly say The Queen was better.
What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 31. And it was good -- we had plenty of people come by. My first birthday in the new place, which is much more conducive to socializing.
What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Getting the novel done done, and sending it out.
How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?
"This is cheap at Zellers, not absolutely repulsive, was made in an at-least-nominally-democratic nation, and can be worn at work."
I'm such a bad gay man. I can't even name an haute-couture designer other than Karl Lagerfeld, and that's just because of a Margaret Cho joke.
Really, I'll think about fashion after I can find some work-wearable clothes that are sweatshop free. American Apparel just seems to sell casual, everyone keeps mentioning some place near the Village that they can't actually name nor give an address to, and so now I'm reduced to sorting out the worst-of-the-worst (China) from the at-least-the-starving-workers-can-vote countries. Yay Bangladesh and India!
What kept you sane?
My writing, my friends, and my sense of humour.
Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Probably still Rufus ^_^
What political issue stirred you the most?
Homophobia is always the perennial issue, but this year it's neck-in-neck with the environment. There are still a lot of idiots out there who believe that doing the absolute minimum to avoid absolute ecological holocaust is optional, and should only be done if it doesn't interfere with competition. We have monomaniacs running the show.
Then of course there are the unreasonable people at the heart of the Reasonable Accommodation "debate." That issue is simple -- if we accommodate idiots, the idiots can accommodate the dreaded head scarf. To hear these people talk you'd think the greatest threat to secularism is that, and not, say, the fact that the current prime minister has seriously suggested letting government officials refuse to perform a same-sex marriage.
Who did you miss?
node357, as usual.
Who was the best new person you met?
I didn't get to know anyone new very closely this year -- they're mostly returning cast, plus a few people who're too new for me to say among them.
Tell us a valuable life lesson you learnt in 2007:
I'm not a fan of health culture -- it seems for too many people like a replacement religion, and in the gay community it's become wrapped up with a lot of quasi-moral and political issues I don't like -- gay men have both the anorexia issues women have and the steroid/gym issues straight men have.
That said, when I don't pay attention to my body, it seems likely to revolt in ways that I can't predict. I'm eating a wider variety of foods, and thinking about ways of keeping active -- something I didn't have to worry in the days when I had a job that kept me on my feet.
I also learnt that I can actually produce impressive results when I really push myself.
I learnt that plastic bags don't conceal swords well.
I learnt that the cake is a lie.
Most of all, though, I learnt that I can actually get to the very end of a survey like this, and forget that I got my Master's degree :/
Regina in particular looks like it was designed to be seen from the air at night, but even Calgary and Toronto -- two cities I've tended to find ugly on the ground -- have a quiet dignity at night, when they become seas of stars.
What did you do in 2007 that you'd never done before?
Re-wrote a novel in a single month.
Worked a real job full time.
Went to a Radical Faeries gathering.
Started a historical website.
Pored over centuries-old documents in an archive for that website, uncovering names and histories forgotten for 200 years.
Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I've never made New Year's Resolutions, except for writing schedules. I didn't really make any last year.
Did anyone close to you give birth?
The wife of a co-worker I like -- a close friend (ringthebells) of several of my friends -- no one in my immediate circle. It was two years ago that half the people I knew replicated, and that hasn't been repeated this year.
Did anyone close to you die?
No one, no.
What countries did you visit?
None, this year.
What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?
A place on bestseller lists and bookshelves across the country? ^_^
Seriously, though -- more social time, I think. I worked lots of extra time at my day job this year, because of things in my co-workers lives and the sheer volume of business we're getting. Most of what remained went into my writing. After years of hermitage, my social skills are very rusty, and I need practice again.
What date(s) from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
May 19-20: The Radical Faeries gathering. It was wonderful to be in a community of gay men again, and nice to get off the grid and remember how to do things with reliance of modern technology.
September 17: The Outremont by-election NDP landslide.
October 21: the Tori concert with em_fish
December 12: the Yule event -- my first real group Yule circle, I think, in the more-than-a-decade since I became Wiccan. Sometimes montrealais and I have done something small, but it's the first time I wrote a rit for one.
December 15: the trip home with the sword -- obviously memorable.
I got to the end of this meme, without once remembering that I got my master's degree this year. I guess that says something about how memorable it was. People were congratulating me on it all year, but it just kind of made me feel false to hear all that praise, because it felt more like breaking up with someone, or giving up an apartment because the landlord won't take care of the cockroaches.
I got excellent grades, but still my whole university career feels like a failure.
What was your biggest achievement(s) of the year?
Re-writing my novel in a month, and never slacking over it even though I was also working full-time that month.
What was your biggest failure?
The fact that said novel isn't finished? That there were plenty of other things I wanted to accomplish and didn't? There never seems enough time, and I have sporadic periods of total laziness that give me a lot of regret.
Did you suffer any illness or injury?
I had to have surgery for a nasty skin problem -- and return daily to have my bandages checked. I hate my skin.
What was the best thing you bought?
Probably the sword, though it was a good year for purchases. I got a lot of great books I now have to find time to read. There was Deathly Hallows, of course ^_^
Whose behaviour merited celebration?
I doubt I'd be friends with somebody whose behaviour didn't often merit celebration. With four friends returning to school this year to continue their education, a sick friend struggling valiantly to recover his health, a friend dealing with her mother's illness, and a sister-in-law who showed restraint and wisdom under extreme duress, I've been doing a lot of cheering this year.
One person I think deserves special mention is my roommate montrealais, who worked tirelessly behind the scenes with NDP team that got Thomas Mulcair elected by a landslide in Outremont. The amount of work he put into it impressed me, and unlike most of the other valiant efforts I've seen this year, few people have given him the credit he deserves for all his hard work.
Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
The United Nations recognizes 193 of these political units we call "countries" or "states." I could probably head of government in about 10-20% of them, and about 90-95% of the ones I could name would fit into this category. As criticism, like charity, ought to begin at home, we'll start with Stephen Harper.
Where did most of your money go?
Books, groceries, rent, notebooks, hydro, phone, and gifts -- plus a couple of video games.
What did you get really, really, really excited about?
The arrival of Deathly Hallows, I'll admit it ^_^
What song will always remind you of 2007?
Rufus Wainwright's "America."
Compared to this time last year, are you:
happier or sadder? Happier.
thinner or fatter? fatter
richer or poorer? richer
What do you wish you'd done more of?
Write, and spent time with friends.
What do you wish you'd done less of?
Played video games and worked my day-job.
How will you be spending Christmas?
Spent with my family, who now live in Saanich (one of Victoria's satellite municipalities).
Did you fall in love in 2007?
I've had slight crushes on a few of the guys who've taught for us this year at the school ^_^
How many one-night stands?
Uh, does it count if you know the guy...? "One-night stand" kind of implies anonymity.
What was your favourite TV program?
This would be all anime from our anime nights, as I don't own a TV. I really did love Full Metal Alchemist and 12 Kingdoms.
What was the best book you read?
I'd like to say it was something profound, like Place d'Armes, or literary like Moby Dick, both of which I read. But it was definitely Deathly Hallows, followed closely by the biography, Scanty Particulars.
What was your greatest musical discovery?
I'm not a major music fan -- I don't think I really started listening to anyone new this year. the rare times I've listened to music, it's almost all been Rufus. I have started to listen to Sigur Ros.
What did you want and get?
A real Yule. A complete revision of my novel (two actually, this year). A victory in Outremont. A sword.
What did you want and not get?
A boyfriend -- even a little real romance would be nice.
What was your favourite film of this year?
I saw two movies this year that I can remember -- The Queen and Order of the Phoenix. This time, I can actually make myself look like less of a geek because I can honestly say The Queen was better.
What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 31. And it was good -- we had plenty of people come by. My first birthday in the new place, which is much more conducive to socializing.
What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Getting the novel done done, and sending it out.
How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?
"This is cheap at Zellers, not absolutely repulsive, was made in an at-least-nominally-democratic nation, and can be worn at work."
I'm such a bad gay man. I can't even name an haute-couture designer other than Karl Lagerfeld, and that's just because of a Margaret Cho joke.
Really, I'll think about fashion after I can find some work-wearable clothes that are sweatshop free. American Apparel just seems to sell casual, everyone keeps mentioning some place near the Village that they can't actually name nor give an address to, and so now I'm reduced to sorting out the worst-of-the-worst (China) from the at-least-the-starving-workers-can-vote countries. Yay Bangladesh and India!
What kept you sane?
My writing, my friends, and my sense of humour.
Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Probably still Rufus ^_^
What political issue stirred you the most?
Homophobia is always the perennial issue, but this year it's neck-in-neck with the environment. There are still a lot of idiots out there who believe that doing the absolute minimum to avoid absolute ecological holocaust is optional, and should only be done if it doesn't interfere with competition. We have monomaniacs running the show.
Then of course there are the unreasonable people at the heart of the Reasonable Accommodation "debate." That issue is simple -- if we accommodate idiots, the idiots can accommodate the dreaded head scarf. To hear these people talk you'd think the greatest threat to secularism is that, and not, say, the fact that the current prime minister has seriously suggested letting government officials refuse to perform a same-sex marriage.
Who did you miss?
node357, as usual.
Who was the best new person you met?
I didn't get to know anyone new very closely this year -- they're mostly returning cast, plus a few people who're too new for me to say among them.
Tell us a valuable life lesson you learnt in 2007:
I'm not a fan of health culture -- it seems for too many people like a replacement religion, and in the gay community it's become wrapped up with a lot of quasi-moral and political issues I don't like -- gay men have both the anorexia issues women have and the steroid/gym issues straight men have.
That said, when I don't pay attention to my body, it seems likely to revolt in ways that I can't predict. I'm eating a wider variety of foods, and thinking about ways of keeping active -- something I didn't have to worry in the days when I had a job that kept me on my feet.
I also learnt that I can actually produce impressive results when I really push myself.
I learnt that plastic bags don't conceal swords well.
I learnt that the cake is a lie.
Most of all, though, I learnt that I can actually get to the very end of a survey like this, and forget that I got my Master's degree :/