Brief update - and long meme ( The Year Meme - 2011)
The work week this week was slightly less long , albeit equally frustrating at times (e.g. its longest day running about 11 hours). My nan's funeral, on Wednesday, went well and there were, thankfully, no rows between my mum and her sister and her youngest daughter, as had been feared.
So, only about a month late, and after quite a bit of time spent on this in draft over the weekend, do feel free to skip:
The year meme - 2011
1.What did you do in 2011 that you'd never done before?
Visited Bath, joined a bookclub, played Carcassonne, went to a club on a boat, visited Kew Gardens.
2.Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I didn't, technically, make any. I managed to get back into doing some exercise again, and finally got the sewing machine out of its box for long enough to confirm that it functioned and to repair a couple of things. I didn't manage to motivate myself to get back to doing the Company Law again, and have pretty much concluded that I don't want to upgrade my GDL to an LlB badly enough to plough through all the online lectures again, much less take two tests and write another essay.
At the moment, my main aim is to survive New Job until it either improves or proves it won't do so. I don't have enough energy spare for much beyond that.
3.Did anyone close to you give birth?
No. (My sister's newest sproglet missed his due date and did not emerge in time to see 2011.)
4.Did anyone close to you die?
Not in 2011, no. Although it turns out that when someone you considered one of your closest friends does something which means you don't feel you can associate with them any more, it feels a lot like a bereavement.
5.What countries did you visit?
We flew out to the US on 31 December. .
6.What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?
Yet again, I'll go with 'more hours in the day'...
7.What date from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
None of the particularly meorable things are closely associated with any particular date.
8.What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Getting out of Old Job. For all that conditions at the New Job are currently pretty terrible, at least I believe the bosses at New Job 'get it', do want to improve things and may even do so eventually. That really wasn't the case for senior managment in Old Job, lovely though my line manager was.
9.What was your biggest failure?
Not calling a certain person on one particular habit of speech/attitude until they crossed the line into behaviour. That particular mistake goes back much further than 2011, sadly for all concerned.
10.Did you suffer illness or injury?
The mental health got pretty bad before I got out of Old Job. I'm keeping an eye on it, and New Job has yet to pass its probation period.
11.What was the best thing you bought?
I guess that would be the plane ticket to LA, which was bought in 2011, even if most of the holiday took place in 2012.
12.Whose behavior merited celebration?
Colleagues and line/team managers from Old Job, who are the reason I stuck it out as long as I did.
13.Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Leaving aside people already mentioned in answers to other questions, pretty much everyone involved in the August riots (both 'sides' and a lot of the commentariat) and pretty much every head of state in the 'Arab Spring' countries.
14.Where did most of your money go?
Leaving aside the mortgage and similar boring things, I spent a terrifying amount of money on clothes/shoes/accessories this year. If you count the new glasses in the tally, too, I think it may have actually been a four figure sum. .
15.What events did you get really, really, really excited about?
Looking back, I don't think any events quite reached those dizzy heights, although I did lots of stuff I liked.
16.What song will always remind you of 2011?
2011 was the year Tanz Macabre introduced me to She Wants Revenge, so I guess 'Tear You Apart', which was the song that did it, will be pretty clossely associated with the year.
17.Compared to this time last year, are you:
i.happier or sadder? I guess, overall, a little happier, just because work is slightly less awful
ii.thinner or fatter? Probably slightly thinner, although my eating habits have gone to hell with the stupid hours I've been working of late, so that may not last
iii.richer or poorer? Technically slightly poorer, I suppose - I took a 10% pay cut when I changed jobs - but not to the extent that it makes any serious difference. I'm still fairly comfortably off.
18.What do you wish you'd done more of?
Same as last year, i.e. pretty much everything: reading; going to the cinema; clubbing; gigging; studying; exercising.
19.What do you wish you'd done less of?
Working 10+ hour days and 40+ hour weeks
20. How did you spend Christmas?
At my parents' place.
21.Who did you spend the most time on the phone with?
As ever, it largely depends who phones me. Probably my parents.
[22.Did you fall in love in 2011?
23. How many one-night stands?
These questions have been discontinued for repetition]
24. What was your favorite TV programme?
Misfits, House and Dexter all continued to be seriously good, and Fresh Meat and A Game of Thrones were worthy new arrivals. The winner, however, is Sherlock, which has gone from strength to strength in its second season, with dialogue which regularly made me want to punch the air with glee.
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
[Also discontinued, on the grounds that I don't make a habit of hating people]
26. What was the best book you read?
I read a good deal less this year than I would like; only 31 books, compared to 49 the previous year and 60 the year before that. Still, there were some good ones, all the same...
Fiction: Donna Tartt - The Secret History (in my May book reviews)
Non-fiction: Victoria Coren and Charlie Skelton - Once More, with Feeling: How we tried to make the greatest porn film ever (in my March book reviews)
27. What was your greatest musical discovery or rediscovery?
As per q16, above, I was very pleased to be introduced to She Wants Revenge.
28. What did you want and get?
A new job.
29. What did you want and not get?
Enough sleep; enough time to do all the things mentioned at q18.
30. What were your favorite films of this year?
It wasn't a banner year for the big, mainstream film, IMNHO, although Black Swan, True Grit and Bridesmaids were all well worth seeing. Looking through the list of more obscure stuff, there's not one stand-out, but the following were all good: Source Code, Submarine, Attack the Block, Kill List, Red State.
31.What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
We went to Bath for the weekend.
How old? "Older than I look"
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
See answers to questions 18 and 29 ;)
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?
As ever, none more black. ;) I bought a lot more 'smart' clothes for the new job, though...
34. What kept you sane?
People - most especially A and the wise ladies of
theladiesloos.
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most/least?
I don't know much about Benedict Cumerbatch, but I certainly wouldn't kick Sherlock out of bed. ;)
36. What political issue stirred you the most?
Well, the two for which I actually got as far as marching this year were public sector cuts (the March for the Alternative) and women's rights (the London Slutwalk).
37. Whom did you miss?
I refer you to my answer to q4. The person I thought I knew appears in actual fact to have been a figment of my imagination, but I sure as hell miss him...
38. Who were the best new people you met?
I met a the rather fabulous
anadel1976,
piqueen and
varioussorrows via
theladiesloos' sub-group
loosbookclub. Through one or other of the above groups/people, I met
fwuffydragon and (albeit briefly) a couple of people I'd like to get to know better IRL,
purplegril and
bloodofareptile.
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011:
When an employment contract bothers to specify that you don't get paid overtime, this probably does mean 40-something hours a week, whatever the nice HR person may say over the phone to reassure you. ;)
So, only about a month late, and after quite a bit of time spent on this in draft over the weekend, do feel free to skip:
The year meme - 2011
1.What did you do in 2011 that you'd never done before?
Visited Bath, joined a bookclub, played Carcassonne, went to a club on a boat, visited Kew Gardens.
2.Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I didn't, technically, make any. I managed to get back into doing some exercise again, and finally got the sewing machine out of its box for long enough to confirm that it functioned and to repair a couple of things. I didn't manage to motivate myself to get back to doing the Company Law again, and have pretty much concluded that I don't want to upgrade my GDL to an LlB badly enough to plough through all the online lectures again, much less take two tests and write another essay.
At the moment, my main aim is to survive New Job until it either improves or proves it won't do so. I don't have enough energy spare for much beyond that.
3.Did anyone close to you give birth?
No. (My sister's newest sproglet missed his due date and did not emerge in time to see 2011.)
4.Did anyone close to you die?
Not in 2011, no. Although it turns out that when someone you considered one of your closest friends does something which means you don't feel you can associate with them any more, it feels a lot like a bereavement.
5.What countries did you visit?
We flew out to the US on 31 December. .
6.What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?
Yet again, I'll go with 'more hours in the day'...
7.What date from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
None of the particularly meorable things are closely associated with any particular date.
8.What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Getting out of Old Job. For all that conditions at the New Job are currently pretty terrible, at least I believe the bosses at New Job 'get it', do want to improve things and may even do so eventually. That really wasn't the case for senior managment in Old Job, lovely though my line manager was.
9.What was your biggest failure?
Not calling a certain person on one particular habit of speech/attitude until they crossed the line into behaviour. That particular mistake goes back much further than 2011, sadly for all concerned.
10.Did you suffer illness or injury?
The mental health got pretty bad before I got out of Old Job. I'm keeping an eye on it, and New Job has yet to pass its probation period.
11.What was the best thing you bought?
I guess that would be the plane ticket to LA, which was bought in 2011, even if most of the holiday took place in 2012.
12.Whose behavior merited celebration?
Colleagues and line/team managers from Old Job, who are the reason I stuck it out as long as I did.
13.Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Leaving aside people already mentioned in answers to other questions, pretty much everyone involved in the August riots (both 'sides' and a lot of the commentariat) and pretty much every head of state in the 'Arab Spring' countries.
14.Where did most of your money go?
Leaving aside the mortgage and similar boring things, I spent a terrifying amount of money on clothes/shoes/accessories this year. If you count the new glasses in the tally, too, I think it may have actually been a four figure sum. .
15.What events did you get really, really, really excited about?
Looking back, I don't think any events quite reached those dizzy heights, although I did lots of stuff I liked.
16.What song will always remind you of 2011?
2011 was the year Tanz Macabre introduced me to She Wants Revenge, so I guess 'Tear You Apart', which was the song that did it, will be pretty clossely associated with the year.
17.Compared to this time last year, are you:
i.happier or sadder? I guess, overall, a little happier, just because work is slightly less awful
ii.thinner or fatter? Probably slightly thinner, although my eating habits have gone to hell with the stupid hours I've been working of late, so that may not last
iii.richer or poorer? Technically slightly poorer, I suppose - I took a 10% pay cut when I changed jobs - but not to the extent that it makes any serious difference. I'm still fairly comfortably off.
18.What do you wish you'd done more of?
Same as last year, i.e. pretty much everything: reading; going to the cinema; clubbing; gigging; studying; exercising.
19.What do you wish you'd done less of?
Working 10+ hour days and 40+ hour weeks
20. How did you spend Christmas?
At my parents' place.
21.Who did you spend the most time on the phone with?
As ever, it largely depends who phones me. Probably my parents.
[22.Did you fall in love in 2011?
23. How many one-night stands?
These questions have been discontinued for repetition]
24. What was your favorite TV programme?
Misfits, House and Dexter all continued to be seriously good, and Fresh Meat and A Game of Thrones were worthy new arrivals. The winner, however, is Sherlock, which has gone from strength to strength in its second season, with dialogue which regularly made me want to punch the air with glee.
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
[Also discontinued, on the grounds that I don't make a habit of hating people]
26. What was the best book you read?
I read a good deal less this year than I would like; only 31 books, compared to 49 the previous year and 60 the year before that. Still, there were some good ones, all the same...
Fiction: Donna Tartt - The Secret History (in my May book reviews)
Non-fiction: Victoria Coren and Charlie Skelton - Once More, with Feeling: How we tried to make the greatest porn film ever (in my March book reviews)
27. What was your greatest musical discovery or rediscovery?
As per q16, above, I was very pleased to be introduced to She Wants Revenge.
28. What did you want and get?
A new job.
29. What did you want and not get?
Enough sleep; enough time to do all the things mentioned at q18.
30. What were your favorite films of this year?
It wasn't a banner year for the big, mainstream film, IMNHO, although Black Swan, True Grit and Bridesmaids were all well worth seeing. Looking through the list of more obscure stuff, there's not one stand-out, but the following were all good: Source Code, Submarine, Attack the Block, Kill List, Red State.
31.What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
We went to Bath for the weekend.
How old? "Older than I look"
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
See answers to questions 18 and 29 ;)
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?
As ever, none more black. ;) I bought a lot more 'smart' clothes for the new job, though...
34. What kept you sane?
People - most especially A and the wise ladies of
theladiesloos.
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most/least?
I don't know much about Benedict Cumerbatch, but I certainly wouldn't kick Sherlock out of bed. ;)
36. What political issue stirred you the most?
Well, the two for which I actually got as far as marching this year were public sector cuts (the March for the Alternative) and women's rights (the London Slutwalk).
37. Whom did you miss?
I refer you to my answer to q4. The person I thought I knew appears in actual fact to have been a figment of my imagination, but I sure as hell miss him...
38. Who were the best new people you met?
I met a the rather fabulous
anadel1976,
piqueen and
varioussorrows via
theladiesloos' sub-group
loosbookclub. Through one or other of the above groups/people, I met
fwuffydragon and (albeit briefly) a couple of people I'd like to get to know better IRL,
purplegril and
bloodofareptile.
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011:
When an employment contract bothers to specify that you don't get paid overtime, this probably does mean 40-something hours a week, whatever the nice HR person may say over the phone to reassure you. ;)