New Year
Happy New Year, flist! It is the sort of fashionable thing to say at this point that of course you don't know what all the fuss is about, it's just a date in the calendar after all and it's always rather an anti-climax whatever happens and you might as well have a quiet night in, and I'm sorry to say I don't agree at all. New Year's Eve is my favourite public celebration by a factor too high to compute; there's music, there's dancing, there's fireworks and people having a good time, and it's secular and everyone's invited. I love it. And last night's was really perfect: Shim and I wandered Edinburgh all day, I bought a couple of things in the January sales and we got food from the carnival markets, and we planned to have dinner in a pub and then go to the Royal Mile to watch the fireworks.
In the event, deathbyshinies came to meet us in the pub and we sat there chatting and drinking wine and suddenly it was quarter to twelve and I was very, very very drunk. Laughably so. We ran outside and watched the fireworks bursting out above and I balanced on my heels and felt very much like I was going to fall over backwards but see nothing but stars on the way down.
(I didn't. It was a lovely evening.)
The end of year meme:
01. What did you do in 2010 that you'd never done before?
Flew long-haul for a weekend (twice; not recommended); lived in another country; was in a car accident; experienced temperatures of below -20 degrees Celsius; travelled further than latitude sixty degrees north.
02. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
It wasn't a resolution exactly, but if 2009 was the year I started reading again, 2010 was the year I started writing again. Not that I ever stopped writing the way I stopped reading during my first degree, but in 2010 I wrote in a dozen fandoms, more than 40,000 words, which is just, well, a real departure, and I'm pleased with it. Next year I want to keep up with both: reading (I read 75 novels in both 2009 and 2010, and I'd like to go for the hat-trick), and writing more as though I did, you know, like it.
03. Did someone close to you give birth?
Not close exactly, but a friend in one of my classes had a beautiful baby girl. Said friend is absolutely astonishing - she came into class the week after and was all, yeah, so I had a baby, what's on the syllabus for today?, to general response of "...." Another friend in class will probably have had her baby before the year is quite up.
04. Did anyone close to you die?
Not really. We have a family friend who died this year - she was well into her eighties and hadn't been well for a long time, so it wasn't the awful thing it might have been, but I really was sorry. I hadn't seen her in a couple of years, but she was always very kind to me, very interested in what I was doing, and one of the most amazing women I've ever met. She was eighty-five, and when she was my age, she took a Masters degree in economics from the University of Delhi. An Indian woman, with an advanced degree before Independence. That's astonishing. And on top of that, she was a freedom fighter - she was part of the satyagraha protests, she went to prison for the movement. She was an astonishing lady and she'd taken part in history.
05. What countries did you visit?
India, Denmark, the United States, although it is not a different country I went to Shetland which is REALLY FAR OFF, Switzerland, Italy, and, well, I actually moved base this year, so technically being here in the UK is a visit, too.
06. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?
2010 was a good year. In 2011 I'd like a stable basis for my life - I'd like to live in a little flat with my partner and all my books, like a grown-up, or at least the grown-up I'd like to be. But I wouldn't have changed this year, no.
07. What date from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
August 12th, the day I arrived in Ithaca, and December 19th, the day I came home.
08. What was your biggest achievement(s) of the year?
I was admitted to a Masters programme at an Ivy League law school. That was pretty cool. Also, I took the LPC with distinction.
09. What was your biggest failure(s)?
I don't think I had any stand-out failures. I feel pretty good. I even got a therapy prize. (Seriously. My therapist presented me with a bar of Lindt milk chocolate before I departed, on grounds that I had survived sixteen weeks of therapy and the entirety of the fall semester, and this needed marking somehow. I was touched.)
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
The climate in Ithaca does my mental health no good, and it seems to me that my sleep disorder, which now has an actual psychiatric diagnosis attached, ye gods, is getting worse, not better. But, you know. Still here, still muddling through with it. Life is so much better on this front now that really, I have no grounds to complain.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
I don't know! Probably my very expensive, very comfortable, utterly vital snow boots.
12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
All of my friends, but particularly Shim,
gavagai. and Tobermory, for reasons which are still painfully vivid.
13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
The government's. (When I say "the government", I still mean the British one, even in contexts where people look at me funny as if to say, "The New York Department of Educatioon did what?")
14. Where did most of your money go?
Tuition; rent; flights.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Travel, mostly! Shetland and Copenhagen, Shim's visit to Ithaca, going home. Oh, and ANGELS IN AMERICA IN NYC WITH THE MASH GIRLS AND ZACHARY QUINTO'S NIPPLES. THIS STILL WARRANTS NOTHING BUT CAPSLOCK.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you
i. happier or sadder? Happier.
ii. richer or poorer? Poorer.
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Resting. Actually, it wasn't really possible; I was doing my LPC electives until mid-July and had to be ready to move and begin the Masters by early August, but I do need some time off at some point.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Skidding along without taking care of my body. Next year I am going to EAT MEALS, goddammit.
(Yeah, we'll see how long that one lasts. But I want you all to know I do listen to your advice, really, and mean wholeheartedly to take it. I just.... have trouble.)
20. How will you be spending Christmas?
I spent it at home, with my mother, mostly furious with every member of my family for various different reasons, and then spent the evening digging out the car with a broken shovel when it was ten below. It was a horrible day. Things have looked up since. I had the loveliest New Year I could have asked for.
22. Did you fall in love in 2010?
Yes. Still falling.
23. How many one-night stands?
None.
24. What was your favourite TV programme?
The Middleman. Shim got me the graphic novel of the last episode as a Christmas present and I LOVE IT. "Go forward in all your beliefs"!
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
No. I've met some irritating people, but none I actually hate.
26. What was the best book you read?
Vikram Seth, A Suitable Boy. Here's what I wrote about it.
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Another year without any musical stand-outs, but I've just fallen for Kris Delmhorst and Redbird, both of which are very lovely.
28. What did you want and get?
Something to keep my mind occupied.
29. What did you want and not get?
A rest! Maybe now, though.
30. Favourite film of this year?
I think it was Caramel, which I only saw for the first time this year. I think I saw exactly one film at the cinema - Inception - thus continuing my trend of being bad at the medium.
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I was twenty-three, and it was a pretty terrible birthday: I was feeling depressed, and I got hailed on and then got a horrible cold, and then I flew to India the day after feeling very sorry for myself. But once I got there I had a lovely birthday dinner with my family, which cheered me up mightily, and my next birthday is in three weeks and promises to be much better.
32.What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
This is such a weird question, actually. Why "immeasurably"? Are they expecting me to say something like "Oh, if only I'd not run away from the altar", or something?
Anyway. I would have been happier here in Ithaca if I'd had some form of transport of my own. I actually think it would have made all the difference.
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010?
I haven't really branched out of my usual: simple bright colours, jewellery as accent, purple lipstick. Also from about November it all went a bit "it's MINUS SIXTEEN DEGREES, who cares what I look like", so.
34. What kept you sane?
Pre-emptive therapy, travel, my lovely friends, and Shim. Particularly, I don't think I'd have made it through November without the South African Siren.
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Karen Gillan!
36. What political issue stirred you the most?
Education in the UK; gay marriage and abortion in the US.
37. Who do you miss?
Shim! Oh, long-distance relationships suck. Right now, though, he is sitting in bed with me, reading Kipling, and I couldn't be happier.
38. Who was the best new person you met?
So many! The South African Siren, whom I adore - she''s a forthright, determined sort of person, completely unwilling to let the world get away with crap, and endearingly certain that no one knows she's kindness itself beneath all the yelling - and Tobermory, and Baby E, who are both wonderful people to know. Also,
thingswithwings,
eruthros and
livrelibre, who have been this fabulous cheering fannish community, and such a respite from the law school. I also met two of my LJ/DW friends this year:
such_heights and
macadamanaity, both of whom proved as delightful offline as on.
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010:
Don't worry about first drafts.
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn breaking.
-"Sea Fever", Kris Delmhorst, arranging John Masefield
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comment(s). Comment there or here.
In the event, deathbyshinies came to meet us in the pub and we sat there chatting and drinking wine and suddenly it was quarter to twelve and I was very, very very drunk. Laughably so. We ran outside and watched the fireworks bursting out above and I balanced on my heels and felt very much like I was going to fall over backwards but see nothing but stars on the way down.
(I didn't. It was a lovely evening.)
The end of year meme:
01. What did you do in 2010 that you'd never done before?
Flew long-haul for a weekend (twice; not recommended); lived in another country; was in a car accident; experienced temperatures of below -20 degrees Celsius; travelled further than latitude sixty degrees north.
02. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
It wasn't a resolution exactly, but if 2009 was the year I started reading again, 2010 was the year I started writing again. Not that I ever stopped writing the way I stopped reading during my first degree, but in 2010 I wrote in a dozen fandoms, more than 40,000 words, which is just, well, a real departure, and I'm pleased with it. Next year I want to keep up with both: reading (I read 75 novels in both 2009 and 2010, and I'd like to go for the hat-trick), and writing more as though I did, you know, like it.
03. Did someone close to you give birth?
Not close exactly, but a friend in one of my classes had a beautiful baby girl. Said friend is absolutely astonishing - she came into class the week after and was all, yeah, so I had a baby, what's on the syllabus for today?, to general response of "...." Another friend in class will probably have had her baby before the year is quite up.
04. Did anyone close to you die?
Not really. We have a family friend who died this year - she was well into her eighties and hadn't been well for a long time, so it wasn't the awful thing it might have been, but I really was sorry. I hadn't seen her in a couple of years, but she was always very kind to me, very interested in what I was doing, and one of the most amazing women I've ever met. She was eighty-five, and when she was my age, she took a Masters degree in economics from the University of Delhi. An Indian woman, with an advanced degree before Independence. That's astonishing. And on top of that, she was a freedom fighter - she was part of the satyagraha protests, she went to prison for the movement. She was an astonishing lady and she'd taken part in history.
05. What countries did you visit?
India, Denmark, the United States, although it is not a different country I went to Shetland which is REALLY FAR OFF, Switzerland, Italy, and, well, I actually moved base this year, so technically being here in the UK is a visit, too.
06. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?
2010 was a good year. In 2011 I'd like a stable basis for my life - I'd like to live in a little flat with my partner and all my books, like a grown-up, or at least the grown-up I'd like to be. But I wouldn't have changed this year, no.
07. What date from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
August 12th, the day I arrived in Ithaca, and December 19th, the day I came home.
08. What was your biggest achievement(s) of the year?
I was admitted to a Masters programme at an Ivy League law school. That was pretty cool. Also, I took the LPC with distinction.
09. What was your biggest failure(s)?
I don't think I had any stand-out failures. I feel pretty good. I even got a therapy prize. (Seriously. My therapist presented me with a bar of Lindt milk chocolate before I departed, on grounds that I had survived sixteen weeks of therapy and the entirety of the fall semester, and this needed marking somehow. I was touched.)
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
The climate in Ithaca does my mental health no good, and it seems to me that my sleep disorder, which now has an actual psychiatric diagnosis attached, ye gods, is getting worse, not better. But, you know. Still here, still muddling through with it. Life is so much better on this front now that really, I have no grounds to complain.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
I don't know! Probably my very expensive, very comfortable, utterly vital snow boots.
12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
All of my friends, but particularly Shim,
gavagai. and Tobermory, for reasons which are still painfully vivid.
13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
The government's. (When I say "the government", I still mean the British one, even in contexts where people look at me funny as if to say, "The New York Department of Educatioon did what?")
14. Where did most of your money go?
Tuition; rent; flights.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Travel, mostly! Shetland and Copenhagen, Shim's visit to Ithaca, going home. Oh, and ANGELS IN AMERICA IN NYC WITH THE MASH GIRLS AND ZACHARY QUINTO'S NIPPLES. THIS STILL WARRANTS NOTHING BUT CAPSLOCK.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you
i. happier or sadder? Happier.
ii. richer or poorer? Poorer.
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Resting. Actually, it wasn't really possible; I was doing my LPC electives until mid-July and had to be ready to move and begin the Masters by early August, but I do need some time off at some point.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Skidding along without taking care of my body. Next year I am going to EAT MEALS, goddammit.
(Yeah, we'll see how long that one lasts. But I want you all to know I do listen to your advice, really, and mean wholeheartedly to take it. I just.... have trouble.)
20. How will you be spending Christmas?
I spent it at home, with my mother, mostly furious with every member of my family for various different reasons, and then spent the evening digging out the car with a broken shovel when it was ten below. It was a horrible day. Things have looked up since. I had the loveliest New Year I could have asked for.
22. Did you fall in love in 2010?
Yes. Still falling.
23. How many one-night stands?
None.
24. What was your favourite TV programme?
The Middleman. Shim got me the graphic novel of the last episode as a Christmas present and I LOVE IT. "Go forward in all your beliefs"!
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
No. I've met some irritating people, but none I actually hate.
26. What was the best book you read?
Vikram Seth, A Suitable Boy. Here's what I wrote about it.
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Another year without any musical stand-outs, but I've just fallen for Kris Delmhorst and Redbird, both of which are very lovely.
28. What did you want and get?
Something to keep my mind occupied.
29. What did you want and not get?
A rest! Maybe now, though.
30. Favourite film of this year?
I think it was Caramel, which I only saw for the first time this year. I think I saw exactly one film at the cinema - Inception - thus continuing my trend of being bad at the medium.
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I was twenty-three, and it was a pretty terrible birthday: I was feeling depressed, and I got hailed on and then got a horrible cold, and then I flew to India the day after feeling very sorry for myself. But once I got there I had a lovely birthday dinner with my family, which cheered me up mightily, and my next birthday is in three weeks and promises to be much better.
32.What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
This is such a weird question, actually. Why "immeasurably"? Are they expecting me to say something like "Oh, if only I'd not run away from the altar", or something?
Anyway. I would have been happier here in Ithaca if I'd had some form of transport of my own. I actually think it would have made all the difference.
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010?
I haven't really branched out of my usual: simple bright colours, jewellery as accent, purple lipstick. Also from about November it all went a bit "it's MINUS SIXTEEN DEGREES, who cares what I look like", so.
34. What kept you sane?
Pre-emptive therapy, travel, my lovely friends, and Shim. Particularly, I don't think I'd have made it through November without the South African Siren.
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Karen Gillan!
36. What political issue stirred you the most?
Education in the UK; gay marriage and abortion in the US.
37. Who do you miss?
Shim! Oh, long-distance relationships suck. Right now, though, he is sitting in bed with me, reading Kipling, and I couldn't be happier.
38. Who was the best new person you met?
So many! The South African Siren, whom I adore - she''s a forthright, determined sort of person, completely unwilling to let the world get away with crap, and endearingly certain that no one knows she's kindness itself beneath all the yelling - and Tobermory, and Baby E, who are both wonderful people to know. Also,
thingswithwings,
eruthros and
livrelibre, who have been this fabulous cheering fannish community, and such a respite from the law school. I also met two of my LJ/DW friends this year:
such_heights and
macadamanaity, both of whom proved as delightful offline as on.
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010:
Don't worry about first drafts.
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn breaking.
-"Sea Fever", Kris Delmhorst, arranging John Masefield
raven is also at Dreamwidth: there is or are
comment(s). Comment there or here.